Chapter 442: Unexpectedly Powerful

"You and me?" Ron raised his shortbow but didn’t nock an arrow.

"One on one," Ming Datiss said grimly. The surrounding Plant People and Spore People scurried back like a receding tide, clearing a space of several dozen meters. "You said a great deal just now, but I only agree with one point: in that deathmatch, we each relied on our own abilities. There was nothing unfair about it."

"So today, I’m going to win it back, fair and square!"

Honestly, hearing Ming Datiss say the words "fair and square," given his current condition, made the atmosphere incredibly bizarre.

"Ron, don’t listen to him!" Sera stepped in front of Ron before Aive could speak. "He’s trying to trick you so he can kill you!"

"The second half is correct. I do want to kill him," Ming Datiss said coldly, watching the barbarian raise her greatsword. "You’re a traitor too. What do you think you’re doing?"

"I’m a Chieftain in my own right. I’ve never sworn allegiance to anyone, so how could I be a traitor?" Sera grinned, baring a mouthful of sharp teeth. "I’m not doing anything special. I just want to have a go at you. One-on-one!"

"Ron took it upon himself to kill you all on his own back then. We still haven’t settled the score for when you left me for dead!"

Ming Datiss looked at the barbarian who had deliberately jumped out to test the waters for Ron. To her surprise, he slowly nodded. "Fine!"

"But it’s all in vain. As you are now, you are no match for me!"

"We’ll see about that!" At Ming Datiss’s words, the ferocity in Sera’s chest swelled to its peak. The muscles on her exposed skin tensed and veins bulged. With a rousing war cry to the Lord of War and Hunt, she swung the Grip of the Vast Wave, which stirred up a violent gale as it cleaved toward Ming Datiss! "I’m going to rip your head from your spine!"

’She’d been itching to fix that inhumanly twisted neck of his for a while now!’

As Sera launched her attack, Ron’s gaze sharpened. He carefully observed how Ming Datiss would respond. The Elf’s previous Resurrection had just been Baron Salan Lane making use of a disposable asset. This time, however, that terrifying entity had personally intervened. This Elf could not be taken lightly.

However, Ming Datiss abruptly vanished and reappeared in an instant. Before Ron could even blink, the fight was over.

A single drop of crimson blood rolled off the tip of the rapier and hit the ground, inciting a bloodthirsty stir among the surrounding Plant People and Spore People. Sera herself was frozen in place. A moment later, she collapsed, defeated and unwilling to accept it.

The Grip of the Vast Wave fell with her, clattering into the dust.

"Sera!" Delaford’s face paled. "Damn it, what just happened?"

"Relax. I don’t have time to kill her. This was just a warning," Ming Datiss said, resetting his stance with his sword pointed forward. "Now, you shouldn’t be holding onto any foolish hopes, right?"

"Duel me again!"

"A duel just because you say so?" Silvia’s cold voice rang out. As the Vampire Mage raised her right hand, the scepter that had fallen to the ground when its previous owner was captured flew back into her grasp, shrinking to the size of a walking stick. "Benefactor, don’t waste your breath on this guy. Let’s just kill him together and get it over with!"

When Ron had dealt with Ming Datiss the first time, the Vampire Descendant had not yet escaped from Carolina’s clutches. Thus, she couldn’t care less about him. Besides, ever since she began keeping a pack of Night Howling Hounds, she had more or less forgotten the meaning of "one-on-one" or "duel."

"If you’re planning to gang up on me, I’d be happy to oblige," Ming Datiss sneered, and his surrounding "enforcers" stirred. "But I guarantee that Mages like you won’t have time to cast any wide-area destructive Magic!"

In terms of numbers, his side clearly had the advantage.

"Forget it, Silvia," Ron said, stopping her before she could act. "Go look after Sera. Get her to wake up as quickly as possible."

"As for you... I accept your challenge."

As he spoke the last word, Ron gave his opponent no time to react. A brilliant column of light erupted from his shortbow, instantly engulfing Ming Datiss in its beam!

"Sun Flame Ray!"

"Death Array!"

Giving Ming Datiss no quarter, a shockwave of negative energy roared out as Ron clenched his left fist, blasting in all directions. This combination of positive and negative damage was meant to counter almost any possibility of what Ming Datiss had become.

If he was undead, the Sun Flame Ray would not spare him. If he had been truly resurrected, Ron didn’t mind using the Death Array to send him on another trip to the Death Realm.

However, the expected feedback didn’t come, startling Ron. In an instant, his figure was enveloped in a silvery mist and he reappeared on the other side of the clearing.

Almost simultaneously, a rapier struck like a coiled viper at the very spot where Ron had just been standing, hitting nothing but air.

"Ron, what are you running from? Embrace your fate!"

Before Ron could even catch his breath, Ming Datiss stood in his previous spot, his head swiveling a full one hundred and eighty degrees to stare back at him.

Golden, radiant energy burned his flesh while dark Erosion Damage assailed his mind. However, this damage was like a tiny crack in a massive dam. Hoping to defeat Ming Datiss with it alone was wishful thinking.

"I didn’t expect you to have these kinds of tricks up your sleeve! But unfortunately for you, you’ve run into me again!" Ming Datiss licked his lips and his form vanished once more. With his Magic proving ineffective, Ron was forced to retreat, periodically turning to fire his bow to fend off the attacks.

It was as if Ming Datiss was on some kind of drug. He was now not only incredibly strong and swift, but also seemed impervious to physical attacks, and Magic could barely touch him. Ron quickly realized that his ordinary Ray Spells couldn’t faze him in the slightest; they only served to disrupt his own evasive rhythm.

A Six-Ring Spell could force the Elf to slow down and dodge cautiously, but Ron didn’t have an abundant supply of such powerful Magic to cast.

"You can’t escape!" Ming Datiss lunged and missed again, yet he showed no impatience. He glanced nonchalantly at Ron, casually swatting aside an incoming Scorching Beam. "I’d like to see how many more times you can use Mist Step while you keep casting Ray Spells like that."

"An eye for an eye! I am your reckoning!"

Ron didn’t answer. Instead, he instantly vanished into the shadows. Even though Ming Datiss searched intently, he couldn’t easily pinpoint Ron’s location.

This was, after all, a High-level Invisibility Technique. Even he wouldn’t be able to find Ron right away. But the Elf didn’t seem to care. Even if Ron used Level-up Casting, how much longer than a minute could the spell last?

If Ron couldn’t come up with a counter-strategy, what awaited him was far worse than simple defeat.

This was a battle not just to determine a victor, but to decide who lived and who died.

Hidden among a crowd of Delusional Plant People, Ron’s mind raced. Countless strategies to defeat the resurrected Elf flashed through his head, yet when considering them from a purely magical standpoint, he always felt that something was missing.

The Weaving Introduction, also invisible, was rapidly analyzing the surrounding environment and objects. Finally, with just ten seconds remaining on his High-level Invisibility Technique, Ron’s eyes suddenly lit up.

’Pure Magic won’t work, but using Magic to manipulate other materials—especially these Plant People—that’s another story! If I combine that with the spell model from that Elf Elder Mage, the one that’s been improved so many times... the key to piercing his defenses might just be in there!’

’He’d tried it before. Ming Datiss was vulnerable to this kind of attack!’