The Adventures of an Overpowered Knight in Another World Chapter 564- Tales of a Gutsy Knight (3)

Even the Storm Sovereign, for all its cunning, found its patience wearing thin, leading to increasingly biting taunts directed at its challenger.

However, Vangeance had grown wiser, carefully avoiding engagements in environments that put him at a disadvantage.

A soft smile graced Silvia’s lips as she observed his growth. Knightly trials are never uniform, as the Altar tailors each challenge specifically to the unique nature of the individual.

It was no coincidence that Vangeance faced this particular trial; the mission served to temper his rough edges and strengthen areas where he was lacking.

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By the following day, the pair had arrived at the central peak.

The massive stone mountain reached such staggering heights that its summit disappeared into swirling thunderheads. Violent cyclones coiled about its rocky flanks, while jagged lightning struck the crags in rhythmic pulses.

"We have arrived," Silvia stated with composure.

Vangeance tilted his head, questioning, "How can you be so certain?"

She cast him a glance before unfurling a hand-drawn map cluttered with annotations, sketches, and a web of intersecting paths.

"I spent the last few days mapping every sighting of the Storm Sovereign. Once I connected those data points, this peak sat right at the epicenter of its activity."

She gestured to an empty circle on the parchment that corresponded to the mountain looming before them.

"While the beast’s movements appeared erratic initially, reflection reveals it only blocked our path when we neared certain sectors. Furthermore, its behavior suggests it is protecting something; the closer we pushed toward this location, the more erratic its aggression became."

Silvia tucked the map safely back into her satchel.

"It tried every tactic—redirecting our path, shoving us aside, and setting traps—solely to keep us from reaching this summit. This mountain is undeniably its lair."

"That thing is devious," Vangeance muttered, his expression pained as he finally grasped the true danger posed by the Storm Sovereign.

Though he possessed no fear of its strength, he realized that undertaking this trial alone would have left him wandering aimlessly, never catching a sniff of the creature’s hidden den.

"T-thanks," Vangeance mumbled, offering his gratitude with his usual lack of grace.

"You are quite welcome," she replied.

Silvia was in high spirits. It was no surprise, as the unique aura of this region had allowed her to make significant strides in mastering the Fourth Light of the [Holy Sword Arts].

The Commander was correct—simply drilling on a practice field would never suffice for true mastery.

Only by enduring arduous trials, sharpening one's perspective, and deepening one's internal resolve could an aspirant hope to progress in the Divine Art.

In this way, this perilous journey was proving just as beneficial to her as it was to Vangeance.

"Let us proceed," Vangeance declared, taking the vanguard with a burning need to corner their prey.

Do not let his calm mask deceive you; he was simmering with suppressed rage. The beast’s constant, condescending jeers over the past few days had pushed him to the edge, and he was eager to roast the oversized avian and serve it up.

Just as Silvia predicted, they had reached the home turf of the Storm Sovereign. As soon as their boots touched the lower slopes, the very air groaned under the weight of an oppressive pressure.

BOOM...

A thunderclap shook the earth, followed by the formation of a lightning vortex within the clouds.

SKREEEE... With a deafening cry, the Storm Sovereign unfolded its massive wings, whipping up a tempest as it revealed itself.

"Heh, so you have decided to stop playing games," Vangeance remarked, his lips twisting into a predatory smirk.

The beast unleashed a wave of raw bloodlust the second it appeared, marking its intense fury.

Yet, if the Storm Sovereign was angry, so be it. Since when was Vangeance one to recoil from anyone?

BANG... The ground cratered as the beast struck, its talons carving deep gouges into the solid stone.

A concentrated shockwave of wind blew outward, but Vangeance had already moved, vanishing from the point of impact.

Meanwhile, Silvia swiftly retreated to provide him the room necessary for his combat.

The blast pulverized boulders, turning the landscape into a storm of shrapnel. Amidst the chaos, a shadow could be glimpsed dancing across the falling debris as if it were a solid walkway.

Vangeance leaped, corkscrewed in mid-air, and kicked off a spinning slab of rock to propel himself directly toward the sovereign’s head.

