Free Web NovelChapter 1806: Relentless Exchange
A lonesome hill stood on the broken battlefield.
All around it lay a landscape of death and destruction. The earth had been torn apart by countless spells, leaving behind craters, shattered stones, and smoldering ruins. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
Lucian’s figure soared through the air and landed atop the hill, instantly forming a small crater beneath his feet.
After fighting for several hours without pause, a thin sheen of sweat covered his skin. His breathing was slightly heavy, while several parts of his tunic were cut apart in clean, razor-sharp cuts.
A thin line of crimson ran horizontally across his face, stretching over the bridge of his nose. It was a shallow wound, but it stood as proof that even he had not emerged from the battle unscathed.
His golden eyes flashed with a solemn light, and he couldn’t help but curse under his breath, "Damn that sneaky rat."
Just as the last word left his mouth, his instincts flared to life, and his eyes narrowed. In the next moment, his figure disappeared as he rapidly moved away from the hill.
Slash!
Not even a split second after Lucian had leapt away, the hill behind him had been cleaved by several cuts. The cuts were so clean that, for a brief moment, nothing seemed to happen.
Then the severed sections of the hill began to slide. Massive layers of rock and earth shifted along the razor-thin fault lines, slowly at first, then all at once. The hill collapsed in on itself.
Great slabs of stone crashed to the ground, while clouds of dust erupted in the air. The once-lonesome hill was reduced to a pile of broken rubble, its destruction revealing just how impossibly sharp the attack had been.
In fact, that spell just now was even sharper than Adam’s [Winds of Emanation]!
Lucian landed on the ground, far away from that hill. He constantly circulated spirit energy to protect his mind from interference — Not mana, spirit energy.
He had learned it the hard way...
A moment later, a gust of wind blew, and the Hidden Ruler appeared on the battlefield, standing over a dozen meters away from the Acadian Emperor.
He still had a flippant look on his face. Though a certain part of his robes — the hems, to be more precise — had been charred. Other than that, there were also dried blood stains at the corner of his lips.
"My, oh my," he said with a devious smirk. "You keep running from me. This isn’t how I envisioned our battle to be."
The Hidden Ruler’s eyes turned deep and mysterious, and he added, "Why don’t you stay where you are?"
[Compel]
Lucian’s eyes glazed over ever so slightly. He felt a chill drawl down his spine as he violently circulated his spirit energy to stabilize his spirit sea.
And right at that moment, Tian Di followed up with a counterattack!
[Everlasting Divine Art: Sever]
A near-invisible strand of mana shot through the air. It was impossibly thin, yet so sharp and durable that it seemed capable of cutting through anything in its path.
The attack crossed the battlefield in an instant and swept toward Lucian’s neck.
At the last possible moment, he leaned to the side.
Whoosh!
The strand of mana narrowly missed him and continued onward in the distance. A heartbeat later, the earth split apart.
A long ravine tore through the battlefield, stretching for well over a hundred meters as rock, soil, and stone were cleanly cleaved in two.
The wound carved into the land was so precise that it looked as though an invisible blade had sliced the world itself apart.
Just as Lucian managed to narrowly evade the critical strike, Tian Di had already followed up with another attack. In the blink of an eye, the Hidden Ruler arrived before the Emperor and delivered a brutal knee kick to the face.
Lucian managed to raise his hands just in time to block the attack and prevent his chin from shattering.
Bam!
And yet, the force of Tian Di’s attack still hurled him into the distance.
But Lucian twisted his body midair as he finished weaving hand seals. Then he swiped his hand toward the opponent.
[Golden Zenith Style: Guiding Light]
Four spears forged from light magic suddenly materialized in front of Lucian before shooting toward Tian Di at terrifying speed.
They streaked across the battlefield like golden comets, leaving radiant trails in their wake as they pierced through the air.
Tian Di’s eyes narrowed. His opponent’s light magic was truly difficult to deal with. It was packed with speed and power.
His figure blurred as he swiftly evaded the first spear. Then he twisted his body and narrowly avoided the second, the light spear flashing past him by mere inches. freewёbnoνel.com
The remaining spears adjusted their trajectories and continued their pursuit.
In response, Tian Di flexed his fingers. Instantly, ten thin mana threads shot from his fingertips and spread outward like a giant spiderweb. The light spears collided with the intricate lattice of platinum threads.
A sharp metallic screech rang through the air as the mana threads sliced the spell, shredding them into countless little fragments of light that scattered across the battlefield like glowing dust.
Lucian’s eyes flashed, and he weaved another hand seal.
Following that, the light fragments scattered in the air shuddered for a moment. And then... they exploded.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A chain of explosions erupted across the battlefield, engulfing the surrounding area in blinding flashes and violent shockwaves.
Tian Di’s expression darkened. Mana surged around his body as he burst through the explosions, narrowly escaping the cascading blasts that pursued him from every direction.
But the moment he escaped from the explosions, his instincts screamed at him. Mana swirled around his arms, and he quickly raised them to block the incoming attack.
The Acadian Emperor descended from the skies like a falling star, his figure cutting through the smoke and fire. He brought down his raised leg in a brutal axe kick aimed directly at Tian Di.
Boom!
A thunderous sound echoed across the battlefield as the Hidden Ruler blocked the attack head-on. The impact instantly formed a small crater beneath his feet, sending cracks across the earth in every direction.
His forearms groaned under the immense pressure, but his lips couldn’t help but curl up. Excitement blazed within his eyes.
A moment later, the two were forced apart by the force of the collision. They landed several meters away from one another, dust and debris swirling between them.
Their gazes met across the ruined battlefield, and then...
They clashed once again.
Despite the relentless exchange of attacks, neither side managed to gain the upper hand.
Their battle remained locked in a stalemate.
