292 Power of the Strongest - I
The monster soon disappeared into the Black Dome above them, and its presence spread evenly into the entire dome.
It was as if the domain around them was the monster itself, making it impossible for anyone to predict where the monster would reappear next.
However, the monster soon reemerged directly above them in the air, launching itself towards Silvus, who was at the center.
Silvus's gaze fell on the monster speeding towards him with insane velocity, but despite being a Mage, he remained calm as a Mana Shield erupted around him.
A massive soundwave erupted as the monster's hand began clashing with the mana shield, slowly beginning to penetrate the shield. Still, Silvus didn't need to worry about it at that moment.
His role was to support the other hunters, not fight alone, and he was not about to waste his mana doing anything useless.
This composure is what made Silvus the strongest mage in the world. A mage needed to remain calm in most situations to cast insanely difficult spells and modify them instantly, depending on the situation.
And the level of concentration required to cast Tier 5 Spells, the highest-tier spells, was something only a few could manage.
Dexter descended with a hammer as the monster dodged, leaving Silvus alone.
"This damn thing," Dexter raised his hammer as a spiral of Runes appeared around him.
One by one, each of the six SSS Rank Hunters, except Silvus, started attacking the monster, while Farnus took the lead and kept it distracted.
Even though they were under the monster's entrapment spell, the mana waves they created were not absorbed by the strange dome surrounding them.
'Does it only absorb the force behind the attacks?' Silvus questioned while multiple magic circles started appearing behind him.
And Silvus was right. The mana waves from their battle escaped the entrapment spell, causing problems for Belvoria.
"Raise the barriers," a man shouted, as over a hundred mages created barriers to shield the cities from the destructive mana wave.
"Permission to use SS Rank Defensive Artifacts is granted," an executive declared on the hologram, as multiple artifacts were placed on the ground.
"Handle the monsters!" another SS Rank Hunter shouted, launching himself towards the monster.
Despite their efforts, the mana waves from the clash of SSS Rank beings managed to reach the cities. Buildings began to crack, and several awakened people started passing out.
Although thin, these mana waves were still very destructive. The power that eight SSS Rank beings could generate was enough to destroy the massive Belvoria Continent.
Known as the Water Continent, Belvoria, one of the most beautiful places, was now a breath away from destruction.
A significant number of SS Rank Hunters were shielding the cities from the mana waves, but they couldn't hold out for long.
"Why did it get so intense all of a sudden?" an executive questioned, but no answer came.
All mana-reading devices were destroyed, and they could only hope that whatever battle was going on could end fast enough before their line of defense fell, and the cities were destroyed.
"Hey, Old Man, why are you holding back?" Osbert asked as he attacked the monster.
Farnus didn't reply. He was in a position where he didn't want to use his full powers, but the situation didn't allow him to do so.
Osbert intentionally said it out loud because Farnus had done the same with the previous monster they were fighting. But this time, he knew that the problem was too big for Farnus to hold back.
The fight continued on, with Farnus taking the lead once more. Lightning started getting absorbed into his body, increasing his speed.
Farnus' spear started moving in an unusual way, with each of his strikes matching the monster's.
'A bit more,' Farnus thought as his iris began to shine blue.
His mana meridians were getting reinforced by the lightning aura that he exuded. But as he was attacking, Farnus sensed danger and immediately dashed back. A blue fire emerged on the spot as one of the monster's eyes dimmed.
Farnus's gaze turned cold as he felt the monster's killing intent. It had been a long time since he had felt something like that - a feeling of danger.
But this single attack changed Farnus's mind. The black stone on the monster's head submerged, causing the monster to grow further.
'It seems that I have no choice,' Farnus thought, feeling cornered.
If he held back any longer, he could see that even he might have a hard time surviving. The monster had marked Farnus as the prey instead of going after other SSS Rank Hunters.
In the next instant, black energy erupted from the black stone. Two new creatures with the strength of mid SSS Rank monsters appeared, their foreheads marked with two eyes made of blue fire.
The black stone was completely absorbed as a pair of fully black eyes appeared. The monster roared loudly.
While this was happening, Dexter and Osbert both tried to attack the monster, but the black energy from the stone stopped them.
Farnus lowered his spear, giving up on holding back any longer. He could feel the danger from the monster that was looking at him, ignoring the new SSS Rank Puppets created by the monster.
Soon enough, blue runes appeared all over Farnus's body, causing his armor to shine.
Tremendous powers of the lightning element started coursing through Farnus's body. Simultaneously, the strange rune began to light up, absorbing the surrounding lightning element. Within mere seconds, Farnus's presence had become significantly more powerful than before.
Silvus looked at Farnus who was using this ability after many years. It was an ability that made Farnus the strongest and could potentially turn the situation in their favor.
The lightning around Farnus stopped as his armor started shining. It changed into the true form of the Stormscale Armor.
"Lightning of the Thousand Storms," Farnus said, his armor changing completely into stark white, surrounded by golden and blue lightning, and a crown made of deadly lightning aura appeared on his head.
"Sigh," Farnus sighed, knowing that all this might be for nothing.
But the more he thought about it, the more enraged he got, his killing intent becoming visible.
"Die," Farnus said, disappearing from his spot, as did the monster.
Both of them clashed in the air, their power forming cracks in the entrapment spell above.
It was rare to see someone like Farnus, who usually remained calm and composed, getting angry like this, even while fighting for his life.
But Farnus couldn't stop himself from getting enraged. All his preparations for the future had gone down the drain.
His spear started shining as Farnus changed the way he attacked completely with his spear traversing through air with an insanely high speed.
Exchanges of clashes from the peak SSS Rank Existence caused the space around them to shake. Farnus's spear began to glow as the pure lightning element harmed the monster's body each time they clashed.
In an instant, the monster's claw reached Farnus's elbow. As Farnus thrust his spear, the monster's claw was deflected by his armor.
At the World Academy, Kevin was sparring with Eva and Elena, who were attacking him.
"Don't hold back," Kevin told them, and Elena increased the intensity of her attacks.
Eva kept creating barriers to stop Kevin, who was using his lightning aura.
The purpose of their sparring was to increase the efficiency of his lightning aura. At that moment, Kevin was dodging attacks from both Elena and Eva.
But as he was about to dodge Elena's fire bullet, he suddenly felt a lot of his strength fading. He paused for a moment, and it made Elena's fire bullet hit him directly in the chest.
Bam!
Kevin crashed into the wall. Elena's face turned pale.
"Kevin!!" Elena shouted, rushing to him.
His armor stopped the impact from harming him much, but he was still injured.
"Why didn't you dodge?" Elena asked, supporting Kevin who was clutching his chest.
"What happened?" Eva also came close, looking worried.
A mistake like this wasn't something Kevin would make, and they didn't know what happened to him at the last moment.
But the next moment, Elena felt her heart drop as Kevin lost consciousness, and her hands started shaking.
"Elena, let's take him to the medical facility!" Eva immediately said, but Elena was too scared to move.
Her hands were shaking. She felt that she had done something terrible to Kevin.
"Elena!" Eva shook Elena, who looked at her with tears forming in her eyes.
"We need to take him to the doctors," she told Elena, grabbing her shoulders.
"Ah, yes, yes," Elena managed to reply, standing up. Both of them helped Kevin up.
They didn't know what happened to Kevin, but they took him to the medical facility as quickly as possible.
