The smell of blood in the air was rich and sweet. It had only been less than 10 seconds since Sheyan and Aragorn had started fighting, yet the blood flowing out of the two men had almost dyed the ground beneath their feet entirely red. When they stepped on the ground, it would splatter like on a rainy day.
Sensing the familiar sweet smell of the blood of Isildur's heir, the black fog spread wildly. Sauron was transmitting his power of darkness over with no regard for the cost. As a result, the Orcs of Mordor fell by the thousands. Their fallen corpses dried up like zombies, their vitality having been entirely sucked out of them as the driving force to supply the power of darkness.
Correspondingly, in the Source of Darkness hall, the area enshrouded by darkness expanded, and the recovery effect of the 'Wind of Darkness' was also rapidly increasing. Intuitively speaking, it meant that the dark gold leech could now buy Sheyan two or three extra seconds.
With a loud clang, the two swords collided, and a grim white light flashed. This was the first time the two swords had met in this fight. The reason for this was because Aragorn had changed his combat style. Facing a fierce horizontal slash from Sheyan, Aragorn could only retract his weapon and block it in front of his chest.
That's right. Against Sheyan's ferocious tactic of trading injuries, Aragorn had relented.
Sheyan's lip curled into a sneer. No other contestants would even dare to exchange blows with storyline characters who often had tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of HP. But under the current special circ.u.mstances and environment, Sheyan had sufficient capital to do so.
After putting on the Major General Blood Armour, his HP had exceeded 8000, but the key was that they were currently in the Source of Darkness hall! His HP had increased by 200%, so it had reached the astonis.h.i.+ng figure of 24,000! Sheyan was also in peak condition with both the honorary dosage and 'Gloryheal' still at his disposal.
That was to say, in theory, his HP was 24,000 + 24,000 (honorary dosage) + 18,000 (Gloryheal), which amounted to 66,000! And that was before taking into account his final trump card, 'Death's Lament'!
What's more, Sheyan's own defence was not to be scoffed at. He also had the t.i.tle of 'Hedgehog', which rendered Legolas' attacks ineffective. The Source of Darkness hall also increased his attack power and defence by 30% and reduced all long-range damages he received by 40%, in addition to providing the 'Wind of Darkness' restoration effect. With 'Peerless' activated, the damages he received were further reduced by 20%.
With all these powerful buffs stacking up together, why would Sheyan not trade injuries with an Aragorn who was at half strength? Time was of the essence! The sooner he could kill Aragon, the higher his chances of victory!
When the two swords collided, the enormous force transmitting from the opponent's weapon forced Sheyan back unsteadily. Aragon's strength should never be underestimated, especially when he was fully focused on defence. But suddenly, the sword in Sheyan's hand melted again. It squirmed and solidified into a pair of silvery white gloves.

Sheyan's right fist slowly retracted back until it reached the limit, like a bow that was drawn taut. Seeing this, Aragorn could feel the opponent's emotions - pain, joy, sadness, blissfulness - rapidly acc.u.mulating, condensing, and sublimating in the fist!
The fist struck forth like a bolt of lightning, so fierce that Aragorn could hardly breathe! Even the eternal darkness in the hall was stirred into a raging tide. Aragorn felt that he could not avoid the fist; he could only block it!
Sheyan's fist smashed into Aragon's scabbard. The first effect to be triggered was 'Strength of the Sky'. The shrill cry of an Elf suddenly resounded in the air. An illusion of an Elf appeared and broke into tiny spots of light. The Elven power protecting Aragon was shattered! The fist continued advancing forward tyrannically!
Aragorn's scabbard slammed into his chest, breaking several of his ribs. He stumbled several steps back and fell backwards, his head dizzy. Blood spewed out of his mouth and stained the front of his s.h.i.+rt red.
Aragorn could see Sheyan's burning eyes moving closer to his soul like the flames of death. There was only one message in those eyes: only one of us may live today!
At this moment, Aragon's resolve suddenly became firm. He no longer paid any attention to other people, other objects, or even the past and the future. He was fully focused on the now! His grip on Andúril's hilt tightened. He now understood that if he could not take control of the present, he would no longer have a future.
Having launched the punch, Sheyan stood on the same spot in silence with his eyes shut tight. No one could tell what kind of expression he had on his bloodstained face. They could only feel that his momentum had not dropped in the slightest after the punch, but had instead continued to rise and acc.u.mulate. It was obvious that his subsequent attacks would come in succession like crazily surging waves, slamming into the enemy one after another!
