~ Chapter 72: Final round. Fight! ~

[Alkelios’ point of view]

 Since this fellow wanted to start his murder spree with me, I decided to lure him out into an open area where I could fight unhindered. Although he could have stopped me from doing so, it did not seem to matter to him where we fought.

“Are you trying to avoid senseless killing?” he asked me on the way there.

“What of it?” I replied.

“It doesn’t matter, you know? Once I kill you, they will be following shortly after in Hell!” he laughed.

“You’re aiming for them after you’re done with me?” I asked.

“Do I look that foolish to you? No. Once I beat you up, I’ll flee from here, recover, and only then will I begin to pick them up one after another. Even if you would not have flown all the way here, I would have teleported somewhere similar and lured you there.” he retorted.

I didn’t answer those words, but he did surprise me by actually choosing to do so. No matter how powerful he was, there were still several Breakthrough-ers in that camp who still had enough energy to fight. Feryumstark stayed behind to protect his wife, the Queen, but Kataryna and Seryanna were flying not that far behind us, however, they were both tired after their battles earlier. If the situation proved to be too difficult for me to handle, I could see them jumping in to give me a helping hand, but I could not see them being able to fight alongside me from the start. They would have been a burden.

Once we reached the ‘arena’, an empty part of the scorched battlefield, we faced each other.

“Care to let me know your name?” I asked.

“My name is Kronius Zevedar. Unfortunately, I don’t remember my name from when I was still living on Earth.” he replied.

“It’s the same for me.” I showed him a smirk “I don’t remember how I was called back on Earth, but here I am...”

“Alkelios Yatagai, a Duke of the Albeyater Kingdom. Oh, I know!” he interrupted me and then laughed.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“This idle chat, that’s what!” he replied “In the future, I will remember this as I polish your skull and place it above my fireplace!” he laughed.

“That’s some sick hobby you have there.” I showed him a look of disgust.

“Who cares? Now let’s FIGHT!” he shouted and then threw... a ball? “Unleash the KRAKEN!”

“Unleash what now?!” I asked stumped.

Suddenly, the ball shone in a bright light and a giant monster appeared. It was at least the size of a dragon in beast form. With scales covering its body and a long neck ending with a four jawed head, this monster was something out of nightmares. If its ugly mug didn’t do the trick to scare you, then the eight tentacles that ended in powerful crab pincers would. The tail was that of a snake covered in spikes like a thick mane.

The beast unleashed a powerful roar and then lashed out a tentacle at me. I side-stepped and used Chaos to cut it at the wrist. Acid blood gushed out, and I nearly got soaked in the thing.

“SKRYEEE!!!”

With a frightening screech, it began to absorb Magic Energy into its mouth. I felt a fire-breath coming my way, so I dodged, but what came out of its ugly mouth instead were poisoned icicle that exploded on impact.

“WHAT THE?!” I shouted as I cast several air barriers in front of me to stop the debris.

“Unleash the Goliath!” came another shout and from above a large shadow approached.

“Meep.” I said and then dodged the hell out of the way.

“ME SMASH ALL SMASH!” the giant shouted.

Looking back, he was quite similarly to a cyclops as tall as the Kraken and wearing armor plates made out of the shells of giant monsters. To make him look fiercer, he had tiny little imps crawling over his body like some symbiotic parasite. In his hands, he was wielding what looked like gigantic metal club.

“KILL! SMASH! ROAR!” he roared and then those imps shot fireballs at me.

“KISHAAA!” the Kraken shot its exploding poison icicles.

Seeing the incoming attacks, I jumped back and cast a chantless [Earth Spike Tsunami] aimed at their feet.

“Unleash the Ragnarakya!”

And of course, he summoned something else! I thought while the two other monsters were screaming in pain from my attack.

