Chapter 696: This Knight Is a Pain!

His fist struck the armor plate on the shoulder.

The sound of the impact echoed across the battlefield, and a long crack appeared on the metal plate, then part of the armor moved slightly away from its original position.

The knight took half a step backward to maintain his balance, but Lian left the close range without trying to deliver a second strike.

At the exact moment he moved back, the Apostate’s huge sword came down from above.

The blade struck the stone ground.

If Lian had remained there to deliver another strike, he would now have been directly in the sword’s path.

He landed several meters away, and his gaze remained fixed on the crack in the armor.

’Finally.’

He had managed to cause the first clear damage to the knight’s armor.

Not by trying to break through all his defenses, but by forcing the Apostate to use several wings at the same time and targeting the moment when his defensive cover was open.

The knight slowly turned his head toward his damaged shoulder and looked at the crack for several seconds, then stared at Lian again.

"You are different from the other beings who have come here."

"You could have figured that out from the beginning." Young Vorhelm answered without smiling.

The Apostate placed his sword in front of his body.

"Even so, your difference will not change my judgment."

"It doesn’t need to."

At that moment, the Forsaken Apostate fully opened all twelve wings, and the storm’s pressure increased again.

But this time, Lian did not retreat, he slowly closed his right hand into a fist.

In the eastern part of the plateau, Rindo, along with Alicia and Noah, had reached the end of a row of broken statues.

Behind the last statue, a narrow passage extended between a stone wall and the edge of the cliff, but a large part of the path was hidden beneath fallen pieces of stone.

Rindo looked at it for a moment.

"Maybe we can pass through here."

Alicia took a few steps forward, but stopped before approaching the damaged section.

The ground in that area had deep cracks, if they stepped on the unstable stones, part of the passage might collapse.

"We can’t be sure yet."

Noah looked behind him, from that distance, he could see a huge storm covering the center of the battlefield.

"I think we’d better find an answer quickly."

Rindo nodded and looked back at the passage.

"Alicia, examine the stones along the path from here, see if there’s a way through. Noah, watch our backs."

She nodded.

Noah also turned toward the entrance of the passage without making his usual jokes.

The three began carrying out their tasks.

But in the center of the battlefield, Lian was facing a new danger.

After his shoulder was damaged, the Forsaken Apostate changed his fighting style, he no longer focused all the storm’s pressure in one direction.

Instead, with short movements of his wings, he created smaller and faster air currents that approached Lian from several angles.

At the same time, his huge sword continued moving without stopping.

Lian passed beside the first current.

He redirected the second current with a movement of the Wings of God, then took a short step out of the blade’s path.

But when he tried to approach from the right, the knight opened another lower wing toward him.

The same pattern again.

Lian immediately changed direction, and at that moment, the sword passed beside his head.

If he had tried to continue his attack, even his ancient armor might not have been able to withstand all the force of the impact.

Young Vorhelm landed on the stone ground, but contrary to the knight’s expectations, he did not attack again and simply stood there.

The Wings of God folded slightly behind his body.

The Forsaken Apostate placed his sword in front of his body.

"Why do you not advance?"

"Because you’re still standing in my way." Lian looked at him for a moment.

Then he raised his right hand.

’One.’

The huge ant placed one of his hands on the ground from a distance.

[ Aftershock Hand ]

The cracks created beneath the knight’s feet during the previous attacks spread again.

The Apostate immediately shifted his weight, but this time, Lian was waiting for him to change position and quickly approached from the right.

The knight turned his blade toward him.

But young Vorhelm passed beside the strike with a short change of direction and reached the damaged part of the shoulder with his right hand.

[ Rupture Brand ]

This skill left a mana mark on the point of impact with the first strike and increased the damage of the next strike to the same point.

Mana settled on the existing crack in the armor.

Lian immediately moved back.

The knight immediately noticed the flow of energy, a large gray wing moved toward his shoulder and covered the damaged area.

’Good.’ Young Vorhelm kept his eyes on the wing.

’Now you’re even protecting that spot.’

By doing this, the knight had been forced to use one of his wings to defend his shoulder.

A wing that could no longer fully contribute to controlling the storm at the same time.

The Apostate turned his head toward Lian.

"Your tricks are many."

"I prefer to call them experience." Lian corrected him.

Then, without paying attention to the knight’s reaction, he took several steps backward, but at that exact moment, something else caught his attention.

The storm was becoming weaker, first, the smaller air currents stopped, and then the huge wind that had covered the entire plateau weakened.

The ashes floating in the air slowly settled on the ground, and finally, an unusual silence covered the entire battlefield.

’Why did he stop it?’ Lian looked at the knight.

The Forsaken Apostate was holding his sword in front of his body, his twelve gray wings opened at specific angles.

The long feathers remained completely motionless for a moment, but between them, mana flows began to gather and compress.

Lian activated True Sequence.

[ True Sequence ]

The invisible energy flows became visible to him, but their structure was different from the previous storm.

Mana was not only gathering around the wings, but it was also creating regular vibrations between the feathers of all twelve wings.

He immediately recognized the danger.

His gaze moved toward the eastern part of the plateau for a moment.

Rindo, Alicia, and Noah were still farther away, behind the broken statues.

"Stay where you are! Don’t come closer!" Lian shouted.

Rindo raised his head.

From Lian’s tone, he realized that the situation had changed.

He immediately signaled to Alicia and Noah, and all three moved back behind a more stable part of the wall.

In the center of the battlefield, One pressed all six of his hands against the ground.

Two also lowered his huge body.

But just as Lian was about to interrupt the knight’s concentration with a quick attack, a faint sound came from between the gray wings.

A long sound.

Similar to a horn being blown from a very long distance.

Then another sound joined it.

And a third sound, until the vibrations of all twelve wings became synchronized.

[ Gjallarhorn’s Final Call ]

A moment later, a sound similar to thousands of horns being blown echoed across the entire plateau.

The first wave passed between the pillars, and the stone ground beneath their feet began to shake.

The second wave arrived.

Several damaged pillars cracked, and pieces of stone broke away from them.

In the eastern part of the plateau, Noah lost his balance for a moment and leaned against the wall.

Alicia grabbed the edge of a stone with one hand and lowered her head.

Rindo held his spear tightly, but all three were at a distance where the main pressure of the wave could not reach them.

Even so, controlling their mana was difficult even from that distance.

In the center of the battlefield, One was gripping the ground with all six of his hands, and Two had lowered his body to avoid losing his balance.

But Lian was the closest to the knight, and because of that, he was receiving the main pressure of the wave.

The World-Devourer Bastion armor was still covering his body, but this attack was not the kind of strike that could be stopped only through physical resistance or distributing the force.

The mana vibrations passed through his defenses and disturbed his concentration for a moment.

Damn it.

He clenched his teeth.

’I can’t stop this one with just my armor.’

Another wave moved toward him.

The Wings of God opened, and with a powerful movement, they redirected part of the air pressure in front of him, but the vibrations continued.

He felt that coordinating his mana flow with his body’s movements had become more difficult.

Even so, he did not take his eyes off the knight.

At that moment, the Forsaken Apostate moved, and his huge sword rose, this time, his movement was different from his previous attacks.

It was neither an attempt to test Lian’s reaction nor a strike meant to push him backward.

The knight was using the disturbance caused by the horns to deliver a direct attack from close range.

Lian saw the blade’s path, but this time, he did not retreat and placed his right foot on an undamaged part of the stone ground.

The lines on his ancient armor lit up for a moment, and the Wings of God folded slightly behind his body.

And as the Forsaken Apostate’s huge sword came down toward him, Lian raised his head to look at it....