*BANG!*
With a violent shockwave rippling outward, two figures were blasted apart to the left and right, riding the surge of impact as their bodies flew backward out of control, only coming to a stop after being thrown a considerable distance.
"You bastard!"
Revis, gripping a jet-black longsword, was sent flying roughly ten meters, and as she looked at the enemy opposite her, her attractive face twisted slightly.
"Your strength... You’ve leveled up?"
Revis’s expression turned ugly.
It couldn’t be helped.
Compared to last time, Riezel’s strength had increased far too much.
Revis had attacked with the certainty of victory, convinced that this time she would finally wash away her humiliation and devastate Riezel to death, but now she discovered that not only had she failed to easily crush him, but she had also instead been entangled by him and was completely unable to go over to ’Aria’s’ side.
Such a drastic change, such a rebirth-like enhancement, pointed to only one possibility—this man had leveled up, achieving the great milestone adventurers dreamed of and stepping into a new stage.
Of course...
"We’re about the same, aren’t we?"
Riezel, holding Fool, had been blown much farther away than Revis, a full several dozen meters, and the hand gripping his sword trembled slightly as if numb, prompting him to glance at his arm before speaking calmly.
"You’re completely different from last time, too."
Last time, in the Pantry on the 24th Floor, Riezel had fought Revis, who could rival Level 6, while under the suppressed status condition of just reaching Level 5, and the result had been his absolute advantage.
But this time, even after raising his status to Level 6, he instead found himself at a disadvantage in his fight against Revis.
Compared to before, he had grown much stronger, yet her growth far surpassed even his current self, reaching an utterly inconceivable level.
If the previous her had merely been comparable to Level 6, then the current her could unquestionably rival Level 7—and not just any Level 7, but one standing at a height nearly unmatched even among them.
"Judging purely by basic abilities, you’re probably even stronger now than the nearly Level 8 King, aren’t you?"
Riezel stared straight at Revis and guessed calmly.
"Just how many magic stones did you devour after that?"
Creatures could rapidly increase their strength by devouring magic stones, just like strengthened species, so Riezel had long been mentally prepared for Revis to grow stronger.
But the extent of her growth was far too extreme, far beyond even Olivas from before—especially that monstrous strength unique to Creatures, which might surpass even a true Level 8.
Riezel had just been forced into a constant disadvantage by that brute force, and if not for the fact that his combat techniques were nothing like before and allowed him to deflect part of Revis’s attack power, being beaten back would have been the least of his problems.
"No wonder you dared to show yourself again."
Riezel’s emotionally flat remark made Revis’s icy face grow even darker.
"To defeat you and drag Aria before ’Her,’ I don’t even know how many monsters’ magic stones I hunted and devoured. I even gnawed on Olivas’s magic stone," Revis said coldly as she raised her jet-black longsword. "All of it was for today. Even if your status has ascended, this time is different from last time, because the stronger one now is me. You’re going to fall right here."
Revis released an indescribable, murderous aura that was so dense it felt almost tangible, as if it had turned into countless invisible needles relentlessly stabbing into Riezel’s body, making his skin ache sharply.
Yet, in the face of Revis releasing such an overwhelming, murderous aura, Riezel’s expression remained unchanged, and his reaction was remarkably calm.
"You don’t actually think that was all I had just now, do you?"
Riezel lifted his gaze and looked at Revis indifferently.
"Don’t forget, I haven’t used magic yet."
As soon as these words fell, Revis was provoked.
*BANG!*
With the air exploding, Revis shattered the ground beneath her feet and surged toward Riezel at extreme speed, like a black-and-red demonic gale.
*Clang!*
Revis’s jet-black longsword, which came crashing down head-on, was blocked by Riezel raising Fool, producing a crisp metallic collision that sent his body flying backward once more.
Seeing this, Revis quickly advanced, launching a fierce, flame-like offensive, as if intent on finishing Riezel in one breath.
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
Amid the violent clashing sounds, the jet-black longsword slashed out with raging airflow, striking Riezel’s raised crystal longsword again and again, sending sparks flying and gusts scattering, while the ground along its path shattered, flinging small fragments of stone into the air.
Revis attacked viciously, her gaze icy and her face ferocious, as her jet-black longsword completely transformed into a storm of black violence, cutting out an unknown number of times in an instant, slashing until the air itself wailed.
