The Martial Unity

Chapter 3242: The Epicenter

”We’re holding him off!”

”As long as we get more elves, we can win!”

”Keep at it, we have infinite stamina!”

Their gazes converged on Rui as he grew embroiled in a tremendous battle of cognition.

There were a million things he could do.

He could use his Metabody System.

Or the Yggdrasil System.

Or the Hypnomatrix.

Or even Faraday’s Silence.

He could also use his Primordial Core if he truly wanted.

But given that this wasn’t a serious battle and he had run into opponents that could match his predictive power for the first time in his life, he was far too proud to pivot away from that battle.

”Good job pushing me this far.”

The elves felt chills crawling down their spines as Rui opened his eyes.

Within his eyes lingered the blood-red glow of Megamind.

RUMBLE!!!

The world shook as the Water Embodiment emerging from the depths of his being grew even more intense.

The dark elves grew paralyzed where they stood as the sheer influx of information converging into their mind redirected some of their attention to dealing with the embodiment, causing their bond with nature to falter.

Rui’s mind, on the other hand, had become a shining beacon of cognition, information, and intelligence.

It was more than enough to overcome the enhanced predictive model of the enlarging flora model, allowing him to out-predict and outmaneuver all the incoming attacks with profound precision and accuracy. If not for the physical weakness that Megamind caused, he would have been able to end the battle in a moment.

The dark elves widened their eyes with horror as Rui mowed down all the trees coming his way with powerful techniques while they were rendered helpless by his cognitive paralysis.

BOOOOOOOM!!!!!

He blasted through all the flora standing in his way as he arrived before them with a simple step, standing midair, releasing Megamind. The dark elves regained their mobility as they turned a dubious and apprehensive gaze towards him.

The two sides simply stared at each other.

They didn’t even bother trying to manipulate flora to take him down at such a close range; it was hopeless.

Meanwhile, Rui strangely didn’t feel the need to even knock them out, given how they had halted their resistance.

”Why are you doing this?” one dark elf woman asked with an unpleasant tone. ”What do you gain from declaring war against the dark elves?”

Rui smiled wryly. ”I see that your Moms hasn’t told you that they authorized it. I can understand why, given that you dark elves are pacifist in nature and likely wouldn’t bring out your full strength in a test run. I’m glad they allowed me to get a taste for the full power of the dark elves.”

The dark elves grew stunned at those words. ”...What?”

”More importantly,” Rui continued. ”Can you tell me who the strongest dark elf in this forest is? It was fun fighting with you guys, but I don’t want to fight with small fries anymore.”

The dark elves winced at those words as they glowered at him.

But their answer was unanimous.

”That would be the Genoran Guardian.”

Rui’s eyes lit up at those words.

”Tell me more.”

The dark elves exchanged knowing gazes with each other as they heaved a resigned sigh.

”She is the strongest dark elf warrior on the continent,” the dark elves explained. ”She is also the only one of us who loves fighting but decided to stay within elven civilization nonetheless.”

Rui raised an eyebrow with interest. ”What is that supposed to mean?”

”Dark elves are not monolithic,” one dark elf huffed. ”We are also diverse in personality and temperament. Not all dark elves regard nature as sacred, and not all of us are pacifists and wary of travel. There is a small portion of dark elves that decide to leave Genora and elven civilization to live with the rest of the world. She, however, despite her love for warre, has decided to stay with us. It also makes her the strongest dark elf.”

”Fascinating...” Rui murmured in thought. ”Is she stronger than the Mothers?”

They shook their head. ”The Mothers are no longer dark elves. They have become Nature itself. Among those who have a dark elf form, she is the strongest.”

Rui smiled. ”Nice. Now feel free to point me in the direction of this Genoran Guardian.”

”...She lies in the very epicenter of the Forest of War,” the dark elves remarked. ”She trains with none other than Mother Alicia herself.”

They pointed in the direction of the core of the forest, where an absolutely titanic tree of unfathomable proportions lay rooted. It was so far away that even Rui, with his enhanced vision, could barely see it. The light had been eroded with all the air between them, making it almost invisible in the distance.

”Incredible...” A smile emerged on Rui’s face. ”Thanks, ladies, you guys go get some rest. You put up a good fight. You should be proud of yourselves.”

”Do not patronize us!”

WHOOSH!

He shot forth as he left them in the dust, surging deeper and deeper into the forest as he passed by numerous elves that tried to intercept him.

WHOOSH

”Where did he go?”

”He was right here!”

”He just disappeared.”

With a combination of Phantom Step and Greater Phantomind Void, he bypassed all of them effortlessly. While he appreciated their spirit, if they couldn’t even stop him from getting past them, then they didn’t stand a chance against him in combat.

He could tell they were stronger than all the dark elves he had fought before, of course.

He was reaching the highest echelons of the dark elves, the equivalent of high-grade and peak Martial Masters who had made great progress with the Hymn and Mind and Soul, making great progress with their harmonization with nature.

WHOOSH

Soon enough, he arrived at the titanic tree as his eyes lit up with awe and amazement.

The sheer scale of the tree was so great that it could blot out the Sun for thousands of kilometers.

And yet, it didn’t.

Despite the sheer scale of the massive tree, the powerful entity manipulates light itself to ensure that the flora around it gets the sunlight it needs.

It towered over all life like a deity of nature.

’Welcome to the epicenter of the Forest of War, Prince Rui Quarrier.’

His eyes lit up as he heard the voice of Mother Alicia whisper in the depths of his mind.