Cliche (4) - Challenge 2: Trial of Strength
Support my contracted main novel and winner of Writing Prompts #26 - The Legendary Mage!
Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn!
https://www.webnovel.com/book/12013957905760805/Desolate-Mage%3A-A-Legend-Reborn!
* * * * *
Author's Note 1:
Slowly changing from using brackets "( )" for inner thoughts, to using single inverted commas ' ' for inner thoughts.
'Like this...' instead of (Like this...).
Author's Note 2:
Are you okay with the direction and light-hearted "style" of the story so far...? There will be more seats-edge butt-clenching action soon; but I do want to give Sam herself more air-time in battle and to develop as a person :)
Let me know in the Comments section...?
* * * * *
"Challenge 2: Trial of Strength. Level 21 Elite - Diamond Golem."
'What happened to my hair...?'
Perhaps in the midst of the earlier non-stop battle, her body had avoided the blades - but not her hair.
It was now cut short; so short it looked like Albert's short hair that didn't even reach down to his shoulders...
'Oh well... I don't have a mirror to see how I look now... I hope I still look pretty and girly!'
If she could see her hair now...
[Omitted].
She smiled sweetly and looked straight ahead. Then the spatial disturbance was completed. She was transferred to a new testing ground.
The moment her surroundings cleared up; Sam tried out her new comprehension. She tried to move like she had just before against the vampire's maids; like how that demon boy managed to blink in and out of the air; teleporting around.
"..."
Nothing happened.
'Mmm...' She stood stock still, thinking as a 8m tall multi-faceted and radiant giant jogged over; its footsteps shaking the ground.
*BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM*
"Shhh!!!!!" She shushed the Diamond Golem, which then kicked her with its leg that was double the size of her entire body.
"Ooffph..." A gust of air left her lungs; despite her highly dense body and great weight, the golem still sent her sailing through the air - if it were a normal high-leveled human receiving the kick; their spine would likely have dislocated in multiple places; regardless of their mana reinforcement.
On defence, mana and Qi reinforcement worked by strengthening and reinforcing the outside of the body; whereas for attacks and movement, it worked by using the mana itself to facilitate and move one's limbs.
In contrast, cultivation by blood energy was focused on nourishing the vitality of the flesh, blood and bones directly; as such, demi-humans and non-humans like Orcs, Ogres or Werewolves who followed the path of blood energy cultivation had robust and strong bodies; but far weaker mana reinforcement.
Sam's case was different from both paths. She didn't understand it yet, but hers was a path of Evolution; adaptating based on the sleeping "seeds" lying dormant in her body; and the golden light that she had absorbed into her flesh and bloodstream. It was not just strengthening her cells to make them thicker, tougher or harder - she walked a path of a new form of organism; one who cells grew, remade themselves and *ATE* both food and world essence.
And so Sam was hurt and breathless; tossed up into the air but not injured from the kick.
She was just enraged to lose her train of thought; slow as it may have been moving. In fact, all the more did she resent anyone interrupting her thoughts - for she had already began to acknowledge the slowness of her own thinking process; and all the more treated the precious few times she would stop to think as precious.
She hit the ground about 40m away; rolling to reduce the momentum and regain her balance. The moment she had steadied herself; the Diamond Golem was once more before her.
"Full-Burst; Disruption. Zhí Qiáo stance - Wúxiàn Quan!" [1][2]
The scene unfolding looked terribly unfair; an athletic but slim 2m tall girl against an unbreakable Diamond Golem. Indeed it was unfair; for when her fist collided with the golem's incoming kick; it was flung backwards just as far as its kick had thrown Sam!
And it would have been thrown much, much further if not for the fact that it weighed probably several dozen times more than the girl.
But then it stood up again; like a robot obeying its programmers set instructions; charging forward again just like it had earlier. Its leg was unblemished; even the spot where Sam's fist landed was completely fine - without a crack.
After all, diamonds are forever... Right? At least when a certain ogre-like girl was not involved.
"Demon-slaying Fist - BURST!"
* * * * *
The golem did not seem to have any other methods of approach or attack - it knew only to make a beeline straight towards Sam and punch, kick or slam into with any part of its body.
Nonetheless, this no-brainer approach was seriously effective.
Immune to magic below the legendary level. Immune to physical damage; the Diamond Golem was the bane of swords, spears, bows, daggers and every form of piercing, slashing or edged weapon!
And blunt weapons fared no better - imagine hitting a rock with an egg... Or a steel wall with your fist.
