Dragon Monarch System

880  Chapter 880:- Shadows of Deception

Using the mini explosions as cover, a shadow flew above Rin without her noticing. As the shadow started descending towards her, Rin noticed it only then.

It wasnʼt Lilith. It was a shadow figure with Lilithʼs body shape and height.

”I am not falling for that.” She fired a flame projectile towards the shadow. The flame projectile destroyed the shadow.

Rin noticed that more of these shadow figures were coming at her from all directions.

”Where is the real one? Is she hiding somewhere?” She did not have time to think about this since she was being attacked from all directions.

”I will just respond with equal force.”

Rin clasped her palms together. Countless flame projectiles, just like before, formed around her.

As she shot the flame projectiles toward the incoming shadows, she began looking for Lilith, who was nowhere to be seen.

Some of the shadows dodged the flame projectiles and continued charging towards her. As for the rest, they were hit by the flame projectiles and destroyed.

There were still around 27 shadows flying towards her from all directions. The number of shadows had dramatically decreased from a thousand to just 27, but it was still a lot for Rin.

”AHHH…!!!!”

Rin tried to use her voice to stun the shadows, which gave her enough time to do something.

All the shadows abruptly stopped around Rin. The shadows were just a few meters away from Rin from all directions.

11:32

All the shadows abruptly stopped around Rin. The shadows were just a few meters away from Rin from all directions.

Seeing that she had succeeded, she smiled and was about to send them flying with a powerful wave of telekinesis in all directions. Preparing to use telekinesis on such a large scale takes her a second, which is why she screams to stun them for a second.

But then a black snake made from shadow manipulation wrapped around her ankle and pulled her down. This was completely unexpected, as there were no shadows coming at her from below.

”What…..!!” As she was distracted by this sudden move, she couldnʼt use telekinesis.

This was enough for Lilith.

”Succubus Drain!!!”

Rin felt Lilithʼs touch on her back and shivered. She tried to use telekinesis to push her away, but it was already too late. The tip of her dagger had already pierced her left shoulder.

Even though Lilith was pushed away, she still had a massive grin on her face as the shadows silently faded from existence. From the beginning, the shadows were nothing but a decoy, for which Rin fell. Lilith used the shadows as a means of distraction, and when that wasnʼt enough, she used the shadow on the ocean surface to create a shadow snake.

She manipulated her and Rinʼs shadows on the ocean surface.

Rin turned around and looked at Lilith.

”I feel like I am out of breath.” Her breathing was slightly ragged.

This was because Lilith drained some of her stamina and mana.

What Rin was feeling was the effect of losing stamina and mana.

”This battle isnʼt over yet!!” Rin realized what had happened but didnʼt mention it. She did not want Lilith to think this would determine the victor of their friendly spar. She wanted this fun battle to continue a little longer. She managed to get this close to her even with fire manipulation and telekinesis. If it had been a real battle, then perhaps Rin might have been seriously injured by now. However, Rin felt that even in a real battle, she still wouldnʼt have had enough left to continue. She managed to reduce the power of the attack using telekinesis.

Hearing her words, Lilith just shook her head and explained,

”Youʼre a thousand years early if you think that you could beat me. If this was a real battle, then by now, you would have been paralyzed and would have lost your life within 110 seconds.” Lilith wasnʼt joking. She was an assassin. The job of an assassin is to finish the opponent as swiftly as possible.

Hearing poison, she hurriedly looked at her left shoulder.

”Did you…?” She looked stunned.

Lilithʼs grin only widened as she nodded her head. ”Just because I cannot use anything life-threatening doesnʼt mean my daggers were poison-free.” She widened her eyes.

”That stab is going to take you out within the next 80 seconds.”

”Impossible!!!” Rin just refused to believe her words.

”Divine dragons have really strong immunity against poisons.” Even the deadliest poisons that would normally kill a Peak 5th-order mage within minutes would probably leave her feeling dizzy and confused for a while. At most, the poison would temporarily weaken her heartbeat and blood flow. Rin refused to believe that her opponent had a poison that was so strong and effective that it could work on a Divine Dragon.

”If you want to deny the truth, then itʼs your choice.” Lilith just shrugged.

”Listen, one of our sisters is the Goddess of Alchemy. Even though I am long retired, I have asked her to make some really powerful poisons that would even work against Divine Dragons.” These words really hit her deeply.

Knowing just how capable Julia was, Rin felt that Lilith was telling the truth.

”So, as long as I hide from you for the next 70 seconds, I will win this battle.” Lilith slowly widened her distance from them, then slowly retreated while staring at her.

”One last question.” Rin knew that this part was going to be the most intense part of this battle.

”How did you resist my scream that should have left you stunned for a second or two?” Against other cultivators, this leaves them stunned for up to a few minutes. Even Peak 5th-order cultivators and Higher Order cultivators are no exception to this.

”Girl, I am the Succubus Empress. I can charm the masses with a simple wink. Why do you think that a little high-pitched scream would stun me?” Lilith asked with a smile. First, it worked because Lilith wasnʼt used to it. But as she became used to it, she faked being stunned to land her first attack on Rin. And even now, she faked it to approach Rin.

This is where her inexperience truly shows. She failed to notice that her scream did not work the second time. An experienced fighter would have noticed this and wouldnʼt have used this move again.

Saying that Lilith flew into the island. Seeing this, Rin hurriedly chased her. She used telekinesis to increase her agility to the maximum.

Lilith did not fly above the trees of the island. Instead, she strategically flew low.

Like a fish, she flew between the trees, rocks, and terrain.

