This time, the man didn’t choose to block.
He bent his knees.
His body dropped low.
The first barrage of icy shards flashed over his head, each one leaving deep frozen scars across the ruined walls behind him.
Then the main disc arrived.
He twisted his waist with every ounce of strength he could muster.
The spinning weapon narrowly missed his neck.
However...
Its edge still managed to graze his arm.
Slash!
A shallow cut appeared.
The icy disc continued flying past him before embedding itself into the remains of a massive stone pillar.
Boom!
Cracks spread throughout the pillar upon impact.
The injured man ignored it completely.
Instead his eyes immediately fell upon the tiny wound on his arm.
White frost had already begun spreading outward.
Not only across his skin but beneath it as well.
The ice-haired woman’s lips curved upward.
She knew better than anyone how terrifying her weapon truly was.
The wound itself was insignificant.
The frost wasn’t.
Once even the smallest cut was inflicted...
The freezing energy would continue spreading endlessly.
It invaded muscles.
Blood vessels.
Bones.
Eventually...
Even the victim’s internal organs.
By the time the target realized what was happening, it would already be too late.
The frost would slowly shut down every vital function until death inevitably arrived.
However, the result she was expecting didn’t happen, because the man suddenly did something that shocked every single one of them.
Without the slightest hesitation, he covered his own wounded arm with blazing flames.
The inferno engulfed his flesh.
The smell of burning skin instantly filled the battlefield.
His face twitched violently.
Veins bulged across his forehead as unimaginable pain assaulted him.
Yet he never cried out.
Moments later...
The flames disappeared.
The flesh around the wound was horribly charred.
Blackened skin had replaced the spreading frost.
The freezing energy had been burned away completely.
The ice-haired woman’s pupils contracted.
"You—!"
Rage exploded across her face.
That frost technique had claimed countless lives.
Yet this madman had simply burned away part of his own flesh to remove it.
He truly was insane.
The man ignored her furious scream.
Instead...
He thrust both hands forward.
The inferno surrounding him spiraled violently.
The raging flames compressed together before exploding outward as an enormous wave of fire surged directly toward the ice-haired woman.
Seeing the attack approaching...
She immediately reacted.
An enormous wall of ice erupted before her.
BOOM!
Fire collided with ice.
Steam exploded outward like a massive cloud, swallowing the battlefield and obscuring everyone’s vision.
"Press forward!"
The curse man barked.
Frustration filled his voice.
He lifted one hand.
Dark gray energy poured outward.
Another wave of decay spread across the battlefield before settling upon the already wounded man.
The curse instantly strengthened.
His injuries reopened even further.
Blood sprayed from several wounds.
"We can’t let him breathe!"
The injured man’s expression darkened.
Pain erupted throughout every inch of his body.
His breathing became even heavier.
"Damn it..."
He clenched his jaw so hard that blood trickled from the corner of his lips.
Seeing this...
The group relaxed slightly.
Finally.
Their relentless assault was working.
His strength was declining.
His injuries were worsening.
Victory seemed only moments away.
However, what none of them realized was that the prey they believed was cornered had been waiting for exactly this moment.
The injured man’s eyes suddenly flashed.
His lips slowly curled upward.
"Now."
"Activate."
The instant those words left his mouth...
The earth beneath everyone’s feet trembled.
Countless ancient runes hidden beneath the broken streets suddenly lit up.
Brilliant crimson lines spread beneath the ruins like an enormous spider web.
The entire city shook.
Rumble!
A gigantic formation awakened.
An overwhelming surge of mysterious energy erupted from beneath the ground, intertwining with the very threads of fate as invisible currents swept across the battlefield.
At first, the eight attackers simply frowned in confusion.
Then...
Their expressions changed.
"No..."
The lightning user’s face turned pale.
"What’s happening?!"
He stumbled backward as he felt something inside his body being forcefully dragged away.
The others quickly noticed it as well.
The formation was draining them of their life force.
The injured man stood motionless within its center.
His body became the eye of the formation.
Streams of emerald vitality poured out from every attacker before converging into him.
Like rivers flowing toward the sea.
The life force entered his battered body.
His wounds began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Broken flesh regenerated.
Blood loss ceased.
His breathing steadily stabilized.
The flames surrounding him erupted even higher.
"No!"
The ice-haired woman screamed.
"We need to escape!"
Only now did she realize the horrifying truth.
This battlefield had never been chosen at random. From the very beginning, it had been prepared for this.
The curse man’s face twisted in horror.
He immediately activated his Law of Decay, trying to sever the connection between himself and the formation.
Dark energy exploded around him.
Yet...
Nothing happened.
The formation continued siphoning away his vitality without slowing in the slightest.
"We have to break free!"
Desperation finally entered his voice.
But it was already too late.
More and more life force flooded into the injured man’s body.
His aura climbed rapidly.
The weak, exhausted appearance vanished completely.
His spine straightened.
The flames around him roared with renewed life, burning brighter than ever before.
The man slowly lifted his head.
A savage grin spread across his face.
"The hunt..."
"...begins now."
His blazing eyes swept across the horrified faces before him.
"Feel the burn..."
"...of despair."
The inferno exploded outward.
The flames circled him like hungry dragons, their brilliance increasing with every fragment of life force the formation harvested.
One by one...
Panic spread through the group.
The whip-wielding woman’s vines rapidly withered before they could even regenerate.
The lightning user’s aura weakened.
Even the cursed man’s face became deathly pale.
"Run!"
He roared.
"We can’t let him continue absorbing us!"
Nobody hesitated.
The arrogance they had displayed moments earlier vanished completely.
One after another...
They turned and fled.
Trying desperately to escape the formation’s range.
Seeing their terrified backs, the man’s grin widened. Only moments ago, these people had looked at him like cornered prey.
Now...
They were the ones running for their lives.
Still, he didn’t waste time enjoying their fear.
He understood better than anyone.
The formation was temporary.
He had to end this before its power disappeared.
"You think..."
"...you can get away that easily?"
With a guttural roar, he thrust both hands forward.
An ocean of inferno burst across the battlefield.
The blazing torrent swept along the ground, cutting off every escape route.
Walls of fire erupted before the fleeing figures, forcing them to stop and turn back toward him.
The ice-haired woman, trembling with fear, desperately threw her icy disc once more.
This time she aimed directly for his heart.
Unfortunately, her strength had already been greatly drained.
The attack lacked its previous terrifying power.
The man didn’t even bother dodging.
He simply waved one hand.
The inferno surged forward.
The instant the blazing flames met the spinning disc...
It melted.
The once deadly weapon dissolved into harmless water before instantly evaporating into steam.
The woman’s face turned deathly pale.
"You spiteful monster!"
She screamed.
The man paid her no attention.
His expression became utterly cold.
"No more games."
The flames surrounding him erupted from every direction.
The entire ruined city seemed to become a sea of inferno.
It was time to end this.