Battle The number of territories that Leonel had had already soared over 400 and the gap between him and others seemed to only be growing. These days, when he came across others, it would be lucky if they had 20 territories to their name, let alone hundreds like he did.
But there was an unfortunate drawback to having so much more territory than anyone else, and that was that he was often forced into battles before he had time to rest or even choose his own targets. With the size of his territory, he was connected across far too many locations. Even if one wasn't targeting him on purpose, accidentally strolling into his region was far too easy. If it wasn't for the fact that a territory couldn't be targeted by more than one person at once, he would have definitely suffered greatly by now.
Leonel was about to take a step out of his territory when the forcefield solidified. He shook his head and knew that someone else had stepped forward to challenge him.
With a sign, he turned and burst toward a particular direction, wanting to deal with this person as quickly as possible.
Enul, the Nomad Race young man with two arms and six hands, walked around with a hint of frown on his face. He felt that something was off about his surroundings but he couldn't quite understand what it was. It was like the territories were being suffocated by something, but it wasn't immediately obvious what it was.
His first assumption was that it was Edrym.
Usually, the tribulation would do certain things to force battle and force the geniuses to face off against one another. For example, the fact that you couldn't absorb the strength of a defeated enemy was a conscious choice rather than a bug. This was to force the geniuses to battle as much as possible, as often as possible, or else you'd lag far behind your peers by the time you came across one of them, and even if by some miracle, you managed to defeat them, that strength would vanish forever.
This wasn't the only thing in this vein either. Sometimes treasure territories where there would be the reward of a spear or armor or technique at the end would appear in between two territories to incentivize battle. Or, sometimes a powerful beast territory would appear, and by claiming it, one could spawn new beasts ahead of time without having to cross into a new Grade.
However, the occurrences of such things were suspiciously low during this round, almost as though the tribulation was content with the level of activity... but why was it that Enul felt that this was all nonsense? He had hardly run into any challenge at all, and he had only run into a single treasure territory whereas by now he should have run into at least three.
Enul shook his head.
At the same time, several other geniuses were feeling the same exact way. Among them, there was Pririna of the Dwarven Race, or more specifically, since she was a woman, she was a Pixie.
Just like the members of the other races, she had her own advantages. Namely, thanks to her wings, she was able to get a landscape of the surroundings that everyone else couldn't and she could find her targets far quicker than most. As such, much like Leonel, she cleared Zone much faster than most others and by now, she had already crossed the Silver Grade.
As a genius of the Dwarven Race, she had felt the same problem Enul had. Compared to the descriptions of her family's record, this was much different than what she had expected, too different. Something felt off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Suddenly, her gaze sharpened and her gaze landed on a figure shuttling through the forest below with great speed. Her wings fluttered once and she rose higher into the air, choosing caution first. Although she was an absolute genius of her race, her first instinct was still caution. The Dwarven Race was one of the weaker races right there with humans, they just used their ingenuity to make up for it. Long before she was a genius, she was a Pixie.
However, despite her caution, the young man below snapped his gaze upward, seeing her instantly.
'His gaze is that sharp? How is that possible? Is he a special demon race?"
Pririna was caught off guard. She thought she was high enough and far enough away to not be spotted instantly.
Down below, Leonel's gaze narrowed. He had defeated several Dwarven Race members by now, but none of them could fly that high.
Flight wasn't a simple thing, especially in a world of Force like this one. Even if you had wings, there were limitations. Even in a Third Dimensional world, a bird could soar into the skies indefinitely. The fact that this woman could fly so high definitely meant that she was a genius.
'That should mean she has a lot of territories...
Leonel's gaze flashed and he suddenly tilted his lance spear upward.
Knight's charge.
Under Pririna's astonished gaze, Leonel suddenly drew a line through the skies, "charging" straight through the air and appearing level with her in the blink of an eye.
Leonel thrust his lance spear out, a vicious momentum being carried behind its devastating weight.
Although she was caught off guard, Pririna still reacted quickly, flapping her wings just once and angling her body to the side. At the same time, she pierced out with her own spear, aiming for the side of Leonel's in a parrying action.
She had seen through Leonel's weakness in an instant. Jumping into the skies like this made him a sitting duck, she only had to dodge once and then he would become nothing more than her plaything.
However, to Pririna's astonishment, Leonel only muttered under his breath once and a barrier radiated out from him, rippling out and slowing her spear by half. But what was maybe even more shocking was that her movement in the air also slowed a measure.
A parry required precise timing. With it thrown off like this, she missed, her spear hitting nothing but air.
Leonel used the lingering momentum of Knight's Charge to glide by Pririna and enter the air space just above her.
With a pivot of his hips and a swing of his spear, just as his upward momentum came to an end, he viciously attacked her back, swinging with all his might.
BANG!
Pririna froze for a moment as though the time frame of the blade connecting with her was extended into infinity. Instantly she knew that one of her wings had been crippled.
BOOM!
The sound barrier shattered as she sped toward the ground like a streaking bullet.
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