In response, although Riezel was forced back again and again, his body continuously flying backward, his form and footwork never once falling into disarray, and he remained unnaturally calm, even as the shock split the skin of his palm and blood seeped out, steadily blocking every single slash from Revis, his eyes seeming to see through all attack trajectories as they shone with a transparent gleam, never leaving her for a moment.
"Don’t look at me with those eyes!"
Revis felt as though everything about her was being seen through by those transparent eyes, causing her emotions to grow more and more irritated and violent, her attack frequency accelerating further, her presence turning ever more ferocious, like a savage beast unleashed from its cage, bloodthirsty and mad.
Facing such a Revis, Riezel continued to deflect and parry while retreating violently, yet his movements remained perfectly controlled, and he finally chanted that line of incantation.
"Awaken, Tempest..."
In an instant, the legendary wind of the great wind spirit wrapped itself around Riezel’s body.
*DING!*
Letting the same wind power coil around Fool in his hand, Riezel suddenly accelerated, and with a resounding clash of swords, he knocked aside Revis’s heavy slash that had turned into a black storm, sending countless sparks bursting forth.
"Ugh!"
Caught off guard by Riezel’s sudden counterattack, Revis nearly failed to keep hold of her deflected jet-black longsword, her body jolting as she involuntarily stepped back half a step.
"Wind Breathing - Sixth Form - Black Wind Mountain Mist!"
Riezel advanced instead of retreating, stepping forward boldly and reducing the distance between himself and Revis to zero, as if pressing into her arms, and swung his blade upward from below, slashing toward Revis’s head.
Sword energy spread with that strike, making its sharpness utterly terrifying.
"!!!"
As Riezel unleashed his slash, the instinct unique to a Creature immediately sounded a blaring warning in Revis’s mind, telling her that her body, whose toughness she took pride in and which absolutely surpassed even the Black Rhinos of the 51st Floor, would not be able to withstand this slash.
If this attack struck her, she would definitely be gravely injured.
Although she could regenerate and rapidly recover from that level of injury, she was not naive enough to believe that Riezel would give her the time to recover.
Because of this, she let out a roar as her eyes split wide.
"DON’T UNDERESTIMATE ME!"
After letting out a battle roar, Revis hurled a punch with her free hand.
A Creature’s limbs were all weapons of astonishing hardness—even an attack thrown barehanded carried power no less than that of a same-level adventurer wielding First-Class Equipment.
*BANG!*
Revis’s punch struck the sharp, sword-energy-laden slash head-on, smashing into the side of Fool and violently colliding with the wind wrapped around the blade.
Thanks to that, the wind coiled around Fool exploded apart, and the resulting shock force separated Riezel and Revis once more, blasting them backward and widening the distance between them again.
"Why can you use Aria’s wind?!"
Revis shouted as she dug her feet into the ground and stabilized herself.
"Who exactly are you?!"
Revis leapt into the air and rushed toward Riezel’s direction at extreme speed, the jet-black longsword in her hand cleaving down from above with a momentum that seemed capable of splitting mountains and severing seas.
"Wind Breathing - Fourth Form - Rising Dust Storm!"
Riezel steadied his stance, spun Fool in his hand, and slashed upward, releasing five wind slashes from below that twisted together into entwined wind blades, rising like a tornado as they cut toward the descending Revis.
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
Revis neither underestimated the attack nor retreated as she swung her longsword repeatedly, knocking away all five incoming wind slashes.
*DING!*
When Revis reached Riezel’s front, the jet-black longsword followed through into another downward slash, crashing into the crystal longsword raised once again, the impact ringing out like a tolling bell, causing countless sparks to burst forth and the ground beneath Riezel’s feet to shatter.
But this time, Riezel was no longer shaken or forced back by Revis’s monstrous strength, as the wind wrapped around his body blocked her attack power and even rebounded it, sending the force crashing back into Revis herself.
*BANG!*
Suddenly, a kick exploded against Revis’s abdomen.
After blocking Revis’s heavy slash, Riezel abruptly drove a foot forward, landing a fierce kick squarely on her body.
