“Well, thank you,” Dustin replied, annoyed.
He had initially come to cure Alicia, but now he had to fight as well. After an exhausting day of hard work with no reward, he felt completely shortchanged.
“Don’t be so grumpy. Show off your heroic side in front of these two beauties. Who knows, you might win their hearts,” Grace teased in a low voice.
“Yeah, right. These two are nothing but trouble. I want no part of it.” He rolled his eyes.
“Hey! What are you two whispering about?” Shadowcloak couldn’t stay silent anymore and declared, “I’m giving you two options: surrender now, or I’ll kill you.”
“Kill me? You sure talk big.” Dustin stepped forward and stared at him.
He continued, “You might be fast, but your strength is laughable. The guy lying there could defeat you easily if he were a bit smarter.”
“Arrogant brat! What the heck are you talking about?” Shadowcloak snarled.
“Drop the act. You may fool others, but I can see right through you,” Dustin said with a straight face.
He continued, “If I’m not mistaken, you’ve spent decades honing your agility. You’ve mastered it to a level that surpasses many grandmaster martial artists. But unfortunately, you lack strength in combat.
“Sure, you can handle divine-level martial artists with ease. However, when facing grandmaster level opponent, you’d resort to underhanded tactics and intimidation.”
After careful observation, Dustin noted that Shadowcloak’s cultivation was only halfway to becoming a ga grandmaster and hadn’t broken through yet. Despite that, Shadowcloak lacked the strength to match Brian.
However, his key advantage was his remarkable agility, which made him practically untouchable.
It enabled him to adopt the persona of a phantom, striking fear into his opponent’s hearts and forcing them to retreat. Hence, his energy waves’ fluctuation was just a form of disguise.
The reason Shadowcloak drugged Brian was that he couldn’t defeat the man. So, he relied on his cunning tactic to drive Brian into madness and eventually exhaust himself.
“You… You’re just talking nonsense!” Dustin’s words seemed to hit Shadowcloak’s nerve, and he seethed in anger.
He roared, “Bastard! How dare you question my strength? You must have a death wish. Come forward if you dare.
And I’ll crush you with a single strike.’
“Really? I’d like to see what you’ve got. “Dustin scoffed. He was unfazed by the threat as he approached Shadowcloak.
Dustin’s casual approach caught Shadowcloack off guard. Given his earlier skill demonstration, which was on par with a grandmaster, others would have hesitated and felt intimidated.
Shadowcloak had planned to seize that moment to showcase his abilities. But he never anticipated Dustin’s boldness as he advanced toward him.
He wondered if Dustin was simply fearless or had something up his sleeve. Shadowcloak frowned, and he began to waver.
“Hey! Aren’t you going to crush me with a single strike? Well, here I am. I’ll stand right here and let you do it.” Dustin stood with his hands behind his back. His tone was calm yet defiant.
“Reckless fool! Since you have a death wish, I’ll gladly oblige.” Shadowcloak shook with rage. He lunged forward without hesitation and aimed a powerful palm strike directly at Dustin’s head.
With a thunderous roar, a massive, translucent hand materialized from thin air and slammed down on Dustin like a sledgehammer.
Shadowcloak was only halfway to becoming a grandmaster. Although he could easily deal with most divine-level martial artists, he still harbored lingering fear when facing grandmaster -level opponents.
He knew with his agility, he could always escape even if he couldn’t win. So, he attacked Dustin without hesitation.
“Die!”
When he saw Dustin standing his ground without flinching, his murderous intent surged, and his attack intensified. But just as his hand was about to strike Dustin’s head, a protective force field armor suddenly appeared.
Shadowcloak’s full-force strike collided with the force field and exploded. His true energy shadow palm shattered on impact and dispersed into the wind.
He was propelled backward and retreated several paces. His limbs went numb, and he felt a rush of adrenaline coursing through his body.
Meanwhile, Dustin was still standing with hands behind his back. He was unaffected by the impact.
“How is this possible?” Shadowcloak’s face twisted in horror. He was bewildered. Despite striking Dustin with all his might, the man appeared completely unscathed.
“Is that all you’ve got? Pathetic.” Dustin shook his head and eyed him disdainfully. As he had expected, Shadowcloak was nothing more than a hollow threat.
