Chapter 1186: Chapter 1186: Strange Movement Skill

Both the ogre and Zen were at a standstill. The former had ceased his attacks while the latter merely floated in the air.

Zen was already aware of the peculiarities of the Eight Smoky Melodies when he began cultivating it.

He even asked Freya to fight with him at one point just to see how special the movement skill was. She had used her long sword during their fight but not once was she able to land a strike on Zen.

There was no such thing as absolute motionlessness in this world.

Even stationary things such as trees and grass would sway every now and then from the wind and other stronger, external forces. The stars in the sky did not merely twinkle in place but spun at various speeds in space. Even the hundred thousand supreme worlds were mobile. There had been cases of numerous supreme worlds colliding with each other every now and then. Of course, the process took millions of years but the fact that there were cases of collision was sufficient proof of the mobility of the worlds within this universe.

The slightest of movements could have the potential to cause the greatest of catastrophes. It was through the Eight Smoky Melodies that these slight ripples of mobility could be used as the greatest shield.

The slightest fluctuation of movement was enough to push Zen's body into motion and this was the reason why the ogre's attacks did not hit him at all.

Freya's strength was nothing compared with the three ogres but that did not mean that they were anything special in Zen's eyes.

He merely thought of them as test subjects—a good opportunity to find out just how powerful the Eight Smoky Melodies truly was.

“Huff, huff...”

The machete-wielding ogre huffed as he tried to gather his wits. Meanwhile, the second ogre was already at the ready with his spear that he immediately thrust at Zen with full power.

“Snake Spear!” he bellowed.

This spear of his was special with its tip formed like a snake's head. When thrown, this serpent-like spear would often strike fear to an enemy's heart in the midst of battle.

However, even as the snake spear hurtled towards him, Zen remained calm and unyielding.

Instead of dodging, Zen stretched out and stood upside down but he kept his eyes on the black spear that came closer to impale his head.

Three inches away from his brow and Zen could fairly make out the cold, black glow that encased the tip of the weapon. He could see the shallow lines that ridged its surface, and appreciate the somewhat decent craftsmanship of the weapon refiner of this spear.

Three inches—that was all the distance it needed to travel to embed itself on Zen's skull.

But these three inches was an unattainable and everlasting distance for the spear, as if there was an invisible barrier that prevented it from getting closer.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”

The spear was thrown with a heavy force and it cut through the air with a whistle that sounded more like the explosion of firecrackers during a village festival. ＲÅꞐổBЕś

However, despite the power and agility that the weapon held, it still wasn't enough to graze the tip of Zen's hair.

This turn of events greatly displeased the three ogres.

This movement skill of Zen's was truly strange. They had never seen anything like it which was how they knew that this matter was something they had to take extremely seriously.

A humiliation born out of a loss was unforgivable for an ogre, after all.

“Guys, block his way!” the ogre in the lead roared as he once again charged towards Zen with his trusty machete.

The Eight Smoky Melodies Zen used contained some kind of rule that enabled him to move with the wind. This rule had some kind of supreme skill which enabled him to maintain that three-inch distance between him and the ogres. However, his opponents did not know this. For them, it looked as if Zen was merely using his own speed to maintain the gap and play with the three of them like mere toys.

The only way they could ever hope to defeat Zen was that all three of them surrounded him on all sides within a circle.

However, the chances of this strategy's success were not absolute.

The three of them had managed to surround Zen and leave him with no room to run away.

An ogre was with a machete, another with a spear, and another with a sword. Zen was now trapped and no matter which direction he went, he would crash into one of his opponents' weapons.

Was this perhaps the turning of the battle's tide? Unfortunately for the ogres, it wasn't. Despite surrounding Zen from all corners, they saw a strange thing happened.

Their trap was not airtight and Zen was able to twist his body and squeeze out of the circle through a narrow gap that existed between their weapons.

And he still managed to maintain a distance of three inches during the entire process!

