Chapter 434: The Broken Crown VII

Lian pulled his leg back, the knight had almost managed to trick him.

The test was adapting, and this process was happening too quickly, as if the Academy’s simulation system and the teachers had decided to show him what this test was capable of.

Could they have been upset because of what he said?

In any case, he could no longer move forward using only his natural reactions.

True Sequence.

His eyes stayed fixed on the Crownless Executioner, and the mana flows inside the creature’s artificial body became visible.

But unlike the previous monsters, the image was not simple, dozens of paths were active at the same time.

Some went to the legs, some to the arms, some to the sword, some to the armor, and every few seconds the paths changed.

The knight intentionally did not leave a fixed pattern, and the sword came again.

Young Vorhelm blocked it with his forearm and his left fist hit the empty face of the helmet, the knight moved back but before he could continue, mana gathered inside the sword.

Another gray slash was released, and this time Lian did not want to dodge and brought his right hand forward.

Cataclysm Pulse.

Mana was compressed inside his closed fist, for a moment nothing happened, at least until he slammed his fist hard into the ground.

Then—

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A powerful compressed wave exploded from his fist, the air twisted in its path and dirt and rocks were torn from the ground.

The gray slash collided with the wave in the middle of its path and a huge explosion formed between them, causing the sky to be covered by dust for a moment.

The rocks around them cracked and the knight’s attack was destroyed, but Cataclysm Pulse did not stop and the remaining wave hit the Crownless Executioner directly.

BOOM!

The knight was pushed back several meters, its feet created two deep lines in the stone, but it still did not fall.

Lian did not take his eyes off it.

"You learned another attack, the problem is that the more you learn about me, the more I understand how you work too, this is a two-way relationship."

The knight attacked again and young Vorhelm allowed it, he needed to watch more of its attacks to understand what this monster’s weakness was.

One attack.

Two attacks.

Three attacks.

True Sequence followed the paths.

Before every change in fighting style, the knight’s mana returned to its chest for a moment, at first he thought it was only part of the normal process of controlling its body.

But no, every time, exactly every time, before changing the way it fought, the central core of its body redistributed the mana for less than half a second.

And at that moment, the defense around its neck and left shoulder became weaker, it was very small but it was there, and he understood.

Now he only needed to create that moment himself.

[False Presence]

A second presence appeared on his right side and both of them moved at the same time.

This time, the Crownless Executioner did not even turn its head toward the false presence and the sword came straight toward the real Lian.

The corner of young Vorhelm’s lips rose, but he did not care and reached half a meter from the enemy, then twenty centimeters, and then—

Frost Dominion.

A very thin layer of ice formed exactly under the knight’s front foot.

Not to stop it, but only to change the angle of its foot by a few degrees, and the Crownless Executioner stepped forward, its foot slipped, only a few centimeters, but a sword moving at such speed needed perfect balance to keep its path.

The blade passed beside Lian’s head and its edge scraped across the shoulder plate of the World-Devourer Bastion, creating a long shower of sparks in the air.

The knight reacted to correct its body position, mana gathered in its chest, and at that moment young Vorhelm was waiting for exactly this.

Thunder Step.

The explosion of thunder broke the ground under his feet and he disappeared from in front of the knight.

The Crownless Executioner turned its head, but the World-Devourer Bastion, with all of its real weight, was now behind it.

Thunder Calamity.

Blue and purple lightning wrapped around Lian’s arm again, but this time it did not stop and the lightning spread across his shoulder, chest, and both arms.

The sound of thunder roared throughout the valley and he planted his foot firmly on the ground.

Giant’s Momentum.

The mass of the armor, his body, and his movement speed were gathered in one direction, and his right hand moved backward.

"Let’s see if you can predict this one too." Then he said with a cold smile.

His fist moved.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Thunder Calamity, together with the huge weight of the World-Devourer Bastion, hit the weak point behind the stone knight’s neck directly.

For a moment, it seemed as if time had stopped, and then the knight’s armor exploded.

CRACK!

