While Aurus was trying to figure out the special purpose of the gold key and what being a Ruler entailed, another incident was taking place within a place named the Great Tempest Cliff.

The incident wherein a Rank 2 being was fighting against a Rank 4 being.

Bang!

At the sound of this collision, a man wielding an exquisitely crafted blade of green color blocked the attack from a beast that seemed to be tens of times far larger than the man was.

This man was none other than Vanadir, fighting against the Rank 4 Beast Dane warned him against to not fight.

With a grin planted on his face, Vanadir looked at the beast in front of him as he gripped on his blade's handle even tighter than before. "A Rank 4 Beast like this is actually nothi—woah!"

As he was about to mock the beast for lacking the strength to fight against a measly Rank 2 Cla.s.s Wielder like him, the beast exerted more force behind its attack, forcing Vanadir to take many steps backward just to combat against the force and find his footing once more.

Although Vanadir knew he was going to be hurt from this, or worst case scenario, severely injured, he could not help but chuckle at this situation as he removed his blade from the front of the beast as he sidestepped to the left, allowing the beast's remaining force to pa.s.s through as it hit a nearby tree.

Bang!

Even though the beaat tried to forcibly stop itself from moving further, it still crashed through multiple times, allowing Vanadir to take a breather as he looked at Dane, who was in deep concentration, chanting a spell.

"Hey Dane, is the spell ready?" Vanadir asked loudly as he stretched his body for a bit. He then went into a battle stance behind where the beast was.

Just because Dane was in deep concentration, that did not mean that he could not respond to Vanadir's question. Without missing a beat, he responded, "The debuff spell is...now...done!"

Fwoom!

At that very instant, a large magic circle that had four layers on magic on it manifested a modest distance away from Dane's palms, allowing him to aim the spell towards the beast.

Rumble...

But just as Dane was about to shoot the spell out, the beast recovered from its crash, turned around, and looked at Vanadir, charging once more.

In that split second, Vanadir shouted towards Dane as he looked at the beast, "On my signal, shoot the spell on the beast!"

Dane nodded towards Vanadir's command, eliciting a small smile on Vanadir's face. He then turned serious as his legs bent down towards an angle perpendicular to the ground.

He rose his blade up into the air and muttered to himself, "Dane did say that this blade held a trump card I could use."

"There's no better time to get a taste of it other than..."

"Now!"

Fwoom!

As if Vanadir's thoughts could control the blade's form, the length of the blade extended by a meter as a tangible green aura started to appear around the blade, giving off an aura that did not lose out to the beast's.

"Ignition mode!"

"[Magnus Tempestria: Dragon's Fang]!"

At the moment Vanadir's blade became longer, the distance between the beast and Vanadir only amounted to a few meters, prompting him to jump up a few meters in the air as he looked at Dane.

"Now!"

Bang!

Not long after, a purple bolt was shot towards the beast, forcibly halting the beast's charge as multiple thick chains of a deep purple color gradually covered the beast, stopping it from moving anywhere else.

"4th Circle! Grand Valley Shackles!"

Thud!

As if the beast lost all of the power that it had acc.u.mulated throughout the charge, the beast fell down on the floor flat with a thud, staring at Vanadir, who was in midair, with intense rage.

'How dare these humans!' This thought could not help but enter its mind. Nonetheless, it seemed that this was its fate.

As Vanadir gradually fell down from midair, he adjusted how he held the sword, using a reverse handgrip as he raised the sword up high, acc.u.mulating a ton of Wind energy particles around the blade in the process.

He then changed the weight distribution of his body, allowing him to acc.u.mulate more speed with his fall, aiming towards where the beast's life core was, or in other words, the heart.

"This is an all or nothing move!" Vanadir shouted.

"[Wind Dragon's Four Forms]..."

"[Dragon Severing the Earth]!"

Bang!

Just as he thought that he was about to pierce through the beast's abdomen, the beast gave off a sneer as it was still on the ground, casting a barrier that...

Reflected all of the possible damage the beast could receive!

Whoos.h.!.+

At that very instant, Vanadir was sent flying upwards hundreds of meters above the air as multiple lacerations appeared on his body. Not only that, the sound of bones cracking could also be heard resounding throughout the forest as his body was covered in blood in an instant.

Seeing that both of their efforts were futile, Dane could not help but become angry at the beast, shouting, "How dare you attack the Highness, you foul beast! You...must die!"

While cursing the heck out of the beast, a large sphere of mana started to manifest above Dane's right palm, transforming into a blue spear of light not long after. But just as Dane was about to shoot the light spear at the beast, a voice very familiar to him shouted.

