Dimensional Descent

Leonel took a deep breath, causing the surrounding air to rush toward him again. All around him, the strewn corpses of armored knights lay. Though they didn't leak any of their own blood, the cracks and joints of their armor leaked out plumes of Force. Unfortunately, Leonel couldn't absorb this like he could the Beast Crystals, he had already tried.

Up ahead, there was just one knight that remained. His spear was so tall and mighty that it was at least 50% taller than him, who already stood over two meters tall to begin with. On top of that, its blade was of an exaggerated size and shape, taking up an entire third of its body. At first glance, it looked far more like a lance than a spear. The difference was that rather than having a cone shape, it had four blades perfectly perpendicular to one another, almost looking like the extended head of a mace.

The knight rose from his throne as Leonel approached, plumes of Force jetting out from the joints in its sapphire blue armor.

Leonel exhaled one more breath and he had already recovered to 100%, his body feeling loose and limber. He didn't know what reward lay at the end of this castle, but clearing it had taken as much time as it had for him to gather up 10 territories to begin with on top of clearing the more elite beasts. He hoped that whatever he got in return would be good.

All thoughts were thrown to the back of his mind as his gaze became frighteningly cold. With a step, he moved just as the blue knight moved, however his brows couldn't help but jump the instant the latter did.

The blue knight was fast. Extraordinarily fast. Although Leonel had moved first, he had actually attacked a step late. While he had expected some difficulty in the final hurdle, Leonel had thought that the greater part of the challenge was already behind him only because of the sheer number of enemies.

It seemed like he had been wrong.

Leonel realized that it was too late to continue attacking so his stance shifted and his wrists flicked upward, nicking the underside of the blue knight's enormous mace-like lance spear.

Ducking with a bend of his knees, Leonel slid under the violently piercing blade, his feet gliding along the marbled floors of the throne room.

Forceful.

the air, forming its own lance-like construct as his Absolute Spear Domain

CLANG! BAN!

stumbled just a single step backward, but it had already raised its spear upward, swinging it down as though it was

his feet, gliding back to dodge another strike. Inwardly, though, he was confused. Logically, his spear should have done much more

the bronze grade after fusing ten territories. Secondly, he had used Forceful, the strongest strike he could utilize in such close quarters and with such short notice. And yet, he had only left a

these fractures slowly healed, likely because this tribulation wasn't cruel enough to leave a participant spear-less in the case

for long enough. Attacking the joints wouldn't help. Only by causing enough damage to the armor itself

stamped his foot down hard, unleashing

he launched himself forward. Backtracking wouldn't help him, the only

speed, but Leonel had already realized that its agility was lacking and things were only made worse

blue knight, his tactics changing as his eyes glazed over. His spear left countless afterimages in the air, delicate brushes of gold painting the throne room in a nobility beyond anything it had experienced

'Faster... Faster...

white furs that coated Leonel's body fluttered, dancing into the coarse wings as his body only seemed to

change

with accelerated strikes, giving the

BANG! BANG! BANG!

'Not fast enough..."

they lessened again. Eventually, Leonel moved so fast and skillfully that the layered spear strikes echoed