Chapter 169

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Episode 39 - Team Competition [5]

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Charlotte’s sword came down from above just as Adel had sent Clementine flying with a single strike.

Although Adel could have blocked the attack, since his senses had detected Charlotte’s movement from the very beginning.

He decided to test something.

’My stamina should be at the level of a Six Star, so in theory, I should be able to withstand an attack as long as it’s weaker than that of a Five Star Awakened using their full strength.’

Without hesitation, he raised his hand and grabbed Charlotte’s sword.

But then...

"....?"

The flesh of his hand was completely sliced open, and Charlotte’s sword blade reached the bone in his hand.

Fortunately, it did not cut through the bone, but it did slice halfway into it, nearly severing his hand and part of his forearm.

’That was close.’

".....?"

However, Adel sensed the mixture of negative emotions within Charlotte’s mana through her sword.

’So she’s using the Sword Art she learned from Luminus.’

At first glance, no one would notice anything. Unless they had the ability to see emotions, nobody would realize it.

Of course, with the exception of Eight-Star Awakened or higher.

Boom!

Adel pulled back his hand while tightening his grip on Charlotte’s sword.

Bang!

Charlotte’s body crashed to the ground with a deafening impact.

Crack!

A faint sound coming from her bones was heard only by Adel.

"U-ugh... that hurts..."

Charlotte muttered as she tried to get back up. Adel gathered mana at the tips of his feet and, just as he was about to deliver a powerful kick to Charlotte...

Slash!

Adel was interrupted. At that moment, Leon, who was only inches away from landing a blow, suddenly froze in place.

"W-What?!"

An expression of disbelief flooded his face as he remained frozen mid-step.

He tried to move his body, but an invisible force was tightly restraining him.

’Telekinesis... no, telekinesis can’t be this strong.’

The normal Telekinesis Trait does not exert much force, especially against a Four-Star Awakened like Adel.

’Then it’s a Unique Trait.’

Just as he thought that, Leon’s body moved at tremendous speed.

Slash! Kaaang!

His body shot forward at incredible speed toward the trunk of a massive tree.

Bang! Crack!

A deafening sound echoed throughout the forest. The tree trunk splintered, and cracks spread violently across it.

"Kh—"

Leon spat out a mouthful of blood as his eyes rolled back.

Once that was over, Adel focused on Charlotte again, but...

"....?"

’Mhm, how strange. Somehow she managed to escape.’

Normally, nobody escaped him that easily because of his senses.

However, perhaps because he had been too focused on Leon, Charlotte, who knew quite a bit about his Trait, had found a way to move.

Adel then turned around. Charlotte was beside Clementine, helping her stand, and standing in front of both girls was Julian.

Julian stared at Adel from a defensive stance.

"...."

Adel smiled faintly and walked toward them.

There were three opponents directly ahead of him, and although he could finish off Leon, Leon was unconscious, so he would not be a problem for the moment.

He gathered mana in his legs and stomped the ground with force. The earth beneath his feet twisted backward.

Then, in the blink of an eye, he arrived right in front of Julian.

Julian assumed a stance and swung his sword.

Slash! Boom!

A barrage of attacks rushed toward Adel.

Julian’s mana extended the blade of his sword, allowing it to reach Adel.

Adel twisted his body in unnatural ways and managed to dodge the attacks while, at the same time,

red and blue lines appeared within his vision.

Adel targeted the weakness in Julian’s Sword Art.

Boom! Slash!

His sword moved with all its might.

Dark mana covered his sword, and soon its blade brushed against Julian’s sword.

"....?"

The mana within Julian’s sword was suddenly severed, causing the trajectory of his attack to shift slightly. Then...

Bang!

Adel imbued his fist with mana and punched Julian in the chest.

Kaaang!

Julian’s body slammed into the tree behind him several meters away and fell to his knees as the air escaped from his lungs.

Adel extended his hand toward Julian and used Gravity. Instantly, Julian’s body shot forward at tremendous speed.

Bang!

He crashed into the same tree Leon had struck earlier when Adel used Gravity.

Shortly afterward, Julian fell unconscious, his body landing right beside Leon’s.

"Ah... my stamina is running out."

Although he possessed considerable endurance, repeatedly using the Second Form of Inverted Heaven consumed an enormous amount of it.

Even though his natural recovery rate was unnaturally higher than anyone else’s.

It still took a long time to recover his stamina and return to peak condition.

