Chapter 236 - 235: Wind Fighting Qi
Gray felt lighter than ever before.
And stronger than ever!
He finally experienced what Maki had described: the feeling of Fighting Qi fusing with his very flesh and bone.
His every movement, every subtle detail, even his very breathing, felt like a completely new experience.
Now that it was fused with his Fighting Qi, Gray’s physical Attributes were skyrocketing!
Facing three Bone Blades swinging at him at once, Gray no longer dodged. He chose the most direct method—a head-on attack!
His Longsword, wrapped in cyan Fighting Qi, swept out horizontally. In an instant, all three Bone Blades were severed at once!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK...
A series of sounds like snapping dry twigs rang out in rapid succession.
The tough Bone Blades, before the Fighting Qi-wreathed Longsword, were as fragile as rotten wood, snapping on impact!
Fragments flew everywhere.
Even Gray himself was surprised by the overwhelming outcome.
The three Skeleton People all stared at the bare hilts in their hands. In their empty eye sockets, the two clusters of Soul Fire seemed to have frozen in a daze.
Gray didn’t give them a chance to react. His Longsword struck again!
This time, he aimed for the head of one of the Skeleton People.
The cyan Fighting Qi clinging to the blade amplified its destructive power several times over!
The skull that had been too hard for Gray to break before was now...
...as fragile as an eggshell!
The blade sliced into the Skeleton Person’s skull without any resistance, cleaving it vertically from the crown downwards without the slightest pause.
It then continued its unstoppable descent, directly shattering the entire skull!
BANG!
The skull exploded on impact, sending fragments flying everywhere.
The rest of its bony frame collapsed with a CLATTER, lifeless.
Gray felt no joy from his advancement, only the frenzied thrill of battle.
He didn’t stop. With a spin, he pressed forward, rushing toward the next target.
Among the mob of Skeleton People that had terrified him just moments before, Gray began a one-sided slaughter!
He no longer needed Valles’s cover, nor did he need to dodge pathetically.
He cut a Skeleton Person in half at the waist with one swing. When another reckless one charged from the side, Gray followed up with a side kick and a vertical chop!
Pushing his Wind Stream Swordsmanship to its limit, his figure almost became a whirlwind.
This mob of Skeleton People were nothing more than dry twigs and dead leaves trembling in a storm!
Every swing of his Longsword was inevitably accompanied by the sound of shattering bone.
Gray unleashed all of his pent-up frustration, indignation, and fury!
"Get lost!"
Valles roared in frustration, kicking over a Skeleton Person that was clinging to him.
He had been bogged down by these creatures for a while now.
Thanks to his superb skill, Valles remained uninjured.
But waves of Skeleton People kept swarming him, preventing him from breaking away to help Gray. Valles was burning with anxiety.
’What’s happening with Gray?’
’That guy better not be dead...’
Worry flashed through Valles’s mind.
Seizing a gap before the Skeleton People could surround him again, Valles quickly drew a Feathered Arrow and infused it with Fighting Qi.
As he drew the bowstring taut, he looked in Gray’s direction, preparing to take aim.
He planned to take out whichever Skeleton Person was closest to Gray.
But as his gaze fell upon that part of the battlefield, Valles’s eyes widened slightly, and even the hand drawing the bowstring paused for a moment.
’What... is going on?’
The tragic scene he had imagined—Gray surrounded by several Skeleton People and in mortal danger—had not appeared.
Quite the opposite, in fact. He saw a cyan sword light wreaking havoc among the crowd of Skeleton People!
’The same Gray who was being chased all over by the Skeleton People has actually turned the tables?’
Gray’s speed was a whole level faster than before; every dodge allowed him to evade the Skeleton People’s attacks.
A layer of flowing light clung to his Longsword’s blade, with which Gray easily severed limbs and shattered skulls!
Without a doubt, Gray had broken through to become a Middle Level Swordsman!
And judging by the color of his Fighting Qi, as well as the combat traits Gray was displaying...
...he had actually mastered Wind Attribute Fighting Qi!
Another slash!
The cyan sword light, like a crescent moon, flashed past a Skeleton Person as Gray cleanly shattered its head.
The pressure of the siege he faced finally lessened somewhat.
With the fall of the last enemy in close quarters, Gray could now spare a moment to observe the situation elsewhere.
He looked up, his eyes meeting Valles’s shocked gaze, and shouted.
"Hey! Don’t worry about me, go help Zelir!"
Gray knew that the battle against the Bone Centaur head-on was likely the most difficult, so an extra hand would naturally be for the best.
But just as the words left his mouth.
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion erupted!
The terrifying shockwave made both Gray’s and Valles’s eardrums ache.
They both turned in unison, looking toward the main battlefield in astonishment.
They saw a dazzling weave of red and blue, of flickering Flame and lightning, madly expanding outward and releasing energy.
Then came a violent shockwave, mixed with shattered stone and bone dust, sweeping toward them!
"Look out!"
The terrifying aftershock alone forced them to twist away and dodge.
Gray shielded his head with his hands, deflecting the flying debris.
Valles ducked, avoiding a skullcap that shot toward him like a cannonball.
It slammed violently into the stone wall behind him, blasting out a huge crater.
A few of the Skeleton People were even blown apart by the aftershock.
After quite a while, the earth-shaking roar gradually subsided.
"Cough, cough..."
Gray, covered in dust and grime, choked on the thick smoke and dust.
The power of that explosion’s aftershock was just too astonishing.
Sensing a cold, murderous intent approaching from behind, Gray swung his sword backhandedly.
CRACK!
The Longsword shattered the head of a Skeleton Person that had tried to launch a sneak attack.
’Not bad...’
’It’s not just my speed and Power; even my Perception of my surroundings has improved significantly.’
Gray looked toward the main battlefield again.
A massive, scorched crater over ten meters in diameter had appeared in the stone wall of the circular, arched hall. Red and blue electric sparks still danced around its edges.
That was the epicenter of the explosion.
’What in the world happened...’
Gray couldn’t quite imagine the scene.
’What kind of terrifying Magic could cause such destructive consequences?’
’And this person... is actually my teammate?!’
Zelir’s Spirit had just begun to relax when a sharp, stabbing pain swept through the depths of his mind.
It was an agonizing, heart-piercing pain.
The enhancement effect from the Overclocking Potion was gradually fading, and the side effects of frequently drawing on the Source Energy Crystal Stone were also beginning to manifest.
The combination of these two effects made Zelir feel extremely unwell.
His breathing became rapid and chaotic, beads of sweat formed on his forehead, and even his vision began to blur.
Just as Zelir felt he could no longer hold on, on the verge of passing out...
...a notification suddenly popped up on the data panel.