Chapter 2344: Evolving Combat Standard

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Multiple phantoms swarmed the Heavenly Dominator from every direction, swinging their swords while executing various sword movements and combat techniques.

Seeing this, the Heavenly Dominator immediately realized that defending itself by simply swinging its stone cudgel would be difficult.

It first swept its gaze across its surroundings before twirling the stone cudgel with both hands in a surprisingly skillful manner.

Its movements were remarkably smooth, making the Heavenly Dominator look more like a Martial Arts Master than a Boss Monster.

WHOOSH!

Powerful air currents swept in every direction, drawing everything toward the Heavenly Dominator before crushing them beneath the spinning stone cudgel. Even the scattered debris from the shattered stone formations was caught in the currents.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The flying debris began spinning around the Heavenly Dominator, creating terrifying tornadoes around its enormous body.

Fragments of varying sizes flew in every direction, sweeping across the battlefield and attacking everything in their paths.

Unfortunately, none of them managed to affect the phantoms as they continued swarming the Heavenly Dominator.

The debris simply passed through their bodies. However, at the same time, none of the phantoms managed to inflict any real damage on the Heavenly Dominator either, since none of them were real.

However—

WHOOSH!

The person responsible for summoning these phantoms repeatedly switched places with them, constantly dodging the deadly debris swirling through the air as he steadily approached the Heavenly Dominator.

At the same time, Shin continued executing different sword movements as he advanced.

Whenever one of the phantoms flew past the Heavenly Dominator, Shin would switch places with it, executing the same sword movement that the phantom had been performing.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Shin repeated this process at incredible speed, landing a series of attacks on the Semi-World Boss. Each successful strike was reflected in the crimson damage numbers appearing above the Heavenly Dominator’s head.

(-60,231), (-55,621), (-73,514), ...

Unfortunately, the damage he inflicted was far too low compared to his previous damage output.

Phantom Execution was one of his highly advanced techniques, yet it was dealing pitifully little damage by his standards. This was especially concerning since he was reinforcing his attacks with Void Powers, which were renowned for their penetrative properties and ability to inflict true damage.

For his attacks to deal so little damage despite all these advantages, the Heavenly Dominator must have possessed an extraordinarily high level of defense after undergoing its latest metamorphosis.

"Tsk!" Shin couldn’t help but click his tongue upon realizing this. "I guess this is going to be a bit more challenging than I expected."

While Shin continued attacking the Heavenly Dominator, the latter seemed to have realized that its current approach was ineffective against him and his phantoms. It immediately adjusted its strategy once again.

ROAR!

With a deafening roar, the Heavenly Dominator shook the entire battlefield while releasing waves of incredibly dense elemental mana.

BOOM!

At that very moment, the surrounding gravity suddenly intensified severalfold, subjecting the entire area to tremendous pressure.

As the gravity field spread, even space itself seemed to solidify. Everything caught within its range was dragged toward the desert floor, as though the entire world was pulling everything toward its core.

Shin, who was caught within the affected area, was forced to halt his advance. The overwhelming gravitational force dragged him toward the ground, leaving him unable to move.

As for his phantoms, they were all frozen in place, unable to move in any direction.

Even their special abilities to phase through solid objects and pass through magical attacks were rendered useless under the effects of the domain summoned by the Heavenly Dominator.

Before Shin could even find a way to escape his predicament, the Heavenly Dominator swiftly made its next move, giving him no time to catch his breath.

BOOM!

One end of the enormous cudgel dug into the desert floor as the Heavenly Dominator swung it sideways, sweeping through everything in its path.

Sand scattered into the air as the weapon advanced, heading straight toward Shin, who was still pinned in place by the tremendous gravitational force.

Shin was about to make his move when he suddenly caught sight of a bright flash near the Heavenly Dominator’s face.

Focusing his gaze, he saw Emperor Dream, who had disappeared after the Heavenly Dominator’s earlier attack with the stone spears, suddenly appear before the Boss Monster.

Emperor Dream’s entire body was emitting a brilliant golden light as he pierced through the gravity domain, thrusting his glowing sword forward.

The aura enveloping his body seemed capable of cutting through the dense elemental mana filling the air, whose properties clearly carried the toughness and heaviness of earth.