Unfortunately for the golem, this girl had literally hit steel plating with her fist - which ended with her fist prevailing; and the steel bent into a pretzel.
The girl acknowledged by the Spatial Concepts stood still; beginning by sensing and resonating with the very space around her. Then as she felt the resonance with the Spatial Laws, she moved on towards the esoteric realm she had stepped into when first learning the Demon-slaying Fist; a realm of friendship and oneness with the particles all around her; and the space between those particles.
She felt as if she could grasp the ethereal forms of Space itself; like she could mould it or form it according to her will.
And that was what she did - this time much more naturally than before.
"Demon-slaying Fist."
Her movements were in stark contrast to the rampaging bull-rush of the Diamond Golem; her soft; flowing palm strike arcing out in vivid distinction to the direct and domineering shoulder charge bearing down on her.
But the results were anything but how they looked.
The "soft and slow" palm was like an endless mountain range of insurmountable stability; no matter how the winds howled before it, the mountain would not; COULD NOT bow.
*KRRRKRKKK!!!!!*
The Diamond Golem was stopped in its tracks; completely stationary in opposition with its previous charge.
Where was its momentum? Where was the inertia? What happened to the law of conservation of force; where the force of its charge needed to be met with an equal or greater amount of force to quench it?
The answer was in Sam's soft, tender palms - hands that could rip apart even the hardest of steel and crush diamonds in her grip.
The Diamond Golem emitted a sick cracking sound and began to tumble down; innumerable fractures racing across its surface. Then it crashed down with a boom; even its magical golem core reduced to mere fragments from the girls singular blow.
Sam stood in place; not moving since the moment she had thrown out her palm strike; one which melded the advanced nomological essence of Space into it, far exceeding the levels of "Resonance", "Understanding" and "Utilisation" - the normal steps and levels of insights a practitioner would normally advance through.
Slowly, her eyes returned to focus, recognising the heap of diamond before her and knowing that the battle was ended.
When it came to a battle of strength...
Who could compare with our Sam...?
"Beep! Congratulations on completing Challenge 2! I... I can't believe it! Perhaps..."
'Perhaps I might finally leave this place and see the world...' The words remained unspoken.
"Proceeding to Challenge 3 now! Beep. Esteemed candidate, please be mindful; the next stage is once again more than double the difficulty of the last stage; and will test different aspects of your strength, speed, perseverance, temperance and intelligence. Good luck. Beep."
Sam smiled confidently as the new transfer started.
'What did it say...? Intelligence...?' She continued smiling - it took time for her to process the appropriate emotions of fear, horror, shock and trepidation when coming face to face with PUZZLES and RIDDLES.
"Challenge 3: Trial of Wisdom."
* * * * *
[2 minutes later]
Sam was bloody and battered; one arm rendered useless and her ribs cracked; aching.
'This... This can't go on...'
Her opponent was calm; ruffled and also not unhurt - but she was still in full fighting condition - unlike Sam.
Her 2m tall, 400kg female opponent charged towards her, not giving Sam a moment to catch a breath.
Sam executed her utmost best circle-walk footwork; desperately trying to stay away from her enemy's bone crushing fists.
But she could not escape the mastery over Spatial Control that her counterpart possessed; a mastery that far exceeded hers.
'The space... Its being locked down again...' She felt the air and void around her constrict her movements; making her feel like she was wading through a pit of mud and clay; immersed to her neck.
She could not avoid the incoming strike in the constricted space around her.
Her opponent smiled confidently; taking a low lion stance in front of her; before calling out the names of her life-reaping attacks.
"Full-Burst. Disruption. Baguazhang style – Lion Stance - straight palm-strike. Demon's Slaying Fist."[3]
"Goodbye."
Sam's body was subjected to immense crushing as space was fractured from the law-infused strike.
The seemingly slow, soft and gentle palm strike instantly impacted her crossed-arm defence; a strike that slammed into her with the force of ten thousand horses; tearing through her resistance and undulating through her body with endless twisting, contortion and blood boiling vibrations.
Then she vomited blood; her consciousness nearly swept away - turning to a vision of red and black.
*
*
*
[1] Zhí Qiáo is a stable squatting stance in Xingyiquan/ Taijiquan with similarities to the keima stance; only with a forward-leaning momentum to release a single heavy straight punch]
[2] Wúxiàn Quán translates somewhat to "No Boundaries Fist". But that doesn't sound cool; so let's put it as "Limitless Fist"? Or my favourite; "Limit-Break Fist"? :)
[3] Her "opponent" got the name right...???