Chapter 25: Firm as a Rock
"Thud!"
Olivia was thrown directly from high in the air, then along an arc, he crashed straight into the icy waters of the Crimson River, splashing up countless snowflakes.
"Big brother!" Bruumer, watching from the riverbank, roared anxiously, and at the same time rushed directly to the riverbank near the point of impact.
Millions of people were truly a sea of humanity. Many who stood too far away couldn't see the battle between Olivia and the Rock Sword Saint at all; they could only judge the situation from the discussions of those in front who had seen it. Instantly, the millions erupted into a cacophony of noise.
The gap seemed too great!
After all, Hudderson stood in midair as if completely unharmed.
"Lord Linley, has Olivia lost?" His Majesty Joan asked Linley, who was beside him, in confusion.
"It's still too early to draw conclusions," Linley said, looking up at the Rock Sword Saint 'Hudderson', who was motionless in the sky. He thought to himself, "This Hudderson, taking that sword strike head-on, I wonder what the result is."
...
The Rock Sword Saint 'Hudderson' was not feeling well at all.
He was extremely confident in his defense. In his centuries of roaming the Yulan continent, the Rock Sword Saint had never found anyone whose defense surpassed his own. Indeed, the Dou Qi attack contained in the Blackstone Sword just now hadn't broken through his defense at all.
But—
When the Blackstone Sword struck his fist, a strange energy easily penetrated his proud defense, rushed directly into his soul, and, catching him off guard, stabbed fiercely into his soul.
Dizziness, splitting headache.
"What a genius sword saint. He's even comprehended soul attacks," Hudderson regained his clarity in an instant. "A kid not even fifty years old, yet he's comprehended such a special attack."
Hudderson had experienced this kind of attack before!
Soul attacks were not unique.
For example, the 'Senior Brother' Fane of the War God's Sect whom Linley encountered—his lightning struck Linley, even stunning him into unconsciousness, and it took a while for him to fully wake up. That was also a type of soul attack.
Or the War God himself—just the sound of his voice could make one's soul tremble.
The principle of attacking the soul was actually quite simple. It involved infusing one's spiritual energy into an attack and directing it to strike the opponent's soul.
Simply put, it was a spiritual attack.
Easy to say, but extremely difficult to do. Because spiritual energy is usually soft and resilient, like cotton cloth. What one needs to do now is... turn that cotton cloth into a sharp knife, to wound or even pierce the opponent's soul.
Even for Saint-level experts, they generally can only spread their spiritual energy outward to probe others.
A spiritual attack? Turning cotton cloth into a sharp knife?
Difficult!
Though difficult, top experts who have spent a long time comprehending the laws of the elements can still achieve it. Hudderson had experience with soul attacks before.
"This Olivia's spiritual energy isn't strong; I'd estimate it's at the level of an eighth-rank magician. If he had the spiritual energy of a ninth-rank archmage, I might have been seriously injured. If he were a Saint-level archmage..." Hudderson smiled faintly.
Then, Hudderson looked down at the Crimson River below.
The waters of the Crimson River had already calmed, and Olivia still hadn't surfaced.
"Olivia, it seems you won't come out until you've healed your arm," Hudderson said with a loud laugh, his voice echoing through the heavens and earth, reverberating across the empty outskirts.
"Healing a broken arm?" Linley raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise in his heart.
"Boom!"
A column of water shot into the sky, and a black phantom instantly reached the high altitude, once again facing Hudderson in midair. At this moment, Olivia's originally twisted and broken right arm had fully recovered.
Olivia sneered at Hudderson and said, "Healing an arm? You, Hudderson, wouldn't have the ability to do that even if you wanted to."
"The laws of the Light Element are truly profound. Some top-tier Light magicians can instantly repair even the most severe injuries. But... when it comes to defense and attack, the Light laws are no match for the laws of the Earth," Hudderson said confidently.
The laws of the Earth.
Linley also cultivated the laws of the Earth.
"How could you possibly understand the mysteries of the laws of the Light Element?" Olivia said coldly. "Hudderson, don't be so arrogant. That sword strike of mine just now didn't feel too good, did it?"
Hudderson frowned.
Even if a soul attack was withstood by a powerful soul, it would still cause some damage.
"With your soul injured, how can you possibly unleash your full strength?" Olivia said, pulling the Light Shadow Sword from behind with his left hand.
His right hand held the Blackstone Sword, and his left hand held the Light Shadow Sword.
"But I'm different. My broken arm is healed, and it has no effect at all," Olivia said, holding both swords. The surface of the Light Shadow Sword flowed with dazzling white light, while the surface of the Blackstone Sword flowed with a cold, devouring black light.
Completely opposite energies.
"Completely opposite energies—let's see how you handle this!" A cold light flashed in Olivia's eyes, and his entire body instantly shone like the sun, emitting streaks of white light, along with inconspicuous streaks of black light.
His speed instantly soared to its limit!
The entire night sky was filled with 108 blurry afterimages of Olivia.
"Clang!" Hudderson, with a solemn expression, drew the earthen-yellow heavy sword from his back.
"Haha... you finally drew your sword!" Olivia's laughter rang through the heavens and earth, and the surrounding sea of spectators fell into dead silence.
The sky was thick with dark clouds tonight, making the battlefield's atmosphere even more oppressive. The spectators below even felt as if the dense clouds were within arm's reach above Olivia and Hudderson's heads.
"Boom!" "Boom!"
Terrifying sonic booms rang out in the night sky one after another. Under extreme speed, every time Olivia broke through the air, it caused deafening sonic booms. The powerful air currents from hundreds of meters high even pressed down the flames of the torches on the riverbank.
The strong wind also made the hair of many spectators flutter.
Countless people strained their eyes, trying to see what was happening in the sky.
