Chapter 284 Link Vs. Rio, The Battle Of Absolute Talents! Part-3.
??VVIP Area.
"d*mn!! He really was holding back against Vanya! This guy is insane! He even copied an SS-rankers ''authority'' and turned it into a new martial arts style!? Monster! Absolute monster!!"
Ryul was so shocked by Link''s feats that he couldn''t express his surprise in proper words.
He had never seen an absolute monstrous talent like Link. Link''s talent is basically against the sky.
Even Ashtel''s eyes widened in sheer shock when Link pulled off that attack so easily.
"T-this is!?"
Other SS-rankers were so speechless that they didn''t even bother saying anything and just stood there to watch the show with widened eyes.
Copying an SS-rankers'' ''world authority'' and turning it into a martial art technique is not as simple as it sounds!
Vanya and Miki created their ''unique'' styles by taking references from pre-existing martial art techniques, but they didn''t dare make many changes to the technique.
They only changed it to suit their needs, but Link is different.
He took no references at all; he likely just saw Ashtel use his ''world authority'' and then figured out how to use that technique.
He possesses ''Dao Rhythm'', which has the ability to influence thews of the world. Simrly, ''world authority'' grants the user absolute authority over a specific w'' of the world.
In other words, with the help of ''Dao Rhythm'', Link can use a weaker version of Ashtel''s ''world authority''.
And as ''World authority'' can influence thews of the world, Link was able to do the same; he directly bypassed Rio''s shadow armor by influencing thew of space-time maniption, and his attacknded urately on Rio.
There are numerous reasons why Link was able to aplish all of this.
Not only does he have Dao rhythm and Ashtel''s guidance, but he also saw Alverto ''bypass'' Rio''s shadow armor when they were in Oaklum.
In that one nce, Link had learned ''Bypass'' from Alverto.
...
Reserved Seats.
Liam''s eyes widened in shock, and he stood up from his seat to watch it more clearly.
After witnessing that attack, a single word kept recurring in his mind.
''Insanity!!''
"T-this.... Even if I use Ellie and my other summoned beasts together... I might not be able to beat Link if he uses that attack!"
Even Ellie, who was stuffing her mouth with popcorn, had a serious look in her eyes at that moment.
If Link and Liam ended up fighting one day, she might not be able to protect Liam from this attack, so she was already thinking of some kind of countermeasure.
But no matter what you try toe up with, it pales inparison to Link''s attack.
Ashtel''s "world authority" directly influenced the space-time fabric, and Link is doing the same, despite not even having reached rank S yet!
Ordinary awakeners are only able to influence the space-time fabric after they reach rank S.
But Liam has already started to use it as an attack method without even reaching rank S; even the brightest geniuses in the history of mankind seem pale against his talent.
Lia was already clenching her fists tightly. She wanted to go and help Rio out, but that''s against the rules, and she can''t even pass that SS-rank barrier, so she was helpless.
The only thing she can do at this point is believe in Rio.
...
(Important Info dump ahead.)
Keep in mind that Rio does have ''X'' rank talent, but since ''X'' symbolizes ''Limitless potential'', Rio''s improvement speed is not infinite.
His improvement speed is still that of a normal SSS ranker''s, because ''infinite'' improvement speed is impossible.
If he had ''infinite'' improvement speed, he would have already achieved rank SSS; why go through all the trouble at that point, right?
The world has its own limits too; this world can barely even withstand the existence of an SSS ranker, but it''s not strong enough to withstand anything further than that.
Thus, the world limits Rio''s improvement speed to rank SSS, as thews of this world can''t withstand anything further than that.
...
Stadium ground.
If it were someone else, they would have already fainted from the sheer pain, but Rio doesn''t feel anything at all; among all of his emotions, fear, pain, regret, etc. got suppressed the most.
So he barely even feels anything.
This is not an advantage, though; without pain, you won''t know if you got injured or something.
Rio is only fine because he can see his own health bar in the status menu.
Otherwise, he might not even know if he was bleeding to death.
Rio slowly got up from the ground; he put some mana into the shadow robe and changed its properties a bit.
The robe became stronger after getting Rio''s mana, and now it can support Rio''s injured body.
Even if Rio''s runs around, his damaged organs won''t be much affected, as all of the load will be taken by the shadowrobe.
For the time being, Link stood there in the distance and didn''t attack; he had a feeling that if he attacked at this moment, Rio would pull out something very dangerous.
His intuition has always been very urate, so he kept some distance.
Rio''s eyes stared at Link for a second.
