“Hm? This strike is a bit annoying. Then…” Ourami internalized.
As this thought passed his mind, Ourami’s tail abruptly ceased its attack and rapidly retracted back to him in an instant.
At the same time, the tail extended and swirled around Ourami, creating a layer of protection around his entire body.
‘Oh? Is he planning to block my sword strike head-on?’
Izroth exchanged blows with Ourami’s tail; therefore, he knew about its abnormal sturdiness. If it was another sword strike, Izroth may have been concerned about piercing through the tail. But, his fusion skill First Baneful Sword: Destruction Point was capable of penetrating all shields and defenses that it came into contact with. In the end, no matter how sturdy Ourami’s tail turned out to be, it would be unable to obstruct his blade!
At least, that’s how it should have been.
Dink!
«Immune»
When Izroth’s sword finally reached Ourami, the blade bounced off and knocked his arm back. The impact almost caused Izroth’s weapon to fly out of his hand!
Not long after Izroth’s first attack failed, the arms of lightning at his back began to launch their barrage of attacks.
«Immune»
«Immune»
…
«Immune»
Even the arms of lightning could not get through the protection set in place by Ourami’s tail.
‘This is…’
As the last of the arms of lightning descended and came up short in its assault, Izroth observed Ourami with his Energy Vision Sense. And, what he saw caused him to inwardly frown.
‘His Ethos—it’s disappearing. What is he up to?’
Izroth was disappointed that his attack could not damage Ourami despite activating the principle of Causality; however, it was not outside of his expectations.
Given Ourami’s level of strength and his standing in the Secret Realm, Izroth understood that the pillar must have numerous lifesaving methods at his disposal.
“Why don’t ya come out of that shell of yours?!” Hakros shouted from above Ourami in mid-air.
After being knocked away by Ourami, Hakros quickly found his way to his feet and jumped back into the action.
However, there was something different about the behemoth. His physical appearance had undergone a drastic change.
Hakros’ eyes turned pure white as his wild black hair had grown down to his knees. His bronze skin was now a deeply saturated blue with multiple black ancient markings scattered throughout its surface. These ancient markings released a faint glow, which contained a vicious and ancient power.
“If you won’t come out then… I’LL JUST BREAK YOU!” Hakros roared as he clasped his fists together and swung down with all his might!
BANG! CRRRRRRACK! Rmmmmmmble!
Hakros’ fists crashed into Ourami from above with a force so great that it caused the earth to give way and tremble violently.
A dark blue aura was released from Hakros’ fists and could be seen coming from the fractures created in the ground.
When Izroth sensed the wild and destructive energy of Hakros’ attack, he instantly used his Compressed Lightning Movement to fall back from the area.
…BOOOOOOOOM!
Just moments after Izroth left the epicenter, the wild energy erupted from the fractured earth, causing a massive explosion to occur.
At the same time, the lightning mantle around Izroth’s disappeared. He could no longer afford to keep the skill active due to the huge drain it had on his HP. And, since he could not afford to use it in order to find other individuals to heal from again, Izroth had no choice but to end the skill.
When Izroth ended his Full Mantle state, he was hit by a backlash as tremendous pressure seemed to have fallen on him. He could feel the Earthly Golden Bones tremble and his muscles tense up as numerous veins could be seen protruding from his neck and hands from the intense wave of stress.
‘I feel much heavier than before, but… I can still move and use my skills. Also, unlike last time, my stats did not decrease. This must be the result of having two points of Might working in harmony with my Earthly Golden Bones. Though I do not have much time left until the active effect of the Ring of the Ancient Colossus wears off and my Might drops back down to one.’
Izroth accessed his inventory, removed a High-Grade Healing Potion, and consumed it to restore a portion of his missing HP.
‘I only have one charge of my Primed Instantaneous Movement remaining. The Strength of the Ancient Colossus is ending soon. And, with my Compressed Lightning Movement finished and Flickering Steps still on cooldown… I’m afraid this battle has just become a lot more troublesome.’
When his Full Mantle ended, Izroth also lost close to 80,000 attack. While this still left him with a bit more than 150,000 attack thanks to his arms of lightning, it was still a huge cut to his overall power. There was also the issue of his essence running low.
Izroth closed his eyes as he calmly pieced everything together.
‘I suppose this is my current limit.’
Although Izroth had not run out of skills or options, none of them led down a road to victory.
At best, with the methods Izroth had in mind, he could hold out for another minute or so if he was lucky.
Even though the goal from the very beginning was never victory and only to stall Ourami as long as possible until Astratis completed his battle, Izroth could not but feel dissatisfied with his own strength.
‘I still have a long way to go until I reach the top of this world.’
If other players knew of Izroth’s current thoughts, they would have wanted to strangle him to death!
He eliminated thousands of enemies with one move, single-handedly defeated multiple legendary realm figures, and managed to exchange some blows with someone at the peak of the legendary realm without dying immediately. And, although it was absorbed by a protective aura, he even landed a solid hit on them at the start!
Achieving any single one of these feats was a mountainous task capable of forever cementing a player’s fame in RML. Yet, he was still not satisfied? Could such a person ever be satisfied in their lifetime?!
‘I wanted to see how far my own strength could take me, so I didn’t want to use this here, but… since I’ve received my answer and things have come to this point, I have to see it through until the end.’
Izroth looked down at the palm of his hand. At its center was a small object that was roughly the length of one’s finger. It was a gorgeous blue and silver double-edged.
“Then, I’ll be relying on you this time,” Izroth said as he tossed the miniature sword into the air.
…
Meanwhile, the dust cloud at the epicenter of Hakros’ attack cleared up.
At the moment, Hakros stood in the middle of a wide crater with a hole in the earth where Ourami was previously located.
Hakros’ strike had knocked the pillar into the depths of the earth; however, the behemoth did not seem satisfied in the slightest.
“Tch… Damn monster.” Hakros said to himself as he glanced down at his fists which were slightly bruised.
If it were previously, Hakros would not have paid much mind to it. However, to bruise his fists from attacking in his Wrath of the Behemoth form—even though Hakros did not want to acknowledge it, Ourami was the strongest opponent he ever faced!
Hakros set his gaze on the hole before him as his body returned to its normal state.
The Wrath of the Behemoth boosted his overall power and speed immensely; however, it was only temporary.
It activated whenever Hakros was faced with overwhelming power. So, the fact that Ourami forcibly triggered it meant that he was just that strong.
“Huh? Where did that stone-faced guy go? Don’t tell me, I accidentally blew him away.” Hakros said to himself as he rubbed the back of his head.
He got too caught up in the fight and forgot that Izroth was present as he flattened the surroundings.
“Well, if it’s that guy, he should be fine. Otherwise, how can he be someone that I, Hakros, acknowledged?” Hakros said as he tilted his head and cracked his neck.
“That’s a rather straightforward outlook.” Izroth’s voice sounded as he arrived next to Hakros.
“Heh, isn’t it what others call having faith in someone?” Hakros commented with a grin.
“I’m afraid most others would run away after viewing the definition of your faith,” Izroth responded.
