Dreadnought quickly coated his machetes with the orange glow and smashed them against the incoming golden slash.
As soon as the two forces collided, the ground shook and trembled beneath their feet.
However, Dreadnought kept his ground and smashed his machetes through the golden slash.
‘He used his Inner Power to strengthen his block and therefore manage to destroy my attack.’ Ambrose quickly analyzed.
‘My attack power is lacking as well. Formlesness and Self-Possession are my only ways to equalize the battlefield.’
“Without Formlessness, I would’ve already painted the walls of the auction hall with your blood.” Dreadnought said, and his eyes gleamed with a sinister light.
Then, Dreadnought unleashed another orange slash—this time, the orange slash split the ground in half and sent a massive shockwave through the air.
“Self-Possession!” Ambrose felt his heart quicken as soon as he activated the Self-Possession.
Immediately afterwards, he activated the phasing ability of his soul.
As soon as the shockwave struck the place where he was standing, it went straight through him while destroying the ground around him.
Dreadnought expected the shockwave to sweep Ambrose away, but after the dust cloud cleared, he saw that he was standing without any scratch on him.
“H-how…” Dreadnought asked from himself but realized that Ambrose still had more tricks, which he hadn’t revealed yet.
Ambrose then dashed forth with Formlessness, and the two of them clashed in a fierce battle. The machetes struck the two swords, and sparks flew everywhere.
However, Dreadnought caught Ambrose lacking and slashed his machete through his body. But, to his shock, the blade of his machete went straight through as if Ambrose were a ghost.
“I see, you are using your soul’s ability.” Dreadnought quickly concluded, but for some reason, he started smiling. “However, that is a very big mistake.”
“?” Ambrose’s eyes narrowed.
At that moment, Dreadnought coated his machetes with his orange Inner Power and swung them at Ambrose’s face.
Ambrose quickly used Formlessness to move out of the way, but one of the machetes barely managed to scratch his cheek.
He thought it would just go through, but shockingly, it didn’t and left a small bleeding cut on his cheek!
“Argh!” Ambrose screamed loudly, his eyes almost rolling back into his skull, but at the last moment, he used his Formlessness to retreat and then barely kept his consciousness.
The pain was unbelievable, almost causing him to pass out instantly.
‘No way…’ Ambrose thought with a pale face. ‘Inner Power can injure me while I am using Self-Possession?’
At that moment, he remembered something about Self-Possession’s description.
He could use his soul’s abilities as if they were his own, and they were only active for a minute. However, if he died during that minute, his soul would also die.
He didn’t know what that could mean if his soul died, but he thought it would be impossible because he could be using phasing to make himself basically invincible against all attacks.
Now, there seemed to be a way to injure him!
“Does it hurt?” Dreadnought asked with a smirk. “I am sure it does. It is the worst pain imaginable.”
“Fuck…” Ambrose quickly deactivated his Self-Possession as he was too scared to use it for the time being.
He didn’t want to risk getting hurt even more than that.
Also, that single scratch on his cheek caused his health to plummet.
[HP: 223/560]
Almost 240 HP damage from that single scratch.
However, the pain still remained deep inside him, as it was his soul that got injured, and the pain wouldn’t fade away like normal pain.
‘Fuck, so painful…’ Ambrose breathed heavily.
He thought he had gotten used to pain from getting broken bones almost daily back in the day, but this was vastly different. It felt like all his veins were on fire.
However, it was still not as bad as the previous time. He could still think rationally and fight without screaming in utter agony.
Dreadnought approached Ambrose with a menacing grin behind his mask and started sending powerful orange slashes towards him.
Ambrose quickly moved out of the way with Formlessness, but the pain made him rather sluggish in some of the movements.
Seeing the chance, Dreadnought lunged forward and kicked across Ambrose’s face, sending him crashing into the ground.
“Cough!” Ambrose saw more of his health disappear, but he quickly shook his head and jumped back to his feet.
He quickly blocked Dreadnought’s machetes and used his Formlessness to circle around him, appearing behind his back.
The movement looked so effortless and smooth, causing Dreadnought to be slightly taken off guard.
“Humanoid Imperfecta!” Ambrose swung his swords down, but Dreadnought, like a nimble acrobat, jumped over his swords and landed gracefully on the ground.
As Ambrose’s swords struck the ground, Dreadnought quickly took advantage of that single moment of distraction and struck back with a powerful blow.
Ambrose was sent across the air and landed in the ocean with a large splash. He sank beneath the waves, falling deeper into the dark abyss.
Dreadnought looked silently at the raging waves and removed his mask for a moment. He touched his face, feeling the cool breeze on his skin.
His face was void of any noticeable features, and it looked like he would be a typical side character in any written story. He was the pinnacle of the ordinary, lacking any distinctive characteristics that would set him apart from the crowd.
Yet he was the Third Commander of one of the Pirate Kings of the Pirate Battleground, a vastly respected and feared individual.
‘I have to go report to the boss that Adam has betrayed us.’ Dreadnought put the mask back on his face and turned around to walk away.
However, at that moment, he saw that the raging waves stopped suddenly and the sea became calm.
The water that looked to be black and dark blue suddenly started glowing with brilliant golden light. It looked as if there were hidden gold mines below the sea.
However, Dreadnought knew that was impossible and realized that there was only one possibility.
“Still alive, huh…”
Splash—a figure flew out of the water and sent a wide golden-colored slash across the air, tearing through the wind while it approached Dreadnought with deadly speed.
Dreadnought quickly blocked the golden slash and smashed through it effortlessly.
Ambrose looked silently at Dreadnought, but he wasn’t actually looking at him.
Instead, there was a glowing notification box in front of him.
[Skill has been successfully created!]
[Do you want to name your skill?]
Ambrose had been in a deadlock when it came to creating new skills. He couldn’t think of any new skills, and it frustrated him greatly.
Now, he couldn’t understand how, but the agonizing pain and the impending defeat made him so stressed that a single skill appeared inside his mind, and the game registered it as a valid skill.
‘This is just like with Heaven Drop.’ Ambrose thought to himself. ‘When I am under immense stress, the intelligence stat seems to help me create a new skill.’
Ambrose pressed “Yes” on whether he wanted to name his skill.
[Choose the name!]
“Suicide Sword.” Ambrose whispered.
[The skill “Suicide Sword” has been created]
[Suicide Sword: A suicidal attack, but no matter what, the sword will hit the opponent with a deadly strike—the possibility of the attack ending in the player’s death is 99%]
As Ambrose was about to execute the attack, another dinging sound echoed in his ears.
[Congratulations!]
[You have created five sword-based skills!]
[You have received a reward gift!]
[Do you want to open it now?]
[Yes/No]
‘The hell?’ Ambrose frowned, and after seeing that Dreadnought had no intention to attack, he quickly pressed yes.
[You received the passive skill “Immortality”]
[Immortality: Once the health reaches 1, the player can survive for three minutes without receiving any damage!]
[Immortality – Rank: Legendary]