Chapter 43: All-Out Battle!

Ignoring Elias’ side, Kai downed another mana potion and locked his eyes on the two beasts who had an advantage against someone with a double hammer as his weapon.

’Now that we’re fighting against time, I don’t need to spare my mana too much like before since we need to kill the 1st Echelon Rank Beasts as soon as possible.’

Kai thought to himself as he prepared to use the [Azure Slash] skill and killed the beasts quickly without even thinking of the mana consumption since he could fill it in an instant and he still had a few dozen of them anyway.

The battered plain rang with steel and screeches as Kai skidded to a halt beside a burly dual-hammer wielder who had been forced back step by step by two Saber-tooth Shadow Panthers (Lv 27 & Lv 29).

Their oil-black coats shimmered with dusk mana as every claw left afterimages in the air.

“Hold them for a bit.”

The burly man grunted, crossed his twin mauls, and blocked a double swipe that would have eviscerated a weaker man. Sparks flew, and tendons in his forearms bulged.

Kai vanished into thin air and reappeared above the higher-level panther, left hand flicking a [Slow Curse] seal onto it.

Mid-fall, he twisted Azure Sword into a reverse thrust and stabbed straight into its body. Instead of detonating outward like before, he channeled Azure Slash along the blade’s length, turning it into a vibrating hydro-drill.

The edge bored forward, shredding its organs as the beast convulsed and went limp.

The second panther spun toward him, but the burly man’s right hammer crashed into its ribs, staggering it into Kai’s path.

Looking at the wide opening, Kai directly used his [Azure Slash] skill and slashed the crescent moon attack, instantly killing it as its body was split apart into two diagonally.

[Ding! You have killed the 1st Shadow Panthers, acquiring +1 str, +2 agi, +2 phy, +1 sense.]

[Ding! You have killed the 1st Shadow Panthers, acquiring +2 str, +2 agi, +1 phy.]

Subsequently, Kai used his [Resurrection of the Dead] on them, then ordered them to help the others.

A Vulcan Lynx (Lv 30) pinned an archer against a toppled cart nearby. The monster’s magma-runed claws had already half-melted the wooden wheels.

Kai charged in, but this time he did not use Azure Slash. Instead he slammed Azure Sword point-first into the ground.

Water-attribute mana flooded the soil, flashed to steam, then exploded upward in a geyser beneath the lynx. Scalding vapor launched the beast sky-high.

“What are you waiting for!” he yelled.

The dazed archer fired three shots in rapid succession as Kai flash-stepped above the lynx, catching the final arrow and using the arrow like a stake, plunging it straight through the beast’s eye as they both fell. A wet pop signaled the back’s severance.

Another quick resurrection, and the undead lynx bounded off to aid the others.

On the far side, thunder cracked as Elias clashed with the 2nd Echelon Fire Lion. The ground scorched wherever its paws struck as rings of red-black flame rippled with each heartbeat.

The lion’s mane erupted as it used its [Infernal Mane Burst] skill, launching needles of condensed hellfire.

Elias crossed Solaris Fang in an X, Skybound Boots springing him into mid-air. Most needles missed, yet three punched through Skeleton Armor, scoring crimson lines across his ribs.

“Judgment Mark!” Elias shouted. A sigil branded the lion’s brow, making its flames glow sickly gold. He followed with the [Heaven’s Bind] skill as chains of light lashed around forelegs.

For exactly two seconds the beast halted. Elias stomped invisible sky-steps, dived, and swung Solar Blade-infused arcs. Gleaming traces carved along the lion’s shoulder—but the Physique stat difference was monstrous. Flesh split only shallowly.

Chains snapped. A Blazing Pounce counterstruck. The lion’s entire body became a meteor, and Elias tried to parry, but Solaris Fang cracked as its durability dropped.

He was being thrown fifty meters away, skidding while the skeleton armor fractured.

Kai’s third target, a Steel-fur Wild Cat (Lv 28) mauling a shield-wielder woman, barely noticed him until he was mid-spin. He dropped to a handstand and scissored both legs as one heel crushed its knee joint and the other heel slammed its chin upward.

As the ocelot staggered, Kai jumped to its back, yanked its head sideways, and snapped its neck with raw strength.

[Ding! You have killed the 1st Steel-fur Wild Cat , acquiring +2 str, +3 agi, +1 phy.]

As Kai killed the wildcat and resurrected it, he sensed that Elias was injured. Kai tilted his head toward the distant blazing flames.

Kai immediately healed Elias as he saw Elias was thrown over a hundred meters. While he was at it, he made another skeleton armor and enhanced it before drinking a mana potion.

A glaive-wielder was losing ground to a Glacier Tiger (Lv 31). Its skin exuded frost that dulled her blade.

Kai appeared from behind but chose a different method as he jammed the Azure Sword into the ground again, this time forcing water mana to sink rather than rise. The soil dissolved beneath the tiger’s paws, flash-freezing into a muddy ground that imprisoned its hind legs.

“Finish it!”

The glaive wielder chopped, and Kai redirected her glaive, guiding it under the jaw and through the skull.

The kill officially went to her, but Kai didn’t care as he laid a hand on the corpse, resurrecting it into a frost-breathing ally.

Armand Valtorin, the town chief, was fighting against two Thunder Cougars (Lv 33 & Lv 35). Sparks crawled over their skin as they moved like living lightning. His own poleaxe had shattered minutes ago, leaving nothing but clenched fists and his unique skill.

[Skill] Iron Heart Pulse (4th Echelon) – condense force into a singular burst, released through any striking surface.

The first cougar lunged, and Armand slipped within reach, palm open. A single thrust punch struck the whiskered snout.

BOOM!

A shockwave exploded from his knuckles. The cougar’s entire skull imploded like a tin can, splattering the brain into the air.

However, victory came at a cost, as an electric backlash arced up Armand’s forearm, scorching flesh to bone.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep