Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Bang!

Garen's long saber slashed down hard on Slayer's umbrella, and the red paint was jolted off by the impact, revealing the black metal underneath.

With a whoosh, Slayer's arm spun, and the umbrella began to spin at high speeds. Just like that, it parried Garen's blade.

"You've grown stronger again…" He leaped backward lightly and retracted his round umbrella, using the movement to reduce the impact of Garen's vicious force.

The two of them were equal in speed. Slayer used to be faster, but thanks to his average attribute points, Garen's speed was now equal to Slayer's.

Without an ounce of hesitation, Garen dashed forward, his blade transforming into a circular whirl of silver that aimed straight at the enemy. At the same time, he lifted his leg, kicking up a wave of seawater that crashed at his enemy like a solid attack.

Considering how powerful his Strength was, even simple old seawater could be converted into a terrifying murderous weapon under its influence.

"Lunar Eclipse."

Slayer's eyes flashed with a red light, and his umbrella began to spin madly at high speeds, just in time to fend off the silver whirling blade. At the same time, he sliced downward with the edge of the umbrella, and perfectly cut through the wave of seawater pouncing at him.

Psst psst psst!!

Instantly, more than ten invisible air current blades shot out of the umbrella, attacking Garen from the left. All the air current blades gathered together, leaving clear white traces on the surface of the ocean. Although they were obvious, they were also very fast. Slayer also took advantage of the moment when Garen was most vulnerable. Since he had just made his move and used up all his power, he was completely helpless and unable to fight back.

"Are you trying to beat me in move transformation?" Garen's blade turned slightly and shot out a blast of saber wind that crashed directly into the air current blade. The saber wind cut straight through the air current blade, and made sure the air currents had completely scattered before it faded away naturally. This was a demonstration of Garen's surgical precision in the way he applied his strength; not a single ounce of power went to waste.

"Explode!"

Slayer closed the distance between them in an instant. The red umbrella began to spin crazily, cras.h.i.+ng into Garen like a large screen. The muscles in his left arm had abruptly expanded to almost twice their original size, so thick they barely looked human.

Before the surface of the umbrella reached him, Garen could already feel an intense pressure descending upon him. Somehow, in complete contrast with Mind Reader or Yuria, Slayer was already a peak-level expert in his utilization of the Soul Ring. Garen had no idea how long he had to live in order to acc.u.mulate such vast experience.

This explosive power was rooted in the instantaneous expansion of his muscles, causing the power behind the move to at least double in magnitude. At the same time, there was a powerful spinning force behind it. The slightest mistake would mean that Garen's defenses would be easily broken through.

Garen had just completed his move and had yet to recover his strength, so the only thing he could do was tilt his body slightly to evade this attack.

"Eroded Moon Shadow!" Slayer's umbrella gave a jolt, and with an abrupt tearing sound, the surface of the umbrella immediately split into more than ten pieces. These pieces turned into more than ten flitting shadows that darted into the ocean, surrounding Garen from all sides like swimming fish.

"Four Directional Winds." Garen's blade spun, and at the same time, silver light rose all around his body, blocking off the black shadows. The silver light and the black shadows collided and canceled each other out.

Boom!!!

On the surface of the ocean, a giant tidal wave, more than ten meters tall, exploded over the area where the two crashed into each other.

The tall wave fell down as a spray of rain, each droplet splas.h.i.+ng into the ocean around them.

Whoosh, whoosh. There were two clear sounds, and more waves rose around both Garen and Slayer as they dashed at each other. The blade left trails of intense light as it crashed into the red-black umbrella handle, unleas.h.i.+ng golden sparks of different sizes.

The long saber immediately became an afterimage, each slash brought with it strong winds and new waves.

The tip of the umbrella handle was sharp, so Slayer used it as both a spear and a staff.

"Dragon Steed." Slayer's spear jolted and quickly spun around him once, swimming nimbly on the water around him like a living snake. At the same time, he himself constantly dodged Garen's barrage of blade slashes with great agility.

Swoos.h.!.+

A gigantic circle appeared on the ocean around Garen and Slayer, and an oval-shaped hole opened up slowly in its center, biting at Garen like a deep black abyss. It was a giant whirlpool!!!

"Hmph!"

Garen was completely fearless, and did not shrink away in his a.s.sault. He and Slayer fell into the eye of the giant whirlpool at the same time.

In the deep blue whirlpool, they were surrounded by the deep-blue, almost-black walls of water. At the very center of it, the two of them were falling straight downward. It was like falling into a bottomless abyss.

Strangely, the giant whirlpool was actually still expanding, growing larger and deeper. The enormous hole in the center continued to deepen, as though it was an abyss that led straight to the ocean floor.

There was immense pressure everywhere, and the walls of dark-blue, almost-black seawater were all that could be seen. Other than the tiny p.r.i.c.ks of white light above their heads, there was no other source of illumination.

Garen could clearly feel that, under these circ.u.mstances, Slayer's strength and speed were both increased to almost 1.5 times their original value. He could instantly sense the pressure on him piling on.

"So you're creating an advantageous terrain for yourself, huh?" Garen's expression was cold, his attacks gradually slowing down.

Swoos.h.!.+

The long spear narrowly swept past his throat, missing by mere millimeters. Garen's feet trod down hard on the water wall, and with an audible 'bam', he borrowed the momentum from the high-speed spinning. Instantly, man and blade turned into a saber wheel. He quickly landed behind Slayer, and spun toward the latter's back.

Clang!