But the creature reacted instantly, shifting the element around its wings—the razor-sharp feathers dissolved into arcs of pure lightning.

Guided by the Storm Sovereign’s will, a spear of lightning plunged from the vortex, hurtling straight toward the knight.

The projectile moved with such velocity that Vangeance barely had time to raise a [Holy Shield] before the impact detonated against him, blasting his body backward.

BOOM... After skidding through a hail of debris, he managed to plant his boots on a floating fragment of rock, narrowly avoiding a fatal fall.

"Is that really all you can muster?" Vangeance stood, brushed off his attire, and pointed his blade at the beast with a defiant grin.

His taunt clearly hit a nerve. With a piercing shriek, the Storm Sovereign unleashed a focused hurricane from its wings.

The gales turned vicious, reversing the flow of the air currents.

Vangeance was hurled backward once more, but he had learned his lesson. Mid-air, he twisted his frame, planted a foot against a crumbling cliff-face, and sprinted horizontally before launching himself back into the heart of the storm.

"Your blades shall carry the weight of your vow. Your movements and your swing shall become one with your mind, breath, and blade. Finding unity in all three will remove all gaps."

Reciting the familiar motto, he entered the first and second states of Transcendence.

Reinhardt could never have anticipated that his casual words to his knights regarding the secrets of the [Holy Blade Arts] would become a core mantra for Vangeance.

Bathed in the power of his techniques, he moved as a blur of silver and white.

Step, spin, kick, leap.

Every collapsing pillar of rock became his launching pad. Every drifting boulder became a foothold.

His movement was a three-dimensional ballet of death, weaving through veins of lightning, cleaving through wind currents, and rebounding off the flying ruin of the mountain.

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The Sovereign swiped down with its jagged talons.

Vangeance dodged with uncanny reflexes and retaliated with a heavy punch aimed at the beast.

BOOM...

His fist connected with a dense mana barrier, resulting in an explosive collision that sent both combatants reeling.

Watching from atop a distant boulder, Silvia was momentarily stunned by his audacity. To punch a beast of that caliber without a defensive lead-in was madness.

"So reckless," she murmured with a sigh.

Monsters that reached the level of the Storm Sovereign were not easily slain. They reshaped their environments and cloaked their bodies in invulnerable mana barriers.

Without shattering that barrier, one could never hope to pierce its hide.

Sure enough, while the force of the punch had pushed the beast, its body remained entirely unharmed.

Nonetheless, a subtle smirk pulled at the corner of Silvia’s mouth; she remained unbothered, confident that Vangeance would prevail.

SCREE.*

The Storm Sovereign let out a wail, and the lightning vortex above responded, gathering hundreds of bolts into a singular, condensed sphere of storm energy.

The monster fixed its glare on the tiny human and hurled the massive orb.

RUMBLE... RUMBLE...

The sheer energy contained within that sphere was terrifying; the very atmosphere shuddered, and the mountain began to collapse under the strain of its power.

Yet, faced with this catastrophic attack, Vangeance did not display a flicker of hesitation.

He planted his stance, preparing to meet the assault head-on.

[Blessings of Valor].

Brilliant white light erupted from his core, focusing into his sword to create a massive blade of holy energy.

SLASH...

As the sphere descended, he unleashed his [Judgement Slash].

BOOOOOOM...

A column of blinding light and thunder erupted toward the sky, carving a massive crater into the slope of the mountain.

If one looked closely, the crater was split neatly in two, leaving the ground precisely in the center completely untouched.

A figure surged out of the explosion.

Vangeance shot forward like a projectile, his body encased in dense holy aura. Having bisected the Storm Sphere, he had narrowly avoided the brunt of the blast.

He stomped on a rock to accelerate, vaulted to the height of the beast’s head, and delivered a crushing spinning kick directly into its jaw.

CRACK...

The impact was absorbed by the mana barrier, as expected, but a fissure spiderwebbed across the surface—that was all Vangeance needed.

He adjusted his positioning in the air and brought his blade down in a lethal strike.

The barrier, already strained, shattered completely, and the blade bit deep into the creature's beak.