"Come on…come on… You can do this!" Moonpiercer cheered through gritted teeth in a low voice from behind a different acacia—one that was closer to the ongoing battle.

For an entire minute, she couldn't believe her eyes, doubting whether she was hallucinating.

How could a novice bladeborn fight so well?

In the past minute, Daru managed to inflict an insane amount of damage on his opponent, reducing Lyon's hitpoints from 8,000 down to 4,100 and generously giving the field boss seven more physical buffs, which basically confirmed his theory.

From his battle, it seemed that the increase in attributes provided by the sword mark manifestation wasn't too huge, but the boosts were still boosts, and after a total of eleven times, there were bound to be huge changes.

For example, Daru was really struggling to keep up now.

Had he not increased his perception to the extent he did, he wouldn't have had the chance to dance around the Sunblade King like he was doing now.

Still, he was starting to lose his rhythm, half due to his dwindling stamina and half due to the now glaring gap in physical attributes.

Daru breathed heavily, yet the smile on his face hadn't faded one bit.

Barely ducking a high slash that aimed to cut his head off, Daru countered with a rising slash, but his strikes weren't as precise as they were a minute ago, and his blade got stuck in something inside Lyon's tough body.

[- 230]

He had to clumsily pull it out as another sword mark manifested above the field boss's head.

As a result, his fluid motions got delayed, and he couldn't dodge the Sunblade King's elbow strike.

Daru was sent staggering a few steps back.

[-120]

Had it not been for the limited range of motion due to Lyon's stance at the time, he would've suffered far more damage.

Nonetheless, his invincible streak has been broken, and the king was given an opening to unleash one of his strongest sword skills.

Lyon jumped back, creating further distance and positioning the Sunblade Longsword in front of him, its tip pointed at the sky as if he were saluting with it.

He then kneeled for a moment before jumping.

With a regal roar, the king slashed repeatedly, firing sharp, golden rings that knocked Lyon back a bit with every release, allowing him to maintain his position mid-air for three seconds before falling.

A total of nine lethal rings traveling in curving trajectories shot at Daru from tricky angles, forcing him to continuously step back while waving his tachi to defend himself, skidding further back with every projectile he managed to swat away.

The sword projectiles weren't too powerful.

They couldn't deal damage when blocked, at least.

However, the problem was that the golden rings wouldn't dissipate and were very persistent, boomeranging back to him just a few seconds after being deflected.

It was like he was being ganged up on by rather average but unkillable opponents.

Daru exhaled with every effort exerted, fully focused on defending and leaving no space for despair in his heart.

He simply continued to protect himself from the golden rings.

What he failed to notice was that, in the distance, Lyon was kneeling on one knee, panting even harder than him.

As it turned out, the sword mark manifestations weren't directly providing physical boosts to the Sunblade King, but rather were overdriving his body.

The toughness of his muscles, along with his strength, speed, and dexterity, were all boosted in exchange for a rapid decline in stamina.

The golden rings were Lyon's distraction so he could recover after feigning a strong and inexhaustible exterior.

Daru was fully focused on the sword projectiles attacking him.

He planned to pay a minimal amount of attention to his opponent and only think about dealing with Lyon once he approached.

The immediate danger to his life was what he prioritized, not overthinking stuff too much.

It was then that a voice suddenly sounded from afar.

"H-He's tired!! Quick! Finish him off!!"

Lyon heard Moonpiercer, too, but he was a Swordspawn and couldn't react if the target wasn't in his aggro range.

Not like he would react in a hostile manner if he could…

Thanks to the sudden, unexpected exclamation, Daru spared a bit more attention to the Sunblade King, his eyes momentarily widening at the sight of the kneeling Lyon.

This was indeed a huge chance he was missing!

Without hesitation, Daru dodged an approaching ring by ducking under it while rushing forward, swatting away two more attempting to cut him from the sides and freeing himself of the sword projectiles for a few moments.

He then began performing short and strange zigzagging steps that gave the lethal projectiles a chance to catch up—one almost slicing his neck clean off had he not burst into an explosive sprint the next moment, splitting into two and approaching Lyon from two sides.

"Damn it, curse you, Rebel!" roared the Sunblade King, forcing himself to stand up.

He was dangerously low on stamina, but he still had a lot of hit points.

Lyon can tank a few hits in exchange for just a single one of his own.

