D.I.O

Chapter 191

Boom!

“Ugh! Dang, that hurts.”

“Oho? You’re quite sturdy.”

After smashing Hanma to the ground, Sirius seemed surprised when the player resisted the attack relatively unscathed. Hanma’s body had been shoved into the ground like a nail being hammered, but he soon moved the surrounding earth and got out of the hole.

Crack.

However, Hanma could only endure one attack.

“Oh my god….”

The gathered users cried out when Hanma’s head collapsed in a manner similar to a boiled potato being smashed by a pestle.

“Hanma’s bones are strong enough to withstand a head-on sword qi strike, so for his head to just cave in like that….”

At that moment, the users’ confidence and willpower hit rock bottom; they realized that Sirius wasn’t merely a large, nimble opponent with great power. Every additional level resulted in an increasingly higher difference in power level, so users that were around Level 13 needed an innumerable amount of advantages to compete against a being at Level 18 or higher. In terms of this battle, the users needed at least ten times more people to even put up a fight.

Woong.

Then, the upper-level cavalry started to arrive.

“Ah, so annoying… another… oh? A high-level user?”

“Cruze!”

“… I see. He’s strong.”

“Arthur.”

“Hot damn, are we glad to see you two. I thought we’d be wiped out.”

Adol was standing at the forefront of the users with his shield held while the others formed a triangular formation behind him, and he sighed in relief. On the other hand, Sirius frowned heavily, having been relatively calm before the new players arrived. Of course, his eyes were locked on Arthur, the black-haired swordsman who was carrying Dustin, his draconic sword.

“Oh, you seem like a worthy opponent.”

The strong recognized the strong. Moreover, unlike Merlin, Arthur didn’t hide his aura and power level.

“Hmm. Adol, how many users have fallen?”

“Three. Ohje, Hanma, and Jeros. We estimate that he’s at Level 18 but probably higher, so be careful.”

As Adol answered in a respectful tone, Arthur smiled in embarrassment.

“Uh, Adol… I’m five years younger than you, so please speak freely.”

“Hahaha, but if I did that, I’d feel uncomfortable.”

The atmosphere suddenly became friendly and cordial. Arthur didn’t hang around much with the other users, but he was always courteous and considerate whenever he interacted with them. As this occurred, Sirius stepped forward, obviously not caring about their conversation. Sirius wasn’t fuming with rage, as he had no reason to be angry; from the start, he enjoyed fighting more than conversing, so he was actually pleased and looking forward to interacting with Arthur and Cruze.

Bam!

When Arthur’s draconic sword, Dustin, collided with Sirius’ fist, a huge aftershock reverberated and caused the ground to split like a cracking windshield. Up to this point, Arthur was the first user to properly respond to the Numbered’s attack.

“You’re quick. So, you want to fight based on speed, right?”

Flash!

A burst of light flashed out, and soon, Arthur’s Bursting Sword Light First Step, Thousand Light, covered Sirius’ body.

“Hahaha! Finally, a worthy opponent!”

Both of Sirius’ arms disappeared. To an observer, Sirius’ lack of visible arms might make it seem like they’d been cut off, but in reality, they were moving so fast that they weren’t visible to the naked eye.

“Be careful! What?!”

Whenever Arthur’s sword strikes collided with Sirius’ martial art moves, a gust of wind resulted. However, these bursts of wind weren’t just forceful; they were deadly enough to shatter boulders.

Ting!

Others would likely think that a tidal wave of light could be easily produced whenever there was a Flash, but in truth, Arthur created each stream of light with his sword qi. Of course, this didn’t mean that Arthur was swinging his sword a thousand times. With one cut, Arthur could send out anywhere from one to tens of sword qi strikes.

While in [Battle Mode], which was accelerated by thousands of times compared to his [Normal Mode], Arthur was unleashing his eight hundred and forty-second sword strike. On average, he emitted ten sword qi strikes with each swing. However, if he mixed concentrated power into one of his sword qi slashes, which was closer to a plane-like wall than a single-point attack, Arthur could whittle down the enemy with minor yet considerable blows within these ten strikes.

“Oh, how unique. You’re using a strange, novel technique, huh?”

And, with time accelerated by a hundredfold, Sirius spoke [Words]. Surprisingly, Sirius was moving at the same speed as Arthur and hitting the onslaught of sword qi attacks.

‘Nonsense. This doesn’t make sense.’

Arthur groaned. Of course, it wasn’t surprising that someone who had realized mana could deflect his sword qi attacks. However, it was unfathomable for someone to use their fists to hit these photons of light.

General sword qi was closer to a solid, and once one reached higher levels, the hardness was more akin to a liquid. Moreover, if a sword qi technique were sent out through internal energy, it would be similar to a gas, but that was the limit.

However, Arthur succeeded in creating an unheard-of photon-sized light and developed it into a technique that couldn’t be physically defended against. Wasn’t it absurd to think that fists could deflect sunlight?

Boom!

“Ugh!”

The waves of light that were rushing toward Sirius all disappeared. Suddenly, Arthur, standing roughly ten meters away from Sirius, frowned. As a god-like swordsman, Arthur had been attacking and defending with his sword qi strikes, but any observer could tell that he looked dismayed.

‘Clearly, I’m the one being pushed. I’m Level 19, yet… If I continue to fight at this pace, I’ll be defeated in 30 minutes.’

Arthur smiled bitterly as he took care of his inner wounds. He pretended to be calm, but the truth was Arthur felt helpless. To a certain point, he’d realized that he had hit a barrier, but Arthur had ignored that until now. He was constantly defeated when sparring with Lionel, the lord of Valiant Heavenly City, but Arthur made excuses by saying that his opponent was a monster-like being who was over Level 20.

Yet, now, Arthur knew the truth. Obviously, when considering the boundaries of a level, someone who had just leveled up was dramatically different than someone who was just about to reach that level. So, Sirius was beyond what Arthur could compete against. It was possible that if Arthur had met Sirius a week- no, a month ago, they could’ve fought on equal footing.

‘I’ve become weak.’

Arthur could only come to this one conclusion. He was in perfect condition, and there were no harmful curses or restrictions placed on him.

To put it bluntly, he was in a slump.

“Hey, do you think you can take a break in the middle of-”

Boom!

Sirius had stabilized his internal energy within the span of one breath, and he lunged at Arthur. Yet, at that moment, a thunderbolt fell and struck him, but Sirius stopped it.

“Wow, did you see that? He grabbed that lightning bolt with his bare hands and tore it to pieces!”

“Crazy, what kind of monster showdown is this!”

“Dang, I bet I can’t even beat Arthur’s summons!”

Adol was relatively far away from the action, and he held up his Tower Shield to defend against the aftershocks while the rest of the party hid behind him and groaned. It was Arthur’s pet, the black drake known as Toothless, that had fired the thunderbolt. Compared to other pets that only played an auxiliary role in battle, Toothless was capable of fighting most, if not all, users alone.

“Hahaha! Come on, keep attacking!”

A massive shockwave erupted around Sirius, who shouted with excitement. Arthur counterattacked with Toothless, but he was still being pushed back. However, Sirius, still smiling, also meticulously assessed the situation and was fully aware of where he stood.

‘This isn’t good. There are many enemies. Plus, this guy and that girl over there don’t seem to be pushovers.’

With a pinging sound, aura power began to rise from Sirius’ body as he grew a pair of wings and outstretched them.

Bam!

“Huh?!”

“Shit!”

Sirius flung himself in a completely unexpected direction; Arthur belatedly realized Sirius’ purpose and chased after him. However, Sirius’ speed was on a completely different level. While Arthur could fight him, he couldn’t keep up with Sirius’ movements since the latter specialized in agility.

Crack! Bam! Boom!

Ilyia had been hiding in the dark and instantly died after one shot. Though her stealth ability was extraordinary, it wasn’t enough to avoid Sirius’ seemingly omnipotent eyes. Next, Bruce fell. His Spirit Armor was unharmed, but like glass covered by a cloth, the terrifying impact of Sirius’ attack shattered his internal organs and skeletal structure.

“Ilyia! Bruce! Why didn’t you idiots hide yourselves better!”

Adol was the only one to successfully defend, and he groaned at the piercing blow to his shoulder as he took a few steps back. Scorpion and Lancelot had been hiding behind Adol, thus escaping the massacre. They noticed that one of the magic stones installed on Adol’s shield handle had lost its light. Scorpion and Lancelot soon asked, “Are you okay, Adol?”

“I’m only able to block one of those blows. That single attack has left me in this terrible state.”

However, the fact that Adol could receive and stand up against Sirius was surprising. As exemplified by Bruce and his Spirit Armor, Sirius’ attack didn’t just transfer a physical shock but contained a compilation of Penetrating Power-type attacks that penetrated past an opponent’s defenses. Since Adol had survived, it could be stated that he was one of the best tanks in DIO.

Boom!

Naturally, after Sirius handled these three additional users, he rolled on the ground after sustaining a devastating blow. Although Sirius was powerful, Arthur was not someone to be ignored. Moreover, Arthur wasn’t alone.

“Hmph! Did you think I’d just stand by and watch you do whatever you want?”

Boom!

“Ack! Attacking me with toys!”

“Hmph! Then taste the wrath of my toys!!”

Cruze had boarded a Gigas made of her solidified aura power and fired artillery shells with her right hand. The armor-piercing bullets pierced Sirius’ defense, inflicting immense damage.

“Ten Deaths.”

Arthur’s Bursting Sword Light Third Step, which consisted of ten sword strikes, exploded out. Compared to the Thousand Lights that emitted a thousand sword attacks, this current attack seemed modest, but the energy contained in each hit was incomparable to those of Thousand Lights. And above all else, the sword strikes were exceedingly quick.

Whoosh!

“Damn it!”

Sirius avoided and blocked eight sword strikes, but the last two hit, leaving a deep wound on his chest. He could mend his wounds with his outstanding regenerative power, but even if he did, the injuries were caused by swordsmanship strikes, so their effects would linger.

Flutter!

Sirius flapped his wings, and like a UFO, his body sped from a standstill and moved behind Adol’s group. Cruze groaned, having been preparing to block a counterattack.

“Gosh, you’re so stubborn! Even in this situation, you’re aiming for those guys!”

Startled by Sirius’ unexpected movement, Cruze fired a bombardment of shells at Sirius, and at the same time, Arthur rushed at Sirius and spewed out more sword qi strikes. However, though the bullets hit his side and one wing was cut off, Sirius successfully made his way to Adol and the others.

Crack!josei

“Ugh… ugh. What absurd… ugh?”

Adol vomited blood. Arthur and Cruze reacted and launched their attacks at Sirius when he attacked, but Sirius’ speed wasn’t something that Adol could recognize and respond to. Up until now, Adol had been able to block Sirius’ attack with his shield because of the directness of the attack, but this time around, Sirius had maneuvered to his flank, so Adol failed.

“All… the glorious power of Dari….”

Adol raised his divine power. Once he called upon Darian’s name, great divine power came down upon him. Considering that Adol didn’t normally use divine power, the amount seemed relatively large. In truth, this was one of Adol’s trump cards.

“Too late, idiot.”

However, trump cards needed to be used at the appropriate times, and there were always limits to their effects.

If a situation could always be reversed every time someone revealed a trump card and shouted, ‘Fufu, actually, I have this trump card~!’, then what would be the point of developing abilities?