Refining

CLANG!!

The Rending Wheel stone hammer fell like a meteor, smashing heavily into the Silver Kite Shield with a tremendous crash.

Sparks sprayed from the shield's surface as if iron were being forged.

Yet Schnauzer merely lowered his stance slightly, without taking even half a step back.

Of course, the large dog named Amos also deserved credit. After transforming, it had become enormous and could provide its master, Schnauzer, with powerful support.

Gilan's hammer blow was equivalent to contending against both man and dog at once.

Crack, crack, crack!

Schnauzer held the shield in his left hand, straining against the hammerhead.

Half his face was visible from behind the shield, his expression grave.

"Mr. Vic, your hammer is very strange. It actually carries a force capable of harming the soul."

Schnauzer narrowed his eyes.

Seated atop the large dog, he was nearly at eye level with the three-meter-tall Gilan.

"Although my shield weakened that force, it still corroded me... This is clearly an ability unique to the God-Communing Scepter Spiral."

"But the impression you give me is more like that of a mystic of the Shell Spiral."

"Strange. Very strange."

Boom!!

Gilan did not respond. He simply raised his leg and, in Mad King form, unleashed an Iron Shattering kick.

Amid a thunderous roar, a violent gale burst outward in a ring.

Schnauzer blocked again with the Silver Kite Shield in his hand, but he stumbled. Even the large dog beneath him could not withstand such terrifying impact and was forced back again and again.

Whoosh!

Man and dog slid backward for more than ten meters, plowing a trench through the white fuzz-covered ground as dandelions scattered through the air.

Yet Schnauzer did not advance to attack again. Instead, he gave the oppressive stone-and-bone sculpture a deep look.

"Mr. Vic,