Izroth executed his Third Sword Form: Collapsing Thunder with his Tempest Strikes still active. In turn, this caused the wind element from his Tempest Strikes to fuse with the lightning element from his sword form and created the storm element.

〈Battle Alert: Player Izroth has performed an Element Fusion of the wind and lightning elements to form the storm element!〉

As the blade of wind shot out towards Zephyr and carried along with it a powerful source of lightning, the two elements bent and morphed mid-flight as they fused into a single element. This changed the blade of wind with lightning attributes into a blade of the storm!

When the bolt of lightning crashed down, the blade of storm collided with it to form a typhoon around Zephyr.

At first, Zephyr was able to resist the strong winds being generated by the typhoon. After all, he was able to control high-level wind magic. However, when the lightning struck his body it caused him to become temporarily paralyzed. During that moment, the typhoon swept him off his wind and send him swirling and flying into the air before he violently crashed down into the ground after it ceased.

«Critical Hit»

-18,913

Over 18,000 damage! The original damage output for his Third Sword Form: Collapsing Thunder with his current attack power, even if it did critical hit and somehow managed to ignore all of Zephyr's defenses, would only hit for around 13,000 damage. However, with the typhoon formed after the Element Fusion took place, his damage output increased by nearly 50%!

Izroth had read about Element Fusion within the Amaharpe palace library on the second floor. By using Element Fusion, it allowed the caster to combine two elements together to create a single element. However, it was one of those things that sounded simple on paper but was, in actuality, an incredibly difficult ability to learn let alone master.

The higher the skills being used, the more challenging it became to successfully perform an Element Fusion.

But, without even trying to accomplish an Element Fusion, Izroth had managed to pull one off effortlessly on his very first attempt! If those element-type magic casters were to see him perform an Element Fusion with an A-ranked skill as a combat master, there was no doubt that they would burn with jealousy and envy.

'Interesting, though it's too bad the price is so high. Then again, my mana is well below my current level. I suppose it can't be helped.'

Performing an Element Fusion was not cheap, especially such a high level one. Even with the boost from his Soul Essence skill Flow of Essence, his total mana was only a mere 270 points. The Element Fusion that he just executed had drained his mana down to 0 points in one go. Not only that, but the system was truly ruthless in its greed.

〈System Alert: You have overexerted your mana pool and cannot execute an Element Fusion!〉

〈System Alert: The skill «Breaker of Limits» has been activated.〉

〈System Alert: Finding a secondary energy source... No secondary energy source compatible!〉

〈System Alert: Finding a tertiary energy source... No tertiary energy source compatible!〉

〈System Alert: Finding a quaternary energy source... Converting... Success! You have successfully executed an Element Fusion!〉

The system scrambled to find another energy source that was compatible with mana in order to make up for his lack of mana to properly execute the Element Fusion. In the end, it did not choose his Energy since it was completely different from mana and it also skipped over his Essence due to the fact that it functioned in a different manner than mana.

This left the system with only one other place to find the energy source, his life. To be more precise, the system drained 3,230 points of his HP without warning to make up for the missing mana! What if his HP had been below 3,230 points when it happened? Would he have simply died? Or would the system have stopped the skill from activating? He hoped that it was the latter.

'I'll have to be careful about performing an Element Fusion until I acquire a larger pool of mana.'

Midnight was startled when he saw Izroth's HP fall by nearly 50% out of nowhere. He reacted swiftly and cast Totem Augmentation to boost the effectiveness of his totems on Izroth and increase the healing rate.

"This is a combat master class." Qi Jiguang muttered to himself as he witnessed Izroth in action. There was a part of him that regretted not choosing the combat master class. Not because he did not enjoy his current class, but due to the fact that he was not sure if his class would ever have enough strength to compete with that kind of monstrosity!

Qi Jiguang wanted to spar against Izroth, however, he already knew what the results would be in his heart if Izroth decided to get serious.

A look of determination flashed through Qi Jiguang's eyes. He had to find a way to increase his strength and push the limits of his current class. Otherwise, how could he have a decent match against that kind of abnormality? Just his movement skill alone would be challenging enough to deal with in a fight.

As the cloud of dust settled cleared and the typhoon disappeared, Zephyr was left flat on the ground. A few moments later, he stood up and dusted himself off. There was a deathly calm look in his eyes as if he was unbothered by what had just taken place. However, that deathly calm look made him appear even more dangerous than he was before.

It was as if instead of lashing out in anger, he redirected and channeled that anger inward and used it to focus himself.

"Be vigilant." Izroth cautioned the others as he observed the sudden change in Zephyr. Since his Flickering Steps was still ongoing, he would take this opportunity to finish Zephyr in one go.

Everyone felt the atmosphere become tenser after Zephyr stood up on his feet. Even without Izroth's warning, the change was clearly felt by his party members.

Izroth flickered and quickly arrived next to Zephyr as he slashed out with his sword towards Zephyr's neck.

Ding!