Without leaving a moment to spare and ignoring the other boss monster, I branded my sword, fueled it with Magic Energy and rushed at the Goliath in front of me. Several imps tried to attack me, but I cut right through them. When my blade touched the boss monster’s skin it cut through like a hunting knife would a slice of butter. With a single pulse of Magic Energy, I ordered Chaos to unleash two cutting waves of Darkness and Light. They both went in separate directions, slicing the monster in three big pieces.

As a cascade of blood flowed out of him, I aimed my sword at the Kraken and then dashed towards him. With several [Wind Scythe] simultaneously cast and sent towards its head, I charged up Chaos again and aimed the two cutting waves of energy at its neck.

The monster did not stand a chance, and it was soon struggling like a headless chicken.

Before I could land on the ground, Kronius appeared before me. With a smirk on his lips, he cast a wave of air at my stomach. I blocked the attack with my sword and pushed forward with my wings.

Seeing as it didn’t affect me, he pulled his sword, the Two-handed Falchion of Corrosion, and tried to attack me with it. I parried with my sword, but in doing so, I could feel that the strength behind it was no joke.

This human was more powerful than Draejan.

“The sword’s penalty doesn’t affect you?” I asked as sparks flew from the contact between our blades.

“Not one bit. I’m not using my own Life Force, after all.” he smirked and then teleported behind me.

I dodged in the nick of time, but he teleported in front of me and kicked me in the stomach with his knee. The attack sent me flying up a few meters and then a giant hand grabbed me, it was the third monster he summoned.

This thing wasn’t as big as the other two, but it was stronger, and its skin was burning hot. My armor protected me, but my wings were burnt where they were left open to the touch.

“AARGH!” I screamed from the pain.

The monster sent me flying to the ground. I was not able to resist and formed a crater upon impact, then that thing vomited lava on me.

If I didn’t cast several layers of barriers around me, I would have suffered more than a mild burn. To get away, I pushed myself to the left with all of my might, managing to free myself of the lava flow.

The moment I was out, I cast [Heal] on myself and cured my burns. The Ragnarakya saw me and stopped its lava vomit.

This monster looked like a burning cyclops with cracked lava skin on several parts of his body. In the middle of his chest was a big red crystal and instead of its eye, it had a blue eerie flame. From its back, there were two big metal spikes popping out, which were drawing in Magic Energy from the nearby environment.

The uniqueness of these monsters surprised me, but they were about the same as the boss monsters I used to fight in the Seculiar Forest, maybe a bit weaker because those things could usually survive more than one of my attacks.

Using and amplified version of [The Pope] with [Fatty McFat], I cast a beam of water elemental energy right at the crystal in its chest. It went straight through, and the monster stopped moving completely.

Alright, now where is that bastard? I thought and looked around for Kronius.

I spotted him way up in the air, showing me a wide smirk and holding in each hand four of those capsules with monsters in them. He didn’t hesitate and threw them at me.

I immediately took my battle stance and shouted “HYOH!”

With magic pouring in Chaos, I jumped up and flew towards him.

“Unleash the Cerberus! Unleash the Elemental Kraken! Unleash the Goblin Emperor! Unleash the Spidarakia! Unleash the Undead Giant Wolf! Unleash the Corrupted Nyad! Unleash the Berserker Goliath! Unleash the Magma Slime!” he spoke like a machine gun.

Now all of these monsters were coming straight at me, and they all looked quite eager to rip me apart.

This attack would be rather terrifying and annoying, but all of your monsters have one big flaw... They can’t fly. I thought as I dodged the giant three-headed dog and let him fall to the ground.

I knew that Albeyater’s forces were powerful enough to handle these monsters, so I didn’t hesitate to move out of their way and just go straight for their summoner. Of course, this didn’t stop me from sending a few flying cuts towards them, injuring them just enough for them not to be a problem for those on the ground, except for the slime.

When it came to that monster, the Magma Slime, I had encountered its relative before, Slime Emperor. That thing was incredibly annoying and difficult to kill back in the Northern Desert, especially if you were foolish enough to believe that magic attacks were the most effective against it. That monster absorbed Magic Energy like a sponge and turned it into a body reinforcement magic. Because of that, most of my attacks were pretty much useless. The only thing I could do against it was wither down its defense with my sword and then shoot its core with a beam of energy. If the attack was too weak, it would end up being absorbed, so it had to be more powerful than the absorption rate of the monster.

