The Elven Cultivator

Chapter 354: Chapter 326: Then I’ll Kill You

The clash between Anton, Uerk, and Zul was over in a flash.

It happened so fast that the high-ranking Beastmen still fighting fiercely amidst the ruins didn’t even have time to react.

By the time they sensed something was wrong, they turned to find their chief Shaman had been killed and their Chief had been severely wounded.

If Ska hadn’t intervened at the last moment to block that fatal sword light, the Chief of the Steel Mane Tribe would have likely followed in Zul’s footsteps.

All of them were at the peak of the Legendary Tier, but Anton had faced two such experts by himself. He hadn’t just held his own—in an incredibly short time, he’d killed one and wounded the other. His strength was far beyond what anyone had predicted.

For a moment, the high-ranking Beastmen who were still fighting were, without exception, utterly shocked.

It was just a momentary lapse in concentration, but on the battlefield, that was enough to be fatal.

A Beastman elder was just half a beat too slow, and a War Axe wreathed in lightning swept in from his side, its blade precisely slicing into the gap in his armor between his shoulder blade and neck.

Lightning surged from the axe blade into the wound, scorching muscle and blood vessels alike and forcing a piercing scream from his lips.

The Beastman elder shrieked and retreated rapidly, but Romance was faster. She flashed to his side like a bolt of lightning, reversed her axe, and swept it horizontally.

A head flew high into the air, spun twice, and then crashed heavily into the ruins.

On the other side, the Great Elder’s thorny vines had already silently wrapped around another high-ranking Beastman’s ankles from underground.

By the time the latter noticed something was wrong, the vines, as thick as a child’s arm, had already climbed up his calves to his waist. Their tips pierced through the gaps in his armor, growing and spreading rapidly.

His movements froze. Before he could break free, he felt a sharp, intense pain in his chest. The tips of the thorny vines had precisely pierced his heart.

In the blink of an eye, two high-ranking Beastmen had fallen before their own lines.

The faces of the remaining high-ranking Beastmen changed drastically. No longer daring to be distracted, they all broke away from their opponents and retreated swiftly, gathering behind Ska in an instant and staring at the enemy across from them, still shaken.

The upper echelons of the Silver Moon Race also stopped fighting one by one and gathered to stand behind Anton.

Separated by a field of shattered bricks and lingering dust, the two sides once again found themselves in a standoff.

Ska glanced at the disheveled high-ranking Beastmen behind him, then his gaze fell upon Uerk.

The latter was clutching his wound, his face pale. He was gritting his teeth, refusing to fall, but his appearance no longer held any of the victorious arrogance he had shown before.

Ska frowned, a flash of disappointment and contempt in his eyes, but he said nothing and turned back to face Anton.

"This ends now, Anton." Ska’s expression was indifferent, but his gaze was as sharp as a sword. "The Steel Mane Tribe has lost this battle. If you withdraw your forces now, the Steel Mane Tribe will offer suitable war reparations."

Uerk’s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. He looked like he wanted to say something but held back, ultimately just gritting his teeth and remaining silent.

It was true; they had lost today.

But as long as they could preserve their core strength, they could get their revenge sooner or later.

Anton gave Ska a deep look and said calmly, "Is the Blood Claw Race inserting themselves into this war as well?"

He had long since noticed Byron beside Ska and had naturally guessed the origin of this Wolf Race Saint.

Ska narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice, "The Steel Mane Tribe are friends of the Blood Claw Race. We will not stand by and watch something happen to our friends."

It was a casual sentence, but it made the air around them suddenly freeze.

The upper echelons of the Silver Moon Race all frowned, their gazes hostile.

But Ska seemed not to notice, his sharp gaze fixed solely on Anton.

’The Steel Mane Tribe is the Blood Claw Race’s key foothold in the eastern Dawn Continent. I absolutely cannot let the Silver Moon Race destroy them.’

Anton said coolly, "Is that the will of the Blood Claw Race? Or just your own?"

Upon hearing this, the faintest hint of a smile touched Ska’s lips, as if he had heard something amusing.

"And if it is just my will, what then?"

’He was a Saint, after all.’

’Among the highest echelon of combat power on the Dawn Continent.’

’Even if it was just his personal will, the vast majority of factions would have to treat it with caution.’

’And that naturally included the Silver Moon Race.’

’He refused to believe that a faction without even a single Saint-level expert would dare to defy him.’

Hearing this, all the Beastmen, including Uerk and Byron, breathed a collective sigh of relief.

’With Lord Ska here, no matter how arrogant the Silver Moon Race is, they won’t be able to cause any trouble.’

In the next moment, however, Anton’s voice shattered the sense of security that had just begun to form.

"In that case, if I kill you, I presume the Blood Claw Race won’t have anything to say about it."

As his words fell, everyone present was stunned.

Uerk, Byron, and the others stared at Anton, dumbfounded, wondering if they had misheard.

’What did Anton just say?’

’He’s going to kill Ska?’

’A Legendary Tier expert just said he was going to take down a Saint?’

’Even in a dream, things aren’t this ridiculous!’

’Does this guy even know what he’s saying?’

Even Ska’s constantly relaxed and composed expression finally showed a slight change.

A trace of astonishment entered his gaze as he looked at Anton.

’He’d never heard of a Legendary Tier expert who dared say something like that to a Saint’s face.’

After a moment of silence, Ska spoke slowly, a hint of coldness in his voice.

"Kill me?"

