Chapter 568: Thunder Ray's Level, He Understands
Everything in the sky had not yet settled.
A simple hexagonal stone pillar hurtled toward Thunder Ray, trailing several waves of air rings.
Zap! Zap!
Blue lightning surged and danced in Thunder Ray's eyes.
To him, the world seemed to freeze.
Only the stone pillar continued its descent.
"Thunder Level." he invoked.
As Thunder Ray grew stronger, his once-ordinary electric ray discharge ability had evolved under magic power's stimulation.
Though not overwhelmingly powerful, it allowed him to combine lightning and magic into moves that far exceeded his usual reaction speed.
The strain on his brain was significant, but the results were worth it.
The difference between reacting and failing to react was vast.
With enough time to think, he could devise the best strategy.
'Cut it off.' Thunder Ray thought instinctively, eyeing the falling pillar.
But upon closer inspection, under the firelight of the pillar rubbing against the air, he noticed something unusual.
This was no ordinary stone pillar.
Having just used Kowloon Shine and being in a rush, he might not be able to shatter it completely.
With its small surface area, immense mass, and speed, a direct collision risked serious injury.
Dodging would send shockwaves toward his companions.
After a moment's thought, Thunder Ray made his decision.
Bang bang bang!
As the stone pillar plummeted, Thunder Ray activated his Thunder Level, driving his body into motion.
"Kowloon Shine." he declared.
The move was the same, but this time, a faint, almost imperceptible darkness tinged the golden light.
A wisp of black dragon-shaped golden light merged, forming a pillar of light that pierced the sky.
It engulfed the ultra-dense stone pillar, vaporizing it without a trace.
"Ugh!" Thunder Ray grunted.
After the move, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
Black lines on his body began emitting dark gas uncontrollably.
Hiss!
He quickly pulled two Holy Light Potions from his belt and drank them.
As the potions took effect, the black lines, once oozing dark gas, gradually returned to normal.
"That Thunder Ray guy is overloading his magic power!" Tesoro exclaimed from a passage.
His eyes widened in surprise as he watched the dissipating beam of light in the sky.
The darkness in the beam hadn't escaped his notice.
'What kind of situation forced him to do that?' he wondered.
The sky-high sandstorm obscured Tesoro's view of the arena.
Yet, these were merely three B-level dolls for the initial test.
To push Thunder Ray to such extremes was alarming.
This made Tesoro cautious.
Magic power was highly taxing on the body, even under normal use.
Overloading it unleashed far greater force but at a steep cost, lifespan drastically reduced, and the risk of turning into a monster loomed.
Holy Light Potions mitigated the damage, but the loss was still significant.
For an A-level magic pattern user to resort to this in a preliminary test was a major setback.
'I need to be more careful,' Tesoro thought.
He had assumed the guilds passing the test made it straightforward.
Now, he realized caution was necessary to avoid an upset.
While Tesoro was shocked, Posadong was equally stunned.
He understood the magic pattern users' situation to some extent.
He hadn't expected Thunder Ray to push himself so far.
The circumstances shouldn't have warranted such a move.
Pat pat pat!
Sand, gravel, and fishmen fell to the ground like raindrops.
The fishmen, floating only about a hundred meters high in the gravity-free field, faced no real danger at that height as Eve's elites.
As the sky cleared, they rushed to Thunder Ray with excited faces.
No trace of the earth and stone dolls remained.
Their president was truly reliable!
To them, Thunder Ray's swift victory brought a sense of security.
"You win." Posadong said, approaching Thunder Ray.
"What a splendid fight!" he added, giving a thumbs-up to declare victory.
The five-minute mark hadn't been reached, but the dolls' holy power was exhausted with Posadong's final strike.
He greatly admired Thunder Ray's performance.
Though puzzled by the final blow, seeing the cheering fishmen around Thunder Ray, he seemed to grasp something.
"Oh, oh, oh! Eve has completed the battle swiftly." Morgans announced.
"They're truly worthy of the Anti-Demon Agency, and Golden Sparkle lives up to his name." he praised.
"Let's congratulate them." he urged.
The crowd, initially silent, erupted into loud cheers.
Though they weren't particularly warm toward fishmen, the Anti-Demon Agency was a human-founded official organization.
A fishman displaying such strength deserved a few cheers.
It was applause for the strong.
"President, look! Humans are cheering for us!" a fishman said, smiling happily.
"Are we one step closer?" another asked.
Seeing his joyful companions, Thunder Ray showed a gentle smile.
At a corner edge of the stands, a tall figure in a cyan cloak stared intently at Thunder Ray in the arena.
"A naive guy. Can someone like that earn such recognition?" he muttered.
Beside him, another figure in a blue cloak tightened his hood and patted the first figure's back several times.
A voice with a smile came from under the hood and said, "Arlong, are you jealous of him?"
"Hmph! Don't pat me. I don't recall us being that close." the blue-faced figure under the hood retorted, rejecting his companion's gesture.
"I'm not jealous of that naive guy." he added.
"Hahaha, is that so? But I remember you care deeply for fishmen." the companion teased.
"What's wrong with that?" Arlong shot back.
"Hmph!" he huffed, crossing his arms and falling silent.
"Alright, Vista, stop teasing Arlong." another figure nearby said, raising his head slightly to reveal a vague golden punk hairstyle.
The corners of his half-covered mouth curved upward.
"Now, let's plan our next move." he suggested.
"At this rate, today's knockout round selection might end soon." he noted.
"I wonder what the next stage will be." he mused.
(End of this chapter)