As soon as she started flying just a meter or two above the ground, she used the shadows from her surroundings to create black tentacles.

Various black tentacles shot towards Lilith from various locations. These black tentacles pulled her body forward, which further increased her pace. Rin, who was just about to catch her, felt frustrated as she saw Lilith widening the distance between them once again.

And to make things even more difficult, Lilith wasnʼt flying in a straight line. Rather, she began flying in a zig-zag pattern. Using the black tentacles, she swiftly changed her direction. One second, she would make a sharp turn to the right and then fly diagonally for a few seconds. And the next second, she would make another sharp turn to the left and then fly diagonally in that direction for a few seconds. All these only further slowed Rin down. Without black tentacles wrapping around her body, she could not make these sharp turns whenever Lilith did, which further slowed her down.

ʼAt this rate, I am going to lose. I have to do something.ʼ But she had no idea what to do. Given how fast Lilith was moving and rapidly changing her direction, telekinesis wonʼt work. Even if she did use a powerful wave of telekinesis to destroy all the trees in the surroundings, this would leave her in a state where she wouldnʼt be able to use telekinesis for a few seconds. In this state, the battle would be good as over.

Meanwhile, Lilith glanced at Rin from the corner of her eyes and just smirked.

Within 30 seconds, Lilith made Rin travel all over the island. Lilith purposely stayed within the forest part of the island and avoided flying to the small mountain tops or to the beach sides of the island.

Suddenly, hundreds of rubbery black tentacles shot out, wrapping tightly around her body. The ends of the tentacles anchored themselves to more than twenty trees in the surrounding area. As she moved at incredible speed, the tentacles stretched to their limit. The entire scene resembled the taut pull of a bowstring stretched to its absolute limit. In an instant, the stored tension released, launching her forward with explosive force. She shot herself towards Rin like an arrow fired from a bow.

Compared to before, Lilithʼs speed was a few times higher than before.

Rin did not even have time to react.

Even though she tried to use telekinesis, it failed as Lilithʼs speed was too high. Telekinesis did slow her down, but it wasnʼt enough. And not to mention, this whole thing happened too quickly, even for her.

Rin gulped as she felt the back of a cold dagger against her throat.

Lilith had a bone-chilling look on her face.

”I lost!!” These two words were simple, but only Rin knew how difficult it was to say them. These two words were really heavy on her tongue.

The coldness on Lilithʼs face disappeared as she warmly smiled at Rin. She put the dagger in her storage ring while saying, ”Yes, you did!!”

”You lost this battle the moment you believed that I had poisoned you.” Hearing this, Rin widened her eyes. She was shocked.

”It was a lie?” Rin asked.

Lilith just grinned at her.

In fact, she did not even plan to lie, but Rin gave her the perfect opportunity.

”Wait! Thatʼs not fair!!”

”Girl, everything is fair in a battle. As an assassin, I use everything at my disposal to ensure I finish the job.” In other words, assassins do not care about honor or fairness. As long as the job was done, it was enough for them.

”The next big mistake you made was to chase me into the forest.”

”I can manipulate shadows. What do you think will happen if you follow me to a place where there are countless shadows?” This whole setup was a plan. Once inside the island, Lilith suddenly had countless ways to finish this battle.

Lilith chose to try something that she had never tried before, and it worked better than she initially expected. She never used black tentacles to launch herself like an arrow. Surprisingly enough, Lilith not only gained more momentum through this, but this momentum also allowed her to catch Rin off guard and overcome telekinesis.

If she hadnʼt been caught off guard, then maybe she would have been able to slow Lilith with a stronger wave of telekinesis. From the beginning, Lilith had been looking to create or find openings like this where she could catch Rin off guard and prevent her from having enough time to use her telekinesis.

Hearing everything, Rin sighed out loud.

”This was my loss.” Rin peacefully accepted her defeat.

”That was a wonderful battle.” Aditya appeared with Julia.

Neither Lilith nor Rin looked surprised. Both of them had sensed their auras during the battle.

”Lilith, this is the first time I have watched you fight.” Before, whenever she fought, it was mostly a one-sided battle, meaning he didnʼt get to see much of her skills in action. But today, it was different. Rin almost evenly matched her and even put pressure on her in many instances.

”What do you think?” Lilith asked with a grin.

”Youʼre a lot stronger than I thought. The way you used shadow manipulation is a work of genius.” She defeated Rin without using any of her powerful innate and passive skills. The only two major skills she used in the battle were Shadow Manipulation and Succubus Drain.

Aditya then turned to Rin. ”Rin, you were equally good. Now, I am not saying this to flatter you or console you. I genuinely think that the only reason you lost was that you lacked experience.”

”Aditya is right!” Lilith added while accepting a stamina recovery pill from Julia.

”You made a few bad decisions, and thatʼs what led to your loss. You need to work on refining your battle IQ.”

”You have to improve your decision-making during fights. This includes learning to choose the right moves at the right time and developing quick counters based on your opponentʼs strengths and weaknesses. Analyzing and spotting weaknesses in the heat of battle is crucial.”

”More importantly, you need to build strategies on the spot. Most of the time, you wonʼt have the luxury of planning before a fight, which means youʼll have to identify weaknesses and create strategies around them in a matter of seconds.”

”And it doesnʼt stop there. You need to continuously adapt and refine your plans as the battle progresses, responding to what you learn in real-time.” Aditya nodded his head in agreement.

The only reason he didnʼt suffer from these issues was that he had the skill of ʼinstant learning and adaptation.ʼ

”Basically, youʼre lacking experience.” Rin nodded her head. Self-training cannot give her the experience of real battles.

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