Chapter 486: The King Slayer

Lei En let out a breath.

He was like a boulder standing in the gale, unmoving, and that was all within his expectation.

For Lei En, the threat of a single‑target high‑ring spell was far greater than that of area spells; the Eight‑Ring Hurricane Technique was indeed formidable, a meat grinder against hordes of enemies, but unsuitable for duels. Even though each wind blade's power equaled that of a Four‑Ring Spell, after being offset by the resistance of the blood‑colored cloak, the damage felt like a mere itch, almost negligible.

Scanning the sky and the ground, the distant dragon‑born army and the wall guards became somewhat blurred.

Most people could not see clearly inside the hurricane technique.

Boom!

A massive tornado made of countless wind blades surged forward, spinning at high speed, lifting endless dust and stones, heading straight for Lei En's position.

Ma Ke Er himself vanished into the wind after casting.

If it were someone else, it would be hard to trace his whereabouts.

Lei En, however, spotted him at a glance, soaring with the wind, concealed within a massive field of wind blades, quietly approaching, while that tornado was merely meant to draw his attention.

Ma Erke's soul power indeed dropped a notch; the Eight‑Ring Spell's consumption was too high.

Lei En pretended not to see him, a wary expression on his face, opened a Dimensional Door and slipped inside.

Just as he emerged from the other side of the Dimensional Door, countless blade winds surged to slice his body, producing a fierce sound; not far away, a tornado followed like a shadow. Lei En ran, only to find his limbs tangled in the gale as if countless hands were dragging and pressing him, his form wobbling, balance hard to keep, and his speed plummeted by more than half.

Seeing the tornado bearing massive debris close, Lei En had to use a Flash to create distance.

Before he could steady himself in the wind after the Flash, a terrifying wind pressure descended upon him; Ma Erke raised his raging war hammer and struck down fiercely, bloodlust flashing in his eyes.

Lei En's face showed shock, though he had already anticipated it.

He raised his hand and pointed.

Space‑Time Shock struck Ma Erke at just the right moment; even though Ma Erke wasn't casting, he still felt a temporal disarray, the descending hammer halted involuntarily for an instant, the long‑charged hammer swing was broken, and the force on the hammer plummeted.

Lei En sidestepped the landing hammer with a misstep, swung his war hammer toward Ma Erke's head.

He used no technique, just unleashed a full‑force devastating critical hit.

Ma Erke's deflection aura, Wind Armor, and an amber crystal shield from a magical item were pierced in an instant; with a boom, the war hammer struck one side of his ear, crushing half his skull, yet it still failed to deliver a one‑shot headshot.

This hammer's damage was higher than before; Ma Erke was blasted away, his figure merging into the wind and disappearing.

Lei En's strike landed, yet he pretended he couldn't locate his opponent, instantly opened a Dimensional Door and slipped inside. Emerging from the door, his peripheral vision locked onto the distant Ma Erke; the shattered half of his skull turned transparent, as if made of a breeze, quickly repairing itself and reforming into flesh.

This was his second recovery relying on Unending Spring Breeze.

Ma Erke's soul power dropped another notch.

Lei En's eyes brightened; he finally spotted a weakness that wasn't a weakness: Unending Spring Breeze's consumption was extremely high, and these two recoveries reduced Ma Erke's soul power by roughly half!

Even though Ma Erke was a level‑19 legend with deep soul power, he still had to sustain the high‑multiplier boost of Infinite Frenzy, casting repeatedly, causing dual depletion of soul power and stamina, which could not be maintained long. Once Infinite Frenzy is activated it cannot be stopped; power climbs with time, stamina drain rises, and the only solution is to end the frenzy, lower the multiplier, and re‑enter the frenzy's termination.

The gap between the two Infinite Frenzies is his own opportunity!

Of course, Ma Erke would certainly guard his stamina and soul power carefully, not easily giving the opponent a chance.

Lei En silently calculated; his own soul‑power consumption was also considerable, but he had a reserve of 160 soul‑power units in his pool, and dozens of top‑grade magic elixirs in his dimensional‑space ring. By reducing direct clashes and lowering consumption, he would surely outlast Ma Erke!

The seemingly unusable delaying tactic was actually the best path to victory.

The chance might come only once; it must be a lethal strike!

