Chapter 112: On the Warship (Part-11)

If an Upper Exalt joined the trestle, the masked warriors would instantly regain the upper hand. Against Exalts, an Upper Exalt was like a tiger among sheep.

If Ryan were not here, the defense of the trestle would have collapsed in an instant.

However, this Upper Exalt from the Skeleton Warship was completely unaware of Ryan’s true strength. He was puzzled instead.

Why had so many masked warriors failed to break through for so long?

Why were they cowering on the trestle, afraid to move forward, when there was only a single candidate blocking their way?

Fear of a mere candidate?

Ridiculous.

With annoyance rising in his heart, the Upper Exalt fixed his gaze on Ryan, trying to see what was so special about him.

But no matter how he looked, Ryan appeared ordinary. Aside from a calm posture and confident bearing, there was nothing remarkable about him.

Since he could not see anything special, there was no need to waste time.

The solution was simple.

Kill him.

The Upper Exalt accelerated, flying straight toward Ryan at high speed.

Ryan raised his head calmly. Seeing the Upper Exalt approaching, his expression did not change in the slightest. His left hand turned over gently, and in an instant, three wind blades condensed in his palm.

“Wind Blade.”

With a flick of his hand, the three wind blades shot forward in a triangular formation.

The Skeleton Warship’s Upper Exalt was briefly stunned. A candidate daring to attack him head-on?

The next moment, he sneered and continued forward. Three throwing blades appeared in his hand and were hurled out with force.

In his mind, the outcome was obvious. An Upper Exalt’s attack would easily shatter a candidate’s skill, and those flying blades might even kill the youth outright.

But reality shattered his expectations.

The instant the throwing blades collided with the wind blades, a sharp metallic sound rang out. The flying blades exploded into fragments, scattering through the air.

The three wind blades, however, did not slow down at all.

They continued forward with undiminished power.

“This is impossible!”

The Upper Exalt’s expression changed drastically. He could hardly believe what he was seeing.

Those flying blades were strong enough to seriously injure ordinary Exalts, yet they had been destroyed in an instant.

Panic surged in his heart. He hurriedly tried to dodge, instinctively knowing that his body was no tougher than those shattered blades.

But as he moved, the three wind blades adjusted their trajectory, curving through the air as if alive, locking onto him once more.

“No—!”

A desperate cry rang out.

The three wind blades passed through his body in a flash.

With a violent tearing sound, the Upper Exalt’s body was split apart in midair, shattered into pieces that rained down toward the void below.

“Ding. Congratulations to player Ryan for killing an Upper Exalt. Gained 350,000 experience points. God of War value: 0.”

The system notification echoed in Ryan’s mind. In the sky, the Upper Exalt who had charged at him was already torn apart, his body shattered into fragments that rained down like broken leaves.

A dignified Upper Exalt had died just like that.

He probably never imagined that the so-called “candidate” standing on the trestle below would possess such terrifying power.

Gasps erupted across the Void Warship.

The Western Mansion experts and the surviving candidates stared in disbelief, sharp inhales sounding one after another. They had all seen it clearly. Ryan had casually released three invisible blades and directly erased a flying Upper Exalt from existence.

That was an Upper Exalt. A being who could soar through the sky, suppress Exalts with ease, and trample ordinary candidates like ants.

Yet he had been killed as effortlessly as swatting a fly.

Silence followed the shock. Countless eyes fixed on Ryan, filled with awe, confusion, and fear.

The same questions surfaced again.

Who exactly was this candidate?

How terrifying was Ryan’s true strength? Where was his limit?

Moments ago, he had slaughtered Exalt-rank masked warriors like chopping vegetables. Now, even an Upper Exalt had fallen at his hands without resistance. This was no longer within the bounds of common sense.

Whether they knew Ryan or not, everyone shared the same thought.

Was this all just a dream?

Ryan ignored the stunned crowd. The massive experience gain had stirred his blood, igniting an uncontrollable excitement in his heart. He raised his head and looked toward the sky, his gaze locking onto the remaining Upper Exalts from the Skeleton Warship.

In his eyes, they were no longer enemies.

They were experience points.

Massive experience points.

A faint smile crept onto his lips.

Who said this was a crisis?

To Ryan, this was nothing more than an opportunity. A golden chance to grow stronger.

One Upper Exalt was worth over 350,000 experience. Ten meant 3.5 million. Thirty meant another breakthrough.

“Kill.”

The word echoed in his heart.

He was already prepared to charge into the sky and hunt down the Upper Exalts one by one. However, before doing that, there was still a problem to solve.

The masked warriors are on the opposite side of the trestle.

If he left now, those remaining warriors could still threaten the Void Warship. Li Wujie, Li Shu, Li Baijie, Wang Bi’er, Mu Xianling… Ryan could accept the deaths of strangers, but not theirs.

So first, the masked warriors had to be completely wiped out.

Ryan turned his gaze toward the opposite end of the trestle. More than a hundred masked warriors were still gathered there, densely packed.

To deal with so many at once, there was only one choice.

He tightened his grip on the Remnant Shadow Sword. His aura surged violently as he leapt into the air, then raised the sword high and smashed it down toward the deck.

“All of you… die.”

“Finishing Technique: Mountain Splitting!”

A thunderous roar shook the heavens.

Mountain Splitting: Summon a blade of blood-qi and slam it into the ground, releasing a massive shockwave and erupting scorching magma from below. Attack range: 10×10. Skill power equals twice the player’s strength.

Although this was not solid ground, the effect was no different.

Within the 10×10 area before Ryan, the deck, the trestle, and even the air itself seemed to explode. Torrents of blazing magma burst forth, instantly engulfing the masked warriors.

Flames raged. Wind howled. Shockwaves tore through space.

The entire area transformed into a sea of fire, rumbling like the heavens collapsing. The temperature soared to a terrifying extreme, scorching the air itself.

Even the Western Mansion experts behind Ryan were forced to retreat deeper into the ship, unable to withstand the intense heat and pressure. If they felt this way, the masked warriors at the center of the attack suffered a fate beyond imagination.

Ashes.

Obliteration.

Complete annihilation.

More than a hundred masked warriors had been standing there moments ago. After the flames swept through, not a single figure remained.

No bodies.

No bones.

Not even scraps of flesh.

Only black ash drifted silently through the air.

Yet the power of Mountain Splitting did not end there.

Both the Void Warship and the Skeleton Warship were top-tier treasures, capable of withstanding attacks even from Upper Exalts. Under normal circumstances, they should have been nearly indestructible.

But under Ryan’s strike, the hulls of both warships were scorched black. Cracks more than a meter long split across their surfaces, marring their once-pristine exteriors.

The trestle connecting the two ships was completely shattered, burned away, and destroyed by the violent shockwave.

From this moment on, unless they were Upper Exalts capable of flight, no one from the Skeleton Warship could ever board the Void Warship again.

The shock this time was absolute.

The Western Mansion experts and all the candidates stood frozen, mouths agape, eyes wide, as if their souls had been ripped from their bodies.

Hundreds of masked warriors.

Gone.

Erased by a single strike.

At last, a trembling thought echoed in everyone’s mind.

What kind of martial art… had Ryan just used?

The moment before, when people looked at Ryan, their eyes were filled with shock.

Now, that shock had transformed into pure fear.

A fear so deep it made their scalps tingle.

Too terrifying.

More than a hundred people had vanished in the blink of an eye, erased without even leaving corpses behind. At this point, calling Ryan a monster no longer felt excessive. To many, he looked more like a walking calamity.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep