Chapter 437: Integrated Ranking (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 437: Integrated Ranking (4)
Roaring cheers flooded the arena.
Before the flushed, shouting spectators, Volkan charged forward like a madman.
Rumble!
It was a reckless assault. Charging like an angry beast, Volkan suddenly twisted his head.
Flash.
Swish.
A sharp blade of energy grazed past his face by a hair's breadth.
Having fought alongside Chris across countless battlefields, Volkan knew exactly where his attack range began to the very step. It was an instinctive reaction born of experience. As Chris's sword tore through the air and abruptly changed direction to pursue him, Volkan pushed back hard, exploding the mana in his legs.
Whoosh.
Right in front of him.
Chris was already there.
The moment their eyes locked in midair, they exchanged a flurry of blows so fast the ordinary eye couldn't even track them.
Clang!
Cl-cl-cl-clang!
The exchange was fierce.
When Volkan blocked a strike aimed at his chest, Chris immediately redirected his blade toward his head. It was a dizzying offensive. Volkan parried every single one of the dozens of strikes that followed, and the moment he caught even a split-second opening, he aimed for Chris's head without hesitation.
Was it a matter of life and death?
That didn't matter.
They stood face-to-face to test their limits, and neither had any intention of holding back out of consideration for the other. Such pleasantries could wait until victory was fully secured. Above all, Volkan knew he had to go all out. Chris was an opponent against whom victory wasn't guaranteed even if he fought to the brink of death. Because of that, Volkan aimed for his vitals every time he saw an opening.
Swish.
It was a hair's breadth.
As Chris deflected a thrust aimed at his heart, Volkan's Aura erupted explosively.
'Now.'
Boom!
Rumble!
Volkan's trademark move:
Strong Strike.
Flexing his massive muscles, he detonated his Aura. The glowing red energy crashed down like lightning at his command. Once he seized the momentum, his opponent would have no choice but to focus entirely on defense. Since even a grazing blow would inflict a fatal wound, Volkan had bided his time for this single moment of overwhelming pressure.
Boom!
Boom, boom, boom!
The spectators' jaws dropped.
His opponent was Chris.
Excluding Roman Dmitry, Chris was undeniably hailed as the greatest swordsman in Dmitry. Yet, Volkan's presence as he pushed him back was astonishing. It wasn't that Volkan was an unknown swordsman. He had simply been evaluated as falling far short of Chris and Kevin. But the martial prowess Volkan displayed right now was incredible.
Mendes?
Raymon?
Could they have won against Volkan?
It would have been difficult.
Against Volkan's monstrous strength, they wouldn't have been able to hold out like Chris; their defenses would have shattered, and they would have thrown down their swords and begged for mercy.
'I can do this.'
Volkan burned with desire.
Just as Chris looked up to Roman Dmitry, the private soldiers, including Volkan, looked up to Chris. To them, he was a realistic goal. Knowing their talent could never reach Roman Dmitry's realm, they still wanted to prove their worth by surpassing Chris.
Beneath Chris, there were countless competitors.
Not just Kevin, but figures like Volkan had always struggled desperately to surpass him.
Today was the day to achieve that dream.
At the sight of Volkan's intense determination and suffocatingly fierce attacks, the crowd erupted into passionate cheers.
And all of that...
...irritated Chris.
* * *
Volkan's skill.
He acknowledged it.
Though not as much as Kevin, Volkan had shown rapid growth. There were not many in this tournament who could face him. However, Chris didn't like this situation. He disliked those eyes glaring with a strong desire to bring him down. He disliked the way Volkan pressed the attack as if he had already seized victory, and he disliked the reactions of the people expecting an upset.
He had become everyone's target.
Just as he looked up to Roman Dmitry, it was only natural for Dmitry's swordsmen to try and surpass him.
But.
He wanted to make that ambition a nightmare to achieve.
He wanted to prove to everyone that facing him required immense resolve. Without perfect preparation, they would only face an insurmountable wall. He would not be a mere final gateway to prove one's skill in Dmitry; he would be the definitive second-in-command, a peak that overwhelmed everyone except Roman Dmitry.
Boom!
Rumble!
It was a massive clash.
Chris deflected Volkan's attack and immediately closed in on him while his balance was slightly shaken.
Swish.
Clang, clang, clang!
It was a textbook pattern.
Without using any special tricks, Chris ruthlessly targeted the visible openings.
It was easy to block.
If the right was open, block the right; if the left was open, block the left. The pattern was so obvious that even ordinary people could follow the flow of the match.
However...
Swish.
"...Ugh?!"
Volkan swallowed a groan.
Chris's attacks were suffocating.
