Chapter 36: Wallbreaker

The axe collided with the heavy longsword in another brilliant shower of sparks.

The heavily armored figure took a step back. The weight of the armor pressed deep into the ground with every retreating footfall.

This was the first time that Oka had stepped back in this fight, and it wouldn't be the last.

The axe was knocked aside; then, Wang Yu, drenched in blood, rushed forward. Oka's eyes narrowed beneath his thick visor. He looked grave, but his eyes still glimmered with confidence at their core.

Wang Yu's explosive power was short-lived.

This Bloodsurge technique was something that Avia had helped him modify. It was a technique driven by runic spellcasting rather than his standard distortion of reality.

As a result, it drained only a limited quantity of void energy over time. Wang Yu's natural regeneration could just barely keep up—though a technique that pushed the body to the limit was inherently unsustainable.

Blood continued to flow from his wounds as his internal organs were pushed to the limit. Immense strain was placed on Wang Yu's stamina and vitality, but though the cost was great, so was the power he gained.

The rapid rate at which his heart pumped brought increased blood flow throughout his body.

His mind felt clearer than ever before. The raindrops all around him seemed to have slowed down.

All his muscles began to pulse, strengthened to their limits by the infusion of void energy. For the moment, every part of Wang Yu's body was operating at maximum functionality.

His resolute will wouldn't allow the pain and pressure that accompanied this sudden surge in power to bother him.

He quickly estimated that he had a maximum of three minutes to finish this battle. If he didn't, his body would surely give out.

In that case, he didn't have much time.

He dug his feet into the ground. Under the influence of wizardry, his peculiar fighting aura—which he could generate from every part of his body—began to boil.

An overwhelming sensation filled his body, one that made him feel bloated and uncomfortable.

In that case, he would vent that energy. A shockwave surged outward from his feet in a pseudo-manifestation of aura.

A small explosion sounded under his feet, a minor blast that nevertheless gave him considerable momentum.

His body became a blur. He left a trail of red in the darkness as the blood from his wounds turned to mist from the speed at which he moved.

Oka watched intently as Wang Yu suddenly sped up. The darkness continued to hinder him, but as a seasoned knight, Oka's mind and body was able to predict Wang Yu's trajectory.

His speed had more than doubled—Wang Yu was at least 2.5 times faster than he had been before. It was fast, but not quite fast enough.

A head-on charge that sacrificed maneuverability for speed would be simple to block.

Using advanced military swordsmanship, Oka assumed an odd stance, one that looked almost as if he were propping his sword up on the ground.

He narrowed his eyes. This was a sword technique specifically for heavily armored knights which sacrificed defense for attack.

He focused intently. Once his opponent entered his attack range, he would attack at the cost of being attacked himself.

He would take the enemy head-on with a thrust and rely on his durable armor to absorb his enemy's blow. He might get hurt, but his enemy would surely perish.

Oka and Wang Yu weren't too far apart, and the latter closed in within moments. The muscles in Oka's hands tightened. He was ready to strike, and his armor provided all the confidence he would need. Though he might end up injured, Wang Yu would surely die.

Yet, just before he reached Oka's range, Wang Yu stomped on the ground and shot up into the air with incredible strength. He raised his sword high.

A leaping strike? Ridiculous. While such an attack made full use of Wang Yu's momentum and would certainly pack a punch, the downside was that he wouldn't be able to alter his direction in mid-air.

No sane enemy would use this move in a close match—it seemed like Wang Yu's "rampage" had drained his intelligence.

Oka remained in his defensive stance, his sword poised for a counterattack.

He locked eyes with Wang Yu, ready to land a precise, lethal strike while Wang Yu was unable to adjust his trajectory.

However, the next moment, an invisible platform appeared under Wang Yu's feet: his Double Jump wizardry technique.

The slightly angled platform shattered under Wang Yu's foot, propelling him even more quickly.

In the blink of an eye, before Oka could react, Wang Yu had leapt over his head.

Oka cursed as his eyes widened. It was that strange ability of his! Oka hadn't expected Wang Yu to use it in such a manner.

He pivoted desperately, but the drawback of heavy armor made itself clear: its plated joints inevitably encumbered his movement. He was too late.

Before the Iron Fortress could whirl around, Wang Yu activated his wizardry again. A second formless platform in the air.

This time, Wang Yu didn't use it to speed up, but rather to propel himself downward.

His muscles erupted with strength, as he shattered the platform above him.

As Oka struggled to turn, Wang Yu's form blurred for a moment before he crashed violently into Oka's helmet.

With his newly developed Skywalker technique, Wang Yu forcibly boosted himself once again for a third time. He poured every bit of his terrifying power into one overwhelming strike right to Oka's head.