"Clang!" "Clang!"
Each time, Olivia struck Hudderson's earthen-yellow heavy sword with both swords simultaneously. The two opposing attacks of Light and Dark energy surged repeatedly, trying to break through Hudderson's defense.
"I didn't expect Olivia to have this kind of attack!" Linley, looking up, thought to himself.
He had to admit that Olivia was a genius. He could simultaneously comprehend the two completely opposite elemental laws of Light and Dark, and he used them so perfectly.
"Haha~~~"
With each successive strike, Olivia's laughter rang out. "Hudderson, what's wrong? Why are you always on the defensive? Could it be that your soul is so injured that you've lost the ability to attack?"
"Crack!"
At that moment, a terrifying thunderclap suddenly sounded from the clouds in the sky. A lightning bolt, like a giant serpent, struck fiercely in the distance. Then, after a few seconds, a torrential downpour began to fall.
In an instant, a curtain of rain filled the heavens and earth.
"Damn it, why does it have to rain now!" Curses rang out from the millions of spectators. Many hadn't brought rain gear and were instantly drenched, becoming soaked rats. But they all looked up, trying to watch the Saint-level battle in the sky.
But the rain was pouring down like a waterfall; looking up, they couldn't even open their eyes.
Painful!
Many could only struggle to use their clothes to shield their eyes so they could look up and watch the once-in-a-century battle between two top-tier experts. Even so... with such heavy rain, they couldn't see the battle in the sky clearly.
At this moment, very few people could see the battle clearly.
Linley was naturally one of them.
"Lord Linley, how is the battle going up there?" His Majesty Joan asked Linley beside him anxiously. The royal family was comfortable; as soon as it started raining, a large rain shelter was quickly set up above them.
Linley and the others sat calmly under the rain shelter.
"Your Majesty, Hudderson has been on the defensive the whole time, while Olivia is attacking wildly. But... it seems Olivia can't harm him in the slightest," Linley said with a smile.
Though he said this, Linley didn't think so in his heart: "Every attack Olivia makes carries a spiritual attack. What exactly is Hudderson's condition right now?"
The rain poured down.
Most of the torches had already gone out. Only a few Light magicians were using illumination spells, providing a faint light to the world.
"Olivia, have you attacked enough?" Hudderson's cold voice rang out.
"What!" Olivia suddenly froze.
Had all his attacks over such a long time failed to harm Hudderson in the slightest? His soul attack was his trump card.
Olivia stood in midair, holding both swords, facing off against Hudderson.
Hudderson looked at Olivia coldly: "Your first soul attack injured me a little, but I was prepared afterwards. Your attacks can't harm me in the slightest."
"Prepared?" Olivia was shocked inwardly.
How could one defend against a soul attack? Olivia himself didn't know.
"Olivia, you need to understand that although soul attacks are special, they are not unique to you. Many people in the history of the Yulan continent have comprehended soul attacks, and I have experienced being attacked before. You are just a warrior, after all, with weak spiritual energy. I'd estimate you're only at the level of an eighth-rank magician. If you reached the ninth rank... perhaps, even with my preparation, I would be injured. Today's victory wouldn't have been so easy."
The Rock Sword Saint 'Hudderson' looked at Olivia coldly.
"What?" Olivia felt he couldn't accept it.
An unprecedented heavy blow!
"Olivia, you've done quite well, reaching this level before the age of fifty," Hudderson said, stroking the earthen-yellow heavy sword in his hand. "Now, take my strongest strike. Consider it a sign of respect for your strength. Whether you live or die is up to fate."
Olivia found it ridiculous.
Live or die?
"Hudderson, stop being so arrogant. If you have the skill, kill me. Stop wasting words here," Olivia said. White light blazed on the surface of his body, and black light also blazed at the same time.
Half of his body was white, half was black.
"Come on!" Olivia's black-and-white streaked long hair fluttered, light flowing at the tips of his hair. The aura of the two swords in his hands was also unprecedentedly strong.
The Rock Sword Saint 'Hudderson' held the earthen-yellow heavy sword in one hand, a faint smile on his face.
"This is my strongest strike, named—Earth Split. Even if you die, you'll know what killed you!" Hudderson had forgotten how many so-called geniuses had died under his hand. The sixth? The seventh?
He had forgotten.
But Hudderson understood that if a genius died, they were no longer a genius.
"Big brother!" Bruumer's shout from below suddenly rang out. "Be careful!" Tears flowed from Bruumer's eyes, but in the pouring rain, it was impossible to tell if they were tears or rain.
The conversation between the two experts, though in the midst of a downpour, was heard clearly by those with strong strength.
Hearing his younger brother's shout, Olivia, surrounded by black and white light, instead curled the corners of his mouth slightly upward, forming a perfect arc. Olivia, enveloped in white and black light, was dazzling. Seen from below, he was like a star in the rainy night.
"Boom!"
Olivia suddenly moved. A terrifying sonic boom rang out, and his entire body turned into a dazzling ray of light, charging toward the Rock Sword Saint 'Hudderson'.
"Hah~~" Hudderson also let out a cold roar.
The Light Shadow Sword and the Blackstone Sword seemed to merge into one. The black light and white light clashed against each other, making a "crackling" sound. But Olivia, his face twisted, still brought both swords together for the final strike—
And Hudderson's earthen-yellow great sword came slashing down, as if the entire world were crashing down with it.
"Boom!"
The terrifying impact sounded like thunder roaring between heaven and earth, also causing a terrifying air current. The strong wind blew the slanting rain, and the rain shelters were blown away by the gale.
"Thud!" A figure enveloped in dim black and white light was smashed rapidly into the Crimson River. A large patch of dazzling 'bright red' immediately appeared on the surface of the Crimson River!