Chapter 43: The Uncrowned Lord (Fourth Update)
The Uncrowned Lord and Morisha gave off completely different impressions. Morisha had a queenly demeanor, appearing easy to get along with and possessing a leader's commanding presence, but in reality, she was exceptionally ruthless. She would usually win people over, but when necessary, she would sacrifice her subordinates without hesitation.
The Uncrowned Lord, on the other hand, felt pure. He was simply a warrior, one who would die for honor. He held contempt for schemes and deceit. After Morisha obtained his power, he could have instantly taken control of her, but he didn't. Instead, he even actively revealed his own existence.
If Morisha had been worthy of this power, the Uncrowned Lord would have chosen to leave her body and eventually dissipate. Unfortunately, Morisha deeply disappointed him. She completely abused his power, even being influenced by it.
The way Morisha chose to obtain the Uncrowned Lord's power had already earned his disdain. Coupled with the fact that Morisha was beaten to the point of questioning her existence during close combat with Su Xiao, the Uncrowned Lord grew furious. His power was not something a close-combat weakling like her deserved.
Had the Uncrowned Lord possessed Morisha and seized her body? From the current situation, it seemed so, but in reality, it wasn't. Morisha had failed to withstand the Uncrowned Lord's trial and thus couldn't obtain his power.
The Uncrowned Lord slowly walked toward Su Xiao. The oppressive aura he exuded was nothing like Morisha's. If Morisha had been a witch wielding a holy sword, only using its supplementary abilities to fight, now the master of the holy sword had arrived.
Clang!
The Sunlight Sword blazed with golden light. The Uncrowned Lord casually swung his sword, sending a golden sword arc flying straight into the wall beside him.
With a tinkling sound, the golden sword arc struck the wall. Surprisingly, the arc didn't dissipate but remained embedded in the wall like a solid object.
Su Xiao glanced at the sword arc, roughly assessing the Uncrowned Lord's swordsmanship level. He had to admit that the other party's sword skill level surpassed his own blade skill.
Fine cracks appeared on the Uncrowned Lord's shoulder. He merely glanced at them and ignored them.
Su Xiao took a deep breath and also slowly walked toward the Uncrowned Lord. The distance between them gradually closed. When they were ten meters apart, both vanished simultaneously.
Clang, clang, clang...
Golden sword arcs and blue blade arcs clashed, dazzling the eyes. Two figures passed through the gaps between the blade and sword arcs.
Boom!
Blade and sword struck together, shattering the ground around them inch by inch.
Su Xiao twisted the long blade in his hand, deflecting the Uncrowned Lord's longsword. Seizing the opportunity, he shifted the blade, scraping it along the sword's edge while slashing toward the Uncrowned Lord's throat.
The Uncrowned Lord's eyes narrowed. He pressed his longsword down, using the guard to catch the Dragon-Slaying Flash with a click, while simultaneously kicking toward Su Xiao's abdomen.
Bang! The Uncrowned Lord's kick landed on Su Xiao's abdomen. From the feel of the kick, the Uncrowned Lord sensed something was wrong.
Blue crystal fragments flew. Su Xiao made a feigned slash while using the force of the Uncrowned Lord's kick to retreat, just barely dodging the sword aimed at his throat. The Uncrowned Lord's attack pattern—kick the abdomen, slash the throat—was exactly the same as Su Xiao's earlier method against Morisha, only with different results.
A blade arc flew past the Uncrowned Lord's ear, piercing through part of it. Cyan Steel Shadow energy surged into the wound. The Uncrowned Lord smiled. This was the kind of power inheritor he had been waiting for.
During the Uncrowned Lord's battle, another consciousness existed within him—Morisha. Compared to the strength of the Uncrowned Lord's consciousness, she had only resisted briefly at the start before being reduced from the main consciousness to a subordinate.
Now, Morisha finally understood why the Uncrowned Lord said she wasn't worthy of this power. This power was meant for close combat.
