Path to Transcendence

Chapter 475: Interfering

Julius didn’t come across anything interesting for the first hour or so. He spotted a few monsters along the way, but they were weaker Tier 3s and not worth the effort to fight. They didn’t seem particularly interested in him either; a couple of them spotted him, but decided not to pursue him.

From his initial examination, this secret realm was pretty much a rift. At least that was what he had seen so far. He suspected that there were many more secrets hidden the deeper and longer he stayed here.

He was still taking his time walking through the plains when his aura senses got pinged far off in the distance. It was like an explosion of someone’s or something’s aura. It was loud enough that he was able to pinpoint the approximate location, and since it was toward the direction of the pillar of light, he didn’t see a reason not to head toward it.

He didn’t know if it was another competitor or if it was a more powerful monster, but he activated his [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin] just a little bit and dashed off with a grin on his face.

***

He wasn’t the only person to have noticed the blast of aura. Two other people were already there, watching as a young man with red hair fought a feline-like monster. It used some kind of wind magic and was exceptionally fast for a Tier 3 monster. The young redhead was doing just fine; he had one shallow slash across his shoulder, but other than that, he was perfectly fine.

The other two people who had arrived were standing to the side. However, Julius could tell right away that the redhead was very wary of their presence. He had several opportunities to finish off the monster, but held off. Julius suspected it was because he was worried that someone might take that opening to attack him.

The feline monster, on the other hand, was focused on killing the redhead. It used its impressive speed to dash around the plain, always trying to attack the redhead from behind. The redhead used liberal blasts of fire mana to augment his body, smacking the monster to the side, always careful about its claws and fangs.

Julius hadn’t shown himself so far; instead, he took the time to investigate the surroundings. He wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t the only one who had arrived but had hidden himself. He completely shrouded his aura and mana before stalking around the tall grass.

He was glad that he did, because he eventually came across a hidden person. Their stealth was excellent, and it was only thanks to [Absolute Spatial Perception] that he was able to detect them. Their aura and mana were similarly hidden, but Julius spotted them hiding behind a small group of trees just off in the distance. They seemed to be wielding a bow, with an arrow already on the string.

Upon closer inspection, he suspected this person was a woman. Their frame was relatively small and lithe.

Unfortunately, he didn’t think he had hidden his presence from this archer. She must have had a pretty good perception skill of her own because her eyes lingered on his hidden location for some time, and angled herself so she had him in her line of sight as well as the fighting redhead.

He didn’t get a feeling that she was aggressive towards him. Instead, it was more than she was being cautious. So while he kept an eye on her, he looked back at the fight. The feline monster was clearly getting tired from running all around, but the redhead stayed patient. He still kept a close eye on the other two people nearby.

Julius was curious about why all these people were gathered, and so he did a little more investigating. He recalled that they were all supposed to find five tokens to meet the requirements to undergo the trial, but he wasn’t sure if this was a guardian or something else.

While the monster was strong, he didn’t know if this monster would be something he considered to be a proper guardian for something valuable, such as a token. It was around the same strength as the five-point monsters in the first stage.

Eventually, the monster made a big mistake, one that the delaying redhead couldn’t ignore, and he appropriately punished the monster. He grabbed the tail of the tired beast and sent another burst of fire mana through his hands. The monster cried in pain as the fire burned its pelt, and with a deep grunt, the redhead slammed the monster into the ground.

Then he slammed his heel in the monster’s face, blasting it with even more fire mana. The monster sent out razor-sharp gusts of wind, cutting the clothes of the redhead, but it was futile. With one more stomp, the monster’s head got caved in.

It was at this moment that the other competitors made their move. They were already swarming the redhead, the two of them seemingly coming to an alliance of some sort. One was slashing at the redheadʼs throat with a bastard sword, holding his shield up in front of him, while the other was positioned to stab him from behind.

Julius thought about it for a brief moment, and he sighed as he came to a decision. He wove together two small spikes and, with a flick of his wrist, sent them shooting toward these two people. Since he had already shown some of his true strength, he wasn’t that concerned with hiding how fast he could control them.

To their credit, they reacted decently well. The one with the shield turned back slightly, likely sensing some danger. He was somewhat too slow and was only able to nudge the spike off course. It still ripped a hole in his shoulder.

The other assailant had seen the spike earlier and leaned out of the way. However, Julius, seeing that it was going to miss, exploded the spike mid-air. The explosion knocked the guy backwards and burned his face.

