Chapter 226: How Can We Even Fight This?

Chapter 226: Chapter 226: How Can We Even Fight This?

The blur of the spear descended upon the girl like an inescapable net.

The sound of clashing weapons rang out continuously!

And amidst this torrential storm of spear thrusts,

Elvira displayed a level of Combat Skills that could only be described as terrifying.

Or rather, it was the terrifying Talent that had earned her the recognition of the Royal Family’s Legendary Sword Saint.

[Talent Information Analysis: Intuition: Currently not fully awakened. This Talent grants terrifying combat intuition, allowing its possessor to clearly see the most advantageous path of action in any battle. They are immune to all hidden traps and sneak attacks and can ignore all enemy feints and false moves.]

’What a terrifying Talent.’

Lance marveled inwardly as the text appeared on the panel.

This meant that as long as the girl’s stamina held out and her agility could keep pace with the fight,

she would never expose an opening in a head-on battle.

At this moment, in Elvira’s eyes, all of Lance’s attack trajectories had become clearly visible lines.

She simply didn’t fall for the misleading feints mixed into Lance’s spear techniques.

With each swing, she used the Holy Sword in her hand to precisely intercept Lance’s black spear shaft, sealing off every deadly line of attack.

However, every successful defense required her to muster all her strength to resist.

A translucent phantom of heavy armor had slowly materialized around her body.

And on the outermost layer of this phantom armor, an Ethereal Energy Shield shimmering with a crimson glow had also formed.

[Skill Specialization Analysis: Crimson Crowned Armor: This Specialization’s defense level automatically adjusts based on the user’s Professional Class. It currently provides protection equivalent to a piece of high-quality Ordinary Light Armor. Grants a mandatory +2 bonus to base torso Armor and immunity to piercing damage from all ordinary arrows.]

[Professional Exclusive Specialization Analysis - Crimson Radiance Domain: Forms a spherical Ethereal Force Field in front of the body that deflects attacks. When the host is in a "defensive stance," all physical and Spell damage taken from the front is mandatorily reduced by 10%. After each successful block, excess Energy is converted into one stack of an Oath Mark (up to a maximum of three). When the host consumes the marks to counter-attack, their weapon gains a 50% damage bonus.]

Watching his opponent reveal three defensive Specializations in quick succession,

Lance’s mind raced, and he quickly deduced the core structure of his opponent’s combat system.

This was undoubtedly a system built around a core tactic of defense and a one-hit-kill counter-attack.

But just looking at the 50% counter-attack damage bonus from the Crimson Radiance Domain, while considerable, was not enough to be the absolute core of a one-hit-kill.

She definitely still had a trump card up her sleeve that could exponentially multiply her counter-attack damage.

Considering her identity as a Red Dragon Descendant, Lance had a good guess.

That trump card was most likely her Source Material’s effect.

They must have ways to detect Source Material before one chooses a Profession, allowing them to train people around their Source Material from the very beginning.

As expected of a descendant who inherited the Red Dragon Bloodline.

This combat system’s structure was truly perfect. Especially when paired with that freakish Intuition Talent and this series of layered defensive Specializations, her defense was basically impregnable.

And to maintain the normal operation of this system, one must have stamina far beyond that of an ordinary person.

Lance was certain that, at least in the Level 1-5 range of Low-Level Professional Levels, it would be difficult for any Adventurer to forcibly break through this turtle-shell-like defense.

Including Lance, who had currently activated his Frenzied Attack mode.

Although he had absolute dominance on the battlefield, he was indeed unable to completely break through her defenses in a short amount of time.

However, this wasn’t an unsolvable deadlock.

Lance stared at the red Energy Shield and suddenly let out a soft laugh.

Because on the other side, Elvira’s heart was filling with a growing sense of panic.

In fact, all of Lance’s tactical deductions just now had been extremely accurate.

The deadliest core killing move of her defensive counter-attack system was indeed her Source Material’s effect.

[Source Material Analysis: Reverse Scale Counter: During combat, for every 10% of health lost, Armor penetration automatically increases by 10%. Upon executing a "Perfect Parry/Block," Dragon’s Reverse Scale is triggered. The next attack is a guaranteed critical hit, and the probability of shattering the enemy’s weapon is greatly increased.]