Lei En turned his head toward the crowd whose view was blocked, and without hesitation pulled out two bottles of magic elixir and drank them. One was the "Mana Surge Elixir" for soul recovery, the other the "Ultra‑Effective Giant Demon Blood" for stamina restoration, both rare treasures he had spent a fortune on at Mo Du's auction house, finally put to use today.

The two bottles of magic elixir entered his system, restoring both soul power and stamina.

Ma Erke naturally also saw Lei En's action, a shadow of gloom flashing in his eyes.

Even the most brilliant alchemy masters are also casters; Kangjiatuo's alchemy was far below the Empire's, and even if he were a king, it would be hard to obtain precious magic elixirs, and ordinary potions offered little benefit.

When his head injury healed, Ma Erke immediately surged from the wind to strike.

As soon as he entered the range of "Spiritual Wind Leap", he instantly teleported before Lei En, the raging war hammer and tornado attacking from both sides, yet Lei En never met him head‑on; first a Flash retreat, then opening a Dimensional Door to create distance.

Many times Ma Erke tried to use "Wind Shear Technique" to interrupt Lei En's Dimensional Door, but he found Lei En always sensed his intent.

Either Flash to a point beyond the range of "Wind Shear Technique" before opening the door.

Or feign casting to fool "Wind Shear Technique", miss the interruption chance, then open the door.

No matter how Ma Erke concealed his thoughts, Lei En could see through them at a glance. He didn't know where his flaw lay, assuming it was because Lei En, as a specialist Wizard and a student of the Holy Soul Wizard, possessed casting ability far beyond his own and a deeper understanding of spells, thus he could never succeed.

Dimensional Door, Flash, Electric Flash Teleport.

Lei En alternated the three displacement spells, and with his speed enhanced by Wind‑Thunder Wings, he was not much slower than Ma Erke, easily evading direct confrontation.

Ma Erke had only one "Spiritual Wind Leap"; although its ring count was higher and the displacement farther, with the gale as cover, silent and unseen, he was always one step short of reaching Lei En.

Conversely, several times Lei En launched unexpected counterattacks.

Dragon roars, Space‑Time Shock, Light Burst Technique, Thunderclap Technique… a myriad of Elements kept emerging; Lei En combined them, and if Ma Erke slipped even slightly, he would be hit, then struck on the head by a hammer, consuming massive soul power to trigger Unending Spring Breeze and heal his wounds.

This made Ma Erke more cautious, unwilling to act recklessly.

The duration of the Eight‑Ring Hurricane Technique is long.

Both sides chased each other; the dragon‑born army and the wall guards could only vaguely see two figures battling amid the gale, explosions booming, the ground trembling as if two colossal beasts were ferociously slashing each other.

Unwittingly, a quarter of an hour passed.

Lei En emerged from a Dimensional Door, his body trembling slightly, the battle music drowned in the wind growing more intense, entering the fourth cycle.

The battle music loops roughly every five minutes, each cycle amplifying power by half.

After four cycles, Lei En's power doubled.

Crucially, the music's power boost is based on his existing strength, and other amplifications stack on top of that.

Level‑3 Blood Frenzy, Dragon Power Technique, and Borchi's Light of Power together amplified fourfold.

His own strength, after four cycles, reached a three‑fold effect; with four more amplifications, Lei En's power surged wildly to twelve times, the power Element finally breaking through to level eleven!

But like Infinite Frenzy, the soul‑power consumption also began to multiply.

Lei En watched his energy gauge drop one notch after another, losing nearly ten units in seconds, and immediately poured another bottle of soul‑restoring magic elixir, releasing the stored energy from his pool, pushing the falling energy back up and maintaining balance.

These actions were completed swiftly, and Lei En simultaneously observed Ma Erke.

At this moment, Ma Le'er's infinite berserk power amplification reached sevenfold, but it could not hit anyone and was of no use.

His soul force and stamina both dropped by more than half, and the consumption rate kept accelerating, draining away like a flood. At this pace, in less than three minutes he might not even be able to lift his own Furious Warhammer.

The scales of victory have already begun to tip!

Lei En glanced at the raging winds around him; the hurricane technique was waning and would cease soon.

"It's time."

The thought just formed, and Ma Erke again performed a Spiritual Wind Leap, slashing forward, while Lei En, surrounded by countless wind blades, turned and returned through the Portal, appearing at the opposite end.

