Chapter 529: Interlocking Chains
After buying up everything he needed for his Rune Mastery path, Sylas only had a little over seven million F-Coins left. That wasn't enough to buy all of these Skill Sets.
Well, he would only need a little over a million to buy all the ones from F- to FFF+, but the real problem was the Gene Skill that would cost him more than the seven million he had all on its own.
Sylas also hadn't forgotten that trading for a Counter Gene Skill would remove the Warrant lording over his head right now. But as things were going, he wouldn't be able to afford that either.
After some thought, Sylas shook his head.
He planned on staying here for a month, and within this Woodland Territory, he would be nigh invincible. The improvement of his foundation was more important than anything else right now.
In fact, because of his senses toward his body, if a Grimblade was nearby and using the Warrant to track him down, he was actually confident in reverse tracking them.
He planned on making quite a great deal of money in the coming weeks, so even if he didn't have the funds now, that didn't mean that he wouldn't in the future.
Taking this one step at a time, he traded for <Interlocking Chains>.
[Interlocking Chains (F-) (Skill Set)]
[Your arms and legs link as solid as iron chains. A dance with your embrace means frustration, suffocation, and eventually death for your opponent]
When the Skill Set was taken into his mind, Sylas found that his mind became flooded with various forms.
'Hm... this isn't something I can practice on my own.'
Not long later, Sylas had a General of the City called in. He was a middle-aged man with a robust build, which was quite a common figure amongst the soldiers of the System City. He was known as General Ji.
"We'll be grappling," Sylas said. "No need to remove your armor; I won't be able to ask my opponents in the future to do so."
General Ji seemed confused, but obliged nonetheless.
Unfortunately, the city didn't have any grappling experts among the strong. But most opponents Sylas met wouldn't be grappling experts either.
However, what they would be was extremely strong, and General Ji met those requirements.
<Interlocking Chains> was a Skill Set, so it didn't teach a single powerful attack. Instead, it had two "death positions" and about eight transitions.
The two so-called death positions referred to an arm lock and a leg lock, both around the neck. The transitions were where the real meat of the Skill Set was. It taught how to read and react to an opponent's movements, using their weight and actions against them to pull them further and further into the trap.
"All you have to do is focus on resisting. For now, use about half your Strength and don't use a weapon."
"Understood, Warlord," General Ji nodded.
The two stood about a meter apart, and Sylas took a breath, going over everything in his mind before he took a strong step forward.
General Ji tensed as Sylas' palm reached for his chest. He slapped down with a palm to hit Sylas' attack away.
The solid strike reverberated against Sylas, and his arm felt like it might shatter. He wasn't using his crown right now, so even though General Ji was only using half of his Strength, the gap between their Physicals while the Warrant was still active was too great.
However, Sylas had already expected this; his second half snaked forward as his stance shifted. It was hard to describe the feeling for General Ji, but it was almost as though Sylas' movements had become softer, more flexible.
He already learned from the failure of the first palm. This time, when General Ji slapped out, he missed, hitting against the inside of Sylas' elbow.
Sylas' arm bent naturally, continuing to flow forward. Though its trajectory had changed, he still managed to grab a hold of General Ji's pauldron, gripping tightly into a seam and pulling the man closer.
General Ji struck out at Sylas' chest to force some distance, but Sylas had already spun to the side, using General Ji's pauldron as an anchor to spin himself around to his back.
The General's strong body was nothing more than a detriment to him at this point. He didn't even tilt to the side as Sylas used him like this, allowing the latter to accelerate his movement to his back without worrying about sprawling away.
Sylas clamped himself down on General Ji's back, wrapping his legs around his waist and his arms around his neck.
Panic set into General Ji's eyes as he grabbed a hand toward Sylas' arm. But it felt like he had suddenly tried to grip onto a sturdy chain.
His throat felt constricted and his body shuddered.
In a desperate attempt to change the situation, the General accelerated backward, slamming his back along with Sylas into a wall.
Sylas coughed, all the air in his body being forced out in a single sudden burst.
His grip loosened, and General Ji used the opportunity to rip himself free, looking to flip Sylas over his shoulder.
Sylas felt the world spin around him, but he kept his senses about him. He had been through much worse than losing a little air from his lungs. This wasn't enough to shift his focus.
His arm twisted in the grip General Ji had on it, grabbing onto the General's forearm at the same time. As he soared over the latter's shoulder, his legs shifted in the air and his body
contorted.
General Ji suddenly found himself soaring through the air as well.
BANG!
The General's back slammed into the ground, only to find another strong hold around his neck. This time, however, it was Sylas' legs. His throat was pinned by Sylas' inner thighs, and his face was already blue before he could react.
He tried to use his full strength on instinct, but it was already too late. Between the back of his head slamming into the ground and the circulation being cut off from his head, he stood no
chance.