The moment he laid eyes on this rank-0 blood demon, Jiang Lin felt as if he were witnessing an endless mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, along with the countless souls of the dead trailing behind it.
Simultaneously, for some unknown reason, he felt a chill on his neck, as if he were seeing a vision of his own head being severed.
Cold sweat soaked his back. Jiang Lin gripped the seven-colored longsword in his hand as the 【Five Elements Shield】 surfaced on his body. He stared fixedly at the Shadow of Blood before him, as if facing a formidable enemy.
It was an unprecedented level of terror and power.
Moreover, his spatial ring was sealed, meaning he could only rely on his own strength to face this challenge.
All the magic potions he had prepared beforehand had been rendered useless.
Fortunately, he had chosen to raise all his attributes to their limits before attempting this challenge.
Otherwise, with his previous strength, there would have been absolutely no possibility of surviving under this terrifying blood demon.
His opponent's appearance had now become identical to his own.
He had an inexplicable premonition.
If he were killed by this blood demon, the consequences would likely be horrific.
The blood demon revealed a savage smile. A blade constructed from blood essence appeared in its hand as well. With a gentle swing, a massive crimson sword qi flew toward Jiang Lin.
At the same time, crimson chains suddenly extended from beneath Jiang Lin's feet, closing in on him from all directions.
'Are these my sword qi and 【Chains of Holy Judgment】?'
Jiang Lin was shocked.
However, he didn't waste any time. He kicked off the ground, his body shifting sideways rapidly. Simultaneously, several streaks of seven-colored sword qi flew toward his opponent.
The violent crimson sword qi collided with the seven-colored sword qi, erupting into a shockwave of energy annihilation.
The crimson figure moved like a ghost, forcefully passing through the explosion's zone and charging straight toward Jiang Lin.
Jiang Lin hadn't yet figured out the opponent's other abilities, so he didn't dare be careless. He also retreated, mana circuits surfacing on his legs as he used 【Light-speed Dash】, though he moved backward.
Meanwhile, Jiang Lin's mind raced.
'Many of its abilities are similar to mine, and its name is "Shadow of Blood." Does that mean it can mimic all my skills like a shadow?'
'Does it have other skills that I haven't mastered yet?'
Suddenly, Jiang Lin's eyes narrowed. After the first wave of sword qi exploded, a shimmering crimson rune was actually flying toward him.
'Isn't this my best Strengthening Technique?!'
'How is this guy using it too??!!'
'Can it even mimic my specific applications of the Strengthening Technique?'
Jiang Lin was utterly shocked.
Fortunately, after his research and study, he had adjusted his shield skill to block all types of skills. It wasn't like the default setting of many shield skills that allowed buffing skills to pass through.
The crimson Strengthening Technique was incredibly fast, even more exaggerated than the Shadow of Blood's own movement speed.
But Jiang Lin possessed the 【Chronowalker's Evil Eye】, so he dodged it in advance.
Looking at his opponent, Jiang Lin really couldn't understand why it had such an ability.
Whether it was the 【Chains of Holy Judgment】, the seven-colored sword qi, or the negative Strengthening Technique, the opponent had initiated them first rather than releasing them after seeing him use them.
How did it feel like he was the one acting as the opponent's shadow?
"What exactly are you?" Jiang Lin asked while slashing out seven-colored sword qi.
However, the opponent had no intention of answering, whether it was because it didn't like to speak or simply couldn't.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The crimson sword qi and seven-colored sword qi continuously collided, energy surging and kicking up violent waves.
The opponent constantly tried to close the distance, but Jiang Lin wasn't sure about its other abilities, so he kept kiting and wearing it down.
The power of the opponent's crimson sword qi was extremely similar to his own seven-colored sword qi, so for a time, the battle between the two was completely even.
Seeing that this war of attrition wasn't a viable solution—though Jiang Lin's mana pool was terrifying, it wasn't something he could squander indefinitely.
If the opponent's mana was even higher than his, he would truly be out of options.
Thus, he added another color to the seven-colored longsword. The light element merged into it, changing the seven colors to eight, though the longsword became unstable.
With a powerful swing, a thick streak of eight-colored sword qi surged toward the opponent.
Seeing the eight-colored sword qi flying toward it, the opponent also retreated abruptly, no longer chasing Jiang Lin. It swung its crimson sword qi to meet the eight-colored strike.
Because it was unstable, the eight-colored sword qi exploded directly. The massive energy impact sent the Shadow of Blood, which was closer to the blast, flying backward.
Seeing this, Jiang Lin's brow furrowed slightly.
The opponent seemed to truly understand his abilities quite well.
