Lord of The Karmic Armada-Chapter 31: Overpowered

Valtar felt completely perplexed by the situation. The Elven Tribe leader had some way of diluting his existential presence to the point that none of Valtar's skills could detect him or the danger he imposed—until the danger itself was within arm's reach.

Thus, Valtar could only sense Hansel's attack a few seconds before it would land on him. His hand still felt numb from the previous attack, but he endured and, with speed unlike any before, jumped upward into the sky.

But that might not have been the best decision because, the moment he did so as if expecting it all along, the Tribe leader stomped his left foot on the ground at a strange angle, leaped onto the body of a tree, then jumped again—higher. Seeing the position and posture of his enemy as he prepared to slam him down, Valtar's expression almost cracked.

Damn it, does this son of a bitch think it's WWE or something? And does this bastard think he's John Cena trying to slam me down like that?

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Being in mid-air, he had no way of avoiding it. He blocked his enemy's sword with his own, making the slam even harder. Brutally slammed into the ground, his entire body trembled from the impact of the earth beneath him.

He hurriedly got up and barely blocked another blow from the powerful elf.

He cursed internally, Okay, never mind, it's not WWE.

His internal organs were slightly injured just from two exchanges, and a metallic taste lingered on his tongue. It wasn't a big deal at the level his body had reached now.

Not that he had any time to pay attention to it either. The Tribe leader was still as calm and composed as when he had first revealed himself.

Hansel said in a deep, derogatory voice, "You're weaker than I expected."

There was an undeniable hint of disappointment in his eyes, which only served to infuriate Valtar even further. This time, Valtar himself took the initiative, jumped toward the Tribe leader, and made a vertical motion, striking down with all his might.

His enemy only leaned forward slightly and met the deadly attack with both hands gripping his sword. The Elven leader arched backward only slightly, but the devastation behind him showed the true power of the attack itself.

The tree right behind the Tribe leader was perfectly split down the middle from top to bottom. It was even perfectly symmetrical. That was the result only of the wind pressure generated by the powerful attack.

Yet the Tribe leader himself remained unmoved, like a mountain unbothered by the changes of the world. Valtar's frown deepened, but then a flash of understanding dawned upon him.

It wasn't that the Tribe leader had strength far superior to Valtar's, but rather the precise posture in which he took the attack, he redirected the entire force of the strike to the ground beneath his feet.

The slightly sunken ground beneath the Tribe leader's feet, which appeared out of nowhere, was proof of it. Valtar wasn't just fighting an enemy despite being severely outclassed in combat ability and experience—he was also analyzing every single movement, attack pattern, and detail of his enemy's combat method.

After blocking the vertical slash, Hansel wasted no time. He moved his right hand from his sword and targeted a full-blown punch at the human's chest, intending to finish this charade as soon as possible. To say that he was disappointed was a severe understatement.

But the Tribe leader wasn't disappointed in the human himself—rather, he was disgusted that his daughter had fallen at the hands of such an inferior race, such an incompetent individual.

The human before him was like a spoon-fed young master. Hansel concluded that this human had simply been given resources to achieve the status of a Pathwalker without actually forging a path for himself.

For his daughter to meet such a shameful death was an insult to him and the lineage of the Dark Elves in its entirety. That wasn't all either, after entering the tribe area, this human had killed a total of eleven elves, including the distinguished Third Elder. All of these combined resulted in Hansel's strong feelings of disappointment.

Even then, it vanished moments later, like all of his other emotions. Being adored by the darkness was a double-edged sword. While the darkness was his greatest weapon against his adversaries, it also consumed his emotions.

Making the Tribe leader utterly devoid of feeling—because that was the best state of mind for wielding the darkness.

Valtar, not seeing the punch suddenly coming, hurriedly put up one of his hands to block the attack. The moment the Tribe leader's fist connected with his hand, a sharp crack resounded through the dark, silent forest.

CRACK...

Valtar arched in pain and jumped back hurriedly.

Thankfully, he didn't take the full force of the punch directly, otherwise, his bones would have shattered completely, with only the flesh of his hand keeping it intact.

Learning from the Tribe leader's movements right before his eyes, he tactfully redirected the main force of the blow. So, even though there was some cracking in his hand's bones, it hadn't completely shattered.

He clenched his hand, gritted his teeth slightly, and looked at the Tribe leader with a cold, deadpan expression, though he was feeling a great amount of pain in the hand that had withstood the attack.

Of course, this pain was nothing to him. Compared to being burned alive in a raging torrent of fire, then healing in the midst of it, only to be burned continuously again—this pain itself was nothing.

But that was merely the beginning of their clash.

They both charged at each other and—

CLANG... CLINK...

Their swords clashed continuously as they jumped from one place to another—even above the trees, which made things even harder for Valtar. As an assassin-type combatant, Hansel used the trees and terrain to his full advantage.

Not only that, but Valtar was accumulating injuries as the fight dragged on.

Every clash of their weapons was a victory for the Elven Tribe leader because, with every confrontation, Valtar was getting pushed back—slowly but surely.

Hansel wasn't just using his sword against the human. He was using his entire body—all of his limbs— to attack his enemy, not leaving the slightest chance for the human before him to think of a way to escape this precarious situation or turn the tables.

While Hansel continued to slowly exhaust the human and let his injuries accumulate, the human was unable to even scratch him. Hansel didn't feel pressured at all because of his enemy's lack of proper combat ability. His disdain grew even greater, thinking that if Zhao were in this human's place, at the same power level, the fight would have been much more difficult.

It was precisely because of this disdain for his enemy that Hansel was fighting in a way where he wouldn't even receive a scratch or an injury.

If Hansel had been willing to get a bit injured and bloody, or simply use his darkness ability, the fight would have been over long ago—if this could even be called a fight. If he let this weak human injure him, it would be an eternal shame as a warrior who had once claimed the lives of the Fae folk.

Against this weak human, he was simply—

Overpowered...