The Martial Unity

Chapter 3234: Unveiling Heart

With the SOUL Model, Rui became almost unstoppable among the lower-ranked elven warriors, able to predict their movements with great accuracy and precision. He weaved through the myriad of attacks that converged on him spectacularly as each and every single attack whizzed past him.

He surged forth, launching a variety of attacks on the elves, meant to knock them out in a single blow.

And yet, despite the fact that the elves couldn’t keep up with his attacks with their own reactions, the vegetation they commanded came to their defense nonetheless.

BAM BAM BAM!

Layers of wood aggressively expanded to shield the elves from his blows in the blink of an eye, despite his high speed.

It couldn’t stop him despite that.

CRACK CRACK CRACK!

BOOM!

A heavy Flowing Cannon blasted through the shields as the weakened attack struck the elves with considerable force.

”Argh!”

”Rgh!”

”Help!”

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

Rui infiltrated their ranks, knocking out elf after elf as he penetrated deeper and deeper into the Forest of War, studying the elves with a curious consideration.

He had figured out the manner in which they controlled the flora they manipulated, but he had yet to figure out exactly how they manipulated the vegetation to protect themselves, despite the fact that they themselves could not react to him.

From the little time in combat that he had spent interacting with them, he could tell that elves weren’t fast.

They were slow.

They compensated for their lack of speed with greater volume, but that still didn’t explain how they were able to react to his speed despite possessing a reaction time that was hardly above that of human territory.

Each time he charged towards them, they were practically frozen in slow motion in his eyes, and yet, their vegetation always defended them in a timely manner.

This was not possible with their cognition alone.

His fist charged towards the jaw of an elf at blindingly high speeds.

And yet—

RUMBLE!

Roots shot up from the ground, intercepting his attack with great force to protect the dark elf in a great collision.

BOOM!

The wood exploded, even if it did succeed in halting his attack.

”Woah!” the dark elf jumped away from him with a delayed reaction after the exchange was over.

”Hmm...” Rui pondered even as he evaded attacks from other dark elves. ”Have you guys pre-programmed the vegetation to react in your favor whenever you’re in trouble...?”

That didn’t seem to be the case, for the dark elves were likely still able to function outside of the genetically modified flora of the Genora Continent.

”But then, how—Ah...” his eyes lit up with understanding. ”I see. You’re borrowing the cognition of the flora network, aren’t you?”

The dark elf froze where she stood, before gritting her teeth. ”Attack!”

A myriad of branch attacks converged on him, threatening to impale him then and there.

”Seems like I was right.” Rui crouched before leaping into the air.

WHOOSH!

He pirouetted through the air as he avoided each and every single one of them, gazing down at the dark elves who had joined to take him down.

”They compensate for the absence of their processing speed with the processing speed and reaction speed of the flora around them,” Rui realized. ”That is the only explanation that is consistent with the proposition that they would be able to utilize this ability off the continent.”

Given that they had encountered elves in other polities that had invaded the Panama Continent who retained all their flora manipulation abilities, it seemed like that was the only case.

It also explained how they were able to react to his attacks, with a powerful flora network, they could harness its cognition to keep up with him to an extent that far surpassed their own innate abilities. It was likely the case that their coordination with flora reached a level that they could get it to act on their behalf, even if they couldn’t act themselves in a particular situation.

”That’s a nifty ability,” Rui realized. ”It means that despite being as slow as a human, they can potentially keep up with even the fastest of Martial Artists.”

An even greater number of dark elves converged around him as they elevated to reach his level. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of elves arrived from deeper parts of the Forest of War in alarm, convinced they were dealing with an outsider assault.

”ATTACK!”

RUMBLE!!!

The world shook as an ocean of flora was mobilized.

A small jungle’s worth of trees and plants surged forth as it converged on him with great power and speed, covering the entirety of the world around him. The wood fused and grew denser and stronger as it continuously surrounded him, threatening to crush him with its overwhelming power and weight.

And yet, he simply closed his eyes.

BADUMP!

The dark elves widened their eyes as they heard his heartbeat.

BADUMP!

A heartbeat so loud that it was nothing short of a giant war drum.

BADUMP!

His body began to shine as bright red streaks emerged from his heart, spreading across his entire body as all his blood vessels began shining with great brightness, energized with great power.

His pitch-black eyes opened as his fists balled with a surge of great power, before swinging into the titanic jungle that threatened to crush him where he stood.

BOOOM!!!

A tremendous collision of titanic power ravaged the entire jungle prison, shattering it to smithereens and sawdust as branches and leaves exploded away from him.

The dark elves widened their eyes at the sheer power that he displayed.

”... Where is all this physical power coming from?” one dark elf asked with a stunned tone. ”He is not a giant, but he’s able to use Giantheart. He doesn’t have any technology integrated into his body or around him to enhance his strength, and yet he is able to summon great power with sheer physicality alone, despite not being as large as giants!”