It felt so good to be close to the witch!

One second, two seconds...

Time passed slowly, and perhaps without finding any flaws, Lilia, who had disappeared into the shadows, did not rush to reveal herself.

It was already sunset, and the light in the world was very dim. The candlelight at the edge of the courtyard, as well as the afterglow, cast large shadows on the training ground.

It's practically half of Lilia's home ground.

Roy deliberately chose this time to engage in the battle.

In the midday sun, the training ground, being an open and exposed environment, offers Lilia very few places to hide, making it impractical for real combat.

In reality, Lilia would never choose such an unfavorable environment to fight the enemy.

Another ten seconds or so passed before Lilia, who had vanished into the shadows, finally moved.

From the shadows beneath Roy's feet, a slender, delicate body rose silently, and a short blade made of dark shadow magic pierced straight toward Roy's back.

The blade, reflecting a chilling sharpness, leaves no doubt about its sharpness.

In fact, if it were a real life-or-death battle, Lilia wouldn't show herself now; she would definitely wait until it was completely dark before making her move.

The night is her absolute domain.

However, this is just a real combat duel, not a life-or-death battle, so there's no need to go to that level; it would be too much of a waste of time.

Lilia appeared silently. Although Roy, with his peak Silver level perception, was eventually able to sense her, by the time he did, his back would probably already be pierced by a dark dagger.

Therefore, just as he closed his eyes, in addition to using his ordinary senses to investigate, he also used the high-precision energy scanning ability within a short distance granted to him by his talent [Infinite Desire].

Although the distance is not as great as the perception circle, within a radius of one meter, the accuracy and reaction speed of [Infinite Desire]'s perception far surpass that of the perception circle.

Therefore, the instant Lilia emerged from the shadow world, Roy sensed her presence.

No hesitation, no hesitation.

With a clang, he drew his long sword from his waist and slashed backward.

The crimson-gold flames clinging to the blade left a dazzling crescent arc in the air as it was swung, with tiny sparks constantly scattering outwards. From afar, the scene was breathtakingly beautiful.

But within this dazzling beauty lies a terrifying destructive power.

The crimson-gold battle aura is a result of simultaneously cultivating the [Explosive Flame] and [Extreme Bloom] techniques of Flame Breathing, and its purity far exceeds that of the peak silver level.

Moreover, the combination of these two different qualities gives Roy's battle aura an extremely terrifying temperature and stickiness. Once ignited, it cannot be dispelled even by splashing water or grinding it with water-attribute battle aura of the same level.

With the added benefits of "Burning Heart" and her Gold-rank physique, even though Lilia is in an "Elementalized" state and has reduced damage from battle aura attacks, she will still suffer considerable injuries, and may even be seriously injured, if she is hit by this strike.

Lilia paused, then swiftly vanished into the shadows, causing Roy's fierce strike to fall into thin air, creating a gust of wind that swept outwards.

Looking at Lilia emerging from the shadows a dozen meters away, Roy sighed inwardly.

That last strike was his strongest strike in his normal state, but even so, it was still a bit slow and he couldn't hit Lilia before she disappeared into the shadows.

After her talent evolved, Lilia's time merging with the shadows became increasingly shorter.

"call……"

Standing in the shadows, Lilia let out a soft breath.

Roy's reaction was so swift that it far exceeded her expectations, and she was still shaken by it.

It was only then that Lilia truly realized how much Roy had improved during this period, and that Roy was no longer the novice knight who had been struggling against her during their actual combat training.

Having gone through so much, he has already matured.

A gentle breeze rustled through the leaves of the small trees in the corner.

Lilia raised her right hand, making it perpendicular to her body and parallel to the ground.

A dark shadow, flowing like smoke, slid from the edge of her right palm, fell to the ground, and in less than 0.1 seconds, formed a slowly rotating, magnificent dark summoning pattern.

"Descend here in the name of darkness."

Roy, of course, wouldn't just sit idly by while Lilia was summoning. Knowing that Lilia possessed the ability to summon, he had planned to stop her from the very beginning of the battle.

The instant Lilia raised her hand, he exerted force with both feet, his fighting spirit surging, intending to rush towards Lilia and interrupt her summoning ritual.

Just as he was about to charge forward, his heart skipped a beat. Before he could think, his body's instinct made him stop in place for a moment. In that instant, dozens of sharp shadow spikes emerged from the ground in front of him, each one two meters long and gleaming with a chilling black light.

so close!

Roy's heart skipped a beat.

If he had charged forward recklessly, he would have been riddled with thorns from those shadows. Although Shanika was there to protect him and his life wouldn't have been in danger, he would have undoubtedly lost the contest.

While the Shadow Spikes were blocking Roy's path, Lilia had already completed her summoning not far away.

A giant shadow wolf, half a person's height, with scarlet eyes and a body full and smooth muscles, appeared in front of Lilia.

Fenrir, the shadow wolf at the pinnacle of Silver rank.

Compared to when Roy last saw it, this time Fenrir, summoned, had its gray-black fur bulging, and the dark shadow power resembling flames was burning fiercely on its claws. The wolf's aura far surpassed that of an ordinary Silver Peak.

