'Why is Shakuni's younger brother looking at me with a frown on his face? Should he not be delighted that I saved his life?'
Odin thought as while he could not understand what was going on, his thoughts became a bubble of text and floated on-top of his head as Max could clearly read what he was thinking in real time.
' There is no way we can survive this…. We will die to the bearded bastard today'
' IT HURTS, MY BACK, FUCK I LANDED ON A ROCK '
' Why is Lord Shakuni's brother not helping us already? He's standing right there but he did nothing as guildmaster Neatwit was injured? Does he not care for the guild? '
' We need to be positive and power through, Lord Shakuni must be arriving any second now, we just need for him to arrive and solve this problem '
As Max scanned the battlefield, these were the text bubbles that he could read on-top of individuals that were having coherent thoughts in real time.
It did not matter as to how far they were from him, it did not matter if their thoughts were about him or about something else entirely.
As long as they were thinking and were in Max's line of vision, Max could read their thoughts.
It was a completely broken skill, maybe even better than what most celestials possessed as Max felt extremely lucky to have stolen such an ability.
' I don't know how you stole my ability, boy, but you are not walking out of this chamber alive with it ' Bavuma thought as Max read his thoughts in real-time and thought ' Dream On ' which Bavuma read back.
It was almost like the duo was chatting on a telepathic level with an interface that only they could access, however, the question for Max was, how long?
For how long could he keep the [ Mind Reader ] skill active as with his basic mastery of the skill it took a significant toll on his divine essence reserves.
At his current state, he could use the move for 40 minutes straight before his reserves dried out, however, if he wished to perform actual combat while keeping the skill active, then it was sure to run-out even faster.
' This skill is a double edged sword for me right now, but it's the only way I stay ahead of whatever that guy is plotting ' Max thought as Bavuma instantly picked it up.
' You wanna stay ahead of the curve? Let's see you try, boy ' Bavuma thought as he turned away from Max and Odin, towards the entrance of the time chamber as he used the time seed's power to freeze everyone and everything inside the chamber in place.
*KABOOM*
Rudra walked into the chamber with a frantic expression on his face and a menacing looking queen at his tail as he entered the time chamber and found everyone but an old bearded bastard frozen in time.
' Max? He's safe…. ' Rudra thought as both Bavuma and Max picked it up, although both interpreted this concern differently.
Max was touched that his brother cared about him the most, however, Bavuma saw it as Max was the individual that Rudra cherished the most and hence he decided his next move.
" Such meagre tricks won't work on me BAVUMA, Oh, Master Shakuni you are here?
Please punish this bastard for his crimes, he dared attack young master Max!
If it wasn't for me…. Young lord might have suffered a loss…. " Odin said, trying to appear humble as he broke free of Bavuma's time spell.
It took Max a few seconds longer than Odin, but using [ Alter Reality ] he too was able to break free from Bavuma's attack spell.
" Brother be careful, he's a mind reader and can read our thoughts as plain as day!!!" Max shouted as he warned Rudra about Bavuma's ability as Rudra instantly frowned.
While Max and the others were not aware, Rudra had activated Omniscient Future Sight and peered two minutes into the future where he mock battled Bavuma 7 times.
No matter how he approached Bavuma, the bastard seemed to dodge his moves and counter with an attack that caught Rudra off-guard and Rudra could not understand the reason behind why each iteration of his attack was so different from the other.
With Max's insight over the matter, Rudra finally understood where he was lacking as it occurred to him that if his opponent could read his mind then his future sight was absolutely useless.
" What an interesting ability…." Rudra murmured, as he silently enquired the queen about the origin and specifics of such a skill, but even the queen could not find anything remotely like that in her database.
Without understanding the scope and limitations of such a broken ability it was going to be next to impossible for Rudra to fight and take down Bavuma.
Although he was not aware of it, Bavuma had defeated a celestial using this skill as by reading his thoughts in battle he was able to always stay a step ahead and was capable of bridging the gap between himself and the celestial being successful in bringing him down.
Even though Rudra was not aware of this achievement, he knew a strong opponent when he saw one and Bavuma was extremely strong.
Rudra knew better than to rush at him directly and since he had not killed any of the guild members or Max yet, Rudra wanted to see if he could postpone the threat of facing this bastard to another day.
" You have ___ what you ____, I suggest that you ____ before __ kill you " Rudra said, as he thought the words 'taken' , 'wanted' 'leave' and 'I' but did not speak it.
Rudra wanted to test whether or not Bavuma was truly a mind reader and the god of knowledge did not disappoint.
" You kill me? Son, if you had the confidence to take me down, my head would already be rolling on the floor below.
But you don't have that confidence in you, do you? " Bavuma replied as he chuckled at Rudra's cockiness.
" I will leave…. But not quite yet- " Bavuma said with a sinister smile as he lunged at Max.
