...

In an open field of the Ancient Ruins, Shin and Immortal were standing a few meters away from each other while releasing an even more powerful aura than what they had shown during their duel earlier.

They were also releasing their respective Pseudo Battle Spirits which made the whole place filled with heavy pressure and ice-cold temperature.

"You sure know how to pick a good spot to be your burial place," said Immortal while tapping his bone scepter on the ground, summoning his undead monsters.

"Tsk! Why so serious? This is just a game, there is no need to put much into it," replied Shin sneeringly while moving forward alongside his two clones which were currently in their werewolf forms.

After that, he swept his gaze at the summoned monster in front of him before asking. "Are you sure that you are still going to use these low-leveled monsters? Isn't it a little too cheap now that we already got to know a little bit about each other's strengths?"

Hearing those words, Immortal couldn't help but smirk at Shin before saying. "Heh! Of course, I'm not going to do that either. After all, you are a cunning one to deal with."

"Says the one who is not a sly fox," muttered Shin while twisting his neck a little to make some cracking sounds.

On the other hand, Immortal quickly made a snap with his fingers to sacrifice all of the undead monsters that he just summoned to call out a void gate right beside him. And a moment after its appearance, a knight with full-body black armor walked out from that gate while riding a fully armored horse.

'Necromancer Spell: Sacrificial Summon'

'Demonic Occultists Spell (Tier 2): Abyss Knight Summoning'

Based on the aura of this Abyss Knight alone, Shin could immediately tell that it was much stronger than all of the undead monsters that he had seen so far.

Leonard recorded his battle against Immortal during their battle in the fallen outpost before for him to study. And naturally, Shin was able to see it too when he was studying some battle videos during the Shadow Ranking Cup.

From that battle, Immortal also summoned quite a few high-quality undead monsters when he was exchanging blows against Simba.

But this particular knight undead that Immortal just summoned was way stronger compared to those monsters. And what made it even worse was the fact that it was further enhanced by Immortal's Abomination Elemental Spirits.

From what Shin had seen, Immortal at least used four of his Abominations to enhance the ability of this particular summoned creature. One for the armor, another for its swords, and another pair for the knight itself and its mount.

From the battle video, Shin already saw Leonard used a Multiple Elemental Fusion which enhanced his strength with a great margin.

But now that he was seeing it personally, the pressure that he was getting from the Abyss Knight became way heavier than before.

Regardless, Shin still refused to back down and immediately assumed a battle stance alongside his clones.

Hu~!

With a deep breath, he simultaneously activated his 'True Sight' observation skill and 'Sensing Circle' territorial skill. And due to that, the air surrounding him quickly got a sudden change which was giving out a heavy pressure of his own.

But despite being in their respective battle-ready positions, Shin and Immortal didn't immediately make any sudden moves as they both knew that was not the right time yet.

When it came to this kind of high-pressure battle, establishing a mental dominance first was more important than having a physical advantage. Because whoever possessed the stronger mental toughness would surely have better control over their concentration when the fast-faced battle started later.

The staredown lasted for a couple of minutes before Immortal decided to take the initiative to make the first move.

With a wave of his hand, he ordered the Abyss Knight to charge forward while setting up a territorial skill that could disrupt the space around him to prevent any kind of teleportation skill to get near him.

He had fought Shin a couple of times already, so it was natural for him to become familiar with Shin's unpredictable battle style; especially his sudden ambushes that were coming out of nowhere.

Meanwhile, Shin was able to see the slight spatial distortions in the space surrounding Immortal given the current abilities of his 'True Sight'.

Due to that, Shin had no other choice but to deal with the Abyss Knight first while looking for a good opening to catch Immortal off-guard. Though, he also knew that doing it was going to be much harder than he was thinking.

Fortunately, his main task right now was to stay alive for as long as he could and buy enough time for Solus and others to complete their rebirthing ceremony. At the very least, it was much easier than defeating Immortal all by himself.

