Chapter 452: Rain Getting Heavier, Sword Saint

“……”

Silently approaching the curtain of rain, Big Bear Bell picked up a stone from the ground and tossed it into the downpour. The stone tumbled across the earth, eventually coming to a rest on the weed-choked flatland, showing no signs of anything amiss.

Next, Big Bear Bell snatched at the air nearby, his claws capturing a common flying insect. With a puff of breath, he sent the creature fluttering uncontrollably into the rain. The next moment, under his watchful gaze, the insect began to vanish the instant it touched the veil of rain, disappearing entirely.

“Move. As fast as you can. This rain kills everything that enters it.”

Big Bear Bell muttered in a muffled tone, half to himself and half as a warning to the others. He hoisted the battered carriage driver onto his back and immediately sprinted away in the direction not yet covered by the downpour.

“What on earth is this…”

Someone stared in a daze at the rain-lashed region. It was evening, the daylight fading into gloom. The sound of the heavy rain was distinct, and the falling droplets were clearly visible, yet beyond the sound of the deluge, that area was plunged into a deathly, absolute silence. Moreover, the ground beneath showed no signs of dampness, nor did any water flow after the rain descended.

“Forget about that! Your life is what matters—run!”

The others could not bear to watch this man stand there in a stupor waiting for death. They grabbed him and began to flee the area. To them, understanding what was happening was secondary; preserving their own lives was the only thing that truly mattered.

……

Across the eastern plains, Ethan walked forward, sword in hand. The heavy rain radiated outward from him as the epicenter. Around him, the downpour was torrential; further out, the intensity gradually waned, until ten kilometers away, it dwindled to a mere drizzle that approached nothingness.

“Pfft…”

On the path ahead, a wild ox grazing on weeds wandered into the shroud of rain. Ethan took a step, and the rain-curtain pushed forward by a corresponding distance. The ox’s carcass collapsed instantly; the head touched by the rain had vanished completely, leaving behind a corpse with a clean, massive cross-section at the neck.

A few more steps, and the entire carcass vanished from the grassland, leaving not a single trace of its former existence. Even the scent of blood failed to linger, washed away the moment the raindrops fell.

This was Ethan’s Inner Manifestation: Sudden Rain. Its effects were unknown.

The storm unleashed from the heavens slaughtered every living thing in its path. Aside from the sound of falling droplets, the ten-kilometer radius around him was filled with an endless, silent void. Every creature had met the same final fate as that wild ox.

Within his perception, a high tower began to emerge vaguely on the distant plains, becoming clearer as he advanced. Ethan paused for a moment, a premonition stirring: the being he was meant to kill this time was likely someone within that tower.

After the pause came acceleration. Though he did not run, the battle qi within his body began to circulate with greater speed. His somewhat languid stroll transformed into a rapid stride.

Seemingly sensing the anomaly, a ripple erupted from the high tower, sweeping across the surrounding area. It spread with lightning speed, but the moment it entered the rain-drenched zone, it vanished without a trace.

After reconnaissance came the assault. Several fireballs, glowing with blinding light and carrying staggering heat, accompanied by the pulsing tremors of the earth erupting, surged toward Ethan’s position. The intent for wide-area destruction was clear.

Some of the scattered, scorching spheres entered the rain formed by Ethan’s Inner Manifestation and vanished in an instant. The intense heat and magic they contained were extinguished in the brief moment they were swallowed by the rain.

“Boom!”

Several fireballs struck outside the rain-curtain, erupting with astonishing impact. The flaming shockwaves tore through the earth, blasting out massive craters and sending rocks and soil flying. Yet, just like the fireballs that caused them, the aftermath of the explosions vanished the moment they touched the rain, forcibly quelled into silence.

The tremors conducting through the ground, which had been causing the earth to heave, met the same fate. As the shockwaves entered the rain, the effects of the earth element were forcibly suppressed. The ground ceased to show any signs of magical manipulation. Clearly, the rain was merely a facade; the reach of Ethan’s power far exceeded the area the rain appeared to encompass.

Lifting his gaze toward the distant tower, Ethan raised his blade high above his head and brought it down in a thunderous strike. Corresponding to this motion, a torrent of energy, with magic condensed to its limit, was unleashed from the tower toward him.

The shimmering radiance flashed across the evening sky, reaching its target the instant it was released from the top of the Spellbinder Wizard Tower. Seventh-tier array-enhanced spell: Focused Burst.

The hyper-condensed energy shot into the rain-curtain. This time, it did not vanish instantly. Instead, as Ethan’s sword descended, the trajectory of the beam twisted and deflected, tracing a smooth arc as it swept through the rain. It missed its intended target, striking instead a small hill nearby.

“Boom!”

The hyper-condensed energy exploded upon impact, releasing a heaven-shaking shockwave that tore into the mountain’s interior, scouring its surface. Half the hill was leveled, and the vegetation across the entire mound was swept clean by the high-speed air currents. The terrifying destructive power of the spell was evident.

Ethan did not sheathe the sword he had raised. He pulled it back slightly, swept it upward, and struck again. This strike held a hint more seriousness than the casual downward slash before.

“Bang!”

A massive rift appeared in the sky, and a deluge of void energy poured out, raining pure destructive power upon Ethan’s location. Eighth-tier sorcery: Requiem of Ruin.

