Immortal Creed

Ralph stared blankly at the longsword piercing his body.

He couldn't comprehend how Lucrezia had evaded his senses and appeared before him in an instant. Had she already mastered spatial abilities?

Ralph looked at Lucrezia, bewildered.

"You're too slow."

Lucrezia's tone was flat, as if she had done something very ordinary.

With that, she pulled the longsword from Ralph's body, then swept it horizontally, but the sword wasn't aimed at Ralph before her, but at the rapidly approaching blue sword ki.

"Clang!"

The sword ki and sword blade clashed, and Lucrezia was knocked back by the powerful force of the sword ki.

After repelling Lucrezia, the sword ki didn't dissipate directly but transformed into a stream of water, surging towards Ralph's pierced chest, staunching the gushing blood from the wound.

"Steady your mind, don't be deceived again."

Alfred's voice, like a clap of thunder, echoed in Ralph's mind, instantly rousing his somewhat dazed spirit.

Immediately, Ralph cast healing magic on himself and simultaneously took out a Healing Potion and drank it, quickly treating his damaged heart.

It was then that he realized that during his observation of Lucrezia just now, he had inadvertently fallen into her trap, his senses muddled by her dream-like magic.

No wonder, in such a dangerous battlefield, he was recalling his past friendship with Lucrezia.

"Damn it!"

Ralph's expression turned extremely grim; even with his years of rational study of magic, facing the situation where he almost died inexplicably, he couldn't suppress the rage in his heart.

This rage was not only directed at Lucrezia but also at himself; he felt disgusted and angry at his state of mind after being deceived just now.

Lucrezia ignored Ralph's furious gaze and turned to look at the battlefield where Liens and his companions were.

She saw that although Liens and Balder had been badly beaten in a short time, bleeding profusely and with multiple cracks in their sturdy armor,

at least they could still hold on, and their aura hadn't diminished much.

So Lucrezia temporarily relaxed, focusing on dealing with her former classmate before her.

"Earth Pulse" unfolded.

The earth trembled, and countless rocks, like the rage in Ralph's heart, rose up, turning into sharp spikes that shot towards Lucrezia.

At the same time, gigantic hands made of rock followed one after another, grabbing at Lucrezia, seemingly intending to crush her delicate body.

"Paradise of Dreams."

Lucrezia flew into the air to temporarily avoid the attack, then unleashed her Grand Magic, and without waiting for the "Paradise of Dreams" ritual to complete, she began to counterattack.

Lucrezia, flying in the air, split into countless figures; these figures, unlike Alfred's water elemental clones, were identical to Lucrezia in appearance.

These Lucrezias, almost filling the sky, had magic circles appearing in their hands, and then, countless elemental spells descended from the sky like Judgment Day.

Fireballs, ice shards, Wind Blades, lightning strikes... the light of countless spells dyed the sky in brilliant colors, their radiance more dazzling than the sun.

"Fake."

Ralph looked up, his expression serious, watching this astonishing scene; he firmly told himself that it was fake, just an illusion, because Lucrezia's magic power couldn't possibly achieve that level.

If she truly possessed such strength, the person Lucrezia should be fighting wouldn't be him, but the Kingdom Sword Saint Alfred.

Yet, he couldn't discern where these spells, and the many Lucrezias casting them, were fake; they felt just like the real thing.

There was no time for much thought; facing the countless spells covering the sky, Ralph could only treat them all the same, as the ground beneath him rose, forming a giant palm that swept across the myriad elemental spells.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Countless spells exploded on the giant rock palm, and just as he had thought, most of the spells were merely superficial, without any power.

However, what made him frown was that the few effective spells, though far fewer than the superficial majority, were still much more numerous than the spells a Great Mage would instantly cast under normal circumstances.

Ralph again manipulated magic to form another giant rock to replace the blasted giant palm, to withstand the bombardment of spells from the sky.

He knew this was a characteristic of Lucrezia's magic, but knowing was one thing; he couldn't see through the real and the fake, couldn't find a way to counter it, and could only meet force with force.

As Ralph tacitly acknowledged it, Lucrezia's magic grew stronger; she snapped her fingers, and then, the sky-filling spells transformed into golden holy swords, pouring down like a rainstorm.

The holy swords emanating golden light were clearly more destructive than the lower-tier spells before; under this saturated bombardment, Ralph found it increasingly difficult to mount an effective counterattack.

He could only continuously gather giant rocks to resist the attacks from above, or use "Earthwalk" to traverse the earth veins to avoid attacks.

Of course, he wasn't always on the defensive; sometimes, he would also try to break Lucrezia's illusions and find her true body.

For a time, this magic confrontation continued with Lucrezia holding a clear advantage.

Until a thunderous roar interrupted their magical confrontation.

... ...

Rewind time a bit.

Robert, after dealing with the troublesome clones, rushed over to assist Liens and his companion; with his addition, Liens and Balder felt some relief.

But even with Robert joining, the three couldn't inflict any significant damage on Alfred; they could only hold him back through desperate attacks.

In fact, if Liens hadn't been able to predict Alfred's movements through killing intent, they might not have been able to stop him at all.

And as the battle progressed, Liens also noticed something unusual.

Alfred seemed very familiar with Balder and his companions' fighting techniques; previously, because Balder's sword skills were of the overwhelming, straightforward type, it wasn't very noticeable.

But after Robert, whose sword skills focused on speed and complex routines, joined, this sense of strangeness became even more apparent.

Alfred could always easily block and evade their attacks, and his strikes always seemed to hit Balder and his companions' weak points.

Initially, Liens thought Alfred possessed a precognitive ability similar to his own.

Later, he found this not to be the case; Alfred, instead, felt very much like his "experience-based" fighting style achieved through dungeons.

That is, by fighting the opponent repeatedly, becoming familiar with all their routines, and finally achieving an easy victory and killing them.

"Sim" was also born based on this point, with the purpose of simplifying this process.

Therefore, he speculated that Alfred might possess an ability similar to "Sim."

Liens did not inform Balder and his companions of this discovery.

Firstly, abruptly transmitting a message might distract Balder and his companions, and facing a powerful Kingdom Sword Saint, such a momentary distraction could cost them their lives.

Secondly, this discovery didn't solve the problem; even if he didn't say anything, Balder and his companions should have already realized it, as they were all strong experts and couldn't possibly fail to notice.

"Is this the decisive move you prepared?"

Alfred looked up at the sky, his eyes showing a hint of seriousness.