Chapter 440: An Instinctive Warning!
Boom—!
Another deafening explosion shook the heavens!
Monstrous strength against monstrous strength!
Luke possessed terrifying physical abilities, while Stella's body had undergone a qualitative transformation after the evolution of her power.
Luke enhanced himself with both mana and Prana.
Stella relied on her unparalleled, overwhelming mana.
And this clash ended completely even!
A violent shockwave swept in every direction.
The defensive barrier maintained by the professional Mage-Knights trembled violently, looking as though it might shatter from the aftermath at any moment.
Feeling Stella's equally terrifying strength, Luke was both surprised and impressed.
Still, if she wanted to stop him, this level was not quite enough.
While their swords remained locked, Luke pulled Ser-Veresta free from the ground with his left hand.
The blade transformed into a streak of white light and attacked Stella from the opposite side!
Dual-wielding and single-sword styles each had their own advantages.
But Stella now needed both hands on Laevateinn merely to match the strength Luke produced with one hand.
The single-sword style's advantage in raw power had disappeared.
With two swords capable of attacking from different directions simultaneously, Luke held an absolute advantage!
Ser-Veresta came crashing in unstoppably, while Laevateinn remained pinned by Starfall Sword.
Had Stella suddenly fallen into a hopeless situation?
Of course not!
Boom—!
Towering flames erupted from Stella's entire body!
The enormous surge of mana and extreme heat momentarily stalled Luke's attack.
Using the recoil generated by that explosive mana release, Stella immediately opened the distance again.
But now that Luke had already entered close range, how could he possibly let her escape so easily?
Light flowed across Starfall Sword.
Luke effortlessly severed the residual mana and flames before transforming into a streak of starlight and closing in once again.
He gave Stella no chance whatsoever to create distance!
What followed was a furious exchange of blades!
Clang—!
Boom—!
Clang, clang, clang, clang—!
Boom, boom, boom, boom—!
The battle moved at an astonishing pace.
Luke and Stella resembled streaks of blue and red light weaving endlessly throughout the battlefield.
An intense battle!
That was certainly what the audience saw.
Luke, however, gradually frowned.
As their exchanges continued, he helplessly realized that Stella had become ridiculously hard to break through.
And this was not simply a matter of having high defense.
Ordinary defenses could never stop Starfall Sword's Severing ability.
Even Edelweiss had once relied on a causal power of superior quality to neutralize and cancel Severing.
Normal defensive methods simply could not withstand it.
Stella, however, was different.
She was genuinely blocking Severing through the most straightforward defensive means imaginable.
Laevateinn was currently wrapped in three layers of power.
One layer of mana.
One layer of flame.
And one extremely faint layer of conceptual power.
The terrifying strength of Stella's defense came from its incomparable quantity.
Although only a single layer of mana coated the blade, the amount contained within it was dozens of times greater than what another Blazer could produce.
Cutting through that layer was practically equivalent to severing the mana armor of dozens of Blazers at once.
Of course, if that were all, Luke would still have little difficulty cutting through Laevateinn.
But beyond the mana layer, Stella also wrapped the sword in flames.
Not only her blade—her entire body was surrounded by a layer of blazing, high-temperature armor.
Noble Art: Empress Dress!
A powerful technique combining offense and defense!
Of course, if that were all, Luke would still have little difficulty cutting through Laevateinn.
What truly troubled him was the extremely thin layer of conceptual power.
After breaking through two absurdly enormous defenses fueled by seemingly limitless energy, maintaining enough Severing power to penetrate the conceptual layer would cost considerable mana.
Most irritatingly, these three nearly invincible defensive layers were merely Stella's standard combat state.
She had not learned about Luke's Severing and specifically prepared a countermeasure.
She had wrapped Laevateinn in those powers simply to increase the strength of her sword attacks.
Of course, if that were all, Luke would still have little difficulty cutting through Laevateinn.
That was right.
Stella's defenses were absurd, but if Luke truly wanted to break through them, he still could.
He only needed to draw upon the reserve mana stored within Sword Sheath of Tranquility.
Breaking through would then be simple.
The real reason he had not done so was the warning coming from deep within his instincts!
Slash—!
Sword light flashed.
Blood scattered!
Even though Stella repeatedly unleashed massive amounts of mana to force Luke backward during their close-quarters battle, the difference between them remained significant.
Luke's overwhelming swordsmanship gradually became apparent through their endless exchanges.
Slash—!
With another sound of steel cutting flesh, another wound appeared on Stella's body.
The spectators might not notice amid the frantic battle.
But if the two stopped now, they would easily see numerous wounds scattered across Stella.
Counting them carefully, there were already more than ten!
That was the result of only a brief period of close-range combat.
Without question—
Stella was being suppressed!
Strength, speed, experience, technique—
Luke overwhelmed her in every aspect, turning the battle increasingly one-sided.
He could gradually break through Stella's defenses, while she could not even find a proper opportunity to counterattack.
If this continued, her injuries would keep accumulating.
Before long, the match would inevitably end in Luke's victory.
However!
Stella's opponent was Luke.
And now that he had already broken through her defenses, the very fact that the match had not ended was itself extremely strange.
Luke possessed countless sword techniques capable of delivering a lethal blow at extreme speed.
Under normal circumstances, a pure close-range sword fight like this should have ended long ago.
Yet—
Slash—!
Another wound appeared on Stella.
At the same time, Luke's brow tightened almost imperceptibly.
'Something isn't right…'
With that previous strike, Luke could easily have increased the power behind his technique.
He could have inflicted a far more severe wound—perhaps even a serious injury.
Not only that, he had also possessed an opportunity to activate Severing and directly destroy Laevateinn.
Yet the instant he considered doing so, a bone-chilling sensation rising from deep within his heart stopped him.
Luke recognized that feeling.
It was the battle instinct he had forged as an Adventurer through countless life-and-death battles in the Dungeon!
A warning of death!
That was right.
Luke's sixth sense was telling him that if he followed through, he would encounter genuine danger!
And this was not the first time.
Across more than a dozen wounds, every single time Luke tried to press the advantage and expand the damage, that same warning surfaced.
It was as though some monstrous creature was waiting with its jaws wide open—
Waiting for Luke to leap straight inside.
…
…
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