302 Raphael Vs. The Crown Prince


    (This is bad... Really, really bad...)


    Ever since the fight started a few minutes ago, Raphael could help but utter those words inwardly. All he was worrying about was the sudden and drastic power that the crown prince currently had. He felt such rming danger that he told his Mother and Sister that he would fight the crown prince alone. For the safety of the soldiers on the battlefield, Raphael brought the fight ten kilometers away by letting himself be chased by the prince.


    The crown prince was supposed to be at Level 40 or something, but right now, for some mysterious reason, he had the strength that could rival the Guildmaster or even Rick without his ultras. The matter that worried Raphael the most was the fact that the prince''s level did not seem to stop rising. A powerful surge of power had been mysteriously flowing into the prince. The uncertainties urring in his body truly gave Raphael anxiety.


    (Something must be going on,) he thought.


    "What''s the problem, brat?" The prince taunted as he shed his sword overhead, which Raphael effortlessly evaded. "Have you been cowering from my power?"


    "..."


    Raphael did not reply to his provocations and parried another stab instead. He had deliberately been refraining from exerting effort as he conducted an assessment of the prince''s strange power-up. But he had to be quick, as the prince''s powers did not seem to throttle.


    Raphael suspected that the data crystals in his pocket caused him to obtain that much power, to which Akashvani verified that the prince was pulling out his powers from somewhere through the crystal. Unfortunately, even with the nigh-omniscient ultra skill, Akashvani could not pinpoint the location of the power source since it was beyond the range of Raphael''s Omnidirectional Perception.


    "Hmm. I notice that your red sword seems to be a lot sharper and more durable than mine." Taking heed of the dents on the orichalcum sword, Richard spoke. "I don''t want this sword to get damaged. In that case, I''ll be using this one."


    The crown prince slowly sheathed the long sword back to its scabbard that was handing around his waist. He next slipped his hand in one of his pockets, and when he raised his hand, there was a crystal with a navy blue glow between his thumb and index finger. As if pinching a pea, he then scattered the crystal, and a ded longsword was dropped on his hand. The manifestation of the sword implied that the sword was contained inside the blue crystal like a subspace.


    Other than the crystal, Raphael was surprised to recognize that the sword was apparently made of blue adamantite, a very rare metal so rare that it was almost impossible to find it in nature, and the metal was mostly procured from high-level dungeons. It wasmon sense.


    Seeing another adamantite article aside from his sister''s sword really perplexed Raphael. But ording to his Analysis, the sword did not seem to harbor any effects whatsoever, so it was just a sword of pure sharpness and durability and did not pose a threat. However, the problem arose within the wielder.


    "But before anything else..." As soon as he said that, Richard took out another crystal from his pocket; this time, it was glowing with an amber hue. The moment he broke it, Raphael widened his eyes, as he could not believe what he was seeing before his eyes. (Impossible...) Even though Richard did not take the path of a warrior like his younger brother did, he still took a few lessons and trained to kill boredom. He could normally perform up to Level 2 Sword Art technique at most, but right now, as Raphael could clearly see, his proficiency instantly skyrocketed to 10. Other than that, he apparently even acquired full proficiency in Martial Arts. To make things worse, the crown prince seemed to acquire the Divine Sword Art ultra skill, which left Raphael dumbfounded. In Raphael''s mind, the prince was like he just installed downloadable content into his body for extensions.


    "Prepare yourself, brat."


    With a continuously improving body, Richard dashed toward Raphael at an astonishing speed, easily surpassing sound several times, so fast that his expensive garments started to rip from the extreme air resistance. He then skillfully took his blue sword into a thrusting stance, intending to aim its tip at Raphael''s chest.


    "Fatality Thrust!"


    "Fast Sword!"


    Clink!


    Upon executing a Level 7 sword technique, the prince lunged his adamantite sword forward. Raphael quickly parried the sword with a Level 6, but he had to exert more effort to withstand the momentum. But the prince quickly recovered and attempted to attack Raphael from behind. "Armor Cutter!" Cling!


    As Richard was about to hit Raphael''s back with another Level 7 technique that could cut iron like a hot knife on butter, Raphael''s katana immediately moved to block the fatal sh, although the impact was strong enough to make him flip midair beforending with elegance. Actually, he had applied a Level 7 Martial Art called Automatic Defense, a technique that automatically protects oneself in the quickest way possible, to himself beforehand. But he had to use Martial Art Level 8: Foresight to effectively track the sword''s trajectory. However, the prince suddenly disappeared in hisst spot, and when Raphael found him, he had teleported himself diagonally above Raphael via Martial Art Level 8: Instantaneous Movement. Positioning his sword overhead, the crown prince then poured out a massive amount of fighting spirit into his sword, which materialized into a stupendouslyrge, dazzling de of pure energy.


    "Feel my smite, brat! Heavenly Strike!"


    With those words, Richard brought his gigantic sword down. In response, Raphael thrust his right palm forward and casually uttered:


    "Bastion of Glory." In an instant, Raphael deployed a dome-shaped transparent barrier that shielded his whole body and endowed it with a Level 10 Martial Art technique before bright lights engulfed his spot.


    Boom!


    After the huge sword struck down, the area was blinded with dust, smoke, and dirt. Once the obstructions were subdued, the aftermath of the heavenly retribution gradually urred, and a long chasm was created by hisst attack. The topography was significantly disfigured, and the trees along the way were obliterated.


    However, when he stared at a certain spot, his grin turned vexing. As he could see, the target of the attack, Raphael, was still standing on an undamaged surface in the middle of the chasm. "So you are to withstand that, huh?" "Are you done?" Raphael scoffed. "If so, then it''s time for my turn."