"Argh!!"
The old man roared as he placed both of his hands in front of him. Dense cursed energy swirled around like a tornado.
[Sixth Form: Piercing Thunder Strike]!
With a single step, Souta appeared before the old man. He quickly thrust the vajra sword forward and the dense black lightning around it shot like a beam.
The [Sixth Form] of his Archetype wasn't a powerful offensive attack. It was an auxiliary skill that could add armor and energy penetration properties to his attack.
So he added his [Sixth Form] to his [Fifth Form] to easily penetrate the old man's cursed energy. He also combined it with his [Bestrou] and [Crimson Moon] to make it more fatal.
Boom!
The old man opened his eyes widely. The dense cursed energy in front of him was blown away. The next moment, several cuts appeared on his body, spurting blood all over the place.
"Ugh! N-Noo!!"
Then, the black lightning swallowed his body.
"Argh!!!"
Thud!
The old man fell to the ground. His body was full of wounds and blood kept pouring out of it.
Souta turned back to his normal form while looking at the old man. He could see that didn't have the energy left to fight.
Sigh...
For real, this will end. Even though the old man was a fake shackled realm, he still managed to defeat him. He was quite satisfied with his improvement in the past few weeks.
At the very least, he was sure that he could contend with a real shackled realm for a few rounds. He could remember the time when Clan Leader Rowan managed to severely injured him in just a single strike. If not for his parasite, he would have died against Clan Leader Rowan.
"I-I can't fall here... I still have to..."
The old man mumbled as he forced himself to stand. His whole body was twitching and blood kept pouring out nonstop.
"You will die if you continue," Souta said with a blank expression.
"No! I still have to..." The old man stared at Souta's eyes with strong determination.
"Oh, I see..."
Souta brandished his sword and stepped forward. He slowly raised his sword above his head and slashed it horizontally.
"Goodbye."
...
The battle in the colosseum was still ongoing. Eztein was fighting several people from the cult at the same time.
Swoosh!
He moved his body from the side and a halberd crashed on his previous position. Then, a string of flesh burst out from his stomach.
The flesh turned into a sharp blade cutting the person that threw the halberd at him.
Ugh!
Eztein felt pain behind him. He turned around and saw that the organizer attacked him.
His body flew away like a cannonball, turning into a stream of light, and crashing on the audience seats.
Boom!
"This guy is unbelievably strange. It feels like we aren't fighting a human."
The organizer commented before he threw a huge fireball at Eztein.
Boom!
Yes, this was his first time seeing someone with that strange ability. A human with that high level of regenerative power was close to none. Even if he chopped Eztein's limbs it would only grow instantly.
So if he wanted to kill this man, he had to do it swiftly without giving him a chance to regenerate.
Also, that strange ability was hard to predict. Eztein could control his flesh freely as if he was really not a human. That kind of trait was for monsters.
"This is too much trouble."
The organizer said weakly. He was already tired and exhausted from fighting Eztein yet he couldn't kill him at all. What's worse was that his subordinates were getting slain one by one.
Right now, there were only three of them left.
'I've already poisoned all the nobles so it should be easier but this man is stopping us! Athen's Champion! Just what the hell is this man!'
The organizer gritted his teeth in frustration.
Swoosh!
Eztein waved his hand and the smoke around his was blown away. He looked at the three remaining people.
"The cursed energy in the atmosphere became thin. Perhaps, do you know the reason why?"
He said as the wound on his back started to close. Even the curse that was contaminating his body had weakened considerably.
It only means one thing. His boss and Alice succeeded.
He should finish this too.
With that in his mind, Eztein charged forward. His body flew at a very high speed rushing in the organizer's direction.
Swoosh!
"Tch!"
The organizer just looked at Eztein with wide eyes. In fact, he also guessed it. The reason why the cursed energy had become thin. But he didn't want to accept it.
He didn't want to accept that his Lord suffered a defeat.
Boom!!
Eztein was pushed back several meters away. He looked ahead only to see a figure appear before him. He instinctively raised his hand.
Bang!
His hand blocked a kick from the unknown person but he was still blown away.
The unknown person once again appeared before Eztein. The person took out a sharp dagger and swung it at his face.
'Shit! Too strong...' Eztein said inwardly. He subconsciously closed his eyes as he felt that he was going to die.
From that little exchange, he immediately realized that the unknown person was a person at Shackled Realm. With his current condition, he didn't have the confidence to escape with his life.
Bang!
A loud sound echoed and Eztein didn't feel anything. He opened his eyes only to find a hand blocking the unknown person's dagger.
"I'm glad that I arrived here on time. Don't worry, you can leave this to me." The person that saved Eztein said.
"Who are you?" Eztein asked.
"Me? I'm Grein from Swift Wind Circle, Third Grain Wisdom, Third Set of the Pallas Division." The man introduced himself.
"Third Grain?" Eztein realized that this man was from Athen's Champion. They were from the same Set just different Grain. After all, the Third Grain Wisdom was for people that reached the Shackled Realm.
Grein smiled before he turned his attention to the unknown person before him. He slowly opened his mouth and said, "Red Matter... We've finally confirmed that the Red Matter Association is involved in this incident. After three years, you've finally shown yourself."
Red Matter was a terrorist group that killed countless people in the past. They also performed different crimes in different cities. Until now, they were laying low profile so the God's Legions couldn't find their base of operation.
"Tsk! Athen's Champion!"
The person from Red Matter clicked his tongue. He quickly turned around and run. It was not the time to fight a Shackled Realm Warrior from Athen's Champion.
"You think I'll let you leave!"
Grein frowned as a huge amount of mana burst out of his body. His body turned into a stream of light, following the unknown person's direction.
Swoosh!
Eztein breathed a sigh of relief after the two Shackled Realm experts were gone.
"Fuck! I would've died if not for that fellow warrior from Athen's Champion! But why are they here? It seems that there's something more to this mission that they didn't tell us."
...
On the other part of the dukedom, Alice could be seen standing beside a beautiful woman with red hair.
"I didn't think that you would come to this city," Alice said.
"Me too. The Grain Leader dispatched me and the other two warriors here." The beautiful woman was none other than Eilish. She looked around and added, "Still, for the three of you to make a mess of this city..."
"The circumstances forced us. Our mission is to investigate the culprit behind the mysterious incident but things heated badly and this happened." Alice replied as she shrugged her shoulders.
"But where's Souta? I could feel best feram in the atmosphere but I couldn't locate his exact position." Eilish asked.
"If I'm not wrong he is fighting the boss of these guys," Alice said while looking at the dead bodies of the people wearing dark green cloaks.
"Hmm..." Eilish hummed.
...
Inside the Tomb of the Creep Lord...
Souta was sitting on the unconscious body of the old man. He glanced at the interface in his vision and saw a series of messages pop up.
'Capturing this guy is harder than killing him so my rewards should be high...'
He said inwardly.
*Ding!*
[Quest Completed!]
[Congratulations on completing Curse Quest!]
[You've received 2 random cards!]
'Only 2 random cards? Well, this is not a chain quest that I would receive a lot of cards so this is enough.'
It's already great that he triggered a quest like this. He didn't expect it but in the end, it works well for him.
'Roll the 2 random cards.'
*Ding!*
[You've gained 1 level-up card and 1 skill level-up card!]
'Oh, another level-up card. So I have a total of 6 level-up cards in my possession and I'm currently level 53. If I use these cards then I will reach level 59. I just need one more level to achieve level 60.'
Souta stood up and patted his clothes.
"Okay, it's time to settle everything on the surface."
