Chapter 417 - 378: Collapsing at First Touch

Chapter 417: Chapter 378: Collapsing at First Touch

"...Shadow, let me tell you something. I will not lose to you a third time! This time, I will kill you and plunder every last one of your pathetic points. They will be my stepping stone to claiming the ranking rewards!"

Guan Tong glanced above Lucifer’s head.

The score of 4107 was exceptionally glaring.

"You know, Lucifer, I’m actually grateful to you," Guan Tong said. "I’d given up on competing in this event, but now I see there’s no need. All I have to do is kill you and take your points... and I’ll secure a ranking, won’t I?"

"Then try me!"

Before the words had even left his mouth, Lucifer attacked.

He beat his wings and shot into motion, circling Guan Tong.

Guan Tong stood his ground, but where his eyes couldn’t see, his shadows provided vision, allowing him to keep watch on his flanks and rear.

"Why aren’t your shadows attacking? Are they too slow to keep up with me?"

Each word of Lucifer’s taunt came from a different direction, a testament to his incredible speed.

Guan Tong ignored him.

He was very familiar with Lucifer’s fighting style. Lucifer relied on his extreme speed to dazzle opponents, leaving them unable to defend and creating an opening for a one-hit kill.

He, on the other hand, was different. While he couldn’t match Lucifer’s speed or fly, he excelled at fighting a solid, positional battle with his shadows.

If Lucifer was a high-speed assassin, then Guan Tong was a zone-control mage. One specialized in swift kills, the other in controlling the battlefield. When they fought, neither held a decisive advantage over the other. The victor would be decided by sheer power.

As Lucifer continued to circle, Guan Tong made no move to pursue. Instead, he enveloped himself in thick Shadow Armor and commanded his shadows to raise Shadow Walls around him, obscuring Lucifer’s line of sight and hiding his exact position.

Seeing Guan Tong raise one Shadow Wall after another, Lucifer sneered. "Same old boring tricks. You haven’t improved at all, have you? All you know is how to hide in your impenetrable turtle shell. You’re pathetic!"

Guan Tong still paid him no mind.

’This is a life-or-death struggle, not some tournament sparring match. As long as a technique works, who cares if it’s old-fashioned? While I might have traded a few taunts before the fight began, I’d never get distracted by trash talk once it started. A lion uses its full strength even when hunting a rabbit, and my opponent is the battle-hardened Lucifer.’

’Lucifer will have to attack soon. Flying at such high speeds must consume a massive amount of Psychic Power. He can’t keep it up forever. The best strategy against a high-burst, low-sustain fighter like him is a war of attrition—that’s the lesson I learned from our last encounter. Last time, I kept attacking, but it was inefficient and wasted a lot of my Psychic Power. I’ve learned my lesson. This time, I’m letting defense be my offense.’

"How boring... Watch me shatter your shadow turtle shell!"

Lucifer saw that Guan Tong refused to emerge. He knew that dragging out the fight would only put him at a disadvantage, so he decided to attack.

He began to spin, feathers peeling from his wings. Caught in the powerful, swirling airflow, they quickly formed a storm.

"Storm Feather Blade!"

’A new move?’

Guan Tong had never seen Lucifer use this move. A horizontal tornado of feathers slammed into his Shadow Wall.

The outermost Shadow Wall was pierced in an instant, followed by the second, the third, the fourth...

’Are his wings that much sharper now, or does the tornado formation focus the energy? Maybe both.’

There wasn’t time to create more Shadow Walls. Guan Tong used his shadows to pull himself out of the tornado’s range, activating his Shadow Realm at the same instant.

As Lucifer watched shadows rise from the ground to envelop the entire area, a smug grin spread across his face. "I fell for your Shadow World last time. Did you really think I’d come unprepared?"

He took out a white, pearl-like orb and tossed it into the air. Instantly, a blinding light burst from it, radiating in all directions!

...

The sudden, brilliant flash of light from the farm was visible even from the attic of Konia Manor.

Yelena’s brow furrowed.

She knew Guan Tong had deliberately drawn Lucifer away to fight, to prevent the battle from affecting them. But it also meant that no one knew how the fight was going, and they couldn’t help him even if they wanted to.

"Don’t worry," Shi Jingyi said, noticing Yelena’s concern. "Guan Tong isn’t inflexible. If he finds he can’t win, he’s not too proud to fight to the bitter end. He’ll either retreat or come to us for help. With his abilities, if he decides to flee, Lucifer won’t be able to stop him."

Yelena looked at Shi Jingyi in surprise.

She had never seen that side of Guan Tong.

A strange feeling stirred within her. Clearly, Shi Jingyi knew Guan Tong far better than she did.

But this was no time to dwell on such things. Valery and his agents had already reached the manor’s main gate.

The gate was already sealed. As Valery ordered his men to break it down, he broadcast a message through a loudspeaker.

"This is Valery, Director of the Sisiya Security Bureau. We have received credible intelligence that an international fugitive has infiltrated Konia Manor. To ensure the personal safety of the Governor, all personnel within the manor must submit to a security inspection. Anyone who resists will be treated as an accomplice and met with lethal force!"

Shangyuan Zi heard the broadcast and asked in confusion, "They’re already forcing their way in. Why bother shouting all that?"

Yelena, her expression as cold as ice, replied, "Valery is giving himself a pretext to kill everyone in this manor except for me, by labeling them all ’accomplices.’"