Tower of Heaven

Once he got the chance, Atlas confronted the beast with his chain sickles.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

He was actually trying to cut into its flesh, but it wasn't working. The impacts of his blades against the beast's skin made the sound of metal banging against something much denser than it.

'Making the initial slashes will take more than just blades alone.'

Atlas scanned the environment. There were trees all around and no clearings nearby. The only animals or beasts in the vicinity were small, which meant that only those who couldn't recognize this bull's strength remained in its territory. The ground was level and the ground itself wasn't home to much shrubbery, which made movement much more accessible.

Bang!

As he focused on calculating his advantages, the bull charged. It slammed forward and gained speed at such a fast pace that it gathered a huge rush of wind around it.

Atlas jumped to the side.

[Lightning Shadow Steps]

He rapidly activated his movement technique and zipped sideways as fast as he could. Instead of hitting him, the beast slammed directly into a tree and shattered it into bits.

The wind that it gathered rushed out violently and tore up all of the trees around the one the bull struck. It had just made a large enough impact to turn the tree into dust, but it was not fazed in the slightest. It turned to face Atlas, prepared to charge again.

'I have to act now.'

Atlas realized that if he didn't take the opportunity immediately after the charge, he would be stuck as prey for this entire battle. Without allowing the bull to push its hooves back into the ground after it roared, he pushed his body forward.

[Presence of a Mountain]

Boom!Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The beast that had risen onto its hind legs was slammed back into the ground. Atlas spread his arms to the side and gathered the flame qi in his body, shaping it into a familiar formation.

[Hidden Flame Lance]

Five lances were created effortlessly. They crashed into the beast together and exploded into a rain of flaming knives that stabbed at the bull's powerful defensive hide.

Its thin fur was scorched off and its skin was burned black, but nothing penetrated its internals.

Atlas expected this.

'The chain sickles will not be useful until a cut has been made into the beast's hide already.'

In case he was wrong, Atlas brought the chain sickles out once more, filled their blades with his sharpened qi, and cut at the beast again while it was distracted.

He could now see the lines being made in the blackened hide, but they never made it more than an inch into the surface. The beast wasn't feeling more than a scratch from those attacks.

In battles like these where he was facing larger creatures who used strength over everything else, he always felt like using the chain sickles wasn't the best idea, but he still attempted it.

Since these were his main weapons in this life, he had to make sure that he could use them in as many possible situations. But, of course, that didn't mean that all of the weapon's weaknesses could be fixed or supplemented. At a certain point, Atlas knew that he'd have to find a secondary weapon to use in situations that didn't permit the chain sickles.

It was something he was learning through this battle. They were graceful weapons that were meant to assassinate or butcher enemies. They weren't meant to slam against blades over and over again in direct combat. The only thing they were technically meant to be making contact with was flesh.

Immediately upon entering battle, Atlas recognized something as a weakness. However, he put it aside. He didn't need to worry about that kind of thing now.

'It's easy to see what this beast takes pride in. It is the type of creature that puts its everything into its strength and defense while ignoring all else.'

Atlas would be faster than it at every turn. It had evolved in a way where it would never be the faster entity.

However, the moment it did land a hit…

Atlas charged back in with confidence. The beast was still stuck to the ground under the [Presence of the Mountain], however, as he got close, it suddenly thrashed its head around.

Atlas planted his feet into the ground and dragged them into the dirt to slow his momentum. As if it happened in slowed time, he watched as the sharp tip of the bull's right horn barely cut into his flesh and carved a thin line that only ended at the other side of its body.

With wide eyes, Atlas jumped in the air before the beast's head could swing the other way. He looked down and scoffed as he saw the hole that had been made in his clothes. Underneath, a thin line of hot, red blood was dying his shirt in its color.

Looking below him, he saw the beast looking back up at him. He saw as it raised itself onto its hind legs as if it was waiting for the moment he struck the ground.

Even though it didn't have any intelligence of its own, its instincts told it that a being without wings could not fly. Its enemy would strike the ground eventually, and when it did…

Find more chapters on empire

Atlas turned his body in the air until he was parallel to the ground. Qi flowed through his body and slammed into his legs, manifesting in the air as illusory lightning.

[Lightning Shadow Steps]

He placed his foot firmly against the air itself and pushed himself back towards the bull. As his body turned into a blur of lightning and shadows, his qi moved once more, doing exactly as he asked of it.

[Grand Arsenal - Heavenly Press]

The Grand Arsenal was Atlas' greatest martial accomplishment in his past life. It was a record of all of his physical techniques and skills, but it was also much more than that. It was an achievement that a Mortal should not have been able to make, and the weight of that achievement was part of what made Atlas' Legend so powerful in his past life.

With the battle against the Hell Guardian on the horizon, Atlas decided to bring out the Grand Arsenal and start comprehending its weight once again.

Atlas made direct eye contact with the beast. He drew a straight line in the air as he crashed down like a comet. Before the bull could do anything that it was planning to do, his attack exploded first.

Qi exploded into the air as his fist cracked a piece of its skull. A huge "Bang!" rang out as it was slammed to the ground again. Its legs gave out below it, and at the same time, it sensed the presence of someone landing on its back.

OOOH–!

It bellowed ferociously. Its anger rose to a new level, but Atlas was also not planning to lose his momentum so rapidly.

The cut on his chest had already healed. The beast, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any healing abilities at all.

Now, their battle wasn't close to ending. Atlas still hadn't made real progress in injuring the beast.

However, in his mind, it became clear that this difference between them would be the key to his victory.

It was only a matter of time until he proved his conjectures to be the absolute truth.