Chapter 164: Fist Against Flesh
While relieving the numb, tingling sensation, Turles continuously pondered countermeasures.
When Turles had previously observed One-Star Dragon's abilities, he'd known its power lay in that powerful physique. But only after actually engaging did Turles realize he'd still been somewhat careless.
It was simply too hard!
With Turles's current battle power, even the universe's hardest metals could be pierced by his attacks. Yet when his fists landed on One-Star Dragon's body just now, they hadn't caused excessive damage.
Don't be fooled by One-Star Dragon's current seemingly worse condition. Turles knew clearly that the earlier attacks, to One-Star Dragon, were roughly equivalent to scratching an itch.
Most critically, One-Star Dragon's physique seemingly possessed automatic damage reflection properties. This was why Turles's hands felt numb.
'Thornmail? This is troublesome!'
Thinking of this, Turles couldn't help feeling somewhat vexed.
This was Thornmail—an extremely annoying ability. You hit someone ten points, you suffered seven points reflection. This made people extremely wary.
Combined with One-Star Dragon's excessively hard body, for Turles to break through its defense, he had to use even greater force. This way, the reflection damage he received became even greater.
While Turles was still contemplating how to break the stalemate, One-Star Dragon opposite had also discovered some clues.
"You—you're out of options!"
Though phrased as a question, One-Star Dragon's words were quite certain—especially after noticing Turles's mouth twitch. Its mental guess became even more confirmed.
Regarding its own physique, One-Star Dragon was naturally extremely confident. At first it hadn't reacted. But seeing Turles not actively attacking for ages, it immediately understood.
"Hahaha! Turles, come again!"
Since that was the case, One-Star Dragon wouldn't be polite. It laughed loudly, then initiated another attack.
Helplessly, Turles could only engage.
Thunderous sounds rang through midair once more.
Turles and One-Star Dragon's battle drew intense attention from several people. Naturally, One-Star Dragon's words also reached their ears.
"This?"
Carrit's group exchanged glances, unsure whether to believe One-Star Dragon's words.
They'd always believed in Turles's battle power. Having experienced such a long time together, they trusted his strength even more than Turles himself did.
In their view, calling Turles Universe 6's strongest wouldn't be excessive. Of course, this was because they hadn't witnessed Turles's battle with Destroyer Champa.
They knew One-Star Dragon was strong. But saying Turles had no way to handle One-Star Dragon—they absolutely wouldn't believe that.
Yet seeing Turles's earlier non-rebuttal made them somewhat uneasy.
Compared to Carrit's group, Hit's strength was somewhat greater. Combined with his time manipulation ability, he could see some problems others couldn't.
So he'd seen that Turles had just suffered some losses, and he already knew the key.
"Physical strength?"
Hit watched the two fighting in the air again, his gaze continuously tracking their figures as he murmured quietly.
Speaking of which, whether Universe 7 or Universe 6, even other universes, the mainstream path to growing stronger still focused more on ki. Of course, the universe being so vast, some unusual training methods definitely existed.
But from Hit's previous experience, ki training remained more common.
Because as long as something was alive, ki existed within its body. Ki was also quite simple. And as long as ki could be raised, that lifeform's physique wouldn't be too poor.
Moreover, even if that lifeform's physique wasn't particularly strong, as long as ki reinforced the body during battle, it wouldn't be weak.
Turles's ki obviously wasn't weak. Ki reinforcement of his body was naturally quite strong too. Yet even so, Turles had still suffered minor losses fighting One-Star Dragon. Then only one reason remained—One-Star Dragon's physique held something unusual.
Thinking this, Hit had roughly guessed the predicament Turles faced.
But the next moment, Hit felt somewhat curious how Turles would respond to such a problem.
Turles naturally didn't know Hit had grown curious about his response. Currently, his mood was rather peculiar.
Speaking of physique, as a Saiyan, Turles's was also quite strong—especially since he'd researched the Human-Form Great Ape transformation, allowing the Great Ape form's physical enhancement to remain in base state.
