SSS Awakening: I Can Class Change at will

Chapter 550: Explosion is an Art

Moon didn’t need to warn Alaric, he was already aware of the Evolvers foolish plans.

Alaric scoffed. Light erupted from his body, and his body accelerated so hard that the air behind him shrieked.

The competitors couldn’t catch up. Even at a full sprint with every mobility skill they had, none of them came close to matching a third of Alaric’s speed.

Alaric arrived beside Moon in mid-air, matching his elevation as Moon’s Air Step still held him aloft.

Moon immediately filled him in, "There’s an explosive rune hidden in each body. Almost impossible to decipher on the fly. They put serious resources into this. They’re sacrificing their weakest warriors to injure or kill as many of us as possible, which means..."

"The real force is coming soon." Alaric finished Moon’s own thoughts.

Moon nodded once.

"Do you know where the runes are placed?" Alaric asked.

"Around the chest area. Since they’re closing this fast, the others will not be able to escape the attack. Our best option is—"

"To detonate them first." Alaric stopped in the air.

Kael, still clinging to Moon’s arm understood the issue at hand.

Moon did not stop running on the air slabs, he continued for several more heartbeats, creating more distance before finally stopping, slowly descending down to the ground as Air Step’s effect was almost about to end.

Light began to rise from Alaric’s body, gathering around him, basking him in golden light that ran through his body to his blade.

The sword drank in the radiance like a thirst that had waited decades to be quenched. The air around him warped faintly under the pressure he was exerting.

Just ahead of him, the corpses kept coming in a single wave.

Behind the rushing corpses, deep at the heart of the arena, Ace watched.

His head tilted slightly as the light gathered around Alaric. His smile returned.

"So you truly figured it out. Huh?"

He raised his second hand.

"Well, seems like there is a change of plans."

The corpses suddenly departed.

Each body began weaving through the air on its own path, curving away from neighboring corpses, spreading across a wider spread of trajectories. The clean strike Alaric had been preparing lost half its viability in a single instant.

Alaric scoffed, "You think that’s going to stop me?"

His sword flashed through the air.

Once, twice, a dozen times in the span of a heartbeat, each stroke leaving a trail of gold light hanging in the air behind it. When his blade finally rested, the trails took became golden swords that floated in the air around him.

Three dozen golden swords waiting for his command.

Moon watched from the ground, his mouth slightly open.

’So this is what Epic-rank skills look like at his level.’

Despite their beauty and magnificence, Alaric’s swords wouldn’t be enough on their own. The corpses had scattered too widely. Some would slip through no matter how many blades Alaric commanded.

Moon turned to those around, his voice rising, "Why are you dilly-dallying?! Aim for the chest! Detonate the corpses before they reach you! Every arrow, every spell, chest region! Move it!"

The retreating Evolvers snapped out of their stupor.

Archers spun mid-run and dropped into shooting stances. Mages began to cast their own spells.

Warriors, unable to fight walking bombs in close combat, began to use weapons like spears, throwing them at the incoming corpses.

Arrows tore across the venue in dozens of arcs, each one aimed at a specific corpse’s center mass.

Fire blasts, earth spears, wind blades, and lightning strikes joined them from every direction.

The first corpse detonated fifty meters short of its target.

An archer’s arrow struck it dead in the chest. The rune inside activated, and the body erupted in a violent burst of energy that destroyed everything within a fifty-meter radius. Shockwaves rolled outward, but at that distance, no competitor was inside the kill zone.

The archer let out a shaky, disbelieving laugh. "That would have turned me into ashes..."

Two more corpses detonated in the next second. The strategy was working.

When victory seemed within reach, the dark organization’s elite revealed they had something else in mind.

"Hahaha! You forgot about us?"

A black-clad figure exploded out from behind a broken section of pillar, his blade already extended. He drove it into the stomach of a warrior mid throw. The warrior grunted, his spear falling just a few meters ahead.

Blood spilled down the front of his armor, the injury inflicted, being quite severe.

The warrior twisted, ripping himself free of the blade with a snarl. His hand darted to his belt, tore free a small vial, and slammed it against his mouth. The healing potion rushed down his body, decreasing the damage even as blood kept pouring out of the wound.

The warrior swung in turn. His sword caught the elite across the shoulder, but the man twisted away before the blow could deal any serious damage. The elite came back around with a follow-up slash aimed at the warrior’s throat. Thankfully, hitting nothing as the warrior hastily stumbled back in response.

Acknowledging the deep trouble the warrior was in, Moon cast Minor Mend to help.

The healing energy settled into the warrior’s body, helping the potion in sealing the stomach wound. The warrior felt the healing buff immediately, catching a breath as the pain drained out of his gut in a sudden wave.

"Whoever that was, thanks!" The warrior shouted, not looking to identify the source. He had no time to look. His attention was locked on the elite in front of him.

He raised his weapon and pressed the counter.

The arena descended into chaos.

Alaric’s golden swords launched in every direction, each blade streaking through the air toward a designated corpse. Wherever an arrow or spell missed, one of Alaric’s blades intercepted the corpse and detonated it mid-flight.

The concert of explosions rippled across the venue in overlapping shockwaves that shook the arena walls.

The competitors scrambled through the rubble as they fought.

A group of three mages formed a rough defensive triangle near the eastern corridor, layering their spells on top of each other to shred every corpse that came within range. One of them screamed as a black-clad elite came at her from behind, but her partner spun and drove a lance of earth through the elite’s chest before the strike could land.