With a deafening boom, the ground beneath Azrael and the undead knight shattered, and both of them vanished from the spot they had been standing on.
In the very next instant, they reached each other and swung their swords with terrifying force.
Knowing he was far weaker than the undead knight, Azrael did not dare to hold back. The muscles in his arms bulged as he used Force Utilization technique, bringing out nearly 170% of his strength.
At the same time, he activated The World ability of the Fallen Star.
The World's power grew in proportion to Azrael's Strength stat, and now that his Strength had surpassed 70 points, he could push the ability to terrifying limits. By increasing the sword's weight fourfold, he raised its mass to over 2500 kilograms.
The moment his blade collided with the undead knight's sword, the Fallen Star's passive ability, Sword Domination, came into effect, amplifying the strike's power by a full 60%.
A thunderous explosion resounded through the chamber as a powerful shockwave erupted in all directions, rattling the walls violently. The ground around them sank within a three-meter radius before collapsing into fragments.
The undead knight felt the unstoppable weight of the Fallen Star crashing down and nearly lost its grip on its weapon.
But Azrael wasn't faring much better. The level 38 undead knight's Strength exceeded 200 points, and the instant their blades clashed, the bones in Azrael's hands nearly cracked and a tearing pain surged through his body.
Yet, he ignored the pain completely and before the knight could recover from the devastating impact of the 2500-kilogram greatsword, Azrael twisted his body and delivered a spinning kick directly to the side of its head.
The kick landed squarely at the side of its face, sending the knight's armored body flying backward under the force of the blow.
The wings of wind on Azrael's back flared and before the undead knight even hit the ground, Azrael appeared above its airborne body, stomping down on its chest with crushing force.
The impact shattered parts of the knight's old armor, tearing away chunks of corroded plating.
Its momentum was abruptly stopped, and the knight was driven straight into the ground, creating a small crater upon impact.
Azrael prepared to follow up with another attack, but suddenly, alarm bells rang in his mind.
Acting purely on instinct, he retreated instantly from the knight's position.
The moment he pulled away, a cloud of black smoke erupted from the knight's body, filled with a suffocating aura of undead energy.
The smoke corroded everything it touched, the ground and even the cave walls melted on contact, transforming into bubbling puddles of black liquid.
Suddenly, the smoke split apart as a slash of pitch-black sword energy tore through it, streaking directly toward Azrael.
However, under the combined effect of Infinite Comprehension and True Focus, Azrael had already foreseen the attack before the knight even unleashed it. He tilted his body slightly and dodged with ease.
A sonic boom reverberated through the chamber, scattering the cloud of smoke as the undead knight lunged forward at lightning speed.
Azrael's expression remained calm upon seeing the undead charging towards him and with a flap of his wings, he shot upward, soaring into the air and narrowly evading the charge.
Powered by the wings of wind, Azrael could accelerate to a speed comparable to that of a powerful level-40 epic warrior. Though he couldn't maintain that speed for long, against an opponent whose stats far surpassed his own, this was his most valuable trump card.
Seeing Azrael soaring into the air, the undead knight immediately retaliated, unleashing a volley of razor-sharp sword slashes toward him.
Though Azrael managed to avoid them, each evasion pushed his limits as the knight's attack speed was simply too fast.
Though dodging the attacks wasn't an easy task, Azrael's mind remained steady. Calmly analyzing the flow of the battle, he endured the relentless storm of strikes and devised a plan.
A minute later, several deep scars had appeared on Azrael's body, and blood was trickling down from them as some of the sword slashes managed to wound him, despite him pushing the wings of wind to their very limit.
Yet, he wasn't bothered by the injuries, for he finally had a plan in mind on how to deal with the undead knight.
The Fallen Star in his hand began to glow with a deep emerald light and within seconds, the glow intensified so greatly that its black blade seemed to turn completely green.
After dodging another deadly slash, Azrael suddenly dived straight down. His figure blurred as he plummeted toward the knight. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on N0veI.Fiɾe.net
The undead was startled by the abrupt dive and instinctively raised its sword to block. But Azrael, closing the distance instantly thanks to his burst of speed, struck first.
He kicked the knight with the full weight of his downward momentum, causing it to stagger backward and lose balance.
Before the knight could recover, a vibrant green aura enveloped Azrael's fist, and he drove it into the knight's chest.
The blow hurled the armored figure back like a train had rammed into it.
Yet, despite the raw force of the strike, the undead knight was barely affected as the armor absorbed most of the impact, and as an undead, it felt no pain. Against such an enemy, Azrael's physical blows had little effect.
Even so, while the knight was still suspended in the air from the force of the punch, Azrael's eyes glowed with a sharp green brilliance.
A tornado materialized in the path of the flying knight, filled with countless blade-like winds that immediately dragged its body inside.
Clang! Clang! Clang! - - - -
A deafening series of metallic clashes echoed through the chamber as the wind blades slashed relentlessly against the knight's iron armor.
Its body spun violently within the raging storm, hammered on all sides by the unceasing barrage of sharp blades.
But still, the knight seemed largely unaffected.
'Tch… I didn't want to use this so early, but it can't be helped.'
Seeing the undead was still unaffected, Azrael's eyes suddenly flashed with a deep purple glow and the next second, almost half of his cosmic energy drained away.
A soul-piercing aura erupted from his body, filling the chamber with suffocating pressure and the green tornado instantly shifted, its hue transforming from green to a dazzling violet as Azrael's Astral Attribute activated.
The undead knight's eyes widened for the first time since it had emerged from the coffin, and—
It released a soul-wrenching scream, its hollow voice echoing in agony as the astral energy tore directly at its very soul.
Azrael didn't miss the opportunity and while the knight writhed in pain, he raised the Fallen Star, its blade bursting with an even deeper emerald energy that he had been gathering.
He swung the sword with all his might.
A small vertical rift split open before the undead knight's head, and from it, a thin, wire-like wind blade shot forth with lethal precision.
The thin blade sliced cleanly through the knight's helmet and severed its head in a single strike, ending its life.