Moreover, Turles had never abandoned training under high-gravity conditions. He'd even gone further, having Bulma invent a gravity reorganizer to train his internal organs as well.
However, after Turles could transform into Super Saiyan, he'd rarely used the Human-Form Great Ape transformation.
But even so, with Turles's current realm having entered the divine domain, his life level elevation had made his physique far exceed the vast majority of lifeforms.
Yet encountering One-Star Dragon—this anomaly—his physique seemed somewhat insufficient.
BOOM!
Turles and One-Star Dragon's fists collided once more. An invisible rebound force traveled along their fists' connection point, reflecting back onto Turles's body.
Sensing the now-familiar rebound force, joy flashed through Turles's eyes.
"As expected, it works!"
But before Turles could carefully experience it, One-Star Dragon's fist withdrew. Then came continuous fierce attacks.
As the strongest existence among Evil Dragons, One-Star Dragon's grasp of battle was extremely precise. Though it didn't know why Turles had become distracted just now, it seized this opportunity, continuously attacking and directly suppressing Turles.
Regarding this, Turles felt joy rather than alarm. He simply used extreme speed footwork, continuously dealing with One-Star Dragon's attacks while occasionally counterattacking once or twice.
Turles's entire mind had already fully concentrated internally—precisely at the connection between his tail base and spine.
This was the key area where Turles had once researched the Human-Form Great Ape transformation. Currently, in battle against One-Star Dragon, new changes were occurring.
At his tail base, golden substance continuously generated from the tail—especially when receiving One-Star Dragon's rebound force. The golden substance's production speed accelerated. Once this golden substance appeared, it traveled along his spine, fusing into his body everywhere—especially onto his bones.
In just a short while, his entire skeleton had already been coated with what seemed like golden lacquer—golden and brilliant, quite beautiful!
More importantly, as this golden substance fused, Turles clearly felt his physical strength increase considerably.
Turles didn't yet know what effect this change had on him. But he had a premonition—this held tremendous significance for him.
Seeing the golden substance covering his entire skeleton still required considerable time, Turles withdrew his consciousness and began focusing on the battle against One-Star Dragon.
This time, not only did Turles no longer remain passive, he became even more aggressive. Moreover, Turles began reducing ki reinforcement of his body, using only physical strength to engage One-Star Dragon in pure flesh-against-flesh combat.
Turles's sudden shift caught One-Star Dragon off guard. But sensing Turles's changed fighting style, One-Star Dragon's spirits lifted, becoming even more excited.
"Hahaha! Good! Satisfying!"
"Turles, this is how it should be!"
One-Star Dragon released a long howl. The aura on its body grew more violent. Its entire body suddenly grew a section taller, muscles swelling considerably.
Having spoken, One-Star Dragon completely let loose, its offensive becoming even fiercer.
One-Star Dragon's attacks made Turles's pressure surge. Yet Turles's eyes only grew brighter. He also released a long howl, responding:
"One-Star Dragon, you're quite impressive. Continue!"
As his words fell, both figures vanished in midair again. Only thunderous sounds continued ringing out.
"What's happening?"
The two's battle had suddenly grown even more intense, beginning to affect those in the arena. Reluctantly, Carrit's group also began retreating from the battlefield.
At this moment, they discovered with shock that apart from themselves, another person was actually present at the scene—and they'd previously made no discovery whatsoever.
Only after retreating several hundred kilometers from the battlefield did they stop. Looking at Hit, who similarly leaked no aura whatsoever, Carrit's group immediately grew wary.
But Hit only glanced at Carrit's group once before returning attention to the battlefield.
Current Carrit's group didn't merit Hit's attention, even with their transformation abilities. Rather than focusing on these people, better to properly observe Turles's battle.
Whoosh!
Though Hit's was merely a plain glance, Caulifla and Cabba both involuntarily stepped back.
