Volume 8, Chapter 31 – Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense? Who Are You Fooling?

The instant Tianyin appeared on the city walls, the Abyssal Lord far away on the hillside saw her figure.

To be precise, Tianyin’s Throne-tier aura was like a pillar of light piercing the night sky in the Abyssal Lord’s eyes, impossible to miss.

“The vessel… has finally come out?”

The Abyssal Lord’s crimson eyes fixed on the small figure in the distance as she slowly licked her lips.

In the next moment, the Abyssal Lord’s figure vanished from where she stood.

At the same time, after finishing her conversation with Fisiel, Tianyin was preparing to head onto the city walls to provide support.

However, the instant she appeared above the walls, an inexplicable sense of dread suddenly surged within her.

『Xiaoyin, danger!』

In her mind, Samael’s anxious voice rang out at that very moment.

Buzz—!

Something seemed to vibrate beside her ears. Almost at the same time the sound appeared, enormous blood-red tentacles materialized out of thin air at the corner of Tianyin’s vision.

“The Abyssal Lord!”

There was no time to think. The moment she saw the tentacles, Tianyin immediately realized that the attack came from the Abyssal Lord. But at this point, what Tianyin needed to do was defend against the Abyssal Lord’s assault.

“No time… I’ll have to use that move…”

There was no other choice. The Abyssal Lord’s attack was simply far too sudden.

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Moreover, Tianyin had not expected the Abyssal Lord to personally arrive at the battlefield. Before this, Tianyin had not sensed the Abyssal Lord’s presence at all. As such, this sudden strike was completely beyond Tianyin’s expectations.

Although Tianyin reacted in time, she had not even drawn her weapon yet, and simply had no spare capacity to defend against this attack.

But—

That did not mean Tianyin truly had no way to defend against the Abyssal Lord’s sudden assault.

Because…

“Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense…”

She let out a helpless sigh in her heart. To be honest, this was a skill with absolutely no dignity and even damaged her imposing image. Tianyin would avoid using it whenever possible.

But the truth was that this all-direction, no-blind-spot defense skill, known as the strongest defense, was an EX-tier ability and also Tianyin’s most powerful defensive skill.

And under this life-or-death moment, Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense was her best option.

Thus.

Under the Abyssal Lord’s slightly astonished gaze, Tianyin wrapped her hands around her head and curled her small body into a tight ball.

And in this extremely bizarre posture, the tentacles that lashed toward Tianyin were as if they had struck an incomparably hard rock, instantly rebounding away.

“…”

Silence.

The atmosphere of the entire space fell into an eerie silence.

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The Abyssal Lord stared unblinkingly with her crimson eyes at Tianyin, who was maintaining the Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense posture.

Meanwhile, Tianyin, still holding that posture, opened her large, pretty eyes and stared back without blinking at the Abyssal Lord, who looked completely stunned.

For a moment, above the Northern Fortress, two legendary Throne-tier existences simply stared at each other, eyes locked.

“…”

“…”

After a long silence, the Abyssal Lord’s eyelids twitched.

“Y-You… what kind of move is that?”

To be fair, as an Abyssal Lord who had lived for millions of years, she had seen all kinds of bizarre techniques.

Arcane arts, magic, elements, even astrology. None of these were unusual abilities in the Abyssal Lord’s eyes.

But…

Who could tell her why this mere vessel had defended against her sure-kill attack using a Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense posture that looked unbelievably cute?

One had to know that her tentacle attack was something even the Heavenly Father dared not face head-on. After taking a single strike from her, the King of Knights had fallen directly into a weakened state, which was precisely how Yunchou had taken advantage of him.

And now, her attack had been blocked by a mere vessel using a Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense posture?

Even the Abyssal Lord could not help but start questioning everything.

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“As you can see, this is a defensive skill.”

Although Tianyin did not have any goodwill toward the Abyssal Lord, since the enemy had asked so earnestly, Tianyin felt she should explain properly.

However, Tianyin did not realize that her explanation sounded like blatant brushing-off to the Abyssal Lord.

“A defensive skill? With that kind of posture?”

The Abyssal Lord might be somewhat deranged, but she still understood basic common sense.

If simply maintaining a Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense posture could block her attack, then unless there was some other power or item assisting Tianyin’s defense, the Abyssal Lord would never believe it.

“A mere vessel… daring to answer with something that insults my intelligence? Good… very good…”

In the Abyssal Lord’s view, Tianyin’s response was nothing but mockery.

After all, whether a Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense posture had any defensive power at all was something the well-traveled Abyssal Lord knew was utterly impossible.

Not to mention that this posture was something children loved to do. If Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense could really block attacks, then wouldn’t that mean children could defend against her attacks as well?

Absolutely ridiculous.

“Eh? Why won’t you believe me even when I’m telling the truth?”

Heavens above, have mercy.

Tianyin was genuinely telling the truth.

After all, her strongest defensive skill really was Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense. She did not know why the System had given her such a defense as her strongest one, but that was simply how it was.

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Yet even after telling the truth, the other party refused to believe her, which left Tianyin feeling speechless.

This was one of those situations where she was telling the truth, but the other side refused to believe it, and she really had no choice.

“Very well. Since you want to defend, then I want to see just how long you can maintain this posture!”

Words were meaningless now.

After feeling that Tianyin was insulting her intelligence, the Abyssal Lord no longer wanted to continue the conversation.

Sure enough, when dealing with enemies, crushing them with raw power was the proper way.

As the Abyssal Lord’s voice fell, countless tentacles descended from the void and launched attacks toward Tianyin.

Not only that, around Tianyin, innumerable crimson eyeballs brimming with boundless malice began to appear in the void, all of them locking their gaze onto her.

Then, countless blood-red beams carrying an aura of destruction shot toward Tianyin, who was still suspended in the air in her Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense posture.

Boom!

A roar even louder than thunder echoed across the heavens. As the sound resounded, the entire sky above the Northern Fortress was illuminated by blood-red light as bright as day.

In just that instant, the whole world became as bright as daylight under the Abyssal Lord’s assault.

And at the center of the attack, Tianyin was completely swallowed by the Abyssal Lord’s onslaught.