King Nuven lay quietly on the ground.
His hand was still tightly wrapped around the handle of the greataxe, as if it was his lover.
The two sharp spikes in the middle of the axe blade sunk deep into his chest.
Everyone in the Hall of Heroes watched the scene unfold before their eyes.
Shock, doubt, sorrow, and grief. Countless emotions intertwined.
The victor of the duel, Archduke Poffret, was sweating profusely. His hand on the handle of the axe slowly slid down.
As his body relaxed, he knelt beside King Nuven and panted violently.
Poffret's eyes were lifeless and his chest was heaving, as if he had just experienced a nightmare.
Archduke Olsius, who was watching the duel, widened his eyes. He looked at the motionless king, and his complicated emotions instantly turned into indescribable sorrow.
Archduke Roknee's expression was sorrowful.
Archduke Lecco's brow seemed to be laden with a heavy burden.
Trentida shook his head, as if expressing his disdain for the duel.
Thales lowered his head and stared at the ground in a daze.
He did not know what kind of expressions Nicholas and Putray had on their faces behind him.
'Damn it.
'How could this be?'
He slowly clenched his fists.
'King Nuven died here …
'Who will control Dragon Clouds City?
'Who will control Dragon Clouds City?
'Who will control Dragon Clouds City?
His thoughts became a jumbled mess.
Freed from the duel, Archduke Poffret half-knelt in front of the king's body in a daze.
'Nuven.
'The Born King.
'Nuven Walton.
'The monarch who ruled Eckstedt for nearly thirty years.
'Already …
'Dead.'
The young archduke suddenly let out a low laugh.
"Hahaha …"
He raised his head, and his laughter grew louder and stranger, as if he was a morbid lunatic.
"Hahaha …"
Then, the young archduke laughed maniacally and suddenly turned to look at the witness of the duel — High Priestess Holme, who represented the Bright Moon Goddess.
"Hahahaha …"
His body trembled as he laughed.
The female priestess stared straight back at Poffret. Behind her veil, her beautiful eyes were calm and unruffled.
Under her gaze, Poffret felt an invisible pressure quietly bearing down on him.
His smile gradually faded.
The priestess remained calm and did not show any expression.
Poffret stopped laughing. His face slowly darkened as he furrowed his brows in confusion.
Thales was in a daze, desperately thinking about his future.
At this moment.
"I see …" Nicholas, the Star Killer, suddenly said softly from behind Thales.
In the next moment, two loud sounds of collision resounded.
"Bang! Tong! "
"Clang!" What followed was the clang of metal falling to the ground!
Thales shuddered and snapped out of his thoughts.
At the same time, many people in the Hall of Heroes exclaimed in disbelief!
Thales raised his head swiftly.
Then his eyes widened and he frowned.
He saw the most unbelievable scene.
It couldn't be.
The shocked Thales even forgot to breathe at that moment.
King Nuven, who was supposed to be lying dead on the ground, had somehow struggled to his feet!
Instead, he pinned Poffret face down onto the ground!
The great axe which had pierced through the King's chest lay at their feet, still trembling!
Like the others, Thales stared fixedly at the scene before him in bewilderment and confusion.
The old King of Eckstedt had a fierce and aggressive expression on his face. His left arm was in the shape of a ring, tightly gripping Poffret's right forearm from behind. His right hand was firmly pressed against Poffret's upper right arm, and his left knee was pressed against Poffret's back.
King Nuven had locked Poffret's right arm and pinned him to the ground.
Thales widened his eyes in disbelief and shook his head subconsciously.
'How could it be …
'That injury …'
Thales was not the only one who thought so. Everyone in the hall, from the archdukes to the vassals, from the servants to the guards, were shocked to see this unbelievable and incomprehensible turn of events.
"No, you clearly …" Amidst the intense pain, panic, and fear, Grand Duke Poffret, whose right arm was locked and whose head and face were pressed to the ground, desperately exerted his strength in an attempt to break free. At the same time, he shouted with a face full of fear, "No, impossible!"
He could not believe that the king, who had been pierced through the chest by his axe, could stand up in an instant, as if he was unharmed!
The old king's right chest and the front and back of his robes were soaked in blood. It looked extremely terrifying.
But at this moment, it was as if the injury did not exist. It did not affect the king's movements at all.
It was as if King Nuven had just been pricked by a needle.