It was a tricky shot, but besides stuffing it with earth spikes like a pin cushion, there was nothing else I could do. Maybe the other Breakthrough-ers had easier ways of dealing with it, but I couldn’t take the chance of them trying out various methods until they got it right.

Charging up a beam of water elemental energy, I shot it at the core of the Magma Slime. My attack went straight through it like a cutting laser, and the monster was destroyed.

All of this happened in the span of maybe a couple of seconds since I flew up.

“You really are a monster.” Kronius spat and aimed his palm at me.

I cast a triple layer barrier and stopped the fireball. The flames blocked my view for a split second, which my enemy used to teleport out of my sight.

With a swipe of my sword, I removed the distraction and searched for him among the clouds. When I spot him, I saw him feeding his sword several of those strange red crystals. I rushed towards him, but I began to realize that I needed more speed and power if I wanted to stop him. That was why I poured some Magic Energy into my armor and then drank a potion to recover it.

Once it was powered up, dark-red lines of energy covered my armor, and I could feel the intense power flowing through it.

I wish to win this fight. I thought, activating my Luck.

“Tch!” Kronius clicked his tongue and stopped from feeding his sword another crystal, but he already become powerful enough to block and parry my attacks.

I slashed, and he teleported back. He attacked, and I dodged the blow.

At a speed faster than the normal dragon eye could see, we exchanged these brutal attacks which could easily shred to pieces any one of those boss monsters below us.

I was actually impressed that he had become so powerful with that sword of his, however, this battle wasn’t going to last much longer. Seeing how he was able to keep up with these insane attacks, I changed my target from trying to pierce through his defenses and instead I was aiming at turning his weapon into a useless piece of junk.

With every strike, my enemy’s sword had its strength chipped away. As a blacksmith of Godlike Rank, I was able to not only understand how to make this sort of weapons but also how to destroy them. Then, when he was least expecting it, the sword’s blade broke in half and the resulting explosion of energy sent us both flying back.

I knew it was coming, so I shielded myself in the nick of time, but Kronius was taken by surprise and took the brunt force of the attack.

“GYAH!” he screamed in pain.

When I heard him, I hoped he received more than just a couple of broken bones. It would have been great if he fainted or died, but he was too resilient for that to happen. After he fell some distance, I saw him stopping midair and floating there.

I clicked my tongue and flew towards him. With Magic Energy pouring in my sword, I was preparing to send him off to the world of the dead.

So, what if he was a human from Earth? So, what if killing someone like this without a trial was going to be considered by other humans an act of murder? So, what if I was going to end up their enemy because I took the blood of one of our own? In the end, this was a battlefield, and all of these questions had no meaning here.

This man chose to attack and threaten my friends and my new home, so naturally, I would stand up against him and drive my blade through his heart if I had to!

Whatever was to come next... whatever guilt I was to feel... whatever innocence I would believe I would lose as a result of this... All of these were in the future...

“DIE!” I shouted as I flew towards him, power surging through my whole body and Magic Energy flowing into my sword and armor.

A single slash was all I would need to cut down this human...

With bloodstains on the corners of his mouth, a bleeding nose, and a shredded outfit, Kronius looked back at me with eyes filled with hate and fear. Maybe he never expected for things to turn out this way, but all of this was his fault. He could have run away once freed. He could have pleaded innocent and hope for us to let him go. There was no need to attack Feryumstark, no need to want to kill me...

Why did you do it? I wondered in that last moment.

Lifting his palm up towards me, I felt a chill run down my spine.

Something’s wrong. I thought.

“VANISH!” he shouted.

Huh? I blinked once and then the world around me started to twist. I felt stuck in place, unable to move or say a word, and all I could see was how the world around me vanished... and turned to darkness.