CHAPTER 174: CHAPTER 174: BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL [3]

Chapter 174 – Battle for Survival [3]

The Black Knight sat there on his throne as he slowly lowered his head to look at the black spear that had pierced his left chest, his expression unreadable.

Kaden and Asael were side by side again, their breathing ragged as they had given all their strength to this attack, but unfortunately...

"It doesn’t amount to much, right...?" Kaden said with a wry smile, sweat dripping from his forehead and soaking his entire body heavily.

Asael chuckled grimly, "Well, it’s a Grandmaster," he said and just at that moment, the Knight raised his armored hand and touched the black spear, making it crack and disintegrate as if being corrupted.

He looked at both Kaden and Asael, then... he grabbed his bony greatsword and stood up.

Instantly, it was like the sky was falling on them. Kaden’s knees buckled down as they slammed against the floor with a loud thud, sending a shock of pain through his whole body, his face turning into a nasty grimace.

Asael fared much better, he didn’t kneel, but his body was aching as the pressure slammed down on him.

Gritting his teeth, he called upon the shadows around him as they enveloped his body protectively, allowing him to barely support the crushing pressure.

The Knight was slowly walking toward them, seemingly not in a hurry—the place where the black spear had pierced his armor had already repaired itself — still cracked but not pierced — making it look like they had done absolutely nothing.

Asael sighed heavily.

"Kaden, my friend, I agree this is the battle for survival... but we shouldn’t fight like survivors. We have to go wild, my friend. Let us fight like death is our companion. No hesitation. No worry about wounds..."

He paused softly as he gripped his twin swords tighter until his knuckles turned bone-white, then a mad smile appeared on his lips.

"Let’s go all out!" he shouted, then dashed toward the Knight without hesitation, his swords raised as he performed a series of sword attacks more vicious than the preceding ones.

A series of clanks of steel echoed, followed by a chain of explosions.

Asael was fighting like a formless madman, escaping death by a hair’s breadth by transforming his body into shadows or simply using the shadows as a barrier—it hardly amounted to anything, but it gave him time to adapt to the Knight’s ruthless skills.

The Knight’s skills were... like a knight’s. Sophisticated but ruthless. His strikes were precise and looked inevitable every time, as if you had no choice but to take them head-on.

For a man wearing such heavy-looking, creaky armor, he was surprisingly fast as he kept up—no, he surpassed Asael’s speed by leaps and bounds. They looked like two streaks of black light weaving across the battlefield, tearing down the ground and making the very air shudder with unease.

Asael was sent flying back multiple times, but he always stood up with a bloody smile on his face as he lunged at the Knight again, his wounds healing thanks to his trait.

With his formless attribute given by the shadows, he was barely able to save his life—but it was clearly not enough. The Knight had power over corruption and decay, so every one of his landed strikes felt like something was grating the interior of Asael’s mind, making him lose focus and suffer immensely.

And that’s exactly what happened when the Knight sent him flying away—his body whipping through the air like an arrow as he slammed hard into the cracked walls, causing them to quake intensely and collapse on him.

A cloud of dust rose in that spot.

Soon it was cleared, and Asael was visible once again, trying to get up with his unsteady legs. His whole body was filled with wounds and blood, his clothes were all torn down and looked like ragged pieces of cloth stitched together.

But his black, shadowy eyes were focused and held no fear nor hesitation.

Only lethal precision.

He turned to look at Kaden, who finally managed to escape the Knight’s pressure and stood beside him. He gave him a rapid series of health potions that Asael gulped down as if his life depended on it — which honestly, it did.

A sigh escaped his lips, then...

"Ready?" Kaden said, his voice filled with murderous intensity.

"What a stupid question my friend ," Asael said with a smirk, and this time...

They shot forward together. But instead of heading straight toward the Knight, they passed by the place where Kaden’s bulky undead was still fighting against one of the peak Master undead.

Asael passed beside him, stepping into his shadow as black flames erupted and devoured the enemy’s shadow instantly, weakening the peak Master undead significantly. A second later, Kaden dashed past, and Reditha flashed with a streak of red light, slicing off the creature’s head with a single strike before continuing his run.

His other elf undead had already taken care of the second one, so right now — they were four against one.

And for the first time since the beginning of the battle, Kaden felt like it might actually be possible to wound him greatly.

They attacked all at once, cornering the Knight from every direction. The elf was high in the sky, firing down white flaming arrows like rain, each one targeting the Knight with perfect accuracy. The bulky undead was close and relentless, throwing a barrage of punches that made the very air quiver and ripple like disturbed water.

