Chapter 79: 45.2

Chapter 45-2: The Third Killing Strike (2)

Erwin immediately conjured up his light shield as countless blade projections swept toward him, placing him under unprecedented pressure. The energy swirling around the light shield was extremely violent and overbearing, and Erwin was shocked that Talan was able to control this power.

Larwood and the others were also instantly forced onto the back foot, struggling to deal with this formidable attack. Many wounds had already been inflicted onto the bodies of Larwood and Kaiba. In contrast, Luphen was faring a little better, having only sustained a cut on his cheek, but the cut was so deep that his gums were visible through it, so half of his face had essentially been disfigured.

Luphen was in a lot of pain, but he was frantically warding off Talan's attack, so he didn't have any spare hands to clasp over the wound on his cheek. Talan was deriving a lot of pleasure from seeing this, and it was clear that out of the group of people he was being attacked by, Luphen was the one that he detested the most.

Inside the light shield, Erwin's stamina and magic power were being rapidly whittled down, and he was still clinging onto the hope that another space-time rift would emerge. The violent and chaotic energy unleashed by Talan was clashing with the matter energy that was attempting to surge into the light shield, and even though this was an extremely formidable attack, it still wasn't enough to create that state of extreme instability.

The space-time rift from earlier had been created due to the collision of two bursts of powerful energy from Erwin and Talan's clashing attacks. In the current situation, Erwin was hoping that Talan's third killing strike alone would be enough to create a space-time rift, which was a severe underestimation of the difficulty of creating such a phenomenon.

Talan began to chortle with glee at the sight of his four opponents' struggles, and he slashed his long blade viciously through the air a few more times in an attempt to put an end to this battle as quickly as possible. After all, the paralyzing magic potion had been working its way through his body this entire time, so he wasn't going to be able to keep this up for much longer.

Even though Erwin's stamina and magic power was becoming more and more depleted, he was still able to observe Talan through his light shield. He noticed that after unleashing his third killing strike, Talan's physical condition seemed to have deteriorated even more rapidly, so much so that his skin and flesh were aging at a rate so fast that it was discernible even to the naked eye.

Erwin could see the muscles of Talan's face atrophying beneath his broken helmet. His burly and imposing figure had also become much more wizened and shriveled after unleashing his third killing strike. Furthermore, his skin was clearly becoming looser and more wrinkly after unleashing that flurry of attacks just now. In fact, the skin around his neck had become so heavily wrinkled that it looked as if it belonged on the body of an elderly man in his 80s.

I see what's happening here. Normally, what he does is absorb all types of matter energy into his body, and his third killing strike involves releasing the energy stored in his body all at once. No wonder it's such a devastating attack, and it's also no wonder that he seemed so reluctant to use this third killing strike, Erwin thought to himself, finally able to understand why Talan was able to harness and control such fearsome power.

Unlike normal martial artists, who exclusively absorbed the elemental matter in the space around them during battles to enhance themselves, Talan was constantly absorbing matter energy into his own body, accumulating and storing it over the course of years.

However, another question arose in Erwin's mind: how was Talan able to store so much matter energy in his own body? During Erwin's first match in the Pillow Sword Tournament, the matter energy that had gushed into his body had almost caused him to explode like an overfilled balloon. If it weren't for Onean's generosity, he would've most likely already been dead. The only possible explanation for this was that Talan had to be constantly training his own body in order to make it a vessel fit for storing more and more matter energy. With that in mind, Erwin couldn't help but admire his opponent's resilience and determination.

Indeed, Erwin's guess was right on the money. When it came to his dedication to improving in martial techniques and refining his own body, Talan was far more conscientious and hard-working than the nobles in the military and even the martial techniques professors of all of the major advanced academies. 

This was why Talan had displayed so much genuine disdain toward Erwin and his friends back in Windmetal Fort, while in contrast, he had shown a great deal of respect toward Jayson Young, the renowned spear god of Burmen.

