Is this really a Game?!

Chapter 1016: The Leaders Join the Fray

The tall man staggered back, clutching his bleeding cheek. Aelrinder reappeared a few meters away, his spear poised for another strike. The tall man wiped the blood from his face and grinned, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

"You've got some skill, I'll give you that," the tall man said, twirling his blades. "But let's see how you handle this!"

With a swift motion, he lunged forward, his blades slashing through the air with deadly precision. Aelrinder parried the strikes with ease, his movements fluid and graceful. He countered with a series of rapid thrusts, aiming for the tall man's chest.

The tall man dodged and weaved, his blades a blur as he deflected each attack. The two warriors danced around each other, their movements a deadly symphony of skill and determination.

Aelrinder's power of the stars gave him a boost that was powerful enough for him to overwhelm the enemy. His stats increased considerably overall and he was able to suppress him in every way. The tall man was indeed powerful and could actually go toe to toe with Aelrinder even in the current situation, mostly thanks to the fact that he had used corruption.

It was oozing out of his body, each cell of his body being empowered by the corruption that was shrouding his body and increasing his stats in a similar manner to how Aelrinder's ability was doing.

He was able to fight evenly against Aelrinder in this manner and force a draw between them, his incredible swordsmanship giving him a slight edge over Aelrinder each time he got close to him.

Aelrinder would not be outdone, however, and fought back with his wind, which was also more powerful than before, gaining a golden hue thanks to the power of the stars.

The other battles were going quite well for the others as well. Ivan was able to gain a slight advantage over his opponent even though he was weakened and didn't have a mark or a powerful ability that boosted his stats.

He fought using two maces, each strike of the maces capable of crushing bones and causing immense damage to befall those who were unfortunate enough to be struck by them.

His ability gave him the power to manipulate weight. He could change the weight of anything he touched, as well as the things that were 10 meters around him.

To change the weight of a limb or other person was difficult, however, and he would need to expend a lot more mana to do so.

Still, by adding weight to his maces right before they hit somebody, he was able to increase the power of his attacks considerably, or he could do the opposite, make them lighter and faster. Find your next read at m_v l|e-NovelFire.net

He could change the weight of his opponent's weapon, confusing them multiple times or even making the opponents themselves heavier, making it much more difficult for them to move around.

His opponent was not as powerful as the tall man or head priest, and even in the base, where he was weakened, Ivan was able to suppress him and gain advantage.

Just as the battle between those in the base was becoming more and more chaotic, they all suddenly stopped fighting as a chaotic and powerful aura appeared from the shack where Reign was fighting against the enemy leader.

The shack suddenly exploded, pieces of wood and splinters flying away with immense speed as a figure flew out of the base.

The figure crashed through multiple other shacks before finally stopping and groaning a bit before slowly getting up, his aura rising.

"The bastard finally decided to fight seriously." Reign said with a groan as he stretched his hands while his mark shone as lightning suddenly appeared, exploding around him and causing his aura to spike considerably.

"It's only fair I start fighting seriously as well, right?!"

Wolf and the others, who had been a bit concerned upon noticing that it was Reign who had flown out of the shack in such a manner, were relieved upon hearing his words and seeing the mark activate.

Had Reign already activated his mark and been thrown away in such a manner, they would truly be worried as that meant the enemy leader was even more powerful than they anticipated.

As for the head priest and the rest of the enemy combatants, they showed slightly worried expressions upon sensing the immense aura coming from Reign.

Their leader was powerful, not to mention that they were fighting in their base where they were all stronger than usual, but even so, the aura coming from Reign made them apprehensive.

Even if their leader won, he wouldn't be able to win without being injured, and if the other enemy combatants had other tricks up their sleeves, then they might be forced to sacrifice much if they wished to win, months of hard work going down the drain.

"You truly are a resilient bastard, to think you would only be injured that much from my attack."

The leader said as he walked out of the ruins of his shack, corruption twisting around him, shadowy vines made out of corruption coiling around him.

His legs and arms were black now, and there were thin lines of corruption coiling around them forming boots and gloves that further enhanced the leader's strength.

As the leader emerged from the ruins of the shack, his corrupted form exuded a dark and malevolent aura. The shadowy vines of corruption that coiled around him gave him an even more menacing appearance, and his eyes glowed with a sinister light as he stared down Reign.

Reign, undeterred by the enemy's intimidating presence, clenched his fists, crackling with lightning. His determination to defeat the leader burned brightly within him, fueling his resolve.

"You'll find that I'm full of surprises," Reign replied, his voice steady despite the chaos around him. "And I won't let you interfere with the battles taking place here."

With a sudden burst of speed, Reign dashed toward the enemy leader, closing the distance between them in an instant. He unleashed a barrage of lightning-infused sword slashes and kicks, each strike aimed with precision and power. The enemy leader, caught off guard by Reign's speed and ferocity, struggled to defend himself against the onslaught.

Reign's speed had increased tremendously thanks to the activation of the mark, as did his overall strength.

His attacks carried more weight behind them, he was moving and attacking faster, and his lightning, which he previously did not use, was white as he had infused his light in it, making it even more powerful and effective against the corruption.

The enemy leader was not to be underestimated, however, as he was still holding out against Reign's sudden onslaught of attacks. His corruption would get blown away each time it touched the white lightning, showing that it was not a good idea to try and fight it head-on, but he had no choice.

Reign was simply too fast at this moment, he was a blur that attacked the enemy leader from all sides without giving him a moment to rest and collect his bearings.

It didn't matter what the leader wanted to do or how he wanted to fight against Reign, it was all for naught as the latter was overwhelming him with his speed.

Still, there were no visible injuries on the leader's body as he was still able to respond to Reign's movements and attacks. He was using his arms and legs to block the swords, and he was no longer worried about stabs either.

The 'gloves' and 'boots' he had on would get thinner and even lose parts of themselves each time Reign hit him thanks to the lightning, but they were made out of corruption that was compressed to such a degree that it became dense and physical, and it was much more difficult to deal with it in such form.

It was kind of similar to how Drayce had created a throne in the past when they were taking on the challenge. Wolf had managed to notice that the throne, which seemed to be made out of weird metal, was in fact made out of flames that were manipulated to such a degree that they became firm.

The enemy leader was not even close to the mastery that Drayce had shown, of course, but it was still an incredible feat, one only possible thanks to the corruption present in and below the base.

As they continued fighting, the leader and the head priest both suddenly flinched as they sensed something.

"You damned bastards!" The leader shouted in anger as corruption suddenly exploded around him, forcing Reign to jump back and evade. The head priest's reaction was not much better as he got enraged as well.

They sensed that two of their fake Tier VI combatants had died, and out of the two, neither one was inside the base, in fact, both had left the base and were making their way to the mercenary camp with the rest of the group and now, they were both dead.

They had thought that those 5 would come back and reinforce them, only for 2 to suddenly die, making it clear to them that Reign and the others knew about them and already made a plan to deal with them.