Kaden and Asael moved with their full sword techniques, using them at the best of their abilities and at maximum speed. They looked like twin streaks of red and black light zipping through the battlefield, attacking the Knight with savage coordination.

But all of that was useless.

The Knight’s corruption corrupted all of their skills, nullifying them with ease. His armor could take head-on the brutal punches of the bulky undead, and his sword strikes were fending off every one of their attacks and counterattacks at the same time — as if he was dancing through destruction.

They were left bruised, bloodied, and full of injuries. The bulky undead, in the end, died saving Kaden from a harrowing slash.

Now they were three against one, and at this rate...

They wouldn’t make it.

Kaden finally realized the dreadfulness of fighting a Grandmaster — truly. His arms had been cut down multiple times, causing him pain that seemed endless, but his regeneration always kicked in, reattaching them with hid blood power and threads.

His eyes were bloodshot, glowing like those of a demon crawling from the deepest pit of Hell. Every strike of his tore through his body, sending pulses of agony that made it feel like at any moment he would collapse.

The air was heavy with the scent of decay, thick and choking, making it harder and harder for him to focus.

And Asael’s state was even worse — he had taken most of the blows after all.

"ARGHHHH!!!"

A scream of pain echoed as the Knight stabbed Kaden straight through the belly. Blood gushed out like a waterfall, his skin turning pale in an instant, but Kaden gritted his teeth with spite and anger beyond imagination as he grabbed the Knight’s greatsword, still soaked with his own blood, and splashed it on the enemy’s armor.

Then—

"Explode," he growled.

And a furious eruption followed, a bone-fire explosion laced with something higher — something deeper — swallowing the enemy and buying just enough time for him to retreat back with Asael.

Kaden’s wounds were healing, but very slowly now, he was reaching his limit. Asael too.

Their expressions grew grim when the fire died down...

And the Knight stood there, completely untouched. Not even a single burn marked his armor.

They cursed.

They couldn’t go on like this...they couldn’t.

At this rate, they would die.

Facing him head-on was foolish.

’The only way to win is by being ingenious with our abilities. We have to surprise him,’ Kaden thought, turning his head toward Asael.

Their eyes met and a mutual understanding coursed instantly between them.

Sighing, they shot forward again.

This time, Kaden didn’t go toward the Knight.

Only Asael did.

He ordered in his mind to his elf undead to fire her most powerful arrow... at him.

She obeyed.

She took her bow and a white arrow appeared on its string. She didn’t fire it yet — she condensed the white flame again and again until the very air around it started to ripple, the heat so immaculate and volatile that even the bow itself began to catch fire.

She pulled the string back as far as she could, the flames biting into her hand and arm, burning through her skin — but she didn’t falter — then, without hesitation, she released it toward Kaden, who had already leapt into the sky.

The arrow tore through the air like a divine missile and hovered perfectly on Kaden’s right.

Immediately, his entire hand began to burn — his skin melted, his blood evaporated, until only the stubborn black bones remained, radiating with an aura of death.

Kaden gritted his teeth so hard that they started to crack, then spun in the air, channeling everything — his Flame of Blood, Soulbrand, and both of his Intents — into the arrow, infusing the already divine white flame with a crimson-black hue laced with blue stars, then hurled it down with all his might toward the ground, far from Asael’s position.

Asael, still fighting the Knight to keep him distracted, instantly took a step back and slammed his foot into the Knight’s shadow, locking him in place for a single, precious second.

But that was all they needed because at that same moment, the arrow touched down.

Asael shifted the shadows on the ground where the arrow hit, transferring it straight through the Knight’s shadow and forcing it to reappear beneath his feet...the arrow struck with devastating impact.

A thunderous explosion erupted.

The entire battlefield quaked in dread as a column of white and crimson flame shot upward like an erupting volcano, engulfing the Knight in its fiery embrace and painting the world in a mesmerizing inferno of radiant white, deep crimson, and glittering blue stars.

The temperature surged to a bristling peak. The very air blistered as waves of heat escaped the lungs of both Kaden and Asael.

They staggered back, taking distance, hope blooming inside their battered, fearful hearts.

But that fragile hope died as quickly as it came.

Because flames started to die down and from within them came a voice — cold, emotionless, and absolute.

A voice that echoed through the battlefield and made their souls quiver with dread and despair.

"Domain: Ruined Death."

—End of Chapter 174—