Chapter 700: Don’t Get The Wrong Idea

The knight slowly held his huge sword in front of his body, and for the first time, he opened all twelve of his wings in a perfectly organized position.

Lian turned his gaze back toward the knight.

Hmm?

Until a few moments ago, the Apostate’s mana flows had been divided between his sword and wings.

But now, all that energy was moving toward the blade, and at that moment, the first symbol appeared in the air.

An ancient symbol made of glowing lines that floated above the sword.

Then the second symbol appeared.

And the third.

Lian immediately activated [ True Sequence ].

’What is this?’

The mana flows around the knight became visible, but what he saw was different from all the Apostate’s previous skills.

Each symbol had gathered a huge amount of energy inside it, and unlike the previous skills, this energy had not yet been fully released.

’Is he storing power...?’

Lian gave an order without wasting time.

"Everyone, move back!"

But before One and Two could move far enough away, the ninth symbol formed in the air.

Nine huge symbols slowly rotated around the sword.

Young Vorhelm looked at their shapes for a moment.

Runes?

The ancient lines looked more like the runes from Norse mythology than anything else.

And the number nine was also familiar to him.

Odin’s nine nights...

In Norse legends, Odin had hung from Yggdrasil, the World Tree, for nine nights to gain knowledge of the runes.

Now an ancient knight stood before Lian, gathering nine runic symbols around his sword.

Odin again?

But he did not have time to think, and the Forsaken Apostate raised his sword.

[ Odin’s Nine-Night Edict ]

A skill that stored a huge amount of power in nine runic symbols and allowed the knight to release part of that energy through his sword attacks.

This ability was not an absolute judgment, nor could it continue without limits.

But as long as the symbols had energy remaining, every sword strike would carry power far beyond his normal attacks.

Lian immediately recognized the danger.

’I can’t let anyone take a direct hit.’

He opened the Wings of God.

But before he could reach a suitable distance, the knight brought his sword down.

The first rune glowed, and the blade struck the ground, for a moment, the entire plateau sank under the pressure of the strike.

Then a terrible sound echoed throughout the area.

A huge crack began at the point of impact and quickly moved toward the distant edge of the plateau.

But this time, it was not like ordinary cracks in the ground, the two sides of the crack moved apart, and huge sections of the stone ground broke.

Part of the ground collapsed, and massive pieces of stone with unbelievable weight fell into the depths of the abyss.

The crack continued across the plateau and divided the central part of the battlefield into two sections.

The pressure wave from the impact spread beyond the crack and reached the surrounding areas.

On the slopes of distant cliffs, huge masses of stone broke away.

Dust rose to a great height, and for several seconds, even the horizon was hidden behind a thick cloud of dust.

The released power was on such a scale that if a strike like this landed in the middle of a city, the entire city would be reduced to ashes... It could destroy an entire city.

But here, there was only an ancient plateau, and now, even that plateau was falling apart.

Lian had used the Wings of God to escape the direct path of the attack at the last moment.

Even so, the pressure wave still reached him, his ancient armor protected him against the pieces of stone, but the force of the impact pushed his body through the air.

He changed his flight direction and regained control of his movement, then landed on a part of the ground that was still intact.

Damn it.

He looked at the huge crack in front of him for a moment, this was no ordinary slash.

But the next thing he checked was the condition of his companions.

Rindo, Alicia, and Noah were farther away from the center of the impact.

They were not in the direct path of the sword, if they had been, all three would have been killed without the slightest chance to defend themselves.

But the pressure wave was so wide that it even reached their position.

Noah had placed his umbrella in front of his body at the last moment, but the pressure wave struck its defensive barrier with destructive force.

The umbrella’s shield bent sharply backward, and before it could block all the pressure, part of the impact’s force passed through it.

The young Frenchman and the other two were thrown into the air and slammed into the ground several meters away.

Rindo struck a rock with his left shoulder. The terrible sound of the impact mixed with the sound of breaking bones.

His shoulder joint had been dislocated, and several deep cracks had formed in his upper arm bone, the force of the impact then passed into his chest and broke at least two of his ribs.

He tried to breathe with his mouth open, but severe pain spread through his chest.

Every time he filled his lungs with air, the sharp edges of his broken ribs pressed against the surrounding tissue.

Alicia also tried to reduce the force of the impact by changing her body’s position while falling, but the wave of debris left her little time to react.

Several huge stone pieces weighing several tons struck her arm and side with great force, and the impact of one of them broke her forearm bone, while the next impact crushed several ribs on the right side of her chest.

