The Last Paragon in the Apocalypse

Fruity and the Fishman clashed, creating a loud explosion that instantly sent shockwaves all around. The Fishman had thick arms, ashy blue skin, a large shark-like head, and razor-sharp arms that could easily cut through the thickest defense.

The clash was intense. Despite his body tempering, Fruity felt his arms go numb when their weapons met.

"Water Slash!" The Fishman immediately activated its first skill, slashing its blade-like arm. A powerful arc of water cut straight at Fruity, who spun his staff and raised a thick ice spear.

The two attacks collided, exploding instantly. Fruity was pushed back, but so was the Fishman. It was strong, almost at the level of a Deimos, but Fruity wasn't weak either. Five years ago, he might have struggled, but now, after learning hundreds of skills, techniques, and spells, he was no longer weak.

"Ice Pillar: Dawn of a Thousand Arrows!" Fruity instantly activated his second technique. A tall ice pillar rose from the ground, towering behind him. From the large pillar, thousands of ice arrows rained down on the Fishman.

The Fishman immediately raised a water shield. This was easy for it, as they were fighting in its domain. It has an affinity for the water element so fighting beside a water body was an advantage for it.

Fruity, seeing how his arrows bounced off the water shield, smirked. Placing two fingers on his forehead, a powerful soul attack erupted, hitting the Fishman heavily.

The shield shattered when the soul attack landed on the Fishman, but Fruity didn't celebrate. He had only broken its defense—the true attack was yet to come. First, he needed to ensure the Fishman wouldn't be able to defend itself.

The soul attack was just the beginning, and from the result, Fruity knew he couldn't drain its soul energy yet. He could only create more chaos and hope for the best.

"Ice Pillar: Doom's Arrow," Fruity muttered, seeing the Fishman was about to activate an offensive skill. It was enraged by the sudden soul attack.

The pillar behind Fruity rose and transformed into a 30-meter-long, thick, and pointed arrow made of ice. One thing Fruity noticed was that he could naturally use the ice element—not any specific type, just normal ice. People would only recognize that he possessed Forbidden Ice once he activated them.

For now, he was simply testing how well he could fare without using his special elements, and so far, he had exceeded his own expectations by a huge margin.

"Go!"

He pointed his staff forward, and like a bullet, the massive arrow sped toward the Fishman, bringing immense pressure with it. However, instead of raising a solid defense, the Fishman simply swung its hand, sending a sharp slash that instantly obliterated the large arrow.

"What the..." Before Fruity could finish his sentence, the Fishman appeared right in front of him, stabbing its sharp arm toward his heart.

Fruity quickly tapped into a technique he had learned, switching his position by using the ice as a conduit. Although he managed to dodge, the technique required a great deal of stamina, and he immediately felt his body growing tired.

"That was one strange movement technique," Fruity thought, recognizing the movement the Fishman had used. He had learned a similar technique himself but hadn't given it much thought when Yuying made him study it. In fact, he had learned dozens of such techniques but hadn't taken the time to master them.

Just as he freed himself from the sudden attack, he saw the Fishman stabbing a long spear made of water toward him. He wanted to ask how that was even possible, but before he could react, he felt a sudden attack from behind.

He quickly raised an ice wall, then kicked back while thrusting his staff forward. The two attacks collided, creating an explosion.

'I can't underestimate this Fishman, and since I didn't bother to master the movement technique, I'll have to use another method without resorting to the forbidden ice just yet. I have to kill it without using any of my trump cards,' Fruity thought inwardly, knowing this was no time to joke.

However, he also wanted to test himself. Having such powerful ice elements seemed great, but without them, he wanted to see what kind of person he truly was.

"Round two," Fruity muttered, his staff transforming into a longsword.

"Moon Slash!" He swung the sword dozens of times, each swing sending sharp arcs of ice shaped like crescent moons.

The Fishman raised its defenses, but the sudden consecutive attacks were too strong, breaking through its defense. Some of the ice arcs even landed on its body, dealing with ice damage.

"One with the Sword: Moon Epic Slash!" Fruity, having gained some advantage and momentarily disrupted the Fishman's momentum, followed up with a new form of Moon Slash. He raised his sword high, and like a current, Ice Qi surged into the blade.

He slashed the sword diagonally, and like a flash, a sword light made of ice shot out, pulling the pressure around it and directing it toward the Fishman.

In response, the Fishman's blade arms morphed into a pair of large hands. It brought them together as if about to pray, but after muttering something, a large shark—about 30 meters long and made entirely of water—appeared and surged toward the ice arc coming from Fruity.

Boom!

The two attacks connected, creating a liquid explosion.

"Waterfall!" the Fishman said immediately after regaining its footing from the explosion. Instantly, a tsunami of water surged behind it.

Pointing forward, the massive wave rose above the Fishman and started rushing toward Fruity.

"Ice with Sword: Moon Slash Kill!" Fruity, in response to the destructive attack, raised his sword again. This time, a wave of ice surged from all around him entering the sword in his hands. His eyes were closed as if sensing the incoming attack.

As expected, just when the tsunami was only a few meters from him, his sword fell in a vertical slash. A powerful ice arc cut forward, slicing the tsunami in half. But it didn't stop there—it moved forward, striking the Fishman and sending it flying like a ragdoll.

The Fishman slammed hard into the soft ground.

Fruity, realizing he had underestimated the Fishman, immediately followed up with another attack. However, just as the attack was about to connect, a powerful, bloodthirsty aura erupted from the Fishman, instantly slowing him down.

'This power...' Fruity was startled, feeling his strength drop—or more accurately, feeling his body fail him, as though he were scared. But he knew he wasn't afraid, not in the slightest. Yet, for some reason, that sensation lingered.

To confirm his suspicion, the Fishman clapped its hands together again, and another large water shark surged forward. The fish surged forward with a terrifying pressure.

Fruity, in the process of preparing another sword slash, immediately felt his reaction speed slow down, and worse, the rate at which he was channeling his ice Qi also faltered.

"Devouring Ice: Absolute Wall," Instead of continuing with the sword attack, he muttered instead, raising a wall of Dark Gold Ice. The water shark slammed into it, creating an explosion that shattered the wall. However, the attack was also devoured.

Fruity quickly started exuding his Devouring Ice over himself, instantly absorbing the pressure that was affecting him.

'I need to ask Yuying what that was, but first, I need to get payback,' Fruity thought, immediately activating three more Ice Elements.

"Hypnotic Ice."

"Abyssal Ice."

"Annihilation Ice."

At once, three more types of ice joined with the Devouring Ice, creating a 2-kilometer domain of ice that instantly trapped the Monster Fishman within.

"One with the Sword: Moon Epic Slash!" Fruity didn't waste a second, unleashing a powerful sword attack that slammed into the Fishman, who was struggling to defend its mind.

"Abyssal Ice: Unbreakable Chains!" The Fishman, sent flying, was immediately ensnared in the air by thick, dark red ice chains. As soon as the chains locked onto it, the Fishman's screams filled the space.

"Mighty Cauldron Descent!" Fruity didn't let up. He conjured a large cauldron made of thick Dark Annihilation Ice. It hurtled forward, and before the Fishman could recover, the massive cauldron slammed into its head, exploding it instantly.

Its huge body dropped to the ground cementing his kill. He had just killed a Tyrant while just a Sage.

But Fruity wasn't happy for someone who had just killed a Peak Tyrant, not even in the slightest.