Although blocking the clearly visible patterns wasn't difficult, every time he parried a strike, he felt as if his insides were being twisted apart. And the speed of the attacks was gradually increasing. He blocked his right flank because it was open, but his opponent had already anticipated the next opening and struck it.
His head spun.
He could see Chris's intention.
Try and block it. I'll face you with obvious moves, so try to endure my attacks with pure skill.
Chris was provoking him.
Volkan struggled desperately with a burning competitive spirit, but as time passed, Chris's presence grew increasingly overwhelming.
Slash.
His flank was cut.
As he stumbled and deflected the follow-up, his thigh was slashed next.
It was an overwhelming difference in skill.
Volkan felt like he was going crazy under the fiercely relentless assault, which was too much to handle despite its simple patterns. He had always known what kind of existence Chris was. But because he had gained confidence in his own growth through the Continental War, he had mistakenly believed he might be able to climb the mountain before his eyes.
That mountain was much higher than he had thought.
Looking up at the sky, the peak shrouded in clouds crushed Volkan's spirit.
At that moment—
Crack!
"Argh!"
His sword shattered.
With his palm torn open, Volkan rolled across the ground.
Silence fell over the arena.
The spectators, who had been cheering wildly just moments ago, froze instantly as if doused with cold water.
Shhhk.
Chris pointed his sword.
Looking up at the blade aimed at his chest, Volkan stared at Chris, his face painted with dread.
"...I was dreaming a foolish dream. I admit defeat."
Round two.
The result of the Dmitry civil war that everyone had anticipated ended in Chris's overwhelming victory.
* * *
As soon as the match between Chris and Volkan ended, the crowd rushed off in a hurry, as if by prior agreement.
"Hurry!"
"If we're late, we'll miss the match!"
At the exact same time, another massive match was taking place.
With Edwin Hector and Kevin facing off, no one wanted to miss a single second.
'Who will win?'
The crowd was buzzing with curiosity.
Logically, Kevin had the upper hand.
Having just witnessed Chris's overwhelming strength, it stood to reason that Kevin—the man who coveted Chris's position—would be able to defeat Edwin Hector. But that didn't mean it would be an easy fight. Since Edwin Hector had already defeated Raymon, the spectators believed an upset was entirely possible.
It was truly a preview of the finals.
Although it was only the second round, there was a firm belief that whoever won here would advance to the very end.
Thus, they arrived at the venue.
As the panting spectators looked down at the arena, a shocking sight unfolded before them.
"Whoaaaa!"
"Edwin! Edwin!"
"Finish him right now!"
On the stage, Edwin Hector was overwhelming Kevin.
* * *
The initial pattern was similar to Raymon's match.
Kevin closing in.
Edwin Hector counterattacking.
However, because the quality of their skills was on a completely different level, the onlookers couldn't help but marvel from the very beginning.
Whoosh.
Roar!
Kevin charged through the flames.
Even amidst the fiercely raging inferno, he instantly identified the weak points. The way he penetrated the space without hesitation was breathtaking. There was not a shred of doubt in his steps. Even as his skin turned red from the intense heat, he protected himself with a minimal amount of mana and never took his eyes off Edwin Hector.
And in his field of vision, he saw Edwin Hector, who was just as unfazed.
"Wind Cannon."
Whoosh.
Roar!
Edwin changed his strategy.
In response to Kevin effortlessly piercing through the flames, Edwin fired a gust of wind to disperse the heat.
It was a setup for a battle of attrition.
He induced Kevin to consume his mana, pushing him back by continuously casting spells from a distance. Eventually, Edwin's tail was caught. When Kevin relentlessly pursued and slashed Edwin Hector's body, the mage vanished with a rustle, like a dispersing mirage.
"Illusion."
Illusion magic.
It was a trap.
He had used the wind from the Wind Cannon to whip up the flames and obstruct Kevin's vision. In that brief window, he had put forward an Illusion of himself.
At the same time...
"Flare."
Roar!
High in the sky, Edwin Hector spread his wings of magic and detonated his power.
Exactly at the moment Kevin slashed his Illusion, Edwin finished his preparations to bombard that very spot with Flare.
Boom!
Roar!
The heat was immense.
Because the stage was narrow, there wasn't much room to dodge, and the intense flames swallowed Kevin whole. The crowd gasped in shock. It was an attack that would have easily incinerated an ordinary person. For a moment, they thought Kevin might have died just like that.
But that was a needless worry.
A dense bundle of Aura burst through the flames, tearing at Edwin Hector's wings and chest.
Slash, slash, slash!
"Shield."
Screech!
He barely managed to prevent his chest from being cleaved open.
With his layered Shields completely shattered, Edwin used Blink to temporarily escape the attack range.
But right there, Kevin was waiting.
