455 Real Challenge
The summoned lizard that hugged Lemorine had thick green scales that could be mistaken for stone at a glance, its most distinctive feature being the thick red, webbed fins on the sides of its neck!
Its yellow eyes kept their slit pupil focus on Skullius, as was its master’s orders, its primary duty being to guard her.
As for the hulking mass that had been second in Lemorine’s summoning, it was a marvel among marvels.
A humanoid figure with pitch black skin and thick hairy arms it was.
It stood at over three meters with a hideous face plastered with large, red eyes, a bun-like nose and a mouth from which two large canines rose up, climbing over its upper lip.
It had fairly long dark hair and red tattoos on its chest, on its waist a piece of dirty white cloth covering its privates.
‘Oh, she is already using that? She only recently tamed this creature,’ Alaris thought.
The spectators had barely recovered from the limited but explosive action of the first bout when they were exposed to this massive monstrosity with a dominant presence that glared at Skullius and growled, balling its hands into fists!
“Go,” Lemorine ordered, the massive beast shooting forward suddenly as unlike one would expect, it was alarmingly fast!
‘Well, shit. Is she a Tamer?’ the Hybrid Luman thought.
Skullius was surprised at the speed the creature burst with towards him, its full figure which was reinforced with mana being clear in his Koten!
‘Interesting…’ he thought as he used [Elevated Mana Manipulation] to try and intrude into its core which, as he expected, was blocked from his influence. ‘Ha, of course.’
Skullius’ body suddenly flashed bright for a brief second before….
VWOOOOOOOOSH!
…!
With the loud sound of crumpling paper and rock, the Hybrid Luman’s body burst with the white energy essential for all living things to evolve, its untamed shroud extending to over four meters around his body!
The mana caused a mini storm as shot out freely, its intensity causing those who felt it to subconsciously move back!
This amount of mana… all at once?
Was this man emptying his core?!
“What is that man…?” one of the guards beside Terese found himself murmuring.
The usually uptight girl couldn’t even find the words to scold the guard as she too was wondering the same, Daggs who was at the side swearing to himself that he wanted nothing to do with Skullius again.
Silrat didn’t say a word, refusing to jinx it. He wouldn’t celebrate, or curse until this was over!
The black humanoid from Lemorine’s mysterious flame reached within a two meters of Skullius who didn’t move an inch, its gaze turning serious as it brought its arms together in a meaningful gesture.
‘Hmmm?’ Skullius felt mana pooling into the creature’s arms as it then crossed them against its chest and…
…!
Skullius’ glanced behind himself and found…
A second creature like the one approaching him suddenly appeared in his Koten, barrelling towards him at the same speed that the first one was rushing to him at!
This one was white skinned, with long white hair over its head as well but with black tattoos and a black cloth tied around its waist!
‘Where the hell did that one come from? Is this a skill?’ Skullius questioned himself.
The white creature also crossed its arms against its chest as it lowered its body in its run and charged faster!
Lemorine gave a smirk at this, as now, her flurry of nonstop attacks to keep her opponent from one-shotting her began!
Pooling mana signalled the activation of an ability that was anything but ordinary as in the next moment, Skullius felt a restriction imposed upon his body!
As if he was suddenly trapped in a confined, box-shaped space, Skullius’ body felt pressure piling on from all sides nonstop, his flesh and even his mana being squeezed against him!
…!
What was even more terrifying about this affair was that even though the two enemies he was supposed to face were moving at a speed that should have allowed them to reach Skullius in less than a second, the Hybrid Luman felt like they were moving merely an inch with each breath!
Yet, the pressure stacked on as Skullius’ mana, his senses and even his skills were included in this uncanny compression, as if to make him implode!
This was a dangerous skill!
At this rate, the Hybrid Luman would be squished into paste before these bastards reached his position, which seemed to be the point of the skill.
‘Brutal…’ Skullius thought while feeling his mana which had extended four meters from his body be pushed back to just a meter away from him!
Yet…
‘But that’s not enough.’
Suddenly, Skullius’ mana burst rebelliously with a rippling edge, creating multiple spike like shapes at its ends that pointed in every direction even as it was being pushed back!
The Hybrid Luman increased his output even further, his mana bombarding from his body as he fully exercised the large mana channels he had created for himself!
The spikes all over his raging mana grew with this temporary outburst of mana that lit up the room like a white flare causing surprise and fear!
This was Skullius’ first attempt at using this technique but he more or less achieved it well enough.
[You have learned the skill ‘Hyperfocus Motion Counter’]
Yes!
A familiar mana technique that the Hybrid Luman had seen and experienced multiple times while under the influence of [HYPED].
