Chapter 207: Breaking Through the 3rd Echelon’s Defense

Golden Light surrounded Aurelia’s sword as she faced the 3rd Echelon commander in front of her.

The zombie wielded a dark spear, and a dense layer of Nether energy already covered most of his body in a manner similar to the commander fighting Cain.

Ethan attacked from the side first.

His strike forced the zombie to shift his stance, giving Aurelia enough room to close the distance.

She immediately drove her sword toward the commander’s waist, but the spear dropped in time to intercept it.

CLANG!

Golden Light scattered from the collision.

Aurelia pulled her physical sword back without hesitation.

At the same moment, several manifested blades approached the commander from behind, forcing him to rotate the spear and release a burst of Nether energy.

Two of the Light swords shattered on contact.

The rest curved away before the energy could destroy them.

Ethan entered through the opening created by Aurelia’s attack, but the commander noticed him before he could properly strike.

An elbow slammed into his chest.

BANG!

Ethan was thrown backward.

He managed to land on his feet, although his boots dragged across the broken stone for several meters before he finally stopped himself.

Before the commander could follow him, fifteen golden-white streaks appeared above the battlefield.

The zombie looked upward and his expression immediately changed.

"Go!" Aurelia gave an order.

Ethan obeyed immediately and threw himself toward the side.

The lances descended at the same time.

The commander swept his spear upward, releasing Nether energy around the blade and destroying the first projectile before it could reach him.

The next one struck the ground near his feet.

BOOM!

The explosion forced him sideways, directly toward Aurelia.

One of her manifested swords was already waiting.

The commander blocked it with the shaft of his spear, only to sense another lance approaching from behind.

He twisted his head aside.

The projectile missed him by a narrow margin, but the Solar heat still scorched part of his face before the lance exploded against the street farther ahead.

Aurelia’s eyes sharpened.

She stepped in, her sword cut toward the opening between the commander’s shoulder and raised defense.

He barely managed to shift the spear in time.

CLANG!

Their weapons collided.

Before he could push Aurelia away, Ethan attacked again from the opposite side.

This time, the strike landed.

The commander grunted as Ethan’s attack slammed into his ribs and disturbed the Nether armor protecting his side.

Aurelia reacted immediately.

Several manifested swords descended from above.

The commander released another wave of energy and knocked most of them away, but one blade slipped through the defense and cut across his upper arm.

Shhk!

Dark blood appeared. The wound was shallow and nowhere near serious, but it was the first time either of them had managed to properly injure him.

Aurelia immediately shifted her stance and continued pressing forward.

Cain noticed the entire exchange from the corner of his eye.

That brief distraction nearly cost him his head.

The saber in front of him swept toward his neck, forcing Cain to bend backward as condensed Nether energy passed close enough to cut away several strands of hair like he did to the Commander before this.

"Pay attention!"

The commander followed with a kick.

Cain raised his forearm to block.

BANG!

The impact still threw him several meters across the street.

He landed heavily, pain spreading through his arm before Undying God Body immediately began repairing the damage.

Cain clicked his tongue and pushed himself back to his feet.

"Yeah, yeah. I heard you."

The zombie’s expression became even more irritated.

Cain smiled faintly.

On the opposite side of the battlefield, Elara’s group had no time to pay attention to anything happening around them.

Their opponent wielded a straight sword and fought much more cautiously than the commander facing Cain.

He had already recognized Elara as the greatest threat among the three.

Cold Mana covered the street around her, turning the broken ground pale with frost.

Nathan remained farther behind with his bow raised, keeping enough distance to maintain a clear line of fire, while Jack stayed closer to Elara and repeatedly tried to force the commander into close combat.

The 3rd Echelon had formed Nether armor across most of his body.

Whenever Jack attempted to close the distance, the commander used his superior speed to reposition and prevent the boxer from establishing the range he wanted.

Elara received even more attention.

Every time she tried to gather a larger amount of Mana, the commander immediately attacked and forced her to respond, never allowing her enough freedom to prepare a decisive technique.

Nathan caused a different kind of problem as his arrows continued arriving from angles the commander could not completely ignore.

None of them were individually powerful enough to threaten his life.

One projectile struck the ground beside the commander’s foot just as Jack charged.

The zombie shifted sideways to avoid it, causing Jack’s fist to pass through empty space.

