Chapter 146: Master-Level One-Handed Sword Skill

A cold glint flashed in Chu Cheng's eyes, and his fighting spirit surged even higher as he swung his twin swords in a continuous barrage to press the attack.

The Death Knight swung its massive greatsword, the gargantuan blade slicing savagely toward the dual swords.

Reacting with extreme speed, Chu Cheng stepped back to evade the sweeping greatsword, then lunged forward once more to thrust his sword at the Death Knight's waist.

The Death Knight reacted with equally blinding speed. Halfway through its slash, it altered its move into an upward diagonal sweep, crashing directly into the twin swords. Instantly, an immense force surged through the blades, forcibly knocking Chu Cheng's weapons upward.

The greatsword smoothly continued its upward arc, slashing across Chu Cheng's waist. The tremendous force skewed his posture, sending a massive damage figure of -632 erupting from him.

Twisting his body and arching his back, Chu Cheng spun around, his twin swords striking rapidly against the blade of the Death Knight as it prepared a combo. Two crisp metallic rings echoed out as he used the momentum to spring backward behind the Death Knight, stabbing continuously with both swords.

Then, he saw the Death Knight spin around and bring its sword down in a ferocious chop, sending a colossal sword aura tearing through the air.

Reflexively, Chu Cheng crossed his twin swords in front of his chest. The tremendous force violently forced his blades apart, leaving a devastating damage figure of -1890 on his body.

Rolling backward more than a dozen meters, Chu Cheng pulled out a potion and drank it to recover his health. Facing the Death Knight, which was now leaping over ten meters into the air to slam down upon him, he decisively activated Blade Whirlwind.

The greatsword smashed through the whirlwind, dealing just over three hundred damage upon impact, whereas the frenzied blades of the storm dealt continuous chunks of seven to eight hundred damage back to the Death Knight.

Faced with the rapid cutting of the Blade Whirlwind, the Death Knight pressed the attack without the slightest trace of fear.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

The two combatants traded blows incessantly, sword clashing against sword in a brilliant shower of sparks.

As the seven-second duration of Blade Whirlwind came to an end, Chu Cheng's Hot-Blooded Battle Soul had stacked up to the maximum twenty layers, making his entire body feel feather-light.

His movement speed increased by 200 points, his attack speed by 200%, and combined with a party haste buff granting an additional 75 speed, his current movement speed had surpassed 650.

With his attack speed maxed out at seven strikes per second, he launched into a frenzied onslaught against the Death Knight.

With both movement and attack speeds maxed out, he now outpaced the Death Knight. Only his strength fell slightly short, though not by much, and his combat techniques were also marginally inferior, yet the gap remained narrow.

His overwhelming speed compensated for these deficiencies. Coupled with various battle techniques and the periodically triggering Time Lock that disrupted the Death Knight's rhythm, Chu Cheng unexpectedly seized the upper hand in the solo duel.

Having cleared out the surrounding lesser monsters, Feng Lingxing and the others stood dumbfounded, gazing at the spectacle in utter shock as they exchanged bewildered glances.

"Holy crap, is this for real? Soloing a boss?"

"This is completely insane. He's not even level 30 yet, is he?"

At that very moment, a unanimous realization dawned upon all four of them—this young man was destined for greatness!

Just then, the Death Knight, struggling after a prolonged battle and now losing ground, finally reached its limit and activated its ultimate ability. Dead qi surged from its entire body like raging flames, its aura and speed skyrocketing dramatically as it charged forward, slamming into the caught-off-guard Chu Cheng and sending him flying, before bringing its sword down in a mid-air slash.

"Frost Chains!"

Fighting with absolute concentration, Fang Xi cast her spell instantly, successfully freezing the Death Knight in its tracks.

Landing on the ground, Chu Cheng instantly bounced back up, raising a hand to halt his teammates who were rushing forward to assist.

"Don't come over, I can handle this."

Taking a deep breath, he decisively activated Phase Shift.

Phase Shift LV1 (Top Tier): Enter a phase state, increasing movement speed by 200 and evasion by 50%. Collision volume is reduced to 0. Duration: 15 seconds. Cooldown: 3 minutes.

"Fortitude!"

