Chapter 648: When the Mourner Stops Crying

Rindo spun his spear with great force and moved out of the wave’s direct path at the last moment.

The wave passed beside him with a terrible sound and struck the stone pillar beside the road directly.

CRAAAAACK!

The impact instantly destroyed the upper part of the pillar, deep cracks spread quickly across the entire stone surface, and before the pillar could collapse, a wave of destructive force passed through it.

Pieces of stone were thrown in every direction, and thick dust filled the air.

A few moments later, a large part of the pillar collapsed with a heavy sound, and broken stones scattered across the ground.

He let out a short breath.

"Two waves?"

Lian did not answer, he had noticed that the energy around the Mourner had not completely calmed down yet.

He lowered his hand.

[Frost Dominion]

A thin layer of ice spread along the road, the surface of the stones turned white, and tiny ice crystals formed in the air.

Then, after a short pause, circular cracks appeared on the ice.

"Rindo, it’s not over yet!" He immediately said.

The third wave was released.

This time, the pressure was heavier than the previous two waves, Rindo, who had just changed his position, did not have enough time to retreat.

But instead of trying to stop the wave directly, he raised his spear with a spiral movement.

The fourth mark on the weapon’s body lit up.

[Ten Forms of the Heavenly Spear]

[Fourth Form: Azure Dragon Rends the Nine Heavens]

Azure mana wrapped around the spear.

The energy flow took shape with Rindo’s spinning movement and created an image similar to a long, thin dragon in the air for a moment.

Using that same movement, he lifted himself off the ground, the pressure wave passed beneath his feet and destroyed the layer of ice on the road.

But he did not stop moving.

His body spun in the air, and the spear’s tip moved downward toward the Mourner, and in a straight line, it struck the creature’s shoulder.

CLAAANG!

Mana sparks scattered from the point of contact, the blade only created a shallow cut in the Mourner’s thick skin.

Rindo immediately jumped backward.

At that same moment, the chains hanging from the creature’s arms dragged across the stone, but the Mourner still had not raised its head.

It was only crying.

"Its defense is really high." Rindo took several steps back after landing.

Lian nodded.

He was examining the mana flows around the creature with [True Sequence].

The first skill seemed to activate along with the sound of crying, but the pressure waves were released after different delays.

This difference in timing made it difficult to tell when the attack had ended.

’Interesting, it’s like it deliberately wants the enemy to move too early.’ He thought for a moment, if his guess was correct, this should be another Withered that had come up from underground.

But why is it crying? And what does it mean by those words, "I didn’t want to"?

The Mourner stopped crying for a moment and then placed both of its huge fists on the ground.

"Move away from where you’re standing." Lian noticed the change in energy.

Rindo immediately moved.

But right where his foot had been a few moments earlier, a dark mark appeared, the stones slowly shook, and then a thick pillar shot out of the ground.

He managed to move away from its main path, but when he landed on another stone, a second mark lit up beneath his feet.

What?

He quickly spun his spear, and the fifth mark lit up.

[Fifth Form: Heavenly River Returns to Its Source]

Azure and silver energy flows formed around the spear’s shaft, with circular movements, Rindo redirected part of the pressure from the rising pillar toward the sides.

The spear shook in his hands, and the remaining pressure passed into his arms, forcing him to take several steps back.

But he managed to survive without taking a direct hit.

He let out a heavy breath.

"This thing can even target where we step?"

Lian glanced at the dark marks on the road.

"It seems to track where we were a few seconds ago, you’d better avoid taking the same paths." He had planned for them to retreat, but it seemed the monster was no longer going to allow them to do that.

Rindo nodded.

But at that exact moment, another mark lit up behind him, he had not yet had time to change his position when a stone pillar weighing several tons began rising upward.

Lian raised his right hand.

[Glacial Reaper Claw]

A huge claw made of solid ice formed in the air and struck the pillar with a quick movement.

CRACK!

The rising stone split into several pieces.

Rindo moved between the pieces and landed on a relatively intact part of the road.

The young Vorhelm looked at the Mourner.

’It has used two skills, one to control distance and another to punish our movements.’

If it were facing an ordinary fighter, such a combination would probably force them to spend all their time defending.

But Lian had no intention of allowing the creature to keep complete control of the battlefield.

He took a step and moved toward the creature, the thirty-meter distance between them disappeared in just a few moments.

The Mourner was still kneeling.

When he reached it, the creature raised its head slightly for the first time, part of its twisted face became visible through its dirty white hair.

Its mouth had a deep wound stretching from one side of its face to beneath its chin, and black liquid had gathered inside its dark eye sockets.

