Chapter 455: Sky and Self-Detonation

The released state of the Dragon-Slaying Great Sword is a bit too powerful.

This slash struck Virgil's thick shoulder; the grotesque biological saw teeth, as if sensing an enemy, began spinning wildly, far faster than when idle.

Sssssssss—

Tiny fragments torn and dragged by the interlocking saw teeth sprayed furiously onto the ground like they had nothing to lose.

This formed a violent geyser of flesh and blood.

Luo De inevitably got splattered all over his pants.

Luckily, he adjusted the grip angle of the great sword, or the blood geyser would've shot straight up into the sky.

This thing carries plague blood and contagion—if a strong wind blew, it would coat the onlookers' faces, and that'd be no fun.

Virgil's screams didn't last long.

As the great sword rapidly sliced from his left shoulder down to his abdomen, the biological saw teeth visibly slowed.

He seized the opportunity, face twisted with malice, and punched Luo De right in the face while he was still staring at the sword.

Luo De was sent flying backward again.

This time, he crashed into a structure resembling a watchtower; chunks of rubble rained down on him with a rumbling crash.

Splash—

Then he casually brushed off the debris and stood back up.

"What's going on? Already done in under a minute?"

He glared at the great sword.

【Insufficient energy. Continue charging.】

"Damn cursed thing, hah—pfft!"

He cursed under his breath, but he was actually quite satisfied with its power.

When his conventional methods failed to break Virgil's eighth-rank mid-stage defense, the Dragon-Slaying Sword merely brushed against him and sheared off a massive chunk of flesh and bone.

Add the 【Dragon-Slaying】 trait, and Luo De couldn't even imagine the bloody spectacle it would unleash against a dragon.

The need to recharge was a nuisance.

But the advantage was that charging materials were endlessly available—he could produce them himself.

"Now that I've tested its performance, I'm done playing with you."

Luo De tossed aside the great sword, stomped on it, then pulled out the Sword of Devotion from his spell satchel and swiftly activated the Slime's 【Black Gold Coating】.

In his hand appeared a magnificent cross-sword, primarily black-obsidian with golden trim and intricate patterns etched along the blade.

【Black Gold Coating】 normally boosts weapon sharpness to 80 and enhances skill potency by +2.

The Sword of Devotion already had a sharpness of 69 due to 【Advanced Sharpness】; now with +2, each enhancement point adding roughly 10%, its current sharpness stands at 83.

Quite impressive.

Poor girl, back to work again.

He turned his gaze back to Virgil.

His left shoulder now hung limp against his side, a gaping wound where shredded flesh had been torn away, making his upper body appear half its former size.

Yet the power within his body still surged—this very gap sprouted sharp teeth, forming a new abyssal maw.

Several Scattered Tower operatives and confused militiamen who had just approached were instantly snatched by the maw's long tongue, yanked back into its jaws, and crunched loudly.

This instantly terrified the others, who began fleeing in all directions.

"Hard to kill, isn't he?"

Luo De slowly rose into the air, raising the Black Gold Cross-Sword high.

Spiritual particles rapidly gathered along the blade, elongating and widening into a colossal energy sword five meters long.

【Giant Slash】.

Then 【The Blessing of the Skytree】.

【The Blessing of the Skytree: Grow, then grow larger—this is the Skytree's sole purpose in existence. She projects this onto those who receive her blessing. This effect applies to flesh, spirit, and objects.】

The pillar of 【Giant Slash】 erupted violently, piercing straight through the clouds!

All onlookers froze in shock.

The colossal pillar of light seemed to outshine even the sun.

Violent spiritual energy spun into a faint spiritual tornado centered on him.

The pressure of spirit crushed the surrounding environment.

Even the ground trembled violently.

"Compared to before, I'm far more at ease after reaching seventh rank."

At least his spirit won't be drained instantly.

This is thanks largely to 【Water Spirit】—this passive ability boosted Luo De's spirit capacity by 245% upon ascending to seventh rank, and another 80% at seventh-rank mid-stage.

Enough for him to effortlessly activate this powerful buff.

But the half-mad Virgil paid no attention to the sky-piercing energy sword—he roared ferociously and charged straight at him.

"Ex-calibur, haha—"

BOOM!!!!!!

Split in two.

Everything the pillar passed through.

Whether clouds, flesh, plague blood, earth, walls, or water.

All were cut, sliced, and shredded by the immense spiritual sharpness until reduced to molecular fragments.

The dust kicked up instantly obscured everyone's vision.

"Legendary spell?!"

The militia commander watching from afar nearly burst his eyes, staring at the magically reinforced wall vaporized, the Delnibier River cleaved cleanly in two by a single slash.

He had once seen the legendary mage in action.

As an attack-specialized individual, only the legendary mages of the Aetheron Kingdom could cast spells of this power!

Could it be… someone from Aetheron?!

The sky.

The light faded.

Luo De stood with his back to the massive wound carved into the ground and the city wall, his old black cloak flapping loudly.

His disguise field rendered his face a blur to everyone's eyes.

Suddenly—

Luo De, overcome with inspiration, dramatically spread his arms wide, gazing down upon the crowd with a self-important, theatrical pose.

"I am Gorgon.

Neither servant of the gods nor subject of kings—I am an entity beyond the rules.

Today, we reveal lies and challenge hypocrisy in the guise of light. We seek not conquest, but enlightenment—to awaken the souls lost in blind obedience and decay.

We are… 【The Order of the Light Knights】."

Among the crowd, many looked confused.

But more still sneered in disdain and disbelief, convinced Luo De was merely a flashy, power-hungry clown.

Luo De didn't care.

Having finished his performance, he was about to slip away when his sharp eyes caught Bogore Torres sneaking backward, looking guilty.

He raised an eyebrow.

Raised his hand—purple gravitational energy rippled.

【Gravity Wave】 pulled, yanking the corpulent puppet lord through the air as if by invisible chains.

"Lord Bogore!"

"Let him go!"

Militia members drew their swords in panic, glaring at Luo De.

But Luo De hadn't even spoken yet.

The puppet lord, terrified out of his wits, blurted out without thinking: "It's not me! It's the Scattered Tower! They disguised themselves as private troops, kidnapped and forced me! They conspired with Virgil to use infernal magic, faked the illusion that Wenna Pweil colluded with lizardfolk to kill her father—all to seize full control of Axe Beach!"

The militia froze.

They glanced at the private troops beside them—many of whom now looked stunned and guilty—and grew wary.

Luo De himself was momentarily stunned.

I hadn't even started questioning him yet.

But upon closer inspection, he noticed a glint of cunning in Bogore Torres's small eyes.

He realized the man had planned this all along.

(End of Chapter)