Chapter 1375: One Thread Behind Him
Andona stopped after taking several steps away from the battlefield.
The blade in her hand began to grow. Its body broadened and its hilt lengthened until it became a golden Greatsword.
She turned and looked back toward the center of the holy light.
Inside his shield, Eldran was having a difficult time as well.
The golden threads had blocked most of the holy light’s physical damage, but its mental impact passed straight through his defenses and slammed into his consciousness.
Eldran’s breathing stopped for an instant.
The energy inside him lost its stability. Its once-smooth circulation descended into chaos, and golden light spilled from his meridians before gathering into an orb in his right palm.
But the orb was visibly straining against his hand.
It kept slipping to the side as though it might break free at any moment.
Eldran raised his other hand and forced the golden orb back into his palm.
His fingers closed around it.
Only then did he regain control of the unstable energy.
The pressure released by the holy light reached the distant battlefield as well.
Despite the distance, Ethan and Valric were both affected.
Valric suffered the more violent reaction.
He had been searching through the yellow sand for Ethan when his body suddenly went rigid. Both knees slammed into the ground.
The outline of a sword pushed outward from inside his chest, threatening to tear through armor and flesh alike.
Valric let out a low growl and clamped a hand over his chest, forcing the emerging blade back into his body.
Golden threads shot from his other hand.
Some flew straight toward Ethan, while several others streaked toward the edge of the battlefield. They wrapped around the sword that had fallen in the distance and pulled it back into Valric’s hand.
Valric gripped the hilt.
Fire seemed to burn deep within one of his eyes. The other remained as clear as before.
𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺
He slowly rose and fixed Ethan with that clear eye.
Then he drew the sword across his own arm.
The edge sliced through armor and skin. A stream of golden-yellow liquid seeped from the wound and ran down the blade. As the sword absorbed it, the weapon gave a faint hum and took on a richer golden glow.
Valric leveled the sword at Ethan.
"I wasn’t feeling too well just now."
He settled back into a fighting stance.
"Now, let’s fight!"
Ethan was still confused.
Divine Power clearly suppressed them. When Valric had dropped to his knees, Ethan had definitely sensed his sudden weakness.
Yet after getting back up, Valric’s presence and movements were more dangerous than before.
Was that supposed to be suppression or a boost?
Ethan stopped thinking about it.
An energy orb slowly formed in his right hand, while thick white lightning covered his left. Arcs leaped along his arm, blasting the surrounding grains of sand in every direction.
He faced Valric head-on.
"Fine!"
Ethan clenched his fist.
"Let’s fight!"
The words had barely left his mouth when Valric attacked.
He gripped his sword with both hands and drove the point straight toward Ethan’s chest.
Clang!
The sword struck the white shield. Its point sank into the curtain of light, but could go no farther.
Ethan froze.
When had Valric gotten there?
He turned toward the spot where Valric had been standing. Only a faint wisp of golden energy remained, proof that Valric had crossed the entire open stretch in an instant.
Valric, meanwhile, looked disappointed.
That still wasn’t enough to pierce it?
He gradually released the sword.
The blade remained lodged in Ethan’s shield, still angled inward. Valric planted a foot on its spine and used it as a foothold to leap upward.
Golden threads streamed backward from his palms.
They crossed and wove together in midair, forming a pair of broad wings. Valric hovered above Ethan and studied the shield’s structure from above.
More golden threads gathered behind him.
One woven sword after another took shape, every point aimed downward.
At the same time, another thread wrapped around the sword still embedded in the shield. It slowly pulled the weapon free and drew it back toward Valric’s hand.
Ethan smiled at the sight.
First, Valric really had become harder to deal with.
Second, if he thought he could retrieve a sword that had already entered Ethan’s domain that easily, he would have to pay for it.
The sword finally returned to Valric’s hand.
He was just about to aim it at Ethan when he noticed a white energy orb beneath the shield.
Without hesitation, Valric gripped the sword in both hands and brought it down.
The edge struck the orb head-on.
At that exact moment, Ethan activated the energy he had planted inside the sword.
White light raced along the blade.
The metal began melting from the tip. Before the liquefied weapon could finish its downward swing, the energy orb passed straight through the ruined blade and entered Valric’s abdomen.
Valric sensed that something was wrong.
Ethan gave the energy no time to remain hidden.
To keep Valric from becoming wary of similar attacks, he detonated the orb immediately.
Boom!
A massive hole exploded through Valric’s abdomen.
Shredded flesh and fragments of armor sprayed out behind him. His upper and lower body remained connected by little more than the section around his spine.
Golden threads quickly emerged from the wound.
They caught the broken bones and pulled the separated flesh back together. The threads passed through the damaged area again and again, stitching it closed layer by layer.
Even the melted sword was rewoven by the golden threads.
Before long, Valric was whole again, still hovering in the sky.
Ethan had no intention of stopping after one attack.
Energy orbs rose from within the shield and flew toward Valric one after another.
The first entered his shoulder.
The second sank into his chest.
The third burrowed into his leg.
Each orb exploded inside his body. White light erupted from Valric’s wounds, the blasts knocking him back and forth.
Valric made no attempt to dodge.
He closed his eyes and spread his arms, calmly enduring explosion after explosion. Rather than being attacked, he looked as though he were enjoying a particularly vigorous massage.
The golden threads continued repairing his body.
Behind him, the woven sword phantoms were quietly changing. Fine strands extended from one sword to the next, linking every phantom together.
Valric opened his eyes and gave a slight nod.
The sword rain fell.
Dense golden blades plunged toward the white shield. The first sword phantoms left tiny dents in the curtain of light. The blades behind them struck the exact same spots until they finally punched holes through the barrier.
White energy rushed in to fill the gaps.
Each time the shield was pierced, the damaged section repaired itself.
But repairing it required both energy and time.
That was exactly what Valric had been waiting for.
The swords concentrated above the shield suddenly scattered.
Some swept through the yellow sand from both sides. Others circled around behind Ethan. Several more plunged underground and traveled through the sand to attack from beneath his feet.
The white shield was struck from every direction.
Holes opened overhead, behind him, along both sides, and beneath his feet.
Ethan had no choice but to split his attention, directing energy to every damaged section.
At last, an opening appeared.
Valric gripped his restored sword and released an extremely fine golden thread from his left hand. The thread crossed the battlefield unnoticed and anchored itself behind Ethan.
Using its pull, Valric shot across the sand and appeared directly behind him.
In that brief instant, a sword phantom tore open another gap overhead. Ethan’s attention shifted toward the breach, and he only realized Valric had closed in when the real sword pierced the shield from behind.
Valric gave him no time to react.
The golden swords surrounding Ethan adjusted their angles in unison and attacked.
Valric’s own sword had been waiting for this moment as well.
The sword rain converged.
Every blade struck at once.