"You’ve got a lot of nerve. I just don’t know where you get your confidence."

The moment the last word left his lips, killing intent flashed in Ska’s eyes.

’Since the Silver Moon Race isn’t going to back down, then I’ll just kill their Clan Leader.’

’I’ll show them the consequences of offending the Blood Claw Race.’

But Anton was faster.

The two hundred fifty-six streams of Profound Gold Sword Light hovering above his head shot out like lightning, a golden torrent that swept across the sky toward Ska.

Ska’s face darkened completely.

’This arrogant Elf actually dared to attack first.’

A cold glint appeared in his eyes as he abruptly raised his hand. Curling his five fingers, the crimson threads wrapped around his fingertips suddenly expanded, forming an impenetrable blood curtain that shielded Uerk, Byron, and the others behind him.

The moment the sword light and the blood curtain collided, a dense, grating screech of metal on metal erupted.

Sparks flew like raindrops, illuminating the surrounding ruined buildings in flickering light.

But the blood curtain didn’t move an inch.

Ska then waved a hand, and the blood curtain suddenly exploded, reforming into hundreds upon thousands of blood threads as fine as hair. They shot toward Anton like lightning, leaving countless fine trails in the air.

Seeing this, the high-ranking members of both sides retreated, completely clearing out the area in the center of the battlefield.

No one else made a move. Everyone’s gaze was locked firmly on the two intersecting figures.

They knew very well that the outcome of this battle would be the true key to deciding how the situation would unfold.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The sword light and blood threads clashed densely in mid-air.

The seemingly delicate blood threads possessed a toughness and hardness far beyond ordinary imagination, not losing any ground in a direct clash with the sword light.

Ska’s expression was icy as he made a grasping motion with his five fingers.

The blood threads surrounding him suddenly contracted inward, then expanded and twisted outward as if given life. They stretched rapidly in the air, in the blink of an eye condensing into various bizarre creatures.

Lion heads, snake bodies, bat wings, scorpion tails... These creatures were twisted and monstrous. Each one was over a hundred meters tall, formed entirely from condensed dark-red blood. Their surfaces were covered in fine, blood-colored patterns, as if they were creatures that had been flayed and then reshaped.

They opened their massive maws and let out silent roars, lunging at Anton from all directions to kill him.

Anton’s expression remained unchanged as he flicked his sleeve.

A deep, mysterious Water Curtain spread out silently from around him, like flowing mercury or a descending night sky.

The Water Curtain rolled forward like the maw of a deep-sea leviathan, swallowing the charging beasts in one gulp.

Without the slightest struggle, the moment the beasts fell into the Beiming True Water, they were like flotsam dragged into an abyss by an unseen tide. They rapidly disintegrated and broke apart, reverting into wisps of blood threads that were then tightly bound by layers of the Water Curtain, unable to leak out in the slightest.

Ska’s brow furrowed slightly.

He could clearly feel that the blood threads he had released were being devoured and worn away by that water curtain, disappearing bit by bit like iron filings dropped into strong acid.

Before he could figure out what that water curtain was, Anton had already raised his other hand.

A reddish-gold cover flew from his palm, growing with the wind to become a massive bell dozens of meters high that descended upon Ska.

Nine fire dragons came to life from the reliefs on the cover’s surface, opening their great maws to spew nine torrents of reddish-gold flame, turning the entire space into a blazing furnace.

Ska snorted coldly and made a grasping motion in the air. A giant shield woven from blood threads instantly took shape before him, forcibly splitting the oncoming torrent of flames and diverting it to either side.

The flames surged past both sides of the shield. The searing heatwave burned a thin, glassy shell onto the ground, but Ska remained completely unharmed.

Anton didn’t pause. The Heaven-Overturning Seal flew from his sleeve right after, expanding explosively the moment it left his hand. Wreathed in an aura so heavy it felt tangible, it plummeted toward Ska’s head.

Before the seal even touched the top of the fire shield, a dull, crushing sound filled the air, and the invisible pressure pulverized the rubble on the ground into fine dust.

Ever since it had integrated the Spirit Seed and been nurtured over the years, the Heaven-Overturning Seal’s power was now on a whole other level compared to before.

Feeling the terrifying pressure descending from the sky, Ska’s expression finally grew solemn.

He pushed a hand upward. The blood threads around him rapidly condensed, in an instant forming a colossal blood-red claw to meet the descending Heaven-Overturning Seal.

BOOM!

A dull, thunderous roar exploded, shaking dust from the ruined walls and rubble within a several-hundred-meter radius.

The blood-red claw was smashed down several meters by the Heaven-Overturning Seal, and cracks spread from the back of the claw to its knuckles. But in the end, it didn’t shatter, just barely withstanding the blow.

Anton seized the opportunity, alternating his attacks between the sword light and the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Shield. He unleashed multiple Divine Techniques at once, weaving a dense and ferocious net of attacks.

Ska, in turn, used the blood threads condensed from the Red Tide Law to constantly change form. One moment they would become a heavy, giant shield to block the overwhelming sword light; the next, they would form a sharp spear to pierce the curtain of fire; and the next, they would coalesce into a giant beast to lunge at Anton.

But the few attacks that did manage to hit Anton were blocked by his protective Profound Artifact and Primordial True Gang.

The two of them went back and forth above the ruins of Steelmane City, and for a time, neither could gain a clear advantage.

Uerk, Byron, and the others stared blankly at the scene, their faces showing expressions as if they had seen a ghost.