…
Meanwhile, somewhere on the north side of the battlefield…
“Menkar, that battle-hungry fool… All he had to do was get them to accept the Battle of Rites. Instead, he went and made a mess of things.” Gakhan said to himself with a cold gaze.
Of course, Gakhan was not some kind-hearted person who wished to give his enemies a chance. The reason he suggested the Battle of Rites despite their obvious advantage was for no other reason than to draw out their true commander, who had yet to reveal themselves.
As for the results of the Battle of Rites itself, in the end, it did not matter if they emerged victorious. While it was true that Pzenium warriors were bound by the Laws of the First Mercenary King, Gakhan knew that the same could not be said for their current enemies.
“Well, this outcome also isn’t bad. Since I instructed my personal troops to operate in the capacity of an observer, there should be no issue carrying out the task assigned to me by the Great Duke. Still, these enemies cannot be underestimated. The fact they can survive this long against the Sandstorm Walkers while being greatly outnumbered… It’s not a feat your typical War Brigade Unit is capable of pulling off.”
Suddenly, Gakhan’s gaze shifted to his side as he quickly lifted his right arm up to the side of his head.
Phhhtk!
A cut appeared on the side of Gakhan’s neck, causing his eyes to widen in shock. At the same time, another wound formed near his right shoulder that was much deeper than the one on his neck.
“As I thought, my eyes did not betray me. You must be the one in charge of the Pzenium forces here.” A voice sounded out from next to Gakhan.
“How did they find me?” Gakhan thought to himself as his expression darkened.
In the beginning, Gakhan revealed his presence in order to strike a hidden fear into his enemies. However, after that, he made sure to conceal his aura so that it would be nearly impossible to pinpoint his exact location.
For him to be discovered out of the blue, naturally, Gakhan was taken aback. But, Gakhan’s surprise only lasted for a brief moment. Besides, this saved him some trouble.
“I was just about to seek you out myself, yet you went and delivered yourself to me. I cannot help but wonder whether you are brave or ignorant. Regardless, you will have to pay dearly for your transgression, warrior of the War Brigade.” Gakhan stated solemnly as the killing intent around him slowly started to leak out.
Just now, if Gakhan had been half a step slower, that attack would have cut deep into his neck and instantly place him into a disadvantageous situation. Fortunately, he was able to throw the attack off course at the last moment and redirect most of the damage to his right shoulder area. If not for this, the results would have been disastrous!
“I’m afraid you’re mistaken. I’m not from the War Brigade. I am the Captain of the General Support Unit’s 9th Division, Izroth.” Izroth replied calmly with a carefree expression as he immediately created some distance of a few steps between himself and Gakhan.
‘Too shallow… To think he’d be able to react to my attack while I have Shadow Blending and Dark Ambush active. Is he someone who has already stepped into the legendary realm?’
The moment Izroth set his sights on Gakhan, once he arrived within a certain distance, he utilized a combination of the Shadow Movement and Shadow Blending skills to navigate through the battlefield completely undetected.
Since Shadow Movement granted him a large agility boost and allowed Izroth to fuse with his own shadow, it worked in perfect sync with Shadow Blending. This not only reduced his presence but also granted Izroth the stealth effect.
On top of that, Izroth was wielding the Obsconis Hunting Dagger along with his Sword of the Storm. This was so that he could use the Dark Ambush skill attached to the weapon and further erase his presence. It reached the point that even those who excelled in detection skills would have trouble discovering his existence.
Izroth’s plan was to use this opportunity to immediately land a critical hit on Gakhan while they were caught off guard and finish him off cleanly in the process. However, to his surprise, Gakhan did not hesitate to sacrifice a part of his right shoulder and avoided the worst possible outcome.
“Izroth? That name… His appearance also matches.” Gakhan thought to himself as he sized up Izroth.
“What difference does it make? After all, your life will soon be coming to an end.” Gakhan said indifferently.
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“Enemy attack! Protect the Controller!” One of the nearby Pzenium warriors cried out as they charged toward Izroth and Gakhan.
