Chapter 204: Learn a New Sword Technique!
The candlelight on the wall flickered, reflecting the dark edge of the greatsword.
In the entrance passage of the ancient ruins, the captain of the black knight, who was repelled by Ryan, launched an attack again the next moment after stopping.
The wind was whistling, and the temperature in the air was rising little by little. At the same time, the greatsword in the hands of the black knight captain was also wrapped with circles of violent winds like a vortex of flames.
"Boom!"
Like a tornado passing through, the ground paved with hard stones was shattered under the sweep of the sword energy, and the captain of the black knight, who was wrapped in a huge momentum, had already burst in front of Ryan and slashed down with the greatsword.
The sword energy wind mixed with Mars was extremely hot.
A trace of excitement flashed in the depths of Ryan's eyes. He did not use any professional skills, but only used the [Greatsword·Black Slash] in his hand and his own [Physique] to compete with the captain of the black knight in pure swordsmanship.
If the swordsmanship of the Black Knight Captain is the embodiment of the heat of the wind, then Ryan's storm swordsmanship is the symbol of the violent wind.
The heat of the wind: the terrifying high temperature that accumulates and compresses during its high-speed flow gives the sword energy a different sharpness.
The violent wind: on the eve of the storm, it is gloomy and depressing, just like the process of accumulating power, and when the storm comes, the earth cracks and the sky collapses, unstoppable, just like the sword that explodes after the accumulation of power.
The collision of the greatswords exploded one after another in the air.
The excitement in Ryan's eyes became stronger and stronger.
Without using any professional skills and special skills, his strength is not much different from that of the Black Knight Captain, both of whom are at the peak of the "Brave Level".
Such a hearty greatsword collision is the first time he has learned swordsmanship so far.
In particular, the Black Knight Captain's attainments in greatsword swordsmanship are slightly stronger than his.
According to the introduction on the panel, the Black Knight Captain's strength after death is only one-hundredth of what it was. It is estimated that his swordsmanship level has dropped a lot due to the loss of memory of death, but even so, he still has the "Grandmaster" level. It is conceivable how strong the Black Knight Captain before his death would be.
At least it is also a hero level!
Even among the heroes, he is not considered a weakling.
It is normal to think that as the leader of the Black Knights who serve the "King of Heat, Lord Sin Flame", it is unlikely that he does not even have the strength of a hero level.
After all, the general strength of the Black Knights is at the Paladin level.
"Clang!"
After a collision, Ryan's arms exerted force violently and pushed the Black Knight Captain back more than ten meters.
After hundreds of collisions, Ryan has a sufficient understanding of the Black Knight Captain's swordsmanship.
But this is far from enough.
"Huh..."
Ryan exhaled lightly, and took the sword on his shoulder, and invisible transparent ripples spread out.
The Black Knight leader, who was about to continue the attack, seemed to be an insect trapped in amber, becoming extremely sluggish and almost stopped.
The silent and still world returned to normal as Ryan's "God-Splitting Sword" was slashed out.
The spiritual lightsaber, which was only a dozen meters long after special compression but more powerful, fell down, locked the head of the Black Knight leader and slashed at the target at high speed.
The pressure of the life-and-death crisis caused the scarlet in the Black Knight leader's eyes to suddenly surge, and the "scorching wind" surging around him also broke out. From a distance, it looked like a lava volcano about to erupt.
The Black Knight leader violently inserted the sword in his hand into the ground in front of him. The next moment, with his body as the center, the ground spread a red crack with a radius of more than ten meters.
A huge energy sword composed of lava rose from the ground and collided with the spiritual giant sword slashed by Ryan.
"Boom--"
The sound was strangely still for a moment, and then, a terrible shock wave, mixed with spirituality and Mars fragments, raged in all directions.
In the smoke and dust, a dark figure flew backwards hundreds of meters, and then landed with difficulty.
The already broken armor on the Black Knights' body was now covered with dense cracks, like a piece of porcelain that was about to break.
It half-knelt on the ground, supporting its body with the cracked sword in its hand.
Ryan stood in place, looking directly at the Black Knights' leader not far away.
In the end, he won this battle between swordsmanship.
But it was not because his swordsmanship was better than that of the Black Knights' leader, but because the Black Knights' leader's broken body and weapons could not support such an intense battle.
"What a pity..."
Ryan sighed in his heart, and the fighting spirit in his eyes gradually subsided.
If possible, he would rather fight with the Black Knights' leader in his prime, even if he would most likely lose.
But so what?
This is a place for traveling. Even if the traveling clone dies, there is still a chance to come back, but the chance to fight with the great sword master is very rare.
"Crack..."
At this time, the black knight leader who was half kneeling on the ground moved.
It slowly stood up from the ground. In the process, a large part of its black armor on the surface of its body broke apart and fell to the ground.
A strong blood color lit up in its pupils, and even formed a rising strange blood flame.
A strange and familiar wave that made people feel creepy emerged from the body of the black knight leader.
Ryan's eyes paused, and his expression became solemn.
"This feeling..."
"It's the power of the abyss!"
Ryan was not unfamiliar with the "Power of the Abyss". Monsters such as the Cursed Poison Frog, which lived in the Poison Swamp Forest, were all contaminated by the "Power of the Abyss" and naturally had fluctuations in their bodies.
But compared to the Black Knight Captain in front of him, the Abyss Power in those monsters was more than an order of magnitude weaker.
But why did the Black Knight Captain, who was so severely contaminated by the Power of the Abyss, not have an "instant death judgment" attached to his sword strike?
Ryan had a flash of doubt in his mind.
But the next second, a shocking scene happened.
The Black Knight Captain, who seemed to have entered the "second stage", loosened the sword in his hand. Not only that, he also raised his right hand and pierced his heart with the sharp tip of the arm armor on it.
The fatal injury caused the Black Knight Captain, who had just stood up, to half-kneel again.
Suicide?
Ryan's body paused.
He didn't understand what the Black Knight Captain was doing.
"Puff! Puff! Puff!"
One, two, three times...
The leader of the Black Knights kept repeating the action of piercing the heart. As his vitality faded, the scarlet light in his eyes gradually faded.
When the scarlet light completely dissipated, he also stopped the action in his hands.
At this moment, the fire of his soul was like a candle in the wind, and perhaps in the next second, it would be extinguished in the flowing breeze.
Under Ryan's gaze, the leader of the Black Knights stood up again. This process was slow and difficult, but in the end, the leader of the Black Knights still stood up straight.
His dark eye sockets looked at the big sword in Ryan's hand, as if he was remembering something, and then he slowly raised his right hand and hit it hard in front of his left heart.
The sound that should have been sonorous and powerful seemed extremely light because of the piercing wound in his heart.
The leader of the Black Knights maintained this action.
And the fire of his life and soul was completely extinguished at this moment.
A soul light ball as black as agate, with a faint red inside, was suspended in front of the heart of the Black Knight Leader.
The color of this soul was stronger and brighter than all the souls Ryan had seen before, with a unique texture.
Ryan walked forward and stopped in front of the body of the Black Knight Leader.
He looked at the knight who saluted in front of him with complicated eyes.
After witnessing the whole process, Ryan finally knew why the Black Knight Leader made such a strange move - it was preventing itself from being completely eroded by the "Power of the Abyss".
It would rather die completely than be eroded by the "Power of the Abyss".
"Black Knight..."
Ryan's eyes were dazed for a moment, and then he came back to his senses and looked at the unique soul in front of him.
——
[Heroic Soul of the Black Knight Captain (Remnant)]: The Black Knight Captain, who belongs to the Black Cult, is a deformed soul with great power. As a former heroic existence, he died because of the "Power of the Abyss". It is also because of the "Power of the Abyss" that he can wander in the world with his remaining body after his death. However, his firm mind makes the Black Knight Captain unwilling to completely become a servant of the "Power of the Abyss". For this reason, he is willing to completely perish from this world.
The Black Knights wandering in the world used to serve the "Original Cinder King".
The king who followed the "Wind Heat" was also burned, and since then he has turned into ashes and continues to wander in the world.
At the last moment of his life, the Black Knight Captain saw the shadow of his former teammates. He didn't know why this happened, but... teammates, I give you everything I have!