Su Xiao stopped after flying backward a distance. Several meter-long energy spikes appeared around him. The nearby Uncrowned Lord clenched his fist, and those energy spikes attacked Su Xiao from all directions.
These golden energy spikes formed too suddenly and without any warning. Su Xiao could only crouch to dodge one aimed at his head, not even having time to form an energy shield.
Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft.
Four energy spikes pierced through Su Xiao's legs, left arm, and abdomen. Su Xiao bit down on the energy spike in his left arm and pulled it out. Just as he did, the sword-wielding Uncrowned Lord charged straight at him.
The roar of battle continued. Ten minutes later.
Su Xiao clutched the side of his neck, gasping heavily. Blood dripped from the Dragon-Slaying Flash, and pale blue energy surged across his body. The nearby Uncrowned Lord wasn't in much better shape. His body was covered in cracks, and several slashes crisscrossed his chest and abdomen.
The pale blue energy on Su Xiao's body was none other than the activated Demon Hunting Hour. The Uncrowned Lord's combat power couldn't be described as merely fierce; he was on an entirely different level from Morisha.
Now, Su Xiao had only 260 mana points left. Fortunately, Demon Hunting Hour still had 30 seconds remaining, during which he didn't have to worry about mana consumption. Stamina was the real issue.
If he could check the Uncrowned Lord's information, Su Xiao would confirm that this guy's swordsmanship was at least Grandmaster level Lv.20 or higher, possibly even more.
Su Xiao's condition was dire, and the Uncrowned Lord was equally unoptimistic. After being relentlessly slashed by Su Xiao for over 20 seconds during Demon Hunting Hour, he had only barely adapted to Su Xiao's unpredictable movements. If not for his incredible speed, he would have already died under Su Xiao's blade.
Crack~
A fissure split open on the Uncrowned Lord's chest. Seeing this crack, the Uncrowned Lord shook his head.
"Pity. Perhaps we'll meet again."
As soon as the Uncrowned Lord finished speaking, his body tilted to the side. As it fell, his appearance rapidly changed, reverting to Morisha's form. Not just her face, but her height, female characteristics, and everything else also returned.
Morisha's head hit the ground. Her eyes snapped open, and she instinctively tried to get up, but she couldn't. The injuries to her body were no longer enough to support even this simple action.
"Witch Hunter, let's talk..."
Pfft. A blade arc slashed through, cutting open Morisha's throat.
Su Xiao stabbed his long blade into the ground. After gasping for over ten seconds, he quickly walked toward Morisha.
"Wait, wait, I still..."
Morisha seemed unwilling to accept this. In truth, if he had only been dealing with her, Su Xiao wouldn't have needed to activate Demon Hunting Hour.
One stab pierced Morisha's throat. A few seconds later, after receiving the kill notification, Su Xiao tossed Morisha's corpse aside and plopped down on the ground.
Severe blood loss, more than five broken ribs, legs pierced by sharp objects, abdomen also pierced, and his left arm had basically lost all sensation.
Compared to Su Xiao, the hunter he had summoned was worse off, having been chopped into over a dozen pieces by the Uncrowned Lord.
The Uncrowned Lord was an incredibly powerful existence. If he were still alive, Su Xiao wouldn't have been his match. But he was already dead and controlling a body that didn't understand swordsmanship.
During the battle, the Uncrowned Lord's soul and Morisha's body experienced severe rejection. The ceramic-like cracks on his body were the most intuitive manifestation of this rejection.
After confirming there were no threats around, Su Xiao lay on the ground and lit a cigarette. Although he didn't know where the Uncrowned Lord came from, it didn't matter. What mattered was that he had won.
When the Uncrowned Lord lost, he didn't make excuses about body-soul rejection or anything like that. All excuses were just attempts to cover up failure.
Bubu Wang appeared, limping as he ran toward Su Xiao. There was a deep slash on his side. Earlier, Bubu had been exceptionally fierce, biting the Uncrowned Lord right on the butt. The Uncrowned Lord's stunned expression was something Su Xiao remembered vividly. As a price, Bubu Wang was nearly split in two by the Uncrowned Lord.