His sword immediately retaliated toward Jack’s ribs.

Jack raised one gauntlet to block the attack.

Clang!

The blade scraped across the reinforced surface.

The force behind the strike still pushed Jack backward, but instead of becoming annoyed, a grin appeared on his face as the patterns across his gauntlets grew slightly brighter.

Another portion of the impact had been stored.

"Again."

His eyes narrowed.

Elara attacked from the opposite direction, ice covered her blade as she struck toward the commander’s side.

The zombie turned and blocked.

Cold Mana immediately began spreading across his sword, but a burst of Nether energy shattered the frost before it could reach his hand.

Nathan fired again.

The arrow struck the commander’s shoulder.

Clang!

It failed to penetrate the Nether armor and bounced away.

However, the attack successfully pulled the zombie’s attention toward Nathan.

That was the opening Jack had been waiting for as he rushed forward.

The commander reacted immediately and thrust his sword toward Jack’s chest, but Jack twisted his body just enough for the blade to scrape past him.

His feet planted firmly against the ground, both fists pulled backward as Mana flooded through his arms.

The grin disappeared from his face.

The sudden increase in pressure immediately alerted the 3rd Echelon.

The commander tried to retreat, but Elara moved first.

Her sword came from behind, not aiming for a killing blow but forcing him to step forward.

Jack’s fists moved as he used his strongest attack—Hundred Fists, One Impact.

His arms blurred.

The first punch struck the Nether armor covering the commander’s chest, followed by another before the zombie could even react.

Then the impacts became too fast to distinguish individually.

Jack’s fists hammered the same area repeatedly as all of his physical strength poured into the skill.

The accumulated force stored within his gauntlets joined every strike.

The commander immediately tried to reinforce the Nether armor around his chest, but Jack never gave him enough time to stabilize it.

Twenty punches passed.

Then forty.

The barrage continued in a blink of an eye.

The dark armor trembled beneath the repeated impacts as unstable cracks began spreading across the section protecting the commander’s chest.

Jack forced even more Mana into the skill.

Pain spread across his shoulders, his muscles screamed beneath the strain.

He continued punching.

The final sequence landed against the exact same point.

Then the force accumulated from all one hundred strikes converged.

BOOOOOOM!

The Nether armor shattered.

The 3rd Echelon was launched backward as the accumulated impact erupted through his chest.

His feet left the ground before he crashed several meters away.

Jack staggered after finishing the Skill.

His breathing became noticeably heavier and his arms trembled from the burden of unleashing all one hundred punches.

Even with his current strength, using the skill at full output was far from easy.

The result made it worthwhile.

The center of the commander’s Nether armor had completely collapsed.

For the first time since the fight began, the protection covering his chest was gone.

Cain noticed it and his eyes immediately lit up.

Without hesitation, he forced even more True Ruin Energy through his body.

Pain spread through several parts of Cain’s body at once.

His muscles had already been repeatedly strained throughout the fight, and several minor injuries had only just finished healing when he forced even more True Ruin Energy through his body.

Cain ignored all of it.

Golden-white light began appearing above him again as another hundred lances rapidly took shape.

His opponent noticed immediately.

"You still have the leisure to do that?"

The commander rushed forward before Cain could finish preparing them.

"Apparently." Cain smiled faintly.

The saber came toward him.

Cain raised his sword to meet the attack directly.

CLANG!

The impact forced his knees to bend as a violent wave of strength traveled through his arms.

Even so, the lances above him continued forming.

The commander attacked again before Cain could straighten himself.

Cain tilted his head away from the blade and allowed it to pass close to his cheek, then immediately thrust his sword toward the zombie’s abdomen.

Unfortunately, Nether armor stopped the blade.

Cain pushed harder, his True Ruin Energy spread along the point of contact and began eroding the protective layer.

The commander reacted by striking Cain’s wrist with his free hand.

His sword was knocked aside.

A knee immediately followed.

BANG!

The strike buried itself in Cain’s stomach and forced the air from his lungs before launching him backward.

The one hundred lances above him flickered as his concentration wavered.

Cain clenched his teeth.

He stabilized the constructs before they could disperse.

Four merged into one.

Then another four followed.

The process repeated rapidly until twenty-five much denser lances remained above the battlefield.