“How… How did he do that?”

the ogres could only mumble in shock as they watched him literally slink away from their grasp.

Was Zen even human?

A warrior often had a few cultivation methods that enabled him or her to contort or manipulate their bodies at will. They could make it so that their bodies were the same firmness as that of a rock, or as soft as jelly. A strong and sturdy ogre would be able to fold his own body into a certain shape if necessary.

However, what happened just now wasn't normal.

The gap between their weapons was only half a foot. For Zen to slip through, his body flattened entirely like a boneless mollusk and evaded the entrapment set by the ogres' weapons.

Once he was out of their attack range, Zen's body returned to normal. “Shall we continue?” he asked almost mockingly with a smile on his face.

Two of the ogres were on the verge of giving up. Why would they continue when their opponent was like this?

The three of them were originally confident in defeating Zen and taking away the Illusion Points within his body. It was supposed to be an easy kill for them. However, their cockiness was quickly put into place upon realizing just how skilled this young man was in fighting.

“You guys aren't going to attack? Guess it's my turn then,” Zen remarked as the smile was immediately replaced with a cold, calculating glare. One hundred and fifty Illusion Points—that was the amount he estimated he would gain once he killed the three ogres in front of him.

Suddenly, a popping sound was heard on the battlefield, quite similar to that of a bowstring snapping after releasing an arrow.

“Whoosh...”

Not too far away was an ogre who had drawn his string and shot an arrow towards Zen.

“Dang it!”

he cursed, seeing the arrow headed straight towards him.

“Eight Smoky Melodies! Retreat!”

It was nerve-wracking for the smoke to spread around his body but the arrow was already so close to his chest.

Fortunately, it stopped its flight once it was three inches away from his body.

And with that, Zen was sent careening backward by this tiny arrow.

It sent him back a thousand, no, ten thousand feet! This arrow was shot by a Soul Sea Realm ogre after all so its force wasn't to be taken lightly.

Zen only stopped once the remaining momentum from the arrow finally dissipated and it drooped forward to indicate the loss of its strength.

The arrow remained a mere three inches away from him before falling onto the ground. As it fell, Zen's body once again twisted and flattened itself to fit through the crack between the arrow and the ground.

It should be noted that Zen's body remained three inches away from both the arrow and the ground during this entire process.

Even Zen himself was dumbfounded at what had just happened. He wouldn't be able to explain how or why this was possible because even he didn't know just what the heck was happening.

“What is this Eight Smoky Melodies? Isn't this too much of a crazy movement skill?” he couldn't help but mutter in disbelief. He didn't know why but he always managed to put three inches between him and his opponent. He briefly wondered if he ended up being tricked by Gus, that unreliable buffoon.

Zen shook the smoke from his body and slowly rose in the air while his opponents quickly fled in opposite directions.

“Whoosh...”

The ogres were quick to scatter after realizing that they wouldn't be able to defeat him. They had been secretly following Zen all this time but this experience had greatly destroyed their confidence in defeating him. Unfortunately, Zen wasn't going to let them go so easily.

The ogres were around ten thousand feet away from him now but he knew it wouldn't be difficult to deal with them considering his strength.

Fleeing from battle was often considered dishonorable but the ogres couldn't be bothered with codes of conduct anymore, not after seeing what Zen was capable of on the battlefield.

It was fortunate that they were only at the Illusion Battlefield and still had the chance to be reborn after dying, granted they would lose half of their Illusion Points.

The ogre who shot an arrow at him was a completely unexpected opponent. However, this supposed ace was left dumbfounded after witnessing the scene of how Zen avoided and outwitted the strong arrow shot towards him.

He thought he had Zen with that arrow, but it turned out he was wrong.

The ogres, after realizing that Zen was hurriedly chasing after them, quickly activated their armors in the hopes of disappearing from his sight.

However, it was all in vain.

Unable to escape their fate, three red dots of light wrapped around the ogres' souls and then shot towards the main city where they would have no choice but to wait for their revival.