Regardless of how long they could keep struggling, it was not yet time for them to rest within the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
Cr-crack.
The faint sound of grinding stone reached their ears. Manfred and Weiss immediately turned their gazes toward the source of the noise.
The top of the stone pillar was a circular platform that looked as if it had been cleanly sliced off.
They were currently positioned at one end of the platform, right next to the stone steps that spiraled up from the bottom.
The sound had come from the exact opposite side, at the other end of the platform.
Looking across, they could see a strange stone gate.
The gate was held up by two rough stone pillars, appearing ancient and weathered.
It wasn't connected to any building; it stood there alone, a plain and unremarkable structure that looked as if it had been haphazardly piled together from rocks.
In the center, behind the stone gate, sat a red copper treasure chest.
The chest was inlaid with beautiful rubies, and its edges were engraved with a ring of silver runes, making it look different from any chest Manfred and his team had encountered before.
On either side of the stone gate stood two statues.
The statues wore heavy stone armor and were built with imposing, powerful frames.
The statue on the left held a steel greatsword in its left hand and a massive red copper shield in its right. A protruding horn grew from the shield, shimmering with a sharp luster.
The statue on the right held a giant bow as tall as a man, with a quiver full of spear-like arrows slung across its back.
The sound they had just heard came from these two statues.
There was no need for further thought.
They were gargoyles.
With no time for rest, Weiss quickly raised his shield and stepped forward. Manfred gripped his broadsword and stood at a slight angle, the two of them instinctively positioning themselves to protect the heavily injured Rhine.
The sword-and-shield gargoyle initiated a charge, while the archer gargoyle raised its giant bow and drew back a string.
The arrow wasn't aimed at Weiss or Manfred; it was aimed directly at the wounded Rhine behind them.
Though monsters lacked intelligence, they possessed an innately keen combat intuition.
This instinct-driven style of fighting was often more perceptive than that of a sapient human during the heat of battle.
The spear-like arrow was released with staggering force, causing the air to erupt in a sharp crack as it flew.
Weiss’s body reacted before his mind did, raising his shield without hesitation to block the path to Rhine.
The massive impact exploded against the shield with a deafening boom.
Meanwhile, Manfred closed the distance from the side with extreme speed.
The sword-and-shield gargoyle raised its shield and crashed toward Manfred, swinging its door-sized greatsword with a single hand, tearing through the air!
Manfred’s sprinting figure didn't stop. His footwork shifted slightly just as the blade's power was about to strike.
In an instant, his body seemed to split in two like a phantom.
The image left behind was instantly shattered by the blow.
This was the result of using master-level skill and incredible speed to dodge an attack at the last second, accelerating instantaneously so that the enemy couldn't immediately adjust for a follow-up strike.
To achieve this, one needed not only the skill to find the flaw in an enemy’s rhythm but also powerful leg muscles capable of such explosive acceleration and adjustment.
By now, Manfred had already bypassed the sword-and-shield gargoyle, appearing behind it as if he had teleported.
From Weiss’s perspective, it looked as if Manfred had been smashed to pieces only to instantly reform behind the monster.
As expected, the sword-and-shield gargoyle couldn't adjust in time.
However, that wasn't the full extent of the move!
Manfred flicked his blade lightly.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Three narrow gashes were suddenly carved into the gargoyle’s chest!
Manfred had clearly used his agile footwork to flash behind the gargoyle, so how could he have struck its chest?
The direction of those three Sword Qi slashes had come from the afterimage Manfred had left behind!
Indeed, in that split second, Manfred hadn't just used his technique and physical burst to dodge the attack.
He had also hidden three Sword Qi slashes within the afterimage at his original position.
The three arcs of Sword Qi had flown out under the cover of the phantom image, dealing damage from an angle the enemy never expected.
Ever since his fight with the elven swordsman Nephalian, Manfred had realized his own shortcomings.
He had been constantly contemplating and seeking a breakthrough in his technique.
When he met Nephalian again in the mine, Manfred had asked the elven swordsman for guidance regarding his techniques.
By combining his own style with Nephalian’s Mist-Piercing Sword technique, he had created this move.
It was called Sudden Step Sword Image.
The purpose of the Sudden Step Sword Image wasn't just to deal damage, but to allow him to rapidly switch targets in combat and strike at the most valuable objective!
Having used the Sudden Step Sword Image to bypass the first gargoyle, Manfred didn't slow down for a second, charging straight for the archer gargoyle.
The sword-and-shield gargoyle’s attack had missed, and it had been struck by three Sword Qi slashes.
Not only was its stance broken, but it was also unable to recover its posture immediately, leaving it momentarily frozen and unable to provide backup.
The archer gargoyle noticed Manfred rushing toward it and quickly pivoted its fully drawn bow to aim at him.
The string snapped!
A second arrow shot out with incredible speed!
The two were less than five paces apart; the arrow whistled past Manfred’s head at point-blank range!
Manfred didn't waver, his feet executing the Sudden Step Sword Image once more!
The iron-forged arrow shot through, instantly piercing Manfred’s afterimage and embedding itself deep into the stone floor!
Two arcs of Sword Qi flew out from the punctured phantom.
With his current level of mastery, Manfred could hide at most three Sword Qi slashes within the image. Under less-than-ideal conditions, he could only manage two.
Faced with the incoming Sword Qi, the archer gargoyle swung its massive bow to parry the slashes.
At the same time, its gaze rapidly searched for the vanished Manfred.
By then, Manfred had already used that burst of explosive power to reach the archer gargoyle’s back.
His broadsword, wreathed in Sword Qi, slashed ruthlessly toward the gargoyle’s head.
Swish!
A silver arc of Sword Qi flashed past, and the archer gargoyle’s head was cleanly severed.
It was a fleshless gargoyle.
Manfred didn't believe for a second that a creature like this would have the same weaknesses as a human.
As the Sword Qi took off the head, it simultaneously shredded the gargoyle’s body.
Debris scattered along with the Sword Qi.
From within the cloud of rising dust, a greatsword came spinning toward Manfred!
The other gargoyle, using the visual cover created by the destruction of its companion, had unhesitatingly thrown its greatsword in a surprise attack!
The whirling blade shimmered with silver light.
Manfred caught the glint of silver through the shattered rock.
This time, he didn't use the Sudden Step Sword Image. Instead, he swung his Sword Qi to meet the attack head-on.
Rate on N.U.
