YM778.TV Chapter 296 32
Azalia\'s chest tightened, and she clenched her fists when she saw Ziel\'s fight against the Archaic Knights. Ziel lost in that clash, and it worried her, and she thought several times about flying there to help. Fortunately, Aghares kept her by the arm, preventing her from acting recklessly.
"Ken..." Azalia\'s face was pale when she saw Ziel\'s wounds continue to increase in number from the Archaic Knight\'s attacks.
"Let go of me, Aghares! I have to go!" Azalia couldn\'t suppress her anxiety anymore and tried to break free from Aghares\' grip. Her strength had recovered a bit, and his condition had also improved. Azalia couldn\'t stay still and just watch the battle. If something happened to Ziel and she didn\'t do anything about it, she would regret it for the rest of her life. Azalia would rather die with Ziel than being left alone by him.
"What are you going to do after you go there, Miss!? Didn\'t you see how strong the opponent was? I know you mean to help, but you\'re just a burden to him!" Aghares said a little harshly to make Azalia want to understand. But the reaction he received from her was quite the opposite.
"Then what should I do!? Should I be indifferent after seeing him fight for me and get hurt!?" Azalia replied angrily to Aghares.
Azalia realized that Ziel\'s appearance there was no coincidence. It was also impossible for Ziel to intentionally come to the Archaic Knight and leave Kalya and the girls for no reason. He wasn\'t that stupid as to risk his life for free. After all, Ziel had told Azalia that he couldn\'t tell when and where the guardian of the continent would appear. So there\'s no way that Ziel knew that the Archaic Knights would come to the Rubelia Kingdom.
Azalia felt that Ziel came to that place for her after knowing she was in danger. She didn\'t know how Ziel found out about her situation, and she didn\'t care because it wasn\'t something important to think about right now.
Ziel deliberately came to help despite knowing the enemy he was about to fight was powerful and dangerous. If that was true, Azalia felt pleased because Ziel worried about her. But on the other hand, Azalia would also feel guilty if something terrible happened to Ziel, and she could only watch without being able to do anything.
"That is..." Aghares didn\'t know how to reply to Azalia\'s words.
Aghares knew that Ziel\'s defeat would also be a disaster for his race. He was sure that once the Archaic Knights won, he would hunt them wherever they fled, even to the ends of the continent. But Aghares couldn\'t let Azalia put herself in danger to enter a battle far above her level.
Azalia\'s actions were useless and pointless as she couldn\'t do anything to help Ziel. The worst thing that could happen was Azalia sacrificing herself for Ziel and Aghares had to prevent that at all costs.
"Let go of me, Aghares!" Azalia shouted at Aghares in a commanding tone. She became even more worried and restless when the sword of the Archaic Knight injured Ziel. Azalia struggled to break free from Aghares\' grip after seeing the battle between Ziel and the Archaic Knight getting fiercer and Ziel getting more and more cornered by his enemy.
"I\'m sorry, but I can\'t do that. I can\'t let you act rashly by going there." Aghares gritted his teeth and refused Azalia\'s order. This was the first time he had dared to do that since he had served Azalia.
Aghares is Azael\'s loyal servant. But in the past, before Ziel came to the floating castle, Azael suddenly asked him to take care of Azalia and obey all her orders. Surprisingly, Aghares had forgotten Azael\'s reasoning, but he didn\'t think much of it. From then on, he always followed Azalia\'s orders like Azael.
"You…" Azalia was stunned and felt angry after hearing Aghares\' refusal. But before she could say anything to him, her body suddenly trembled from feeling something terrifying. Aghares also reacted similarly to her. The two looked at Ziel and saw that the Archaic Knight swung his sword and slashed Ziel in two.
"Ken!!!!!!" Azalia screamed hysterically and involuntarily released her power and threw Aghares away. But before flying towards Ziel, Aghares quickly returned and prevented her.
"Get out of my way, Aghares! Otherwise, don\'t blame me for being rude to you!" Azalia roared at Agares and pointed her sword at him.
"If that\'s what you want, I\'ll gladly accept that slash of yours, Miss. But before that, you have to ascertain what happened there." Aghares glanced at \'Ziel\', who the Archaic Knight had cut off.
"What do you mean…" Azalia was annoyed and wanted to question her words. But when she looked in the direction Aghares was pointing, Azalia was shocked that \'Ziel\' that had been cut off slowly faded and disappeared. Azalia realized that \'Ziel\' hit by the slash was a clone.
Azalia turned her eyes in a specific direction after feeling Ziel\'s presence. She saw that Ziel was still intact and not torn apart. Even so, Azalia\'s face turned pale when she saw the huge scar on his chest.
Ziel cast the \'Piment Clone\' skill right before being hit by the attack. After that, he teleported to avoid the slash and used his clone as a substitute to receive it.
But Ziel couldn\'t really dodge the attack. Even though the slash didn\'t kill him, it managed to carve a large scar on his chest. It was terrifying, considering that Ziel had been wearing the armor of the nine-headed imperial dragon with great defense.
"Ken..." Azalia calmed down a bit after seeing Ziel safe. She knew this wasn\'t his first time fighting the continent\'s guardians. Even so, Azalia still couldn\'t shake the anxiety in her heart because the opponent Ziel faced this time was more potent than the two he had defeated. She hoped that Ziel could win this battle and return safely.
"The attack nearly killed me. If I was late in swapping myself for a clone, I might be the one splitting up there. Your attack was very troublesome." Ziel\'s face darkened when he saw the scar on his chest. He could feel the horror of the Archaic Knight\'s sword. Even though the attack looked normal, it was actually quite terrifying.
