Chapter 183 - Lord of the Titans vs Assassin Duo

  Nathan Evenhart:

  I unched aal bde toward the girl, the air hissing with the sheer force of the attack.

  "You're pretty bold!" the man shouted, a wild grin spreading across his face as I nded ba the ground, readying myself for the move. I g the sword in my hand, feeling its familiar ess and sharpness.

  It’s not the Cursed Bde, but it'll do.

  The man lunged forward with brutal force, swinging a massive axe at me with impressive speed. I raised my sword to block, and the impact felt like the weight of thunder.

  "You really want to kill me!" I taunted, maintaining a firm stance as our eyes locked.

  "I WILL kill you!" he roared, his strength fueled by seething hatred.

  "Marvelous!" I replied, a smile breaking ay face. "I’ll match your level. Don’t worry, this is going to be fun." The thrill of real bat burhrough my veins.

  The man attacked with renewed fury, the axe cleaving through the air so forcefully that the grouh us trembled. Suddenly, a stone pilr erupted beh my feet, ung me skyward. He followed immediately, swinging the axe toward me while three stone spikes shot up to impale me from behind.

  A trap? I thought, adrenaline pumping hard. This guy is bold.

  I was in free fall, with the axe closing in rapidly and the spikes nearly upon me.

  Does he think he’s grounded my mobility by getting me off the ground?

  I eled all my wind mana, making it flow like a torrent within me. I thihe wind armor around my body, making it more votile, while gathering internal strength to shatter my own defenses.

  The axe’s bde was inches from striking, and the spikes were almost pierg my back.

  I closed my eyes, letting only the wind guide my movements.

  So this is how you did it that day?

  In a split sed, I spun furiously in mid-air, propelling myself into a cye-like rotation. I unleashed all the wind pressure trapped inside me, deactivating my mana armor.

  ‘BAM!’ A devastating burst of wied in all dires, scattering the stone spikes and axe. The 360-degree wind bst kept me suspended momentarily. I saw the man being thrown back, struck by the trated force of the wind explosion that emanated from me.

  “Damn it!” he cursed, struggling to recover as he fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

  I nded softly and pointed my sword at him. “That was a teique I copied from an elf who calls herself the Goddess of Battle,” I taunted, a cold smile f on my face.

  He rose, his gaze now burning with pure rage, and charged again, swinging the axe with bestial strength while ung a barrage of stone-spike balls at me.

  I rushed toward him, bursting wind bsts to deflect the ining spikes that came in waves.

  "You're using another damned element?" he asked, surprise evident in his voice.

  "I am!" I replied with a bold grin, spinning my sword and releasing a bolt of lightning that cut through the air toward him.

  He quickly raised ahen wall to shield himself from the attack.

  "Too slow!" I mocked, but a chill shot down my spine as I sensed something behind me. A stealthy strike was about to nd.

  I instinctively swung my sword, defleg the attad redireg it to the side.

  The woman was thrown back by the impact, momentarily losing her bance from the fory block.

  Clever! I thought, but my attention quickly shifted to the sky. A rain of fiery arrows began to pour down toward me, eae leaving a bzing trail in its wake.

  I leapt to dodge, running across the battlefield as more fiery arrows fell around me.

  Boom!

  Boom!

  Boom!

  Explosions echoed through the forest, turning the area into a chaotic se of fire aru.

  The fire arrows detonated all around me as I dodged them, each move calcuted with deadly prey eyes locked on every detail of the battlefield.

  "You really io kill me? It’d be a shame if the fire left me unreizable," I taunted, keeping my tone calm and mog as I weaved through the burning trees amidst the chaos.

  “That’s not a problem! We’ll heal your damn corpse with a healing potion, just to make you look nice for your funeral!” the earth mage retorted, his voice filled with fury aermination.

  "Wow, you really thought of everything..." I replied with a ical smile, dodging more fire bsts and the stone spikes raining from above. Adrenaline surged through my veins as my mind frantically analyzed the patterns of their attacks. I was trying to uand their reas, their teiques, and any opening that could give me an advantage. But as mages, their movements were chaotipredictable, and deadly.