With eyes as wild as a beast's, Kevin had already read the flow of mana and pinpointed Edwin Hector's landing spot.
Rumble!
He was different from Raymon.
While Raymon had been swayed by the flow of mana, Dmitry's swordsmen, including Kevin, had mastered the art of hunting mages. Therefore, Blink did not work. Although Edwin Hector had cleverly set up the Illusion as a fake, the spatial distortion and flow of mana created by Blink were clearly visible to Kevin.
Flash.
Fast Sword Technique.
His blade cleaved through space.
Just when it seemed Kevin would slash his throat, Edwin Hector used Blink in rapid succession.
"Blink."
Flash.
A difference of ten centimeters.
By drastically shortening the travel distance to cast faster, he appeared right in front of Kevin's nose and raised a finger.
"Chain Lightning."
Crackle!
It was a truly astonishing ability to adapt.
Even under the dizzying onslaught, Edwin Hector countered Kevin's strikes with unwavering eyes. Throughout the match, the spectators couldn't even breathe properly. With the situation shifting rapidly second by second, no one could predict who would win. They didn't dare blink, unwilling to miss a single moment.
The peak strengths of a swordsman and a mage violently clashed.
Although Edwin Hector was dictating the flow of the battle, Kevin's pursuit speed only grew faster as time went on.
Swish.
Rumble!
The Illusions were all cut down.
Tearing through the fakes in an instant, Kevin pierced the surging flames and caught up to Edwin Hector every single time he used Blink. His ultimate Fast Sword Technique was at a level that even Shields could not block. The tension was palpable. Edwin Hector using Blink at ten-centimeter intervals, and Kevin parrying and countering all of it—both had surpassed human limits.
This time was no different.
Edwin Hector, who had been pouring out magic, used Blink. Kevin anticipated it and occupied the space beforehand.
Flash.
Edwin Hector appeared in the new space.
Kevin immediately lunged.
Just as Kevin's breath brushed against his nose, Edwin Hector curled his lips into a smile.
"Magic trap, Entangle."
"...?!"
Rustle!
While engaging in close combat, Edwin Hector had activated a magic trap using double casting.
It was placed slightly away from the area where they were fighting, and the flow of mana was so subtle that even Kevin hadn't noticed it. Judging that his preparations were complete, Edwin used Blink to land right on top of his own trap. He knew Kevin would follow immediately. Kevin's outstanding instincts would be the very thing that led him into the snare.
It played out exactly as expected.
Step.
Kevin set foot on the trap.
The magic of Entangle erupted, and massive, mana-reinforced tree roots surged upward, binding Kevin instantly.
It was a fleeting moment.
The opening wouldn't last long.
It would buy him two or three seconds at most, but in a battle between powerhouses, such an opportunity was fatal.
"Burning."
Whoosh!
His magic power boiled.
He had entered the realm of the 8th Circle.
With his crimson hair fluttering and his eyes dyed red, Edwin looked toward Kevin.
"Hellfire."
The flames of hell.
It was a truly destructive power meant to put an absolute end to the match.
The fiercely swirling hellfire swept over the space before Kevin could even attempt to escape.
Boom!
Roar!
* * *
The crowd was lost in awe.
Finally snapping out of his daze, one spectator spoke in a cautious voice.
"...Is it over?"
The duel between the two had been an incredible match.
Both Kevin, who pursued relentlessly, and Edwin Hector, who countered everything, were astonishing.
It was certain.
Both were worthy of being championship candidates.
It was unfortunate they had met in the second round, but they both deserved to be named among the top rankers after the tournament concluded.
Rumble!
The aftermath of the flames did not subside.
Regardless of victory or defeat, the real question was whether Kevin was even alive.
Under such a destructive attack, his survival seemed impossible.
It was then.
Gasp.
"L-Look over there!"
From beyond the blazing inferno, a human figure walked out.
Flames flickered across his entire body as if he were the incarnation of fire itself. Due to the immense heat, parts of his skin were burned and melting.
In that split second, Kevin had escaped the attack range.
Edwin Hector thought he had perfectly trapped his opponent, but Kevin had caught the flow of mana and reacted a step faster. Edwin hadn't bought two or three seconds. It was barely a single second. Kevin had broken free of Entangle in an instant and escaped the direct blast zone. Though he protected his body with mana, the mere aftermath of the spell had left him in this state.
Crackle, crackle.
It was bizarre.
A burning human emerged before the crowd with a calm face, acting as if he felt no pain.
"Prince Edwin Hector. Dmitry does not fall from something like this."
He smiled.
At that moment, the people saw it.
Despite his smiling lips, his expression was twisted like an evil ghost's.
The duel was not over yet.