Following a flash of light, Sheyan dashed forward again, but this time, he pulled 'Verdict' out when he was still three metres away from Aragon. He activated the heretic ability and pulled the trigger. A milky white holy light engulfed Aragon. The light was so bright that it made the blood gus.h.i.+ng out of his body sparkle in the air.
However, Sheyan suddenly realised that he had miscalculated – all those legendary equipment on Aragorn were not there merely for decoration!
First, Aragorn's body shone with a pale green light, and the majestic roars of the previous kings of Gondor resounded within the Source of Darkness hall.
Despite hitting Aragorn accurately, 'Verdict's' first shot was unable to cause him much damage. What's more, even the stun effect was not triggered!
The misstep was not fatal enough to result in Sheyan's immediate defeat, but it had caused a gap to appear in his well-calculated offensive plan. The furious Aragorn was already charging at him, his hair blown back by the wind. His sacred sword, Andúril, shone with a cold glint in the air, unveiling its sharpness. The sword struck Sheyan with a horizontal swing. Sheyan instantly lost control of his body! He felt as if he had been completely frozen in the middle of a chunk of a thousand-year-old ice.
Amidst the gus.h.i.+ng blood, a very strange phenomenon occurred. A dark shadow which looked very much like Sheyan dropped away from his body, as if the sword had severed the connection between him and the shadow! However, the shadow soon returned to Sheyan's body.
To Sheyan, the experience was not pleasant at all. He instantly received a notification:
[ The opponent has tried an instant death attack on you. Check in progress…. Check failed. Instant death unsuccessful! ]
After the first strike, Aragorn howled furiously and followed up with a flurry of attacks with astonis.h.i.+ng speed. His sword struck Sheyan again and again, leaving behind grave-looking wounds. Sheyan hardly had time to breath, let alone defend. Notifications came one after another:
[ The opponent has tried an instant death attack on you. Check in progress…. Check failed. Instant death unsuccessful! ]
[ ...….. ]
It would only take one successful check for Sheyan's soul to leave his body, never to return!
"....As expected of the main character! A powerful sacred sword with an instant death ability, astonis.h.i.+ng attack speed, and the luck of a protagonist… No wonder he could survive all kinds of crisis!" Sheyan finally understood the real reason why Aragorn could travel across Middle Earth unhindered!
The instant death effect was a very perverse property. When it triggered, it would kill the enemy no matter what state the enemy was in. The rate of it successfully triggering was 1-2% at most, but coupled with a protagonist's max level 'True Luck', the rate would increase to 11-12%!!
Aragorn even had the ability to freeze his opponent and a burst ability to increase his attack speed. He could attack about 13 times in five to six seconds, which means the instant death effect would almost inevitably trigger. Under such circ.u.mstances, most enemies would be doomed for sure!
"Fortunately, my 'True Luck' has offset his! A success rate of 1-2%, huh? I don't believe I'd be unlucky enough to be killed by that!" When Sheyan finally regained control of his body, he stabbed his sword into the abdomen of the breathless Aragorn!
"The Source of Darkness hall will be breached in about 10 seconds. It's time to finish you. Activate, 'Extinction'!"
Evil Sword Apophis emitted countless rays of light, as if the sword had cut open multiple slits in the fabric of time and s.p.a.ce. The light greedily devoured Aragorn's flesh and blood. In that instant, Aragorn felt like a large piece had been carved off his soul. As resilient as he was, he could not stop himself from screaming in agony!
Sheyan was finally baring his fangs. Behind him, the illusion of the 'Stairway of the Sun' appeared again. Its branches danced around wildly, then wrapped themselves around Aragorn!
"You know why the people outside have been suffering from various diseases while you remain healthy?"
" You know why I have the confidence to kill you here?"
"Because I still have the most lethal weapon up my sleeve! Because I can't infect the same person with two ultimate diseases!"
Aragon's sword hacked at Sheyan's face, but Sheyan did not move away. Instead, he stabbed his own sword deeper into Aragorn's abdomen. At this moment, the texture of the blood flowing out of the two men had become different. It was strangely thick and silky, and it gleamed with a crystal-like cold, fragile s.h.i.+mmer.
"Break out, the incurable disease! The terrifying disease that's not fatal in itself, but can completely break down the immune system of the human body! "
"AIDS!"