With both skills fully activated, he charged headfirst toward the Death Knight, which had just shattered free of the Frost Chains.

"Clang!"

As their blades crossed, the immense force sent him sliding backward nearly a meter, yet he stubbornly held his ground, deflecting the majority of the impact. Then, parting his dual swords, he allowed the Death Knight's greatsword to slam into his shoulder while simultaneously thrusting his own weapons forward. Like a blur of illusions, he struck the Death Knight seven times in the blink of an eye.

"Power of Death!"

The special effect of his newly acquired accessory, Mark of Death, finally triggered, granting +300 physical attack power.

Chu Cheng decisively activated his necklace's Wild Strength, granting another +100 physical attack power.

Combined with his baseline attributes, Chu Cheng's attack power now reached a staggering 1308.

At seven strikes per second, even without triggering any special effects, his theoretical damage output reached a staggering 9,156. After deducting the boss's defense, it still translated to over four thousand points of damage.

Once Time Lock triggered, his attacks would ignore defense and deal guaranteed triple critical damage. Coupled with Spatial Marking and the weapon's added frost damage, that meant a horrifying damage output of up to twenty-seven thousand.

After activating Fortitude, Chu Cheng's damage reduction became absurdly high. Even in its berserk state, the Death Knight's sword strikes dealt only around three hundred damage to him. With his pool of five thousand health and a health regeneration rate of one hundred and eighty points per second, even if every single strike hit, it wouldn't pose an immediate threat to his life in the short term.

Moreover, he wasn't simply trading blows; he retained the ability to evade, block, and parry between attacks.

Even if the strength gap was too vast to completely parry the blow, successfully blocking still shaved off a portion of the damage.

The roughly three hundred points of damage were reduced by blocks and parries down to just over two hundred.

Amidst the frenzied burst state, Chu Cheng's mind was completely devoid of distractions. In this state, his consciousness mirrored a crystal-clear pool, reflecting everything into his mind with the clarity of sudden enlightenment. Every single move and posture required to dismantle the opponent's defense, the precise timing to raise his guard, and the split-second decisions to abandon defense and evade an unblockable strike—everything became as clear and intuitive as divine guidance.

To Yao Ning and the others, Chu Cheng's combat techniques had somehow made a monumental leap right as the boss went berserk, allowing him to trade blows with the boss on equal footing.

"Is this really how legendary top-tier experts fight?"

Yao Ning said with a hint of excitement:

"Do you remember Zhao Wuji from the Starry Pagoda? Word has it he's the kind of super expert who can independently solo major bosses."

Feng Lingxing asked in astonishment:

"He can compare to Zhao Wuji?"

Yao Ning shook his head, then nodded as he replied:

"Not yet, but he has that kind of potential."

"That's insanely epic."

Wang Jing, the Berserker Fighter, gripped his weapon, itching to join the fray:

"Watching this gets my blood boiling."

Yao Ning quickly waved his hand and said:

"Don't you dare go in; you'll only disrupt his rhythm."

"Heh, I wouldn't dare. The boss is in a berserk state right now. With my speed, jumping in there is a surefire death sentence."

The group chimed in with their awe and amazement. Fang Xi stood gracefully nearby, her exquisite face wreathed in a radiant smile, her lovely eyes sparkling with admiration as she felt thoroughly validated in her choice.

"Time Lock!"

On the eighth second after Chu Cheng activated Fortitude to launch his counter-offensive, Time Lock triggered for the fourth time.

A terrifying burst of twenty-seven thousand damage erupted in an instant. As the power of time faded, a puff of black smoke vented from the armor of the frozen Death Knight, which then collapsed into a pile of scattered armor plates.

Streams of radiant light converged, forming a purple treasure chest.

Picking up the chest, Chu Cheng immediately brought up his interface, where four system prompts materialized before his eyes.

Skipping past the initial kill notification alongside the rewards of 5 attribute points and 5 skill points, his gaze locked onto the subsequent notifications:

"Your one-handed sword weapon skill has gained 1 point of weapon experience, upgrading the skill to 'Master' rank."

"Your dual-weapon combat skill has gained 1 point of weapon experience, upgrading the skill to 'Master' rank."

"As expected!"

Amidst the heat of battle, he had already anticipated that his skills were leveling up.