Clang—
Deadly sparks flew with the clash of metal.
At the last possible instant, Gyutaro swung his blood sickle and blocked Luke’s strike.
He had misjudged Luke’s speed, which was why he had received the attack so awkwardly—but he had still stopped it.
Yet that did nothing to ease the alarm bells in his mind. Instead, his eyes widened. Empowered by extreme speed, Luke’s slash carried an overwhelming force he could not resist.
If Luke had struck him head-on, he could have blocked it. But he was holding his blood sickle one-handed, intercepting Luke’s blade from the side, and he had no way to exert his full strength.
Then the sight that filled him with fury and shock unfolded before his eyes.
Luke’s sword all but pressed down Gyutaro’s arm and blood sickle as it advanced. It was unmatched brutality, yet also supreme technique—at extreme speed, he controlled his power like flowing water and poured it directly into his enemy.
Under the stunned gazes of the Explorers and Gyutaro’s horrified fury, Luke’s blade forced Gyutaro’s blood sickle along with it and sliced through Daki’s slender neck.
Shock still lingered on her beautiful face as her head fell through the air.
"Sister!"
Gyutaro screamed, but he was not overly worried. As he shouted, he counterattacked, swinging the blood sickle in his other hand toward Luke’s chest.
His blood sickles were poisoned. Being struck by the poison of his Blood Demon Art was a death sentence.
Just as he thought this strike was about to land, Luke’s elbow came down and smashed against the flat of the blood sickle, knocking it downward.
Then Luke reversed his blade and slashed at Gyutaro’s neck.
Gyutaro hastily withdrew his arm and activated Blood Demon Art: Circular Slash Rotation—Flying Blood Sickles. Spiraling blood slashes wrapped around his arm, shielding his vital points along with his weapon.
Luke’s blade first tore through the spiral blood net created by Gyutaro’s Blood Demon Art, then struck Gyutaro’s blood sickle. An ear-piercing screech rang out as the blades slid against one another, sparks blooming like fireworks from an iron tree.
Boom—
With Thunder Breathing active and the boost from the Brute title, Luke won the contest of strength outright. He sent Gyutaro flying, smashing through three houses in succession before finally coming to a stop.
As Luke steadied himself, he tilted his head slightly. A spinning bullet ripped past, its gust grazing his hair.
At the same time, a figure lunged from his rear flank. It was Moose, the assassin from the Explorer team. His dagger stabbed toward Luke’s back, delight flashing in his eyes.
After Luke had dodged his companion’s sniper shot, Moose had judged that, at this range and from this position, Luke would have no way to evade this strike aimed at his heart. Even if he could not pierce Luke’s heart, as long as he broke the skin, the deadly poison coating his dagger would take half Luke’s life.
Clang—
Moose stared in disbelief. He heard a sound that a dagger plunging into a human body should never make—or rather, the feel of his strike had been wrong from the very beginning.
The moment it touched Luke’s loose black haori, it felt as if it had plunged into a swamp. That strange flexibility had already drained the force from his blow. And when it pierced through the garment and struck Luke’s flesh, the sound was like metal colliding with metal.
"Moose!"
The white-robed swordsman charging forward shouted, but it was already too late.
Luke first drove his elbow backward into Moose’s chest, throwing him off balance. Then Luke spun around and cut off Moose’s head with a single sweeping slash.
Until the moment he died, Moose could not understand why his full-power attack, delivered by an elite assassin, had failed to break Luke’s skin—had not even left a scratch.
"Die!"
There was no time to grieve for his fallen comrade. The man who charged Luke was the leader of their adventure group, the white-robed swordsman the others called Yu.
Taking advantage of Luke’s turn, Yu judged that Luke’s blade could not possibly reverse in time to block his sword. Descending beneath the moon like an immortal from beyond the heavens, he thrust at Luke’s exposed neck, intending to pierce straight through his throat from the side.