That was thanks to the enhancement of Lilia's Shadow Talent after her perfect evolution. At this moment, Fenrir, the Shadow Giant Wolf, was practically a pseudo-Gold level powerhouse.

"Roar!"

With a roar, the shadow wolf Fenrir pounced on Roy ahead.

Enemies are extremely jealous when they meet.

The last time Roy hugged his "owner" in front of him with such a smug look, Fenrir was itching to bite him. Now that he had the chance to openly "beat Roy up," how could he let it go?

Compared to humans, Fenrir, the shadow wolf and a beast-like creature, possesses a significant advantage in terms of physical strength.

Even if it's only at the peak of Silver rank, its physical strength won't be much weaker than that of a typical Gold rank one-star.

With Lilia's support, he was like a wolf with wings. In a flash, he appeared in front of Roy, his huge, sharp claws slashing down.

"Tear!"

The wind howled mournfully, and even the air seemed weak and powerless in the face of this terrifying claw attack.

Even Roy had to take this attack seriously.

The shadow wolf Fenrir was extremely fast, and with his current physique, he was unable to escape it at all, and could only raise his sword to take the blow head-on.

"Sizzle—"

The long sword clashed with the sharp claws.

The crimson flames and the pitch-black shadow magic continuously devoured each other.

It can be seen that the crimson-gold flames are slightly at a disadvantage, requiring 15 parts to extinguish 10 parts of shadow magic.

This is still Roy.

If it were any other Silver Peak Knight, it would probably take 20, 30, or even more portions to offset 10 portions of magic power.

Although he was at a disadvantage in the energy contest, Roy's physical strength was greater than that of the Shadow Wolf Fenrir, so much so that he could use his longsword to gradually push Fenrir's claws back towards him.

As the claws and longsword drew ever closer, Fenrir showed no panic, but rather a hint of human-like mockery.

Just then, a loud "thump" came from behind Roy, like an air cannon, and a gray-black bear paw, much larger than a human head, slammed down.

Roy was startled. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a terrifying giant bear standing upright, nearly five meters tall, suddenly appear behind him. There were swirling shadows at the bear's feet. Clearly, this terrifying giant bear, which had just been summoned, had been placed behind Roy by Lilia in a special way to launch a sneak attack.

Coming purely on brute force, this shadow bear was far stronger than Fenrir, and Roy dared not take the blow head-on.

The attack came suddenly, and he was wrestling with Fenrir, so dodging was unrealistic given his current physique.

Left with no other choice, Roy had to cancel "Burning Heart" and simultaneously detonate a "Rage Light Seal" within his heart, entering a "Rage State".

With power and speed far surpassing his "Burning Heart" state, Roy dodged Fenrir's claws, withdrew his sword, crouched low, and rolled away from the side.

"Boom--!"

The palm struck empty air, creating visible ripples in the air.

Before Roy could even catch his breath after successfully dodging the attack, another shrill scream came from his side.

It was a terrifying shadow eagle with a wingspan of nearly ten meters. Its aura surpassed that of the shadow bear and the shadow wolf Fenrir, and it had almost stepped into the gold realm. With Lilia's blessing, it was a genuine gold-level one-star.

While the giant eagle attacked, the shadow bear and Fenrir were not idle either, launching attacks on Roy from two other directions. In an instant, Roy was caught in a three-way attack.

A bright red "danger" character had appeared on his forehead.

Not far away, Lilia let out a soft breath and summoned three powerful shadow creatures in one go, and then buffed them. Even she felt quite pressured.

Moreover, in order to catch them off guard, she used a lot of magic to cast "Shadow Projection" on the two shadow creatures she summoned later, placing them behind Roy so that they could be surrounded in a very short time.

Lilia knew that even she herself had no chance of winning against the combined attack of three terrifying shadow creatures.

I'm sorry, Lord Roy...

Lilia, I really don't want to lose!

With Shanika around, Lilia wasn't worried about Roy's life being in danger, which was the source of her confidence to go all out.

Of course, "going all out" here refers to not using blood sacrifice.

Once she uses blood sacrifice, what she summons will no longer be these "small fish and shrimp".

A deadly sense of intimidation emanated from both in front and behind him, and Roy sighed inwardly.

As expected, in his normal state, he was no match for Lilia...

He was already in a state of "rage," but he still couldn't withstand the attack from three sides, not to mention that Lilia was watching him from afar.

If it were a regular witch who hadn't undergone talent evolution, or whose first talent evolution was imperfect, Roy might have already won the battle.

Pity……

Roy sighed again, then without further hesitation, activated "Burning Heart" and "Rage State" simultaneously, entering "Destruction State".

At that moment, time seemed to slow down in his eyes.

With three casual strikes, Roy sent the three shadow creatures flying. Looking at Lilia not far away, he shook his head helplessly and exited the "Destruction State".

He lost this battle.

After all, he had already used his trump card, while Lilia had not yet used the blood sacrifice.

As expected, I'm still too much of a challenge against a witch at the pinnacle of her powers, whose talent has undergone a perfect evolution in one go...

Roy shook his head.

However, he believes that as he further develops his various talents, one day he will be able to become invincible in the same realm!