Immortality.
The word weighed heavily on Klein's mind, making it almost hard for him to breathe.
How were they supposed to fight this?
Their opponent held an invincible position, while every attack and every spell they cast was a real drain on their physical strength and mana.
Even though Ophelia's battle qi was as vast as the ocean and his own mana reserves far exceeded those of his peers, there was ultimately a limit.
If this dragged on, they would be the ones to lose.
The monster on the sea seemed to sense this as well, and it no longer emitted that maddening song, simply floating there quietly.
Countless illusory faces intertwined and overlapped, staring through the wind and rain with an indescribable gaze at Klein on the reef and the golden figure in the seawater.
It was a scrutiny, an evaluation, devoid of any emotion, yet it made one's skin crawl.
Klein and Ophelia looked at each other from dozens of meters away.
Without a word, both understood the current predicament from the other's reaction.
A battle of attrition was absolutely out of the question.
Continuing to probe like this would only be a waste of effort.
They had to find the secret to its constant regeneration or use a force capable of completely evaporating and erasing it in a single lethal strike!
But did such a power... truly exist?
Just as Klein's thoughts were racing, trying to find any viable solution from his currently meager store of knowledge, Ophelia, in the sea, moved.
She did not retreat, but instead took a step forward.
As she stepped out, the seawater beneath her feet dipped.
The golden battle qi on her body, already blazing fiercely, soared into the sky once more without reservation.
The golden light dispersed the gathering dark clouds, pierced through the rain, and illuminated this dim stretch of sea under the blood moon as if it were broad daylight.
All this time, Ophelia had maintained a one-handed grip on her sword.
But now, her empty left hand slowly gripped the hilt.
A two-handed grip.
Ophelia was no longer holding back.
Klein's heart skipped a beat.
He instantly understood Ophelia's intention.
The Knightess did not seem prepared to stay in this deadlock any longer.
She was going to use her strongest strike to decide the outcome of this battle!
Without a moment's hesitation, Klein's mana surged again.
Since Ophelia wanted to do this, he had to pave the way for her.
He extended his finger, pointing from afar at the newly reformed monster.
This time, he did not chant complex incantations; instead, he highly concentrated his mental strength and mana, communicating at the deepest level with the most active water elements around him.
"Freeze!"
The temperature in the air plummeted, the icy chill even causing the gale to falter.
Centered on the monster, the sea surface within a radius of dozens of meters froze without warning.
It was not a slow freezing, but an instant where the liquid water transformed directly into solid ice.
Deep blue ice spread frantically from all directions, forming a massive iceberg in an instant that firmly locked the monster's gargantuan body inside.
The strength of this ice was far beyond that of the hastily condensed ice walls from before.
It contained Klein's most profound understanding of the elements—unbelievably hard and bone-chillingly cold.
The monster did not seem to have anticipated this change, and as it was frozen within the solid ice, a hint of struggle appeared on those illusory faces for the first time.
But this was not enough.
Klein knew very well that this thing could not trap it for long.
Two seconds at most, maybe even just one!
However, for Ophelia, one second was enough.
At the moment the ice formed, Ophelia moved.
She held her longsword high with both hands, and the golden battle qi was no longer in the form of flames but was highly condensed into a physical light, entirely wrapped around the blade.
The knight's longsword now looked like a holy sword forged from pure sunlight.
Where the blade pointed, space itself let out an overburdened wail.
"Sunder."
A single, incredibly simple syllable escaped her lips.
There was no world-shaking roar, only a declaration calm to the extreme.
Then, she swung her sword.
An indescribable golden torrent erupted from the blade, surging toward the massive iceberg with the momentum to tear heaven and earth asunder.
It could no longer be called sword light.
It was a pure, destructive tide of energy.
Everywhere it passed, boiling seawater evaporated, violent hurricanes were shredded, and even space itself seemed to warp before this ultimate power.
Klein maintained the ice with all his might, his eyes fixed intently on that golden torrent.
Could it work this time...
However, at the instant the destructive golden torrent was about to hit the iceberg, the monster frozen inside suddenly stopped struggling.
Its billions of overlapping faces all turned toward Ophelia at once.
That expression was no longer the previous spite and madness, nor was it the fear of facing death.
It was... a human-like confusion.
Its gaze landed precisely on Ophelia's left hand.
That left hand, which tightly gripped the hilt and provided the strength for this ultimate strike.
At that very moment, the red moon in the sky, which had been briefly obscured by Ophelia's battle qi, somehow broke free and poured down its eerie, blood-colored light.
The moonlight shone on the monster, making its illusory body clearer than ever before.
It also shone on Ophelia, bathing her entire being in an ominous red glow.
Then, a voice echoed throughout the entire sea.
It was no longer a howl or a song, but a clear question formed by countless overlapping voices.
"Kin..."
Klein's mana circulation experienced a momentary stagnation.
Kin?
Who was it calling to?
"You have already succeeded..."
The voice continued, filled with endless confusion and bewilderment, echoing through the wind and rain.
"Then why?"
The moment that final word fell, the golden torrent of destruction finally collided with the massive iceberg.
There was no explosion.
There was no loud crash.
Time seemed to be set to slow motion at this moment.
Klein saw the solid iceberg melt and evaporate silently under the impact of the golden torrent, like snow cast into lava.
Along with it, the monster sealed inside was also swallowed by that light.
Everything was being decomposed, erased, and returned to the most primitive particles.
This was absolutely the strongest strike Ophelia could use at this moment.
Klein was certain that no living creature could survive such an attack.
However, an intense sense of unease instantly seized his heart.
Rate on N.U.
