Chapter 329 Self-Breakthrough (1/2)

Rhode's timing was just right.

When he appeared beside Barter, Barter had left an opening while he lifting up his swords. The hot flames and whirlwinds that surrounded him had blocked his sight and hearing. Not to mention, Rhode's agility was much higher than his. Although in terms of physical strength Rhode was still lower than him, but whether its agility or level, Rhode was far beyond him.

At this moment, facing the opening that he left him, Rhode quickly activated his strongest skill.

[Strom Slaughter, activate]

[Detecting attribute level breakthrough, Spatial Displacement activate, duration 5 seconds]

[Select location]

One to two, two to four, four to eight.

Rhode moved and his bright red sword beams flashed over and over. The straight red lines weaved into a spider web and warped Barter inside it. This scene couldn't help but make everyone shocked. That sharp sword seemed to have slashed the surrounding fire apart and trapped Barter inside it. At this time, Barter finally calmed down. He fiercely clenched his teeth and drew his swords once again.

”Earth, destroy my enemies!”

The two greatswords broke through Rhode's swordsmanship blockade without stopping and heavily hit the ground. His sword aura emerged from the ground and completely shrouded him like a barrier, sturdy as a mountain, blocking Rhode's sword attack from all directions.

”Clang!!”

Rhode's shadow flashed, but his speed was still unable to break through Barter's strength. For Barter to display his full power was already troublesome enough, not to mention his current berserking state. As long as Barter still stood on the ground, then he could use an unlimited supply of the earth's power. This part had put him at a disadvantage.

It's really terrifying.

A powerful force emerged from his swords, the impact making Rhode feel a little bit numb. His bright red sword issued a harsh colliding sound. At the same time, it also started slanting to the other side. If this Crimson Tears wasn't an artifact level weapon, then this blow would be enough to completely break it.

However, facing this attack, Rhode wasn't panicked. Instead, he was happy.

Nice!

As he thought of it, he released his right hand in an instant. The red sword that had lost its grip whistled and hovered into the air as if there was a power supporting it. Rhode backed down and stretched both of his hands to the side. Currently, there was a black and a white card in his hands.

[Give 75% damage, activation effect—Self-breakthrough]

Rhode stepped forward.

The black and white sword gave off a distinctive, different aura. It crossed over and broke through Barter's earth barrier.

The audiences couldn't see what happened clearly.

They only saw Barter slam the ground as he was trapped by Rhode's attack. Then, the earth shook and rushed up, swallowing up the bright red sword, flames, whirlwinds, and everything around it. However, after less than three seconds, everyone felt as if the entire world had suddenly disappeared. The earth barrier that was shrouding Barter was suddenly destroyed and someone flew out from it. That person hit the wall on the side of the ring. The impact was so great that even the audiences could feel the earthquake-like motion. The walls that were reinforced with steel plates and granite stones were unable to block the impact and the person formed a hole. He was just slammed like a giant beast and destroyed the entire arena. Even some of the audience had fallen from into the crack.

The disaster continued and stopped until it reached the third platform. The crowd stood at the front, surprised as they saw Barter stuck there. He was still holding both of his swords crossed before him. It seemed like he still managed to defend himself in the end.

How… how could this be?

Viktor gasped and subconsciously stood up. Not only him, but everyone also looked at him the same way. They were looking at Rhode who quietly stood in the ring, speechless. The powerful Barter was actually defeated easily by him? Who is this young man actually?

Naturally, the audiences was unable to see their actions clearly; they only knew that it was very intense and ended very fast. Judging from this point, Rhode's strength definitely had surpassed Barter's. Only the veterans were able to see the truth behind his victory. Including Anne: she also had noticed that their next attack would be a fatal blow to determine the winner. However, in the end, she still couldn't really see what happened.

It was no wonder; even Rhode himself couldn't figure out what was happening.

He only stood there, looking at Barter who was lying unconscious on the high platform. His mind was currently in a state of confusion.

At first, the situation was still going according to his plan. He used his full power by activating Storm Slaughter and the limit breakthrough triggered one of the Composition Adornment's attributes, Spatial Displacement. At the same time, Barter's counterattack disrupted his attack. Even so, the buff from Spatial Displacement didn't disappear, due to Barter's counterattack having exceeded Rhode's tolerance. Instead, it had triggered the second Composition Adornment attribute, Self-breakthrough.

As for the third attribute of Composition Adornment, it was calculated and displayed separately according to the additional attributes of the holder's equipment. The Spatial Displacement was derived from the Rhode's agility and additional agility attributes carried by Rhode's equipment, plus the agility boost from the skills outbreak. The trigger condition was reached after the three values of the agility attributes were added. As for Self-breakthrough, the second attribute of his equipment was vitality.

Although Rhode was clever enough to obtain many pieces of equipment from mercenary groups, naturally, a player's equipment wasn't standard like an NPC's. Rhode needed more equipment that could add more damage and critical chance. After all, for a player, higher DPS meant a higher winning rate. But for NPCs, they valued equipment that could save their lives more. Even though they didn't have a system that could show the equipment attributes like Rhode did, their first choice would always be equipment that would make one stronger and less likely to die.

It was precisely because of this, most equipment he had obtained was like this. The equipment was either for HP restoration, increasing vitality or physical defense. The equipment that Rhode needed the most, for increasing speed and critical chance, was nowhere to be found.

Those NPCs were deserved to be killed by the players and get their loots taken. Who told them to use all the MT gears that had no damage? But since the equipment attribute of the Composition Adornment still had to be decided, in the end, Rhode chose to add vitality. The reason was also very simple; the Composition Adornment needed its own attribute in order to exert its ultimate effect. If he didn't choose a good attribute, the effect would be less satisfactory. So far, his mixed-race had not yet been identified; thus, he could only guess his own attributes. Although currently, his agility should be the highest, but he believed that his vitality was certainly not low either. This point could be proven from the fact he had survived after falling off from a floating ship even though he was heavily injured. Precisely because of this, Rhode chose some pieces of equipment that would increase his vitality. If he could trigger a special effect such as increasing vitality or a self-recovery ability, then it would be worth it.

But he didn't expect that the effect triggered would be like this.

[Self-breakthrough: 50% of damage dealt during the skill duration will be absorbed and all the attributes will be increased one level above the opponent level. Lasts for 5 seconds.]

This skill seemed odd at the first glance, but he still felt relieved after he saw it because it was just as good as Spatial Displacement.

The effect of this skill was actually very simple to explain. Assume that Rhode was a Level 1 player and he suffered from a damage caused by a Level 10 monster. Because in this world, skill level was linked to character level, Self-breakthrough would be automatically triggered and his physical attributes would be forcibly increased to Level 11 to resist the damage.