Wang Yu's silhouette shot downward, then tumbled across the ground. The impact tore up earth and grass, scattering them in all directions.

A red trail appeared on his path, the blood that sprayed from his overstrained body.

Fatigue finally hit; his body's performance began to decline rapidly from the intense pressure. Only 23 seconds had passed.

With his body pushed to the limit, exhaustion approached him faster than he had anticipated. One minute would likely be his limit.

Wang Yu looked toward his opponent, Oka, who had been forced to his knees by the blow. The muddy tracks around him showed that he had at least been driven back. The strike alone should have caused a concussion, at the very least...

To Wang Yu's surprise, however, Oka stood back up the very next moment. There was a noticeable dent in his helmet, but he didn't seem to have taken significant damage...

Suddenly, Wang Yu's eyes narrowed.

He saw a faint blue glow where Oka's helmet had been dented. With his inner eye, he noticed a flow of magic. That was runic iron, he was certain.

Wang Yu clicked his tongue in frustration. He hadn't anticipated anything like this—Oka was covered in full runic iron armor. The shock-absorbing runes had augmented Oka's defenses to an overwhelming extent, to the point that Wang Yu was unable to break through his defenses even with three times his usual strength.

By then, the kneeling Oka had climbed back up. He sneered at Wang Yu from the slits in his helmet.

Wang Yu's explosive state surely couldn't last long. Soon enough, he would be drained of all his strength.

Considering the injuries all over Wang Yu's body, it wouldn't be long before he collapsed on his own.

Oka had no need to hurry. His plan had worked. He'd lured his opponent into a frenzy, causing him to exhaust himself.

Meanwhile, Oka would use his powerful defenses to continue absorbing Wang Yu's attacks until he wore himself down.

He truly did live up to his title as Iron Fortress, dragging his enemies into the abyss with his Lethal Tempo.

Wang Yu realized that he had fallen into a trap, but he didn't regret what he had done. If he hadn't activated Bloodsurge, he would have died the moment Oka manifested his potential.

This was nothing else than a gap in raw power, one that couldn't be bridged by mere strategy alone.

Wang Yu took a deep breath and tossed aside the axe he had picked up. It was clear now that destroying Oka's runic armor would be next to impossible.

That left him with just one option. He would have to aim at Oka's only vulnerability, the gap in his helmet for vision. He had one minute left—could he really pull it off?

Truthfully, it would be very difficult. Even in his Bloodsurge mode, he barely surpassed Oka's strength. Considering Oka's skill, if he could defend his one weakness, Wang Yu would be out of options entirely.

Even so, Wang Yu wouldn't stop until he was utterly defeated. No matter how slim the chance, he'd give it everything he had.

Hold on—runic iron? A flicker of memory came to the forefront of his mind. Was Oka's defenses truly impenetrable? Perhaps not...

A grin crept onto Wang Yu's face. Victory might be tipping in his favor once again!

Without hesitation, he charged forward once more. His unwavering figure shot toward Oka without any hesitation, slicing through the rain with relentless speed. In his Bloodsurge state, Wang Yu was far faster than his opponent.

Behind his helmet, Oka sneered. Another attack? He could tell that Wang Yu was already running out of energy.

But very well. If he wanted to rush to his death all the more quickly, then so be it.

Oka gripped his massive longsword and adopted a defensive stance.

All he had to do now was defend and wait for Wang Yu to wear himself down. This was his specialty.

Wang Yu's silhouette arrived before him, his sword tracing a silver arc toward Oka's helmet. "Attacking my visor, then? That's my only weakness, but do you think you'll be able to succeed?"

Oka's longsword was perfectly poised to block any strike aimed at the gap in his helmet. Their swords clashed; Wang Yu's terrifying strength actually succeeded in pushing Oka back.

Even so, Oka continued to sneer. So what if Wang Yu could push him back? As long as Wang Yu was unable to hurt him, Wang Yu would end up dead.

To his surprise, he suddenly felt the force against his sword lessen. Oka was taken aback to see Wang Yu abruptly abandoning his sword. He clenched his right fist and swung it directly at Oka's chest.

Had Wang Yu lost his mind? Oka felt a strange urge to laugh. Not even a heavy axe could penetrate his armor. Did Wang Yu seriously intend to hurt him with a fist? He couldn't even be bothered to block.

Air hissed as the fist shot through the air. It certainly looked like an imposing blow; with Wang Yu's enhanced strength, it might even be able to split a mountain. Even so, it was weaker than his previous attack to Oka's head.

Did Wang Yu really think this attack would succeed?

Oka certainly thought not—until an instinctive sense of danger surged through his body. The combat intuition he had honed from years of fighting warned him of a deadly threat. Could this strike really breach his defenses? How?

