"What kind of countermeasure did he use?"
The old man was silent for a moment, and after tapping on the armrest of his chair, he finally spoke up, 'I can think of a few ways I could go about somewhat solving this ability if I were in the student's place. But it would require certain specific abilities to accomplish this."
Holding out one finger, he then said, "The first method is through earth laws. If one has developed a sensory type ability, then dealing with Brynhild wouldn't be as difficult. She can run around all she wants, but with all her movements being felt by the earth cultivator, her surprise attacks wouldn't work."
Ernst listened intently to his grandfather's words.
The second method is space. This is actually more effective than earth laws. Space cultivators are naturally sensitive to spatial fluctuations. Though the range can be a problem, a good spatial sensory ability can be developed to solve this issue."
Ernst nodded, finding his grandfather's words to be quite informative.
Just like many others, he felt that sensory abilities weren't that important.
Most always try to find ways to increase their attack power, defense, and mobility, and tend to neglect the other hidden aspects of their laws.
Jarek also happened to be one of these people up until he saw Brynhild and Ember's match and realized he had been ignoring a certain aspect of his laws.
"We can rule out both earth and space, as Jarek doesn't cultivate those laws. The only elements that come to my mind are fire and wind.
Let's start with wind. Just like with space, a wind cultivator can sense any changes in the wind at a certain range. But with Brynhild's releasing all that smoke, I doubt it would be effective here. So we are left with fire."
"Ernst, now having known all of this, what method do you think Jarek used to break Brynhild's ability?"
Ernst put on a thoughtful expression as he tried to find the answer to this question.
'A fire-related sensory type ability...'
The Deputy Head then smiled at the deeply pondering Ernst and gave a hint, "Brynhild's ability might appear to be unsolvable when you look at it at face value, but it has a huge flaw."
Ernst was surprised, and he waited patiently for his grandfather to continue.
"While it can be used to limit the opponent's vision, it also works both ways. Even Brynhild should also be affected by it. But she isn't. Why do you think so?"
Ernst grasped the hint his grandfather was giving him. "Because she has developed a sensory type ability to overcome this problem."
The old man acknowledged this with a nod. "Indeed, that would be the case. In her case, I believe it to be a wind element sensory type ability. She is probably using the smoke created as a means to sense her surroundings. It was, after all, produced by her."
With his hand on his chin, stroking his beard, he then added, "As for Jarek, his solution to this problem is even more splendid. It is an ability that allows him to sense any form of heat in the surroundings. You can call it Heat Vision if you will.
This ability doesn't only allow him to see the incoming flaming arrows while surrounded by smoke, but it also allows him to see the heat coming from the opponent's body, making Brynhild's tactic useless."
As he heard this, he couldn't help but feel a great deal of admiration towards Jarek, and with it came a sigh as he thought of the vast disparity that existed between them.
But then, the old man's face turned solemn.
"I am only able to see through this because of the centuries of experience I have under my belt. But that kid... no, that monster, on the same day he saw Brynhild's ability, he analyzed it and developed a countermeasure that demonstrated he understood the intricacies of her ability on a level even she couldn't, despite it being her ability.
That level of understanding... His mind might just be the most terrifying weapon in his possession. Not even half a year has gone by, and he can already think like an experienced cultivator."
Ernst nodded his head with a grave expression, his admiration now bordering on the line of becoming fear.
If such a person were an enemy, he would die without knowing how he died.
"And also that last attack... it was too quick. Could it be...?" His voice was barely a whisper, but it still carried his doubts.
But he soon shook his head in denial. 'Maybe I am just overthinking things.'
Little did he know that his eyes didn't really deceive him.
In the moment when Brynhild was immobilized by his Shadow Bind, Jarek had indeed used a familiar ability to increase the speed of his movements.
It was a time-related ability which he named as Flow Acceleration.
'Time is the flow of events.' With this understanding, he developed an ability that fastens this flow.
It was quite similar to Velkrith's ability in that they achieved the same effect, but in principle, they were fundamentally different.
Jarek's ability works to fasten the flow of time, while Velkrith's works to shorten it.
If an attack were to taken 3 seconds to travel from distance A to B, then it would only take 1 second to do so.
Anyway, the reason why no one was able to catch on to Jarek's use of this ability was that he used it in the shortest time he could, for barely half a second.
That's why even with the Deputy Head's keen eyes, he was not able to notice anything strange.
The timing was just too perfect.
If he had noticed anything, he would have been even more fearful of Jarek than he already was, and his wariness would have increased drastically, which would, without a doubt, negatively impact Jarek.
But fortunately for Jarek, that wasn't the case, and the Deputy Academy Head would look back at this moment in the future with strong emotions, mostly regret.
Thrain, who was covered with a dark cloak, also had a solemn expression.
Even he doubted he could escape from Brynhild's ability as easily as Jarek did with no prior information about it.
And Jarek was dealing with it, despite being the one with the lesser prowess, and yet he was able to win.
He himself had fought many experts more powerful than him, and yet they all fell at his feet in the end.
And he had his previous family to thank for all his current accomplishments, even if these accomplishments didn't hold a candle to the Bloodfang's legacy.
Unlike others who focused on improving their cultivation, Thrain's talent had reached its limits long ago.
In fact, it was a miracle he had become a Grandmaster.
His main focus in cultivation, ever since he reached his limit, has always been on his laws, more specifically, the blood, shadow, and darkness laws.
With the Bloodfangs' knowledge of blood laws, he had developed a powerful ability that could allow him to contend with those at a higher level than him.
Otherwise, how else could he have become Belmora town's mayor?
Naturally, with all that Jarek had shown here yesterday, if he went all out, Jarek's death was inevitable.
But now, he was forced to reassess this pretty boy.
He was indeed a threat, not a potential one, but someone who already is.
And one he could not hope to avoid.
They needed to get rid of him now.
If they didn't act now, in the future, their deaths won't be a possibility, but a certainty.
Even if he tried to run, he knew that Jarek would chase him to the ends of the world.
Even if it took decades, Jarek would still find him, and by then, he would be crushed as easily as an ant by him.
Fleeing wasn't an option.
Jürgen also felt a sense of unease in his heart as he witnessed Jarek win this match.
He was naturally able to understand how terrifying Jarek was.
'They better get rid of him as quickly as possible.'
Jürgen hoped that Thrain would succeed in their efforts to eliminate this thorn and was happy to provide Thrain with whatever he needed to do so.
Brynhild, who had just teleported inside the room a while ago, still had an unreadable expression.
It was an expression that showed her awe and disbelief at the outcome of the match.
This was the first time she felt this way in all her life.
All the confidence she had in her intelligence and capabilities now seemed incomparable to Jarek's.
"Brynhild, are you okay?" Astrid waved her hand in front of Brynhild's face.
Astrid, who saw her best friend's expression, was slightly worried about her.
She might not care much about most people, but Brynhild wasn't most people.
Brynhild sighed before replying with a wry smile, "I'm fine. He really got me good. The thought that he had already seen through my ability, and had already developed a perfect countermeasure for it in such a short amount of time, had never crossed my mind."
In fact, she was right to think so.
No one had expected Jarek to win in such a manner.
Her admiration for Jarek had now increased with this display of his talent, and yet she couldn't help but be slightly infuriated by Jarek's cunning plan and acting.
He had been playing with her all along. 'Just you wait, I'll win next time.'
Seeing her friend's fighting spirit reignited, Astrid inwardly sighed with relief.
'It seems like I was worrying myself over nothing.'