Chapter 227
Strike one, strike two, strike three.
An unending series of attacks filled the space, rushing toward Ragna Ekrion’s sword.
Swift, graceful, and beautiful, as if countless warriors were surging to slay a colossal enemy.
Each stroke of Seonghyun’s sword filled the space, blocking Ragna Ekrion’s brutal strikes.
Chaeaaaang—!!!
Sword energies collided, shattered, and scattered around them.
The shattered fragments flew wildly, cutting down anything they touched.
Seonghyun’s sword energy left countless wounds around,
While Ragna Ekrion’s strikes carved deep, massive wounds.
Ragna Ekrion’s initially surprised, rounded eyes slowly narrowed, and his brow furrowed.
His pride flared at the fact that his sword, meant to obliterate all, was being blocked by mere fragmented strikes.
He was displeased.
‘...Arrogant brat.’
With that thought, Ragna Ekrion charged at Seonghyun.
Meanwhile, Seonghyun thought differently as he watched Ragna Ekrion’s charge.
Though he had used all buffs to strengthen his body,
That was not enough.
It was time to consider and use all of his skills.
Was it because he had no safety net of vassals?
He recalled fighting the remnants of Leonik before.
At that time, he had gone deliberately alone.
Though then, he could still summon his vassals from the Netherworld.
But this time was different.
‘I have to do it alone.’
With the Netherworld summon blocked,
Seonghyun had to manage all on his own.
The pressure tightened his mind more than expected.
But that was only at the beginning.
Not anymore.
With his enhanced body, watching Ragna Ekrion rush forward,
He combined agile, swift, and graceful swordplay.
Ragna Ekrion’s skill manifested in an instant.
A malign dark purple electric aura surged in his sword, crackling like lightning as he swung toward Seonghyun.
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga——!!!
If the strike hit, his body would be severely injured.
It was a powerful skill that could drain most of his health.
Normally, Seonghyun would have blocked this attack with the Monarch’s Silence Command.
But at that moment, he quickly assessed the situation.
Using a shadow of darkness, he instantly moved behind Ragna Ekrion and swung his sword.
Swoosh—! Swoosh——! Swoosh———!!!
Swift strikes sliced Ragna Ekrion’s back, both arms, and even his legs.
As Ragna Ekrion turned around, Seonghyun used the shadow of darkness once more to escape the spot.
As Seonghyun disappeared, the ominous dark purple electric aura swept the area.
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga———!!!
The devastating lightning cut even the mountains,
But Seonghyun was no longer there.
Seonghyun stepped forward before Ragna Ekrion as if he had already read his moves, ready to swing his sword again.
This time, Ragna Ekrion also read Seonghyun’s move and immediately countered with a back kick, bracing on his foreleg.
In the brief moment when vision shifted, Seonghyun spotted the straight, powerful back kick coming and used his last shadow of darkness to instantly evade.
The delayed dark purple lightning infused into the back kick, rendering that spot into ruins as well.
Kwaaaaaaah———!!!
Though weaker than when swung by sword,
Its power was extraordinary.
Each of these techniques, if hit by one, would be strong enough to make even the hardiest retire immediately.
Seonghyun’s spine chilled watching this, but
At the same time, he was smiling.
When was the last time he had felt such a thrill in a game?
‘Cresentra.’
He didn’t think he had been this tense since then.
A smile appeared on Seonghyun’s lips at the thought.
Though his face was hidden beneath the darkness-held helmet,
Ragna Ekrion could sense that Seonghyun was enjoying the situation.
His displeasure was evident as he ground his teeth.
Grrr!
Enjoying himself while facing me?
He certainly seemed desperate.
He was someone Ragna Ekrion could probably catch if he tried.
Yet for some reason, the gap did not close.
It was so thin it could barely be called a gap.
Frustrated with the unexplained feeling, Ragna Ekrion charged again.
However,
Passssss!
Darkness surged up from beneath Ragna Ekrion’s feet, wrapping around his legs.
He fiercely kicked to shatter the darkness into pieces,
But a slight opening appeared.
At that moment, Seonghyun moved swiftly and stabbed his sword toward Ragna Ekrion’s chest.
The following strike, simpler and faster than a swing, spread like a spear attack.
Flash—!
As the gleaming sword attack flew,
Ragna Ekrion, of course, swung his sword to block and counterattack.
But at the same instant, darkness ascended and briefly blocked Ragna Ekrion’s sword.
Though the sword crumbled the darkness fragments upon movement,
It created a momentary opening.
That opening
Pwoooosh!!!
Became a flash that pierced straight through Ragna Ekrion’s chest.
“Krrgh.”
Feeling pain, Ragna Ekrion immediately activated a skill to slash Seonghyun.
The ominous dark purple lightning morphed into a dragon trying to bite Seonghyun.
Hundreds of blood-red swords sprang up, enveloping around Seonghyun like a shield, blocking the attack.
In an instant, the blood-red swords shot toward Ragna Ekrion.
At that very moment, as Ragna Ekrion’s sword was blocked and the blood-red swords shot out,
Seonghyun grasped one blood sword with his empty hand and flew away to evade.
Simultaneously, as some of the hundreds of swords struck Ragna Ekrion’s chest,
With a fierce explosion, Ragna Ekrion was engulfed.
Fwoooosh——!!!
Amid the explosion of blood swords, a dark purple lightning dragon ascended.
Seonghyun tried desperately to block the explosion of the blood swords.
But he could not prevent it.
The state of Ragna Ekrion after the explosion was not good.
Unlike the Spear of Annihilation, which he had blocked using a skill,
He had been hit directly right in front of him.
That much was understandable.
