Chapter 274 Gaining The Upper Hand

Romstad’s eyes widened behind his golden frames. He stretched forth his hand in a bid to call Elisa back into his grasp, but there was nothing. Only dead silence met his failed attempt.

The silence was loud.

Then came the sound of gritting teeth.

Romstad was furious, and rightly so. Elisa had been his partner for centuries, even millennia. But this young man had come along, and in less than a few minutes, he had made the blade submit entirely to his will.

Romstad burned with rage, but then he raised his brows. He instantly realized that rage was not the way to solve a matter like this. He took a deep breath and steeled himself, refusing to allow his anger to push him over the edge.

“No matter…” Romstad said through clenched teeth, gripping his Dadao swords as tightly as possible. “It’s just one sword. I possess an entire arsenal.”

Just then, all the swords resting on the counter on the eastern side of the arena were simultaneously possessed by the same red aura that governed Elisa’s movements.

They all floated toward the constellation.

A man standing at seven feet and six inches, Romstad was much taller than Jacob. Albeit, the young man did not feel the slightest bit intimidated by him.

He was surrounded by dozens of blades, all floating in the air and whining with unrestrained bloodlust.

Jacob let out a sigh and held out his hand.

In one swift movement, Excalibur returned to him.

He already knew it was going to be a flurry of sword attacks, and it would help to have two swords working for him.

The swords in the air, numbering about twenty-two, all dashed toward him at lightning speed, aimed at different parts of his body.

Jacob moved quickly, faster than the human eye could perceive. He moved so rapidly that Romstad could only see afterimages of the young man.

Romstad followed suit.

Now, twenty-four swords were frantically attacking Jacob.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

The sound of metal colliding with metal echoed throughout the vast arena as both men attacked and parried multiple strikes, with Romstad doing most of the attacking.

On one swing, Jacob parried five swords aimed at slicing through his torso, knocking them to the side. He then jumped into the air to dodge another seven.

While there, he bent until his body was horizontal in the air. As the remaining ten swords lunged toward him, he quickly spun, parrying them all with both blades.

But it was far from over.

Romstad appeared, blade clenched between his teeth, bearing down on Jacob with a galactic-level slash, his eyes burning red with ferocity.

Jacob kicked his feet through the air and rolled across the ground, narrowly managing to evade the attack, which tore a massive hole through the southern end of the arena.

But, like an independent, self-regenerating being, the arena had already begun repairing itself rapidly.

Any attack, regardless of its scale, was permitted in this arena.

Nice.

Jacob smiled and finally decided to go on the offensive.

Using Romstad’s attacks against him, he unleashed refined versions of the techniques.

With a single thought, Jacob rendered the twenty-two swords under Romstad’s control useless.

He jumped into the air, took one step, then another, and another.

He was walking on air.

And just when he was about to strike Romstad, the young man teleported behind the Blade God, slicing upward with an attack that allowed him to execute two thousand slashes in a fraction of a second—a major upgrade to what Romstad could produce.

Romstad could only see flashes of silver as Jacob’s blades swung at him furiously.

The technique could be unleashed with either hand, which meant that, in practice, Jacob could unleash four thousand attacks in less than a second.

Romstad tried desperately to stand his ground, parrying the attacks with all his strength, but he ultimately caved under the extreme pressure.

He crossed his swords to block one more attack.

The impact sent him flying across the arena.

He crashed spine-first into the wall on the western end, creating a large, man-sized crater from the force of the impact.

Just as he opened one eye to look through his cracked lenses, Jacob appeared before him again, slashing down with both blades.

Romstad’s eyes widened.

He quickly rolled away from the wall, watching as Jacob’s blade edges connected with it, creating an even larger hole than the one he had made earlier.

Jacob kept the attacks coming, with Romstad barely able to follow.

The battle had changed hands.

What had begun as a dominant display from Romstad had quickly turned into a defensive battle, with him desperately trying to hold off the battle-crazed young man who was now attacking him with every single technique in his arsenal.

It did not take a blind person to recognize that the techniques Jacob was using were Romstad’s techniques. Most of them had been forged through hard-fought battles and years of training.

Romstad was left astonished.

How was this young man able to use his techniques—even the ones he had not yet shown—after a single glance and with no time to practice?

What was worse was that this young man was executing them to perfection.

No.

Not merely perfection.

He was executing them on a stronger scale than even Romstad could manage.

Romstad knew in that moment that his fear of Jacob was not unfounded.

This was truly a terrifying young man.

All his theories about him were true.

Jacob was more than fine without having a sponsor. As for Romstad, he would have to find a way out of this situation.

Surrender was never an option.

But fighting to the death was not an option either, as Jacob was still an active participant in the Tower’s ascension.

There was no need for killing in a battle like this.

Only a pure display of skill.

And Jacob had shown more than enough.

All Romstad needed was one counterattack.

But Jacob was too fast.

And he left zero openings.