Her body slammed into the ground, and for a moment, all the air was forced out of her lungs.

When she finally stopped moving, blood was flowing from a deep cut on her forehead.

Trying to breathe had become extremely painful, and every small movement sent sharp pain through her chest.

Noah was lying on the ground several meters away.

His umbrella was beside him, and several parts of its structure were broken and had lost their original shape.

His left hand and arm had been badly injured, his forearm bone was broken, and his wrist was severely damaged, blood flowed down from beside his eyebrow and spread across his face.

He tried to place his uninjured hand beneath his body and get up, but the pain from his broken bones and the impact to his chest did not even allow him to sit halfway up.

For several moments, he could only remain on the ground and take short, broken breaths to get enough air into his lungs.

Rindo raised his head with great difficulty.

"Are we... still alive?"

He looked at the huge crack that had split the entire plateau apart farther away.

If they had been only a few dozen meters closer, there would probably have been nothing left of their bodies.

What kind of power is this?

But before he could think any further, the sound of another impact echoed across the battlefield.

The second rune lit up.

Lian was still checking his companions’ condition when he noticed the sword moving again.

Again?

The Forsaken Apostate moved his blade from right to left without stopping, this time, the energy of the second rune was released along a horizontal slash.

The huge wave moved toward the western part of the battlefield.

Lian immediately gave a retreat order through Hive Dominion.

But the knight was no longer allowing the Colony members to approach him from several directions as before.

Every time one of them moved, the Apostate changed the direction of his sword and blocked their path with a wave of energy.

Four was the first to be targeted.

The Nine-Venom Castellan was directing Corrosion Poison and Mana Disruption Poison toward the damaged part of the knight’s armor from a suitable distance.

The Apostate had now realized that these poisons were one of the reasons his defenses had weakened.

So before attacking Lian, he turned his sword toward Four.

’Four, retreat!’

Lian’s command echoed in the Colony member’s mind.

The Castellan immediately moved, but the pressure from the slash cut off his retreat path.

He released Sensory Disruption Poison.

This poison could disturb the target’s perception of distance and direction for a short time, however, against an Unholy creature using a powerful skill at full strength, its effect was limited.

The Forsaken Apostate attacked without changing direction, and part of the pressure wave struck Four.

His armor and defensive covering were damaged, and his body was dragged several meters across the stone ground.

A heavy impact sound was heard.

Four supported himself against the ground with one hand, part of his armor was broken, and signs of injury could be seen on his body.

’My lord... His defenses have become stronger than I expected.’

Lian felt the pressure Four had suffered through the Colony bond.

’I know. Stay back for now.’

But the knight had still not stopped attacking.

The third rune glowed.

This time, the target was One.

The huge ant used several of his hands to destroy the stone ground in front of him and move out of the sword’s main path.

[ Collapse Hand ]

But just as a large part of the ground beneath his feet sank, a wave of pressure passed beside his body.

One of One’s arms was directly in the path of the impact.

The sound of natural armor breaking was heard.

The ant was pushed several meters backward by the force of the strike and crashed into the edge of a huge stone.

His upper left arm had suffered severe damage.

Another arm was also barely able to move because of the impact to its shoulder.

Lian looked at One for a moment.

Damn it.

He had not forgotten One’s previous injuries, and now, he was once again in a similar situation.

The Forsaken Apostate raised his sword for the next strike.

Despite his injuries, One placed his four healthier hands on the ground and tried to stand up again.

But before the knight could attack, a deep roar came from the left side of the battlefield.

"Enough!"

Dreadmaw took action.

[ Ossuary Gravefield ]

Huge bone structures rose between the knight and One.

The pressure wave struck the first layer, the bones broke, and the second layer was crushed a moment later.

But the third layer slowed the wave for a fraction of a second.

That opportunity was enough for One to move out of the attack’s main range.

Even so, Three could not completely escape the pressure wave either.

Part of the attack struck his body and broke one of his defensive plates.

He was pushed back several meters but remained standing.

Lian realized what had happened through the Colony bond.

Three stepped in to save One?

For a moment, he was genuinely surprised.

But Dreadmaw immediately looked toward the ant.

"Do not misunderstand."

His voice was still proud despite his injuries.

"I did not step in to save you."

Then he turned his head toward the knight.

"I simply did not want that armored creature to think he could defeat one of my comrades so easily."

"It would be an insult to me if that fool thought he could defeat my comrade that easily."

Lian looked at him for a moment, and then the corner of his mouth rose slightly.

This creature really has a strange personality.