...

Shin stared at the Leviathan, who was currently wearing a solemn expression on his face.

He then smirked when he saw that the opposing party seemed to be unwilling to use all their strength for some reason. "Since you do not want to show me everything, then let me finish all of this."

Swoosh!

His figure then slowly faded before appearing behind a certain ice puppet, which seemed to be unaware of its presence.

However, Shin was not targeting this particular puppet since he was striking toward the space behind that puppet.

Clang!

Blocking his sword, Maya, who was hiding in there under her stealth, suddenly materialized alongside a solemn expression.

She did not know how Shin had found her, but she swiftly retreated while the ice puppets nearby pounced at Shin almost at the same time.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Shin did not give a chance and just flipped the sheath that he was holding with his left hand, transforming it into a long sword.

’Legacy Skill: Mondi’s Style – Meteor Form (Durendal)’

Right after, Solus manifested right behind Shin for an instant before swiftly fusing with the legendary sword and transforming its features.

’Elemental Spirit Possession: (Eternal Flame) Divine Constellation’

Swoosh!

He then twirled the legendary sword [Durendal], sending blazing flashes of crescent waves in every direction.

’Four Symbol Scripture: Celestial Vermilion Bird – Phoenix Breath’

Shriek!

There seemed to be a cry of a phoenix when he swung his sword repeatedly while the blazing sword flashes cut through the incoming ice puppets, slicing them into pieces, before being melted under the high temperature of the gorgeous flames.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The hot mist rose right after the ice puppets exploded one after another, engulfing Shin’s figure once again.

This time, Leviathan did not take the initiative to attack, understanding that it would be useless given Shin’s strange movements, especially with the help of those Phantoms that Shin could swap places with.

Leviathan instead marked all those Phantoms with the help of his demonified ocular skills while continuously waving his hands to control the rest of his army.

Swoosh!

Not long after, his senses felt a mana fluctuation from a certain direction and swiftly responded. He controlled his ice puppets and ice golems to launch a coordinated attack not only at that spot but at all phantoms instead.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

All the attacks landed at the same time, not allowing Shin to swap places with them.

Unfortunately, Leviathan still failed to catch the real body, who was already right behind one of his ice clones and about to thrust his blazing sword.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

However, the figures suddenly appeared around Shin, who was pouncing at him along with their coordinated attacks.

Given their great timing, they caught Shin in an encirclement where he would not be able to escape in time if he continued with this ambush.

The three also did not hold back, launching their most powerful offensive skills in the process, making sure that their attacks were something that Shin could not brush off.

Shing! Shing! Shing!

They thought that Shin would surely retreat under their combined assault, which was why Morroc, who did not join the attack, was already preparing to respond to where Shin would escape.

Leviathan had coordinated with them as well, marking all the Phantoms perfectly while also preparing to attack the once again once Shin swapped places with them.

Unfortunately, something out of their expectations happened.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

All the phantoms seemed to have been recalled by Shin. They then stacked together and gathered in his body, creating layers of overlapping shadows around Shin.

These overlapping shadows then created an illusion that confused the three surrounding him, making it hard to fully lock on his figure.

’Phantom Series: Movement Technique – Phantom Shroud’

This veil that was created by the overlapping phantoms in Shin’s body confused the three surrounding him, making them unable to fully lock their attack on his body.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

This then made their attacks barely miss his body, which allowed Shin to continue with his attack.

"D*mn!"

"What the f*ck!"

"This-...!"

Their attacks might be powerful, but all of them were single-target skills, which were supposedly perfect for this kind of situation.

Such skills were meant to take out their opponent with one strike, which was common for classes like thieves and assassins.

Unfortunately, such attacks would be utterly useless once they had missed their target, just like what had happened before them.

All they could do was watch Shin continue with his strike, thrusting the [Yamato] to the exposed back of his target.

Whoosh!

However, before the attack could even land, the ice clone had disappeared before him and reappeared beside Leviathan.

"This useless bunch!" cursed Leviathan, realizing that he still had to rely on himself in the end.