Thales turned his head abruptly and anxiously asked the only supreme class elite here, "How could —"
"Silence!"
Nicholas interrupted him in a hurried tone.
The Star Killer stared at the scene, unwilling to let go of any detail. "Finish looking at it … It's not over yet!"
Putray, on the other hand, was astonished, as if he could not accept this fact.
"Impossible?" Nuven the Seventh's face was flushed after being resurrected from the dead. The king pressed down with his right hand and retracted his left. His muscles trembled as he slowly exerted force and tightened. Using Poffret's elbow as a fulcrum, he began to pry Poffret's locked forearm in reverse.
The old king gritted his teeth and his face was ferocious. "On the battlefield, you'd better believe in 'impossible'!"
As King Nuven exerted force, Poffret's locked right arm began to slowly deform!
His forearm moved in the opposite direction of his elbow joint in a frightening manner.
The distinct sound of muscles snapping rang out in the field.
"Ahhhhh!" Poffret's face contorted in pain as he let out a heart-wrenching howl!
The archduke's left arm desperately reached behind him towards the crazed King Nuven, but it could only scrape the air in vain. He kept scratching in the air.
He could not break free from such a fatal lock at all.
"I killed you, I clearly killed you!" Poffret's neck was pressed against the floor, and he could not stop twisting in inhuman pain. He screamed in pain, "You're dead!"
"Is that so?" King Nuven, who was firmly suppressing his opponent, revealed a ferocious expression mixed with hatred and madness. His words were as piercingly cold as the wind. "Perhaps …
"I'm not completely dead enough?"
As he spoke, Nuven the Seventh continued to exert force with his hands methodically.
The frightening cracking sound from Poffret's forearm continued to ring out.
It sent a chill down Thales' spine.
The young archduke struggled frantically. He could not reach his enemy's left hand, so he desperately slapped the ground.
But under King Nuven's experienced and ruthless strangulation, all of Poffret's struggles seemed to be in vain. He could not exert the strength in his young body at all.
He could only frantically twist the other parts of his body that could still move.
He was like a fish waiting to be slaughtered on the chopping board.
The next second …
Slap!
A crisp sound rang out from Poffret's arm!
Poffret's head, which was pressed against the ground, could not be raised any higher. His face was contorted, and tears flowed uncontrollably from his eyes. His mouth was widened to its limit in pain, and he let out an unprecedented, frenzied howl. "Ahhhhh! No! No! No! Ahhhh! "
His right forearm, starting from the elbow joint, had been forcefully bent in the opposite direction!
Under the intense pain, Poffret trembled as he resisted King Nuven's strength. He even lifted his chest an inch off the ground!
But Poffret's nightmare was not over yet.
King Nuven suddenly raised his right hand, which was pressing against Poffret's upper right arm. He abruptly clenched his right fist and hammered the back of Poffret's head!
Thud!
Poffret's head was smashed to the ground again by the punch.
His forehead hit the floor with a dull thud.
But King Nuven did not stop. He let go of Poffret's crippled right arm and extended his right hand to grab Poffret's left arm!
Then, using the same posture, he switched his left and right arms. His right hand clasped Poffret's forearm while his left pressed against Poffret's upper arm.
King Nuven took a deep breath and continued to exert force.
Poffret recovered from the brief dizziness.
Panic struck him in an instant.
Feeling the intense pain and numbness in his right arm, as well as the sensation of his only intact left arm being tightly locked, the young archduke realized something. He turned his head in despair.
"Why?" Tears of pain rolled down Poffret's face as he asked his opponent indignantly, "Why?"
King Nuven stared into Poffret's eyes and sneered in satisfaction.
"On the battlefield, a wound that penetrates the chest is fatal. Most of the injured can only leave their lives to luck." The king stared at his enemy like a hawk, as if he was staring at a rabbit. "This is especially true for a wound that penetrates the chest."
King Nuven continued to exert force on Poffret's arm. He did not stop talking and exuded a chilling aura.
"Your lungs will become like broken bellows. Breathing will become harder than lifting your hand … Every time you take a deep breath, you can even hear the hissing sound of air entering and leaving your lungs from the wound. You will start coughing, and the coughing will become more intense and painful. Breathing will become softer, more painful, and more difficult.
"Blood will also slowly soak into your lungs. Then, as you breathe and cough, it will continuously flow out of your throat, mouth, and nose … In the intense pain and tightness in your chest, you will feel an incomparably heavy chest. Then, slowly, your strength and consciousness will leave you.
