Everyone stood dumbfounded as they witnessed what unfolded before them. The blade had a clear path to Tigran's throat and seemed to have penetrated through his armor's defenses.

Of course, no one rushed in to assist Tigran despite how badly the situation appeared at hand. After all, if someone were capable of taking down a person as strong as Tigran in one strike, then wouldn't they simply be rushing to their own deaths?

​​

As everyone decided to keep their distance, Izroth's gaze did not leave Tigran.

'I haven't dealt with someone this troublesome alone in quite some time.'

Right before the cerulean dragon was about to devour Izroth and explode, he managed to safely escape using a second charge of his Primed Instantaneous Movement. This was enough for Izroth to reach the ground.

Using the blinding light of the cerulean dragon's explosion as cover, immediately upon reaching the ground, he activated two skills, Shadow Blending and Shadow Movement.

Shadow Movement not only helped Izroth avoid immediate detection but also enhanced the natural effects of Shadow Blending, which significantly reduced his presence in shadowed areas. This allowed Izroth to lower his presence so that he could move into position within Tigran's broadsword's shadow, avoid his sense of perception, and launch a preemptive strike.

However, what Izroth did not anticipate was Tigran's unnaturally high defensive capabilities.

Since Tigran was wearing heavy armor, Izroth surmised that his defenses had to be relatively high—this was even more after he discovered that Tigran was at level 60.

Therefore, Izroth did not hesitate to use the fusion skill created by combining his First Baneful Sword: Destruction and Fissuring Point.

'To completely resist my First Baneful Sword: Destruction Point... Even that guy doesn't compare in terms of pure defense.'

During the second team's selection on the Sky Palace, Izroth came across Roudin, who possessed an abnormally strong defense and one of the Main Upper Eight Domains, the Mountain Domain. But, even Roudin's defenses were not absurd enough to stop Izroth's First Baneful Sword: Destruction Point in its tracks!

Tigran looked down at Izroth with a soul-piercing gaze. Although he was calm outwardly, on the inside, he was furious! Just now, if he had been a little slower in reacting and activating the effects of his Dragon Scale armor to absorb that blow, based on the penetrative force it carried, he may have actually received a wound! If he had been wounded in a place like this, he would not have had the face to show himself in Tempest! Fortunately, his sense of perception and attention to detail was incredible. Otherwise, he would have missed the strange state of the shadow beneath his broadsword and never employed his Dragon Scale.

Nevertheless, Tigran did not expect the person before him to survive a direct blast from his Dragon's Mark, let alone emerge from it completely unscathed.

Unless the gap between their strength was immense, it should have been impossible. But, Tigran did not even entertain this train of thought for long. After all, if the one who attacked him were truly that much stronger than him, then he would not have resorted to such indirect methods. Hence, Tigran concluded that he must have used some skill to escape the blast radius while simultaneously hiding his presence.

"Who sent you?" Tigran asked unhurriedly. He had yet to move ever since Izroth's blade struck him.

When Tigran spoke, those nearby felt a sense of relief but also fear. Tigran may be ruthless, but as long as they obeyed orders without question, they could stay on his good side. However, if some unknown powerhouse suddenly appeared, who knew what their fates would be? Though they were still surprised by Tigran's might. Even after being stabbed in the neck with a surprise attack, he appeared utterly unfazed!

"If I told you, would you allow me to leave this place peacefully?" Izroth responded in a carefree tone. Of course, Izroth already knew the answer to this question. After witnessing how Tigran treated his own soldier, Izroth understood that he would not settle for anything less than his head given Tigran's temperament!

"Impossible. However, depending on how useful the information you relinquish turns out to be, I may grant you a swift death. If you refuse to cooperate, then... I will show you that there are many fates worse than death." Tigran stated coldly.

The atmosphere became heavy after Tigran spoke, and a suffocating feeling overcame those within thirty meters of him as he released a suppressive aura.

Izroth inwardly frowned. He, too, felt the pressure increase around him. But, what caused him to frown was the familiarity of the aura. It reminded him of the aura discharged by Kayn, the third dragon prince!

This aura paled in comparison to Kayn's; however, it held a faint resemblance—the presence of a dragon.

'Dragon Will.'

Dragon Will was similar to Izroth's Soul Pressure, except that anything with a decent amount of dragon blood running through its veins acquired it inherently. If he were to compare it in terms of skill rank, his Soul Pressure would be an S-ranked skill, while Dragon Will would be considered an SSS-ranked version. But, for some reason, the Dragon Will from Tigran was unusual.

'No, it's similar to Dragon Will, but it lacks depth. It almost feels like... An imitation? It's a shame that my Appraisal's mastery level is still too low.'

Izroth tried to use Appraisal on Tigran in the middle of his attack; however, he did not learn anything.

But, after facing Tigran's Dragon's Mark and with the appearance of a pseudo-Dragon Will, Izroth was certain—Tigran was able to somehow tap into the power of a dragon!

"I'll have to decline. After all, those who have threatened me have never had a good end." Izroth said indifferently as his gaze turned cold.

Woosh!

When the last word left Izroth's mouth, without warning, Tigran's hand swept across his neck as Izroth's head separated from his body. It was the same attack Tigran used to behead the soldier just moments ago!

"Hm?" Tigran narrowed his eyes. Although his attack seemed to have succeeded, he felt no resistance whatsoever when he beheaded Izroth, as though he ripped through nothing but air.

The next moment, Izroth's beheaded figure began to flicker before disappearing from view!

Swoosh! Bang!

A heavy force collided into Tigran's back out of nowhere, which caused him to slide one foot forward.

Izroth, who was supposed to have been decapitated, was now behind Tigran with his body constantly flickering in and out of existence.

By activating his Flickering Steps, Izroth planned to immediately overtake Tigran in terms of speed. After all, from their brief exchange, Izroth understood that when it came to pure defense and brute strength, Tigran held the upper hand.

After dodging Tigran's strike, Izroth shifted his stance to the Second Sword Form: Returning Wave and executed a Sword Counter. However, the outcome mimicked that of his first attack.

«Immune»

'Again?'

Just like his fusion skill, First Baneful Sword: Destruction Point, Izroth's Sword Counter was supposed to ignore the opponent's physical defenses. Yet, Tigran seemed to be immune to his armor-piercing strikes.

Though with his second attempt to inflict damage stopped in its tracks, Izroth confirmed his previous suspicions.

From the moment he first struck Tigran, Izroth had not disabled his Energy Vision Sense. He continued to observe the flames that encompassed Tigran carefully.

The first time, the flames were too meshed together for Izroth to tell them apart; however, after increasing his level of concentration, Izroth was able to spot the differences contained within the flame, or rather, flames.

There was not one but two uniquely distinct flames that envelope Tigran! The reason it was so challenging for Izroth to detect had to do with one of the flames remaining dormant until Tigran likely invoked it in some way.

It was just that these flames were so intertwined with one another in that split moment that it was easy to mistake them as being one and the same.

As for the source of the flames, from what Izroth could tell, one part came from Tigran, while the other was from his armor.

'His armor is like a living beating heart, yet there's no source of life coming from it. If the armor he's wearing is capable of fending off my attacks, there has to be some limit. I just have to find it.'

"Avoiding two of my strikes, be it skill or luck, you should feel honored. But-" Tigran said as the ground within thirty meters of him started to tremble violently!

Rmmmmble!

"No matter how much you struggle, your sword can never reach me."

Suddenly, the earth under Izroth broke open as a surge of cerulean light was expelled from the cracks!