...

Bang!

There were a series of explosions that kept on flashing above the castle roofs as Shin and Thirio fought against each other.

The flashes of explosions and blazing flares were just the beginning since the collisions of their skills were much stronger than anything else. They were illuminating the night due to their battle. And because of that, they were also attracting the attention of the elven guards battling within the castle walls alongside Akialu and Alucard who were battling against them.

"Tsk! What a showoff. He asked us to create a commotion to attract the attention of everyone but look at him making an even larger scene than us," said Akailu after taking a quick look in the sky.

"Are they holding a firework show? Should we join him a little? It seems fun," said Alucard as he rested his rifle on his shoulder.

Hearing that, Akailu slightly shook his head before replying. "You heard him earlier, right? It is his fight so don't get involved. With his current strength, it will be tough to take him down even if we work together. So, there shouldn't be any problem."

"Heh! Who said that we are helping him? Isn't it more exciting that way?" said Alucard smirkingly while giving Akailu a meaningful look before adding. "And aren't you curious if we really can't beat him together?"

"Heh! Idiot! You know that we can always do it after we are done with this quest. And didn't you say before that you owe him a couple of sparring matches?" said Akailu before ordering his summoned monsters to readjust their positions so that they could defend against the Royal Guards who just joined the battle.

In the meantime, Alucard suddenly disappeared from his current position and appeared beside Akailu while swinging his sword in the air.

Clang!

And not long after, Alucard's sword was blocked by another sword before an elven knight suddenly materialized while holding that very sword.

"Looks like we need to put in a little more effort since we got some decent sparring partners now," he said while staring at his opponent's eyes.

...

Meanwhile, Thirio couldn't believe what was happening right in front of him. "What's wrong with this guy?"

"I already know he already has decent strength and insane speed, but to think that even his defensive capabilities are this good? This is getting really annoying as the time goes by," he added with an annoyed tone.

And as if adding more burden to himself, he suddenly remembered the intel that he got from their headquarters. "Tsk! And based on the information that we gather about this guy, he is also quite skilled in terms of magical skills. Plus, his control over his summons is not that shabby either."

"Is there really nothing that he can't do?" he muttered to himself while looking at Shin solemnly.

He was throwing quite a lot of heavy attacks already but all of those seemed to be not putting a lot of pressure on Shin. And to make the matter even worse, the latter seemed to be not taking him seriously at this point in time. He felt that he was being treated as a training partner right now.

He was feeling that way because Shin was not using his signature twin-sword style with different forms since the start of the battle. The latter didn't even bother to change the form of the sword-sheath on his left hand and just used it like some sort of defensive tool.

If he was holding a shield instead of a sheath, then Thirio would think that Shin was also a knight or something.

The Messenger was quite confused if Shin was looking down on him or it was his real style. But one thing was for sure, the current Shin became much harder to read compared to the Shin that Thirio had read from reports that they received previously.

Because Shin didn't need to change the form of the sheath on his left hand, he could now freely sheath and unsheathe his sword at any given moment and threw some surprise sword-drawing attacks mixed in his current offensive and defensive style.

But what was even worse about this current situation, Thirio also couldn't forget the fact that Shin could still change the form of the sheath at any given moment if he wanted to. And whenever the Messenger thought about this, he couldn't help but think what kind of monster was standing in front of him.

He might be still in an incomplete state, but he was already close to reaching it. Speed and agility, strength and power, vitality and tenacity, intelligence and magical prowess alongside a strong will to control his summons – all of these were gathered within a single entity and were only waiting to become one.

Having that thought in mind, Thirio couldn't help but stare at Shin with a very solemn face. And for a moment, he suddenly saw a silhouette of someone that their leader had described and was currently chasing after.

"Someone who is closest to perfection," he muttered with a soft voice before clenching his hands and tightening his grip over his war before shouting at Shin. "Impossible! It is impossible!"

Boom!

He then activated his two-fold berserk and started walking forward while leaving a trail of heavy footprints behind. His eyes also turned bloodshot as dark glows were flicking at the corner of those eyes.

