Chapter 415: Barnes' Hesitation
Chapter 415: Barnes' Hesitation
Aida's sudden assault had torn her hood and gray robe, revealing her seductive face and a set of dark leather armor that barely covered her vital areas.
The leather armor only protected her most sensitive areas.
Her upper body was adorned with a loose-fitting navel-baring breastplate, while her lower half was covered by a pair of hip-length shorts, exposing her fair skin.
In each hand, she held a dual-bladed weapon, approximately 1.8 meters in length.
Unlike a sword, the dual-bladed weapon had a slender and curved design.
The dual-bladed weapon had a handle in the center, with curved blades on both sides, making it extremely challenging to use without injuring oneself.
However, when mastered, the weapon could cut, slash, or spin with devastating force, and its versatile attack angles made it unpredictable in combat.
As for Aila, who was standing at a distance, she stared at Ren with slightly narrowed eyes.
She had just cast a Tier 3 Shadow Arrow Storm spell, but only one arrow hit its target, and even that was deflected by Ren's protective spell.
The subsequent dozen or so shadow arrows were swiftly dodged by Ren's incredible speed.
"Sister, Ren's strength and speed are formidable. I think he's more like a titled knight than a mage, as the intelligence report suggested," Aida communicated telepathically, without speaking aloud.
"Indeed, sister. In a moment, I'll cast Cripple and Slow spells on him. Your speed is already superior to his, and with these spells, you'll be even faster. Just be cautious in close combat," Aila responded telepathically.
The sisters quickly exchanged and finalized their combat strategy.
Of course, Ren wasn't going to sit idly by.
With an incredibly swift triple spellcasting:
"Tier 1 Innate Spell: Metal Transformation!"
"Tier 2 Spell: Iron Armor!"
"Tier 3 Innate Spell: Steel Armor!"
"Combined Spell: Steel Plate Armor!"
Ren's body was enveloped in a thick layer of armor that shimmered with dark silver light. Then, to the sisters' slightly surprised gazes, he charged towards Aila.
Aida immediately understood Ren's intention: to eliminate Aila, who was responsible for long-range spell attacks, before dealing with her.
She couldn't let Ren succeed.
Aida tapped her toes, causing the grass stems to explode, and her agile body moved like a ghost. With a "whoosh," she dashed towards Ren from the side, swiftly spinning her right-hand blade to execute an intricate inner flower pattern before delivering a powerful slash towards Ren's lower back!
Her dashing slash could effortlessly sever a half-meter-thick steel pillar with a single strike.
A typical Tier 3 defensive spell was as fragile as paper against her powerful slashes.
"Clang!!!"
However, Ren's dual-handed greatsword firmly blocked Aida's incredibly powerful dashing slash.
Ren stood firm, but the counterforce also caused him to stagger slightly, pausing momentarily.
During this brief pause, Aila seized the opportunity and cast a Shadow Magic spell, Cripple, on Ren.
A spherical black mist suddenly appeared above Ren's head and quickly sank into his body, protected by the Steel Plate Armor.
Ren could clearly sense something amiss with his body and immediately realized that Aila had cast a negative spell on him.
Although he had strong resistance, he still felt a slight effect.
As he took a step, his movements, or rather, his agility, seemed to slow down by nearly ten percent.
"Sister's Cripple spell is working!"
This revelation caused Aida, who had been knocked away, to brighten with realization. As she landed, she spun 360 degrees, and with another surge of power in her legs, she appeared behind Ren in a flash.
Aida's blade once again weaved a beautiful flower pattern in the air before she aimed a fierce slash towards Ren's spine.
"Shh!"
A sharp sound of piercing the air reverberated behind Ren!
But once again, Aida was caught off guard! Ren didn't dodge or evade; instead, he held his greatsword and performed a 360-degree sweep, seemingly willing to trade blows with her.
Aida couldn't help but smirk, her red lips curling upwards.
"Your speed was already faster, and now you're affected by my sister's Cripple spell. Hmph, and you dare to engage me head-on?"
"I can hit you, but you can't hit me!"
In an instant, several thoughts flashed through Aida's mind.
Aida's blade sped up even more, and a hint of darkness flashed across it. Then, with a powerful strike, she slashed into Ren's Steel Plate Armor.
"Pfft!"
But as soon as her blade made contact, Aida felt something amiss.
The sensation transmitted through the blade was akin to cutting through a mixture of rubber and steel plates, and for a moment, a strong resistance was felt through the hilt.
Title: The Twin Sisters' Astonishing Battle
With a near-full-power slash, Li Hua barely managed to breach Ren's steel plate armor, unable to penetrate any further.
This revelation startled Ailia, but she didn't feel discouraged. Her strike wasn't entirely fruitless, as it had tested the defensive capabilities of Ren's armor.
Next, by infusing her battle blade with a layer of devouring power, she was certain she could inflict damage.
However, just as Ailia bent her knees and swiftly retreated to dodge Ren's oncoming greatsword, something astonishing happened.
Ren's two-handed greatsword mysteriously elongated by twenty centimeters, causing Ailia's eyes to widen in shock.
She had calculated her evasive maneuver perfectly, ensuring that Ren's sword couldn't reach her. But with the sudden extension of the sword, the situation became dire.
The additional twenty centimeters were just enough to cleave through her slender waist, potentially even bisecting her.
"Sister!" Ailia cried out in her mind.
In an instant, Ren saw Ailia's figure blur, and then Aida, enveloped in a double layer of magical shields, took her sister's place.
Ren narrowed his eyes, thinking, "As expected, a Twin Teleport!"
"Pfft!"