"Everyone, we have to go on the attack! We're not going to get anywhere if we keep passively defending ourselves like this. His body is about to give out, so all we need to do is land one good attack on him!" Erwin yelled as he abruptly withdrew his light shield.

Larwood and Kaiba immediately began to carefully observe Talan upon hearing this, and they were stunned to see that Talan looked as if he had aged several decades within the span of just a few minutes, transforming him from a middle-aged man into what appeared to be an elderly man with one foot in the grave.

"Alright, watch me kill this old bastard!" Kaiba swept his spear through the air and led the way as he charged toward Talan, completely disregarding all of the wounds that he sustained during the process.

With Kaiba putting his life on the line, Larwood knew that he couldn't be left behind, and he also charged forward with tightly gritted teeth.

Meanwhile, Luphen rubbed at the wound on his own face with the back of his hand. The pain from the wound had already completely awakened his fury and killing intent, and on this occasion, he charged forward with his silver whip raised up high even without being threatened by Erwin.

Never did Talan anticipate that his four adversaries would suddenly charge toward him without any regard for their own lives. He had thought that in his current condition, he would be able to grind down his opponents little by little and ultimately outlast them.

Around a dozen gashes had already been sliced onto Erwin's back from the blade intent surging through the air around him, and several wounds had also been inflicted onto his chest and his legs. However, he seemed to be completely oblivious to them as he continued to stare intently at the four people who were locked in battle before him, readying himself to unleash a killing blow at any moment. His current reserves of stamina and magic power were already insufficient for him to conjure up his light shield again, so he had to strike at the ideal opportunity.

The condition of Larwood and the others was also much the same as Erwin's, with everyone sustaining many injuries from Talan's fierce blade intent.

...

Meanwhile, on the battlefield in the east, what little remained of the Wolf Moon mercenary legion was also standing on its last legs. What came as quite a surprise to everyone was that even though the Wolf Moon mercenary legion was without its leader, the final 300 mercenaries put up extremely admirable resistance, only falling after they had killed over 300 of the Heavenly Star mercenary legion's men.

Right when the Heavenly Star mercenary legion thought that they had won the battle, Sherry immediately arrived on the scene with the Four Winds mercenary legion behind him. Even though no battle ensued between the two mercenary legions, both sides were watching one another with wary expressions, and the airship had also arrived in the air above the battlefield, with all of the magicians and archers led by Lanyon ready to attack at any moment.

Even though Larwood had told Sherry to kill these Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries if a suitable opportunity arose, Sherry knew that Larwood had arrived at some type of private agreement with the leader of these Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries, so he wasn't in a hurry to attack them.

After such a grueling battle, the 500 or so remaining Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries were no match for the Four Winds mercenary legion. In addition to that, the Four Winds mercenary legion had another major advantage in the form of the airship, so Sherry was very calm and collected as he watched the battle taking place above the sea from afar.

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On the airship, Christine was also watching the battle unfolding in the distance with an intense, unblinking gaze, and she was actually feeling quite anxious for Erwin. The giant sword spell that Erwin had unleashed earlier had been a truly astonishing sight for her. The clash between Talan's blade and Erwin's sword had produced such air currents that the airship was almost completely tipped over, and that was something she had never anticipated. It was incredible to her that a magician could be so majestic and dashing in a one-on-one battle.

Of course, Erwin wasn't feeling very majestic at this moment.

"Brother Erwin is going to be alright, isn't he?" Christine asked as she turned to Lanyon with an uneasy expression.

"He should be fine..." Lanyon replied in a slightly hesitant voice. From his vantage point on the airship, he had witnessed Talan's third killing strike, and it was truly a devastating attack, so much so that Lanyon's confidence in Erwin had been slightly compromised.

"Brother Erwin's so strong, he'll definitely be already... he'll definitely be alright..." Christine was mumbling the same thing to herself over and over again as she directed her gaze back to the battle unfolding in the distance.

...

The sky above the Joffan Sea was very overcast, and the faint rays of sunlight piercing through the clouds were made to look extremely feeble.

At this point, the battle against Talan had reached white-hot intensity.