  With these guys, I ’t afford to py around. For the first time in a long while, I feel like I’m in real danger...

  A brief ugh escaped me as I tio dodge the explosions, using the terrain to my advantage. Eay movements intensified the battle.

  This just makes it more fun.

  I rolled to dodge a giant stone bde and threw myself backward, using a tree as cover. The female assassin appeared above me, moving with the grace of a predator. She spun her leg in a powerful kick.

  I raised a wind barrier to block the attack, but she jured a cloud of fire that engulfed my defense. I was forced to retreat, leaping bad creating a cye that sucked in the fmes. The intense heat scorched part of my arm.

  “Keeping silent, are we?” I asked, provoking her as she leaped toward me with daggers drawn. I deflected the blow with my sword, the csh eg in the air.

  "I’m w here, excuse me if I ’t chat," she replied coldly, her tone focused.

  “What a cheeky brat…” I ented, dodging a bde ing my way.

  'k!' Our swords cshed, sparks flying from the impact.

  “Brat? I’m older than you!” she retorted, quickly dug and spinning to try to sweep my legs with a kick.

  I propelled myself with the wind, leaping gracefully and nding in front of her. “No. I’m way older. From my perspective, everyone’s just a kid,” I teased, watg a mix of fusion and fury fsh in her eyes.

  Suddenly, ‘BAM!’ Several stone ed from the ground around us, reshaping the forest into a chaotic se of destru, with trees being ripped apart like twigs.

  The earth mage is up to something dangerous, I thought, my senses on high alert.

  A massive figure suddenly emerged, charging toward us. The girl quickly pced her hands on the ground and propelled herself with a burst of fire, increasing her speed in the air.

  Damn...

  A huge ball of spikes was hurtling toward me, its sheer force making the air vibrate.

  “Lightning Beam!” I shouted, eling all the power of thunder into my hand and firing a straight beam of lightning. The ball of spikes exploded into a shower ments, but before I could celebrate, something ued happened.

  "SURPRISE!" the earth mage emerged from the ball of stone, his axe in hand, ready for a brutal strike.

  I tried to block with my elbow, but my wind barrier failed, and the blow nded on my wrist, sending a wave of excruciating pain through my arm. Using the trifugal force of the bde, I spun my body and dodged to the side, propelling myself backward and nding among the trees.

  "Oh, you hid ihe stone ball?" I asked, slowly rising. "Bold move..."

  For a moment, I realized just how close I had e to losing my arm. I g my bleeding wrist and immediately used thuo cauterize the wound. The pain was intense, but necessary.

  As I caught my breath, I noticed something strahe earth mage roag again, but his form was subtly ging.

  He's got more tricks up his sleeve.

  His body began to expand grotesquely, as a massive stone armor enveloped his torso and limbs. The yers of rock fused with his muscles, creating jagged and angur protrusions, as if the earth itself was molding around him. Sharp stone spikes emerged from his shoulders, arms, and back, eae pulsating with raw mana, like stakes ready to impale anything in their path.

  He grew taller, assuming a monstrous form, his muscles enhanced and coated by stoes that resembled a living fortress. Only his face remained exposed, his eyes burning with cruel iy, locked onto me like those of a relentless predator.

  With a deep, thunderous roar, he gripped the axe in one hand, now even more massive in his monstrous form, as if the weight of the on was a natural extension of his newfound strength. His left arm transformed into a gigantic stone bde, covered in sharp, irregur spikes.

  "This is my special forbidden spell," he announced, his voice eg like an avanche. "I call it 'Sto Form.'"

  His presence became overwhelming, a brutal fusion of flesh and rock that radiated crushing, primal power. Each step made the ground tremble, the cracks widening with every movement, while the axe in his right hand glinted with raw menace.

  “Looks like this is going to be a bit more plicated than I expected…” I muttered, brag myself for what was to e.