Starting With an SSS-Rank Swordsmanship Talent

While the Astanian army was dealing with the uprising in Midgard, the battle between Remondin and Ignatius became more intense.

The area around them had been turned upside down with the constant clash of their domains.

When viewed from above, one might mistake their battlefield as an active volcano with all the flames and burnt rocks.

Boom!

Suddenly, an earth-shattering explosion rang out.

At the epicenter of this chaos, Ignatius and Remondin stood a hundred meters from each other.

Remondin’s skin had severe burn marks. Half of his face was burned, making him look hideous.

On the other hand, his opponent, Ignatius, wasn’t any better. The guy’s armor was in a utter mess with various dents and holes. He was also bleeding from a large ruptured wound on his chest.

Ignatius was breathing heavily while injecting mana into the wound on his chest.

I need to stop the bleeding.

If he didn’t infuse his wound with mana, he would suffer from severe blood loss. Even to a Venerable, losing too much blood would be fatal.

“You don’t look good, Ignatius. Why don’t you just obediently offer your head so I can end your suffering?” Remondin spoke with a cold smile.

Ignatius sneered at his words. “You talk as if you are in better condition. Do you think I’m blind?”

The two engaged in a brief verbal spat before they resumed their fight.

I have only seen him use three of his integrated monster traits. He still hasn’t shown me the last one.

Is he waiting for the right moment to use it or is it just an auxiliary skill that he can’t use in combat?

Ignatius furrowed his eyebrows.

When absorbing beast soul crystals, the monster traits that one could integrate were random. Because of this, beast soul warriors preferred to absorb the crystals from high-grade monsters since most of their skills were powerful.

In his case, he was lucky enough that all his traits were related to fire.

Should I intentionally show an opening and force him to reveal his final trump card?

He hesitated. Doing this was very risky and he might even be killed.

No… this is our only chance.

If we don’t succeed here, everyone will perish, including His Highness Alaric.

I cannot let that happen…

He took a deep breath, his eyes flashing with determination.

In the next moment, he conjured a flame spear. This was the same skill he used to defeat Rudner Crestor.

Seeing this, Remondin frowned.

Is he planning to use that as a melee weapon?

Looking at his confused face, Ignatius let out a mocking smile. “Did you know that this is the same flame spear that I used to kill Rudner?”

“He was quite the troublesome opponent, but he wasn’t skilled enough to block this flame spear. I guess that was the extent of his strength-”

He was about to say a few more words, but then he sensed an unusual energy swirling around Remondin.

This… what is this strange energy?

“If you are trying to piss me off, congratulations. You succeeded.” Remondin muttered coldly, his eyes burning with rage.

In the next moment, he put his palm forward and summoned a black door above him which seemed to merge with the space.

“I didn’t want to use this since it’s difficult to control, but I don’t plan on holding back anymore…”

As soon as he said this, dozens of black tentacles emerged from the door and rapidly moved towards Ignatius.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Ignatius narrowed his eyes. His instincts were telling him that if these tentacles could touch him, he would be done for.

Sensing the danger of the black tentacles, he stabbed out his flame spear with great speed and force.

Bang! Bang!

Each stab destroyed multiple black tentacles, turning them into a black gooey mist.

However, he realized something horrible. New black tentacles emerged from the black door to replace those that had been destroyed. It was as if there were an infinite number of them inside the door.

There are too many of them!

Ignatius’ face fell.

He was still holding out, but his mana was about to be depleted. Once his mana ran out, he would be at the mercy of his enemy!

Dammit!

It seems like I have to use my last trump card now!

Thinking about this, he leaped backwards to create some distance from the black tentacles. He then put his left palm forward and communicated with the fire elements in the surrounding.

Remondin’s instincts screamed danger so he instinctively leaped to the right.

Just then, the ground where he last stood exploded into a fire vortex.

Shit!

He couldn’t escape from the fire vortex and it soon engulfed his entire body.

Boom!

Did I get him?

Ignatius narrowed his eyes, trying to see through the thick black smoke.

Everyone watched with bated breath.

When the thick smoke cleared, they all saw a black ball suspended in midair. Slowly, the black ball unwrapped itself, revealing the unharmed Remondin inside.

It turned out that he used the black tentacles to cover his body just when the fire vortex was about to consume him.

“How is that possible?!” Ignatius was stunned.

That was a skill that consumed a huge portion of his mana. The flames were so powerful that they could practically devour anything, but Remondin actually survived such fearsome flames.

With a victorious smile, Remondin looked at him and said. “You look like you have used up all your mana…”

“That was a satisfying battle, but this is where it ends, Ignatius.”

He put his palms forward and conjured three black doors where hundreds of black tentacles had suddenly sprung out from.

With no more mana left to protect his body, Ignatius could only smile bitterly.

Soon, the black tentacles wrapped around his body, slowly crushing him with their squeezing force.

With a mocking smile, Remondin spoke. “You were all talk after all-”

His words suddenly halted when he felt a sharp pain spreading through his body.

This…