Kaiba blocked Talan's blade with his spear, then slammed his left shoulder into Talan's chest. Even though Kaiba was only crashing into Talan in a severely compromised physical condition, he was still struck by a rush of dizziness.

"Die!" Larwood roared as he unleashed a thrust with his sword from down below, and the sword immediately pierced through Talan's ankle, but at the same time, Larwood was also struck by a kick to the shoulder from Talan.

As for Luphen, he wound his whip around Talan's other leg before tugging on the whip with all his might, thereby immobilizing Talan's leg on the spot.

After receiving a kick to the shoulder, Larwood was unable to put any strength into his sword-wielding arm. Thus, he pulled a dagger out from his waist with his left hand before thrusting it directly toward Talan's stomach. This was the very same dagger he had used for that sneak attack against Jeff during the Pillow Sword Tournament.

Talan's body was already quite slow and sluggish from the effects of the paralyzing magic potion, and he had exhausted all of the energy that he had accumulated in his own body over the course of many years while unleashing his third killing strike. In addition to that, he was clashing directly with Kaiba, and one of his legs was rendered immobile by Luphen, while the ankle of his other leg had sustained a heavy blow. Thus, in the face of Larwood's oncoming dagger, he could twist his own body to the side in an attempt to evade the attack.

Larwood certainly wasn't going to allow him to get away so easily, and the tip of his dagger sliced a gash onto Talan's stomach. In a fit of thunderous fury, Talan raised the leg that he could still move before giving Larwood a vicious strike with his knee, causing Larwood to groan with pain, but a triumphant smile had appeared on his face.

This was because Erwin had arrived on the scene, and a bolt of purple lightning erupted from the tip of his Shaved Purple Gem staff. The bolt of lightning plunged directly into the wound that had been inflicted onto Talan's stomach. Erwin had injected all of his remaining magic power into that attack, and he hadn't left himself any leeway. If this attack failed to kill Talan, then there would've been nothing else Erwin could've done.

"Argh!" Talan's roar of pain rang out across the entire heavens. His eyes were wide open, staring blankly at the magician standing before him. His heart was filled with fury, indignation, and disbelief, but his eyes were hollow and beginning to glaze over.

For him, the biggest insult imaginable was to lose his life to these young nobles, whom he despised with every fiber of his being. As he began to fall back, a fountain of blood erupted out of his mouth, as if he were trying to vent his fury and hatred one last time.

Thus, the vastly renowned bandit leader of the Effer Kingdom, Talan Ash, finally fell to his demise above the vast ocean.

In Talan's eyes, all nobles were privileged cowards that he looked down on, and they were the people that he targeted most in robberies and extortions. However, in the end, he had lost his life to this group of young nobles from Sarus.

Erwin looked on at the dim setting sun in the distance, and he finally allowed himself to heave a long sigh of relief as he turned to Larwood and Kaiba with a triumphant smile.

Both Kaiba and Larwood had already sustained dozens of wounds, and their faces were as pale as a sheet due to blood loss. However, all three of them quickly burst into triumphant laughter, paying no heed to the fact that their laughter was further opening up their wounds.

Luphen also wanted to join in on the boisterous laughter, but he was physically unable to do so due to the wound on his face, so he could only muster up a half smile on the other side of his face as a gesture of celebration.

Erwin was extremely amused to see Luphen's awkward display, and he was laughing so hard that he was on the verge of tears.

At this moment, there was a horse-drawn carriage parked on the shore to the northwest. The carriage was guarded by several mercenaries of the Four Winds mercenary legion, who had sustained injuries during the battles that had taken place in Feony Forest in the past few days.

Onean was standing by the shore in her male disguise with her hands clasped behind her back, and her brows were tightly furrowed as she cast her gaze toward the sea in the distance. In order to hide the ropes that were wound around her arms, she was covering them with a rabbit fleece scarf.

Only upon hearing the boisterous laughter in the distance did she withdraw her gaze with a disgruntled expression before returning to the carriage.

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