All the hundreds of blood swords vanished except for one near Seonghyun.
But the most threatening thing was not the explosion of the blood swords.
“Kulk.”
“Huuu.”
Ragna Ekrion, coughing up black blood, looked at his own blood with a puzzled expression.
He soon realized something was wrong with his body, and his face twisted in pain.
“Poison… is it?”
“......”
Seonghyun said nothing.
But Ragna Ekrion knew perfectly well.
A deadly poison had entered his body.
A painful, corrosive poison was spreading rapidly through various parts of his body.
Yet Ragna Ekrion smirked and gripped his sword again.
He seemed to have become one with the sword.
Earlier, the sword had only looked like it was connected by veins.
But now it was different.
The ominous dark purple sword writhed and seemed to swallow Ragna Ekrion’s arm.
The sword and his right arm had merged into one.
It looked like a monster or chimera.
The problem was,
Seonghyun was troubled that the message he had been waiting for didn’t appear.
‘That’s not Phase 2?’
Something had changed in appearance and the aura it emitted was different.
Yet it still wasn’t Phase 2.
The ominous dark purple aura grew heavier, and the murderous intent that Ragna Ekrion gave off intensified.
Meanwhile, Seonghyun’s teal flames were gradually fading.
‘The Flames of the Dead have ended.’
Though he had strengthened his body by using darkness,
That alone wasn’t enough.
To fight with physical strength alone...
But since when had the situation ever been favorable?
Seonghyun smiled faintly, thinking so, and muttered to himself about the skills he could use.
Then, Ragna Ekrion’s new form disappeared.
The moment it vanished, Seonghyun decided he could not leave it to chance.
He used Blood Curse to intentionally end the duration of the poison.
And the last effect of the emerging Blood Curse—
Fwoooosh——!!!
Pshuuuutt——!!!
“Kulk!”
Just before it reached Seonghyun.
The poison exploded, and from Ragna Ekrion’s body rose a blood-red mist, like steam.
Ragna Ekrion, eyes bloodshot, halted in his tracks.
Seonghyun immediately confirmed his position, opened his eyes wide, and used a skill on him.
“Ssssuuup!”
As their eyes met, Ragna Ekrion felt at that moment that his right arm, fused with his sword, had vanished.
The terror of loss.
His most precious sword and right arm were gone.
Yet they weren’t entirely lost.
It was as if they had flown into a two-dimensional space, unreachable like the Severance skill Seonghyun had created.
The dreadful fear gripped Ragna Ekrion’s body.
Seonghyun used another skill at that moment.
Ragna Ekrion felt a huge entity emerging from the abyss behind Seonghyun reaching out for him.
Suddenly, his health and mana were drained.
A whisper seemed to say —
“Collecting...”
Seonghyun used the Lord of Terror and restored his health and mana.
Simultaneously, countless dark spikes erupted, slashing Ragna Ekrion’s entire body.
Normally, such an assault could be dodged or shattered entirely even without his sword.
But without his sword, instead of defending himself, his muscles shriveled as if a balloon had deflated, turning into a mummy-like form while screaming.
“G-give... my... sword back...!!!”
“...???”
Even Seonghyun was caught off guard by this sight.
A fleeting thought passed through Seonghyun’s mind.
‘Could it be?’
Was that sword close to Ragna Ekrion’s true body?
Though he had felt attacked by the demonic sword,
Could it really have been almost his true body?
Seonghyun pondered this as he looked at the weakened Ragna Ekrion.
This was anticlimactic.
Though he felt a slight disappointment,
Anyway,
‘I won.’
Though he liked thrilling, full-power battles,
There would still be other chances.
Just as Seonghyun was about to finish off Ragna Ekrion,
Crack!
Crack-crack!
A sound like glass cracking was heard.
Ragna Ekrion screamed out,
“No, no!!!”
It looked like something was tearing through the space, trying to escape.
That could mean danger again.
Seonghyun prepared himself.
Crunch!
Whoosh——!!!
“Aaaaaaagh!!!”
“??????”
An incomprehensible phenomenon occurred.
A geyser of blood burst from where Ragna Ekrion’s right shoulder should have been.
His right arm had been torn off.
Surely, the right arm, sealed in a two-dimensional space by the terror of loss, fell from the void.
Then something tore through the dimension and flew in.
It was none other than the ominous dark purple sword of Ragna Ekrion.
Seonghyun swallowed hard watching it.
Was Phase 2 activating now?
His expression showed a hint of pleasure at the thought.
At that moment, messages appeared.
[Insufficient keywords.]
[The name of the magic sword is not accurately displayed.]
[Magic sword 『??si?』 has escaped its host.]
[『Severance』 is being used around you.]
[You cannot leave this spot.]
[Magic sword 『Ne???』 is trying to leave this place.]
“...??? What?”
Not continuing to fight?
Seonghyun was bewildered.
As the sword called the magic sword flew up to leave,
Seonghyun tried to move to catch it.
Just as he tried to jump up swiftly,
[Due to 『Severance』, summoning of summons and vassals is impossible.]
[Additional effect of 『Severance』: Temporarily unable to leave this area.]
What nonsense!
Seonghyun frowned and tried to chase the sword, but because of Severance, he could not move.
Was he going to lose the magic sword like this?
Just as he was about to explode in frustration,
Crack.
Crack, crekrekt!
A sound of cracking and bursting echoed.
Urgent system messages appeared.
[『Severance』 has been broken.]
At the place where the magic sword was about to disappear,
A woman with luscious red hair appeared, delicately holding the sword with her thumb and forefinger.
Helena smiled at Seonghyun.
“I’m a bit late, huh?”