The elf did not attack again, only looking at Arthur with a puzzled face, not knowing how Arthur had done what he did.
While he had many thoughts about it, Arthur was more concerned about the technique he would use. It was insanity, and not many people would try that.
"You need to die, and then the technique will activate. Your power will increase, and you have thirty minutes to kill someone with similar strength, or you will die."
That was the description of the technique Arthur wanted to use. With it, his power would increase to rank three for thirty minutes, but he had to kill the elf before him, or else he would die.
Not many people had the guts to use such a technique, and the fact Arthur was in a second body boosted his confidence, and it would not be the end if everything went wrong.
"Others would not have that luxury," he thought.
The technique was relatively simple to use, and all Arthur needed was to draw a symbol on his body, a rune, and then die.
Because the elf was still recovering his senses after what Arthur did, it was easy for him to draw the rune without the elf noticing it, using his nails to carve on the flesh.
"I don't know how you did it, demon, but it does not matter. You will die now, and there is no escape!" the elf said, wielding his sword again, but this time instead of attacking from afar, the man dashed toward Arthur.
Everything happened so fast that Arthur could not dodge, and his constant eye usage got him tired, especially with the wounds all over his body, which made everything more difficult. He did not have the luxury to use his Unseen Truth Eye again, and the elf cut both arms.
A lot of blood and a lot of pain. Arthur had once lost one arm, but never two at the same time, and it did not end there; the elf also cut both of his legs out! Arthur became a torso with a head, and the elf maniacally laughed at it.
"You see? There is no way you can win against me. " I will end your suffering," the man slashed the final time, cutting Arthur's head off.
For a brief moment, Arthur's connection with his avatar vanished, and he wondered if the spell had gone wrong and his avatar was now truly dead.
Arthur was in the dragon valley, focusing on his training, and he was almost at rank four! He was close to it.
"My lord."
Valethar, the dragon Arthur helped, came to see him with the news.
"What is it?" Arthur said, opening his eyes and staring directly at a red-haired humanoid.
"Malak and that lady that came to see you some time ago, remember? They are certain something is up inside the Von Stein territory, something about a portal that can lead to the central continent! I don't know what this continent is, but something else exists. The girl you are looking for, Sybille or something, is in a dungeon beneath the castle, but no one can get as close as the rank-four mages guard it!"
"What the fuck? What did you say?"
~~~~
"I…am…alive…?"
Arthur, who had his pieces all over the floor, recovered his conscience and the connection with his main body, meaning the spell succeeded! It was a risk shot, but there weren't many other ways for him to deal with that rank-three mage still gazing at Arthur's body.
"His eye looks strange. Is it a treasure?" the elf said, but although he thought about moving and checking, he stayed in the same place.
Why? He could not tell why, but he had a feeling inside, one of danger. Sure enough, impossible things happened right before him after that!
Each lost limb, be it the arms, the legs, or the head, moved toward the torso, connecting it once again, and all the wounds closed, too, like a miracle.
That was not all of it. Arthur's aura increased significantly, and he jumped from the peak of rank two to rank three, with similar power to his main body!
"How? This is impossible! How can you still be alive and stronger? W-What demon are you?"
The elf could not believe what he was seeing, and differently from before when he was all cocky, now fear was evident in his eyes, and all he wanted to do was run away from Arthur, who looked like a demon to him!
Arthur got up from the ground with his body fully recovered, and he looked down, seeing the movement of his hands, "it truly worked? This technique is like a miracle, but there is a catch. I cannot lose time!"
Sure everything it did was extraordinary, but there was a flaw. Arthur had to kill someone with similar power, like the elf before him, to resurrect. So he had thirty minutes to do so.
A risky technique considering no one could know if the adversary had an emergency escape route, spell, formation, or item. The spell would be useless if the powerful targets vanished, and Arthur would die.
With that thought in mind, Arthur grabbed the spear on the ground near him and dashed toward the elf. The blood from the nearby corpses flew toward him, surrounding his body like armor.
Not only that, but his plate armor, which had been destroyed during the fight, also moved and recovered itself!
"It seems the armor is not as simple as it looks. I could see it coming considering it belonged to the Blood Monarch."
The elf saw Arthur coming straight to him, and was quick to react, blocking the spear by slashing it with his sword, deflecting the attack to the side.
"You are stronger also!"
Arthur kept attacking with his crimson red spear, piercing it multiple times, but the elf kept reflecting until the blood armor around Arthur moved away from his body, and it enveloped the elf's arm, making it so that he could not block with his sword!
The spear pierced through his right shoulder, creating a nasty wound. Blood was flowing from it, hitting the nerves, making it much harder for the elf to keep fighting the way he was.
The man put his left hand on his right shoulder to stop some bleeding, but it was not enough. Arthur then drew some symbols on the air, runes made of blood, and many spears came flying from the temple's roof!
A torrent of spears made of blood! A powerful spell from the Blood Monarch, and with that many things hitting from above, it was hard for the elf to dodge!
Sure he tried, dodging some of the spears, but once the first one hit, the others came right after! And Arthur was still before him, preparing more attacks, making it hard for the elf to dodge both from the front and the top!
Arthur tossed his crimson-red spear, piercing through the belly of that elf. He put both hands on his stomach and looked toward Arthur with a face of despair.
"H-How?"
The elf could not believe what happened, and the fight that should be easy was the last one the man would ever fight.