The umbrella handle and saber crashed into each other. Slayer did not turn around, blocking Garen's attack backhandedly. His entire body was sent out flying, straight into the wall of water.

"Garrotte," Slayer murmured softly. The sound waves seemed to come with an accompaniment, some tremors of power.

Barroom. White snake-like waves instantly darted out of the countless water walls, rus.h.i.+ng at Garen as though by magic!

Garen's attack was blocked, and he leaped back lightly, landing on the whirlpool water wall behind him. The soles of his feet vibrated at high speeds, neutralizing the immense spinning force of the whirlpool's walls of water. As a result, he stood as steady as he would on flat land.

"Now that you're all warmed up, isn't it time to bust out the big guns?" His spear immediately vanished, leaving an afterimage, and his whole person lit up with white flames.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh. All the waves were easily slashed apart, vanis.h.i.+ng. The spear appeared again instantly, and Garen held it in his hand, pointing it diagonally downward.

Slayer's eyes darkened. He stood on another wall of water, completely motionless. The two of them stood off against each other, with more than ten meters between them.

"As expected, you truly have gotten considerably stronger." He threw away the umbrella handle off-handedly.

"Looks like I can't hold back any longer… If you die, I hope she… won't blame me for it."

"?" Garen frowned. Evidently, Slayer had yet to use his true power until now.

"I once killed a strange creature." Slayer lifted his right hand, his palm facing upward, as though he was holding something up. "His eyes were pitch black and gave me a very strange feeling."

Garen's heart gave a jolt, and he immediately knew that Slayer was talking about a Void Creature.

"And then?"

Slayer's palm began to expand slowly.

"I sense that your scent is very similar to theirs…"

Psh-sha!

His right arm began to swell up, from the shoulder up to the palm. A sharp white bone jutted out of his shoulder.

At the same time, Slayer's whole body began to change in shape. He grew from 180 centimeters to more than two meters, and all the muscles on his body grew tougher and stronger. Even his head began to swell quickly. The muscle on the back of his head grew into a strange triangular shape, as though he had a flesh-colored triangle hanging from his nape.

His chest sunk inward, revealing a neat circular hole.

Psst!

The circular hole actually went completely through Slayer's chest, revealing the dark blue wall of seawater behind him. It formed a hole that penetrated his chest completely.

Things like fins appeared on Slayer's palms, connected to the backs of his hands. His toes all grew sharper, and these came with long, black, dagger-like nails.

Within a few short seconds, Slayer had changed from a pretty boy into a powerful monster that barely looked human.

"The First Original Sin." He abruptly gathered immense Soul Energy into the middle of his palm, condensing them into a ball, a small red ball. Its center was distorted and jutted out slightly, as though there was an insect or something trying to worm its way out of the red ball.

Garen narrowed his eyes. This strange situation was beginning to reach beyond his understanding.

To think that this World could contain such a high level of distortion and mutation. Slayer's Soul Energy Forces were already dense enough to shock Garen. Although he clearly only had one Soul Ring, Slayer had clearly already honed his utilization of it to the extreme. This level of power activation had even surpa.s.sed Demon Lords who were two Soul Ring Levels higher than him,

They were both Demon Lords, but Garen knew he could reach such an extent of power! As expected of the main character of this universe! And the leader of the Four Cornerstones.

Wisps of dangerous aura began to emanate from Slayer, circling around Garen like ice-cold poisonous snakes.

Evidently, the Slayer right now was already strong enough to pose a threat to his life. This was no longer a simple battle that did not involve the soul, this was a battle to the death between Demon Lords. If they were to fall here, even their Soul Rings and the will of their Souls would be completely destroyed.

Chack.

Garen held the saber in front of him, his eyes narrowing and the white flames on his body growing more intense.

"Thunder."

There was a soft sound, and Garen suddenly felt his vision blur. The previously dark center of the whirlpool lit up abruptly, and countless bolts of blue lightning filled his field of vision.

All he could feel was countless bolts of lightning cras.h.i.+ng toward him. It was as though the whole whirlpool had instantly turned into Slayer's electricity-conducting tool.

There was nowhere to hide!!

He was completely surrounded by the walls of water and the whirlpool, so Garen had nowhere to hide. All he could do was hunker down and take it on.

Boom!!

Torrents of electricity crashed into his body, and Garen's hair began to rise from the tips. As soon as the electricity made his hair stand up, his own Soul Energy would fix it again, so the two forces remained at a delicate balance.

But his Soul Energy was now being consumed at twice the rate.

"Era." Slayer's iguanlike blood-red eyes opened abruptly, and he disappeared from the spot.

The next time he reappeared, he stood behind Garen. Soundlessly but viciously, he pressed the red ball in his hand into Garen's back. There was a difference in their speeds again!

Garen just managed to turn around and only had time to hold his blade in front of him.

Kchak!

There was a sound of metal breaking. In a world invisible to outsiders, the Soul Energy Ball in Slayer's hand crashed into the blade. The temperature fluctuated from high to low, and the amplitude of the electric currents changed several dozen times in the same instant. Even if the blade was made of a special metal, it still could not handle such rapid changes. One last palm hit, applying more strength to it.

The saber snapped.

That powerful palm hit struck Garen straight in the chest.

Barroom!!!

There was a terribly loud sound, and the enormous whirlpool collapsed completely. Garen was sent out flying backward like a rocket, breaking straight through the entire whirlpool.

But he did not fly out fast enough to surpa.s.s the speed of Slayer's continued chase. Instead, he was blocked by the vast volume of seawater, which kept reducing his speed.