Sudden, overwhelming fear caused Oka's body to move reflexively. He swung his elbow toward Wang Yu's chest to stop his advance, but it was too late.

With his incredible speed, Wang Yu was faster than Oka. His fist landed squarely on Oka's chest.

A dull thud reverberated through the air. Oka's pupils contracted. He felt a dull pain in his chest. His vaunted defense, the Iron Fortress, had been overcome!

Countless cracks radiated out from where Wang Yu's punch had landed. In an instant, the armor shattered, exposing Oka's body as Wang Yu's fist drove right through the gap.

Wang Yu's secret lay in the unique wizardry technique that he had developed, the one that had nearly destroyed his own body: Chaos Reformation.

It was a technique that reshaped the structure of objects and usually left them a scrambled mess. On rare occasions, however, it could produce a unique effect.

This time, just like almost all other times, whatever he struck shattered.

Chaos Reformation had taken down the Iron Fortress.

Only then did Oka's elbow slam into Wang Yu's chest, sending him sprawling to the ground.

He rolled several times. The stream of blood from his wounds was finally slowing to a trickle. It seemed that his Bloodsurge mode was over.

Oka panted, his heart throbbing as though it were about to explode. That punch from Wang Yu, which had broken through his armor, left him on edge. His heart beat so fast he was surprised it hadn't burst from his chest.

Fortunately, Wang Yu seemed to finally have exhausted himself. He had lain on the ground for over ten seconds, unmoving. Oka had won!

Though Wang Yu had fallen to the ground, he smiled. He was low on stamina, but that wasn't why his Bloodsurge mode had ended.

Rather, the moment his punch struck Oka's body, he had won.

His ripples shot into Oka's body.

Oka, who was preparing to deal Wang Yu a finishing blow, suddenly let out a grunt. A flash of unexpected pain made him freeze.

"What's going on? My heart..." he gasped, barely able to force the words out. The pain emanating from his heart was overwhelming. It wasn't an illusion brought about by his nerves at all.

His heart rate climbed and his blood flow accelerated. At first, this strengthened him, but as it bypassed his limits, his body began to falter.

His face flushed. He struggled to breathe as his blood pressure and heart rate soared.

He gasped for breath, but the symptoms didn't abate. His heart continued to race at a rapid clip.

The pain was overwhelming. Even when he focused entirely on his breathing, he was still breathless.

"Just what... did you... do?!" Oka's voice was broken and hoarse, a mix of rage and terror.

He demanded an answer from Wang Yu, who was still lying on the ground.

There was no answer. Wang Yu never had liked talking in the middle of a fight.

The tension rose to a breaking point, then snapped. Oka's heart surpassed its limits and gave out entirely. His breathing stopped as his brain seized in an agonizing contraction.

The Iron Fortress fell to the ground, his eyes bulging and filling with blood as his capillaries burst. Mud splashed up as his dense body slammed into the mud. Rain and blood spilled from his orifices.

The Iron Fortress had been overcome.

"All I did was transmit my wizardry to you," Wang Yu belatedly responded.

Wang Yu's approach was simple: during their brief moment of contact, he had transmitted his Bloodsurge technique to Oka, effectively applying his enhancement spell on his opponent.

The essence of Bloodsurge was to make his body enter an uncontrollable overdrive. Wang Yu was barely able to sustain the technique by using his wizardry to curtail the spell's power, preventing it from pushing him beyond his limits.

However, Oka could hardly keep the technique in check.

The relentless frenzy pushed Oka's ailing heart past its breaking point, causing him to collapse.

This very night would be the start of Wang Yu's legend as the Wallbreaker.

Even so, things weren't over yet. Dragging his exhausted body along, Wang Yu crawled across the ground, a trail of blood leaking from his wounds. His body was no longer fully responding to him; he had reached his limits.

Fueled by sheer willpower alone, he forced his broken body onward.

After roughly ten meters, his hand groped around in the dirt. His fingers finally hit something solid—a handle.

He gripped it and pulled, revealing a hidden door buried underneath the dirt on the lawn, one which led toward a steep, narrow staircase leading downwards.

Too weak to walk, Wang Yu rolled down the steps in a series of thuds as he descended rapidly.

His body skidded across the flat wooden floor as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He slammed against a wooden bed with a dull thud.

Mira Svein stared in horror at the bloodied figure that had suddenly rolled down to where she had been trapped.

Before she could say anything, the man spoke up. A familiar voice reached the ears of Avia's mother.

"Ahem, ahem! I need whatever buffs you can give me. I'm here to save you. Later... ahem, ahem! I'll still have to help your daughter..."