Chapter 132: Killing Intent, Whether Burning or Still

Chapter 132: Burning or Calm Killing Intent

Venigo grinned slightly. His figure suddenly vanished from where he stood.

Almost simultaneously, a greatsword slammed into the spot Venigo had occupied. Accompanied by a puff of smoke, Venigo reappeared silently before the wielder of the greatsword, dropping to one knee and slashing at his opponent's knees.

"Ninpō: Haze-Slash!"

"I hate tin cans," Venigo grumbled.

The Haze-Slash could only shower the Ultimate Knight’s knees with a flurry of sparks, leaving deep gashes in the armor but failing to reach the vitals protected by layers of steel. Venigo immediately retreated with a backflip, slamming his hand onto the ground as he did so.

"Ninpō: Explosive Flame Dragon!"

A leaping dragon of fire slammed into the Ultimate Knight, sending plumes of flame scattering everywhere. Under the cover of the blinding fire, Venigo once again activated his Shadow Clone technique.

Shida descended from the air with a shrill laugh. She dove into the midst of the squire knights, her Killing Intent Wave running rampant. With a sudden burst of flames, a massive column of fire erupted, sweeping outward and shoving three squire knights into the nearby Ultimate Knight.

"Messatsu-Gō-Hadō!"

"Interesting," Venigo remarked.

A female warlord noticed Shida’s activity. Chanting a spell, she gathered a massive orb of blue mist between her palms, which rapidly froze, scattering countless ice crystals like raindrops toward Shida.

Just as the ice crystals were released, the female warlord let out a sudden, half-choked scream. A blade had silently emerged from her chest.

Piercing through defensive magic, shattering elemental robes, and mercilessly skewering her heart to claim her life—had they forgotten that on the battlefield, there was a man known as the Shogunate’s greatest ninja, Hattori Hanzō?

"So, that’s how assassination works..." Sona, nearby, nodded to herself before dissolving back into the shadows.

A second later, she appeared silently behind a mage and slit his throat with her dagger.

"Fear me, mortals!" Hani’s soft voice rang out through the crowd. The squire knights lunging toward her stiffened, hesitating for a fraction of a second. That hesitation was all it took for the Big Cat to leap from the darkness, claws and fangs bared, knocking the squires to the ground.

"Ha! Light bestowed by my Master, coalesce into my arrows and strike down the wicked!" Hani chanted casually, waving her small fingers and firing bolts of light at the enemies closest to her.

She had little to worry about. Both the Little Wolf Princess and Sherry were nearby, ready to provide support, and the Big Cat perfectly embodied the role of a personal bodyguard. Although many enemies tried to rush Hani, they were, without exception, intercepted and knocked down by the Big Cat.

As for magic, Hani was unconcerned. The full set of leather armor she wore, crafted from the scales of a Tiger-Dragon, was the bane of all mages, significantly dampening the damage caused by magic—though it did, of course, interfere with her own spellcasting.

However, Hani was not a mage, and there were no pure spellcasters on her side, so this interference had no effect.

On Venigo’s side, with Iro’s reinforcements, he abandoned the Ultimate Knight, focusing instead on using Iro as a shield while ambushing the other mages. The Ultimate Knight possessed astonishing strength, but against Iro’s magnetic storm currents, he had to defend with all his might, lest he be reduced to ash in an instant.

His greatsword was also a grave threat to Iro. Thus, both sides were cautious. In fact, if not for Venigo’s proximity, the greatsword-wielding knight would have risked trading his life for Iro’s.

But he could not do so.

The knight felt instinctively that if he tried, the black-clad, masked youth would unleash some devastating technique to kill him outright.

Iro, however, cared little for such things. He unleashed his electrical currents recklessly, making full use of the Thundercloud Mark I’s immense power.

His defense was equally reliable; his heavy armor could not be pierced by ordinary weapons, and seeing the violent currents capable of annihilating plate armor in an instant, no one dared to engage him in close combat. Most of the attacks Iro received came from mages.

Unfortunately, the Thundercloud Mark I had been designed with insulation, heat resistance, and fireproofing in mind. Those powerful spells had little effect on the armor, and the electrical attacks were completely useless.

While Iro drew the attention of most of the enemies, Venigo and Sona competed to strike at the mages. In the blink of an eye, more than half of the warlords had fallen.

Sona’s floating movement was soundless, and she was an expert in stealth. She would often appear silently behind an enemy, delivering a fatal strike before they even knew death had arrived.

Her dagger was sharp, thin, and designed entirely for one-hit kills. Even against squire knights in plate armor, Sona found ways to exploit the gaps, sliding her poisoned blade into the chinks.

In stark contrast was Sophie’s sword.

Sophie held off an Ultimate Knight and two squire knights single-handedly. Though she retreated step by step under the enemy's pressure, she maintained a flawless defense, drawing the trio away to the side.

Venigo noticed Sophie and let out a sharp whistle, signaling Shida to assist.

Shida didn't hesitate, unleashing a rain of purple-red fireballs, showing no concern for accidental injury to Sophie.

"Messatsu-Gō-Zankū!"

Venigo sighed and activated "Ninpō: Haze-Heaven-Dance," descending from the sky to strike the squire knight in front of Sophie. The blow was predictably blocked, but Venigo used the momentum to bounce off and land right in front of Sophie.

He grabbed her hand and retreated at high speed.

The enemies naturally wouldn’t let them escape easily. The two squire knights tried to dodge the Messatsu-Gō-Zankū, while the Ultimate Knight, relying on his full-body enchanted armor, intended to tank the attack and pin Sophie and Venigo down.

He almost succeeded.

But Venigo was too fast. And as he sprinted away with Sophie, he still had time to pull two small spheres from his belt and toss them at the Ultimate Knight.

The spheres burst against the knight’s armor, scattering small iron beads across the ground. These beads slowed him down.

If he ran too fast, he would likely slip. And if a knight wearing half a ton of full-plate armor were to slip...

At that moment, the rain of purple-red fireballs descended, the majority striking the Ultimate Knight.

The fireballs, infused with Killing Intent Wave, clearly exceeded the armor’s defensive capabilities. They left over a dozen scorch marks on the suit, and the smell of roasting meat wafted from within. The Ultimate Knight flew into a rage; he swung his sword and shouted, a pale flame erupting from the blade.

He was going all out!

Venigo merely sneered. Watching his opponent charge forward with the flaming greatsword, he beckoned with his hand.

This contemptuous gesture only fueled the knight's fury. He roared, accelerated, and swung his blade.

But at that moment, Venigo vanished. Meeting the Ultimate Knight head-on was Sophie.

"Forty-Eight Style: Quake-Pole!"

As the blades clashed, several impacts rang out in rapid succession. Sophie’s sword would strike the greatsword and deflect, only to be brought back by her strength to strike again. This peculiar method of force application skillfully deflected the knight's massive strength, causing his wrists to ache from the counter-vibrations.

The heavy greatsword and his rigid, unyielding gauntlets only added to the burden on his wrists.

"Ninpō: Explosive Flame Dragon!"

A roaring flame dragon appeared behind the Ultimate Knight, leaping onto his back and erupting into a sky-high pillar of fire. Shida appeared behind him at the same time, drawing the flames Venigo had unleashed, laughing as she reached out, spun, and soared into the sky.

"Killing Intent: Dragon-God Fist!"

As Shida rose, the eerie flames followed, swirling and raging, tearing through everything in their path, burning it to ash and smoke.

The Ultimate Knight? His armor could not fully negate the damage from the flames. When Shida’s fire dissipated, he was charred black.

Venigo appeared silently behind him and pressed a hand against his back.

"Ultimate Technique: Heavenly Demon Annihilation!"

More fire, and another violent, rotating pillar of flame shot into the sky. This time, the Ultimate Knight could not escape. His armor had reached its limit, and under Venigo’s furious assault, it melted, the molten metal flowing through the pores and over the skin of the knight, igniting his body.

In mere moments, the once-mighty Ultimate Knight was nothing but a charred corpse.

BOOM!

At almost the same moment, the warlord leader’s rampant magic also spiraled out of control. His flames, like a tsunami, engulfed Iro and Sherry. When the fire cleared, Iro’s Thundercloud Mark I magnetic armor was charred black, but Iro was clearly still alive.

The Thundercloud Mark I had been designed with fireproofing on par with high-quality flame-protection robes. It possessed a thick layer of asbestos and an outer shell of Thunder Lizard scales, comparable to mithril chainmail.

As for Sherry, she was skilled in manipulating ice and snow. When the wave of fire hit, she had converted all the water elements she could gather into a sphere of water to protect herself from the heat.

Though she was scorched and dizzy, she was uninjured.

Everyone could see that the warlord leader was the greatest threat.

Thus, Sona immediately drifted behind the leader, carefully thrusting her dagger.

Unfortunately, the warlord leader was a true warlord.

He would not be taken down so easily!