"If your ribs are broken, then congratulations. The fine bone fragments will become the most terrifying torturer … They will penetrate deep into your muscles, rub against your tissues, puncture your blood vessels, and torture your spirit and body in pain and sourness until you surrender to death and reach out to the ferryman of hell's river.
"Even if the wound is blocked in time and the external bleeding is stopped, it will be of no use … You will first cough more and more blood, then less and less until you die … If you are lucky, it will be over in a few minutes. If you are unlucky, you will even wail until midnight. Accompanied by a terrifying fever and cold sweat, you will die in pain in your hallucinations.
"I have seen too many tragedies like this on the battlefield."
Poffret widened his eyes. Cold sweat continuously seeped out of his forehead along with the pain.
The King smiled and changed the topic of the conversation.
"But …"
King Nuven moved his head closer to Poffret's ear and said ferociously,
"You know, a person's chest has a range … Not the entire chest is where the rib cage is located …
"If the pierced part does not hurt your chest, and avoids the fatal artery, such as the muscle between your right shoulder and right chest, and penetrates forward and backward … and perfectly grazes your rib cage and bones …
"Then use the Power of Eradication to expand the wound muscles and stop the bleeding …
"How … is this possible …" Poffret gritted his teeth. The veins on his face bulged as he stared at King Nuven behind him in despair.
"I told you, brat." The Power of Eradication surged into King Nuven's arms. He laughed contentedly. "On the battlefield, you better believe in 'impossible'."
Finally, a bone-chilling sound, accompanied by Poffret's screams, rang in everyone's ears.
"Crack!"
Poffret writhed madly on the ground, screaming out the pain and despair he felt at the moment.
His only arm was also bent by King Nuven.
The young archduke had lost both his hands.
A few seconds later, Poffret's struggles and screams began to subside. His body twitched continuously and he let out miserable moans.
The archdukes stared at the scene before them in disbelief.
"What does this mean?" Archduke Trentida tried his best to regulate his breathing.
The one who answered him was Archduke Roknee, who had not spoken for a long time. The latter said coldly, "It means the end."
Thales watched in a daze as the king completed his counterattack in an instant.
It was quick, violent, and effective. It was a counterattack that ended things once and for all.
He did not even have time to see how the king's reversal began.
"His Majesty was lying on the ground and was pierced by the axe." Nicholas sighed behind him. "Whether it was us or Poffret, we only knew that His Majesty's chest was pierced, but we could not clearly see the penetrating position on his back … There was no way to tell if it was a fatal wound.
"And that was exactly what the king calculated."
'Calculated?'
Thales stared at King Nuven's chest, especially at the area on the right that was soaked in blood.
King Nuven panted. He flung away his enemy's useless arm and stood up.
At that moment, Thales felt that this valiant figure was incomparably tall.
King Nuven looked around at the people in the hall.
He was greeted by different gazes and breaths, ranging from excitement, surprise, and doubt.
"Wine!"
King Nuven suddenly roared loudly, "Strong rye wine!"
Thales was momentarily stunned.
"The strongest kind!"
The servants and guards in charge hesitantly looked at the High Priestess of Bright Moon Temple and the archdukes.
However, High Priestess Holme was still unmoved. The archdukes only stared at the king in a daze.
Poffret, who was on the ground, stopped moaning. He struggled to lift his head and looked at his opponent with a face full of despair and numbness.
"Enough!" King Nuven roared impatiently. "I won't suffocate him to death with a wine cup!"
"Motherf * cker, bring me the wine!"
"In the name of the king!"
The king's administrator, Lord Mirk, sighed and waved his hand, granting the king this privilege.
A wooden barrel full of rye wine was quickly carried to the hall.
King Nuven grabbed the metal wine cup that was brought over, opened the lid of the barrel, scooped up the wine, threw his head back and poured it into his mouth.
Wine seeped from the corner of his mouth and flowed through the king's short beard that stretched from his chin to his neck.
The old king downed the wine in the cup in one gulp, wiped his chin happily, and scooped up another cup.
This time, King Nuven tore off the clothes on his right shoulder, revealing his aged but still firm muscles.
The wounds caused by the axe just now were obvious. There was one on his chest and one on his back, but they were all away from the center of his chest and even close to his shoulders.
The wounds had already been filled up by the compression of his muscles.