He could then just relax and wait for his opponent to bleed out first.

The Sunblade King actually decided to just take Havoc Rush, charging up a strike instead.

Soon, Daru arrived within striking distance, realizing what Lyon's plan was as he slashed from the left, cutting another deep wound in the king's chest and activating the dreaded level four bleed status.

The field boss was now losing ten hitpoints every three seconds.

However, Lyon didn't care, planning to end things soon.

The intent mirage dissipated the moment Daru completed his attack.

It was then that the Sunblade King attacked, sweeping at his opponent almost immediately after suffering a strike, his longsword enveloped by a golden aura.

Daru jumped to dodge.

"I knew you were gonna do that, rebel!!"

Lyon roared with a hint of surprising disappointment as he extended his muscular arms, reaching to grab Daru.

Being a mere F-tier sword skill, Somersault Slash's cooldown was far shorter compared to Havoc Rush and Azure Swordfall.

The Sunblade King had already seen this attack multiple times.

But strangely, Daru didn't panic and was even smiling.

Lyon soon understood why.

His enemy wasn't using his somersault skill and was only jumping normally!

Before the boss's hand-like paw could touch his opponent's ankle, a lethal golden ring cut all of his fingers, leaving only a "stepping platform" in the form of his palm.

Daru landed on it after the first sword projectile passed and jumped once more in a frog-like motion, dodging the other eight golden rings as he turned into an azure sword and descended onto Lyon like a comet.

Now unable to grip the handle of his longsword with two hands, the Sunblade King's block became less precise.

But Lyon had a trick up his sleeve.

His eyes narrowed as he looked directly at Daru's eyes, trying to learn through them what body part the human bladeborn planned to pierce through.

"The heart!"

The Sunblade King decided to trade blows with his opponent instead, stabbing at him.

It didn't matter to him who would deal more damage, as Daru's hitpoints would be snuffed out with a single, half-decent hit from him.

But to his surprise…

"Haha..you bastard…you even realized…"

The position of his sword couldn't be farther, as his opponent was actually going for his left leg, severing it completely.

[- 1,000!]

Two sword mark manifestations appeared above the stumbling Lyon's head, but with his remaining stamina, it only served as a debuff instead, further increasing the rate at which his energy was sapped by his body.

The field boss fell on his butt.

Daru, upon landing on the ground, quickly turned and finished the motion of Azure Swordfall with another blue crescent, cleanly landing on the spent king's back.

"Aghhkk…f*ck, that hurts…but if this is what it takes…" Lyon cursed as another damage value floated above his head:

[-850!]

"W-Watch out!!" exclaimed Moonpiercer from the sides.

But Daru was fully aware and didn't need her warning, somersaulting to dodge the lethal golden rings that finally dissipated after being stuck on Lyon's tough body for more than a second without so much as a glance at them.

Another set of damage values floated up:

[-250!]

[-110]

[-120]

…

With the tenth and final value of [-250!] from Somersault Slash, the Sunblade King's hitpoints were now down to a pitiful 340.

Daru's landing wasn't so graceful this time.

However, he didn't pay it too much attention, quickly rushing in to finish his opponent off.

His lungs were burning, and his legs felt like lead, but he still ran as fast as he could, ignoring his body's protests as the excitement of not the victory but of fully grasping another sword skill coursed through his body.

"You're worthy of your title, Lyon! I'll remember you like my brother, Bob…" Daru praised with a bittersweet tone.

He truly enjoyed fighting the king of the Sunblade Savannah.

"I'll send you off with a parting gift of being the first one to witness a new skill of mine!"

The moment Daru finished his words, he sped up, turning into a blur.

He then jumped and barrel rolled in the air—the most perfect and graceful of his attempts, and slashed downward, turning into a tiny red tornado mid-air.

[Congratulations! You've learned the sword skill: [Tornado Strike(D)]!]

In the next moment, Lyon felt his skull crack.

[-450!]

"Hahaha! What an honor," he laughed, his cold expression from the start of the battle replaced by a relieved smile. "But seriously, thanks, whoever you crazy bastard are. See you around."

Those were the final words of the Sunblade Lion King as he scattered to the four winds in the form of red cubic particles, his passing accompanied by one final, regal roar that reverberated through the entire Savannah, prompting all bladeborns there to subconsciously look in his direction.

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