Riezel’s kick was not only fast but extremely powerful, as if it had been prepared long ago, sending Revis flying like a ball and slamming her heavily into the wall, cracking even the super-hard metal surface.
With wind enveloping his entire body, Riezel reclaimed the initiative and advantage in the fight, successfully striking while Revis’s mental balance faltered.
"Using your hands and feet as weapons isn’t a privilege reserved for you hybrids."
Riezel spoke without joy or sorrow.
Even though he primarily trained in swordsmanship, mixing punches and kicks into combat had always been his habit.
After all, in his previous life, he had practiced self-defense techniques, and Wind Breathing itself also incorporated elements of hand-to-hand combat.
Just as Thunder Breathing’s astonishing speed and explosive power did not come from the sword but from the legs, focusing strength in the lower body and releasing it in a single burst, Wind Breathing likewise possessed special applied techniques that allowed wind to be wrapped around the hands and feet and used as hand-to-hand combat.
Because of this, most Wind Breathing practitioners were actually quite proficient in hand-to-hand combat.
If that had not been the case, Riezel would not have mixed martial arts into his swordsmanship during his fierce battle with Revis in the Pantry on the 24th Floor last time.
"Even though something like this already happened before, you’ve completely forgotten about it."
Riezel walked step by step toward Revis.
"Could it be that hybrids aren’t just out of touch with society and hopelessly behind on information, but that your brains have regressed too?"
Such mockery was yet another severe provocation to Revis, who appeared cold on the outside but possessed an intense sense of pride within.
"Damn you..."
Revis struggled to her feet, pulling herself away from the cracked adamantite metal wall behind her, glaring at Riezel with a murderous aura surging in her eyes.
Just as Riezel raised his brow and was about to rush over and cut Revis down with a single sword strike, a cry of anguish interrupted him.
"Miss Ais!"
It was Lefiya’s anguished cry.
Riezel’s movement halted, and he turned his gaze to look around.
Only then did he realize that their side had been pushed into an extremely dangerous situation.
Tiona and Tione were both down, blood spilling from their mouths.
Ais had also fallen to the ground, blood staining the corner of her lips.
Lefiya and the remaining members of the Loki Familia were barely holding on under the fierce assault of the Ishtar Familia’s berberas and Telskyura’s amazonesses.
Ishtar Familia’s berberas were manageable, since the highest level among them was likely the tall amazoness wielding a large blade, who was Level 3, and against Lefiya and the other second strings of the Loki Familia, whose levels reached Level 4, she posed little real threat.
However, Telskyura’s amazonesses were a completely different matter.
Among these women, there were quite a few Level 4s and even more Level 3s, and every one of them fought without fear of death, as if they had endured countless bloody battles, feeling no fear toward stronger enemies.
Even at Level 3, they dared to pounce on the Level 4 second strings of the Loki Familia, and even when knocked to the ground, they would immediately scramble back up, radiating a ferocious intent that made it look as if they would tear a chunk of flesh off their enemies with their teeth if they had to.
Covered in wounds, they still charged relentlessly at their foes, stunning the members of the Loki Familia and causing them to suffer repeated unexpected counterattacks.
It was only natural, for they held rituals year-round in Telskyura and spent day and night immersed in slaughter, so they feared neither death nor blood.
Such a group of vicious female warriors had severely injured an unknown number of the Loki Familia members. If not for the rear guard led by Lefiya repeatedly casting healing magic to treat them, they would likely have been wiped out long ago.
Ais, Tiona, and Tione were down.
Lefiya and the other second strings had fallen into grave danger.
It could be said that, aside from Riezel, almost everyone on their side was being completely overwhelmed by the enemy.
And the fall of the executives likewise dealt an unimaginable blow to the morale of Lefiya and the other second strings, bringing them to the brink of defeat and total annihilation.
"I really underestimated you all..."
Riezel’s attention inevitably shifted, and because of that—
"I won’t let you go over there!" Revis charged in, slashing at Riezel’s head with her longsword. "Your opponent is me!"
As Revis coldly shouted, Riezel narrowly avoided the jet-black longsword coming down on him, his expression remaining composed and calm.
"I think you’re mistaken."
Under these circumstances, Riezel spoke evenly.
"I had no intention of helping them."
"You think we’ve already lost?"
"It’s still far too early."
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]