God Slayer

Oran gripped a katana in each hand, holding the twin blades level to block Elatin's strike. Ivankov and the others had never expected Oran to have another trick up his sleeve.

In truth, Oran had hidden far more than one card.

Building the Hex Gate was necessary for the evacuation, while distributing weapons and setting traps were part of the plan. Beyond that, there was no need for Oran to list everything he could do as if reciting his household registration.

Even his own people did not know about those things, much less the Celestial Dragons, who knew nothing about this place.

Yet when he saw his attack blocked, Elatin instead became somewhat interested.

Compared to the Divine Knights led by Gringo, there was an essential gap between them. After all, that was the Celestial Dragons' foremost fighting force, while Elatin did not even count as a reserve member.

Other than refusing to admit inferiority to Gringo, he was inferior to him in every other regard.

Still, he was different from those useless Celestial Dragons wearing bubble helmets. At the very least, he was a member of the Celestial Dragons' backbone under normal development.

If the prey could resist, then as the hunter, he could enjoy himself even more.

"I never thought a backwater like West Blue would have lowly commoners capable of entertaining me. No, I should call you rebels.

"If those worthless fools had been the ones pursuing you, you might actually have succeeded. That would have been a true disgrace."

The Celestial Dragons were not mute. They could speak normally too, and using words to frighten their victims before harvesting them was one of their usual methods.

"You should feel honored. I'm in a hurry right now, so I won't torture you for too long."

But today, he was destined to miscalculate.

"Heh. Your species really keeps finding new ways to refresh my understanding. What exactly makes you think victory is still in your grasp under these circumstances?"

"Of course... strength! Lowly commoner, the moment you tried to offend the majesty of a god, everything was already decided!"

Elatin began to exert more force through his arms. The lower ranks of the Celestial Dragons were foolish, but the upper ranks still had their basic logic intact. They would not use pirate slaves with massive bounties as prey.

The Grand Line and the Red Line Continent divided the Four Seas, resulting in enormous differences in strength between regions. Pirates who could make their way through the New World would most likely crush the Four Seas one-sidedly if they came here.

Thus, Elatin had never believed God Valley could contain any troublesome opponents. He had not used much strength at the start, but even after increasing the force in his arms, he failed to achieve the result he expected.

"Just as I thought. Anything at all dares to call itself a god."

With a thought from Oran, the core of his armor began charging, blue energy flowing through his exoskeleton.

Output power: 100%.

Some parts of Valoran were relatively peaceful, but the continent itself was far from safe. Unsealed Darkin wandering about, demons lurking among crowds, the Void watching the continent, Starborn atop Mount Targon...

Although he was a researcher, and Piltover had relatively fewer of those messy problems, personal strength was still important. Fortunately, Oran's abilities had given him several "teachers" he was fairly familiar with.

"If things like you can be gods, then today, I'll be a God Slayer."

The mask obscured Elatin's expression, but Oran did not care about that.

With the assistance of his exoskeleton, Oran erupted with tremendous force. He knocked Elatin's weapon aside, then swung both blades diagonally upward at once.

Divine Frost Slash!

Two slashes streaked through the air simultaneously. At that moment, the surrounding airflow seemed to be drawn by Oran's blades, invisibly forming a barrier that interfered with Elatin's movements.

A few strands of hair drifted down in the wind. Elatin's mask had also been cut with a crack, splitting in two and revealing his livid face.

"You actually made me breathe this filthy air, you..."

Shing!

A blade swept past his ear. Oran did not continue speaking with him. While Elatin was still fuming, Oran had already reached his side. His right blade chopped straight down as his left made a stabbing motion.

Elatin immediately evaded Oran's slash, but his counterattack was knocked aside by Oran's blade as well.

After several successive clashes, Oran drew his twin blades back slightly, then dashed forward along with them. The scattered wind blades even cut down two large trees behind Elatin, leaving deep marks on the rock wall.

Jade Cut!

"Flying Slash?! No, a Flying Slash wouldn't be this weak... How could someone like this count as ordinary prey..."

"Actually, encountering a Celestial Dragon like you is a good thing.

"You really are troublesome, but this means I don't have to worry about whether trash like you can understand the words I use to curse you."

The airflow around the twin blades gradually dispersed. This was a special sword technique.

Oran's swordsmanship teacher was quite special. Strictly speaking, he was not even a living person, but a "dead man" within a spiritual realm—Yone.

Yasuo's older brother, the man who went into the canyon with E every day and never returned.

This spiritual realm was where Oran's dreams most often took him. After meeting Yone back then, Oran had traded a mystery surrounding Yasuo for Yone's guidance in swordsmanship.

Yone did not practice Yasuo's closely guarded Wind-Riding Sword Technique. Moreover, Yone had already "died" at the time, so he ultimately agreed to the deal.

Seeing Elatin's current position, Oran did not continue entangling himself with him, because the placement was about right.

Bang! Bang!

Two muffled sounds came from the side as tough rope nets shot out. Oran and Elatin had been fighting at close range just moments ago, leaving the others with little they could do. Now that the two had finally pulled apart, Ivankov and the others, who had been waiting nearby, naturally would not sit idle.

"Nothing but cheap tricks. Before absolute pow—bastard, aren't you a swordsman?!"

To Elatin, the rope nets flew slowly. Other than the blades in Oran's hands, which made him sense a slight threat, it would not have mattered even if those people attacked together.

Just as he raised his hand to cut apart the incoming nets, an inexplicable force made it impossible for him to lift his arm at all.

Even his body was pinned in place by that sudden force. In the end, the rope nets bound him tightly, and his unbalanced body toppled over, sticking firmly to the ground.

Only then did several metallic claw-like objects rise around him, while he himself lay within a metal disc.

It was the gravity released by this device that restricted Elatin's mobility. Its prototype was Viktor's Gravity Field, a special device capable of restricting the movement of creatures within it and stunning them.

"A swordsman? I merely happen to know a little swordsmanship for self-defense. Why would you think I'd duel fairly with trash like you? Isn't this your event? It's just that today, you're the prey."