*Hmph, so what if he's wearing dwarven-made armor? I've got an earth-affinity swordsman right here, anyway,* Rio monologued. *And earth affinity is known for its destructive power.*
"Hey Rio, don't underestimate him. He's the Elf King, after all," Alex warned.
Rio just rolled his eyes lazily. Meanwhile, the Elf King, Elkarl, began to speak.
"Hey, human children, what if we move from here? This place is a bit too cramped for us to fight freely," Elkarl suggested to Rio and Alex.
"Useless words," Rio replied. "You'd better just fight us right now."
"Hey... It's better to just agree to his request. We'll benefit from it too by being able to use our techniques freely," Alex whispered to Rio.
"But he's the one who suggested it, which means he has a plan or a goal that benefits him," Rio refused.
"You idiot! Listen to what I said before. We also get the good side of it, which is being able to use our techniques freely," Alex replied, a vein popping on his forehead.
...
200 meters from the starting point
This is ridiculous, Rio monologued. Swordsmen should just fight, there's no need for agreements.
Does he think this is a competition? This is clearly a life-or-death battle.
"Alright, let's start round two, human children," Elkarl said, summoning his slender sword in his right hand.
"Human children, human children... I'm tired of hearing that. Don't you remember me, huh?! We've met before, two years ago at the tournament, to be exact," Rio answered, annoyed.
"Hmm... I'm not very good at remembering weak people, you know?" Elkarl replied casually.
Hearing this, Rio's jaw tightened, a sign of his anger. Right now, Rio and Alex were holding their swords with both hands, a sign that they were both serious. Previously, during the fight with the Titan, they had only used their swords in their right hands, leaving their left hands empty. But now, they both held their swords with two hands, a sign that they were about to get serious.
...
Elkarl is a Tier 1 {King Sword} Swordsman, while Alex is only Tier 3 {Master}. What's the difference? It's not in swordsmanship, but in technique. Tier 1 has the 'Absolute Domain' technique, whereas Alex can only rely on his Sword Aura.
The wind blew across the grass they stood on. At the same moment, Alex and Elkarl charged forward in unison. The ground beneath their feet cracked, leaving a trail of destruction.
Alex immediately slashed horizontally at Elkarl, but Elkarl countered with a vertical slash.
CLANG
They exchanged blows.
However, in the final moments, Alex gained momentum. He delivered a series of slashes at the Elf King—thrusts and slashes in rapid succession. Elkarl began to be pushed back but quickly regained his footing, increasing his concentration.
Elkarl saw Alex preparing to slash horizontally and readied himself to block, but the attack never came. Instead, Alex leaped high into the air. Elkarl was surprised but refocused, as a lightning projection in the shape of a wolf was now heading straight for him.
With not enough time to dodge, Elkarl had to take the attack. Not willingly, but by positioning his sword horizontally in front of his chest to reduce the impact of Rio's attack.
CRACK-BOOM!
Elkarl was pushed back 5 meters. He didn't fall; he remained standing, but his body was still crackling with electricity.
Damn it, an intermediate-level technique is still not enough. It seems only advanced and ultimate techniques can actually hurt him, Rio monologued.
"Good, but not good enough!" said the recovered Elkarl.
I have to use intermediate and advanced techniques, Alex monologued, now having landed back on the ground.
"Now it's my turn," Elkarl replied.
Elkarl charged forward, and simultaneously, roots emerged from the ground, heading toward Alex. The roots were large and looked strong, meant to either attack or ensnare the enemy.
Seeing this, Alex didn't stand still. He condensed the earth into additional swords. There were five in total, floating around him (six swords if you include the one he was holding).
The two of them clashed. The floating swords slashed at Elkarl's roots, while Alex exchanged blows with Elkarl. But right now, Alex looked to be overwhelmed.
Rio, seeing this, took the initiative to help. He circled the fight, looking for an opening to attack, and he found one. Elkarl and Alex were locked in a block. Elkarl's roots had been stopped by the five swords Alex controlled. Alex slashed at Elkarl with all his strength, while Elkarl fought with agility. Elkarl always managed to dodge Alex's slashes, shifting his body to the side or blocking by redirecting Alex's sword, just like he did with Rio's katana in the previous chapter.
Elkarl had not received a single scratch, a stark contrast to Alex, who already had several cuts. Alex retreated, then leaped into the air and used an advanced-level technique. 'Meteor Strike Technique.'
Alex descended from above, slamming his sword down on Elkarl. But Elkarl managed to block it by growing a wall of trees that protected him from all directions.
But from behind, Rio was doing the same thing. He charged at Elkarl from the back at high speed, leaped as high as he could, and then dove down like a lightning meteorite, slamming into Elkarl's wall with a massive explosion.
"Heaven's Flashfall!"
BOOMM!!
A combo attack from Alex and Rio. A devastating single-target strike.
---
Third-Person Point of View - The 3 vs 1 Fight
10 minutes earlier.
"You'll regret coming here to block us," Althair said with sharp eyes, his gray irises glowing. "I'll kill you brutally, you bitch."
Hearing that vulgar word, Leina's jaw tightened and she said, "I will crush that arrogant face of yours."
Leina summoned armor that covered her from head to toe in an instant, meaning the armor was an artifact. Meanwhile, Clara gave buffs to Alicia and Althair and applied debuffs to Leina. The buffs increased their attack speed and damage output. The debuffs reduced Leina's damage output, drained her stamina, and made her feel heavier than before (gravity manipulation).
The Elf Queen, Leina, cast a major spell. "Ancient Tree's Wrath!"
The giant trees around them suddenly transformed into wood golems. Their eyes glowed green, and their mouths opened to reveal rows of hardwood teeth. The five golems attacked Althair simultaneously. Alicia, seeing this, released an energy projection. She swung her sword, and an aura in the shape of a flaming tiger shot towards the five golems and exploded, spreading fire everywhere.
BOOM!
The fire burned their wooden bodies, but the forest continued to provide energy to repair the damage.
"Fire is useless in this forest!" Queen Leina shouted with a laugh. "The forest will continue to live as long as I still breathe!"
Leina shifted her gaze to Clara and Carsel, who were freely providing support.
I have to take down the healer first, Leina thought.
"Vine Prison!"
Hundreds of vines grew rapidly towards Clara. The plants moved like snakes, trying to entangle and choke her. Althair, seeing Clara in danger, acted immediately. "Wind Barrier!"
A wall of strong wind protected Clara from the vine attack. But that move made Althair lose concentration for a moment. Leina immediately launched a spear made of wood. The spear shot towards Althair, but Alicia quickly foiled the action. The spear was slashed into 10 pieces by Alicia and fell to the ground. Leina gritted her teeth.
Alicia immediately advanced with fiery steps, each footprint she left behind igniting into a flame that continued to burn. This created a lot of smoke. Alicia took many steps, circling Leina. As a result, the smoke completely obscured Leina's vision.
Alicia suddenly appeared in Leina's blind spot, her blade enveloped in a red aura, symbolizing aggressiveness. With a will to live and an intent to kill, her sword aura became sharper.
"Solar Cataclysm!"
(An advanced technique, not the ultimate technique mentioned in the previous chapter, my apologies for the mistake.)
A massive amount of fire gathered on Alicia's blade, glowing in the middle of the forest. She then slashed horizontally, releasing the stored fire energy at Leina's back.
Leina reacted too late. Her senses had already located Alicia, but her body moved slowly due to the debuffs, and Alicia's slash was faster because of the buffs.
BOOM!
Leina was sent flying 30 meters, crashing through her own large trees.
I couldn't cut her, Alicia monologued. If the object I attack is pushed back instead of being cut, it means the object is too hard.
Leina knelt, blood coming from her mouth. The back of her armor was destroyed, and the front was cracked. It was clear Leina was not okay.
Damn it, that dwarf said this armor was well-made. He said it was high quality, Leina monologued. Is this armor just bad, or is her attack just too strong? Leina stared at Alicia in the distance.
Alicia gave her no time to breathe. She charged forward again, but the trees became more aggressive. From behind, Althair cast a long-range spell. He created wind bullets and shot them at Leina, but tree roots sacrificed themselves to block them. As a result, the wind bullets lodged in the tree roots and never reached Leina.
Leina quickly recovered. She absorbed power from the surrounding trees to heal herself. As a result, the trees withered, and what was once a forest became a vast plain as before.
"You...! Naughty children," said the recovered Leina. "Feel my wrath!" she said angrily.
Leina picked up the magic staff that she had dropped and raised it high.
"Arbor Mundi"
(World Tree)
From the ground, a giant root emerged. The root continued to grow upwards, forming a massive tree trunk. In a matter of seconds, a tree 100 meters tall and 20 meters in diameter stood in the middle of the vast land.
"What in the world is this?" Alicia said, shocked.
Althair and Clara came up from behind, and they regrouped.
"Together now. We don't know anything about that tree," Althair warned.
Clara applied a protective effect to Alicia and Althair's bodies. The three of them stared at the giant tree. The giant tree was strange; a large mouth grew in the middle of its trunk.
"Nature's Judgment!"
The mouth opened wide, revealing no teeth like a baby's, and a green energy sphere formed, spinning at high speed. The energy sphere was launched at them at the speed of light. The energy contained within it was immense.
Because of the speed of light, Althair and his friends couldn't dodge, and...
BOOOMMMM!!!
To be continued....