“What?! How did an enemy get this close without us noticing?!”
“How dare you launch a sneak attack! Do not dream of leaving this place with your life!”
“Kill him!”
In the blink of an eye, Izroth was surrounded from all sides by more than fifty Pzenium warriors as they began to collapse in on his position.
“I’m afraid you’ll find that my life is not so easy to claim,” Izroth said nonchalantly.
The next moment, a powerful wave of sword intent infused with essence was released from Izroth’s Sword of the Storm.
This sword intent expanded seventy meters outwards in every direction from Izroth’s location. And it was so potent that the Pzenium warriors closest to Izroth immediately disintegrated into thin air!
“?!” Gakhan, who had just been a few steps away from Izroth, instinctively retreated in the face of that sword intent.
Even though it was his first time seeing such a move, due to his abundance of battle experience, Gakhan could sense that it was something extremely dangerous.
However, even after retreating more than thirty meters in a single move, the sword intent expanded too rapidly and caught up with Gakhan.
When the sword intent made contact, Gakhan felt as though he was abruptly dropped into an endless abyss of darkness.
Lurking inside that darkness was an unfathomable existence that all Pzenium warriors one day hoped to greet with open arms on the battlefield—the incarnate of death itself.
Suddenly, Gakhan eyes widened as he felt cold sweats run down his back, and he snapped out of it.
“Was that an illusion? It felt too real… I truly thought death had found me at last. This warrior—he is definitely the one that the Great Duke has been searching for. Is this the strength of the man who was said to have dominated the second-team selection? What terrifying talent.” Gakhan thought to himself as he quickly gathered himself and controlled his breathing.
Despite having escaped the illusion, Gakhan could still feel the life force in his body slipping away. Though, to call it an illusion was not entirely accurate.
What Gakhan saw was a manifestation of Izroth’s sword intent generated by his Tenth Sword Form: Life Closing Raze.
The stronger one’s attachment to life, the greater the effects inflicted upon them by the tenth sword form.
Unknown to Gakhan, it was thanks to his detachment from life and acceptance of his one-day inevitable death that he was still standing right now. Nevertheless, the damage inflicted by Izroth’s tenth sword form was not light by any means.
But, more importantly, this allowed Gakhan to get a decent grasp on just who was dealing with and also understand why someone like Falcinean never returned from his mission.
“After stepping into the initial stage of the legendary realm, I have never suffered to this extent on the battlefield. No matter what, this person must not be allowed to live. With the Great Duke’s temperament, he will not give up on avenging his son. But, at such a young age, this young man’s power has already reached such a level. It is only a matter of time before he surpasses the Great Duke. Under normal circumstances, it would pain me to do so, but… I must extinguish the flame that is this young warrior.” Gakhan thought to himself as his gaze locked onto Izroth.
As for the other Pzenium warriors who surrounded Izroth, they were no longer anywhere to be found. In fact, besides Gakhan, there were no other Pzenium warriors within seventy meters of Izroth.
But, it was not just those fifty warriors who vanished. Rather, in a flash, more than two thousand Pzenium warriors on the north side of the battlefield had disappeared without a trace!
At the same time, Izroth received a large stream of system alerts.
〈System Alert: Congratulations, you have defeated Sandstorm Walker Warrior!〉
〈System Alert: Congratulations, you have defeated Sandstorm Walker Rogue!〉
〈System Alert: Congratulations, you have defeated Pzenium Warrior Kazmul!〉
〈System Alert: Congratulations, you have defeated Sandstorm Walker Warrior!〉
〈System Alert: Congratulations…
…
〈System Alert: Calculating rewards…〉
…
〈System Alert: …Calculating complete!〉
〈System Alert: Your Contribution Points has increased by 1,062.50! [Total: 6,054.54]〉
〈System Alert: Your rank on the «Top 100 Event Leaderboard» has changed from [2nd] -> [1st]〉
〈System Alert: Your feat has been recorded as a great contribution to the war effort! [Reward: +500 Contribution Points]〉
〈System Alert: Your Contribution Points has increased by 500! [Total: 6,554.54]〉
