SSS Awakening: I Can Class Change at will

Chapter 548: Nothing Adds Up

The pillars released two hundred shockwaves from every angle simultaneously.

Each pillar’s release was calibrated to its immediate surroundings, targeting the black-clad figures in its vicinity with precise, ripping bursts.

The shockwaves converged from every direction across the arena floor, hitting the dark organization’s elites from multiple angles, leaving them cornered.

Screams rose from every corner of the venue.

Dozens of the black-clad attackers went down instantly, their bodies flung backward, their weapons torn from their hands, blood spraying across the rubble. The ones who managed to raise defenses in time still took the brunt of the impact through their guards.

Even Baaron, mid-swing against Farid, was struck by a residual wave. He absorbed it without any damage, but the sudden attack made him lose focus for a fraction of a second.

Farid took advantage of Baaron’s momentary loss of concentration, and delivered a powerful strike across the ribs that sent Baaron meters back.

The contestants remained untouched by the shockwave.

Spotting the opportunity, Moon didn’t waste a heartbeat. Purple lightning flared to life along both his arms.

"Kael! Attack!"

Kael who stood atop his pillar nodded. The redhead didn’t hesitate. His staff was already turning bright, azure fire condensing between his palms in the same instant Moon released his first lightning bolt.

The two of them released their attacks.

Moon’s lightning screamed across the arena. The staggered attackers were exposed on every side.

The lightning bolts caught them across the chest, the head, the back. Their screams escaped their mouths, their souls being shredded by the purple streak of light dancing through their body.

Kael’s fireballs also wreaked havoc, exploding across the attackers in bright bursts of azure light that burned through their armor, cooking them alive.

The other competitors didn’t waste the opportunity either. Attacking the enemies that had just been trying to kill them moments ago.

Across the arena, mages and warriors alike began to strike from their pillars. The pillars held them safe while their spells rained outward onto the black-clad forces below.

Arrows. Fireballs. Earth spikes. Wind blades. Every element the bracket carried was being unleashed at once, and the dark organization’s elites were caught in the open with no cover and no time to regroup.

Moon kept firing his own spells.

[You have gained 2105Lives]

[You have gained 2315 Lives]

[You have gained 2225 Lives]

The notifications flooded his vision in rapid succession. Initially, he completely ignored them, his mind focused on unleashing as much damage as he could without placing himself in danger of being mana drained.

His lightning eroded the souls of those it struck, leaving them first lightly afflicted, then severely damaged, then crippled, then hollow shells...until, at last, they died. Feeding him the lives he craved.

The dark organization’s ground force, which had swept across the venue with terrifying momentum only moments ago, was now scattered, injured, and taking sustained fire from two hundred locked-in positions they couldn’t reach.

After killing more than ten of the black-clad attackers, Moon finally took a breather.

His eyes drifted to the notifications still flashing at the edge of his vision.

[You have gained 2,000 Lives]

Ace, still locked in his exchange with Alaric, glanced sideways at Moon. Seeing Moon’s expression, a glint flashed beneath his eyes. ’Does he know...’

Moon stared at the notification.

His blood ran cold.

Two thousand lives each. From a dozen elite kills. His grim reaper talent didn’t matter on earth, because death here meant instant death. All the lives of the person you killed, would directly translate to you.

’Something is wrong...horribly wrong.’

Elite members of an organization capable of coordinating this attack, carrying indestructible bones, the weakest of them being a two star Evolver, should have provided far more than two thousand lives each.

The kills should have been worth fifteen thousand lives per kill at minimum. This was a very low estimate too.

What made these numbers scary was the fact that Moon had solely dealt damage. Nobody shared those kills with him, so no lives were split in the process.

"Unless..."

"Kael." Moon’s voice interrupted his own thoughts. "How many lives are you getting from your solo kills?"

Kael’s brows rose at the unexpected question, but he gave the notifications a quick glance.

"Around two thousand. Why?"

Hearing that answer, Moon’s attention returned back to the figures clad in black. ’The dark organisation have strong members...they are all known to be ruthless, and dangerous. Yet these ones...they don’t...why?’

Kael’s kills being in the same range told Moon all he needed to know.

Everyone in the arena was earning the same rate. The elites weren’t giving lives.

Moon’s head slowly turned toward Ace.

The white-haired man was still fighting Alaric. Gracefully dancing between the monster’s strikes.

Without hesitation, Moon dashed towards the nearest corpse of those clad in black.

[Rune Activated] Moon placed a defensive rune on himself as he did a quick swipe over the corpse.

"The bones...it’s not in their storage ring...its tucked near his heart."

Moon’s eyes landed on the second corpse, and without hesitation he rushed there. Only to find the same bone tucked near their heart.

"These bones...could they be..."

As he searched the body of the second person, he activated his Eye of Truth.

[Explosive Rune]

[Order: Second]

[Details: An explosive rune that could decimate anything below Surpasser level in fifty meter radius.]

Moon gulped, the rune was very well hidden. Had he not activated his Eye of Truth to check the bodies for anything else, he wouldn’t have found it.

Despite his own experience with runes, the rune was too difficult to remove, especially if they were remotely controlled. He wouldn’t have the time.

The moment he spotted the rune, Moon leapt away immediately, afraid the body would explode on him. Luckily, his worst thought didn’t come to fruition.

’Why did they not activate it? That would have been a good chance to kill or severely injure me if they wanted to...unless...they are planning something much bigger.’