This time, he decided to abandon these commander-level sweepers, wanting to focus on his performance rather than assisting this group of trash.

Right after detaching the soul strings from their bodies, he directed them all toward his three clones, which then turned them into puppets.

Shin immediately sensed that the three ice clones became extremely stronger, especially when the auras that they were passively emitting reached an unimaginable level.

From his perspective, they felt like King Class Monsters of the Aurora Continent in terms of stats at the very least.

’Demonic Marionette Skill (Tier 3): Art of Soul Puppetry – Soul Dolls’

This did not even end there since Shin also saw a massive apparition of a demonic being appearing behind Leviathan and extending its hand forward while summoning a bunch of strings that attached itself to the latter.

’Demonic Marionette Skill (Tier 3): Art of Undead Puppetry – Strings of Undeath’

Just like how his ice clones had gained a massive boost in their stats, Leviathan had also undergone a massive transformation in terms of overall strength.

At this moment, Shin could tell that Leviathan, along with his ice clones, was not just some puppeteers who focused on controlling their dolls.

They had become puppets themselves, which also possessed an extremely powerful combat prowess that would not lose to any close-combat classes like warriors and knights.

"Now this is becoming more interesting!" said Shin excitedly, welcoming such a powerful opponent with open arms.

Immediately after, he twirled the [Yamato] while summoning Blackie and Whitie to possess it.

’Elemental Spirit Possession: (Light and Darkness Fusion: Primordial Lightning) Chaos Slasher’

Crackle! Crackle!

The black and white arcs of lightning surrounded the [Yamato]. This was showcasing the might of his Primordial Lightning.

Shin did not stop here either since he immediately summoned Grimrace right after, which then fused with his cloak, the [Death’s Shadow], and turned it into a cloak made of shadow that seemed to be capable of devouring light and mana itself.

’Elemental Spirit Possession: (Psychic Shadow) Soul Eater’

With all these, along with his Reality Manifestation and Natural State being active, Shin had entered his strongest state.

He wanted to test all the theories that he had inside his head, especially after perfecting his ’Phantom Series’ and incorporating it with his other techniques.

Boom! Boom!

Not long after, the two sides immediately made their move, charging at each other almost at the same time.

The three ice clones that Leviathan controlled wielded different kinds of weapons made of unbreakable ice.

One of them, who was charging at the forefront, held a sword in his hand, while the other two were wielding a trident and a battle hammer, respectively.

Shin was forced to encounter a bunch of ice puppets blocking his body, along with the huge ice golems right behind them.

It was clear that they were planning to weaken his momentum first and give the three ice clones an advantage later.

Shin smirked when he saw this before covering his body with the ’Primordial Lightning’, which greatly boosted his strength and speed.

Crackle! Crackle!

He then suddenly accelerated, leaving a trail of lightning arcs behind along with the afterimages that seemed to be made of lightning energy.

’Jade Kirin Scripture: Movement Technique – Lightning Ghost’

This was the lightning version of his ’Ghost Evanescent’.

These lightning phantoms behind him exploded one after another, destroying all the ice puppets nearby before they could even detonate themselves.

The ice golems, on the other hand, remained standing and barely moved despite being caught in the series of explosions.

Their bodies remained intact despite having multiple cracks in them.

They then continued to bombard Shin with their attacks using their massive fists, preventing him from gaining any more momentum.

However, it was at this moment that Shin swung the [Durendal] in his left hand. He sent a series of blazing arcs in the air, which then formed a blazing net that caught the descending fists made of ice.

’Four Symbol Scripture: Celestial Vermilion Bird – Phoenix Nest’

Bang! Bang! Bang!

This blazing net then destroyed the arms of the ice golems, already riddled with cracks.

Roar!

The ice golems stumbled back due to the explosions, which then caused them to fall on their butts.

They might have failed to stop Shin, but they had already served their purpose of weakening his momentum, giving the Leviathan’s three ice clones to launch their coordinated attacks.

ROAR!

...