Seeing cold sweat streaming down both their foreheads, Carrit immediately flashed forward, blocking them. He stared gravely at Hit while concernedly asking: "What's wrong with you two?"
From Hit being undetectable by them, plus remaining composed while watching Turles and One-Star Dragon's close-range battle, Carrit knew this person was highly unusual.
Yet how strong Hit actually was, he couldn't determine. Now Caulifla and Cabba's behavior cast a shadow over Carrit's mind.
Currently, Turles was still fighting One-Star Dragon to a standstill. From appearances, they wouldn't finish anytime soon. A strange person suddenly appearing—Carrit had to consider more possibilities.
Caulifla and Cabba exchanged glances, then stepped forward from behind Carrit, reassuring him: "We're fine!"
Though they said this, both looked toward Hit with extreme wariness.
These events took long to describe but occurred in the blink of an eye. Whether Caulifla and Cabba's sudden retreat or Carrit's sudden action—all completed in very short time.
This left Yaris and Beris exchanging confused looks, completely unaware of what happened.
However, the two now heard something from Carrit's words. They tacitly flew before Carrit and the others, vaguely shielding Caulifla and Cabba behind them.
Watching the two figures blocking before her eyes, Caulifla rarely displayed such exceptional quietness. Cabba also said nothing.
Caulifla's abnormality made Carrit glance at her again. But after thinking it over, Carrit stopped worrying. After deeply eyeing Hit's back, he looked toward Turles again.
Unknowingly, Turles and One-Star Dragon's battle had already stopped.
Currently, both were in somewhat poor condition.
Turles and One-Star Dragon's bodies were covered with wounds.
One of One-Star Dragon's horns had broken off at some point. Its body was black and blue all over. Blood traced from its mouth corner. From its continuously twitching mouth, it was clearly enduring severe pain.
Turles was similar. His battle suit had completely shattered, revealing toned muscles. Sweat mixed with blood continuously flowed down his muscles.
"Huff! Huff!"
Turles gasped heavily, staring at One-Star Dragon opposite while slowly recovering stamina.
This was the first time Turles had faced such exhausting battle.
Whether very early Broly or Destroyer Champa, though battles were difficult, they hadn't consumed this much stamina—more ki consumption instead.
But the recent battle with One-Star Dragon, even with Super Saiyan God's powerful recovery, made his limbs somewhat weak, his body feeling drained.
However, even so, Turles's spirit felt extremely clear—especially sensing the faint restlessness within his body.
He could now confirm what exactly the golden substance inside did. Soon would be verification time.
"Turles, how about it? Want to continue?"
At this moment, One-Star Dragon's voice came, cooling Turles's spirits considerably.
One-Star Dragon's physical power still far exceeded Turles's expectations. In such short time, the bruises on its body had already faded considerably. If not for that trace of blood at its mouth corner, Turles might have thought everything earlier was an illusion.
"You... you recovered this quickly?"
Turles stared somewhat dumbfounded at One-Star Dragon, now vigorous and restored again.
He felt his stamina had only just recovered halfway—this was achieved by utilizing divine ki's properties. Yet what was One-Star Dragon relying on?
"Hahaha!"
Seeing Turles's shock, One-Star Dragon immediately grew smug. It slowly flew before Turles, stopping a few steps away, then raised its eyebrows at him. "Can't help it. Sometimes real men need to be quick!"
Several black lines appeared on Turles's forehead. He was completely speechless.
He suspected One-Star Dragon was making innuendo, but he had no proof.
After the speechlessness passed, seeing One-Star Dragon's such magnanimous personality, Turles felt somewhat conflicted.
So close, One-Star Dragon naturally also noticed the conflict on Turles's face. Its thoughts turned, understanding. The smile on its face also diminished somewhat.
Obviously, One-Star Dragon was very clear about Turles's purpose.
For a time, both fell silent.
After an unknown period, Turles felt his stamina recover. He straightened his body, then spoke solemnly:
"Then let's properly conduct one final battle!"
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