Chapter 166 Surge
As soon as Atticus came to that realization, his figure suddenly blurred as he sidestepped, evading a dangerous sword slash that suddenly appeared behind him.
Atticus's gaze immediately landed on the figure of a boy whose hair color was constantly changing rapidly, with two blades, one in each hand.
Atticus retaliated swiftly. He focused on the earth element, and an earthen spike erupted from below the figure of the boy. But instead of the expected brutal impaling, just as the sharp earthen spike touched him, his form suddenly exploded in a burst of smoke.
The scenery suddenly changed, reverting back to its normal state.
Atticus turned his gaze to see the bodies of over 40 beasts sprawled across the forest floor.
The reason why he hadn't met any beasts since was now obvious.
'The Nebulon family,' Atticus swiftly deduced.
It was obvious, honestly, as it was only them that could use such powerful illusions.
'They're dangerous,'
Although it was embarrassing to admit, Atticus had almost completely fallen for this trap. The illusions felt completely lifelike. Despite the fact that Atticus was of a higher rank than the boy, he had still managed to fool almost all his senses—his nose, eyes, and ears.
If not for the intense training Atticus had undergone with his perception and learning how to feel, he might have fallen for the trap.
'So these are the other tier one family bloodlines,'
During the years, Atticus had tried to battle different data of robots with different bloodlines in the advanced training room. Unfortunately, they had no data on the bloodlines of the other tier one families in the human domain, including the Nebulon family's bloodline.
This was the first time Atticus was facing a new, powerful, and unique bloodline.
Atticus turned his neutral gaze around, looking around him in the forest.
"But it doesn't matter anymore. You caught me off guard before, but now I know your bloodline's weakness,"
Atticus said, suddenly turning his head to his right, looking at an empty spot beside a tree.
For a second, nothing seemed to be at the spot Atticus was gazing at, but suddenly the air distorted around that spot, showing the form of a boy.
The boy's expression showed a slight shock, wondering how Atticus had been able to find him so easily.
"How did you know where I was?" The boy, Isaac, suddenly asked, curiosity coloring his iridescent eyes.
He was well aware of how powerful his illusions were. Isaac was from the main line in the Nebulon family. And in the family, how potent your bloodline was completely dependent on how close your family line was to the main family.
Isaac was completely confident that none in the Advanced rank would be able to get out of them.
Atticus responded vaguely, gazing at the boy with neutral eyes. "The mana."
"The mana? What do you mean?" Isaac inquired, tilting his head to the side slightly.
But Atticus didn't offer any answers; they were here to fight, not talk like long-lost friends.
With blinding speed, Atticus stimulated his air bloodline with mana and vanished from Isaac's view.
Isaac's eyes widened, and before he could react, a brutal kick landed on the side of his face, sending him hurtling through the air.
Just as Atticus was about to follow up with another attack, the boy's form suddenly disappeared, bursting into smoke. Almost instantaneously, multiple clones of the boy started materializing around Atticus from all sides.
They all looked like perfect copies of Isaac, each wielding dual blades, one in each hand.
Atticus gazed at the figures, his eyes cold.
What Atticus had meant when he said, "The mana," was simply that he could accurately determine Isaac's position by feeling the mana in the area.
Each individual emitted a unique mana signature, even beasts. Atticus was adept at determining what was real and what was fake.
During these five years, Atticus's control over his sense of feeling had grown remarkably. Before, he could only feel the mana around a 10-meter radius from him.
But after his intense training, Atticus could now sense everything and everyone in a staggering 50-meter radius if he focused.
This meant that with a slight focus and a simple release of a mana pulse, Atticus could determine the boy's exact location. However, he decided not to take that approach.
Accurately identifying the boy's position wouldn't even take Atticus a second, but he didn't want such a simple victory. Apart from the fact that doing so might reveal a lot to the spectators, the illusions were so strong that the only way he could accurately identify the boy's position was if Atticus had awakened his perception and trained it for so long that he could use 'feel.'
Atticus could guess who this boy was. His intelligence was so high that it was practically impossible for him to forget something he had seen once. He had seen this youth back at the expanse. He remembered that he was given a certain amount of respect by his peers, which could only mean one thing—he was an important member of the Nebulon family, likely from the main line.
Magnus's instructions were simple: make the Ravensteins the number one.
What better way was there for him to display the Ravensteins' dominance than overwhelming defeat a youth from the main line of another tier one family?
Each of the clones started closing in on him, their features completely identical, each of their hair colors rapidly changing every few seconds, their iridescent eyes focused completely on Atticus.
Relying on just normal senses, one would never be able to tell the difference between each of them, but Atticus didn't need to tell the difference.
Atticus suddenly raised his right leg, and with a swift and deliberate motion that triggered a chain reaction, he brought it down.
The earth ground immediately responded like concentric waves on a pond, quivering and transforming into a seismic surge that radiated across the entire area.
A sweeping force that extended its influence, reshaping the entire terrain in a hundred meter radius engulfing the whole area.
The illusion immediately shattered, and Isaac's form suddenly appeared in the air, attempting to jump over the surge.
With just a single thought—an earth spike jutted from the earth, its sharp end inches away from impaling Isaac's form.
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