"Please..."

But Lian did not wait for the rest of the sentence, and his right fist struck the creature’s shoulder.

BAAANG!

The Mourner’s huge body bent backward, the stone beneath its knees cracked, and part of the thick skin on its shoulder split open.

The creature made a muffled sound from its throat, but it still remained on the ground.

The young Vorhelm looked at it for a moment.

’It has good physical strength.’ At least, that was what he had learned from the first strike he had landed on the monster.

Of course, not enough to truly resist his current physical strength, but something about the Mourner’s structure had caught his attention.

A large amount of the creature’s energy moved along its arms, and near its chest, several paths connected to each other.

Lian decided to apply more pressure, he clenched his right fist, and mana became compressed along his arm.

[Disaster Suppression Fist]

This time, unlike his normal strikes, the skill’s power was focused into a dense structure around his fist.

The Withered tried to raise its hand, but it was too late, Lian’s fist struck the upper part of its chest.

BOOOOOOM!

The creature’s defensive layers shattered under the strike, and a wave of pressure passed through the back of its shoulder and broke the surrounding stones.

The Mourner’s huge body slid several meters across the road, and the chains hanging from its arms left deep marks on the stone.

Rindo, who was watching the scene from a short distance away, lowered his spear for a moment.

That strike should be enough...

But at that exact moment, something else happened.

The sound of crying stopped.

The Mourner lowered its head and did not move for several seconds....then it placed its right hand on the ground and slowly began to stand up.

Vorhelm did not retreat either and simply watched the creature’s movements.

When the huge Withered finally stood on its feet, its full height was nearly five meters.

Thick chains hung from its wrists, and old wounds could be seen across its chest and stomach.

But what had changed even more than its appearance was the way it stood, its shoulders were no longer shaking, its head was no longer lowered, and no sound of crying came from its throat anymore.

Its feet were placed a certain distance apart on the stone, it held its right arm in front of its chest and lowered its left hand slightly.

The stance of a fighter.

"Oh?" Lian gave a faint smile for a moment.

At that same moment, the monster moved, and its right fist came toward him in a short, straight path.

Vorhelm moved out of the strike’s path with a slight turn.

But just as he was about to counterattack, two gray images of the creature’s previous movement remained in the air.

One of them repeated the punch at the same angle, while the other attacked from the opposite side after a shorter delay.

Lian immediately changed his position.

The first fist passed beside his waist, and the second almost struck the side of his body, forcing him to move several meters away.

But the Mourner was no longer in its previous position.

The five-meter-tall creature had stepped forward heavily and sent its left fist toward Lian’s body from a lower angle.

Lian raised his arm, and the two fists collided.

BOOM!

The pressure from the collision spread through the stones beneath their feet.

But the young Vorhelm only took half a step back, while the Mourner’s arm shook violently.

Even so, the creature immediately changed its movement, and instead of continuing to push directly, it pulled back its right hand and attacked from another angle.

Two new gray images also remained from its previous movement.

[Funeral of the Nameless]

Lian examined their structure with [True Sequence], these images were not simply illusions.

Each one was made of compressed mana flows that repeated the creature’s previous movement after a short delay.

But none of them had as much power as the real body.

"So it can repeat its previous strikes." He whispered, this was almost like cheating.

At that moment, Rindo approached from the right.

He intended to stop one of the images with his spear, but just before the impact, the Mourner changed the direction of its real punch.

This time, its target was Rindo, and the young spearman immediately moved backward, the huge fist passed in front of his face.

But one of the gray images repeated the same strike after a short delay.

He could not retreat in the same direction, because a dark mark had appeared where he had previously stepped, the same kind of mark that had appeared during the monster’s first attack.

So he changed his movement path, and the seventh mark on his spear lit up.

[Seventh Form: Phoenix Returns Beneath the Moon]

The spear’s shaft disappeared behind Rindo’s body for a moment.

A trail of silver mana remained along his retreat path; a trail that showed the wrong direction for the weapon’s next movement.

The Mourner sent its fist in that direction.

But Rindo turned at the last moment, and the real blade returned from a lower angle and struck the creature’s forearm.

CLAAANG!

The strike only created a shallow wound, but it caused the fist’s path to change for a moment.

He used the opportunity to move out of the attack’s range.

Lian, who had watched the situation, gave a short smile.

But the Mourner had also noticed something.

The spearman was much weaker than the human who fought with his fists, and unlike the fist fighter, he could not withstand its heavy strikes with his own physical strength.

The creature focused on Rindo for a moment and then moved toward him with a long step.

Lian noticed this change.

The monster had decided to eliminate the easier target first.