"So, what's the approach?" He asked her. Even though he was pretty confident in his abilities, what she said was right. There was no way he would even come close to matching her knowledge and experience.
"The first thing you need to learn is that you can ONLY have blades that you have customized. So you either have blades that are heavy or those that are light. There is no in-between. Any other blade that you make will not be of any help to you," she said. "For this strategy, you will need five blades. Just make them beforehand and go in."
He started creating them as she said. The only reason he was trusting her was that she wouldn't let him die. If he died, then she died with him. So she needed him to get out as much as he did.
"Three light blades first," she said.
After those were done, he was about to make the same heavy blades as before but she stopped him.
"Not both of them. First only make the first blade. You need to use a tenth of your aura capacity for this," she said.
"A tenth of all the aura I have?" He asked her.
"No. A tenth of everything you can normally store. So a little less than half the aura you have left."
He was surprised. "Isn't that a lot?" He asked her.
"That's the only way you will win. This is the last tile, so if you aren't prepared for this, then don't take the step. Go for something easier. This is your last chance to turn back."
Leo looked back. He had come a long way to the tenth step. To back down now would be wasting all of his effort and he wasn't planning on doing that. His eyes turned to the two chests right next to the ends of the last tile.
They were his motivation. If they were truly better treasures than everything else, then he would try for them. So what if he needed to risk his life? He only got to where he was by taking risks like those.
"No. I can't turn back. I'll go forward," he said while making the blade.
After squeezing the aura into a single blade, he waited for the next step.
"Now, go into the tile and wait for your opponent to appear. Based on that, I will tell you how much aura to use for your next blade," she said.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped onto the tile. The minute he did, a strong aura started to converge in front of him. The minute it did, he realized exactly how hard the last tile was going to be.
Previously, he was against a wolf on the level of a Late Stage 2nd Circle Aura Knight. But now he was against a Peak Stage one. Blood rose from the ground and quickly converged to form a figure.
It was a knight like the rune said. Unlike the guardians, the knight was normal-sized. It was still bigger than Leo, but not so big that he could pull off what he did to the guardians. The figure is completely formed, showing off its full power.
It was a 6-foot knight, with very light armor. However, the armor seemed full of aura and was definitely going to be a lot harder to crack than any of the guardians' ones. It had a sword in its hand but no wrist guard like before.
It was a two-handed sword, which was the one thing that made him relieved. Whether it was a one-handed or two-handed sword, he would not be able to take a hit. So the slower two-handed sword would be a better weapon to face.
"Half your aura," Nefrati said.
"What?" He asked confused.
"You need to use half the aura that you have left to create a heavy sword."
He quickly tried to create it but had to stop since the knight started attacking him. Unlike everyone he face before, the knight didn't charge at him. Instead, it pointed its hand at him and shot bullets made out of aura.
In a hurry, he put up a Shadow Dome while creating the blade.
"You didn't need to create a dome, but since you did, I will explain the plan to you," Nefrati said.
While listening to her, he created the fifth Obsidian Blade. Just after it was done, the barrier cracked.
"Got it?" She asked him as he dodged out of the way. He nodded while running along the edge of the tiles. Three of his swords flew toward the knight, ready to pester it.
"Don't let them get hit by the sword. If they do, they will immediately disperse," she warned him.
He shot the swords toward the knight, forcing it to stop throwing aura bullets at him. It took out his sword and slashed at the first sword that came its way.
It missed because of the speed of the sword. All three of them swerved around it and started circling it. The knight looked at the swords for a second before ignoring them and turning its attention back to Leo.
Now that it had its sword held in its hand, it started walking toward him.
"Well, that didn't work. I thought it would stay on the swords," he said to Nefrati.
"This is an almost-sentient being. It learned quickly that the swords aren't a threat to it. That was also the purpose of the first three blades you sent," she said.
"What?" Leo said. He only knew what to do, not why he was doing it.
"It will now be differentiating between what is worth defending and what isn't," she said. "Now send in the other two at it."
At this point, it was only two meters away from him. He hurriedly shot the other two blades at it.
"Aim for the center of the body with all five blades. Don't miss. Every sword has to be going from a different angle," she said.
He did as she said and the swords all rushed toward the knight. It noticed the attack and only focused on one of the swords. The sword with the most amount of aura.
It held its own sword and blocked the hit from that one, releasing a wave of aura when it did. The Shadow Blade knocked the sword back, forcing the knight to take a step back with it.
Meanwhile, every other blade hit the knight right in the middle of its chest. The three light ones were useless and shattered upon hitting the armor. However, the heavy blade pierced through, coming out from the other side of the body.
The knight tried to take a step forward, but it collapsed onto one knee before getting near Leo.
"So I'm guessing that the sword had just enough aura to pierce through the armor?" He asked Nefrati.
"Yes. Don't worry about the calculations. You will get there in a few decades," she said.
"Thanks."
"Don't think too much. For me, you getting strong is very important. Otherwise, I will be in trouble."
"Now that we're done, it's time for the chests," Leo said with excitement.
