CHAPTER 240: OVERPOWERED FALLEN STAR (PART 4)

When Harin first attacked Azrael using a dagger made of condensed darkness, and Azrael counterattacked but failed because Harin’s body turned into a mass of black smoke and disappeared, Azrael noticed something at that moment.

Although Harin tried to conceal it, Azrael still sensed deep fluctuations of cosmic energy emanating from Harin’s body, and those fluctuations were not small.

This meant that the skill Harin used to turn himself into a mass of darkness to protect himself and disappear was extremely costly.

At the very least, it required around one hundred cosmic energy points to activate.

Normally, Harin wouldn’t have used such a costly skill so easily. But because he was caught completely off guard when his attack missed and Azrael immediately counterattacked, he panicked and used it instinctively to save himself.

Typically, a level 45 warrior possesses around 200 to 300 cosmic energy points, depending on their situation.

Losing one hundred points instantly was no small matter, especially before the battle had even truly begun.

Although Azrael had sensed the deep fluctuations of cosmic energy, he wasn’t entirely certain whether it was because of the skill Harin used to evade his attack.

After all, everything had happened very quickly, leaving him with little time to confirm anything.

It was also possible that the skill Harin used was from an artifact, similar to Azrael’s own Eclipse Mantle.

To verify his suspicion, Azrael did not hesitate to push the Wings of Wind to their limit and attacked Harin with Fallen Star from the beginning.

Faced with such a sudden and deadly assault, Harin was forced to use the same escape skill again, and when Azrael once more felt those powerful fluctuations of cosmic energy, he became certain that it was not an artifact-based ability, it was Harin’s own skill, one that consumed an enormous amount of energy.

Even before the battle began, Azrael had thought of multiple strategies to handle the battle.

Among all of them, the simplest way to deal with Harin was to make him run out of cosmic energy.

Once he confirmed that Harin’s escape technique was self-cast and not artifact-based, and that it consumed a vast amount of energy, Azrael decided to pursue that approach.

When Harin used his skill a second time to evade Azrael’s attack and disappear again, Azrael deliberately unleashed hundreds of astral-infused wind blades to locate him rather than allowing Elyara to expose him using her light-elemental powers.

Even though Harin had already used his escape technique twice, there was a chance he still had other tricks left and Azrael did not want to give him any opportunity to retaliate or recover.

Thus, he used his astral attribute to instill genuine fear in him.

When Harin saw countless wind blades imbued with astral energy surging toward him, his first instinct wasn’t to counterattack, it was to defend himself by any means necessary.

Having already experienced the terrifying nature of the astral attribute, which inflicted direct damage to the soul, Harin knew that one wrong move could severely injure his soul.

As a result, without a second thought, the moment he saw the hundreds of wind blades approaching, he immediately used his remaining cosmic energy to form a darkness armor around himself to defend.

By this time, most of his energy had already been depleted, and as he continued to defend himself against hundreds of wind blades, he realized that the situation was rapidly turning against him.

So instead of continuing to fight, the moment the barrage of wind blades ceased, Harin used the last of his cosmic energy to activate his stealth skill and attempt an escape.

But Azrael, who had anticipated every move since the beginning, already knew what he would do next.

Thus, the instant Harin activated his stealth skill, Azrael calmly ordered Elyara to use her light element.

When Harin’s figure was revealed under the radiant illumination and Azrael saw him running toward the stairs, his suspicion that Harin was almost out of cosmic energy confirmed.

From the very start, once Azrael discovered the high cost of Harin’s technique, he had led him in a way that gradually drained all of his energy without Harin even realizing it.

It was as if Azrael had been toying with him from the beginning.

So when he saw Harin trying to flee, Azrael sneered coldly and finally decided to end it.

In an instant, he appeared behind the escaping Harin using the Wings of Wind.

As he raised Fallen Star and slashed downward, the epic-grade defensive prop Harin wore activated automatically, forming a shimmering barrier around him.

Azrael’s expression did not change in the slightest as he watched the barrier form and just before Fallen Star’s blade made contact, he activated its ability—The World.

The weight of Fallen Star increased in proportion to Azrael’s Strength stat.