With their attack on the redhead stalled, they regrouped and glared at Julius, who had revealed his position.

“What was that for?” The one without the shield called out angrily. He had golden blonde hair, tied back in a bun.

The one with the shield was holding his shoulder as he chugged a healing potion. His wound on his shoulder slowly healed over. However, he looked equally angry.

Julius shrugged. “I don’t know why you are upset,” he said and pointed at the redhead. “After all, you two were waiting to ambush him when he finished off the monster. It’s a little hypocritical, don’t you think?”

They didn’t have any words to argue against his point. Honestly, Julius didn’t know why he intervened. It would have been easier if he had just let them do their thing, but something about their tactics and general attitude irritated Julius for some reason.

“Do you even know who I am?” The blonde one asked with a scowl.

Julius rolled his eyes. “No, and I don’t particularly care either. If you two still want to attack him, go right ahead. I didn’t like that you decided to attack him while he was dealing with that monster. I don’t like cowards,” he said, knowing that his words were a bit harsh. He didn’t really care too much that they decided to ambush the redhead, but he had his own plans.

“It is strategic, not cowardly,” the one with the shield argued, looking very offended by Julius’s insult.

Julius waved at them. “Sure, sure. You guys go ahead, I am done interfering,” he said and started to walk away. He had already sensed something interesting off in the distance, where a group of trees and a body of water were.

He wished he could say that he was shocked or even offended that the blonde decided to attack him. However, he somewhat deserved it. He had just attacked them and called them cowards, despite his similarly ambushing them.

Julius leaned to the side as the longsword of the blonde tore at his head. He could feel a dangerously sharp skill wrapped around the blade’s edge. He continued to evade each slash and thrust, the blonde showing impressive form and skill despite his aggressive actions.

It didn’t matter, though. Julius had purposefully allowed him to get close and had already prepared a surprise in the form of a small spike hidden in his palm. He let the blonde continue to attack him, barely allowing the sword to slice past him. Then, when he saw an opening, he made his move. He created a barrier of mana to deflect the sword just enough to impact the trajectory. The sudden appearance of a barrier caught the blonde off guard, and his sword ricocheted off it. Then Julius opened his palm and stepped in close.

He didn’t bother to use kinetic energy to increase his speed. There was no need. Simple mana and aura reinforcement were enough. The blonde reacted well and was already swinging another backhanded strike, but Julius let the blade pass underneath his chin. He felt the razor-edge brush against his skin. Then, before the blonde could retreat, Julius stepped forward and slammed the spike into his chest.

The blonde had some kind of defensive skill active, but it wasn’t enough to protect him from a point-blank aura-woven spike. The spike shattered the defensive skill and pierced the blonde’s chest like wet paper.

The other boy released a gasp as he was knocked off his feet, and he scrambled to hold his hands to the gaping hole in his chest. There wasn’t too much blood, though; the sheer heat had cauterized the wound quite well, but it was still a gnarly sight. Julius could spot the guy’s ribs poking out through the large hole.

Julius didn’t bother to finish him off. He would let the other three people who were in the area make that decision for him. Instead, he continued on his way to the small lake he sensed off in the distance.

While the feline monster had been relatively strong, Julius felt a much more intriguing signature hiding near or even below the water’s surface. If there was a token nearby, he suspected that this was where it could be hidden.

As for the other people, they didn’t bother to attack him. They let him walk away without making any moves to stop him.

***

Gustin POV

He watched as the black haired boy casually strolled away. He had handled Keran with astounding ease, especially for a mage. Keran had even crossed the distance and created a lot of pressure. Yet, it wasn’t enough. The other boy danced around each strike as if he could predict the future.

Keran was strong. Gustin had come across the other noble scion a couple of times in recent years. It was why they had teamed up to deal with Aleski. The red-haired boy had quite a dangerous reputation and was a brilliant fighter. Neither Gustin nor Keran believed they could beat Aleski in a one-on-one duel.

Yet, their best chance had been thwarted by the annoyingly arrogant boy. Now Keran was definitely out of the fight and likely out of the tournament. Gustin turned to look at Aleski, with an awkward look on his face now that he was all alone.

“Haha, I think there has been a misunderstanding or something,” Gustin tried to explain with a nervous laugh.

However, Aleski wasn’t having any of it and was already charging Gustin with fire mana shrouded over his fists. Gustin didn’t even blame him and hefted his shield up, prepared for the incoming fight.