But hitting Fang Zhen’s longspear was proving to be incredibly difficult.

The longspear quivered like a viper striking. Its tip feinted twice in what seemed like an unintentional movement, yet it perfectly avoided the cleaving giant axe.

Tarrenno was in an extremely awkward position. If he didn’t pull back, the longspear would pierce his throat. With no other choice, he retracted his giant axe and swung it in an arc through the air.

BOOM!

A fiery tornado erupted from the giant axe, engulfing Fang Zhen.

At that same instant, Fang Zhen’s longspear struck Tarrenno’s armor.

As the spear hit, Tarrenno leaned back, deflecting some of the force. The longspear struck the left side of his chest instead of a vital point. But just then, a white light flashed on the spear, and a powerful destructive force erupted from its tip.

Second-stage Power Mountain Seal!

Tarrenno’s body shuddered violently; he barely withstood the blow.

Suddenly, a layer of emerald light flowed over Tarrenno, nullifying most of the impact from the Power Mountain Seal.

Even so, a flush of red crept onto Tarrenno’s face, a clear sign of internal injury.

Meanwhile, Fang Zhen, who had been caught in the fiery tornado after their weapons clashed, now emerged from the flames.

Fang Zhen was completely unscathed. The fiery tornado hadn’t caused him any real harm.

Tarrenno’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Flames that intense would have instantly carbonized a normal person’s skin—a fact Tarrenno knew from countless battles. Yet Fang Zhen hadn’t been burned to a crisp, completely defying Tarrenno’s understanding of the world. This was beyond his comprehension.

Their clash had happened in the blink of an eye. In this first exchange, neither had managed to gain a real advantage or inflict any significant damage.

Fang Zhen’s Red Hare Warhorse and Tarrenno’s mount, which resembled a beast from Hell, brushed past each other. In that brief opening, Fang Zhen viciously retracted his longspear in a seemingly defensive move, only to abruptly thrust it out from behind his back.

Reversal Spear—Variant!

Tarrenno’s fighting style was clearly the sweeping, wide-arcing type used on battlefields; it completely lacked the finesse of Fang Zhen’s ancient martial spear arts. Unprepared for a thrust from such an angle, he took another spear to the chest.

The white light on the longspear flared once more.

The longspear, charged with the Second-stage Power Mountain Seal, slammed into Tarrenno’s black dragon armor.

The emerald light on Tarrenno’s armor flickered, once again absorbing the bulk of the damage for him.

CRACK!

With a sound like shattering glass, the emerald light on Tarrenno’s armor reached its limit. It flared one last time before shattering completely.

In that same instant, Tarrenno swung his battle-axe horizontally. A horizontal slash of fire shot out, aiming to cut Fang Zhen in half at the waist in a desperate attempt to take them both down.

A wave of fire slashed out horizontally, like the battle aura of legend, but imbued with the element of fire.

However, as if he had foreseen it, Fang Zhen threw himself flat against the back of his Red Hare Warhorse an instant before the fiery wave was released, dodging the attack.

The wave of fire traveled more than ten meters before its energy gave out and it suddenly exploded. Flames shot out like a peacock fanning its tail, creating a fiery spectacle in the air.

With their mounts now apart, the first round of the exchange between Fang Zhen and Tarrenno came to a close. They each pulled back, putting some distance between them.

Neither Fang Zhen nor Tarrenno made another move.

However, the soldiers on both sides, having witnessed such a spectacular clash, erupted in a thunderous roar, unable to restrain themselves from shouting and cheering.

Fang Zhen’s newly recruited Knight, Tahar, was the loudest of all. Perhaps because he was a valiant Knight himself, the scene excited him more than anyone, and he began to rally the soldiers to shout along with him.

"Duel! Duel! Duel!"

"Augustus! Augustus! Augustus!"

The more than nineteen hundred soldiers on and below the city wall chanted in a continuous, rhythmic roar.

The legion behind Tarrenno seemed to be infected by the fervent atmosphere of the battlefield. They began shouting Tarrenno’s name, cheering loudly for their Duke and commander.

In an age with so little entertainment and excitement, there were few things that could stir such passion. The duel between Fang Zhen and Tarrenno was on a level far beyond what any ordinary soldier could ever hope to witness. Watching a duel like this was the kind of thing a man could tell his grandchildren about, a legendary tale for decades to come.