At this moment, Jiang Lin recalled the scene he had seen before—the opponent sitting on a throne surrounded by tens of thousands of crimson claw-wings.
'When I summoned those crimson claw-wings for experiments, did it obtain my information by reading their memories?'
Looking at the opponent who looked almost identical to him, save for the blood-red color scheme, Jiang Lin thought of another bold possibility.
'Could it be that the opponent directly disguised itself as a crimson claw-wing and then replaced the summoned one during a summoning to make contact with me early?'
'And at that time, did the opponent complete its copy of me?'
If that were the case, this Shadow of Blood was a bit too terrifying.
"Can you speak?" Jiang Lin asked again.
The Shadow of Blood ignored him, and crimson chains appeared beneath Jiang Lin's feet.
Jiang Lin jumped abruptly, escaping the strangling range of the crimson chains, and once again swung a large amount of eight-colored sword qi at the Shadow of Blood.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The brilliantly colored explosions almost created light pollution.
With Jiang Lin consuming a large amount of his mana, the center of the explosions continuously pushed closer to the Shadow of Blood.
"When exactly did you learn my skills?" Jiang Lin asked.
However, the Shadow of Blood remained silent, giving him the cold shoulder just like Little Black.
For a while, the battle fell into a deadlock.
Jiang Lin now felt as if he were facing a level 20 king-tier creature.
There was no significant gap between the two sides' attack power, defense levels, or reaction speeds.
To defeat the opponent, he either had to find a skill that could counter it or possess overwhelming combat experience.
Otherwise, they could only wear each other down and see who would hold out longer.
Jiang Lin couldn't find a way to break the situation for the time being. The opponent knew everything he did, and the seven-colored sword qi he had developed was comparable in power to the crimson sword qi.
The eight-colored sword qi was also unable to crush the crimson sword qi because too many elements made it unstable.
So, for now, they could only continue this mutual attrition.
The impacts of energy annihilation and the thundering sound of skill collisions rang out continuously. Jiang Lin had already adjusted the eight-colored sword qi back to seven colors.
Otherwise, the cost of continuously using the eight-colored sword qi was too high, making it difficult to sustain a long battle.
Thus, neither could do anything to the other as they constantly used skills to wear each other down from a distance.
Inside the blood-colored coliseum, the seven-colored sword qi and crimson sword qi clashed and shattered time and again, plowing crisscrossing scorch marks into the already pitted and battle-damaged ground.
Sweat mixed with blood slid down from his forehead, and his breathing had taken on a hint of burning pain.
Although the 【Five Elements Shield】 on Jiang Lin's body hadn't been broken yet, the constant impact of such violent energy had caused him significant injury.
Using various skills for a long time had consumed ninety percent of his mental power; he was already at his wit's end.
And the opponent's attacks had also weakened slightly, appearing to have suffered significant consumption just like him.
This at least gave Jiang Lin a glimmer of hope.
If the opponent still acted as if nothing were wrong, he would have truly been discouraged.
Seeing that Jiang Lin's attacks had finally weakened, the opponent seized the opportunity to dash forward repeatedly, charging at Jiang Lin.
Jiang Lin gritted his teeth, activating 【Super-speed Perception】 while staring intently at the opponent's movements with his 【Chronowalker's Evil Eye】, preparing to escape at any moment.
'If you want a melee, then a melee it is!'
'As a paladin, I am a melee class!!'
Jiang Lin took a deep breath, seeing the phantom of a second into the future.
The Shadow of Blood approached Jiang Lin at high speed, the blood sword in its hand letting out a whistle that tore through the air as it pierced directly toward Jiang Lin's heart!
Jiang Lin wanted to dodge, but the phantom changed infinitely until he could no longer see clearly.
'It seems I can't dodge it; I can only fight it head-on!'
The seven-colored longsword in his hand transformed back into an eight-colored longsword. The blade let out a high-pitched hum as it carried an aura of indomitable will, accurately striking the tip of the incoming blood sword!
Clang—!!!
The tips of the two swords, both containing terrifying energy, collided with precision!
Jiang Lin's muscles tensed, his powerful physical strength coordinated and poured into this single strike!
There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a sharp metallic clash that could pierce an ordinary person's eardrums.
Space seemed to freeze at this moment. Centered on the contact point of the two swords, a visible ripple of energy—a mix of eight colors and crimson blood—surged outward.
Simultaneously, the shield outside Jiang Lin's body shattered. Because his attention was entirely focused on the clash, he couldn't spare any more focus to release other skills, causing blood to spill from the corner of his mouth from the shock. At the same time, several small wounds appeared on his body.
However, the opponent wasn't faring well either. After being hit by the energy vibration, the crimson shield on its body also shattered, and the blood shadow trembled slightly.
