Chapter 250: Why so Mad?
The chaos of the war continued without respite. In the middle of the massacre, the man and woman in humanoid form clashed furiously, driven by generations of resentment.
*BANG!*
The man was sent flying backward, his feet tearing a deep trench through the battered ground as he struggled to regain his balance. In a clash of brute strength, he was at a clear disadvantage.
The reason was the weapon in the woman’s hands.
The sword had been carved from the black bones of the ancient Immortals of her race. Its power resonated perfectly with the girl, multiplying her strength to terrifying levels.
On top of that, the blade radiated a suffocating Yin of death—a dark energy accumulated over countless eras, during which the Black Shadow Serpents hunted the other races of the realm, refining their vital essences to nourish the macabre artifact.
That had been the obvious spark that ignited this war.
The Heavenly Beasts were far too limited to organize against the purge, but the Impure Beasts would never silently accept such a massacre.
The man, however, only had an ancient spear from his bloodline—an honorable weapon, but one that possessed not even 1% of the overwhelming power of that bone sword.
"Hahaha! I was right, wasn’t I? Your filthy race will be completely eradicated this time. Still doubting me?" the woman mocked, a cruel smile plastered across her face.
"You’re only still standing because you’re relying on the inheritance of your ancestors! So what? Do you think I, Arvid, am afraid of a pathetic little brat like you?" he growled, tightening his grip on the spear until his knuckles turned white.
"Humph! Victory and defeat are part of life. Whoever laughs at the end is the true winner... but you won’t be laughing in your grave!" the girl mocked, shooting forward like a black bolt of lightning.
The bone blade came down, slicing through the air.
Arvid quickly spun his spear, raising a circular barrier of lightning and wind to block the impact. Although his weapon was inferior in raw power, his defensive techniques were exceptional, allowing him to withstand the direct blow.
*KBOOM!*
Even so, the pressure was crushing. Every thrust of the bone sword gradually pierced through his barrier, pushing Arvid meters backward.
The woman attacked without mercy. An unrelenting storm of blows rained down on him in rapid succession, leaving him not the slightest room to breathe, much less enough time to launch a counterattack.
Every swing of her blade tore through the void, releasing devastating shockwaves.
Around them, the Impure Beast warriors desperately tried to advance and support Arvid, but they were unable to approach the epicenter of the battle. The Calamity Beasts formed a living wall, burning their own life force to spew endless streams of deadly poison.
Grinding his teeth, Arvid boiled with resentment.
In their two previous clashes, he had emerged victorious. Back then, the girl’s macabre sword hadn’t been ready for use.
However, a few months ago, his race had fallen into a sinister ambush. Thousands of Impure Beasts were slaughtered and refined in a ritual, feeding the sword with enough blood to awaken its full power.
Now, the girl completely dominated him.
Arvid had been reduced to a purely defensive stance, unable to unleash his true combat potential. To turn the tables, he desperately needed a single opportunity.
If someone could intercept that sword for even a single thousandth of a second, he would be able to break the girl’s rhythm, catch his breath, and land a decisive blow.
However, here and now, all he could do was grit his teeth and keep blocking. The energy required to sustain his defense was colossal, and if the fight dragged on for a few more minutes, his reserves would be completely drained.
"As I said, the one who laughs last is the winner. Want to counterattack? Even if I gave you that chance, it would be useless. I’m infinitely stronger than you now!" the woman laughed, her voice overflowing with poisonous arrogance.
With an absolute advantage in the battle, she showed not the slightest trace of mercy, unleashing relentless blows to suffocate any reaction from Arvid.
The two knew each other far too well after their previous two clashes. For experts at their level, exposing even a single opening meant being devoured instantly.
"How dare you boast about this power?! The lives of thousands of innocents mean nothing to you?!" Arvid roared, his voice trembling with deep hatred.
For a brief thousandth of a second, however, the woman’s gaze wavered.
A subtle hesitation and a hint of confusion crossed her pupils.
"Stop making up nonsense, you bastard! This is the sacred power of my ancestors! Just die with some dignity!" she screamed, burning with rage as she intensified the fury of her thrusts.
Arvid snorted inwardly, fully aware that the girl would never believe the truth about the massacre that had fed her weapon.
Despite hating her, she was much younger than him, so the elders of her race did whatever they wanted with her. She wasn’t very smart, as she believed the elders without hesitation. Not that this justified it—the crimes of her race were still her responsibility.
*BOOM! BOOM!*
The pressure was crushing. The Impure Beasts around them panicked, retreating in desperation. They wanted to save their leader, but they couldn’t even break through the poisonous mists to reach the epicenter of the battle.
After enduring yet another brutal barrage of impacts, Arvid’s body finally gave out.
He spat out a dense mouthful of blood. In one of the woman’s maneuvers, his spear was knocked from his hands and sent flying away, while his fingers were reduced to a bloody, mangled mess.
"It’s over!" the girl mocked, a crazed gleam in her eyes as she raised her sword to deliver the finishing blow.
"No!"
Desperate cries echoed among the Impure Beasts.
Arvid stared at the macabre blade descending toward him.
Time seemed to slow down, his eyes overflowing with resentment. ’Is this how I die?’
However, before the dark steel could touch his chest, the air between them was sliced apart by a sharp whistle.
A metallic blur shot out of nowhere, intercepting the blow’s trajectory like a miniature meteor. It was a...
Broken shield?
*BOOOOOOM!*
The impact generated a violent shockwave, sending dust and debris flying across the battlefield. The bone sword slammed directly into the ancient metal.
"MY WEAPON!" a sad, shrill wail echoed through the air.
Parts of the bone blade shattered into black fragments, flying in every direction.
The girl staggered back three steps, her face twisted with pure fury and shock upon seeing her race’s inheritance damaged. Arvid, meanwhile, stared at the scene motionless, unsure whether he was hallucinating.
As the smoke cleared, Priam’s figure was revealed. He stood beside the floating shield, his posture relaxed.
’This is the part where I say something heroic and imposing, right?’ Priam thought to himself, letting out a mental sigh. ’You know what? Fuck it.’
At the critical moment, he had simply used his Wind Magic to launch the relic into the blade’s trajectory. And the Heavenly Shield had not disappointed him. Even in ruins and practically devoid of energy, the artifact’s material was unquestionably indestructible.
The only surprise was that the bone sword had merely cracked and lost a piece instead of instantly turning to dust.
"YOU BASTARD! DIE!" the woman roared, blinded by rage upon seeing her treasure mutilated.
Forgetting about the cracked sword, she extended her left hand toward Priam. Her fingernails grew into sharp black claws, tearing through the void in a deadly slash aimed at his throat.
The distance was tiny. Within a fraction of a second, the claws almost touched the skin of his neck.
"Hey, hey! I was just joking! Why so mad?!" Priam said, putting on a theatrical expression of panic as he quickly stepped backward and pushed the shield forward.
**CRASH!**
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
A sharp scream of agony tore through the valley.
When they collided with the shield’s unyielding surface, the girl’s claws snapped. The bones in her fingers broke backward at grotesque angles, spraying blood in every direction.
Priam smirked inwardly.
’Is she an idiot or just really stupid?’
Her precious weapon had just broken against the shield, and her next brilliant idea was to punch the same piece of metal with her bare hand?
Apparently, even the race considered the "intelligent" one among the beasts became an irrational animal when blood rushed to their heads.