As he advanced, a colossal manifestation of a translucent sword appeared around him, growing increasingly prominent as he continued his charge.

SHING!

Sensing the immense danger posed by the incoming attack, the Heavenly Dominator was forced to abandon its attempt to finish off Shin and turn its attention toward the new threat before it.

The Heavenly Dominator quickly took a step back to create some distance from the approaching sword manifestation while skillfully adjusting the angle of its stone cudgel.

With a swift turn of its body, it redirected the weapon from its previous trajectory and swung it straight toward the incoming sword manifestation.

BOOOOOM!

The collision between the two forces erupted into a terrifying explosion, sending successive shockwaves in every direction and throwing the surrounding energies into chaos.

WHOOSH!

As a result, the elemental mana sustaining the gravity domain was severely disrupted, transforming the surrounding area into a violent elemental storm.

Shin, who had been trapped within the domain, suddenly felt the restrictions loosen. The disruption gave him just enough room to break free.

He immediately unfolded his wings and took flight, escaping the violent mana storm.

Swoosh!

After leaving the storm’s effective range, Shin turned his attention toward the clash that had caused all the destruction.

That was when he saw the enormous sword manifestation surrounding Emperor Dream shatter into countless fragments, while the latter swiftly retreated to avoid the descending stone cudgel.

Seeing Emperor Dream successfully escape, Shin couldn’t help but comment, "That guy is not bad~!"

While Shin was still remarking on Emperor Dream’s performance, the Heavenly Dominator resumed its offensive against the two.

Holding the stone cudgel with both hands, the Heavenly Dominator briefly assumed a stance before repeatedly swinging its weapon at them.

Judging by its movements, the Semi-World Boss seemed to regard both of them as equally significant threats.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Each swing generated powerful air currents that exerted immense pressure on Shin and Emperor Dream, even affecting their movements to some extent.

The sheer force behind these strikes was so overwhelming that each one seemed capable of flattening an entire mountain.

Seeing the terrifying strikes coming from the Heavenly Dominator, both Shin and Emperor Dream were forced to retreat further, using their respective movement techniques to escape the effective range of the stone cudgel.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

As if acting on a tacit understanding, the two moved in opposite directions, flanking the Heavenly Dominator from both sides and making it more difficult for the Boss Monster to target them simultaneously.

It was one of the most basic strategies weaker fighters could employ when facing a stronger opponent.

After positioning themselves, Shin and Emperor Dream simultaneously charged, intending to attack the Heavenly Dominator from both sides with their most powerful techniques.

Unfortunately, before either of them could launch an attack, the Heavenly Dominator had already adjusted its movements once again.

It stopped its previous swings and began twirling the stone cudgel with both hands, skillfully rolling and spinning the enormous weapon around its body.

Seeing this, both Shin and Emperor Dream couldn’t help but halt their advance, particularly after witnessing how skillfully the Heavenly Dominator handled the massive cudgel.

"This..." Shin couldn’t help but stare strangely at the Boss Monster before him. "...It’s slowly learning how to wield a weapon properly."

Observing the Heavenly Dominator’s movements, Shin also noticed that its fighting style was gradually becoming more human-like.

"Don’t tell me it’s going to start learning combat techniques as well?" he muttered solemnly.

It was only at this moment that Shin began to understand the true terror of a Semi-World Boss.

Emperor Dream had apparently reached the same conclusion, furrowing his brows deeply. "This guy... It’s starting to resemble the troublesome monsters found on the Awakened Continent."

On the second continent, monsters weren’t merely powerful. They also possessed naturally high intelligence and formidable combat instincts.

Even Elite-Rank Monsters were capable of displaying intelligence comparable to that of Players and NPCs, while their combat movements could already resemble those of trained human fighters.

This was one of the main reasons monsters on the Awakened Continent were considerably more difficult to deal with, aside from the natural environmental disadvantages imposed on Players.

Given the Heavenly Dominator’s naturally high Stats, both Shin and Emperor Dream understood that they wouldn’t be able to defeat it by fighting independently.

The two turned toward one another, only to find that they were already looking at each other.

A similar thought had crossed both their minds.

They had to work together.

...