Ren's sword continued its motion, flashing with a silver light from a Sharpness Spell as it effortlessly sliced through Aida's double shields.
"Ahhhh!"
Aida's face contorted in pain, and a powerful wave of shadow energy erupted from her, sweeping the surroundings.
"Boom!"
Ren blocked the attack with his sword, standing firm as a rock, while Aida used the backlash of her shadow impact to quickly create distance between them.
Her heaving chest, however, betrayed her unsettled state of mind.
Having switched positions, Ailia, still shaken, appeared at a distance. She seemed to realize something and pointed her battle blade at Ren, her voice trembling.
"Your innate magic is Metal Transformation?!"
Ren smiled faintly, saying nothing.
Indeed, when an opponent reached a certain level of strength, unless they refrained from using their innate magic, being able to transform their weapon within 0.1 seconds was a clear sign of an innate ability. In less than half a minute of combat, both sides had been forced to reveal their unique talents, an unprecedented occurrence.
The sisters now wore expressions of disbelief, scrutinizing Ren as if reassessing his combat prowess.
"Sister, when you engage in close combat, don't get too close. It's incredibly rare for someone to have Metal Transformation as their innate magic," Ailia said.
"Indeed, this Ren is a formidable opponent. It's no wonder so many in our order have fallen to him," Aida added.
After the brief exchange, Ren had a better understanding of the sisters' capabilities.
First, their seamless coordination was something he had rarely witnessed.
Ren speculated that they might possess some form of mental connection, as it was highly unlikely to achieve such perfect synergy without it. He had just repelled the younger sister, intending to pursue, but the older sister's magic disrupted his offensive rhythm.
While a single instance could be attributed to training, the consistent pattern suggested something more.
The differences in the effects of Ailia's snake hair compared to Edmund, whom Ren had previously encountered, were evident.
Suddenly, a panicked creature resembling a wild boar rushed between Ailia and Ren, only to be struck by a thin black snake.
"Boom!"
The black snake exploded, instantly blasting the wild boar into a bloody mess, which fell heavily to the side, convulsing in its dying throes.
The power was evident! Facing the combined attack of the sisters, Ren's body suddenly swelled, revealing dragon scales, and his height increased to five meters, transforming into the first stage of his bloodline power—the Dragon Warrior Form.
Feeling the immense power within his body, Ren did not sense any rejection from the secret realm.
This indicated that his strength had not yet reached the upper limit of what the secret realm could contain.
Ren didn't even need his greatsword; he simply used his sharp dragon claws to forcefully swat Ailia's attacking blade aside, exerting a greater force than before and sending her flying.
At the same time, Ren pointed at the incoming torrent of snake hair:
"Metal Transformation!"
"Cutting Net!"
"Sharpening Spell!"
"Arcane Kill: Multi-Cut Net!"
Three tightly woven metal nets, emitting a silvery glow, abruptly appeared in front of Ren and rushed towards the snake hair torrent.
Normally, a liquefied kill move like this would be no match for Ailia's 'Self-Destructive Snake Hair,' as its power was significantly weaker. Even with Ren's strong metal affinity, he would be at a disadvantage.
But Ren never intended to rely on this move to win!
"Boom!"
The metal net and the snake hair exploded, causing dust to rise at the scene!
With the intense explosion, Ren vanished from his original position!
At the same time, in a dark area on Flame Mountain not far from here, a teenage red dragon, over ten meters long, lay in a pool of blood. Its body was peculiar, with a large portion having a semi-transparent frosted glass-like texture.
It seemed to have been affected by some external energy.
This was due to the influence of Void Energy, which had caused a drastic change in the dragon's temperament.
At this moment, a human figure was seen beside the dead dragon, extracting something.
If Ren were present, he would instantly recognize the person operating the large syringe to extract the dragon's blood essence as Barnes, the most powerful member of the Dragon Scale Brotherhood.
"Pfft!"
Barnes, while extracting, spat out the remaining blood in his mouth.
"Damn! This dragon, infected by Void Energy, has become even stronger, making it a challenging opponent." Barnes muttered to himself.
From the front, one could see several large claw marks on Barnes' chest and shoulder armor, indicating he had just been in an intense battle.
In fact, based on the teleportation's landing point, Barnes was initially satisfied to find himself on Flame Mountain.
But before he could recover, he felt the sky darken as he was attacked by this teenage red dragon infected with Void Energy.
Just moments ago, he had managed to activate the second stage of his bloodline transformation to defeat the dragon.
"Reagan and Bronson have only mastered the first stage of transformation, so they might struggle against this Void-infected dragon."
"However, according to our agreement, they will head my way as soon as they enter the secret realm."
With this in mind, Barnes took out the rhombic locator crystal that Buchanan had given them and examined it.
"Hmm, not far. They should be here in about half an hour."
Barnes wasn't in a hurry. For now, he could focus on processing the blood essence of this teenage dragon.
One of his objectives was the blood essence of a Void Dragon.
Although the dragon before him wasn't fully transformed, it was still worth collecting.
"Huh? This strong metal particle fluctuation... It's familiar!"
"This... This is Ren fighting!" As if realizing something, Barnes' expression turned both surprised and delighted. He stood up, and with a flicker, he leaped onto a tall boulder, looking down from the mountainside at the valley to the west.
In the distance, he could vaguely see the smoke from a powerful explosion in the forest.
Barnes' eyes gleamed as he pondered.
He was hesitating, unsure whether to go now or wait for Reagan and Bronson.
If Ren faced a strong opponent and was severely injured, Barnes could take advantage of the situation.
But if Ren easily defeated the enemy, then going down there might...
(End of Chapter)
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