The middle-aged man channeled his mana in his arm. The gauntlet he was wearing shone with blue light as he smashed his fist at Souta's stomach. His fist erupted with brilliant lightning upon contact.
Bang!!
This was one of the strongest attacks that he knew. Since his opponent had thick skin, he just had to attack the inside and it would be over.
He laughed to himself thinking that he overestimated his opponent. But then, he felt something wrong. He looked up and saw that Souta was still unfazed.
"Is that it?" Souta asked plainly.
"H-How?!" The middle-aged man couldn't believe what he was seeing. Even the other people were also shocked.
"Even the Leader couldn't..." One of the experts said with widely opened eyes.
"How?!"
"That's impossible?!"
In this place, the strongest was undoubtedly the middle-aged man. He was the Leader of the Thunder Hall yet this unknown person took his powerful attack head-on. He came here because the experts from his organization haven't come back after entering the ancient ruins. The only people that returned were Princess Yaniesvyl and Dream but he couldn't just capture them since they were from other big organizations too. The two also haven't said anything about the ancient ruins since they came out.
It was a mystery so he brought his people here to find out what happened in the later part of the trial. There were some survivors of the first and second trials but they were useless since the experts from Thunder Hall had gone far.
The middle-aged man felt a chill on his spine. His attack should be unblockable. The focus of his attack was to damage the innards of his target. No one could block this.
"Wondering why? It's simple. It is because you are too weak." Souta spoke calmly. He turned his head away. "Well, I lost my patience here so it's time for you to experience something new."
Souta started to walk away once again. The other people sighed in relief but Souta flicked his fingers. Instantly, everything turned dark. It was too dark that all the people in the area couldn't see their surroundings.
"I have trained my dark and light elements, you see... Using my power I gather the light and let the darkness consumes it. In short, there's not a single speck of light in this place only darkness remains."
Souta explained to them as he continued to walk. There was no expert who had the power to stop him in this place. All of them were too weak with his current power.
"That being said... You guys thoroughly are trash! You didn't even practice your senses! Use your energy to refine them or feel the mana in the area! Well, it's already too late."
With another snap of his fingers, a powerful gravitational field appeared in the area. The gravity crushed their bodies into meat paste. They didn't even have the power to resist. Screams of agony resounded through the area and the middle-aged man tried to resist.
"Argh!!!"
"NO!!!"
"Help me!!"
"AHHH!!"
After a few minutes, the screams disappeared along with the darkness. What was left was a brutal scene of people mashed together. They all died with despair written on their face.
Souta glanced at his hand. "It's good... My elemental power is enough."
He smiled as he continued his walk. Some of the potions that they had flew beside him. The bottle caps were removed and a string of flesh suck the blue liquid inside. He replenished the mana inside the Queen Parasite.
He placed one of his hands in his pocket and took out a small piece of paper. He opened it and looked at the contents.
It was a piece of paper that he took from the mysterious man that he killed in the Poison Swamp. It seems that the faction behind that man was really connected to the Wingless Crow.
The Wingless Crow was situated in White Line City. They were planning to leave but he managed to get information about them on time. Luckily, he asked Alice to surround the city to prevent anyone from leaving the city. So the Wingless Crow was forced to hide in the city for a while and let the fight subside. Unfortunately for them, Alice still surrounded the city even after she destroyed the Star Pavilion. It was at that moment that the Wingless Crow realized that Alice must be looking for them. They had no choice but to reveal themselves. In fact, even if the Wingless Crow tried to escape from the beginning they wouldn't be able to do it easily. Astros had a bunch of Shackled Realm experts and Third Head's force was even there.
The only problem was the person that appeared at the last minute. The one that used a powerful charm. Well, that person wasn't even there from the start. It was just a backup when the Wingless Crow's base was destroyed.
"So the person that used charm is from the same faction as the one in the Poison Swamp..."
Souta rubbed his chin as he continued to look at the paper. It was written here that the Wingless Crow should have left the White Line and gone to the Earthen Woods without anyone noticing their presence on that day.
"I'm lucky that I asked Alice to surround the place immediately and even ask the Dragon Council's hand. Anyway, what I need to do right now is to complete the quest first..."
Become a Core Disciple and get the [Divine Light Circulation] to further improve his mastery over his light element. Then, he would visit the Murder Society. His doppelganger had located their base of operation so he wasn't worried about it.
'Souta... I wanted to ask this for a while.' Saya's voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
"What is it?" Souta raised his eyebrows as he placed the paper back in his pocket.
'What do you want? I mean what is your goal? I'm with you for the longest time and you always say that you only wanted to live.' Saya asked.
Souta grew silent at her question. He stared at the sky for a while before he answered, "Hm... Yep, I want to survive. That's my initial goal. Becoming a knight, a king, an investigator, or any other profession, or perhaps living a peaceful and ordinary life... All of this can be achieved once I've gained enough strength in this world. So for now, I'll focus on surviving what will come in the future while trying to enjoy a little bit of my extra time."
He shrugged his shoulder. His goal was simple yet at the same time was hard to achieve. After all, he knew what would happen in the near future and he couldn't place his life in the hands of other people. Even after that, there's a much worse enemy. The one that the God of Hunt mentioned and the one that was written in the stone monument left behind by the God of Space.
Ordinary people would be swept out. If he couldn't survive right now then how would he expect to survive the events in the future? Airi even saved his life so he wouldn't die easily. His goal was still the same when he first arrived in this world but something was different this time.
'Ufufu. The 'You' before will not say the same thing.' Saya chuckled.
Souta simply smiled as he went toward the nearest town in the area. He quickly changed his appearance once again. Although he could change his appearance, he couldn't change his energy signature. If there was a sensory type that memorized his energy signature then that person would recognize him immediately.
He arrived at Blue River Town, only to realize that Heili was still here waiting for him. He went to the inn and knocked on the door of her room. When Heili saw him, she was surprised at him but soon breathed a sigh of relief. She almost thought that Souta died in the ancient ruins.
"Why didn't you return?" Souta asked.
"I'm waiting for you. I plan to wait for three more days before I return but I'm glad that you are back." Heili said as if a heavy weight was removed from her heart.
"Sure, let's go back." Souta nodded. He wanted to get his hands at [Divine Light Circulation]. He trained his [Divine Dark Circulation] enough so he was eligible to challenge one of the Core Disciples and replace them.
"Where's your friend?" Heili looked around and didn't find Alexander. That guy gives her an oppressive feeling and she realized that she wasn't imagining it. That guy was mysteriously powerful.
"He stayed in the ancient ruins," Souta answered.
On their way, Souta asked Heili how she fared in the ancient ruins. She said that she got to the second trial before she used the Escape Talisman to safely exit the ruins. At the very least, she got something that would benefit her.
Souta understood that the first and second trials were for B-rank experts while the later trials were for higher level experts. It was understandable that she didn't pass those difficult trials with her combat prowess.
