F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 243: Golden Glaze

"I did say I’ll cook you in our duel, but how are you so disappointing? Perhaps it’s better for you to go back to the kitchen?"

Outside the throne room, the ongoing war between a small army of hunched abominations and bony, armored wraiths paused as a battle reached its conclusion.

Elara stepped back, allowing Toras’ massive body to fall to the ground.

A second later, a heavy thud resounded, then howls and hisses. The Egress Army celebrated in their own way as the huge foe was felled.

Initially, they were worried whether Sigrun alone was enough to eliminate the field boss who had come all the way from the first floor to deal with them, but as it turned out, the battle didn’t even last two minutes.

The Hearthwarden was strong.

However, what use was strength if the blade itself could not touch the target?

Toras was every bit the heavy hitter his appearance suggested. Unfortunately, he was slow and predictable for Elara.

Not to mention, whenever an unexpected attack would catch her, the huge stone cleaver would only phase through.

What happened was nothing short of a one-sided slaughter.

Although it took a lot of hits, Elara was able to stab and cut the field boss up in whatever way and whenever she wanted.

The battle cost her a fair amount of stamina, though, and she was now breathing quite heavily as she re-entered the fray.

Nonetheless, her victory granted her comrades a much-needed morale boost.

Even Caleb was rejuvenated by the sight of the mighty enemy’s fall.

With Sigrun around, they would be able to hold on for a significantly longer time. Perhaps Daru would have already succeeded by then.

Caleb didn’t allow the crippling thought of the possibility of failure to creep into his mind, knowing himself quite well.

He immediately jumped back to the fray, snarling and waving his gray jian like the wretch that he was.

The battle for The Crown inevitably resumed.

The tide of wraiths continued slamming into the wall of Damnedlings, unhesitatingly throwing their lives away in exchange for even a measly crack at the invaders’ formation.

What they were doing was proving effective, whittling down not only the recent morale boost but also the Egress Army’s stamina and will to survive.

Still, if calculated in terms of the number of casualties, the wraith army was losing horribly.

The defenders of the castle were now down to half their original number.

Only, Elara, too, was succumbing to the exhaustion. She was the strongest on that battlefield.

However, she was also only one bladeborn.

How could she handle thousands of Swordspawns? Perhaps she would be able to in the future, but not now.

Elara was still a novice, after all, and even as an SSS-ranker, she needed time to develop.

But that future would be nonexistent if she didn’t survive here.

’Sigh...what has this princess gotten herself into?’ Elara inwardly regretted her overconfidence, though she would never admit to it. ’How had Onimaru gotten himself into this mess, anyway? And in such a plebeian manner at that...’

Unfortunately, even the luxury of amusing herself in the middle of the hellish battle was taken away as two small, black tornadoes of sword manifestations raged towards her.

She was not allowed to avoid them.

Otherwise, the poor wretches behind her would undoubtedly perish.

A mighty champion of humanity such as her should handle the tougher challenges for her lessers.

So, Elara stood her ground, scraping her silver flyssa on the stone floor and lashing it skyward.

Three diverging lanes of sword manifestations emerged from its tip, each perfectly guiding the two black tornadoes closer.

She then courageously turned into a silver, piercing tornado, proceeding to destroy the two profane Sword Skills personally.

Two tall wraiths towered before her the moment her [Silver Fang]’s potency reached its end.

"Can’t a lady even breathe?" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

***

**

Meanwhile, inside the throne hall, a fierce duel continued raging.

Stone shards littered the floor as swords sang in stinging clangs, as if telling a tale of how relentless the ongoing battle had been.

Both Daru and Commodus had minor cuts all over their body, and both had a level two bleeding status active.

But the affliction didn’t matter much.

After all, the duel was never going to end with someone bleeding out, given how intensely the two were going for each other’s necks.

It was as though they were solving a long-due vendetta.

Only, Daru was solving something different. He had been trying to since earlier.

A few minutes had passed since his duel with Commodus had begun, yet, neither he nor his foe was able to deal significant damage to the other, one that would tip the battle heavily in one’s favor.

Commodus’ Sword Skills were simple enough.

The malevolent prince could unleash profane crescent-shaped slashes and possessed a spinning maneuver that allowed him to escape death in critical moments—which was precisely why Daru had to resist a blow head-on, preventing the wraith from simply dancing out of danger.

On top of that, he had a treacherous technique that infused his blade with a strange energy, briefly numbing the arms of anyone who crossed swords with him.

Commodus could be hiding more, but it shouldn’t matter as long as Daru managed to solve his problem...and he already had a solution.

It was just a matter of daring to try it.

He only had one chance — two, at most— and if he failed, he would probably die or end up grievously wounded, most likely the former.

’Quite thrilling...’ Daru mused. ’Time to try it, then.’

So he did.

While reading all of the princely wraith’s movements was impossible, recognizing the start of a sequence wasn’t too difficult now that he had exchanged more than a hundred strikes with the abomination.

He angled his tachi accordingly and blocked the incoming double rising slash.

Daru was sent skidding back a dozen meters, but this was well within his wishes — dangling a juicy opening.

Commodus instantly bit without hesitation.

The princely wraith exploded forward, opting to show his trump card at this moment.

He stabbed viciously, the tip of his black stone gladiuses enchanted with a piercing black vortex of malevolent energy.

It was at this spine-chilling moment of danger that Daru chose to perform his ridiculous pose.

However, it didn’t seem so ridiculous this time.

His body was suddenly covered by a soft, translucent, glistening golden layer, and for a hit...he was invulnerable.

At least Commodus’ malevolent stab was not able to pierce through...

Instead, it bounced back, to the princely wraith’s bewilderment, deflecting his arms to the side.

Daru immediately capitalized on the glaring opening.

His tachi was veiled by a heavy black aura, and its blade crashed cleanly into his foe’s exposed neck

...severing it.