The Villain has Perished

'Dammit, there is no other way! Activate Crown. Duration: 16 seconds!'

⟪The woes dead are cursing you for their premature end. Their rage and regret are strengthening you.⟫

[Physique]: 48.12 (+45) → [Physique]: 252.12 (+45)

An enthralling sense of unstoppable power filled me. But I quickly focused and reminded myself about the limited 16 seconds I had to defeat the monstrous man in front of me.

'Holy slash!'

A black arc flew out of my blade and crashed into the ring of mana in the sky. For a moment, the surface of the ring quaked, and it stopped drizzling rays of light.

I kicked the ground and dashed toward Baratos. It took me 2 seconds to close the distance between us.

<Bending Blade>

The length of my invisible sword changed and it slithered toward Baratos. Yet, as if Baratos could see the invisible blade, he blocked it.

'Release!'

Seven treants and tree hound wolves appeared. They were, however, immediately struck down by the rays of light falling from the sky. The safe area under the ring was only enough for Baratos and me.

My summons that appeared outside couldn't help in this desperate situation.

6 seconds remained.

My hands appeared like a blur as they moved faster than what eyes could follow. This amount of the physique enchantment was the limit of what my mind could follow, and the 2nd weakness of the Crown of Massacre.

Its first weakness was that every time it is used, it will consume all the Kill Points stored, leaving you to decide the amount of time for the physique boost.

Secondly, the crown of Massacre doesn't boost your mind. Your body becomes stronger, faster and sturdier, but if the boost is too great your mind wouldn't be able to keep up with your body.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Sparks flew in the air wherever our swords clashed. Baratos seemed like a mountain that braved thunderstorms and earthquakes without flinching.

2 seconds.

'Now!'

Synchronized Skill: <Bending Phantom blade>

The sword became visible and split into three blades that attacked from different directions each.

However, Baratos had <Mana Sense>. He ignored the two illusionary blades and swung his sword against the real one.

'Got you'

I opened my mana valves and let my mana pressure explode into the surroundings. It was a simple move that allowed an ascender to exert their pressure.

Yet Baratos flinched. I didn't let the movement of negligence pass, and swung my sword at full power along with <Holy Slash>.

Bang!

The Holy Knight Commander couldn't block at point blank range. His body flew out of the ring like a comet.

"Capture him"

Baratos crashed into trees, and the ring in the sky disappeared. Before he could stand again, vines wrapped around his limbs and restricted his movement. They were the treants I left outside before attacking him.

The physique boost also ended and the feeling of powerlessness, my normal physical abilities, returned.

'Sigh, I barely won. Now, even if uses Body Strengthening, he won't be able to escape the treants who are physically stronger than him.'

"How? What is that bottomless pit of mana?" Baratos didn't try to remove the vines and instead questioned me.

Normally, my mana pressure wouldn't affect Baratos.

Baratos would've had a little over 600 MP at best. This was the highest MP of a normal human at Grandmaster rank with an E rank mana increasing skill.

In comparison, I had over 1400 MP due to my race. It was something achievable only with D rank for normal humans.

F rank skill meant Master rank.

E rank skill equalled Grandmaster rank.

While D rank skill belonged to Saint rank.

'Releasing mana pressure is showing your total mana to enemies. It is a standard way to warn them of your strength. Since I have more than twice the mana than him, he was surprised, and a brief gap was created.'

But this wasn't all.

The difference in our mana caused Baratos' <Mana Sense> to go haywire. <Mana Sense> worked by spreading your mana in a thin layer into the surroundings.

But my raw mana overpowered his mana momentarily and his <Mana Sense> stopped for that one short second. If not, Baratos would've blocked the Holy Slash after sensing my movements.

Still, it didn't seem that Baratos was worried.

He spoke leisurely, "Your swordsmanship improved by leaps and bounds in the short time we clashed. It was at the level of a knight who has entered the labyrinth for 1 year when we started, but now it is at the level of a veteran knight who has explored the labyrinth for 2 and a half years.

A pity. If you've trained diligently since childhood, you would've been able to win. But I can't deny, you have been blessed with talent in swordsmanship by the Gods."

"Since when did the Gods bless Demons?" My eyes widened at my own answer. Thankfully, Baratos didn't see that due to my robe.

'Why did I say that? No, why does he think that he has won? Is he trying to stall me here before Jae-sung defeats the Griffin?'

At that moment, Baratos spoke. "Return"

Before I could understand the meaning, someone held my hand and pulled me away. "Dodge!"

However, I was late. The sword of Baratos, Dainsleif, came from behind at great speed and blew away a portion of my stomach before returning to Baratos' hands.

"Cough…Cough.."

The hand that pulled me away, saved me from swift death, but the injury wasn't small. I fell to my knees. Blood spilled from my wound, and I was missing a chunk of my abdomen.

'Dainsleif returned to him at his call? But that should've been possible only after he bonded with the sword. And that will happen after the Coalescence.'

"Huff…Huff..."

Thanks to the healing bandages, the injury was being healed at a rate visible to naked eyes, but it wasn't fast enough. I was also losing a great amount of blood. If I left it as it was, even if the wound healed, I would die from blood loss.

"Who are you? How did you enter through the wall of fla–"

"Sleep" A sweet voice echoed.

Baratos, the 2nd strongest man, fell unconscious immediately as if obeying those words by his enemy.

Then the sweet voice entered my ears. "Apply pressure to the wound. Here, let me help you."

I raised my head and muttered weakly, "You're late."