Four Split Personalities

"You’re out of your league!"

Breil Blackhoof glared intensely at the unimposing middle-aged dwarf standing in front of him. Rage ignited from the depths of his heart, and with a coarse and thunderous roar, he hoisted his twin heavy battle axes high into the air.

The increased frenzied and bloodthirsty powers had his already massive muscles swelling even further. His eyes, as dark as copper bells, shifted from black to red. His vast body shuddered on the spot, and he suddenly burst forth with speed that belied his muscular build. In the blink of an eye, he was before Mercury Core Fernan, forcefully swinging down the cleaving axe streaming with lines of blood shadow, directly flattening it towards the latter.

Note, it was a "smash" and not a "chop," considering Mercury Core held the title of Duke in the Violet Empire. If Blackhoof hadn’t restrained his strength, aiming to split this cumbersome dwarf in two, he wouldn’t have become the leader of the slave-catching group.

Assassinating Emperor Clevoya was already part of the plan, but chopping another Duke was not—if he truly ended up killing two of the highest authorities during this attack, he’d mostly likely be scapegoated. Hence, he would never commit such an act.

[The dwarf must be thinking along the same lines, that we don’t dare to make the kill...]

Blackhoof flashed a ferocious grin, then exerted even more force in his hands.

Although he indeed didn’t dare kill him, if he only beat him half to death—ha, did he really think someone who does the dirty jobs would hold back?

[That would be too naïve...]

Boom!!!

"Naïve, aren’t you..." mused Duke Fernan in a calm tone, unprecedentedly serene. He turned and took a glance at the cleaving axe smacking into his shield that couldn’t be pressed down by any means, then slightly cocked his head, "Hmm... what was your name again?"

"Absurd!"

Blackhoof erupted in anger, his keen instincts letting him immediately discern that Duke Fernan was not as simple as he appeared. His brutal nature drove him to promptly launch a deadly second round of attacks. He smashed his battle axe beside Mercury Core, attempting to use [Blood Qi Burst] to rocket him into the air, then leverage his height to devastatingly strangle him in midair!

However...

Dust exploded, and within a radius of three meters centered around Mercury Core Fernan, the ground burst open. Several tangible streams of blood light surged out forcefully from the bottom, hammering fiercely upwards onto the Duke, who held his shield with one hand. Yet, it didn’t even slightly lift his lean and short stature. In fact, he didn’t even move an inch, but merely looked calmly at the stunned Blackhoof.

"Nice try."

Mercury Core nodded slightly, a faint smile forming under his helmet, then lightly patted the shield on his right arm, "Just that... although my weight might not withstand this impact, you don’t think this thing is as light as I am, do you?"

Blackhoof didn’t answer; instead, he gasped for air and swung his weapon again, unleashing [Extreme Mountain Breaking Slash] without holding back. This was the signature skill of the epic-class bloodthirsty warrior, which involved stirring the blood qi within his body in a short period and combining it with the power of frenzy to deliver a super-heavy slash. Despite its slow attack speed and long accumulation time, its power was enough to badly injure most opponents who couldn’t overwhelmingly dominate him. Against those of equal or lesser power, a direct hit could even be lethal!

A thick mist of blood erupted from Blackhoof’s right arm, then, as if alive, clung to the blade in his hand, solidifying into a two-meter-long blood-red blade. A phantom trace formed in mid-air accompanied by a dense sonic boom thunderously fell!

It must be said, Blackhoof was an exceedingly intelligent man. If measured in terms of combat intelligence, he was many times stronger than the Great Mage Scorpius Sclinger, who had once dominated Caselo Prairie and defeated Motan and the others. This muscular yet clever brute made a judgment just through two test moves and half a sentence from Fernan: the opponent did indeed have a strong resistance to strikes, but there was a fatal weakness in speed. As Mercury Core himself admitted, although his shield could withstand his attacks, it was undoubtedly horribly heavy. With that said, the seemingly impractical, slow-to-act [Extreme Mountain Breaking Slash] found its place. If the opponent chose to withstand it, even with the shield, he would still suffer a full-on assault of blood energy. If the opponent attempted to escape, the heavy shield would hold him back. If he chose to dodge by discarding the shield, then the follow-up attacks would definitely finish him!

Conclusively, in a flash of lightning, Blackhoof made his decision, executing the Mountain Breaking Earth Splitting Slash, making it impossible for Duke Fernan to avoid!

Moreover, because of his Bovine Demi-human lineage, the charging speed in his frenzied state was reduced from two seconds to one second...

"Take this!!!"

With a war cry sounding, the axe fell sharply. Amid Blackhoof’s roaring, Mercury Core Fernan was instantly enveloped by the tumultuously swirling blood shadow, and along with the nearly ten square meters of ground around him, was smashed into fragments.