MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

Chapter 561: The Omenborn (II)

Alex pulled out his blade, his figure turning into a dark blur and appearing before the recovering giant, delivering nine masterful strokes, each aimed to cripple or kill.

Yet each one was blocked at a speed faster than the sword strikes came, while at the same time, Zarathrax swung his blade in a diagonal arc, only for the massive great sword to cut through a mirage.

Alex appeared behind him, delivering four quick sword thrusts, but Zarathrax twisted his waist full one-eighty degrees as if his muscles and bones were made of liquid, not only blocking all four thrusts with his shield but also swinging his sword that was now a dark crimson blur of energy.

Alex did not back away this time, meeting the mighty blow with a slash of his own, the wave of crimson meeting the veil of darkness. Both energies clashed with a thundering roar, not giving way for even the metal of the two blades to touch.

The two energies gushed forth, trying to erase the other, their struggle illuminating opposite ends of the room in their colors, but the one to emerge victorious was the darkness.

Alex's sword Misery met the crimson great sword with a resounding clash, pushing it out of the way, and even though Zarathrax tried to move back using his serpentine flexibility, the tip of the sword still dug into his breastplate, carving through the armor and flesh alike.

Zarathrax retaliated by driving his shield into Alex's body and face, but the first blood was drawn, and Alex had already moved away.

Zarathrax corrected his posture as he blocked a slash and defended against another, his form turning into a crimson blur clashing against a dark shadow that appeared and disappeared, delivering strikes from each angle.

The chamber echoed with thundering clashes as the two weapons met in the struggle for supremacy, their resulting forces so intense that the ground, hardened by decades of destructive erosion and capable of withstanding full-powered Sixth Rank attacks, was torn open.

Zarathrax did not resort to using any skills even when he was being outmatched in all areas, from strength and speed to elemental might.

After mere minutes, Zarathrax stood drenched in his own blood, his massive frame covered in deep gashes, his wounds not closing because of the deterioration of his flesh, while Alex stood unfazed, not a single scratch on his body, showing how one-sided the battle had been to this point.

"So now, do you wish to accept my offer, or do you want to continue?" Alex asked, and as if giving him an answer, the silent giant began to transform.

The deep gashes on his body began to close, his skin knitting together without a scar. His form began to grow, his armor falling away, his clothes torn to shreds.

His form grew to a towering height, his legs fusing together like flowing wax, becoming from the waist down a monstrous serpent, his skin giving way to layers and layers of dark crimson scales.

Zarathrax met Alex's assault with a flurry of his own strikes, but many of the slashes slipped through his defenses, leaving him bloodied and injured, yet that didn't deter him, and if anything, it seemed to fuel his rage.

If Alex wanted, he could end the battle at any time, but since he could not collect the shard from a dead man, he needed Zarathrax to stay alive, and that was the only reason he was holding back.

The two combatants moved with blinding speed, the chamber echoing with the sounds of their clash, the clang of metal, and the roar of elemental energy filling the air.

In a sudden move, Zarathrax snapped open his jaw and unleashed a concentrated beam of destructive energy that even erased the fabric of space.

Alex narrowly avoided the beam, but it was all a distraction as the real attack came in the form of the ground, as a pillar of destructive energy surged forth, engulfing him before he could move away, forcing him to use Nihility purge, creating a barrier that absorbed and nullified the most of force.

The destructive energy's output was too great for Alex to move out without getting injured, so he began to prepare the nihility star to deal with the wild energy, knowing it would not stop any time soon.

In the brief window created by Alex being caught in place, Zarathrax took advantage of the opportunity and began to prepare for his trump card.

A ghostly white mist began to seep out of his scales and began to gather at a single location, his physique visibly shirking by the moment, his eyes going dull, his scales cracking as if his very life was being sapped away.

The mist coalesced into a small needle with a width of barely more than a hair and a few inches of length, and without a moment delay, it was launched into the piller of crimson destruction.

Alex, who was ready to unleash the nihility star to get away, did not even see the needle coming at him because of the disturbance in space, only seeing it when it was already too late.

Alex released the nihility star, expecting it to erase all of the energies, but seeing the needle zooming through the darkness and appearing unfazed by it, he raised his sword to block it and did so successfully.

But the moment the needle made contact with the dark blade, it exploded into a bust of ghostly white mist, and instantly, Alex felt a tinge of pain all over his arms, face, and abdomen and every place the mist made contact.

It was as if he was being stabbed by thousands upon thousands of needles, sensing the mist digging into his flesh at an extreme speed, and even when he tried expelling it by force, it did nothing.

Alex felt panic grip his heart as he realized his cells were dying at an uncanny speed, and it would not be long before he dropped dead if he did not do something to stop the poison invading his body.