Chapter 166: A Worthy Opponent

“This isn’t possible.”

Zoran stared at his spear in a daze.

No one under Rank 3 had even broken his spear before.

Absolutely no one, not even himself!

And what was more shocking was the fact that it was split in half while Zoran was bleeding heavily. In other words, the spear wasn’t even in its weakest state.

Yet the mysterious man before him shattered what Zoran thought was the definition of impossible.

And that was with a single attack!

“That’s… exciting!”

Was it the mysterious man’s ability? A relic? Black magic? Something more terrifying than anything he had ever seen? Zoran did not know nor did he care.

For the first time since awakening his class, Zoran felt a threat from a person the same rank as him.

He didn’t feel humiliated or ashamed. That was a chance for him!

A chance to fight a real enemy.

Another genius.

A worthy opponent!

“Our glorious battle will be legenda—”

Thud!

At this moment, a small object fell behind him, interrupting his speech.

It was a small round object with a color that flickered between black and white.

“Wait, that’s…” his charged brain suddenly clung to a certain memory of a report that was given to him from some survivors.

“Shit!”

BOOM!

Lightning danced around his body as he quickly dashed away, but the round object exploded at the same time.

From the exploded object, hundreds of chaotic daggers burst in all directions, stabbing and piercing everything.

Two of them stabbed Zoran, only one of them was successfully blocked by his cloak. The one that pierced him suddenly melted into Zoran’s blood vessels and dissolved inside.

The next moment, five chaotic spikes burst out of Zoran’s chest, cutting through his flesh and skin before disappearing.

“I really can’t understand any of these tricks, hehe.”

Unfazed, Zoran laughed and tore the spikes out of his chest. As a titan with a high awakening percentage despite his young age, he possessed incredible vitality that allowed him to survive many attacks of such a scale.

He might not be able to survive with no problems without his vital organs like the demons, but the blood loss was the least of his concerns.

Just then, Zoran closed his eyes and muttered: “Electricity Sensation.”

Immediately, he sensed all electricity around himself.

He sensed the electricity signals moving through the unlucky animals and insects around him.

He sensed the electricity moving through his body, cloak, and spear.

And he sensed the electricity signals within a hidden shadow that was moving toward him at an insane speed.

“Found you!”

Golden lightning surged through his body and fixed his spear and cloak, restoring their shape and brightness.

The next moment, he stepped back and swept toward the ground, causing Dante to come out of his shadow form to avoid getting cut in half.

“Tsk.” Dante clicked his tongue and lunged forward, infusing his boots with mana to increase his speed.

CLANK!

Their weapons finally met for the first time, and Dante finally understood Zoran’s confidence.

Even with the help of the shadow blades, Dante barely held himself together!

His hands were shaking, the spear was pushing them back, getting closer to Dante’s neck!

“Your sword didn’t shatter? Is this your ability as well?” Zoran asked with a grin: “Hahaha! As expected, you’re truly worthy!”

After saying that, he pushed Dante back and raised his spear.

Dante prepared himself to use an Ether shield to block the upcoming attack, but to his surprise, the spear went down and pierced Zoran’s stomach.

He was injuring himself intentionally!

Misfortune-Chaos Magic — Chaotic Instructive Thoughts!

Dante used his only available mental attack to stop Zoran while lunging forward with an extended thrust, but Zoran was unfazed by the mental attack and took his spear out of his stomach, deflecting Dante’s attack with ease.

Before Dante could regain his stance, Zoran thrust and pierced Dante’s chest.

Blergh–!

Dante spat blood under his mask, feeling the high voltage running through his entire body and paralyzing it.

Zoran’s body eased as he let out a sigh.

“You fought well—”

Tap!

However, instead of falling dead, Dante just placed his hand on Zoran’s arm weakly.

At the exact moment, a surge of energy moved to Zoran’s arm and altered it, turning it into a tentacle!

The cloak tried to expand and block the energy, but due to the direct contact, it was too late.

Misfortune-Chaos Magic — Negative Chaotic Mutations!

Zoran reacted quickly and pulled his spear out of Dante’s chest then severed off Dante’s arm.

However, the mutations were still spreading.