There are two ways to use this soul:
First, you can get a small amount of [Soul Crystal Core] after crushing it, and you can also extract its true power through "Furnace Refining".
Secondly, it can consume all the power of this soul and condense it into a unique sword art inheritance crystal. After using the inheritance crystal, you can obtain the inheritance of [Scorching Sword Art]. The higher the user's great sword art attainments, the more complete the inheritance will be.
——
Looking at the introduction in front of him, Ryan's eyes were unprecedentedly bright.
This is the first time he has seen a unique soul with two ways of use, or is this a function that only "hero-level" souls have?
It is not difficult to understand.
It is not easy for a weak soul to retain some power. Only a strong and tenacious soul can retain complete memory.
Looking at the soul in his hand, Ryan admired the spirit and will of the leader of the Black Knights on the one hand, and on the other hand, he was caught in a dilemma.
If you use it directly, you can get a lot of experience points. Now, with the massive experience bar at level 20, it is still a matter of whether it can be upgraded. It is better to say that the possibility of direct upgrade is very slim.
After all, this group of hero souls has the word "remnant" at the end, and too much power has been lost. If it is a truly complete hero soul, Ryan feels that it should be enough to fill his remaining 97% of experience points.
And if you don't want experience points, you can obtain the inheritance of [Scorching Sword Art] at the cost of consuming all the power of this soul.
After hesitating for a moment, Ryan still made a decision-choose the second method of use.
After all, if it cannot be upgraded, there is no big difference between using it and not using it. Moreover, experience points are not scarce for Ryan. He will encounter more and stronger enemies in the future, but the inheritance of [Scorching Sword Art] may not be available again.
Having made a decision, Ryan no longer hesitated.
The soul flame in his hand, which was red in the black, suddenly burned up, like the embers that burned out the last bit of glory.
When the light faded, a red diamond crystal appeared in Ryan's hand.
——
[[Scorching Flame Sword Art] Inheritance Crystal]: Burning like the wind, scorching like hell, when the wind rolls up the lava, the sky and the earth change color. To use this crystal, at least "mastery level" great sword sword art is required. The higher the level of sword art, the more complete the inheritance obtained, and even some of the great sword perception of the leader of the Black Knights can be obtained. It takes 300w spiritual points to materialize it in the body.
Please note that after using this crystal, the user will enter the "deep perception" state, the duration is undetermined, please use it in a sufficiently safe environment.
ps: Scorching wind, burn everything.
——
"Scorching Flame Sword Art..."
Ryan's mouth showed joy, and he wished he could use this inheritance crystal immediately.
With his "Grandmaster" attainments in Storm Sword Art, the harvest must be considerable.
But unfortunately, using this inheritance crystal requires a long time and a safe environment, and such conditions cannot be met in the ancient ruins.
Therefore, he could only wait until the end of the journey and return to his body to inherit. As for the price of 300w spiritual value... To be honest, Ryan doesn't have much else now, but he has a lot of spiritual value.
A mere 300w, huh... It's still a bit painful to think about it.
After putting away the inheritance crystal, Ryan looked at the end of the passage.
In his perception, there was a wave related to the power of the abyss in the depths of the ancient ruins that frightened him.
"The entrance to the abyss..."
Ryan thought to himself, then took a step and went deeper along the passage.
An hour later, Ryan stood in front of a huge metal door.
The dark metal door, which was tens of meters high, was engraved with complicated and gorgeous patterns, forming a pattern of some kind of magic array.
However, due to the erosion of time, part of the patterns on the metal door had been worn out, and the magic array on it was invalid.
Along the way, Ryan didn't encounter a single monster. He estimated that they should all have been killed by the leader of the Black Knights.
The leader of the Black Knights, who would rather die than be completely eroded by the power of the abyss, hates the abyss. As a result, any abyss monster that appears in its sight will be ruthlessly slaughtered by it.
From this perspective, it is not difficult to understand why the ancient ruins are empty.
Standing in front of the gate, Ryan could feel the deep and profound terrifying power behind it.
Without hesitation, Ryan pressed his hands on the metal gate and began to exert force.
"Buzz buzz buzz -"
The vibration sounded, accompanied by dust flying in the air, and the dusty metal gate was pushed open to a gap large enough for ordinary people to pass through.