William couldn't help but feel a mix of relief and disbelief. He now understood why Alex's strength far surpassed his own in one key area—equipment quality. William's own "Dragon God's Fang" had been enhanced using five R-grade gems, but even then, it had only reached R+2 quality, boosting his damage by 300%. When Alex casually mentioned his sword provided a 500% damage increase, it was clear he wasn't being completely transparent.
The part William couldn't comprehend, though, was how Alex had managed to amass so many points. Alex's best gear wasn't even the set he was currently wearing. The "Dragon God" set alone cost 28 million points, an amount that would be nearly impossible for anyone to accumulate in just a few days. If not for William's entire Special Forces regiment pooling resources, he wouldn't have been able to afford such exorbitant gear either.
But Alex? Not only did he own a full "Dragon God" set, but he had also purchased and fully upgraded a "Champion" set, making it even more powerful than his "Dragon God" set. It seemed almost impossible—unless he had others constantly farming points for him and funneling all resources his way.
However, that didn't seem likely. To have the strength to farm points at such a rapid rate, Alex would have needed significant resources for himself, which was a paradox.
"Watch out!"
William's mind raced with countless thoughts, but Alex wasn't giving him time to process. After equipping his "Dragon God's Wing," Alex shot a quick warning and launched himself into the sky, speeding toward William.
The seasoned captain snapped out of his thoughts, realizing Alex was closing the distance faster than he anticipated. Instinctively, William tried to create more space between them, but it was too late. Alex's "Dragon God's Wing" was of a higher quality, and his speed utterly outmatched William's.
Within seconds, Alex was right in front of him. Panic flashed through William's mind as he realized he couldn't react fast enough to defend. In desperation, he triggered his "Frenzied Wind" ability, forcing Alex back with a powerful gust of wind.
Unfortunately for William, "Frenzied Wind" could only push Alex away—it couldn't inflict any damage. Alex quickly regained his balance and charged forward again with even greater momentum.
When William saw Alex's terrifying speed for the second time, he finally accepted that escaping wasn't an option. True to his warrior's spirit, William steadied himself, abandoning any thoughts of retreat. He activated several abilities in rapid succession, ready for a head-on clash with Alex.
A towering column of white light surged from William's body, piercing through the arena's space. His aura became overwhelmingly intense as he met Alex's incoming sword strike head-on with a fierce thrust of his spear.
Seeing William's fearless counterattack, Alex felt a twinge of apprehension. There was no time to defend; he could only grit his teeth and face the blow head-on.
"Boom!"
-22,032!
The clash of sword and spear produced a thunderous explosion, and in the brilliant blaze of dragon fire, William's body was flung back like a broken kite, crashing violently into the ground.
Alex blinked in surprise, only realizing a moment later that he had triggered his sword's "Counterstrike" ability, reflecting William's attack entirely. Amused by the turn of events, Alex quickly pursued William's falling figure.
He had noticed earlier that William's armor had activated a golden, shimmering shield—the "Dragon God's Shield," no doubt, which provided an invincible defense against a single attack.
As Alex charged in for another strike, William managed to stop his fall, his body still encased in the radiant white light from his earlier skill. Rallying himself, he once again launched an attack at Alex.
After suffering two setbacks, William was done holding back. His dragon-headed spear whipped through the air, and the entire arena darkened as swirling storm clouds materialized above them. A biting wind howled, carrying sharp snowflakes through the air. The sudden and severe weather made it impossible for Alex to continue flying, forcing him to land.
Looking up, Alex could see enormous blue ice crystals forming beneath the ominous clouds, which William controlled with deadly precision. The icy projectiles shot toward Alex with incredible speed and force.
The sheer scale of the incoming ice storm made Alex's heart race. Quickly, he raised his shield above his head, bracing for the onslaught of icy destruction.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
-6,000!
-6,000!
...
The massive ice crystals fell from a height of over 100 meters, slamming into Alex's shield and the arena floor with deafening crashes. The relentless impacts sent vibrations through Alex's arms, making them go numb.
Though he could control the shield with his mind, the barrage of ice was so intense that it repeatedly knocked the shield downward, forcing Alex to manually hold it up. The shattered ice shards stung his face, the sharp fragments adding to the relentless assault.
There was no denying that William was a powerful SR-tier Awakened Divinity. His skill was nothing short of catastrophic. The first ice crystal that struck Alex reduced his health by 1,350 points, prompting Alex to quickly activate his "Champion's Shield" ability, reducing the incoming skill's damage by 98.5%.
Although the ice storm consisted of many crystals, they were all part of the same skill. Thanks to the shield's damage reduction, each crystal now only deducted 1 point of Alex's health.
With over 11,000 health points remaining, even after losing more than 2,000 points from the initial barrage, Alex still had over 9,000 HP left, more than enough to withstand the storm's fury for a while.
William, on the other hand, was utterly shocked. His skill wasn't just any ordinary ability—it was a high-tier skill that he had upgraded with over 40 skill points to master-level. Its destructive power rivaled natural disasters, and its area-of-effect damage was truly terrifying.
Using this skill, William had once wiped out an entire wild monster zone on his own. If the skill didn't indiscriminately affect allies, William could have easily soloed entire resource points by eliminating their guardian monsters.
But here was Alex, standing strong, his shield barely dented by the relentless ice storm. What was even more absurd was that Alex's health had barely dropped by a quarter.
By now, William had dealt tens of thousands of points in damage—enough to kill most Awakened Divinities or even boss-level monsters twice over—yet Alex's health remained relatively untouched.
William refused to believe that Alex could have tens of thousands of HP. That was simply impossible. The only explanation was that Alex's defenses were so ridiculously strong that they were reducing damage by more than 70%.
However, the cost of enhancing equipment to such an extent... how many R-grade gems would that take?