Chapter 326: Almost There

Chapter 326: Chapter 326: Almost There

"Retract!"

Lance willed it, and the gears inside the Chain Blade spun wildly, beginning to tighten rapidly.

"SCREEEEECH..."

The piercing sound of friction echoed throughout the great hall.

Although the Chain Blade couldn’t cut directly into his opponent’s Full Bronze Armor, it was blocked by that invisible layer of "Nine-Headed Armor".

But under the effect of [Melting Gold Armor Shattering],

the area where the Chain Blade and Armor made contact still erupted with a shower of dazzling sparks.

As the sparks flew, that layer of Armor was being visibly weakened and stripped away bit by bit.

This was precisely the tactic Lance had chosen to use first.

If he didn’t strip away this outer layer of Armor first and figure out the effects of the Bronze Armor his opponent was wearing,

he was genuinely worried that even if he activated [Desperate Breathless Death Struggle],

with the stacked damage reduction from the multiple layers of defense, his ten seconds of output might not be enough to finish off this Heroic Spirit.

Though he wasn’t injured, Galeos still found the Chain Blade’s fly-like buzzing attack incredibly annoying.

He snorted coldly and raised his right hand, preparing to snap the Chain Blade with sheer brute force.

’A perfect chance!’

A sharp glint flashed in Lance’s eyes.

He took advantage of the opening created as his opponent raised a hand to grab the Chain Blade.

Lance instantly closed the distance.

His hands latched with unerring precision onto Galeos’s right elbow joint and shoulder blade.

[Azure Dragon Extreme Intent Style: Unloading the Keel]

Lance’s fingers locked tight as the Ether Energy within his body erupted without reservation.

He attempted to use this joint-locking technique, specialized for breaking through Heavy Armor, to directly dislocate his opponent’s right arm.

However, just as he exerted his strength,

[Power check initiated... Target’s current Power value assessment: Approx. 50 points.]

Seeing the assessment data pop up on his retina, Lance’s heart sank to rock bottom.

A Strength Attribute of 50!

’What kind of insane stat is that?’

One had to understand that for Adventurers who hadn’t broken through to the Excellence Tier, the theoretical upper limit for a single Attribute was 50 points.

’As expected.’

When these Heroic Spirits, who left behind Legends in history, descended upon the Material Realm,

even if they were suppressed by the current Tier of the Underground City, some of their Basic Attributes would still be maxed out by default to the absolute limit that Tier could contain.

A stat monster like this was simply not something an ordinary person could fight.

Without activating his [Dragon Form] to gain an all-around Attribute boost,

Lance’s current normal strength still fell short compared to his opponent’s.

"You’re courting death."

Lance only felt a reverse brute force, like the world was collapsing, surge back at him.

It directly threw him off.

Galeos even took the opportunity to swing a heavy counter-punch, smashing toward Lance’s chest with unstoppable momentum!

But this was definitely not just a simple straight punch!

[Heroic Spirit Specialization: Ninefold Deceit Attack]

[Effect: Every ordinary swing will simultaneously tear open 8 enormous, illusory serpent heads in the void! The enemy must withstand 9 attack judgments simultaneously in an instant. Each serpent head inflicts 28 points of physical bite and corrosion damage!]

The instant Galeos threw his punch,

eight illusory Hydra heads, condensed from viscous, purple-red Ether Energy, let out a nauseating hiss and smashed toward Lance’s body from all directions, accompanying the heavy punch!

At this life-or-death moment, Lance had no time to make any counterattack.

He pushed his [Heart Intent Martial Structure] to its absolute limit.

A layer of dark red Dragon Remains Crystal Armor, even thicker than before, instantly condensed on the surface of his body, attempting to block the blow.

But, under the concentrated barrage of nine terrifying judgments,

the outermost layer of Crystal Armor only held for less than half a second before it exploded like fragile winter ice amid a dense series of cracks!

The fist pierced through the shattered defense and slammed viciously onto Lance’s sternum.

BANG!

A large mouthful of blood sprayed uncontrollably from the corner of his mouth.

But the strong, metallic scent of blood completely ignited the ferocity hidden deep in Lance’s bones.

He forced himself to swallow the blood churning in his throat.

The tip of his foot ground hard against the smooth bronze floor.

His waist and abdomen suddenly contracted and unleashed power like a coiled spring.

His right fist, clad in its Hand Armor, smashed back fiercely at Galeos’s chest!

[Azure Dragon Extreme Intent Style: Top Dragon Horn]!

This punch, combined with the Suicide Bombing Trait of his Hand Armor,

at the instant it struck Galeos’s chest plate,

the searing [Ash Dragon Breath], like splattering magma, coated a large area of the Heroic Spirit Armor on his opponent’s body.

Accompanied by a harsh corrosive sound, the invisible "Nine-Headed Armor" began to melt away.

Lance’s furious and provocative counterattack also completely ignited Galeos’s arrogant wrath as a king.

"You have a death wish!"

The two figures engaged in a fist-to-flesh exchange of blows in the center of the vast, empty hall, at extremely close range!

Galeos’s attacks were wide and sweeping, filled with an oppressive, tyrannical presence.