Gritting his teeth, King Nuven raised the wine cup and poured the wine on his wounds!
The muscles on his right shoulder trembled and shivered under the strong wine.
However, King Nuven's expression was as cold and indifferent as usual.
It was as if the wine that had soaked his wounds was not strong wine.
Everyone in the hall watched this scene in silence.
No one interrupted him.
On the ground beside him, Archduke Poffret, whose arms were broken, growled in a low voice. Once again, his eyes were filled with indignation and hatred.
He used his head to prop up his upper body and tried to get up with the help of his knees.
What welcomed him was a heavy, merciless kick from King Nuven on the archduke's back, forcing Poffret back to the ground.
Poffret first let out a painful groan, then his groan turned into an indignant roar.
"No, how did you do it …" The young archduke's face was gloomy. He glared at King Nuven as if he wanted to dig a piece of flesh out of him.
"Did you think you could pierce my chest with the axe so easily?" King Nuven's expression remained the same. He scooped up another cup of wine and drank it in one gulp. "Brat, I lured you to stab me!"
"My strength is not as good as yours, neither is my endurance. In a battle with a greataxe, I would lose sooner or later." King Nuven stepped on Poffret's back and spat at him in disdain. "But even a supreme class elite, once he lets down his guard …"
King Nuven's eyes shone brightly.
"You're useless."
Poffret's eyes widened. He pressed his face against the ground and his lips trembled. Once again, he let out an indecipherable roar.
It was filled with desolation and pain.
"I'll give you a piece of advice. Before you break your enemy's neck, don't relax." King Nuven slowly exhaled. Feeling his exhaustion and fatigue, he said in a cold tone, "This is the most valuable experience we've gained in thousands of years of bloody battles with the orcs."
King Nuven raised his head again and drank the third cup of wine in one gulp.
Behind Thales, Putray asked faintly, "Is this what the army often talks about, the so-called fighting instinct of a warrior?"
"Instinct?" Nicholas, the Star Killer, replied with a cold chuckle. "This is a battle tactic. From the beginning to the end, the duel went according to His Majesty's calculations and rhythm. It went according to the pace he planned. "
Putray revealed a puzzled expression.
"From the beginning, His Majesty lured Poffret to stab him with the tip of his axe instead of slashing him with the blade." The Star Killer crossed his arms. There seemed to be a smile in his eyes. "His Majesty seemed to be passively defending with his axe, unable to counterattack, and retreating step by step …
"In fact, with every blow they exchanged, the distance between them unknowingly shortened. When His Majesty fell in the end, the distance between him and Poffret was so close that they were face to face. It no longer allowed Poffret to slash him with the blade of his axe."
Thales thought of something. He looked at the distance between the two men in the field and the position of the two greataxes.
"Poffret was led by His Majesty to end the duel with the thrust of the axe," the leader of the White Blade Guards replied faintly.
"His Majesty, on the other hand, was lying on the ground. He used both hands to control his opponent's axe to stab into the muscle gap between his chest and his shoulder blade … That was an injury His Majesty inflicted himself. It would bring him terrifying pain, but it was definitely not a fatal blow."
Thales took a deep breath and looked at King Nuven in the field.
'A shrewd and ruthless hunter, huh?'
"The only thing left to do was to wait for his opponent, who had been incited into a frenzy by his words, to think that he had won the duel," Putray added to the Star Killer's answer in a sentimental tone. "Then, he would seize the opportunity to take advantage of an opening that could completely restrain Poffret's advantage in endurance and strength, and launch a decisive counterattack."
"I hope that you will watch this rare duel carefully and benefit from it, Your Highness," the prince's vice diplomat said faintly to his prince.
Thales could only shake his head slowly.
"Poffret claimed that he understood His Majesty's fighting style from his grandfather, but he did not understand anything at all." Nicholas' pale face shone in the firelight. "This is the real 'fierce counterattack, subduing the enemy with one strike'."
"Deep impression," the Marquis of Camus Union exclaimed by the side. "You are not surprised by this, are you?"
Nicholas nodded slowly. "Yes, every step Poffret took was within His Majesty's expectations."
"There is a saying in Constellation's Western Frontline." Putray sighed. "On the battlefield, even a dying veteran is ten thousand times stronger than a rookie with boundless strength."
"A veteran meets a rookie." The leader of the king's personal guards snorted coldly. "The outcome of this duel, from the beginning …"
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