Alek stood on the rooftop, a flicker of surprise, almost imperceptible, flashing in his eyes.
"How did you do that?"
When he appeared on the rooftop, he had just witnessed Chen Bugu resolve the two "Cross Guards" in a flash of lightning and flint.
Since Chen Bugu's teleportation that night, Alek had learned a lot about him from the South City Wall defenders.
According to the intelligence provided by the defenders on the city wall at the time, Chen Bugu's strength should only be around Seven Star to Eight Star.
However, he possessed some kind of ability that could increase reaction speed and body speed, and coupled with a sneak attack, he managed to kill Dongcheng Xiuwu in a short time.
Alek clearly remembered that even after consuming a Burning Body Pill, Chen Bugu's speed barely reached Nine Star.
But now, this guy seemed to have truly broken through to Nine Star; how exactly did he do it?
"You ask me how I did it? Just like this."
Chen Bugu raised Bi Yu Wei Lan, and the Water and Wood Elements intertwined to form an arrow shaft, which then shot towards Alek.
Alek's body instantly changed.
His skin turned snow-white, his pupils blood-red, the whites of his eyes black, and a blood-colored energy cloak behind him billowed without wind, transforming into two massive bat wings.
Crimson State!
Alek went all out from the start; he would not allow himself to let Chen Bugu escape a second time due to underestimation.
The Water Wood Arrow pierced through Alek's body, creating a hole.
But Alek remained expressionless, and not a single drop of blood flowed from his pierced body.
Looking through the wound pierced by Chen Bugu, Alek's body seemed to contain no flesh and blood, only continuously flowing blood-colored energy that constantly intertwined and contracted, gradually filling the wound completely.
"Mr. Alek, you truly resemble a monster."
"Thanks for the compliment," Alek said before instantly vanishing from his spot.
Chen Bugu immediately retreated with his bow, and the next second after he left his original position, several claw marks, three meters long, appeared on the ground.
Alek's figure appeared, his hands gripping two green-grade iron claws, slashing towards Chen Bugu.
Chen Bugu shot several arrows, but Alek still did not dodge, charging straight at Chen Bugu, allowing his body to be pierced by the arrows.
Chen Bugu had not expected Alek to adopt such a fighting style; although he dodged the instant he reacted, he still took a claw hit.
Aura Shield instantly opened, and Chen Bugu seized the opportunity to activate Bullet Time, sweeping a whip kick towards Alek's face, but it still swept past as if hitting flowing water, causing no substantial damage to Alek.
With his attack missing, Chen Bugu reopened the distance, but as he retreated, he noticed a few drops of blood had somehow stained the surface of the Aura Shield.
These drops of blood emitted a red glow, then exploded in Chen Bugu's astonished eyes.
The explosion happened precisely the moment the Aura Shield disappeared after 5 seconds.
The next Aura Shield had not yet been activated, forcing Chen Bugu to endure the explosion head-on.
"Lingguang Lock, is it? Did you think I wouldn't know about this thing?"
As the smoke dissipated, Alek looked at Chen Bugu's burned hands, sneered, and continued to close in.
Chen Bugu frowned; in his Weakness Detection vision, the head was still Alek's weakness.
However, that whip kick just now was still ineffective; Alek's body seemed to have "elementalized."
Chen Bugu had never heard of anyone achieving "elementalization" at the Black Iron stage, let alone Alek, who was not an Element-type Awakened.
Awakening of characteristics brought by "Second Stage Transformation"?
Chen Bugu was puzzled; facing Alek, who was rapidly closing the distance, he decisively activated Mental Shock.
Even if Alek's body could elementalize, mental attacks were still unavoidable.
Indeed, Alek's brain suffered intense pain, and he stopped in place, his bat-blood wings behind him reverting to a blood-colored energy cloak.
This scene further confirmed Chen Bugu's suspicions.
"Second Stage Transformation" was essentially an explosive skill unique to transformation-strengthening Awakeneds. It allowed one to awaken the characteristics of the transformed object through a secondary change.
Since it was a skill, it could be interrupted!
"Amon!"
As Chen Bugu activated Bullet Time, Amon leaped out of his pocket.
Two black ice crystal snakes spewed from Amon's mouth, rapidly coiling around Alek's legs, then bursting into ice flowers.
When Alek regained his senses, his legs were trapped in the black solid ice, "unable to extricate themselves."
He could even feel these strange black ice absorbing his mental power.
But before he could react, dense Water Element energy arrows engulfed him.
Chen Bugu continuously drew his bowstring, intently observing Alek's physical condition.
The first few Water Arrows struck Alek solidly, but when he reactivated his Crimson State, the Water Arrows, like previous attacks, could no longer harm him in the slightest.
However, Chen Bugu did not stop his actions, because he noticed that every Water Arrow would pick up a little red when it left his body.
That was blood dissolving into the Water Arrows.
The initial blood-colored light pillar was also like this; under the Rainstorm Arrow, its color slowly faded, and then it disappeared.
Blood is liquid, and so is water!
Chen Bugu's eyes lit up, and his movements continued unabated.
Alek broke free from the black ice locking his legs, and his body transformed into hundreds of blood-colored bats flying towards Chen Bugu.
Chen Bugu retreated while continuously firing Water Element arrows, combined with Amon's ice cones, quickly dispersing the blood-colored bats in front of him.
Alek reappeared with a single bat on a nearby rooftop; although he still looked unharmed, his complexion was not good.
His Crimson State was indeed a Second Stage Transformation, essentially activating all the blood in his body to stimulate himself by accelerating blood flow, thereby increasing his strength and speed, and achieving "blood elementalization" that immunized him to physical and elemental attacks.
Although he didn't want to admit it, after several exchanges just now, he realized that his proud speed gained no advantage whatsoever against Chen Bugu.
And that damned turtle, why had no one gathered intelligence on this battle pet?
What was with that strange black ice? It could actually absorb his mental power?
A Nine Star Awakened with high element affinity, plus a strange battle pet that was at least Eight Star?
Alek suddenly realized that in just a few short days, Chen Bugu's growth seemed to have exceeded his control.
And Chen Bugu seemed to have already discovered his weakness.
His "blood elementalization" was actually more like a low-quality "elementalization," because "elementalization" consumed elements that could be replenished at any time, but "blood elementalization" consumed his own blood.
Each attack immunity required the consumption of his blood, and Water Element, being a liquid, often carried away more blood.
Chen Bugu seemed to have seized on this point, constantly using Water Element arrows since earlier.
"Chen Bugu, you truly surprise me."
"The last person to surprise me this much was Liu Chengfeng a year ago."
"This move was originally reserved for him, but since you're so eager to die, I'll fulfill your wish."
As Alek finished speaking, a massive cross shuriken appeared in his hand.
Chen Bugu's pupils constricted the moment he saw the shuriken, and he immediately retreated rapidly.
He recognized the origin of that shuriken at a glance.
A one-time item produced by Tiangong Pavilion—the Silver Star Shuriken!