After going into the sea, I met the witch.

"monster……"

The Black Knight felt a heavy weight in his heart.

Meanwhile, in the audience, the Black Knight's expression changed for the first time as he watched this scene: "Pure physical strength crushing the opponent? Is this guy a humanoid monster? No, even if he is a monster, it's impossible for someone of this size to possess such power!"

On the blood-red stage.

The Black Knight followed the blood that flowed from the longsword onto the ground, spreading intricate patterns. A silent surge of spirituality arose, and in the next instant, three powerful shadow hounds rose from them, pouncing towards Ryan.

—One of the Black Knight's class skills, [Shadow Hound]!

Ryan was no stranger to this tactic.

When he first met the Black Knight, the latter had used this ability. However, Cecilia was the one who dealt with all three Shadow Hounds at the time, so he wasn't very familiar with their attack methods.

These strange creatures, which dwell in the realm of shadows, move in a very bizarre way. As they run, their bodies can even leap into the shadows and merge into them.

Its body only becomes physical when it launches an attack.

Compared to the Gray Wolf, who also wields the power of shadow, the Shadow Hound is far superior.

If the opponent were a normal Tier 2 elite professional, being attacked by three Shadow Hounds in a combined attack, with their bizarre attack methods, might have caused them considerable trouble. Unfortunately, they encountered Ryan.

Even without the gray text clearly showing their exact location, Ryan's current 3.8 [Spirituality] is enough to clearly perceive the spirituality of the three Shadow Hounds.

A Shadow Hound leaped out from the shadows behind Ryan, while two other Shadow Hounds attacked Ryan's head and lower body respectively.

Just as Ryan was about to wipe out the three Shadow Hounds, the Black Knight, not far away, trembled and raised his hand.

The next instant, Ryan felt as if he had been forcibly taken into a special space.

—【Black Cage】: This ability forcibly pulls the target and the user into a special spiritual space. The Black Cage will not be opened until a decisive battle is won, unless a higher-ranking being intervenes and forcibly breaks it.

Ryan knew of the existence of the Black Cage, but he did not expect that the Black Knight would drag him into it at this time.

Even someone as physically strong as him couldn't help but experience a moment of mental disorientation. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but the key point was that the three Shadow Hounds also entered the [Black Cage] without being affected in the slightest.

Taking advantage of Ryan's momentary lapse in concentration, the three Shadow Hounds pounced down swiftly.

"Crack!"

A crisp cracking sound was heard.

The Shadow Hounds' teeth are extremely sharp; even metal armor is difficult to withstand their canines.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, Shadow Hounds do not deliberately avoid armor—people wearing armor have very few exposed unarmored areas, and these areas are all in high alert zones, making them difficult to hit.

In the past, Shadow Hounds caused their "prey" a great deal of trouble by relying on this characteristic.

This time, however, their opponent is the "Low-Tier Rare Item - Fine" level [Umbrella Fire Scale Armor Set].

The two Shadow Hounds that attacked his waist and leg armor broke their own teeth. As for the one that attacked the back of his neck, Ryan, who had reacted quickly, grabbed its neck with one hand, and it whimpered and exploded into a cloud of black mist as Ryan tightened his grip.

With a sweep of his greatsword, he obliterated the other two Shadow Hounds.

Ryan turned his head and looked at the black knight in the distance, whose eyes were filled with fear but who was still drawing his sword against him. He felt a pang of emotion.

Despite their differing stances, the Black Knight's spirit is still worthy of respect.

Pity……

"Pong!"

On the blood-red stage, with a sound like shattering glass, Ryan's body reappeared, and not far in front of him was the Black Knight kneeling on the ground, forever asleep.

This scene caused the Black Knight in the audience to grip his gauntlets tightly.

Caius, the tavern owner in the "special audience seats," exclaimed in amazement, "A first-tier player defeating a second-tier player so easily, this guy is truly a monster."

With the Black Knight's defeat, the voice of the Blood Witch Serena echoed on the stage once more. This time, her tone became noticeably more impassioned, as if a "performance" had reached its climax.

Chapter 96 Ryan vs. the Twelfth Black Knight

Even the 'Pope' who reigns supreme over the continent cannot stop the 'hero's' footsteps.

"As the 'First Witch' was about to be rescued, melodious bells rang out from the sacred cathedral, and a figure bathed in endless holy light descended to the mortal world."

"He is the agent of God on earth."

"He possesses a power that mortals cannot attain."

"His name is 'Angel'."

“‘Hero,’ go forth! That is the last enemy standing in your way…”

As the Blood Witch Serena spoke in a high-pitched voice, the Black Knight's corpse sank into the stage, while at the same time, another figure slowly rose.

Ryan showed no surprise as he watched the black knight rise from his seat, his face armor bearing the number "12" in gold between his eyebrows.

From the moment the Black Knight left the stage, he had already foreseen the identity of the "Angel".