A technique used by the Spirit guardian, Bassbion, one that could even dispel his [Perfect Night Domain] casually!
Lemorine’s eyes went swollen in her sockets.
‘What is that? An auxiliary technique?’ she thought.
The restraining effect that had been stomping over Skullius was pushed back at the same time as well, the two creatures rushing at Skullius having nothing but shock in their eyes!
The Hybrid Luman’s mana found enough leeway to spread out in a larger range with just this, and as right then…
pan-da-n0vel.com VWOOOOOP!
Both man shaped beasts were suddenly launched up high at breakneck speed, their backs slamming onto the ceiling with a crisp slap that once again caused the entire room to shudder!
The black creature growled in pain, as did its white counterpart, its senses yet to even comprehend how it had flown to the ceiling just now!
Unfortunately, that answer would remain a mystery as within its vision, a grinning man with white eyes blurred from the floor, from his body, mana flooding out in frightening levels!
Skullius sent a deadly straight punch to the black creature’s face, with the horrifying amount of mana funnelling into his balled fist!
BOOOOOOM!
A terrible weight squashed the creature’s entire head and part of its torso into nothing but a red skid mark on the ceiling, the carnage only noticed a few seconds after it had happened by the audience which was gaping after every second!
[You have killed (V) LV81 Dark Matted Ogre. 200 EXP awarded]
[Your prey emits the Essence of Null Life. Would you like to extract it? Remaining time 59 seconds]
The white man beast which remained, still plastered to the ceiling as well, vanished, as if it had never existed, Skullius nodding as he moved, crouching upside down on the ceiling as if it was the most natural thing to do.
The remains of the creature he had just killed fell to the floor for dramatic effect as silence ensued.
‘As I thought. That other creature was summoned as part of this ugly bro’s skill. If I didn’t have something to counter with, it would have been problematic. I’d have to reveal cards I don’t want to show yet. Fortunately, that mana skill works in the same way that I imagined,’ Skullius thought.
[Hyperfocus Motion Counter] was a mana technique that was used to counteract the effects of skills and techniques in a single dash of movement. It mainly relied on speed, but even without motion, one could temporarily counter the effect of an imposed technique with the edged mana, a characteristic of the technique, which what Skullius had done, giving room for his mana to spread out to a large range!
As he had done against Bassbion, Skullius’ mana which contained gravitational effects, had spread onto the floor, causing rejection, in a way, a reverse gravitational effect that shot the two creatures away from the floor and onto the ceiling.
Skullius could also do the same with himself, attracting himself on any surface that had been touched by his mana or the opposite, which is how he had moved so fast that Stephin hadn’t had the opportunity to even react!
He had also used his mana’s additional weight property to make himself light as well as attaching [Great Rush I] on top for good measure.
The Hybrid Luman suddenly turned his head as within his Koten, a large creature skittering rapidly on the ceiling where he was appeared, dashing at what was literally super speed!
The green lizard that Lemorine had called upon was fast approaching, on its back the Tamer who was holding out both of her hands as a dazzling golden light was being prepared.
“Mage my hairless ass!” she yelled at Skullius with a genuine look of ‘this is ridiculous’.
How was this man a Mage?!
Even combat Mages weren’t this vicious!
The lizard she rode shot open its mouth as with blinding speed, several dozen black beetles flew from it while releasing shrill noises from their wings!
Immediately after they were released, the distance of the closest one merely a meter from Skullius…
POOOF! POOOOF! POOOOF!
The beetles exploded, releasing a pale powder that Skullius felt a horrendous danger from!
The powder covered the view as it spread rapidly, but from within, Lemorine’s figure darted out as she left her amphibious mount, a golden light gathering in her hands!
‘How many of those does she have?!’ Skullius thought as he passed his mana into the ceiling. The moment, it reached beneath Lemorine who was ‘airborne’ and her lizard which was clawing at ceiling behind the powder, Skullius activated the rejection effect of his gravitational mana!
Yet, in the moment he did so, an expected yet unexpected occurrence caused him alarm!
A neon light flashed around Lemorine, in the shape of a tall golden box with glittery swirly lines like fancy window!
This was something Skullius recognised!
A Genuine Incarnation!
Refined Aura that far eclipsed Full Body Aura, its shape being malleable enough to produce a variety of shapes that the user willed, and with the special property of countering mana and basic Aura effects!
The lizard Lemorine had summoned was shot to the floor where it slammed hard, releasing a pained screech as a result!
But Lemorine… she remained afloat while in her box!
Her Genuine Incarnation had countered the effect of Skullius’ mana!