The next second, Andrews shook the reins, turned his horse around, and intended to kill all the witnesses on the carriage behind him.
Just as he was about to charge over, his entire body suddenly stiffened, as if perceiving something unbelievable.
Before he even turned his head.
A voice he thought he would never hear again rang out from behind him.
"Lord Andrews, I didn't expect you to be a member of the Black Flame Cult!"
Reine climbed out of the crater in the ground, now in a wretched state, the Knight's breastplate given by Hamilton had been directly shattered by Andrews's Black Flame strike.
But surprisingly, there were no apparent wounds on Reine's body.
Upon closer observation, one could even see a faint silvery glint on the surface of his exposed skin.
Quietly, Reine decided to allocate the Skill Points meant to enhance his basic meditation technique to breaking his limits.
In an instant, the limit break value rose from 15% to 25%!
Andrews stared at Reine with a shocked face, the scene before him had truly startled him!
"How... how could you take my full-powered Black Flame strike and still remain unscathed?!" Andrews blurted out in disbelief.
His heart was screaming as well, how could this be possible!
Even seasoned Knights, if they were ambushed with this strike, would be gravely injured!
And Reine, a youngster who had just stepped into Transcendence a few days ago, was fine?
Reine, of course, wouldn't answer his question. At this moment, his heart was filled with rage and also a hint of trepidation.
If he hadn't awakened his second Transcendent characteristic 'Iron Skin', he might have been lying down forever.
Reine had never suffered such a loss before!
So, seizing the moment while his opponent was stupefied, Reine instantly 'broke his limit' and pulled out the Dual-Handed Greatsword from behind his back, leaping towards Andrews with a 'Leap Slash'.
The purpose of breaking the limit was, of course, to match the opponent's speed!
The 25% limit break instantly increased Reine's agility from 15 points to just over 18, but not quite 19.
When Andrews realized what was happening, Reine's Dual-Handed Greatsword was already above his head.
But Andrews was no ordinary Knight; a veteran with a limit break exceeding 30%, he managed to hastily use his Arm Shield in his left hand to block Reine's strike!
Although it was blocked.
The impact of Reine's strike caused Andrews's steed to kneel with all four legs and collapse on the ground, unable to rise again.
"Such a rare Knight talent, in just a few days your physical limit break has almost reached that of a seasoned Knight," Andrews said slowly, parrying Reine's sword with a gloomy expression.
"If you were given more time to grow, you really would become a big problem for us."
"However, the farce can end now!" Andrews forcefully pushed with his left hand, repelling Reine's strike, his face showing disdain.
Immediately following, Reine lunged at Andrews again with a 'Furious Slash', coming from above at a ninety-degree angle, straight down!
"You think this is useful....."
"What?" The word hadn't even left his mouth.
Andrews' expression changed dramatically, as if he had seen a ghost!
For at that moment, the Rein he was facing had muscles swelling to the point of shattering his knight's breastplate into pieces!
His muscles inflated like they were being pumped with air, growing by two whole sizes!
Andrews' expression would be forever frozen in that look.
"This absolutely cannot be a knight who has just stepped into the transcendent. Not even a Peak Knight's muscle change is so exaggerated!!" This was the last thought Andrews had before his death.
Rein, who had cleaved Andrews in two with a single stroke, began to rapidly shrink back to his normal size.
Planting the Glimmering Greatsword heavily into the ground, Rein leaned on it while gasping for air.
At that moment, his entire muscular body and fascia ached unbearably as if every muscle was being torn apart little by little!
Just now, it had been Rein's first time combining the knight's universal transcendent ability 'Breaking Limits', the transcendent characteristic 'Huge Strength', with a full-powered 'Strength Burst', all in a triple overlapping state for that single strike.
Though it had lasted for less than two seconds and had instantly killed a senior knight who possessed the ability to control black flames, the after-effects were also extremely serious.
The reason for the triple Burst was that after Rein's first swing was blocked, he had calculated that his opponent was a senior knight. Under maximum conditions, it was Breaking Limits at 60%, plus a Strength-type transcendent characteristic at 60%, adding up to at most a 120% enhancement.
With their base Strength nearly equal, Rein only had a sure win by combining the three Bursts to achieve a 155% enhancement.
Even though Andrews' transcendent characteristic might not have been Strength-related and might not have reached a 120% enhancement, Rein didn't want to make any more mistakes.
Meanwhile, Jenny in the distant carriage compartment was stunned, her cherry lips agape wide enough to fit an apple, her beautiful eyes round and wide, unable to snap back to reality for a long time.
The splendor of that single swing had caught her eyes and was now imprinted in her heart.
Was Rein a god descended to Earth?
How could muscles get so big?
That's terrifying! No, it's so reassuring!
Moreover, the transition from near-death to suddenly coming back to life was too sudden, like a person about to drown suddenly surfacing and taking a deep breath. This caused Jenny's face to flush red, and she even rolled her eyes, nearly fainting from the excitement.
And the Coachman Caso, alike had his jaw nearly drop to the ground, but after all, he was a man in his forties and quickly regained his composure, saying, "Miss, shall we go help? It seems that Lord Reine is also quite exhausted."
"Yes! Yes! Caso, let's go right now."
Rein, enduring the excruciating pain of muscle tearing, pulled up his status panel to check.
[Your Skill 'Giant Bear Sword Technique' has improved, Experience Points +289]
[You have undergone a battle, Knight (Transcendent) Experience Points +57]
The Knight (Transcendent) panel has successfully advanced to Knight (Transcendent) lv2 (43/300), awarding one attribute point and one Skill Point.
Without hesitation, Rein allocated the attribute point to Constitution, and instantly, his Constitution rose from 16 to 17.
Suddenly, a warm surge burst forth from his heart and rapidly spread throughout his body!
In an instant, all of Rein's muscle tearing sensation, soreness, and fatigue disappeared!
Adding points is damn useful!