Chapter 164: Shattering the challenge domain world! Skill: Ranged Barrier!

"That hill. It just moved, right?" Caelus asked with a deep frown.

The next moment, his theory was violently confirmed.

Rumble!

The massive hill that stood tall with no signs of damage suddenly crumbled and rolled directly toward Caelus and Brenda. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Caelus clicked his tongue. The hill was at least 150 meters in radius.

The incoming landslide was simply not something that could be dodged, even with his Projection Frame. It was already way too close.

Caelus was sure that if this rolled onto them, they would die. There was a strange, special power hidden within the rocks.

However, the very next moment, Caelus saw the world around him suddenly flash black and white.

Instantly, a massive barrier completely encased the falling landslide.

A terrifying, fiery red power erupted from within the barrier.

BOOM!

Everything inside the barrier was instantly incinerated.

There was no wind or spatial distortion outside of it at all. The entire landslide was cleanly destroyed without doing a single ounce of damage to the outside world.

"Oh?" Caelus’s interest was completely piqued. "That barrier. What was it?"

Caelus turned to Brenda, who was clearly the culprit behind the barriered explosion.

"Ranged barrier mixed with Ultima Fireball," Brenda replied calmly.

"Oh." Caelus nodded.

Ultima Fireball was the superior evolution of the normal Fireball spell. It evolved from a simple ball of flame into a destructive force that could visibly alter the landscape with a single charge.

It was a high-tier skill that only Gold-ranked players could properly use.

At the same time, a brilliant spark of inspiration hit Caelus.

"Miss, do you happen to have a Ranged Barrier skill card on you?"

Brenda looked at him strangely. "What if I did?" she asked.

"Oh?" Caelus was genuinely surprised. She actually had one?

"I’ll buy it," Caelus nodded immediately. "Name your price."

"I’ll give it to you for market price. 30,000 Origin Credits," Brenda said. "It’s an Epic rarity skill, and I only have the 3-star version with me right now. No 4-star."

"That’s perfect." Caelus beamed.

Three-star meant it was Silver rank, and he was also currently in the Silver rank tier. This was perfect for him.

Caelus opened his system screen. "Since we can’t use our phones in this domain, I’ll have to use the system trade."

He sent a direct trade request to Brenda.

Now that the newbie phase was completely over, he could trade with just about anyone through the system. He had a massive stockpile of Origin Credits, so 30,000 was nothing to him.

Brenda accepted the transaction.

Soon, a glowing card materialized directly into Caelus’s hand. It was the Ranged Barrier card.

He instantly pressed on it’s logo and it transformed into a light that shot into him.

[Ranged Barrier (Epic, 3-Star)]

[Details: Form a barrier up to 30 meters around you. It can completely trap energy and other powers inside it, while also blocking outside energy from hitting it.]

[Effect: Whenever you use your own skill inside this barrier, it can contain the blast no matter how powerful it is.]

This was incredibly good.

This meant he could finally spam his nuke-related skills without hesitation.

Abilities like the Hollow Sun Manifestation he got from merging his Solar talent with Hollow Flames, or even his devastating Volcra.

Both could now be used in a manner that wouldn’t accidentally destroy everything and everyone around him.

He could also shrink the barrier’s size. The devastating effect of any detonation would be perfectly compressed and only reach the edges of the shield.

In a way, this was a massive quality-of-life update for his entire offensive arsenal.

Soon, they continued walking.

Neither of them spoke, but on the way, Brenda kept giving Caelus subtle glances.

Each time she looked, she only saw a young man. But this youth possessed a terrifying Gold-ranked combat score!

She genuinely wondered how such an unbelievable monster had suddenly appeared in the backwater Solaris Kingdom.

In the end, she couldn’t remain silent any longer. "Are you really less than twenty years old?"

"Of course I am," Caelus replied effortlessly. "I’m young and full of energy. Unlike you old people."

Dark lines visibly appeared on Brenda’s face.

She wasn’t that old! She was only 25.

She had achieved the Matriarch status at a very young age due to her parents passing away. But thanks to her terrifying talent, she had still managed to reach Gold III by the age of 25.

Her ascension quests had dragged on strictly because of the system’s long cooldowns. Caelus was naturally aware of this fact.

At the same time, unlike him who was a literal walking cheat code, it wasn’t so easy for normal people to secure Ascension Tokens.

A few hours later.

Caelus and Brenda stood perfectly still, deep frowns plastered on both their faces.

"Strange," Caelus spoke up softly.

"Miss Brenda, remind me. Have we not crossed this place before?" Caelus turned to her and asked.

She nodded subtly. "If my memory isn’t wrong, this is the second time we have arrived here."

Caelus turned completely serious. So did Brenda.

They both seemed to have a terrifying inkling of the situation at hand.

"We are either trapped in a massive illusion or going in endless circles. It could be something related to spatial manipulation," Brenda said, her frown deepening. "If it’s space, it will be incredibly troublesome."

Caelus nodded in agreement.

If this was a spatial skill, the chances were high that the enemy they were dealing with was no ordinary being.

It either had an incredibly rare spatial talent, or it was a Crown-ranked entity that had access to domain-level spatial skills.

"Wait. Look at that hill." Brenda pointed directly forward. "Is that not the same one that almost fell on us?"

"The position cannot be wrong," Brenda added.

Caelus looked at it with sharply squinted eyes. "You might be right."

"Then... this must be an illusion!"

Both of them arrived at the same conclusion simultaneously.

The very instant they realized it, the fake world around them began to violently shatter.

Space visibly crumbled apart like broken glass.

The following instant, they were dropped into a pitch-dark void, illuminated only by a harsh, glowing white light in the surroundings.

In the dead center of the dark space hovered an alien creature with a massive head.

A dark, tattered hoodie covered its strange, frail body. It held a bizarre staff close to its face and stared down at them with an cold look.

However, sensing the terrifying and suffocating presence erupting from the creature...

Both Brenda and Caelus immediately broke out into cold sweats.