Malthor didn’t strike immediately at Dustin’s provocation. However, the look in his eyes was a final verdict, as a death sentence had been passed on Dustin.
“Impressive. Very impressive,” Lysander said, drawing out the words. His voice remained soft and alluring, yet laced with venom cold as ice. He gently set down his cup and rose to his feet, smoothing out his pink-purple robe with elegant movements, like a performer about to step onto the stage.
“The fact that you managed to injure Talmor so badly shows your swordsmanship is worthy of praise. Shame you had to cross paths with me-Lysander, “he introduced himself. The instant his words fell, the water vapor throughout the entire palace suddenly grew dense.
The spiritual liquid in the wine pool rippled without any wind. Fine droplets of water condensed on the surface of the luminous pearls embedded in the walls.
Even the dense spiritual energy in the air turned moist. Lysander seemed to have become the sovereign of all water elements in this space.
Dustin stood with sword in hand, gasping heavily. The continuous brutal exchanges, especially countering Talmor’s divine annihilation thunder and delivering the fatal counterstrike, had nearly drained his last shred of true energy.
But his gaze remained sharp as a hawk’s, locked onto Lysander without daring to relax even slightly. He could sense that Lysander was even more dangerous than Talmor.
Lysander’s energy wave was like the deep ocean. He appeared calm on the surface, yet hiding violent currents in its unfathomable depths.
“Water Dragon’s Roar.”
He didn’t give Dustin much time to catch his breath. His fingers came together in an elegant gesture, pointing toward Dustin.
From within the wine pool, torrents of spiritual liquid mixed with dragon blood malevolent energy surged skyward. It instantly condensed into three dark blue water dragons with distinct scales, vicious fangs, and claws.
These dragons weren’t mere illusions. They roared loud enough to split eardrums, eyes glowing with the same malevolent light as Lysander’s. They shot toward Dustin from three directions at once, unstoppable and freezing cold, jaws gaping wide.
The water dragons hadn’t even arrived yet, but their bone-chilling cold had already coated the ground in white frost and formed ice crystals on Dustin’s eyebrows and hair.
Dustin forcibly channeled his internal energy. His long sword swept out, the sword light splitting apart like a peacock spreading its tail. Dozens of sharp cyan sword auras surged forward to meet the three water dragons.
The sword auras collided with the dragons, tearing into them. Their heads were severed and bodies torn apart, but the scattered dark blue water didn’t disappear.
Instead, it writhed in midair as if alive, swirling and instantly reforming into new dragons. They lunged forward again in an endless, terrifying cycle.
“It’s useless,” Lysander said with a chuckle, flicking his finger again. “Abyssal Ice Prison!”
The three water dragons opened their maws wide and spewed massive gouts of ghostly blue mist. Wherever it passed, the air froze. Even space itself seemed to be freezing solid.
Countless sharp ice spikes instantly sprouted from the ground, spreading toward Dustin and encircling him like a thorny forest.
The temperature across the entire battle area dropped sharply, transforming the area into an instant prison of absolute cold.
Dustin dodged frantically. His sword aura shielded him as he sliced through the jagged ice spikes and cut a path through the freezing blasts. But his speed was clearly affected by the frigid air. His protective sword aura was constantly eroded and weakened by that extreme cold.
Even worse, those three water dragons still circled and lunged around him. Combined with the ubiquitous abyssal ice attacks, they left him struggling to keep up with the onslaught.
“Water Mirror Clone.”
Lysander’s voice rang out again, tinged with mockery. His figure blurred, and in the next instant, three identical figures of himself appeared. Each positioned around Dustin, launching attacks simultaneously.
Water dragons, ice spikes, and sinister water waves that assaulted the soul came from all directions.
Dustin’s eyes sharpened. He scanned all three with his divine sense, but found their energy waves and fluctuations perfectly identical.
There was no way to distinguish the real from the clones. He could only rely on his extraordinary combat instincts and his sword technique, weaving and dodging within the limited space.
His sword light formed an impenetrable barrier, blocking and countering each attack. However, each clash left his blood roiling and his internal energy in turmoil, draining him enormously.
If he hadn’t broken through to the terrestrial immortal realm that allowed him to absorb spiritual energy from his surroundings to replenish himself continuously, he would likely have collapsed long ago.
“Found you,” Dustin said.
A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes as he caught an extremely subtle sluggishness in the energy flow of one “Lysander” while casting a technique.
Without hesitation, he ignored all other attacks. He unified himself with his sword, transforming into a supremely condensed streak of cyan light that shot straight toward that “Lysander’s” heart.
The long sword penetrated that body without any resistance. However, the impaled figure broke into an unsettling grin.
His body rippled like water, then turned into a clear puddle that splashed onto the ground. It turned out to be a water clone, and the real Lysander had already appeared behind Dustin.
In his hand had somehow condensed a ghostly blue crystalline longsword, its sharpness capable of piercing the void itself. He silently thrust it toward Dustin’s back. The sneak attack was masterfully executed with perfect timing, angle, and speed.
But Dustin seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. Still surging forward, he twisted his waist at an impossible angle and swept his sword backward.
The two swords clashed with a crisp ring. The terrifying cold wave contained within the crystalline sword spread along the blade. Dustin’s sword-gripping arm was instantly covered in a thick layer of frost, the bone-piercing cold penetrating straight into his circulatory pathways.
