Free Web NovelChapter 321: Chapter 309: Abyss "Container
Out of the corner of his eye, Roland caught a glimpse of the figure flying toward him.
Tattered Leather Armor, disheveled hair, and a resolute face that, though caked in blood and grime, was still familiar.
It was Reggie.
However, that fleeting glance didn’t make Roland hesitate in the slightest.
The Secret Silver Longsword, raised high and crackling with terrifying Power, was not withdrawn. Instead, it descended with even greater speed and ferocity.
The target was still Leonard.
Seeing this, Leonard barely had time to raise his arms.
BANG!
His already dilapidated Fist Blades shattered inch by inch, and then...
BOOM!
It was like a meteor striking the earth.
With Leonard at the center, the hard, frozen ground in a radius of several meters couldn’t withstand the inhuman force and abruptly caved in and shattered.
Spiderweb cracks spread out wildly, emitting a grating groan.
Leonard’s mountain-like body was smashed squarely into the broken ground by the sword strike. He was driven deep into the earth as if by an invisible sledgehammer.
The rock layer beneath him formed a human-shaped crater as dust and debris shot into the sky.
The heavy armor covering his body let out one last, overburdened, twisting wail as it completely deformed.
Blood gushed from the cracks in his helmet. His arms, which had just barely managed to block the blow, were twisted at an unnatural angle. He fell completely silent.
After confirming that his opponent had fallen into a deep coma, Roland didn’t even spare a second glance at his handiwork.
Before the earth-shattering sound of the impact had even fully faded, he used the momentum to pivot.
The ground beneath his feet exploded again as his figure shot like a bolt of lightning in the direction Reggie had come flying from.
He precisely caught Reggie’s limp body in mid-air. The immense impact made him dip slightly before he completely absorbed the force, landing steadily on the ground.
Looking down, Roland’s brow immediately furrowed.
Reggie was in a miserable state.
His Leather Armor was almost completely shattered.
A clear, bone-deep fist print was caved into his chest, the flesh at its edges torn and curled back, with blood seeping out continuously.
His left arm was twisted at a bizarre angle, clearly a compound fracture.
His face was covered in bruises and blood, his breathing was extremely faint, and he was already unconscious.
Only the broken hilt of his sword, clutched tightly in his right hand and not released even in unconsciousness, silently told of the brutal and desperate battle he had just endured.
And just as Roland was examining Reggie’s injuries...
VWOOM!
A dull roar of displaced air suddenly exploded from his side, carrying a heart-stopping pressure.
Roland’s head snapped up, his gaze following the sound.
He saw a figure encased in airtight, jet-black heavy armor. Even its face was hidden behind a full, menacing helm, leaving not a single inch of skin exposed. Like a killing machine, it was charging forward at a furious speed that belied its heavy Armor.
The door-sized Giant Sword in its hand was raised high, its blade tearing through the air with a demonic shriek. It carried an appalling might that seemed capable of cleaving mountains as it chopped down toward Roland’s head.
The strike was ferocious and imbued with a brutal aura.
However, a faint trace of doubt flickered in Roland’s eyes.
In his Perception, although the attacker’s aura was formidable and filled with a tyrannical killing intent, the "quality" and "quantity" of its Energy were clearly inferior to Leonard, whom he had just defeated.
’How could an opponent like this have grievously wounded the veteran Reggie to such an extent?’
’Even if Reggie’s strength isn’t top-tier among Transcendents, it shouldn’t have been like this...’
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, the Giant Sword, carrying the force of a thunderbolt, was already cleaving down on his head. The fierce wind from the blade even lifted the hair on Roland’s forehead.
Faced with this seemingly unstoppable blow, Roland’s reaction was extremely simple and clean.
He didn’t even make a full cutting motion, simply swinging the arm holding his sword.
The faintly glowing Secret Silver Longsword, like the tail of a giant lizard swatting an annoying fly, struck first despite moving second. It precisely slapped against the flat side of the black Giant Sword, where it could exert the least force.
