Chapter 98 - 97:Foolish…?
"These things just won’t stop coming.." Thaddeus Calder grumbled as he set ablaze another batch of forest crawlers..
They were an A-rank rodent type beasts that had a nasty reputation for being near impossible to clear out, they weren’t that strong or powerful, arguably one of the most weak creatures in that rank, hell their strengths might’ve been even weaker than some of the heavy hitters within the B-ranks..
But they weren’t annoying or ranked that high due to personal strength, their Alias was "Strength in Numbers". Why? Becuase of their main ability.
Their main ability, <Multiply> made it so that unless the main crawler, the queen, was eliminated, the horde wouldn’t stop coming..
And unlucky enough as he was, he had no idea where to even begin searching for the queen..
"I’ll just burn down the whole goddamn forest if I have to" he was absolutely livid, and rightfully so, because right now, he could clearly see the leaderboard flashing in mocking fashion at the corner of his eye..
Over two hundred people had already arrived at the central region, thus qualifying for the next round, yet he was here, stuck clearing freaking rats..
"Damn it....." he gritted his teeth as his 8ft frame unleashed another terrifying Solar flare, the temperature soaring to unbearable degrees as trees and everything else within a five hundred meter radius was turned into molten sludge, yet still....
Screeeeeeechh!!!!
The screeching didn’t stop...
"Fuck... what type of shitty day am I having??" He yelled in frustration..
Little did he know that his day was about to take a turn for the worse..
And right on cue as he heard...
Sweeeereeeeeeeee!!!!!
The air screamed as "something" forced its way downward at ungodly speeds, Thaddeus raised his head sharply, eyes squinting, trying and straining to recognize whatever it was that was falling..
Unfortunately, it was nothing but a futile attempt as the object seemed to moving too fast to track.
Realizing this, he clenched his fist, a Solar radiance condensing around his massive fist and then..
Just when the figure was only 10 meters from touchdown..
BOOOOOOOMMM!!!
He released a catastrophic punch skyward, intent on making sure whatever it was didn’t see the light of day...
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The wind tore at my face from the massive friction, I could’ve easily cancelled it out, but where was the fun in that...
My downward gaze immediately landed on my fast approaching target...
What’s-his-name, I couldn’t be bothered to remember, all I did remember was the fact that the delusional fool had dared bare his fangs at me, so now, it was time for a defanging...
I sped up my descent, my body becoming nothing but a blazing ball of flames as I shattered the sound barrier once more..
The moment I got within 50 meters above the ground, I could see the little flame giant charging a punch..
"Heh.. wanting to compete in blows?" What a foolish thing to do..
"But who am I to decline a good walloping?" A sadistic grin curled up my lips as I brought my fist forward, taking on a famous pose from that one superhero with an "S" on his chest, only this time, my fist wasn’t meant for flight directions, no, it was meant for delusion shattering...
"COWABUNGAAAAAASA"...
The moment I got within 10 meters above the ground, the flaming giant below finally released the charged blow..
My already outstretched fist meeting it in perfect response..
Now, I’ve always said I understated how monstrous my stats really were..
With the fact that I’d been using more elemental and magical abilities, my physical dominance seemed to have taken a back seat lately..
But the fact remained that I had Eleven Whooping Thousand points in my fucking strength stat..
That stat being boosted in effectiveness by a scary 2,100%...
So when I say it’s a foolish idea, an utterly nonsensical move for anyone that wasn’t at least an S-rank to dare trade blows with me in a head on exchange, I would still be putting it lightly..
That said, it was no surprise what happened the moment our fists connected...
Boooooooooommmmmmmm!!!!!!!
A cataclysmic explosion rocked the entire forest, an apocalyptic shockwave erupting from the collision, sweeping through the entire forest for what could’ve easily been over 5km..
As for my opponent?
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!"
What’s-his-name was launched flying, the entirety of the right side of his body being turned into blood mist that quickly evaporated from the heat he himself was generating...
I wasn’t about to let him take a breather, I didn’t know what else this guy was packing, other than the fact that he also had an SSS-rank <Solar Essence Blodline>, I was drawing a total blank..
So, with that thought in my mind, I finally got back to enjoying the props of being overwhelmingly superior to your peers, I literally manifested behind the flying piece of meat, fist cocked back, the air whined as I released a rocketing punch straight into his back..
Crackkkkkk!!!!
The audible sounds of bones shattering and organs and muscles liquifying was oddly satisfying..
I grinned, giving chase immediately, the disfigured piece of meat had been launched towards the opposite direction it had been flying it..
I appeared right within its path, deciding, mercifully too finally end this charade...
My hand snapped out, grabbing his neck, cutting its flight abruptly short...
"Ugh—-kugh...kkugh..." credit to the potency of the Solar essence bloodline, this guy was still alive, barely, but still, I could feel the stellar flames trying to reconstruct whatever had been destroyed..
"You...you can’t..my..my..." what’s-his-name tried to give me a speech I wasn’t really intent on listening to.
"I don’t know what it is you’re trying to say I can’t do.." I whispered quietly, my grip tightening around his throat.
"But whatever it is, just know that I can, and if it’s necessary? I will.." Snap!!!
With one final decisive squeeze, I snapped the neck within my grasp like a dry twig..
Done, just like that... at least that’s what I thought until..
Buzzzzzzz!!!
The limp body in my hands suddenly vibrates violently..
Woooooshhhhh!!!!!!
A horrifyingly hot flame bursting out the body, it caught my arm "hssssss" and it hurt...
"What?.." I was honestly surprised, especially after realizing that the flame wasn’t going out...
Not by any normal means..
But before I could wrap my head around that, the burning flames that had engulfed the body of what’s-his-name suddenly vanished, in its place, was what I could only describe as a juiced up whats-his-name..
His blue hair had turned into ashen black flames, his eyes burned with hollow black flame that seems to see through your very soul...
The stellar radiance around him twisted and churned until it became an unholy mass of black flames that burnt the very atmosphere around it..
I raised my eyebrows at that..
This guy wasn’t just stronger..
He was in essence an entirely different being compared to the whomp I had been pushing around all this while...
"You...You will pay for that..." the living mass of blackened flames spoke, its voice like the hissing of hot coal touching snow, it was jarring to the ears..
Feeling the abysmal heat pouring off of this....thing.. I grinned, a slow, wicked, excited curve touching my lips..
"This..this might just be fun after all..."
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A/N: well, well, well, what do we have here..
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Thanks for reading...