Chapter 316 - A Shooting Star?
*Whack~*
A dull sound resounded across the whole floor when Valentina simply stopped Leva's fist by catching it.
"Eh?" Leva's eyes almost popped out, seeing that his punch was stopped so easily by someone three levels weaker than him. The other party didn't even employ any fancy ethereal arts, nor did she seem to be exerting much strength.
Her face looked expressionless as before except for a cold smirk that hung on her lips.
"Hnngg…" Leva felt a bad feeling in his heart and strained his forearms, even more, trying to push out his maximum strength by focusing all his ethereal energy towards his fist.
But even after he completely transferred his strength towards his fist, Valentina didn't move an inch and didn't even seem to be trying hard. Her expression was still the same, and she even began to look at him with a condescending gaze.
Leva's neck and arms became stiff as his desperation increased with each second.
Everyone else was also shocked seeing what happened. A commoner girl who was at least three levels weaker was able to stop the fist of this Soaring Sky genius easily.
Reve frowned and shouted, "Leva, what the hell are you playing around for? She's still an Earth Ethereal Realm practitioner. So, use your strength properly and finish this."
Even though Reve said these words, he was no fool. He could see that Leva was exerting the maximum strength possible, but this commoner girl surprisingly was still standing on the same spot without showing any weakness.
"My turn," Valentina said with narrowed, cold eyes and started to press down on his fist with just her palm.
*Crack...crack…*
Sounds of bones shifting around sounded first before it turned to one of breaking, making Leva's face grimace and twist in various shapes.
"AHHHH...my hand! Let go!!" Leva shouted as his knees bent, feeling a loss of strength as Valentina continued to break the bones in his fist.
His hand was no longer rolled into a fist and had become flat already. His breathing became shallow and quick as panic and fear eroded his heart.
Veins popped up in his bulged eyes when he saw that Valentina was going to turn his hand into a paste of broken bones.
"You bitch!!" He quickly used his other hand to try and smash her face.
Valentina snorted at his despicable attempt and, with her free hand, caught his other fist easily too.
Leva realized how stupid he was only after having his other fist get caught in her hand as well. He shook his arms vigorously, trying to escape from her iron grip but realized how futile it was.
Tears of agony began to form in his eyes as he shouted at the top of his voice for help, "GUYS, HE-AHHHHH!!"
However, before he could finish, Valentina twisted his hands by over 180 degrees, along with his arm, making his bones burst out from his skin.
The four noblewomen almost vomited from seeing this gory sight, while the other three youngsters didn't even notice the call for help in Leva's voice due to their shock.
Valentina twisted Leva's arms in such a way that they looked bent at various places with his bloodied elbow bones popping out. Because of that, some of the ethereal core points in his arms also got fractured and crippled.
Now he really looked like a dog standing on its hind legs, especially with how his bent arms looked like a dog raising its forelimbs.
Both his arms were totally crippled now. However, Valentina was still not satisfied with this. She let go of his flaccid arms and gave a violent uppercut to his jaw.
*WHAM! CRASH!*
The sound of his jaw getting fractured was overwhelmed by not only the sound of Valentina's but also the sound of wood beams of the ceiling getting punctured through by a human figure shooting upwards like a missile.
That's right; everyone rubbed their eyes as they looked at the large human-sized hole on the ceiling, wondering if they really saw a person getting sent flying towards the roof with just a single punch.
In one of the upper rooms above...
"Ahh~ Honey, pound me more..Ahnn~~"
"Oh yea baby, you asked for i—"
*BANG!*
"AHH!!!"
"WHAT THE FUCK!"
The couple who were enjoying their sex in a room upstairs got spooked by something shooting out from the floor of their room. And it didn't even end there, they saw, with widened eyes, how that something even shot past the roof by making a hole, till they could see the clear blue skies.
It was as if they were gazing at a shooting star.
Only after getting a good look did they see that it was a human! Their shock was so much that even the woman forgot about the large hole on the floor or to cover herself up.
Leva shot upwards for a few meters into the sky till he finally came to a stop and began to fall downwards!
"NNNHGHHHH!!" Leva wanted to shout out 'NO,' but his jaw and teeth were shattered, making him unable even to let out coherent words. However, that did not diminish the horror and pain that was haunting his mind and body.
He fell through the same roof he shot out through, breaking more wood beams with his back on the way, and finally…
*BANG!* ...he crashed on the ground floor heavily while Valentina looked down at him with a scornful look seeing that he passed out but not dead.
Seeing how bloodied and battered Leva was, Valentina realized that she let her anger get the best of her and ended up almost crippling Leva.
It was not that she was afraid of Leva to not kill or cripple him. But she was worried about what would happen after the empire knows that one of their top ten geniuses was almost killed.
Of course, she could rely on Damien to cover for her using Tristen's identity. But she didn't want Damien's slave, Tristen Gale, to receive any heat from the emperor and thus risk reducing his influence and favor in the empire.
But the bloodied human bag of bones on the floor was a hair-raising sight for everyone present that some even quickly left the inn, not daring to be anywhere near this demoness-like commoner girl.
The other three geniuses couldn't help but unconsciously tremble at the sight.
"Now, do you need more proof that I am a Will Protector? Or are you three going to rest only after ending up like him?" Valentina asked as she crossed her arms, taking the pose of an expert that betrayed her current looks.
Silence permeated the whole inn as the manager, the geniuses, and everyone else started at Valentina with dumbfounded looks.
However, a relieved smile crossed Valentina's face, which made others surprised, wondering what this demoness was smiling for.
Meanwhile, a few moments ago…
Damien saw that the sun was going to set already, and he should check up on Valentina since it has been a while. He also felt that he should leave Tristen's talisman with Valentina since he wasn't able to communicate with her in case of any emergencies, and this made him feel uneasy.
He locked his doors and ordered his servants not to disturb him. He laid on the bed and closed his eyes as he sent his consciousness back towards his original body.
"Haa..that was quite a day...eh...Valentina, where are you?" Damien didn't panic since he could feel Valentina's presence.
But what surprised him was that he sensed the situation that was going on downstairs with everything revolving around Valentina. He quickly sent a soul transmission to her and laid back on the bed again, sending his consciousness back towards Tristen's body.
Back to the present, Valentina was staring down the now-anxious geniuses as they were becoming more and more uneasy. The strength Valentina displayed was no joke since even they wouldn't be able to do that to Leva...not even remotely.
Of course, the Marlowe Brothers were a level stronger, but still, that was not nearly enough to do what Valentina did to Leva.
Still, Reve having the confidence of his own family, raised his trembling finger and pointed at Valentina, "Y-You...do you realize what you have done? You will pay for this!"
Valentina didn't falter and scoffed, "Pay? We will soon see about that when His Highness makes an appearance here. I am sure he had already learned about my arrival. Even then, he accepted my challenge, didn't he? So, he should be prepared to accept defeat as well. It's not like I crippled or killed him."
"Ah, right, I forgot…" Valentina clicked her tongue as if realizing something and continued, "You three also accepted my challenge, right? Why don't we finish this once and for all? You three can come at me together."
Seeing the confident smirk on her face, the three geniuses felt their legs going weak while the four women accompanying these youngsters already cowered towards a corner.