Currently, his Strength had already surpassed 200 points, and as he invoked The World to amplify the sword’s weight fourfold, its total mass exceeded ten thousand kilograms.

Combined with Azrael’s momentum, the sword’s passive ability Sword Domination, which increased strike power by 60%, and Azrael’s monstrous physical strength, the descending blade was nothing short of an embodiment of destruction.

Even within the protective barrier, Harin could feel death breathing down his neck and his expression twisted in pure horror as he stared at the falling sword.

The instant the blade touched the barrier—

Pop!

It burst like a soap bubble, as if it weren’t a peak epic-level defense but something made of fragile glass.

"No!!!" Harin screamed in terror, raising both hands instinctively to protect himself.

Under the effects of True Focus, Azrael’s perception slowed to a crawl and he watched the moment the sword made contact with Harin, his hands twisted unnaturally under the sheer pressure of the strike, skin rippling, bones splintering, and blood spraying violently.

A moment later, the overwhelming force of Fallen Star traveled through his arms, causing both of them to explode into clouds of crimson mist.

Harin’s class was Assassin, specialized in speed and lethal precision.

Aside from his Agility and Cosmic Energy, which slightly exceeded 300 points, his Stamina and Strength stats ranged between 225 and 250.

With those attributes, even as a level 45 epic-ranked warrior, he stood no chance of enduring such a devastating strike without the aid of cosmic energy.

What deepened Harin’s despair even more was that his greatest advantage—Agility, was rendered completely useless against Azrael, who possessed the Wings of Wind Essentia Art.

A look of sheer agony crossed Harin’s face as both his arms burst into mist.

But before he could even utter a sound, Fallen Star’s blade continued its descent and struck the ground beneath him.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

A cataclysmic explosion resounded through the entire underground chamber, echoing across several kilometers of the Rovila Forest.

Rumble!

The entire chamber shook violently, and the space the security forces had stabilized using Earth Power users nearly collapsed.

Elyara and the others were thrown to the ground, their faces paling in shock as they saw the entire floor sink several meters and a massive crater now occupied nearly the entire chamber.

Due to the recoil of the impact when the Fallen Star struck the ground, Azrael felt a piercing pain surge through his arm, his insides trembling from the backlash.

A trickle of blood ran down the corner of his lips, and his eyes twitched slightly, but he forced himself to remain composed.

Meanwhile, due to the shock waves, Harin’s body was hurled across the chamber, smashing into the wall with such force that the entire structure quaked.

Almost every bone in his body was reduced to dust from the collision, and he instantly lost consciousness.

Azrael took a deep breath to steady himself and conceal the internal injuries he had sustained from his own recklessness.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he walked calmly toward Harin’s broken body.

Ralph and the other security officers, who had also been knocked to the ground, watched Azrael move with eyes filled with terror.

Even though they knew what he was about to do, none of them dared to intervene.

Within a second, Azrael stood before Harin, raising his sword to deliver the final blow.

But just as he was about to strike, an overwhelming pressure flooded the entire underground chamber, freezing everyone in place.

Elyara and Luo Bingqing’s eyelids jumped violently as they realized they couldn’t move their bodies at all.

Azrael, too, felt the same invisible restraint, and his sword stopped mere centimeters from Harin’s face.

"I think that’s enough."

A calm voice suddenly echoed through the chamber.

Though Azrael couldn’t move his body, he shifted his eyes slightly toward the source of the voice and saw a middle-aged man standing there with a composed expression, staring at him indifferently.

’A Legend-level warrior...’ Azrael immediately sensed the overwhelming aura radiating from the man..... But—

Woosh!

The next second, a crimson aura erupted around Azrael as Tyrant’s Intent flared from his body, shattering all the restraints binding him.

The Legend-ranked warrior’s eyes widened in disbelief at the sudden emergence of such a terrifying presence, but before he could react—

Swish!

The halted sword descended, its blade piercing through Harin’s head, ending his life in an instant.

Azrael slowly turned his gaze toward the Legend-ranked warrior, his expression utterly calm.

"Were you saying something?" He asked coldly, staring at him with the same indifferent look the man had shown him moments earlier.