At the same time, a massive recoil traveled up the sword's blade. Jiang Lin felt his arm go numb, his palm split open, and blood flowed down the hilt.
But Jiang Lin didn't dare be the least bit careless. He stared at the opponent's movements with his 【Chronowalker's Evil Eye】, checking for its next attack intention.
He saw the opponent twist the sword's blade again, a savage smile appearing on its face as it began to swing the crimson longsword like a whirlwind, hacking at Jiang Lin like a madman.
Jiang Lin also pushed his vision to the limit, capturing the angles of the opponent's strikes as he held his ground.
Clang! Clang! Clang—!!!
The metallic ring of colliding blades rang out continuously. If an ordinary person were standing nearby, they would have collapsed from being unable to bear the ear-piercing sound of friction.
Blood blossoms continuously erupted on Jiang Lin's body, some from the aftershocks of the sword qi, others from his body breaking down under the immense force.
The more blood blossoms erupted on him, the more excited the opponent became, and its movements grew even more violent.
The opponent's strength remained similar to Jiang Lin's, with neither able to gain the upper hand. Jiang Lin's palms and the webbing of his thumbs were already a bloody mess, but his focus was exceptionally concentrated. He didn't dare spare any thought to use magic to heal himself.
Although his body constantly sent waves of pain as if it were being torn apart, he remained attentive to the opponent's attack intervals and flaws.
As the opponent grew more and more excited, its swordsmanship began to gradually deform, and more and more openings appeared.
'Now... I just need to seize one opportunity!'
Soon, nearly three minutes passed.
These were undoubtedly the longest 180 seconds of Jiang Lin's life.
He had to endure physical pain while defending against the blood demon's attacks and watching for flaws.
By now, Jiang Lin was covered in blood, most of it his own.
However, he still kept his eyes wide open, not even blinking as he watched the opponent's every move. Even when blood from his forehead flowed into his eyes, he could only use a small amount of mana to divert it.
Finally, the opponent's long-deformed swordsmanship revealed a significant opening!
Jiang Lin seized the chance. At the moment when its old force had just spent and the new had yet to be born, the eight-colored longsword—carrying an aura that could shred anything—bypassed the opponent's defense and slashed toward the right side of its body.
With a determined momentum, Jiang Lin's longsword accurately captured that fleeting flaw and hacked fiercely into the right half of the Shadow of Blood's body!
Pfft!
The sensation of tearing through flesh as expected came through, but Jiang Lin's pupils suddenly contracted in the next second.
The Shadow of Blood hadn't dodged or defended at all!
At the same moment it was struck by Jiang Lin's sword, its own longsword—condensed purely from crimson energy—also seized the opening created by Jiang Lin's attack. With a suicidal madness, it hacked down toward the left side of Jiang Lin's body!
'It wants to trade injuries?!'
Having summoned blood demons so many times, Jiang Lin naturally knew how amazing their recovery abilities were.
However, their recovery required flesh and blood as support.
Without consuming flesh and blood, they would lose their recovery ability after a few times.
But the opponent's idea was naturally within Jiang Lin's expectations.
So, he completely ignored the opponent's attack, as if giving up on defense entirely, intending to use the eight-colored longsword to slice the opponent's body open from top to bottom.
The opponent didn't defy Jiang Lin's expectations either. When Jiang Lin carved the first large gash into its body, flesh began to grow wildly within the wound, trying to reconnect the severed body.
However, the 【Seven Star Eight-pointed Slash】 contained within Jiang Lin's blade was also madly shredding its flesh. The violent energy was tearing its body apart, preventing it from recovering.
At this moment, the opponent's crimson longsword also landed on Jiang Lin's shoulder. The sharp sword light even began to cause Jiang Lin's skin to feel immense pain; before it even touched his body, it caused his flesh to start breaking down, with blood spurting from wounds. His already shredded clothes were scraped away by the sharp sword light until only a few scraps of fabric remained.
Seeing that its attack was about to succeed and that Jiang Lin was powerless to pull back his strike, leaving him to be cleaved in two, the savage smile on the Shadow of Blood's face grew more and more arrogant.
It was then that Jiang Lin's eyes, which had been staring fixedly at it, finally revealed a trace of human emotion. They transformed from a state of extreme, icy calm into what could be described as absolute madness!
As if the prey he had been hunting for a long time had finally taken the bait, Jiang Lin also revealed a savage and arrogant smile.
"Go to hell for me!!"
In the next instant, the eight-colored longsword, which condensed all his remaining mana and mental power, violently exploded!
The massive light produced by the explosion instantly swallowed both of them!!
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