At this moment, the remaining mana in Zoe's body was down to only 4,000 points.
After all, every single skill in the battle just now had been a massive mana-drainer.
Furthermore, the Fruit State of the Canon of Withered Life could not be used consecutively.
The principle of the Fruit State was to squeeze out one's life potential in exchange for mana.
Squeezing it consecutively would extract a massive amount of life potential in a short period, leading to instant death.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Dragon Flame churned endlessly, rushing outward as it exploded.
Amidst agonizing wails, countless goblins were ignited into torches before they could even run.
The exploding Dragon Flame practically blossomed into a mushroom cloud over the battlefield.
Farther away, Evelyn and Flora, who had charged into the goblin army and were suppressing the goblin king under the siege of countless goblins, also noticed the commotion over here.
Under the coordination of the two, the goblin king was already covered in wounds.
However, the two did not kill the goblin king immediately, choosing instead to wait for the right opportunity.
“Did it succeed?”
Flora gasped for breath as she watched the commotion on the other side.
She did not have much mana or physical strength left.
Even someone as strong as Evelyn felt immense pressure.
Sensing a mortal threat, the goblin king was constantly summoning goblins to its side.
At this moment, not only could the two not kill the goblin king yet, they also had to deal with the endless stream of goblins.
Faced with their overwhelming numbers, even Evelyn, despite being a Sacred Circle Knight with staggering mana, could not withstand the attrition.
If not for the Slime Territory's monster alliance and the human army drawing away the vast majority of the goblins, the two would likely have been overwhelmed by the goblin horde as well.
“No, we cannot kill the goblin king until Jaden's death is confirmed.”
Evelyn thrust her longsword, closing the distance to slice off half of the goblin king's arm, before quickly retreating as a golden afterimage.
Just like Zoe, the goblin king possessed High-speed Regeneration, and its severed arm would regrow before long.
Thus, they had to sever it again and again.
If Zoe, a friend she had acknowledged, were to face the High-tier Jaden directly, he would surely be killed without being able to put up any resistance.
The gap between High-tier and Mid-tier was vast, far greater than the gap between Low-tier and Mid-tier.
Even a stat monster like Evelyn would not be able to hold out for long against the stats of a High-tier opponent.
“Gagu!!”
The goblin king let out a terrified roar. Next, the arm Evelyn had sliced off did not regenerate.
Instead, flesh and bone uncontrollably and frantically proliferated from the wound.
At that very moment, among the class-holding Low-tier Knights, knight after knight suddenly collapsed, dying without any warning.
“This is—oh no!”
Evelyn's pupils contracted. Ignoring the goblin king, she instantly transformed into a golden afterimage and rushed toward Zoe's direction.
Although Flora did not understand what was happening, she turned around without hesitation and followed close behind Evelyn.
The second after they turned around, the goblin king's body swelled and proliferated to its absolute limit before exploding like a mist of blood, dying completely.
Countless invisible and intangible soul energies surged out of the goblin king's shattered body, almost forming an afterimage visible to the naked eye in the air as they rushed toward Jaden, who was engulfed in the Dragon Flame.
“What's happening?!”
Flora quickly asked, dashing right behind Evelyn.
“That guy poisoned the souls of the knights who followed him.”
“Under these circumstances, he directly triggered the poison from afar, killing those knights.”
“This caused the poisoned souls to be directly absorbed by the goblin king.”
“And through this method, he killed the goblin king.”
Soul poison.
A deadly poison that could only be planted over years while the target was asleep, it could directly pollute the soul, leaving them without even a chance to enter hell.
He had actually inflicted such a heinous, deadly poison on the knights who loyally followed him.
Not only that, but Flora also thought of another possibility.
How many people had Jaden implanted this soul poison into, and how many of them would he use as hostages before facing a life-and-death crisis?
Flora looked at Evelyn, who was charging ahead.
Evelyn had undoubtedly thought of this as well, but she wouldn't hesitate for even a second.
A terrifying aura tore through the exploding Dragon Flame.
At the center of that aura, Jaden's power constantly surged, his entire body enveloped in a powerful, glowing radiance of strength.
Zoe had never felt such an aura before. Being the closest to it, he felt as if his body were about to be crushed.
[High-speed Regeneration Lv.4 (C-grade) proficiency +1. High-speed Regeneration Lv.4 (C-grade) proficiency is full, upgraded to High-speed Regeneration Lv.5 (C-grade)]
[High-speed Regeneration Lv.5 (C-grade) has affected your body: Constitution +5, Maximum Mana +500]
[High-speed Regeneration Lv.5 (C-grade)] Proficiency: Max (Thoroughly Mastered)
Through consecutive heavy injuries and regenerations in this life-and-death struggle, Zoe had finally filled the last bit of proficiency for High-speed Regeneration.