While those thoughts were running inside his head, his eyes were locked at the incoming Abyss Knight who was charging at him.

Hu~!

He stared at the Abyss Knight for a moment before focusing his eyes on the movements of the mount that it was riding on.

'When dealing with a mounted opponent, the best thing to do was to separate its rider from its steed before fighting them separately,' thought Shin before making his move.

At first, he focused all of his strengths on his legs which made both his feet sunk on the ground a little.

Quickly after that, he suddenly released all of the accumulated strengths on his legs by kicking the ground beneath his feet powerfully.

Bang!

Then Shin flew straight at the Abyss Knight with astonishing speed. And since the latter was currently charging at him, he was able to arrive in front of the knight in just an instant.

Shing!

But before Shin could even pull out his sword and swung it at the Abyss Knight, the latter was already swinging its own sword at him while ordering its war horse to forcefully halt their charge.

Swoosh!

Unfortunately, Shin was already expecting that move since he read it ahead of time. So, he was able to barely dodged the incoming strike by doing a quick spin in the midair with the help of 'Mondi's Jump'.

And right after avoiding the sudden attack, Shin quickly adjusted his center of gravity in the air to forcefully halt his spin in the air.

Shing!

Then he quickly drew his sword out and swung it powerfully at the Abyss Knight immediately after.

'Self-Created Skill (Personalized): Quickly Draw'

Clang!

But Shin underestimated the current Abyss Knight a little as it was able to quickly respond with his sudden attack in time and quickly swing back his sword at him for another time.

Moreover, the current strength of this particular undead was way higher than his current STR which was why its attack was quite heavy to be blocked midair and it was more than enough to send Shin flying even if their weapons just clashed for a brief moment.

But Shin used the force that he got from the collision of their weapons to his advantage. He absorbed the force from the impact by doing a quick spin in the air before releasing all of it by throwing a powerful swing to the Abyss Knight at the end of his spin.

Clang!

But just like earlier, the Abyss Knight was able to respond with his sudden counter by raising its other arm in front of its face, using its armguard to block his sword.

At this point in time, Shin's clones finally caught up with him and quickly jumped from each side of the Abyss Knight while also brandishing their claws at the same time.

Alongside it, Shin quickly used two consecutive 'Mondi's Jumps' to coordinate with their moves. One was for kicking the air below him to lift himself up in the air while the other was for forcing his body to fall towards the ground once again while also throwing a downward slash together with his descent.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Shing!

Those series of movements were quite fast but they were not enough to make the Abyss Knight unable to respond to their coordinated attacks.

First, it pulled the reins of its horse backward in a quick and strong manner. And as a response to the sudden pull, the steed suddenly lifted its front legs in the air for a moment before stomping them back on the ground with a very strong force.

Bang!

Then a powerful shockwave was sent out in every direction, halting the charge of the two werewolves and sending Shin back in the air.

Ta-ta!

With a couple of flips midair, Shin was able to negate all of the force that he got from the impact before steadily landing back on the ground.

Meanwhile, the werewolves immediately dug their claws on the ground right after landing to steady themselves. But the remaining force from the previous shockwave was still strong enough to push them away which was why they left a long trail on the ground while sliding backward.

With that brief exchange, Shin was able to quickly gauge the current strength of this Abyss Knight which made him quite warry. "Tsk! I guess this is really going to be much harder than I originally thought. Especially when this guy still has that Zombie Dragon under his sleeves and an unknown number of undead monsters."

"I guess, it is time to test those new tricks now," muttered Shin to himself before closing his eyes while also taking a deep breath.

And while he was doing that, the atmosphere surrounding him suddenly got a drastic change which made Immortal frown his brows while staring at him.

A few moments later, the expression on Immortal's face suddenly turned serious as he knew that something dangerous was coming his way.

But that look lasted only for a second as he started wearing a wide grin afterward. "Interesting!"

...