With a heart of steel, Zoran swung his spear and severed off his own arm, stopping the corruption of the black magic from reaching any vital points.

“Little Nobody, I don’t think you’re a human.” Zoran said while looking at the hole in Dante’s chest.

BOOM! BOOM!

However, the next moment, two cannonballs shot toward him, shattering his spear again and throwing him back again.

“I’ll return!” Zoran roared as he did his best to resist the force of the cannonball, seeing that another one was about to hit him soon.

“Damn!”

Dante looked at his severed arm and used *Reclaim* to attach it back alongside some pieces of his chest flesh.

“Who the hell raised that guy to make him intentionally stab himself without anyone forcing him?!”

Yes, Dante had stabbed himself before… with the intention of attempting suicide… but that was different!

“Hehe, but he lost an arm already, and soon his whole body!”

A crazy smile tugged at Dante’s face for less than a second before disappearing.

He had used a lot of demonic energy. The mental corruption was slowly making him unrecognisable.

Unfortunately, he had no choice but to keep using it if he wanted to survive and defeat that titan.

He couldn’t use the silver Ether like this frequently. The more he harmed the titan, the stronger he got. One or two cannonballs weren’t enough to kill Zoran and they’d only make Dante’s situation worse.

The titan used only a few magical attacks, saving all his spiritual energy for fixing his cloak and spear, so engaging in a long battle with him in the hope of draining his spiritual energy was not an option as well.

One of the options Dante had was to kill the titan in one swift attack, leaving him with no chance to get stronger. But that was easier said than done.

The second option was to cripple him, destroying his limbs one by one. Zoran would be able to make artificial limbs of lightning, but they’d be significantly weaker than the original.

However, even that was difficult to do. He had to intentionally get stabbed to do it once, and Zoran wasn’t stupid enough to fall for the same trick twice… or maybe he was.

“If I can’t defeat him with what I have, then what about creating something new?”

Unless used for something simple like mobility or a technique, the Shadow Aspect was out of options.

The Misfortune Aspect was basically useless alone.

Mana was too weak.

That left Dante with the Chaos Magic and silver Ether as his only trump cards.

“Let’s go with the silver Ether. My target is destroying that guy’s defense completely.”

After advancing to Rank 2, Dante received more knowledge about the silver Ether.

To be precise, the second use of the silver Ether, which was commanding runes!

That was how he used a spell like Appraisal, and he gained an evolved version of it in addition to a new spell, but it was useless against Zoran.

He had only one second to think before he sensed Zoran standing up and heading toward Dante’s location, but that second was enough for him to come up with a plan.

“The next thing I need is speed!”

Dante was slow, so slow that he couldn’t now attack Zoran even if he could bypass his defense.

He had to do something to become fast enough to deliver one attack.

He looked at his hand and his boots. His clothes were burned completely, leaving him with some molten fabric that barely covered his skin.

Just then, a surge of silent black electricity flickered between his fingers.

Lightning.

That was lightning!

After getting shocked by the high voltage of Zoran’s lightning multiple times, Dante understood it enough to mimic it for the first time.

That was a famous method among the serious shadow users. They could be seen burning themselves, shocking themselves, drowning themselves, and many more horrifying things to mimic those aspects.

Was that method masochistic?

Yes!

But was it effective?

Absolutely yes!

“I can barely use it, but that’s enough for some speed!”

BAM!

Without warning, Zoran landed from the sky onto the ground, smashing it on impact. The next second, he charged forward like a living lightning strike.

At the exact moment, Dante turned his sword into a shield and supported it with his attached arm.

RING!

The tip of the overcharged spear slammed into the demonic shield, causing a sound that rang throughout the area and a shockwave that pushed the air.

Dante’s eyes, nose, and ears bled heavily after the impact, but he gritted his teeth and endured the pain.

Next, he channeled his silver Ether, but this time, he kept it in his body, moving it directly to his silver eye.

For the first time, Dante was about to use the silver Ether on his own body during a fight, but not to enhance his body.

It was to use a technique, and that technique was an improved version or Appraisal with a different purpose.

Silver Ether Technique — Runic Analysis!

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