Izroth's sword suddenly felt as if it were caught in quicksand and being dragged in, however, he was able to pull his sword out and launch another attack from a different angle. But, Izroth was met with the same result as last time.

'My attacks aren't connecting. It feels as though I'm trying to cut through quicksand.'

Izroth was not alone in this regard as Qi Jiguang, Mirage, and even Ying Yue's attacks were dealt with in a similar manner. It was as though they were no longer able to reach Zephyr!

"What's going on? Why can't our attacks hit?" Mirage said in a frustrated tone.

"It feels like I'm punching mud." Qi Jiguang commented.

'Maybe...'

Izroth retreated a few meters and quickly opened up his interfere to view the new skill he obtained just moments ago.

'I see, it's called Energy Vision Sense.'

Izroth activated Energy Vision Sense and limited it to a range of ten meters. This time, however, his eyes were opened when he used it and instead of darkness with flames within it, his surroundings remained the exact same. Of course, the key difference was that he could now see the flames around everyone.

'There's something around him. That must be what's blocking our attacks. The question is, how do we break through it.'

There was this thin veil of flame that was in the shape of an oval wrapped around Zephyr.

"I'll admit that you all have some skill, however, such skill becomes useless before absolute power. I've lost my good mood. It's time you experience the true terror of the Warpath Blade." Zephyr said in a cold tone. At the same time, Zephyr changed to an offensive sword stance as the wind around him started to became increasingly fierce.

"Warpath Blade: Pursuit of Havoc." Zephyr's sword turned pure red in color and gave off a sharp sword intent.

'There.'

Izroth saw that the veil of flame that was around Zephyr had vanished the moment he activated his skill. Whatever skill Zephyr used to protect himself with most likely blocked all forms of attacks on both the outside and inside. In other words, the protection around him had no choice but to drop if he wanted to launch an attack.

Normally, it would have taken players a few attacks to discover this trick. However, it may have already been too late by then. But, for Izroth who now possessed Energy Vision Sense, it was such a glaring flaw that he would be a fool not to take advantage of.

Izroth's figure faded out of existence before reappearing next to Zephyr in an instant. Even though he still had his Flickering Steps active, Izroth used his Enhanced Instantaneous Movement to leave Zephyr with no room to breath or react.

Zephyr's sword was still mid-flight and he could not change the course of his attack nor could he defend himself. His sword swept out with an overbearing force and send a red blade of wind that contained an immense level of power towards Mirage and the others.

Omega reacted in a timely manner as he positioned his shield before the party and prepared to take the blow head-on. However, just to be safe, he activated a reinforcement type skill that granted him additional damage reduction.

BANG!

«Blocked»

-10,592

Omega was dumbfounded by the amount of damage he just received. What kind of broken skill was that?! Not only did he block the attack and have his normal resistances, but he also had the effect of Midnight's Gaia Avis totem on him. Not to mention the skill he just used to give himself more damage reduction and yet, he still took over 10,000 points of damage!

That was more than 60% of his HP in a single strike! He was a tank for crying out loud!

However, right as Zephyr's attack flew out from his sword, Izroth's sword released its own overbearing aura followed by a tremendous and boundless amount of deadly sword intent. It was cold and bone-chilling as it swept throughout the atmosphere.

There was an eerie silence that followed as Zephyr stood perfectly still with his sword still held outward. All of a sudden, two thin lines could be seen on his neck as his eyes looked to his side to see a young man with a carefree expression on his face. That young man sheathed his sword and began to walk in the opposite direction of him.

Zephyr tried to attack, however, his body refused to listen to him and move. It was at that moment he realized that the fight was already over.

"So, this is defeat..." Zephyr said to himself as he could see his own particles leaving his body.

"What a repulsive feeling." Zephyr's words faded away and carried off into the wind as his entire body finished turning into particles.

«Critical Hit»

-16,764

«Critical Hit»

-95,685

〈System Alert: Congratulations, you have defeated Zephyr, First Sword of The Warpath Blade!〉

〈System Alert: You have gained 594,991 EXP!〉

Loot Table:

-x1 Skill Book: Warpath Blade: Gale Zone Guard

-x25 gold coins

-x1 Warpath Blade Insignia: First Sword

As Izroth walked back towards his party, everyone stared at him as if they were looking at a freak of nature! Are you sure that he was not secretly the rare NPC and Zephyr was the unfortunate player?

"Freak!" Mirage said in a tone of disbelief as Izroth approached them.

Izroth gave a helpless smiled inwardly as he only shook his head in response. He had just used his First Baneful Sword: Destruction followed by his Second Baneful Sword: Kill during the exposed gap that Zephyr left in his defenses after he launched that last attack. He decided it was best to end this before anything had a chance to spiral out of control.

But, with this, they had successfully defeated the First Sword of the Warpath Blade. Though they had no idea at that time just how much of an uproar that would cause in not only the Tiger's Mouth but the entire outskirts of Proximus.