Dimensional Descent

Leonel shoved off a massive slab of building off of him. Finally, it seemed that his eyes showed a bit of clarity, likely due to the thumping pain in his arm currently. 

His right hand wasn’t a mass of bloody flesh as one might expect, but it wasn’t that far off either. His bones managed to survive the ordeal with a few fractures, but the skin on his knuckles was completely obliterated. It could be said that for a normal human, this arm could be considered useless for the foreseeable future. But Leonel was able to ignore it somewhat at his current stage. 

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the luxury of dwelling on this for any decent period of time because Lamorak was already charging toward him, his lumbering figure causing the ground to shake. 

Leonel’s expression turned cold. 

Someone was playing with his mind. He wasn’t one to lose his temper easily. Something like flying into a rage like he just had wasn’t something he would do under normal circumstances. 

By now, Leonel was certain that his actions were related to Aliard. It seemed that the magic system of this Mythological Zone was even more troublesome to deal with than he had thought originally. 

But, now that he had recovered, he wouldn’t allow his mind to be affected as easily again. 

’Since you want to fight, let’s fight.’

Leonel’s palm flipped, causing his pointed spear to appear in his hand.

He had already decided. His priority was running from this place, but he had to find an opportunity. It took time to sink into the earth and escape. Now that he thought about it, the best chance was while he was still beneath the pile of rubble, but his mind had still been clouded then. 

’I’ll use this battle to scale the strength of these knights and probe what other abilities their so-called Three Star Magi have. Then, I’ll get sent flying again and use that chance to escape through the earth.’

After Leonel came to this conclusion, he chose to hide some of his strength. Since his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was exposed, there was no helping it. But, he could still keep his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor a secret. LIke this, he would still have some trump cards in the future. 

Lamorak’s expression grew several levels more serious when he saw Leonel’s spear appear. At the same time, he became even more certain that Leonel had something to hide. 

He too was able to take out his weapon from thin air, but this wasn’t something a supposed commoner should be able to do. It was becoming more and more obvious that Leonel had something to hide. 

However, he was still feeling confident. He had seen through Leonel’s strength after their first exchange. Aside from a strong physical defense, his strength was a few notches below his own and his combat sense was even weaker. At least… that was what he thought initially. 

After Leonel’s eyes regained their calm, he took a forceful step forward that sent his battle intent soaring through the skies. It was to the point that even Lamorak himself was somewhat suppressed. 

Leonel’s spear pierced forward thrice in quick succession, sending curving arcs of wind toward the hulking knight. 

Lamorak shattered them all with a forceful swing of his spikeless mace, but his steps were still paused, allowing Leonel to take another forceful step forward, sending out several more piercing strikes. 

Leonel knew that his spear would snap after just a single exchange with Lamorak’s mace, so how could he allow such a thing to happen. 

He continuously cast [Call of the Wind] toward Lamorak’s vitals, his cold calculating gaze seeing two, three, even four steps ahead. 

It was only at that moment that the crowd came to a shocking realization of what was happening. One of the 12 Knight of the Round Table was being… suppressed?

Only Leonel and Lamorak knew that this wasn’t exactly the case. At most, Leonel was like an annoying fly, constantly pestering the latter and keeping him from being able to exert his full strength. 

HONG!

Leonel took another step forward. At that moment, Lamorak felt his arm sink. Due to the sudden change, he couldn’t react in time and one of Leonel’s piercing strikes found its way through the chinks in his armor, causing the hulking brute to finally bleed. 

’The gravity field is only 1.1x, but it’s enough for a sudden change of pace…’

Leonel’s eyes narrowed. 

While Lamorak was unable to use his full strength, neither was Leonel. Not only was he holding back some trump cards, but he also had to continuously monitor Aliard. However, he was so focused on protecting his life that he didn’t even notice the utter silence that had fallen over the inner city. They couldn’t believe their eyes. 

Still, despite the fact he had been injured, Lamorak didn’t seem to care. In fact, he seemed completely unaffected. 

”It seems I will have to use my true strength. I’ve underestimated you.”

Lamorak suddenly stopped defending completely. Or rather, he stopped moving entirely. Yet, even when Leonel sent out more [Call of Wind] strikes, trying to keep his distance, they completely shattered before even entering a one meter radius of the hulking knight. 

Lamorak’s Force began to flicker with a wild brilliance, condensing into a red, raging flame. Yet, Leonel could tell that this wasn’t Fire Elemental Force. It was something completely different. It didn’t have any heat to it, nor did the temperature rise. 

His Force took a tangible form, fluttering around his body and causing an oppressive pressure to flood over the battlefield. 

BANG!

The stone beneath Lamorak’s feet shattered as he shot forward. 

Leonel shot back, his brow slightly furrowed. But, no matter how many strikes he sent forward, he couldn’t break through the barrier around Lamorak at all. 

At that moment, Leonel’s steps gained an enigmatic rhythm to them. He seemed to lead himself into a corner, only to just barely slip out and flip the positions of both himself and Lamorak. 

His light steps were in complete opposition to Lamorak’s own heavy stomps, making their battle seem like one of a giant versus an ant. 

”General Star?” 

Lamorak remained expressionless. He had already heard Jarin say that Leonel had such a thing. But.. Didn’t he as well? In fact, compared to Leonel’s own, it was like comparing a grown man to a child just learning to walk. The difference was even more exaggerated since Leonel’s Runes made his body heavier than he was equipped to handle. 

Just when Leonel wanted to trick Lamorak with his steps again, he found a swinging mace he couldn’t avoid at all in his way. In fact, to an outside observer, it seemed as though he had walked into it of his own volition. 

BANG!