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CHAPTER 23

With a guttural sound, Battler said:

"At last, I have achieved unlimited power; I will be the king of all beasts. AHAHAHHAHAHA!!!"

Kreegan was very curious about how his power level changed from level 1 to level 3 in a matter of seconds. Alexander was surprised by what had happened but was starting to think Battler had a zoan devil fruit ability too, which is why Battler had turned into three and a half meters giant cat with golden horns.

Kreegan didn't understand that he had seen the winged lion's power level, which was level 3. How did Battler become level 4? When he turned to look at the winged lion's corpse, he noticed that the fur was pale and had lost its luster; the face had been eroded by many years. This beast must be ancient, which must be why it was only level 3 while Battler was level 4.

While Kreegan was in these thoughts, he suddenly heard a high-pitched voice.

"How dare you space out while fighting the Seductive Snake."

Kreegan seemed lost in thought but had not lost his spatial awareness. He followed the movements of Heaby and Hotdog with his peripheral sight. Using one of his swords, He deflected the whip sword's blow aimed at his head. At the same time, Hotdog quickly dashed toward Kreegan and used a powerful kick at him. He used his other sword to defend against this kick, but it was more powerful than he thought.

He used the force of the kick to jump back and put some distance between them. Even though he dissipated the kick's power a bit, it still strained his arm. Battler's sudden strength meant he couldn't waste time on the two of them. He had to neutralize these two as soon as possible and help Alexander.

Heaby and his long-range would be a big problem if he didn't use the most useless weapon ever invented. Against a whip sword user, all you have to do is use your own weapon as a pivot point to turn their attack against them or their allies. This kind of sword was created to be unpredictable, and on the surface, it looked unpredictable, but a whip sword would never be more agile than an actual sword swing. If it was a whip, its tip would be faster. A whip sword is nothing but a gimmicky weapon.

Heaby had mastered this weapon a bit, but it was a wasted effort. This would only work on the washed-up third-rate swordsman. At the start, Heaby managed to create a few shallow cuts around Kreegan's body, but Kreegan's eyes got used to the sword's movement. All he had to do was follow Heaby's hand because the nature of the whip-sword footwork and body movement meant nothing.

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When he retracted his blade and attacked using his sword, he was not such a bad swordsman, but he became a joke whenever he used his whip sword. The real problem was dodging Hotdog's strong kicks and his chained spike ball. His kicks were powerful enough to shatter rocks. If Kreegan was not careful and got hit by a kick, it might break his bones, and the chained spike ball was a heavy mid-ranged weapon, or he could throw it too, so he had to give more attention to Hotdog.

When Heaby attacked with his whip sword this time, Kreegan easily guessed the weapon's trajectory and used Chisanami as the pivot point, causing the sword to swing toward Hotdog. Because he was preparing to kick Kreegan, Hotdog was able to dodge the whip sword with great difficulty at the last moment, but his balance was off because of this. Not wanting to waste this moment, Kreegan quickly attacked Hotdog.

"Jolt Nigiri: Hirameki (flash)"

Seeing this experienced fighter used his chained weapon to defend against the dual sword. However, because the jolt spell electrically charged Kreegan's swords, and he was trying to defend Kreegan's attack with metal, he was electrocuted as soon as the sword touched the chain in his hand.

But the jolt magic wasn't strong enough to kill a big one like Hotdog in one hit, but it managed to slow him down for a moment, and using that gap, Kreegan tried to slit his neck. By contrast, Hotdog had managed to protect his neck by using the studded metal bracelet on his wrist, but since the wristband occupied such a small area, Kreegan's slight repositioning of the blade allowed him to inflict a deep cut on Hotdog's wrist. Blood poured from Hotdog's wrist, and he jumped back in pain.

Kreegan wanted to follow Hotdog and finish him off, but Heaby, who managed to collect his sword, was able to defend him. Not wanting to give them time to breathe, Kreegan continued to pressure them. He immediately cast his Flare spell.

A blinding light suddenly flashed in their midst, and the already frightened Hotdog was suddenly blinded. The spell could not fully blind Heaby, but his eyes had trouble focusing. Seeing Kreegan attack, Heaby scrambled to avoid the attack. Heaby was so fast while dodging he even left an afterimage where he stood. Seeing this, Kreegan was a bit surprised.

This move was really similar to Rokushiki Soru (Shave). Of course, Kreegan thought Soru couldn't be this slow because he could follow the real Heaby with his eyes but was not fast enough to change his sword trajectory. Kreegan now understood why someone as weak as Heaby was rated as level 3 because of his exceptional speed, but his showmanship was getting in the way of his fighting style and affecting it detrimentally.

If Kreegan wanted to cast ranged spells, he needed to empty one of his hands, but he sheathed both of his swords. Seeing this, Heaby couldn't understand what he was planning, and Hotdog was still blinded. Just as Heaby was getting ready to attack, Kreegan casted acid splashes at the two.

Heaby was fast enough to dodge the attack but temporarily blinded Hotdog couldn't dodge and got hit in the face. Now he was permanently blinded. Kreegan pulled Chisanami and charged at blinded Hotdog to finish him off. Seeing that Kreegan's back was exposed, Heaby decided to use this opening to finish Kreegan off. He thought Shogun Hotdog was already blinded, and it would be his honor to be used as bait by someone as magnificent as himself.

This was Kreegan's plan all along. He knowingly exposed his back and provided a perfect bait for Heaby to attack. He put the Chisanami in his mouth and grabbed the Ichinami.

"Jolt Shishi Sonson!"

Heaby didn't expect this, but he was fast and managed to dodge just enough not to sustain lethal injury from the fast iai slash. Kreegan, in the blink of an eye, got past Heaby. The Ichinami had weak lightning flickered on top of it. Heaby managed to dodge the deadly attack but was still stunned by the spell. Kreegan, with a fast circular movement, lopped Heaby's head off. Then he cast a Ray of Frost spell and hit Hotdog right at his temple. The sound of cracking bones comes from his head, and he draws his last breath.

Kreegan hurriedly turned toward the fighting sounds and saw Alexander get impaled in the shoulder by Battler's golden horn. The horns were glowing like scalding hot iron, and a sizzling sound was coming from him.