The attack was true to its name, unavoidable, unblockable and sure to hit the target. Ziel sighed as he thought about that. He had to rack his brains to find a way to counter that omnipotent slash. It was troublesome, considering that the attack could cut through anything.
"Spectacular. You can even dodge the attack. I became even more excited to fight with you!" The Archaic Knight\'s fighting intent surged. He thought Ziel was a worthy opponent for him after seeing him dodge his attack. This was the first time he had met someone who had survived his slash. Of course, the last guardian of the continent was an exception as he was the strongest of them all and was a terrifying entity that even he was afraid of.
The path of his swordsman far exceeds his goal as a guardian of the continent. Therefore he wasn\'t too fixated on eliminating the irregulars. Because in the end, the irregulars will die if they are weaker than him and will stay alive if they can defeat him.
"Is that so? I also want to fight with you as a swordsman. Unfortunately, you\'ve hurt someone you shouldn\'t have touched." Ziel responded coldly. His anger towards the Archaic Knight for hurting Azalia still hadn\'t subsided.
"Ooh, is it because of that girl? Then, I did the right thing by injuring her. That way, you will fight me with all your might to kill me." The Archaic Knight replied calmly.
"I understand." Ziel answered curtly. As a swordsman, he only spoke with his sword.
Ziel and the Archaic Knight vanished simultaneously and reappeared with their swords clashing. But the two of them disappeared again and were seen fighting fiercely hundreds of meters from where they had clashed before. They slashed at each other without taking a step back. Before they knew it, more than hundreds of slashes clashed between them.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The shockwave from the impact of their clashing swords tore through the clouds in the sky. Ziel raised his concentration to the max when he fought the Archaic Knights. He had to be wary of his opponent\'s terrifying skill that could cut through anything.
[Lightning Rhythm]
The Archaic Knight\'s speed suddenly multiplied, and his slashes became even more numerous. If previously he could only swing his sword nine times in one breath, now he could do it fifteen.
Clank! Clank!
Not long after the wound on his chest healed, Ziel got another wound on his shoulder and arm. Even though it wasn\'t that severe, the number of scars on his body increased with time.
"I have to change this situation." Ziel frowned. If the number of wounds on his body increased, his regeneration ability would slow down and sooner or later, he would bleed out. While looking for a way to escape his current situation, Ziel\'s face suddenly changed after feeling the Archaic Knight compress his strength in his sword.
[Sword Storm]
But the skill that the Archaic Knight released this time differed from what Ziel had seen. Tens of thousands of aura blades appeared and circled Ziel in the center. Its rotation formed a gigantic tornado with winds that could cut through anything.
Ziel faced the attack calmly because he didn\'t feel any threat from the vast tornado. His eyes turned pitch black and then glowed red. Ziel compressed his mana and aura in his sword and swung it circularly in the opposite direction of the sword storm.
[Black Flame Tornado]
Ziel created a colossal whirlwind of black flames within the sword storm and expanded its size until the two clashed.
Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmm!
When the two tornadoes with different spins collided, they neutralized each other and disappeared. Even though some of the aura blades from the Archaic Knight\'s attacks remained, it wasn\'t a problem for Ziel.
Ziel dodged the remaining aura blades and shot toward the Archaic Knight. He decided to actively attack because he would be overwhelmed first if he continued to be pressed by his opponent. Ziel delivered consecutive slashes with his two swords when he arrived in front of the Archaic Knight. His attack was on par with the one his enemy had launched at him earlier.
"You used the power of the nine-headed imperial dragon well. Show me what else you can do with their power!" The Archaic Knight said excitedly and greeted Ziel\'s attack calmly.
Clank! Clank!
Even though they looked equal, the attacks from the Archaic Knights slowly pushed Ziel back. He had the same strength as the Archaic Knights, but their gap in swordsmanship made him lose in that clash.
Ziel originally wanted to see if he could clash head-on with an Archaic Knight after using the continent\'s guardian power, and he did. Unfortunately, he fought with weapons that were his opponent\'s forte. Of course, Ziel would lose to him in that area.
Ziel is slightly inferior in the number of slashes and the sharpness of his attacks compared to his opponent. In addition, the Archaic Knight\'s swords were heavier than Ziel\'s and caused him to be pushed back when they clashed.
"Ugh! I won\'t be able to fight him with just my swordsmanship." Ziel sighed heavily and quickly kept his distance from the Archaic Knight. But his face changed when he saw his enemy brandishing his sword.
[Invincible Blade]
The Archaic Knight finally used that terrifying slash again, and a colossal aura blade shot towards Ziel at a mediocre speed. Ziel quickly released his spirit circle and rotated it. Then the surrounding time stopped, but the Archaic Knight\'s attacks continued to shoot and were unaffected by the force.
Ziel knew he had failed to stop the slash and could only use other means to deal with it. He compressed his strength into his white sword and swung it vertically.
[Space banishment]
Ziel split the space in front of him and intended to swallow the aura blade that came at him. Unfortunately, his attempt failed again as the space rip formed in front of Ziel disappeared after coming into contact with the Archaic Knight\'s attack.
"This is my last resort. I hope this attack can stop the slash or even cut it off." Ziel said in a low voice, and a black ball of light appeared in front of him.
[Sphere of Annihilation]
Ziel used the power of the Sacred Demonel for the first time in battle. He brandished his sword and absorbed the black ball of light. Then a thick layer of black light appeared and enveloped the blade. After the power stabilized, Ziel slashed at the Archaic Knight\'s attack.
[Blade of Annihilation]