The soldiers’ morale was soaring. They were hesitant at first, but the more they shouted, the more frenzied they became. Their voices were like thunder, and they were completely invested, as if they themselves were the ones fighting the duel.

The atmosphere on the field grew more and more heated, the soldiers brimming with excitement as they supported their respective commanders.

The two duelists, however, were growing increasingly cautious.

They had only exchanged blows for a fleeting moment, but both could sense that their opponent was extraordinary. They were both formidable warriors.

This was especially true for Tarrenno. A look of astonishment crossed his face, and his gaze toward Fang Zhen was filled with surprise. His expression grew grave.

Though their exchange had been brief, the skills they had used were anything but ordinary.

Tarrenno’s surprise attack was an attempt to unleash a sudden burst of power and kill Fang Zhen quickly, creating the most dramatic effect possible.

Tarrenno had spurred his monstrous mount forward, unleashing a charging skill.

This charge packed a tremendous impact and incorporated a special technique: the axe-stroke delivered during the charge carried a unique vibration. Even if blocked head-on with a weapon, it would still cause a degree of dizziness and shock.

But Fang Zhen’s precognitive senses had alerted him to this, so instead of blocking it head-on, he met attack with attack.

Tarrenno had activated the ability of his Extraordinary giant axe, while Fang Zhen had used the Gang Zan Seal to block the torrent of flames.

When Tarrenno was struck by the spear, he had activated a life-saving Extraordinary Item that absorbed a massive amount of the damage.

After one round of exchange, Fang Zhen held a slight advantage.

Tarrenno’s expression was grim.

The cheers of the soldiers behind him felt like he was being roasted over a fire. It was impossible to end the duel now.

One of them—Fang Zhen or Tarrenno—had to fall.

Having composed himself, Fang Zhen wheeled the Red Hare Warhorse around and charged at Tarrenno once more.

The Red Hare Warhorse might have seemed like a simple mount, but it was psychically linked to Fang Zhen. After all, it was a bone beast constructed from his own power. It had skipped all riding training and already achieved a state of perfect unity between horse and rider.

The Red Hare Warhorse sprinted forward, and Fang Zhen, longspear in hand, rushed toward Tarrenno.

Tarrenno suddenly let out a bellow. A black, translucent sphere of light materialized around him, enveloping both him and his mount.

Fang Zhen frowned slightly, wondering what the black sphere was.

’It feels like Magic.’

’Tarrenno is actually a Magic Warrior, skilled in both magic and combat?’

There was no time to think on the battlefield. Fang Zhen’s precognitive sense had not yet detected Tarrenno’s next move, and the two were already nearly upon each other.

Fang Zhen thrust his longspear, aiming for Tarrenno’s face.

Tarrenno didn’t dodge. Instead, he remained on his horse, rapidly chanting something under his breath.

In an instant, the longspear struck the black, spherical barrier enveloping Tarrenno and his warhorse.

Suddenly, the feeling in Fang Zhen’s longspear vanished, as if he had stabbed a ball of cotton. The force was completely negated... no, ’it was absorbed’.

A sharp glint flashed in Fang Zhen’s eyes.

At that moment, Tarrenno finished the incantation he had been chanting.

Fang Zhen’s precognition showed him what would happen a second later: black ripples would materialize around him, trapping both him and his Red Hare Warhorse.

His brow furrowed instantly.

Although his precognition had sensed the Magic being cast, magical attacks were different from physical ones. This was especially true for a spell that manifested instantly without any visible signs of casting. Even though his precognition saw it coming, it was incredibly difficult to dodge.

Fang Zhen gave up on dodging and directly activated his Gang Zan Seal.

The effects of the Third-stage Gang Zan Seal were extremely flexible.

The first stage of the Gang Zan Seal could only create a defense in a fixed area. The second stage could create a persistent, eggshell-like barrier that followed him like a shadow.

The third stage, however, allowed for free control of its range, combining the abilities of both the first and second stages of the Gang Zan Seal.

Moreover, the defensive power of the Gang Zan Seal was not static like a steel plate.

The defensive efficiency of this third stage was extremely high. It could be understood as concentrating the original defensive power into a specific area. This didn’t mean the defense became thinner; instead, it was as if an ordinary steel plate had been compressed, its density increased several times over, its very quality sublimated until it became something like a titanium alloy.

Just as Fang Zhen activated the third stage of his Gang Zan Seal, the effects of Tarrenno’s unknown Magic manifested.

Rings of black ripples enveloped the area around Fang Zhen!