CLANG!
A metallic clang, sharper and more explosive than any previous exchange, erupted violently.
There was no stalemate, no contest of strength.
Under the crushing, inhuman strength of his nearly complete fusion with the [Giant Dragon Bloodline], the outcome was never in doubt.
The heavy and powerful Giant Sword, as if struck head-on by a Siege Hammer, was violently knocked upward, forcefully interrupting its wielder’s Charge.
The figure in the black Armor was sent flying like a rubber ball swatted by an invisible giant’s hand. Completely unable to control its trajectory, it flew backward faster than it had charged, finally smashing viciously into the ground not far away.
BOOM!
With a muffled thud, dust filled the air. A shallow pit had been smashed into the ground.
However, in just an instant...
CLICK...
Accompanied by the soft sound of scraping metal, the black-armored figure that had been slammed into the pit stood up abruptly, seemingly unharmed.
Not even a single noticeable scratch was left on the heavy black Armor, as if the blow that could have heavily injured an ordinary Transcendent was nothing more than a gentle breeze.
Seeing this, Roland’s eyes narrowed slightly, and his eyebrow twitched imperceptibly.
’I know the Power of that last strike all too well.’
’Even someone with Leonard’s formidable defense could never have taken it so easily.’
’This strange enemy... how could it take a Heavy Strike like that and seem completely fine?’
Before this doubt could spread in his mind, the black-armored figure erupted into action once more.
Still silent, still charging with that same brutal momentum.
It swung its Giant Sword in a wide arc, chopping down again with a ferocious power that threatened to tear everything apart.
Roland’s expression turned cold. He gently placed the heavily injured Reggie in a safe spot behind him, and with a flicker of his body, he moved to intercept.
The ensuing fight was brief and without suspense.
While the dark figure’s assault was ferocious, its swinging Giant Sword creating a suffocating wind pressure, it was full of openings to Roland, whose speed and Power had already completely surpassed the conventional.
Roland didn’t even use his full strength. He toyed with it, easily dodging several slashes that, in his eyes, were powerful but clumsy. Then, with a glint in his eyes, he seized a massive opening the enemy revealed after a full-force chop.
His Secret Silver Longsword transformed into a silver bolt of lightning that pierced the void.
It thrust out—precise, cold, and impossibly fast.
PSST!
A muffled sound of a sharp weapon piercing metal followed.
The tip of the sword pierced through the seemingly indestructible black Armor without any resistance, sinking into the chest behind it.
But in the instant the Armor was pierced and its interior was exposed, a familiar aura immediately spread out.
’Abyss!’
Roland’s pupils contracted abruptly.
’This cold, cloying malevolence, carrying the sickly sweet smell of blood and the stench of universal decay...’
’I would never mistake it.’
’Although my previous contact with it had been brief and shallow, this unique power—one that felt as if it could devour light and defile souls—was already seared deep into my Perception.’
Realizing this, Roland immediately pulled back.
In the next moment, a strange transformation occurred.
From the hole in the chest plate pierced by the Secret Silver Longsword, not a single drop of blood seeped out.
Instead, a thick, viscous Darkness—so dense it was tangible, like a living thing—erupted from the wound.
It wasn’t like smoke; it was more like some kind of living, asphalt-like substance, writhing and spreading as it gave off a scalp-numbing, blasphemous aura.
The surrounding light seemed to be devoured by this Darkness. The temperature plummeted, and even the air grew heavy, filling with a strange, mixed odor of rusted metal and rotting corpses.
What set off alarm bells in Roland’s mind, however, was what he saw next.
Through the gap in the Armor torn open by his longsword, he saw clearly that inside the heavy, solid suit... there was nothing at all.
No bones, no flesh and blood.
There was only an endless, churning, writhing expanse of absolute Darkness, and the cold, desperate malice that continuously seeped out from it.
This suit of black Armor that could run, move, and fight with a Giant Sword was not a living being on the inside. It was more like...
A vessel filled with ominous Darkness.