Hu~!

At the same time, white smoke was also coming out of his mouth and matched his breathing. And alongside it, his entire body was also emitting a very dangerous aura that turned the air around him heavy.

Seeing all of those, Shin slightly knitted his brow before also activating his own two-fold berserk skills successively while fixing his gaze at his opponent.

He was currently on full alert since he could clearly sense that the current state of his opponent was completely different compared to how he used to be. Thirio was currently in a league higher than his previous state.

Bang!

Then Shin heard a loud stomp from the distance ahead of him alongside the disappearance of his opponent.

Swoosh!

Shin subconsciously leaned backward right after he saw that and saved himself from getting cleaved by a war axe that was brushing past right in front of his face.

After dodging, he quickly readjusted his center of gravity while falling backward before spinning around and throwing a back kick at Thirio who suddenly appeared in front of him out of nowhere.

Bang!

But despite getting hit, Thirio refused to budge even though he was currently in the air and couldn't properly defend himself with such a sudden attack.

But at the same time, Shin used the momentum of his previous spin to jump in the air and quickly threw another kick that was heading straight to Thirio's neck.

Thirio was able to see through Shin's movements so he slightly adjusted his position in the air before blocking the incoming kick with his other hand.

Pak!

Ta-ta!

Then Thirio successfully landed back on the ground, switching their positions in an instant. And now that Shin was currently in the air, the Messenger quickly grabbed that opportunity to swing his war axe upwards and seemed to be planning to slice Shin's body into two.

But at that very moment, Shin suddenly used the 'Mondi's Jump' to continue spinning in the air before swinging his sword downwards. And to add more force to his attack, he even used the 'Falling Lightblade' Skill during his descent.

Shing!

Bang!

The blades of their weapons clashed very strongly and held in their positions for a couple of moments before a powerful collision of powers was immediately exploded and sent a shockwave in every direction.

Due to how strong that explosion was, the roof where Thirio stood was unable to withstand the pressure and finally collapsed.

Then the two fell alongside the falling debris from the roof. But during their fall, the two used every debris that they saw near them as platforms to jump around while exchanging more blows in the air.

And when their feet finally reached the ground, both of their figures suddenly blurred and transformed into a pair of silhouettes that kept on clashing against each other.

Clang! Clang!

Bang!

Boom!

As their battle progressed, the entire hall slowly turned into ruins as the collisions of their skills wrecked the entire place. The huge stone columns were instantly blasted while the even floor was either got cleaved or turned into a crater due to their attacks.

Not long after, the intensity of their battle became even fiercer as both of them started to use their specialized Mana to reinforce their attacks while using some complex combat technique.

Thirio enhanced the power behind his attacks with the purple flame enfolding the blades of his war axes but all of his attacks were instantly nullified by Shin who was only using the enhanced version of 'Sunlight Wielding'.

Earlier, during their first encounter, Shin was slightly behind in terms of strength because Thirio had the advantage of his class and race. But at this point in time, they were now fighting on an equal footing when it came to the power behind their attacks alone.

But Shin still had a better edge when it came to speed, so it was pretty natural for Thirio to be at a slight disadvantage in this battle. What's more, the latter could also feel that his opponent seemed to be slowly getting stronger as time went by.

At first, he thought that it was just his imagination. But it didn't take long for him to realize that it wasn't the case. This monster was really gaining experience during battle and slowly evolving into an even stronger creature.

The thought alone was enough for a top-expert like Thirio to be wary. But experiencing it first hand really put the latter in despair.

He was aware that Shin was a Battle Genius after the analysis that they had when watching his previous battles. But Thirio was not expecting that the speed of his growth was as insane as this.

"What kind of monster is this? Is he really on this same level as 'them'?" thought Thirio to himself while looking at Shin solemnly.

He then took out a spherical item with deep crimson color from inventory after some hesitation.

"If that is really the case, then we really need to halt his progress by any means possible," he said with a hoarse voice while tightly gripping that item.

...…