A wizard’s most fundamental power lies in using void energy to distort the material world—from changing temperature and texture to altering the composition of matter. It begins with simple abilities and culminates in moving from the use of fixed wizard runes to manipulating matter at its source through void energy—the very power they started with.

Infusing void energy into matter to thoroughly distort and destroy it was the nature of this "waterfall" descending from the heavens. It was a pure sorcery of fundamental destruction, performed jointly by wizards who had truly reached a certain level in their craft.

The blade slashed from bottom to top, reached its apex, and was withdrawn in a natural, fluid arc. Using the most efficient angle, Ethan struck upward once more. Battle qi, guided by his internal vortex, extended to the blade, yet no blade-aura was released. It merely flowed along the edge, compressed to the extreme, flowing slowly.

“Whoosh!”

A phantom sound, not truly existing, echoed as the Requiem of Ruin—a waterfall composed of void energy—descended into the range of Ethan’s Inner Manifestation. At that moment, the pure torrent of destruction was split apart, diverted, and slid down along the boundary of Ethan’s domain.

The sword struck again and again. Despite having no contact with the waterfall of void energy falling from the sky, Ethan parted it. The destructive energy, no different from ordinary water, was guided to fall around him, landing on the earth just like the raindrops, destroying everything it touched before sinking deep into the ground.

Lifted, fallen—each strike rendered the eighth-tier sorcery unable to harm him in the slightest. The object in Ethan’s hand did not seem like a weapon at all, but a scepter holding the authority of this world. Under his swings, all things could be severed and forced to retreat. His march toward the Spellbinder Wizard Tower seemed absolutely impossible for any entity to obstruct.

……

“Even among legends, there are gaps.”

Garcia watched with a solemn expression as the figure approached, severing every attack unleashed by the Spellbinder Wizard Tower, arriving here accompanied by that curtain of rain. His voice was hoarse. Beside him, Wang Yu and Avia were also looking through the tower’s windows at the approaching enemy.

“Is this a legendary knight?”

The distance was far beyond the effective range of Wang Yu’s chariot power, so he could only watch with his eyes; he knew nothing else.

“Magic and void energy vanish the moment they approach that rain, which must be his Inner Manifestation. I cannot perceive any further information, but that power must be the special ability unique to a legendary knight.”

The girl spoke, her Perfect Fractal Lens failing to provide more data. It only marked the spherical range of the Inner Manifestation for Avia, confirming that neither magic nor void energy could function within it. That was all.

“Ethan Harris. This rain, and the power he displays—there is no mistake. It is him. That powerhouse of the Tudor Empire. But there had been no information about him since the Battle of the Abyss Depths. In the records, he was confirmed dead. It seems, however, that he did not pass away.”

Garcia murmured. As a knight—a true knight, unlike Wang Yu, who was something else entirely—he could feel the power of the entity approaching. It was that power unique to legendary figures, and the tension in his voice was unprecedented.

Once strength reaches the legendary level, even without relying on battle qi, a legendary knight can catch magic and sorcery with their bare body and inflict damage on elemental or spectral beings. This power had been mentioned to Arielle and Wang Yu before; it had no fixed name in the continent’s existing records, but among the dragons, it was called a “Domain”—a power that influences surrounding matter directly through the physical body.

And even among legends, there are differences. Or rather, if the gap between a Great Knight and a Legend is a chasm, then the gap between legendary knights is an infinitely widening abyss. The difference between the truly powerful and those who have just entered the legendary rank is almost impossible to describe in words.

“His title is Sword Saint. Unlike my own title, which was given by those around me based on my combat style and carries no real meaning, Ethan Harris is called the Sword Saint because he truly is one. He pushed both swordsmanship and knightly prowess to the absolute limit. Whether in the past or the present, the records describe him as one of the most powerful legendary knights to have ever lived.”

Garcia forced himself to stay calm, explaining to Wang Yu the information about this existence who was bringing the threat of death to everyone in the Spellbinder Wizard Tower.

“The reason records cannot name the strongest legendary knight in history is that there is no way to force these powerhouses into a true fight to the death. But as the ace of the former Gondor Empire, he was the embodiment of a one-man army. With the sword in his hand, he could wipe out an entire army and the enemy’s legends single-handedly. Wherever the rain falls, his blade can reach.”

There were things Garcia left unsaid—these were the descriptions of the Ethan Harris who had "died." What kind of strength this Sword Saint, who had lived until now, possessed, no one knew.

“Understood. Seems like a rather troublesome guy. Can’t reach Arielle and the others? Never mind, it’s likely a targeted strike.”

Wang Yu nodded, spoke a few words to the girl beside him, and walked toward the gate of the Spellbinder Wizard Tower, ready to fight.

The Spellbinder Wizard Tower, founded by Avia’s ancestor, was not a large organization; it only had some fame within Alastrelle. It did not possess much strength. The Tower Master’s power was more for protection, and it was unclear if it could withstand the attacks of the man Garcia called the Sword Saint.

“Well? Are you confident?”

After Wang Yu walked out of the tower gate, Lilia, who had been waiting anxiously at the second-floor staircase for a long time, finally couldn’t help but ask.

“Don’t worry.”

The girl gave her a thumbs-up and tore open a void rift, stepping inside.

“Hmm… I think it’ll be fine.”

Wang Yu pondered for a moment, then gave a positive answer.