When he emerged, Lei En seemed to unintentionally turn his back to Ma Erke, disappearing from the opponent's line of sight; the Thunderbolt Hammer in his hand vanished for an instant and then reappeared, as if nothing had happened.

Under the cover of the raging wind, the warhammer remained the same.

Ma Erke, whose mindset was somewhat impatient, did not notice the detail; he kept his fighting spirit high and relentlessly charged at Lei En.

This time, Lei En did not immediately flee through the Portal.

He shrugged his shoulders, willingly expending what now seemed an extremely precious five units of energy, and summoned five Mirror Image clones.

During the casting, Lei En swapped positions with one of the Mirror Images, confusing Ma Erke.

Six identical Lei En simultaneously cast, each opening a Portal and stepping through, appearing around Ma Erke and beginning to attack him.

Three Lei En flashed forward in a charge, while the other three Lei En released Space‑Time Shock.

Ma Erke was extremely vigilant, yet he did not feel a great threat; he had learned from a survivor of the Ice Wolf Knight Corps that Lei En mastered the Mirror Image technique, had done prior research, and knew that a Mirror Image's strength was only half that of the original. He wasn't even afraid of Lei En himself, let alone the Mirror Images, which could not cause much damage.

The first Lei En had already flashed to the front.

In his high‑speed charge, Ma Erke's feet never stopped, aiming to crush the opponent outright, when a Space‑Time Shock suddenly struck, halting his charge for an instant.

That momentary confusion seemed minor, yet it gave the Lei En before him an opening.

Boom!

Lei En completely ignored Ma Erke's Furious Warhammer, swinging his warhammer to smash at Ma Erke's head. Almost simultaneously, Ma Erke's warhammer struck Lei En, and his body dissolved into a wisp.

It was a Mirror Image.

Before the Mirror Image vanished, the warhammer's striking angle was lowered, smashing solidly into Ma Erke's chest, yet unleashing power several times stronger than before. The illusory warhammer seemed to weigh tens of thousands of pounds; Ma Erke's three layers of protection collapsed instantly, his chest emitted a cracking sound and caved in, and the hammer's force pierced through to the back, creating a huge hole.

"Impossible!"

Ma Erke's eyes widened in fury, frantically activating Endless Spring Breeze to heal his wounds, and instinctively tried to use Spiritual Wind Leap to dodge the second Lei En rushing at him.

However, just as he entered the wind leap, a Space‑Time Shock struck him down.

The second Lei En likewise ignored the defense, sacrificing himself; a hammer struck Ma Erke's left shoulder, the entire shoulder burst open, his flesh turned into a gentle breeze, desperately repairing the wound.

Then came the third Lei En, the fourth, the fifth…

Each Lei En that surged forward was a Mirror Image, like a suicide squad, using their lives as price to inflict damage on Ma Erke, giving him no respite. Every Mirror Image delivered a hammer blow to Ma Erke; the seemingly ordinary warhammer's power was beyond imagination.

Ma Erke's front chest, back, left shoulder, abdomen, and right leg were all severely wounded, leaving him barely human in shape.

He frantically triggered Endless Spring Breeze to heal, his soul force draining away like a flood.

At that moment, the infinite berserk power amplification also hit its limit, surging eightfold, but this was not what he wanted; instead it became his death talisman. A wave of exhaustion rose in his mind, the eightfold amplified stamina consumption was terrifying; with his severe injuries still unrecovered, his stamina was exhausted.

Ma Erke was forced to end his berserk state, the power amplification dropped to zero, and the Element fell to level eleven.

The final Lei En flashed to the front.

Ma Erke knew this was Lei En's true form; in his dire condition he could not fight head‑on, and his instinctive attempt to use Spiritual Wind Leap left him still in place, realizing the teleportation spell was still on cooldown and his soul force was depleted.

Lei En swung his warhammer down.

Ma Erke sensed an extremely terrifying danger, making his very soul tremble; if he could not evade this hammer, he would likely die.

He let out an angry roar, wielding his Furious Warhammer with his last strength toward the enemy, the two hammers, vastly different in size, colliding.

Clang!

With an earth‑shaking roar, Ma Erke's Furious Warhammer flew from his grasp, his arm shattering piece by piece, his eyes filled with disbelief and despair as he watched Lei En's warhammer swing back, striking his own head.

Bang!

Ma Erke's head exploded completely, as if a giant stone had crushed an egg.

(End of Chapter)