[Body Strengthening!]
[Concentration!]
[Dark Wing Movement Art]
After buffing himself quite a bit, Rio ced his sword around his waist and took his stance.
[Sword Intent!]
"I didn''t want to use this, but… I guess I will lose if I don''t pull out some trump cards…"
Before Link could answer, Rio''s sword turned pitch ck, and a sinister power covered it in an instant.
[Elemental Sword Art: Miasma Type: Miasmic Corruption!]
Rio shed towards the ground, and a pitch-ck sword mark appeared on the ground.
The dark mark instantly spread all around and directly corrupted Link''s dragon field in a matter of seconds.
Even Link was taken aback by that.
He has seen Rio use many types of elemental attacks, but he has never seen Rio use ''Miasma''.
A frown appeared on Link''s face as he saw his dragon field copse. He gritted his teeth and spoke:
"Only demons can use miasma and corruption… How are you using it, Rio!?"
Rio just shook his head and replied.
"Don''t assume that you were the only person who learned something new from that demon prince; I obviously learned the usage of miasma from that guy!"
Rio''s figure blurred in an instant and appeared directly on Link''s right side.
[Elemental Sword Art: Miasma Type: Absolute Corruption!]
Rio swung his sword in a horizontal motion, and Link immediately covered himself with Dao Rhythm to defend himself from that attack.
But it was useless.
Rio''s has enhanced that attack with his own sword intent, and his sword intent is many times stronger and more precise than Link''s Dao Rhythm.
In that sh of two legendary skills, the one with more mastery and precision got the upper hand.
The sword strike barely scratched Link before he jumped back to dodge it, but that small scratch was enough.
Miasma began to spread rapidly throughout his body; the corruption was so strong that it briefly caused his eyes to blur, and he felt as though his head was spinning.
Enhanced by ''Sword Intent'' Rio''s corruption ability is equivalent to that of an S-rank demon at this point, and Link got a direct hit from it, so he was bound to suffer some damage.
He had to use a massive amount of mana to increase the output of his Dao Rhythm to get rid of that spreading miasmic corruption; it only took three seconds to do that.
But for someone as fast as Rio, those three seconds were enough.
[Elemental Sword Art: Time Type: Curse of Aging!]
When Link was still focusing more on getting rid of that miasma by focusing his ''Dao Rhythm'', Rio seized the opportunity, and his sword directly struck Link''s right hand.
Covered with time elements and enhanced with sword intent, when the sword touched Link''s hand, that particr area of Link''s hand started to age wildly.
And in those three seconds, Link''s hand aged 500 years and was directly cut off by Rio''s sword.
Blood spurted out of that severed arm like crazy; this was the first time Link had gotten so badly injured.
Not only was he fighting with miasma, but his whole right arm was also cut off in a matter of seconds.
(Keep in mind that only the area that was touched by Rio''s sword strike aged, and broke apart, but the rest of the arm didn''t suffer from age… Rio''s time-type attack was extremely precise…)
But to Rio''s surprise, Link didn''t even flinch from that insane wound; after the three seconds passed, he immediately got rid of the miasma and tightened his shoulder muscles to forcefully stop his own bleeding.
He didn''t waste a single second, directly punching Rio''s face with his other arm.
[Link Style Martial Arts: Spatial Bypass!]
Rio barely dodged that attack by tilting his head to the side, but that unexpected punch still grazed him a bit, and it directly shattered Rio''s right eyeball, and even his facial muscles cracked.
His right ear was destroyed too.
Link and Rio both jumped back to keep some distance from each other.
They had traded injuries for injuries.
Link had ignored his wounds in order tond a decent hit on Rio, but due to the copse of the dragon field, he couldn''t keep up with Rio at all.
At that point, Link gritted his teeth and shouted,
"This isn''t the end!"
He stomped his feet on the ground.
[Dragon Arts: Dragon''s Domain]
A new dragon field appeared in an instant, and Link gained his speed once again.
He has a lot of mana; he can keep spamming it until he takes down Rio.
Seeing this, a rare solemn look appeared on Rio''s face. Time was running out. He was heavily injured at the moment, and his ''HP'' was dropping fast; he has to settle this match early.
…
…
Author''s Notes.
Yo! It''s your beloved author here!
Question of the day.
Do you also think that Rio''s elemental sword art is an extremely broken technique?
1. Yes (It lets him use all elements, which is insane!)
2. No (Rio added those miasma and time type attacks himself, he learned them from Alverto!)
By the way, don''t forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.