Desperate Escape

The icy wind howled past the edge of the cliff, carrying away the newcomer named Xia Lin.

Kasimir's gaze was as steady as the rapier in his hand. He didn't follow the falling figure with his eyes.

At that moment, only two things remained in his world: the unadorned rapier in his hand, which seemed to bear the weight of everything he was, and the monster ahead, bathed in eerie golden light.

Duelists.

In the world of adventurers, they were undoubtedly a breed apart.

They were kings of the dueling ring, reapers within arm's reach.

They treated battle as a deadly dance, dodging by a hair's breadth and striking in an instant, trading the smallest cost for the deadliest result.

Elegant, swift, deadly.

But fragile, too.

Their nimble footwork and relentless pursuit of precision meant they had given up heavy protection.

Especially when facing heavily armored opponents, such as a Knight in full plate—or a monster like the one before him, clad in scales comparable to those enhanced by divine power. A Duelist's rapier often struggled to make an impression.

Every attack was like an egg hitting a rock, and every mistake could spell utter ruin.

But Duelists weren't helpless.

Everyone who took this path was taught a technique—one that required compressing and concentrating all their strength, speed, skill, and even mental resolve into a single point before they could unleash it.

Duelists called it Breaking Army.

It was said that legendary master duelists could use the technique to pierce ancient dragon scales and punch through the core of an adamantine golem.

Kasimir, a Duelist from Brevor, was just one step away from becoming a true professional.

That meant he could use the technique, but needed longer to prepare than a true Duelist.

And Xia Lin had bought him that precious time with his own body and his nearly shattered sword.

"Your sacrifice won't be in vain."

Kasimir's voice was cold, like the edge of the rapier in his hand.

His breathing grew long and slow, his heartbeat as precise as a metronome.

Strength flowed through his body like a stream, gathering along his arm and surging into the rapier in his hand.

He stood motionless, like a statue brimming with power, but the rock beneath his feet couldn't withstand the silent pressure. Cracks spread across it like a spiderweb.

All his strength and will surged like a raging torrent into the rapier, finally converging at its trembling tip, which seemed ready to melt at any moment.

The air before the point compressed and twisted to an extreme, letting out a piercing shriek like tearing metal. A colorless vortex even seemed to form.

The Kobold God-Chosen seemed to sense the threat, too.

It stopped, its golden eyes fixed on Kasimir as it let out a low, menacing growl.

A cold glint flashed in Kasimir's eyes. All hesitation and stray thoughts were cut away.

He slammed his right foot forward!

Bang!

The hard stone ground burst apart as if struck by an invisible hammer. A shallow crater suddenly formed beneath his foot, sending fragments flying!

His arm muscles tightened in an instant, and he thrust his wrist forward—a short, steady jab that held all his strength.

Whoosh—!

The energy compressed to its utmost seemed to find an outlet and burst from the tip of his rapier.

A nearly colorless, transparent shockwave packed with destructive force tore through the air and shot straight toward the Kobold God-Chosen's head at faster than the speed of sound!

The ground around Kasimir caved in under the terrifying force of that instant's release, leaving a crater several feet across.

Whoosh—BOOM!!!

The shockwave flashed past, its momentum undiminished, and pierced straight through the cavern roof more than ten meters above.

It bored through the hard rock with ease, leaving a smooth-edged circular hole.

A shaft of sunlight, carrying the scent of dust, shone down from the roof like a sacred beam, landing right where the monster stood and turning the swirling dust golden.

"Haah... haah..." Kasimir panted violently. Sweat ran from his temples like a stream, soaking through his immaculate clothes.

His sword hand trembled violently from exhaustion, and he could barely stay upright.

That single Breaking Army strike had drained almost all his strength and will.

He raised his head and looked toward the cloud of dust, waiting to hear the monster fall.

But...

The sunlight dispersed the last of the dust, and the Kobold God-Chosen...

It was still standing!

Just before the unstoppable Breaking Army sword energy struck, the monster had used reflexes grotesquely enhanced by divine power to jerk its head aside by the tiniest angle.

That tiny movement had spared it from having its head blown off completely.

Only a small portion of its ugly head remained.

But it still hadn't fallen.

For the first time, Kasimir felt true despair.

He was spent. He couldn't use Breaking Army again; even lifting his rapier felt impossibly difficult.

Yet the monster, with less than a third of its head left, was still moving, supported by the last remnants of its divine power.

With a sickening, sluggish motion, it slowly turned its misshapen head.

Its lone eye, burning with golden flame, locked onto Kasimir.

Then it started forward, dragging its ruined body one heavy step at a time toward the Duelist, who could no longer fight back.

The chill of death, thick and viscous as the darkest tide, swallowed Kasimir whole.

He could even smell the stench of charred flesh and blood coming from the monster.

"Monster!!!"

Just as Kasimir closed his eyes and prepared to meet death, a hoarse roar filled with boundless fury suddenly rang out from the edge of the cliff nearby!

The approaching monster abruptly stopped, then instinctively turned toward the sound.

A small glass bottle came arcing through the sunlight with a whistling sound.

It was Xia Lin!

The instant he was thrown over the cliff, he had used the last of his strength to activate the Levitation Spell attached to the Ring of Swift Wind.

It had only slowed his fall briefly, but that was enough for him to grab a jutting rock on the cliff edge and haul himself back up, battered and bruised.

His body was covered in wounds and blood. The injury in his right shoulder had torn open again as he climbed, but he was alive.

And he had thrown his last trump card: the Potent Ant Acid.

Smash!

The glass shattered with a crisp crack.

The bottle struck the Kobold God-Chosen's ravaged head with pinpoint accuracy, its tissues exposed.

The liquid, reeking of a harsh, acidic stench, poured over it like venomous revenge.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—!!!

It was like hot oil splashed onto a red-hot iron, or sulfuric acid dripping onto rotting flesh.

White smoke, stinking of scorched flesh, billowed from the monster's head like a volcanic eruption.

Under the acid's horrific assault, the exposed brain tissue dissolved and charred at a visible rate.

"Rrgh... Ugh...!!!"

The Kobold God-Chosen let out one last short, tortured scream, twisted and inarticulate!

Its "massive" body convulsed violently as if its spine had been ripped away. The golden flame in its lone eye flickered wildly, then went out with a soft puff, like a candle snuffed by a gale.

Without the support of its eerie divine power, the monster's movements stopped dead.

Thud!

The heavy impact echoed through the cavern like the final beat of a war drum, kicking up a cloud of dust.

This time, it didn't move again.

Only its mostly corroded head remained, still giving off a nauseating stench.

Kasimir slumped to the ground. He looked at the white-smoke-billowing corpse in the distance, then at Xia Lin, who had collapsed by the cliff's edge, gasping for breath and covered in blood.

They'd won...

They'd actually... won.