He brought a hand to his forehead and wiped away the beads of sweat forming there.

Shortly afterward, he walked toward Charlotte, who remained beside Clementine as she rapidly recovered.

"Well, they pushed me to my limit, I suppose."

At his words, Charlotte looked at him and said,

"But even one against four doesn’t seem to be enough. Maybe... one against six."

Adel let out a light laugh as he nodded.

"Yes, you’re right. I think I can only handle six."

Even so, the four of them could have defeated him if Adel did not possess the Nine Heavens Senses Trait.

On top of that, he had a considerable advantage, as his stamina had increased drastically, and he had mastered a sword art that was extremely difficult to counter or block.

’The First Form is really something.’

The ability to attack and instantly teleport every strike to any part of the enemy’s body using the power of space.

It was an almost unavoidable way of landing most attacks.

"But how are you so strong? I remember you weren’t this strong in the Memory Gate."

"Ah, that. Well, I never actually showed my full strength."

Adel had mostly used his Growing Flower Trait in the Fallen Maiden’s Memory Gate.

So it could be said that he had never fully displayed his swordsmanship.

"You’re joking, right?"

Charlotte sat down on the ground beside Clementine in disbelief, her breathing ragged.

"Uh, no, I’m not."

However, if he had used Growing Flower, he could have ended the fight fairly quickly.

Of course, that would have drained all of his mana, and considering Lumina had not appeared yet,

he did not want to risk running out of mana during the next thirty minutes.

"But you didn’t show everything either, did you?"

A faint smile appeared on his face. He knew Charlotte had not given it her all.

This was because Director Bernice had advised her not to use her sword art in public due to certain matters related to her family.

So she had been training in secret ever since. Adel knew this because he had used his senses to gather information about her.

"Well, that’s true, so we’re even. Now you can finish everything. I already want to get out of the Illusion."

Three of them were unconscious, and only Charlotte was still holding on; it was probably thanks to her willpower.

Considering that she could use her Will quite easily.

Adel nodded and swung his sword.

Slash!

Charlotte’s head flew into the air, and shortly afterward, Adel pierced Clementine’s heart.

Clementine trembled for a second before her body disappeared.

He did the same to Julian and Leon, and shortly afterward, the bodies of all four had dissolved into shining particles.

"Ah..."

Adel let out a long sigh.

"Older Brother, you’re already done."

Not far away, Veronica and Rinna appeared.

Both girls looked quite exhausted, and after using Mana Sense, Adel noticed that neither of them had much mana left, although they were recovering fairly quickly.

"Yes, it’s all over, and I assume it’s the same on your side."

Rinna nodded.

"Yes, we already finished over there. Ah, and the staff you gave me turned out to be quite powerful."

"You’re welcome. For now, recover your mana."

He also needed to recover his mana, as well as his stamina.

It should only take about ten minutes, so he sat down and focused on gathering mana within his body.

Minutes passed, and before long, he let out a long sigh. Then he rose from the ground.

’They still haven’t recovered.’

Rinna and Veronica were still concentrating on gathering mana.

A short while later, Adel stretched his body and clenched his fist.

’I didn’t suffer any injuries, but it’s still quite difficult, in its own way, to fight against four of the main characters.’

Each of them was strong in their own way, and naturally, their talents were exceptionally high.

It was no coincidence that some people at the Academy claimed that this year was the Golden Era of the greatest talents seen in centuries.

’Now that I think about it, I should give them some elixirs, but how do I do that?’

He had promised to steal the Mythic-Quality Elixirs and the only Divine-Quality Elixir that existed in that shop in Black City.

Naturally, while escaping from Black City, he had stopped by the shop and taken every elixir he could find.

His Inventory contained dozens of elixirs; he intended to give them to the main characters.

’Normally, anyone would keep them for themselves, but I’m Adel, and my talent is no joke.’

And above all, he would eventually find Mythic-Quality Elixirs and even Divine-Quality Elixirs, and of course,

’The recipe for the Supreme-Quality Elixir that increases mana and other attributes.’

Although he was still far from being able to create that Elixir.

In any case, the difficult part for the moment was figuring out how to give the Elixirs in his possession to all of the main characters.

’Well, I’ll figure it out somehow. As for Clana, I already have a way to give it to her without her thinking it was me...’

And just as he was lost in thought,

Crack!

He heard footsteps, and something stepped on a small branch. Adel turned her head and then...

’Lumina...’

In the distance, Lumina looked at Adel.