Chapter 731: Sword Qi
Elsa’s heart nearly leapt out of her throat as she recalled the scene from years ago, when she’d witnessed Lennon at the height of his power, striking with his own hand.
She’d been out hunting with her mother that day, only to stumble upon a troop of Level 33 Blazing Monkeys. These easily enraged beasts—if their numbers exceeded a hundred—even dared to swarm a dragon.
That day, they encountered no less than three hundred...
Three hundred Blazing Monkeys. At the time, Elsa possessed only the power of a Grand Mage; a single slip could mean instant death. Her mother couldn’t intervene—she could only shield Elsa with everything she had. The only one who could fight was Lennon...
Elsa had wondered then: Why didn’t Lennon cast any spells? Why did he seem so unremarkable? Yet the moment he moved, she couldn’t even track his presence.
In an instant, Lennon gripped his longsword and charged forward. His body blurred into a streak, his figure nearly indistinguishable.
In the midst of the three hundred Blazing Monkeys, a gray shadow darted at lightning speed. In just three seconds, Lennon returned to his original position, slowly sheathing his sword.
All three hundred hot-tempered Blazing Monkeys froze. After three seconds, they moved as one, making the same gesture and expression.
Each Blazing Monkey clutched its neck in terror. A dreadful bloody line slowly appeared across their throats, and torrents of blood erupted. No one else could even react—three hundred Blazing Monkeys died a gruesome death...
It was the first time Elsa had witnessed a power more shocking than spellcasting itself; she even remembered pestering Lennon for months to learn sword techniques.
Now, Lennon was dead, transformed into a Level 38 wraith, yet Elsa still felt cold all over, her body gripped by instinctive fear.
She could only keep casting spells to suppress him, never letting Lennon get close.
As for Hubert, who had no spellcasting ability, his expression was grim; he swung Slaughter wildly, hacking in every direction like a madman.
Lennon's figure, trailing blurred afterimages, suddenly drifted to Hubert's side. His longsword, like a venomous serpent, stabbed from an unthinkable angle—if it landed, it would pierce Hubert's right kidney and skewer his heart.
As a Dragonblood Orc—especially one who had fused a drop of Golden Three-Headed Dragon's Blood and bathed in the blood of gods and demons—Hubert's instincts were terrifyingly sharp.
In an instant, he sensed the chilling intent from his right and, without thinking, smashed Slaughter toward it in a frenzy.
Clang!
A crisp clash of steel rang out. Hubert's arm tingled with numbness, while Lennon was sent flying backward. In terms of raw strength, he was no match for Hubert—but when it came to killing...
Even if Hubert were on horseback, he couldn't catch up...
With a single blow, Xuban sent Lennon flying. He let out a breath of relief, but in the next instant, he watched as Lennon, hurled seven or eight meters away, rolled twice in midair, rebounded off a giant tree, and reappeared by his side in the blink of an eye.
Three blurred afterimages, each gripping a sword differently, appeared around Xuban. Just then, Lin Yun’s voice echoed through the forest.
"Jump, quick! That's the Triple Afterimage Slash!"
Xuban’s hair stood on end. As soon as he heard Lin Yun, he sprang upward with everything he had—below, three sword slashes flashed past, each from a different direction. Had he not jumped, his body would have been sliced into four pieces...
Dodging in any direction was pointless—the three sword slashes closed in as if three attackers were hemming him in at once.
"Idiot, aren’t you going to use your strength? What are you afraid of?"
Lin Yun’s voice rang out again. Startled, Xuban finally remembered his greatest advantage. Still airborne, his skin flushed red, both hands gripping his slaughter blade, his entire aura shifting.
Below, Lennon, having missed his strike, prepared to attack again. But in the sky, with nowhere to brace himself, Xuban had already invoked the power of the Three-Headed Golden Dragon. Dragon might flickered over him, and as he swung his slaughter blade down, the air around him compressed, forming a surge of force.
Like a meteor plummeting from the sky—utterly untouchable.
Lennon's sword slashed at Xuban’s slaughter blade from the side, but was instantly repelled by the overwhelming force and sent flying.
Landing again, Xuban’s clothes were drenched in cold sweat. That was way too close—he’d almost been stabbed to death.