A huge crack started from its neck, the plates on its shoulder collapsed, lightning entered the cracks, and blue light came out from inside its artificial body.

But the Crownless Executioner still did not fall, even in that condition, it turned around and raised its sword with one hand.

"You still don’t want to give up?" Lian was genuinely surprised for a moment.

The blade came toward his neck and he raised his left hand, the sword hit the armored forearm.

BOOM!

The forearm plate was pushed deeply inward, but it did not break, and he wrapped that same hand around the blade, the fingers of the World-Devourer Bastion locked around the metal.

The knight tried to pull its sword free but .....could not.

Lian looked directly at its empty helmet.

"You were really fun, but from here on, you’re just wasting my time." His right hand opened and mana gathered.

Cataclysm Pulse.

His palm was placed directly against the knight’s cracked chest.

"Fucking break!"

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion happened at zero distance and the Crownless Executioner’s armor plates exploded from the inside out.

Its entire two-and-a-half-meter body was lifted from the ground and thrown backward at a terrifying speed.

It passed through one stone pillar, then a second pillar, and finally crashed into the wall of the valley.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Half of the wall collapsed and hundreds of tons of rocks fell onto the place of impact, causing only the sound of falling rocks to be heard for several seconds.

Lian stood there and the lightning slowly disappeared from his armor, his breathing was slightly heavier than before, this fight had really consumed mana.

Frost Dominion.

Thunder Step.

True Sequence.

Thunder Calamity.

Cataclysm Pulse.

Even the World-Devourer Bastion had consumed part of his mana for Structural Memory and to maintain some of its functions.

But it was still not over, he could feel it, mana still existed under the rocks.

Suddenly—

BOOM!

Several large rocks were thrown into the air and the stone knight came out from the ruins, half of its chest armor was destroyed, its left shoulder almost no longer existed, and its sword was also broken in half.

But it was still moving.

Young Vorhelm stayed silent for a moment and then laughed, only a short laugh that came from real satisfaction.

"Damn... now I understand why your name is Executioner, fine, let’s finish this."

The Crownless Executioner attacked, bringing its broken sword forward.

Lian also ran, no complicated skill was needed this time and only a direct collision happened.

Giant’s Momentum.

Thunder Calamity.

Lightning exploded around his right fist and the knight brought its broken blade down, he moved his head to the side and the blade scraped across the shoulder of the World-Devourer Bastion and sent a long shower of sparks into the air.

Then his fist passed through the defense and hit the center of the bright core inside the stone creature’s chest directly.

Click.

For a moment, a strange sound came, and lightning passed through the Crownless Executioner’s body.

The light inside its chest went out, the knight took two more steps forward, and the broken sword fell from its hand.

Click.

Its body dropped onto one knee, then its head fell down and light came out through the cracks in its armor.

Its huge body slowly turned into particles of mana.

[Composite Challenge defeated.]

[Combat Difficulty exceeded recommended range.]

[Performance Rating: Exceptional.]

[Crown Points increased.]

[Crown Points: 356.]

[Adaptive Evaluation recalibrating.]

Lian looked at the last notification for a few seconds and thought a little about whether he should make another sarcastic comment, in the end, he decided not to.

He did not want to make the teachers so angry that they suddenly sent an Awakened who had completed three Evolutions after him.

Maybe he could fight a Level 30 Fallen that was equal to a normal Level 45 monster right now, but he had no chance against those who had completed three Evolutions.

Even defeating this one had taken a lot of effort and struggle.

The gap between the First Evolution and the Second Evolution was something that could be partly covered by some monstrous geniuses and with the help of Ancient Rank artifacts or Holy and Eternal Rank skills.

But no Awakened who had completed two Evolutions could fight even the weakest Awakened who had completed three Evolutions, after all, there was a reason why Awakened who had completed three Evolutions and above were given titles.

After the Third Evolution, every Power jump between each Evolution was very large.

Right now, against an Enlightened One, he was no different from an ant, even when he reached the Second Evolution, it was unlikely that he could cover the difference in power, that was how large this difference was, unless his talents experienced a greater evolution.