After all, among the "audience" present, only this twelfth seat of the Black Knights was most suitable to play the role of "angel".

"How interesting. When did such a powerful greatsword swordsman like you appear by the side of the Dark Moon Witch Freyne? The entire intelligence department should atone with their deaths."

The Black Knight spoke in a deep voice, stopping twenty meters in front of Ryan.

Intense shadow fire ignited around him and extended all the way to the silver-black longsword he had drawn.

A surge of spiritual energy far surpassing that of ordinary black knights suddenly erupted, transforming into a powerful spiritual pressure that swept towards Ryan.

"Kachacha..."

Tiny cracks appeared on the blood crystal ground beneath Ryan's feet.

As Ryan watched the Black Knight approach step by step, the tip of his knight's longsword dragging across the ground, leaving a trail of black fire, his expression turned serious.

Generally speaking, when a Tier 1 professional reaches maximum compatibility, their [Spirituality] is around 3.0.

Based on this, advancing to the second tier will double your [Spirituality] to 6.0, and this is only the initial stage of the second tier.

As the connection deepens, the spirituality grows stronger.

As for the Black Knight in front of us, his [Spirituality] is close to the limit of the second tier, at least 9.0 or higher.

It far surpasses Ryan's 3.8 [Spirituality].

The vast difference in spirituality also creates what is known as "spiritual pressure": a spiritually powerful being can suppress, weaken, and have other negative effects on a spiritually weaker being simply by releasing its spiritual fluctuations, without even lifting a finger.

The powerful spiritual feedback to the physical body ensures that the physical strength of the Black Knights is by no means low.

This is an unprecedented and fierce battle!

Ryan let out a soft breath, a faint smile appearing on his face instead.

He also stepped forward, his right hand gripping the hilt of the greatsword behind him.

At this moment, even Caius, the tavern owner sitting in the "special audience seats," sat up straight and looked over with a serious expression.

"Whoosh..."

A night breeze blew past the two people walking towards each other.

"Boom--!"

Like a sledgehammer striking the ground, the explosion suddenly rang out.

"Qiang!"

The black and silver knight's longsword clashed with the silver-blue greatsword. Moonlight fell on the blades of the two weapons, reflecting two pairs of eyes filled with the same murderous intent.

The Black Knight retreated three steps, each step leaving a deep footprint in the ground. The terrifying force emanating from the greatsword made his hands and feet tingle.

At this moment, the Black Knight of the Seat was finally able to understand how his subordinate had felt.

"Such domineering power... what exactly is his profession?"

He had never seen such a characteristic in any other profession.

On the other side, Ryan frowned.

The black shadow fire burned along the greatsword all the way to his hand, each wisp of black flame fiercely burning his spirituality.

When the shadow fire was dissipated, his spirituality was burned away by 0.5!

This means that it would only take seven more weapon collisions for his spirituality to be burned to zero.

"What terrifying power! Its strength far surpasses that of the ordinary Black Knight from before..."

Ryan's gaze turned cold as he looked at the Black Knight in the opposite seat.

The moment their eyes met, the two moved again.

"Qiang!"

As weapons clashed, the Black Knight was once again forced back, this time taking a full five steps before stopping.

"His power has become even stronger?!"

The Black Knight's gaze was solemn.

What he didn't know was that this was actually the effect of the [Blood Hunter] skill. The initial collision had marked the Black Knight with the "Blood Hunter Mark," meaning that any subsequent damage he received would be increased by 10%.

"The opponent seems to possess some kind of secret technique that continuously increases power during battle. If this continues, my body will be unable to withstand it before the Shadow Flame can burn away its spiritual power."

The Black Knight's mind raced. He raised his hand and made a grasping motion towards Ryan, who was chasing after him.

In an instant, a shadow flowed beneath Ryan's feet, and a gaping maw, large enough to swallow an adult whole, suddenly emerged.

In the moment of crisis, Ryan leaped into the air, narrowly avoiding the bite.

The sharp, snapping sound of teeth biting down came clearly from beneath him, and only then did Ryan get a clear look at the object of his attack.

It was a Shadow Hound, but unlike the Shadow Hounds summoned by ordinary Black Knights, this Shadow Hound was several times larger, and its mouth had undergone a special mutation, with the corners of its mouth almost reaching its ears, allowing it to open its mouth to the maximum extent to bite.

——【Shadow Hound Leader】

Unlike ordinary Shadow Hounds, which are only at the first level, the spiritual energy emanating from the Shadow Hound leader is a genuine second-level energy.

His falling right foot slammed heavily onto the Shadow Hound leader's clenched teeth, and Ryan performed a backflip in mid-air, avoiding the Black Knight's follow-up slash.

After landing, he hoisted the greatsword onto his shoulder, and a faint white spiritual light flashed rapidly around him.

In 0.8 seconds, the greatsword was fully charged and slashed fiercely at the shadow hound leader in front of him, who had just come back to his senses after being stepped on.

"Thorn-"