But in the next instant, Luke’s response filled his eyes with disbelief. Luke made a battle decision that seemed utterly absurd to him—he extended his left hand and met the sword with his palm!
Had this powerful man gone insane? This was a purple-grade sword with exceptional sharpness. He was actually going to catch it barehanded? Did he think that would stop it from piercing his throat?
Just as Yu thought they were about to defeat this powerful enemy, that he would pierce the man’s palm and then drive his blade through his throat, something astonishing happened.
Crack—
With the sound of shattering metal, the purple-grade sword he had bought in the previous world began to crumble inch by inch from the tip the moment it touched Luke’s palm.
Only after all its momentum had been spent did the sword’s hilt slam into Luke’s palm.
Yu’s eyes were filled with disbelief, as though he had witnessed the most absurd thing in the world. Before his stunned gaze, Luke’s palm closed around Yu’s sword hand.
Looking at the demonic smile on the man’s face, Yu finally understood why Luke had dared to walk alone into their trap without the slightest fear.
They had never been the hunters. They were merely a pack of hunting hounds that had wandered into the forest and encountered a tiger of the mountains.
Luke grabbed the white-robed swordsman’s hand and grinned. His blade came around, cutting upward and splitting Yu in two.
"Captain!"
"Yu!"
"Captain!"
The three remaining team members shouted in rage, but they were too late to save him. Before their despairing eyes, Luke swung horizontally once more and severed Yu’s head in midair.
Luke watched the white-robed swordsman’s corpse roll down the rubble. He flicked the blood from his blade. "An Upper Rank? That’s it?"
"You monster!"
With an enraged roar, the main tank known as Steel Plate charged at Luke with his tower shield. The remaining two Explorers attacked as well.
They had survived through several worlds in Endspace, and they could read the situation clearly. They now possessed Muzan’s Demon bloodline, and with it being daytime, there was nowhere good for them to run.
If they scattered and fled, their enemy would absolutely catch and kill them one by one. Their only chance of survival was to risk everything in a desperate fight.
Facing Steel Plate’s charge, Luke first leaped backward, dodging the sniper’s bullet. His jump carried him more than seven meters, and he landed against the wall of a house on the other side of the street.
The burly Steel Plate continued charging toward Luke with his tower shield, like a bull in rut. He knew he was the team’s main tank. Now that their berserker, assassin, and swordsman had all fallen, he had to hold the front and keep the pressure on. Otherwise, the moment Luke freed himself, he would go after their mage.
Luke planted both feet against the wall and kicked off. Lightning wrapped around his body. In the next instant, thunder roared and the wall behind him exploded, splinters blasting outward in a ring.
Luke burst forward at extreme speed. He did not draw his sword against the massive tower shield. Instead, he kicked it.
Crack. Under the combined force of his speed and immense strength, fractures first spread across the tower shield. The next moment, the entire thing exploded.
Steel Plate, still holding the tower shield, flew backward coughing blood. He felt as though he had charged headlong into a train.
"Blood Demon Art: Crimson Smoke Spirit Flame!"
The female mage’s low cry came from the flank. A pillar of fire more than two meters thick rushed toward Luke, forcing him to abandon his pursuit of Steel Plate. He pushed off with his feet, combining Flash Step with the techniques of Thunder Breathing. He moved so fast that the people present could see only an afterimage before he vanished.
Though it sounded lengthy, only a few seconds had passed from the moment Luke cut off Daki’s head to the deaths of two Explorer team members.
As Luke’s form solidified and he came to a stop in the street, Gyutaro burst out from a ruined house beside him.
He looked completely insane. Countless crimson blades coiled around his body, and the blood sickles in his hands seemed to have swollen larger. With extreme killing intent, he slashed at Luke.
Luke calmly raised Prison Demon to block the strike, his feet sliding backward across the ground as he borrowed the force.
After swinging that strike, Gyutaro did not pursue. Fury and terror twisted his face. "What exactly did you do to my sister?!"
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