Chapter 619: How Could This Happen

"Pah!"

Liszt disgustedly shook off the lines that had surfaced in his mind, even feeling a surge of envy. Such a dashing scene—treading on a seven-colored auspicious cloud while clad in golden armor—should have been his to create.

Yet, it was Marquis Natao who had pulled it off.

"A mismatched mess!"

"A pretentious clown!"

Frowning slightly, his movements didn’t falter in the slightest. No matter how flashy Dimaria Yuhua Stone’s pose was at this moment, to Liszt, it was just another target to slash at.

Scorching Sun Thrust!

Engulfed in flames, he swung the Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword with a mighty roar, unleashing a charged strike with brutal force.

Marquis Natao’s eyelids twitched slightly, a cold glint flashing in his eyes as he abruptly raised the Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword, gripping it with both hands and slashing diagonally downward. In an instant, the combined mana gathered around him by the Roaring Knights seemed to find an outlet, erupting violently like a tidal wave, eclipsing the heavens and earth.

KABOOM!

This surging combined mana collided head-on with Liszt’s Dragon Aura. Though the Dragon Aura, ever-unstoppable, easily shattered the combined mana, the latter seemed endless—shattered but endlessly replenished, forcibly repelling the Dragon Aura.

Then, like a relentless tide, it struck Liszt, who couldn’t stabilize his stance.

CLASH!

"Quite the powerful attack!"

His mithril plate felt as if it had been battered by countless massive hands, the impact nearly knocking his guts loose. His body could no longer maintain its airborne state, sending him plummeting downward.

Below him lay the Roaring Knights. How could these earth knights pass up such a perfect chance? They swiftly switched to bows, desperately loosing arrows at the falling Liszt. Arrows poured down like a monsoon, swiftly enveloping the area of his descent—countless, dense, and unrelenting.

Falling Sun Strike!

Liszt erupted with Dragon Aura once more, launching a charged strike that swept aside the arrow storm with overwhelming force—he wasn’t like those sky knights he had sent flying with a single move. Though Marquis Natao’s devastating strike had forced him into a fall, his body remained under his control, his Dragon Aura still abundant.

But just as he cleared the arrow storm, a thunderous crash erupted behind him—Marquis Natao, once again harnessing the knights’ combined mana, was charging toward him.

Plummeting, he couldn’t pivot to retaliate.

All he could do was flood his body with Dragon Aura, enduring Marquis Natao’s second strike. The combined mana, relying on sheer volume, once again overwhelmed the superior quality of his Dragon Aura.

SWOOSH!

Biting back a scream, Liszt could no longer maintain his composure. He cratered into the ground like a meteor.

The moment he landed, only one thought flashed through his mind: *What kind of attack is this? Why can’t even my Dragon Aura withstand it? Is it a mana technique of the Yuhua Stone Family, or some unique cultivation system?*

Then—

His body jolted. His vision darkened.

He had already struck the ground, carving out a shallow, human-shaped crater and kicking up a massive cloud of dust. Fire lanced through his insides, and with a gasp, he spat out a mouthful of blood. Since crossing into this world, he had experienced three wars and countless real combat drills.

This was the first time he had ever been beaten to the point of vomiting blood.

Dread gripped him. Though he had initially hoped Marquis Natao would be strong enough to sharpen his skills, he had never imagined the marquis would be *this* powerful. This method of harnessing an entire knight order’s combined mana defied all logic.

Unprecedented, unimaginable.

Thud, thud, thud…

The earth trembled under the thunderous charge of the knights.

Liszt dared not lie on the ground to catch his breath. If a sky knight were trampled and ravaged by the hooves and mana of charging knights, they could easily be crushed to death. Even with the physique of a half-step dragon knight, he wouldn’t dare pit his flesh and blood against the terrifying onslaught of countless hooves.

Dragon Aura burst forth, and his body sprang up from the ground like a coiled spring. He didn’t fly too high, barely dodging the charge of several nearby elite Earth Knights.

With a swift turn, he swung his sword.

Crimson Sun Slash!

Flames erupted from his Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword, sweeping away several knights who sought to strike him while he was down.

Then, he channeled another surge of mana, fleeing into the distance. The Roaring Waves Marquis, wielding the combined mana of the Coral Island Knights, was already closing in. Having experienced the might of this technique, Liszt no longer dared to face the Marquis head-on. He scrambled desperately, dodging the relentless, overwhelming, frenzied onslaught of mixed mana.

He had always dominated battles effortlessly before—never had he encountered such a perilous situation.

Fear clawed at his heart.

But the Marquis, ruthless in his advantage, gave no quarter. Without hesitation, he continued to harness the knights' mana, relentlessly pursuing Liszt. With every swing of the Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword, he guided the mixed mana, transforming it into crushing tidal waves that bore down on the fleeing Liszt.

A dragonless half-step dragon knight, Liszt found himself in an awkward predicament.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lee William, the Sword Saint of Waves, who had pinned his hopes on his son’s unknown power, gradually realized the situation had shifted.

He had been ruthlessly toying with a sky knight, but as Liszt was turned into the hunted by the Marquis, the three sky knights he had previously knocked aside now turned their spears toward him. Effectively, as a sword saint, he now faced four sky knights—at least two of whom were sword saints themselves.

"How did this happen?"

His earlier bravado vanished. Lee William wanted to turn and flee, only to find himself surrounded by the four sky knights with no escape.

The aerial battle was spiraling out of control.

On the ground, the clash between the two knight orders was also shifting. At first, the Coral Island Knights had been butchering the Roaring Knights. But as more and more reinforcements joined the Roaring Knights from behind, the edge gained by the Blizzard Beast unit was slowly being erased by sheer numbers.

The Coral Island Knights were now mired in a desperate fight.

Emily clutched her third lance, her mithril armor now splattered crimson—blood sprayed from the second Earth Knight she had slain.

She glanced into the distance. Her liege, Lord Liszt, was being chased relentlessly by the Marquis, both in the sky and on the ground. On the other side, Liszt’s father, Lee William, was being pummeled by four sky knights in turns—his defeat was only a matter of time.

And the Coral Island Knights around her…

Their once-cohesive mana had shattered into disarray.

Emily saw the tide of battle turning toward the Roaring Knights. A count’s knights against a marquis’s, quality and numbers already lagged far behind. Victory seemed nearly impossible.

But she felt no fear.

For this was Lord Liszt’s battle—she was willing to fight to her last drop of blood!

As she clenched her fists, a fiery surge ignited inside her, giving rise to a fresh wave of mana. Its emergence seemed to instantly fill her entire body.

Her heart stirred.

She sensed she’d breached the threshold of an Earth Knight—she was now an elite Earth Knight.

But there was no time for excitement. The knight order clashed with the Roaring Knights once more. *Crunch, crunch, crunch*—knights, friends and foes alike, toppled, pierced by lances. Among them was even a knight from Black Horse Island who had once taught her knightly lessons.

Suddenly!

A lance hissed past her ear—a Roaring Knight in black armor had almost skewered her outright.