The standard for a "Perfect Block" was that the opponent’s attack landed on her defense without causing any substantial negative effects.

Normally, within Elvira’s tight defensive system, achieving this standard would have been very easy.

All she had to do was combine it with the Light Attribute Trait of her Ether Energy and the damage-enhancing effect of the Crimson Radiance Domain’s marks.

Seizing just one opportunity to counter-attack would be enough to unleash devastating power.

But now...

Elvira watched in despair as with every clash of their weapons, a bizarre energy of interweaving silver and red coated his spear shaft.

That energy was like high-temperature magma. Each impact would create a shower of dazzling sparks, and the scattered energy clung to her defensive shield like maggots on a corpse.

The Ethereal Force Field formed by her Crimson Radiance Domain on the outermost layer was being rapidly weakened and disintegrated at a visible rate under his relentless bombardment.

The searing heat wave was even starting to wash over her cheeks.

And it was precisely this nauseating Energy Trait, with its searing heat and defense-melting properties,

that prevented any of her blocks from being judged as a "Perfect Block" by her Source Material!

Without being able to achieve a Perfect Block, her trump card of a critical counter-attack was useless.

Furthermore, Elvira could sorrowfully feel that her opponent’s physical attributes—whether it was the agility of his spear thrusts or the oppressive Power of his attacks—were all superior to her own.

The most terrifying thing was...

As she continued to defend, beads of sweat as large as beans rolled down Elvira’s forehead, stinging as they ran into her eyes.

The Red Dragon Bloodline had clearly granted her abundant stamina, several times that of an ordinary person, as well as an astonishingly fast recovery rate in battle.

But now, to her horror, she discovered that under the repeated heavy impacts, her stamina was already more than halfway depleted.

She had to grit her teeth and strain to defend against his every blow, and even more, from the start of the battle until now, the force of his strikes hadn’t weakened in the slightest.

’Teacher...’

’If I’m the Royal Family’s once-in-a-century genius...’

’...then what kind of monster is this man who’s been completely overwhelming me?’

Lance’s freakish performance, like that of a perpetual motion machine, finally tore an unhealable fissure in the confidence Elvira had built up since her childhood in the Royal Capital.

"BANG!"

With a dull shattering sound,

the girl’s outermost layer, her Crimson Radiance Domain, finally succumbed to the corrosion of the high heat and completely disintegrated.

Having lost the protection of the Force Field,

she now had to directly face the scalding Ether Energy on the spear’s tip, as well as the unbearable heat in the air from the evaporating lake water.

"Huff... huff..."

Elvira gasped for breath, her chest heaving violently.

She didn’t know why, but under the strange high temperature generated by his Ether Energy, her own usually active Ether Energy recovery rate had begun to slow down. Even the feeling of weakness from stamina drain was multiplying.

’Does his silver-red energy also have an extremely rare Healing Ban Effect?’

’How am I supposed to fight this?!’

A desperate scream echoed in the young woman’s mind.

’I can’t just keep taking these hits passively. I have to find a chance to counter-attack immediately.’

She watched the tireless figure before her, like a perpetual motion machine, once again raising his Heavy Spear to smash down.

She bit the tip of her tongue, using the pain to jolt her nerves, and instantly activated the Oath Marks she had accumulated.

The Holy Sword in her hand erupted with an extremely blinding light.

CLANG!

Using this burst of power, she used all her strength to parry Lance’s next powerful, heavy blow.

"I’m giving it all back to you!"

Elvira pinpointed the brief opening as Lance’s momentum from the last strike faded and before he could fully generate power for the next.

[Oath Mark] stacked with [Glorious Linked Slash]!

The young woman gripped her sword with both hands, transforming into a dazzling streak of golden light. With unstoppable momentum, she brought her sword down viciously toward Lance’s head!

Faced with this desperate, all-or-nothing counter-attack,

not only did Lance’s face show no sign of panic, but a triumphant smile flashed in his eyes.

’Naive.’

’In this Star Realm, do you really think you’re the only one with a defensive counter-attack Specialization?’

[Specialty: Reverse Thunder Counter]: When you complete a Parry with your weapon, you accumulate Thunder Energy. This accumulated Thunder Energy can be released at any time, instantly unleashing a powerful "Electric Shock." In addition to dealing damage, it mandatorily applies a paralysis effect.