The life potential inside his body, which had been squeezed dry and temporarily exhausted, was replenished once more, like a fresh spring gushing forth.
Zoe instinctively checked himself.
High-speed Regeneration Lv.5 increased his lifespan by about 50 years. His lifespan, which had burned down to 86 years, rose back up to 136.
Just in time!
The vitality boosted by High-speed Regeneration Lv.5 was just enough to allow Zoe's depleted life potential to be squeezed once again.
Fruit State, activate!
Without hesitation, he squeezed his life potential once more, condensing a life fruit that he absorbed to convert into a massive amount of mana.
‘Don't you dare advance!’
Spray: Corrosive Torrent!
In one breath, Zoe spat out all of the corrosive gas in his body toward Jaden at the center!
The yellowish-green corrosive gas formed a river, spewing toward Jaden.
Dragon Flame: Accumulative Corrosive Burn!
Next, Zoe continued to spit out Dragon Flame, instantly igniting the yellowish-green corrosive stream!
Dragon Flame: Accumulative Corrosive Extinction Burn!
A Dragon Flame that seemed almost capable of swallowing the earth surged skyward.
The blistering heat and blazing light virtually warped the sky over this part of the battlefield!
The turf and soil of the earth were also melted into red-hot lava by the Dragon Flame.
This single strike directly consumed 7,000 points of Zoe's mana.
This was also the strongest attack Zoe could possibly unleash.
To unleash this strike, he had to use Acid Wave beforehand and then take the time to let the massive amount of acid produce enough corrosive gas.
Then, he had to swallow all the generated corrosive gas into his body to enter the Saturated Accumulative Corrosion state.
Only in this overflowing state could Zoe spit out this volume of corrosive gas, then ignite it with Dragon Flame to execute the Dragon Flame: Accumulative Corrosive Extinction Burn, which was even stronger than Dragon Flame: Accumulative Corrosive Burn.
The exploding Dragon Flame slowly died down.
Under such a powerful blow, only a charred corpse remained amidst the molten lava.
Was he killed?
Had he killed him before his advancement to High-tier?
Swish!
Having no time to shout a warning, Evelyn moved purely on instinct, pushing Flora aside.
And Evelyn's sword-wielding arm, along with her shoulder, was severed by a razor-sharp slash.
“Sacred Circle Knight, you ought to die here.”
“All three of you are destined for the same fate.”
Jaden was now bare-chested. The draconic aura and traits had been completely stripped from his body, and phantom red petals drifted around him.
“I have already severed the dragon carcass and advanced to a High-tier Rose Knight.”
What Zoe had destroyed with the Accumulative Corrosive Extinction Burn was merely the discarded dragon body he had shed at the moment of his advancement.
He looked down coldly at Evelyn, raising his knightly lance once more.
Sacred Circle Knights were too special—they were a legendary profession.
Her arrival had disrupted his plans, forcing him to resort to his backup scheme.
Be it the toxic gas in the city or the soul poison within his knights, the flaws were far too obvious, nowhere near as perfect as his original plan.
If Evelyn, the Sacred Circle Knight who stood for absolute justice, did not die, all of this could potentially be investigated and exposed.
Although he had already advanced to a High-tier Knight and could suppress these matters,
still, he was perfect. His path to the throne had to be perfect.
He would become a perfect hero here; he shouldn't have any of these blemishes.
He was supposed to be thanked and loved by the citizens afterward. He would investigate and punish the real culprit, repel the monsters, and become a hero, allowing bards to spread his heroic deeds throughout the entire Grand Duchy of Rose, and even to other countries and kingdoms.
Therefore, even the Sacred Circle Knight Evelyn had to die here!
“Now, die!”
As the knightly lance thrust downward, Evelyn, whose shoulder had been severed, quickly switched her longsword to her other hand to barely parry the blow.
However, the immense difference in strength still sent her flying. Her arm bones cracked, and her internal organs shifted from the impact.
Seeing this, Flora swung her enchanted longsword, drawing a brilliant trail of fire as she lunged at Jaden's flank.
“Flora Sable, your immaturity will bring the ultimate disaster upon your family.”
Looking at Flora, Jaden easily parried the enchanted slash. The enchanted fire left only a few drifting sparks in the air.
Next, the knightly lance lunged straight toward Flora's chest.
Tackle!
Zoe slammed in hard from the side with Tackle, barely deflecting the attack and saving Flora.
At the same time, he rapidly gathered mana.
Acid Wave!
Consuming 6,000 mana, Zoe spat out a massive wave of acid as high as a city wall, slamming it straight toward Jaden.
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