I Hate Systems

"It…hurtssss!" Velcorn rolled around on the ground, screaming in pain as the fire continued to burn him. He quickly activated some of the Artifacts that he had stolen, barely managing to douse the flames, gasping for air.

"Lady Bunuela's attack wounded him! Take this chance! Kill him!" The cultivators chasing after him quickly caught up to him, unleashing their respective attacks too.

But unsurprisingly, their attacks only managed to clash into one another and cancel out.

"Don't attack him!" Bunuela nodded at Xuer before shouting, "Everyone! Get back! He'll just make use of your disorganised attacks to survive. Only cultivators with a fire attribute come forward. The rest move back and form a perimeter. Don't allow him to escape."

"You heard the lady." The cultivators looked at one another and began to retreat, making a wide circle as they all glared at the figure of Velcorn.

In the meantime, three cultivators stepped forward, all of which had the Earth Martial Spirit related to the fire or similar attributes.

Bunuela condensed another firebird, sending it slamming into Velcorn.

In response, Velcorn hurriedly evaded, condensing a barrier around himself as he rolled on the ground, suddenly taking out a shield from his spatial pouch that he infused with his Origin Essence and threw, slamming it into the firebird, dissipating it.

The shield melted into a puddle and dripped on the ground, raising smoke.

Xuer brought out a second Ice Crane Puppet on which Bunuela and Bela jumped onto. They were then carried to the ground where Bunuela hurriedly inquired details about the abilities of the three cultivators, coming up with a plan.

In the meantime, the surrounding cultivators slammed attacks onto Velcorn to keep him busy. Even though all attacks missed him, he didn't get the chance to heal himself either.

"Hah!" One of the three Earth Martial Spirit cultivators shouted as he unleashed his ability, rapidly causing the air to turn dry around Velcorn, making him feel like he was in a desert. His throat was parched, while his lungs were burning up.

The soil too was turning hot, making it difficult for him to evade while he was sweating like crazy.

Whenever he tried to escape the encirclement, the surrounding cultivators just unleashed blind attacks with the only intention to push him towards the centre. Due to the sheer volume, some of them indeed hit him, preventing him from breaking the encirclement.

And in the air was Xuer, watching everything like a hawk, having the superior mobility to chase after Velcorn and stall him until he was surrounded once again.

'I'll see if you can escape from here.' Xuer snorted, surprised when she sensed something was amiss. Even though the air had turned hot and Velcorn was sweating, his sweat didn't vaporise for some reason, causing the ground to turn wet.

She shouted immediately, "That's not his sweat on the ground. He's planning to create a swamp here!"

"Alright!" Bunuela nodded at Bela who condensed a rope whip and targeted Velcorn, causing him to evade hurriedly. And when the fire whip missed him, it slammed into the ground, targeting the wet regions, rapidly raising smoke as whatever Velcorn had implanted there was vaporised.

He clicked his tongue in anger as he was getting countered here.

Right at this time, situated on a tree far away was a lady sporting purple hair and golden eyes. Held in her hands was a longbow, the string stretched taut as she had condensed an arrow of light, slowly aiming Xuer, 'Indeed, she must be one of Compass Carburettor's companions. I can feel that she's capable of disrupting my Luck to a certain extent.'

She was Holla, having long since arrived at the scene. After all, Velcorn had created a pretty big mess of everything. She planned to use the opportunity to obtain the perfect chance to deal with CompassCarburettor and his companions.

Holla took a deep breath, stabilising her aim as she continued to condense her Origin Essence into the arrow, 'Even if you reach the Martial Origin Stage, you won't be able to stop my arrow.'

Slowly, her senses came to a sharp point while she was waiting for the perfect moment to attack, something that had become innate to her now. After all, she was more than three hundred metres away from Xuer. So, her aim must be impeccable, 'But, this arrow will travel faster than sound. So, you won't even know what hit you.'

Swish!

Holla released her hold on the string, launching the arrow when suddenly, she noticed her Luck trembling erratically like it was getting pummelled by something, "What the fuck!"

Her eyes widened as her senses were honed to the brink.

Right after she launched her arrow, Holla noticed a jet-black portal manifest a metre before it, causing the arrow to enter it.

And at the same time, another jet-black portal formed a metre behind her, causing the arrow to exit from it, aiming at her head.

Seated in her mind, observing everything was the Perfect Timing System. It was a deer with antlers that were bigger than its body by ten times.

"Perfect timing for a counter…" It sighed before tapping the pile of memories, unleashing its innate ability.

The memories of Holla rapidly took off, converging into a massive spiral to condense the structure of a shield.

The memories of this shield were all related to Holla's memories when she was using her abilities to form a shield—in the cultivation world.

Her thoughts, will, experience, senses, reflexes, and emotions were all infused in these memories. And now, they were actuated akin to nostalgia, but conditioned for an instinctual reaction, influencing her body.

Skill—Perfect Timing!

It was similar to a nightmare that caused people to wake up from their sleep abruptly, flinching in response. And now, such a response actuated her Origin Essence automatically, condensing a shield of light on her skin.

Moreover, a ripple formed right above the shield, at the exact location where the arrow was heading toward her.

The arrow came into contact with the ripple, instantly unleashing a sonic boom as the Sonic attribute in the arrow and the ripple cancelled one another, emanating sound waves that cracked the surrounding trees.

Following it, the arrow of light slammed into the shield of light, cracking in response as another shockwave was unleashed. This time, it was because the momentum behind the arrow was absorbed and transmitted as a shockwave.

The arrow dissipated as Holla survived without as much as a scratch.