Every one of his punches and whipping kicks was accompanied by eight illusory and deadly serpent heads for a coordinated heavy strike; the slightest carelessness would result in being torn to shreds.

Meanwhile, Lance, who was at a disadvantage, pushed the close-combat techniques of the [Azure Dragon Extreme Intent Style] to their absolute peak.

He was like a vicious wolf fighting for survival in a desperate situation.

His palms, elbows, knees, and even his shoulders—every part of his body became a weapon, continuously launching risky counterattacks and feints within the gaps of his opponent’s storm-like assault.

However, no matter how exquisite his technique, it couldn’t make up for the complete suppression from his opponent’s stats.

In this lopsided brawl, even though Lance was giving his all to predict and defend, his shoulder was torn open, his ribs were pierced, and his thigh was gashed.

Blinding mists of blood burst from his body one after another, and the wounds grew denser and denser.

Even the Steam Chain Blade on his left arm, which he had been using for containment, had long since been torn into two pieces of scrap metal by Galeos’s bare hands and sheer brute force during the close-quarters struggle.

"Get lost!"

Following Galeos’s deafening roar,

an unstoppable, heavy kick landed squarely on Lance’s abdomen.

BOOM!

Lance was sent flying backward like a kite with a snapped string.

He crashed through four or five bronze statues in mid-air before finally slamming heavily onto the ground more than ten meters away amid the roaring sound of the shattering statues.

Another large mouthful of crimson blood sprayed out uncontrollably.

The once majestic, dark red Dragon Remains Armor he wore was now covered in a terrifying, dense web of cracks.

Blood was gushing down from every single crack.

"Cough... cough cough..."

Thanks to his Talent blocking his pain receptors,

although Lance had suffered extremely severe internal injuries, he wasn’t robbed of his ability to move by the intense pain.

He swiftly got back to his feet.

’Not yet...’

He quickly assessed the battle in his mind, suppressing the urge to ignite [Pale Embers] to heal his injuries.

’It’s not time to use my trump card yet.’

Lance’s gaze swept across the area.

He saw that the spot where he had fallen was surrounded by the dozen or so heavy bronze weapons Galeos had thrown earlier.

Without any hesitation, he immediately activated [Royal Armory], instantly stripping the weapons of their ownership.

Immediately after,

[Soldier Resolution and Re-casting]!

The bronze weapons scattered all over the floor were instantly melted down by Ether Energy, transforming into an immense [Martial Corpse Burning Stream].

This torrent of molten metal rapidly intertwined and reshaped itself in Lance’s hands.

A few seconds later, a heavy metal greatbow appeared in his hands.

Lance endured the tearing sensation in his shoulder blade.

He used all his strength to draw the tough bowstring.

The remaining burning stream combined with crystals and rapidly condensed into one thick, heavy Armor Piercing Arrow after another.

With the support of the [Double Arrow Release] Specialty,

Lance released his fingers, and a dense, rain-like barrage of metal arrows shot out with piercing shrieks.

They flew wildly toward Galeos, who was not far away.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A series of dense explosions rang out where Galeos was standing.

The violent impacts produced towering flames, and thick smoke and dust instantly swallowed the tall figure.

However, when the smoke and dust gradually dissipated in the blast wave,

Galeos stood in the same spot, completely unscathed.

Those astonishingly powerful Armor Piercing Arrows hadn’t even left the faintest scratch on his Bronze Armor.

He couldn’t even be bothered to dodge.

"Tricks."

Galeos offered his one-word assessment.

The instant his voice fell,

the giant, vertical-pupiled serpent eye on his chest suddenly flashed.

[Heroic Spirit Specialization: Annihilation Death Light!]

[Basic Effect: Instantly fires 9 death light rays from the serpent pupil that cannot be blocked by an Ordinary Shield. Each ray will cause 45 points of true piercing damage.]

TCHSS!

A blinding purple ray shot out madly from the serpent pupil, like lightning tearing through the night sky.

Just an instant after the ray had traveled only half a meter,

under the power of the Hydra Legend,

the originally single beam of light suddenly split into nine independent rays in mid-air!

These nine rays interwove into a web of death, instantly blanketing all the space around Lance.

The speed was simply too fast!

So fast it surpassed the limits of what the naked eye could follow!

Even though Lance had both the neural acceleration of [Thunder Sting Reflex] and the motion tracking of [Eyes of the Young Dragon] active,

his body was still unable to execute a perfect dodge in that instant.

THUMP! THUMP!

Two extremely dull sounds of flesh being pierced rang out almost simultaneously.

Lance dodged the few death light rays aimed at his vitals.

But a purple ray mercilessly shot through his already injured left shoulder blade, leaving behind a transparent, cauterized hole.

And another ray directly pierced the outer muscle group of his right thigh.

"Urgh..."

Suffering such a heavy blow, Lance let out a muffled groan.

Even with the [Mucus Coagulation Factor] in his body greatly slowing the rate of blood loss,

the constantly flowing blood still quickly dyed the bronze ground beneath his feet completely crimson.

Covered in wounds.

This was the most accurate description of Lance at this moment.

But he still clenched his teeth tightly, refusing to let himself completely collapse.

His defiant Dragon Pupils were fixed on the Bronze Tyrant before him.

’Almost there...’

’Just a little bit more...’