Chapter 385: 363 Exposed Purpose_2
What’s worse, Shalltear had realized that Reiger seemed to have the ability to render mental domination and other negative effects ineffective, which made many of her abilities useless against him.
In her battle with Reiger, Shalltear successively used "Human Species Charm," "Human Species Binding," "Internal Burst," "Likely Death," "Open Wound," "Pain Wave," and "Insanity" among other spells. But these magic attacks aimed at the mind or body that could inflict negative status, all turned out to be ineffective; none had any effect on Reiger.
He was completely immune to these negative statuses and effects, immune to magical interference against both the mind and body. This was a critical reason why Shalltear was caught off guard during the battle and gradually fell into a disadvantageous position.
Add to that Reiger’s ability to significantly reduce the damage from fire, ice, holy, and negative attribute attacks. Even though it was hard to believe, Shalltear had to admit, if things continued this way, she would be the one to lose.
Unless she used her trump card.
(No, the primary purpose of this battle is to probe his capabilities and combat power, not to win.)
Shalltear thought to herself.
(As he’s revealing his abilities and strength, I’m also exposing my intelligence. If I were to use my trump card now, the next time I face him it would definitely be a situation where I’m targeting him and he’s equally targeting me.)
(Then, the competition would be about the ability to prepare against each other’s methods.)
(This situation isn’t necessarily to my advantage. Therefore, to have the power to defeat this man when we truly need to decide the outcome, I must conceal my trump card as much as possible.)
Shalltear, with these thoughts, was unaware that in reality, Reiger had already begun to suspect something about this battle.
"We’ve been fighting for this long, and still, this vampire hasn’t used her trump card?"
Shalltear believed she was hiding her trump card, but Reiger, having known her hidden abilities from the original story, was well aware of them.
That was Shalltear’s personal set of special skills.
Without mentioning "Blood Pool," which required a large amount of fresh blood to use, there was the "Unclean Impact Shield" that she had used in the northern forest of E-Rantel, which Shalltear had not used at all in this battle.
Beyond that, several other powerful special skills that Shalltear possessed, she hadn’t used any of them either.
The special skill that contained holy attributes, and could deal huge damage to an opponent; additionally, paying extra magic power could grant it absolute accuracy, was the special skill — "Purifying Javelin Throw."
A special skill that could reverse her own time, like one of Reiger’s divine powers, and return her to a perfect state — "Time Reversal."
And Shalltear’s greatest trump card that could create an artificial body completely identical to her in armament, abilities, and rank, just unable to use magic and certain special abilities — "Eidolon of the Soul."
Although these special skills had limitations such as they could only be activated a few times or even just once a day, their power was undoubtedly formidable.
If Shalltear were to use these abilities, then Reiger intended to likewise use his own trump card, bringing out his true strength to face her.
However, Shalltear did not activate any of these special skills, and it didn’t seem like she was conserving them for a limited number of uses. If so, what exactly was her plan?
Thinking this, Reiger suddenly had an epiphany, realizing a possibility.
"Could it be that you’ve been ordered by Ainz to test my strength and collect battle information on me?"
Reiger’s out-of-the-blue statement caused a drastic change in Shalltear’s expression.
Seeing this, Reiger immediately understood.
"I see, so you have been holding back the special skills you used last time in the forest." Reiger said with a smirk, "That’s so like your master Ainz, always so cautious and, I dare say, cowardly."
At these words, Shalltear, her expression drastically altered, finally lost control of her negative emotions.
"Bam!"
With a bursting sound in the air, Shalltear charged at Reiger with astonishing speed, her face twisted in ferocity as she lunged with the test tube lance in her hand.
"Clang——!"
Reiger raised his blade to meet the assault, clashing with the oncoming test tube lance. The echo of clashing metal caused shockwaves to explode outward in all directions.
"————!"
Lakyus and the others couldn’t react in time and were directly blown away by the oncoming shockwave, either smashing into the nearby ground, sliding backward, or simply colliding with surrounding walls or the like.
Reiger’s and Shalltear’s weapons violently collided and rubbed against each other, creating continuous sparks and sonic booms.
Shalltear’s rage was vented along with the sparks and sonic booms.
"How dare you insult Lord Ainz? You deserve to die a thousand deaths!"
With that, Shalltear erupted with tremendous power, raising her syringe lance high, whirling it into a storm that continuously bombarded Reiger.
"I was just talking to myself."
Reiger, with a voice as calm as still water, echoed Shalltear’s earlier sentiment, his movements, however, were anything but slow. His body burst with a storm of electricity and thunder, and the knife in his hand turned into streaks of lightning, sweeping toward Shalltear like a tempest.
"Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!"...
In an instant, the long sword and lance clashed with violent momentum, attacking one another with astounding speed.
Shalltear had already turned her syringe lance into a mass of afterimages, each carrying the negative energy characteristic of the undead, turning her incessant lance attacks into a storm-like calamity, not only targeting Reiger but the shockwave also shattered the ground, sinking it around Shalltear as cracks spread in all directions.
Reiger’s side was just as impressive, producing a swath of blade light interlaced with thunder, merging into astoundingly powerful lightning slashes, each tearing through the atmosphere with the phenomenon of thunderclaps, sounding like thunderbolts from the clear sky, striking one after another toward Shalltear.
The offense and defense between the two tore through the atmosphere and the earth, causing the ground beneath them to explode and sink deeper and deeper, with cracks spreading ever wider, turning debris into bullets that flew mixed with the storm of negative energy and thunder toward the surroundings.
Such an extreme battle, such extreme collisions, successfully destroyed the entire courtyard, turning this base of the "Eight Fingers" into ruins at an alarming rate, creating a scene as if the earth itself was shaking.
"What, what kind of battle is this...!?"
"It’s terrifying!"
"They are both monsters!"
Gegran, Tia, and Tina were having a tough time just protecting themselves in the midst of the fallout, barely managing to keep up, rolling and dodging desperately to avoid being hit by debris, swallowed by the sinking earth, or blown away by the shockwaves.
"I never expected to see a battle of this level again...!"
Brian had long since beaten a hasty retreat, his face deathly pale, looking like someone haunted by a psychological shadow.
"Retreat, Ivey!"
Lakyus had started to flee, completely daring not to stay here any longer.
"Damn it!"
Ivey seemed very unwilling, but couldn’t help but look at the two combatants in the midst of the battle with a mix of awe and respect.
Now, she could honestly admit it.
Those two were stronger than herself.
Much stronger.
"Reiger Brillhaut!"
Ivey yelled in the direction of Reiger.
"You must win!"
Leaving these words behind, Ivey then cast a spell, flew into the air, and retreated.
"Rumble rumble——"
The astonishing ongoing battle was still unfolding, attracting the attention of countless watchful observers.