The others were sweating too. If even someone as tough as Xuban couldn’t take a hit, none of them could survive if Lennon got close.
Everyone rushed together, but Lennon became a blur, circling them and striking whenever he saw an opening—sometimes firing off a blade of sword qi, other times appearing at someone’s side to unleash close-range sword techniques.
"Merlin, what the hell are you doing? Damn it, we can't hold out much longer! If you don't step in soon, this guy's going to skewer us all..."
Andefa’s three faces were twisted with terror. He’d thought Lennon would ignore him as a magical construct, but he was nearly pierced by a sudden burst of sword qi...
Though he lacked a physical body, his magical avatar was still a body. If pierced by such sharp sword qi, it would be agony. Before he could relax, the Wheel of All Magic was struck by another sword qi, nearly hitting the Heart of Blazeforge...
The group struggled to fight back—they couldn’t even touch Lennon, who was too fast and kept attacking them. It was like Lennon alone was suppressing the whole party.
Meanwhile, Lin Yun seemed to be up to something else. Since the fight began, he’d vanished into the forest, only occasionally offering advice.
Andefa’s face grew even larger in desperation, cursing: "Merlin, you bastard, hurry up and do something! What are you waiting for? This Level 38 wraith isn’t like the others..."
Andefa was truly desperate now. In previous encounters with wraiths, Lin Yun had barely intervened—always slacking off—so Andefa assumed he was doing the same this time.
Lin Yun’s voice drifted out from the other side of the forest.
"You idiots! Sure, this guy’s a wraith, but who said fire spells are the most lethal? Fire spells are powerful, but useless if you can’t hit him. His greatest strength is speed—why aren’t you trying to slow him down?"
At those words, Reina was the first to react. She switched all her powerful frost spells to slowing frost spells.
With a cast of Frostfall, a flurry of snowflakes drifted down. Each flake that touched the ground spread a layer of frost, and soon, the surface of the giant trees was coated in icy blue.
The air temperature dropped rapidly. The fire element, heightened by earlier fire spells, quickly dissipated, while frost element concentration and activity soared.
Andefa, controlling the Wheel of All Magic, muttered through gritted teeth as he scattered slowing spells in every direction, sparing no effort.
The alchemical golem raised its arms, unleashing a barrage of freezing and slowing spells, covering a hundred-meter radius.
Elsa suddenly understood—against ordinary wraiths, fire spells were most effective, while frost spells were weakest. But Lennon was different; his greatest strength was speed. Without slowing him, no spell would work.
At his peak, Lennon was so fast he could dance through a wind blade storm unscathed. His evasion was beyond belief.
Elsa raised her hands, bringing her arms together. The magic runes on both arms merged, forming a composite spell.
Slow!
With a low shout, a visible black ripple spread outward from Elsa as its center.
Within a hundred meters, everything seemed to slow down. It felt as if everyone’s feet were weighed down by a thousand pounds, making every step a struggle.
Not far away, Lennon—until now only a blur—finally became visible. Thanks to the group’s barrage of slowing spells, his speed plummeted to its lowest ever.
Freeze!
Lin Yun’s voice rang out again. Reina, with no hesitation, unleashed a breath of zero-degree dragon’s breath, sending a shower of icy blue shards sparkling in the air.
In an instant, it struck Lennon, whose speed had been reduced to its absolute minimum.
Lennon fired off three sword qi, but they were so sharp they only pierced three small holes in the zero-degree dragon’s breath—unable to stop the freezing attack.
Crack...
In the blink of an eye, Lennon was frozen into an ice sculpture.
Flame Cage!
Before anyone could relax, Lin Yun urgently called out another command.
Seth, Andefa, and the alchemical golem cast Flame Cage simultaneously, layering multiple cages over the temporarily frozen Lennon.
Flames surged, and cracks appeared on the ice encasing Lennon. Waves of sword qi burst forth from within, shattering the ice in an instant.
But by then, Andefa had already flown forward.
Damn bastard, let’s see you run now!
Andefa cursed loudly, controlling the Wheel of All Magic. He summoned four fire vortexes at the corners of the Flame Cage, unleashing torrents of fire. As Lennon burst out, the four flames pinned him down.
A few seconds later, he was burned to ashes.