"Don't attack! I'll...do it!"

Hearing this familiar yet soft voice, Dane could not help but look up at the sky with wonder, gazing at the bloodied figure with awe and respect.

Although Vanadir took 100% of his power without any defensive measures, he could still fight!

"Dane! Buff me up as much as possible! I'm gonna use the move one more time!"

Rather than telling Vanadir that it was dangerous to fight any further, Dane instead nodded as he hurriedly dismantled his spear of light into multiple magic circles.

"Got it!"

"1st Circle! Blessing of the Wind!"

"1st Circle! Boar's Strength!"

"2nd Circle! Luck of the Shadow!"

"2nd Circle! Impenetrable Fortress!"

"2nd Circle! Grand Power Boost!"

"3rd Circle! Tempest Grace!"

"3rd Circle! Relentless Bloodthirst!"

"4th Circle! Arcana Blessing!"

In that instant, multiple spells came out of Dane's mouth, heading towards Vanadir's body as the aura surrounding him intensified by multiple degrees. At the very end of Dane's buffing spree, Vanadir's aura was at a level that neared the beast's sealed aura!

"Here I go!" Vanadir shouted one more time.

Whoos.h.!.+

With the help of the buffs, Vanadir fell faster than before. Thankfully, he was hundreds of meters above the air instead of tens of meters, allowing him to gain more speed than his previous attack. As for the beast, it looked at the hastily falling Vanadir with a sneer on its face, waiting to use the reflective barrier one more time.

Thankfully, this thought crossed Vanadir's mind, shouting to Dane, "Dane! Seal the beast's abilities!"

Hearing Vanadir's words, the beast was visibly shaken, turning its head to look at Dane, who casted a two layered magic circle with a smile on his face.

"As you wish, Your Highness."

"2nd Circle! Skill Seal!"

Whoom!

And just like that, the beast could not cast its reflective barrier anymore. It sighed within, muttering to itself.

"Well s.h.i.+t. Guess I'm gonna die."

Swoos.h.!.+

Vanadir gripped on his blade tighter than before as he merged the blade's aura with his own aura, intensifying the power behind the blade by a great degree.

With the distance between the beast and Vanadir being a few meters left, he shouted one more time, "[Wind Dragon's Four Forms]!"

"[Dragon Severing the Earth: All or Nothing Version]!"

Bang!

Rather than Vanadir being flung away to who knows where, this time, the blade successfully pierced through the beast's abdomen, piercing through the heart as well.

Well...too well, in fact.

Splat!

Thanks to the acc.u.mulated force behind the blade, the blade went even further through the heart, ending up on the other side of the abdomen as the entry point of the blade was squashed as if a meteor fell on the beast's body.

As for Vanadir, he could only gasp for air as he savored the feeling of killing a beast with his own two hands.

And then, he closed his eyes.

Whirr...

As Dane was coming closer to Vanadir after seeing that the battle had finished, Dane saw a great amount of Wind energy particles manifesting around Vanadir's body all of a sudden, prompting him to watch and wait for the end result.

A ton of Wind energy particles acc.u.mulated around Vanadir's body, transforming into all sorts of shapes. May it be animals, items, weapons, and whatnot, the Wind energy particles transformed into those shapes.

In the end, the Wind energy particles transformed into a set of armor that covered Vanadir's body as it gradually dissipated. In exchange for the Wind energy armor dissipating, Vanadir's aura grew stronger and stronger, surpa.s.sing the level of aura a Rank 2 Cla.s.s Wielder had.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Not long after the Wind energy armor had fully dissipated, three stars made out of Wind energy particles appeared above Vanadir's head, making Dane smile with glee.

"The three star sign of royalty. He has done it, the Highness has finally done it," Dane could not help but say.

Eventually, the three stars disappeared above Vanadir's head just as he opened his eyes.

Vanadir looked at his surroundings for a bit and noticed that everything felt the same while not feeling the same as well. It felt that he could see and peer far deeper than when he was a Rank 2 Cla.s.s Wielder.

He retrieved his blade from the abdomen of the beast and shook off the blood on it before sheathing it. He then stood up and took in a breath of fresh air. While taking in a breath, he could hear Dane say, "Congratulations, Your Highness for transitioning into a Rank 3 Cla.s.s."

As for Vanadir, he could only look at Dane with a smile and scratch his head, replying with, "It's not worthy of a congratulations. I just transitioned into a Rank 3 Adept Windwalker, that's all."

"Nevertheless..." Vanadir looked far beyond the horizon, muttering to himself.

"I can finally fight for the throne properly."