Although ranks were not absolute in this world, they were close to it.
Ranks represented the amount of mana you could hold and wield. Although the exact amount differed slightly between people in the same rank, it was around the same.
A higher rank meant a higher amount of mana, and a higher amount of mana meant a greater number of possible strategies and stronger techniques. In other words, a greater battle strength.
Normally, four or five C-Ranks were needed to fight a B-Rank. Going one level higher, you needed eight to ten B-Ranks to face an A-Rank. As for A-Ranks defeating a demigod? It was unheard of.
Despite it, though, the world never lacked geniuses. Stories of people defeating enemies of a stronger rank were not uncommon. Each certain time, you could hear a story about a young genius somewhere managing to do it.
In fact, Bloed and Liu Ying were two such people.
However, it was mostly limited to defeating someone one rank higher.
As for defeating someone two entire ranks higher? At most, you could find one or two people like that in each generation, and most of the time, luck played a decisive factor in the victory.
And now, Bloed and Liu Ying were exactly in that situation.
And Bloed finally understood how wide a difference of two ranks was.
'This monster…'
It was the first time Bloed felt so powerless during a fight.
The A-Rank was many times stronger than him, his speed was several times faster, and his battle experience and explosiveness were at another level.
It was at the point where Bloed could not keep with his movements. Although his eyes could follow the black-dressed man, his body was too slow to react.
Besides the first few attacks that took the man by surprise, none of his attacks had managed to hit.
In fact, the only reason he was still alive was that Leto was a very trusty shield. Nevertheless, the black-dressed man had been very close to landing a blow.
However, Bloed and Liu Ying's situation was not the worst. At the very least, they had not been injured yet.
Instead, it was the city lord whose situation seemed grim.
Even although the city lord was also an A-Rank, he was already tired after fighting the beast wave. Moreover, not every A-Rank was the same, and it was obvious that the leader of the black-dressed men was one of the strongest in this rank.
In the end, the city lord was being one-sidedly suppressed. Despite his desire to avenge his dead son, he could not even touch the hem of the leader's shirt.
Instead, the opposite happened. The fight between the city lord and the black-dressed leader quickly turned into a scene of the leader constantly injuring the city lord. Slowly wearing him down to find an opportunity to kill him.
Fortunately, the city lord was not alone and he had brought some of his men with him.
More than once, these men's sacrifice was the reason the city lord was able to avoid a deadly injury, but even like that, it was obvious he could not last long.
Moreover, the black-dressed men had reinforcements too. Besides the three A-Ranks fighting Regina, Bloed, and the city lord, there were also four B-Ranks. One of these B-Ranks was guarding the unconscious girls and the creature, but the other three were fighting against the city lord's men.
But not every person fighting the black-dressed men was losing.
There was an exception, and it was Regina.
Contrary to Bloed's fight and the city lord's struggle, Regina's battle was more like her toying with her enemy. She was dancing around him calmly, wielding her two energy blades while she circled the A-Rank black-dressed man and filled him with injuries.
In the end, Regina was an SS-Grade Valkyrie, a war doll. Even if she suppressed her strength to the peak of B-Grade, she could easily fight an A-Rank opponent like him.
In fact, if she wanted, she could have ended the fight long ago and gone to help her master. However, that was meaningless. If she needed to help her master every time he was in a difficult situation, Bloed would never become a true powerhouse.
No, she only needed to be there to guarantee he does not die before becoming truly strong.
The battle in the city walls intensified, and soon, both sides had casualties. Many of the men that the city lord brought had been killed, but at the same time, a B-Rank black-dressed man had died too.
The situation was obviously advantageous for the black-dressed men. Although they were surpassed three to one, their combined strength was higher than the strength of the city lord's men.
Moreover, if either the city lord or Bloed and Liu Ying were defeated, then an A-Rank would be freed, and the battle would be in their hands.
Bloed knew it, and that was the reason he completely focused on the fight. He and Liu Ying had stopped attacking the A-Rank black-dressed man and instead were completely in the defensive.
Bloed's goal was to gain time. As soon as he could draw the fight long enough for his plan to work, victory would be his regardless of if he kills the A-Rank or not.
But his opponent did not plan to make it easy for him. The attacks of the black-dressed man had become faster and stronger, and more than once, he had been extremely close catch one of them.
The only thing keeping Bloed and Liu Ying alive was Leto. Leto's undying characteristic meant it could reform again even if it was destroyed. So, although it could not injure the black-dressed man, it could protect Bloed and Liu Ying repeatedly.
The black-dressed man had also realized it. At the start, he did not pay the wolf much attention, but after it saved Bloed and Liu Ying's lives repeatedly, the black-dressed man understood that he had to kill the wolf first if he wanted to kill Bloed.
But that was easier said than done. He punched, crushed, and pulverized Leto's body more than once, but Leto's body always reformed again as though nothing happened. Even after destroying Leto's body more than twenty times, it did not seem any weaker than at the start.
If not by the fact that some of the metallic sand had stopped working, the black-dressed man would have given up in despair.
Even like that, though, he found this fight the most frustrating fight of his life.
"Damn hell! What kind of monster is this!?"
Bloed panted and did not reply. He did not dare to be distracted even for one second against this kind of opponent.
'Damn, how much longer…' Bloed thought to himself while observing the situation on the other fights. Currently, the city lord was already in his last legs. He could die at any moment!
As for Regina, she seemed as leisure as always. She even had time to turn around and smile at Bloed.
Bloed could not help but smile wryly.
As though answering his prayers, the change he was expecting happened at that moment.
Suddenly, the black-dressed man guarding the girls froze.
Then, he grabbed his chest and coughed a mouthful of blood.
At some point, an ice-cold girl had appeared behind him and stabbed a knife in his heart.
...
P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels