[Julian’s POV]
The six of them continued their march towards Vasta Waterfall, where Ruvian Castelor was currently located.
At present, they were still making their way through Sector G3, but at the pace they were moving — occasionally forced to stop and deal with Voidspawns prowling across their path — they should reach the waterfall sometime in the afternoon.
Even after traveling for some time, Julian still hadn’t taken his eyes off Loden, nor had his suspicions towards him faded in the slightest. Because no matter how Julian looked at him; that bastard simply reeked of deceit and trouble.
Suddenly, Loden came to a halt before speaking in a playfully unnerving tone.
"Ho, there’s another Wretched Voidy over here. Want me to get rid of it this time, Julian~?"
Julian let out a weary sigh.
For all the Gods above and below, he wished he could somehow silence that irritating voice of his, but he restrained himself.
It was not the time for that yet.
His gaze then settled upon the creature ahead.
It was a hulking skeletal golem, its enormous frame pieced together from thick, yellowed bones that looked as though they had come from some unhallowed grave.
Black filth clung between its joints, while several cracked ribs jutted unevenly from its torso. In one massive hand, it dragged a brutal cleaver along the ground, its rusted edge chipped and stained with old, dried blood.
With every lumbering step, its bones ground against one another with a sickening scrape.
Krrrkk... Krrrkk...
Julian scoffed before casting him a contemptuous glance.
"Bold words. Can you even put a dent in that thing?"
Summoning his scythe, Loden casually rested it against his shoulder before slowly walking towards the creature.
"My, how cruel. Is this truly how little the top seat scholar thinks of me? Haa... well then, I suppose I’ll have to put in a little more effort if I want to leave a better impression."
"Ha. Do your worst." Julian sneered derisively.
Almost instantly, the bone creature charged forward, dragging its massive cleaver across the ground.
’Now, let’s see how well he can fight against a Wretched.’
A terrifying growl rumbled from deep inside its hollow chest, and with one heavy step, it raised the cleaver high above its head. Then, without slowing down, it brought the weapon crashing straight toward Loden.
Loden remained calm, simply rotating the scythe between his two hands before swinging it lightly to the side.
The cleaver slammed down where he had been standing, but Loden had already slipped past the creature’s arm with a small turn of his body.
The creature twisted around and swung its cleaver sideways, but Loden lowered his body and let the blade pass just above his head. He stepped closer, spun around its side, then lightly struck the flat of the cleaver with his scythe when another attack came toward him.
Clang!
The heavy weapon was pushed away, yet Loden barely moved from the impact, his hands simply guiding the scythe back into position.
’Huh. Not bad.’
Julian thought as he continued to analyse Loden’s way of fighting.
Another strike came from above, followed by a wild swing from the side, but he slipped between both attacks with little effort.
Julian’s eyes slowly narrowed as he watched from behind. Loden had yet to launch a proper attack, but the Wretched Voidspawn had not even managed to touch his clothes. Worse, that irritating smile was still sitting comfortably on the bastard’s face.
Then suddenly, a strange energy began to spark around Loden’s scythe, slowly wrapping itself around the entire blade.
Julian had never seen anything like it before, nor could he tell what kind of energy it was. It was not Darkness because Julian would be able to tell that if that was the case. Even so, the ominous feeling coming from it was enough to make him curious.
Before he could figure anything out, Loden suddenly vanished from where he stood. A dark blur shot past the creature, followed by the sharp swing of his scythe.
Crack!
Several bones were torn from the creature’s side and scattered across the ground, but Loden was already moving again.
His movements became wild and hard to follow, changing direction without warning as he slipped around the creature like a phantom. Each swing of his scythe tore through another part of its body, pieces of broken bone were flying everywhere.
The creature roared and swung its cleaver savagely, but every attack carved through nothing but empty air. Then, Loden suddenly appeared behind the creature.
He shifted his grip and spun the scythe around his body, the strange energy coiling around its blade now sparking even more violently. With one clean swing, the curved blade cleaved straight through the creature’s neck.
Its massive skull flew through the air before crashing several meters away; the rest of its body remained standing for another brief moment.
Loden lightly pushed himself away and landed several steps behind it, smoothly resting his scythe against his shoulder. A second later, the creature’s headless body finally crumbled onto the ground with a heavy crash.
Deep within its shattered chest, the dark core binding the creature together began to fracture. Then, the entire core splintered into pieces — the last traces of energy within its skeletal frame faded away, leaving the Wretched Voidspawn utterly lifeless.
For a moment, none of Julian’s teammates uttered a word, disbelief etched across their faces as their gazes shifted between Loden and the fallen creature.
They were already well aware of how formidable Class A scholars were from watching Julian, so seeing another Class A scholar defeat a Wretched Voidspawn should not have surprised them this much.
But watching Loden tear one apart with such ease made one thing painfully clear; the gap between Class A and the rest of them was far greater than they had realized.
Wearing a wickedly proud smile, Loden turned towards Julian and asked in a teasing tone.
"So, Master, how did I do?"
Julian gave him an unbothered glance, his expression barely changing.
"Stop fishing for compliments bastard, I have no intention of giving you one, and don’t call me that... anyway, collect the voidshard quickly, we have no time to waste."
His tone remained cold and commanding, as though Loden’s display had been nothing worth praising.
Loden stored his scythe away before giving Julian an overly polite bow.
"My, your standards are frighteningly high, Master~ Though I suppose I rather like that."
Obediently, he turned towards the fallen Voidspawn and began collecting the voidshard just as he had been told.
’That creep, I told him not to call me that.’
Julian inwardly sighed.
’Still... I didn’t know he was this strong.’
Julian’s gaze lingered on Loden for another moment before he slowly turned away. His eyes drifted towards the distant sky, where a lone black speck was rapidly drawing closer.
As it descended, the familiar shape of his summoned eagle beast gradually came into view. The beast spread its broad wings and swooped towards him, stirring a sharp gust across the ground before landing firmly on Julian’s raised arm.
Julian reached into his dimensional storage and pulled out a strip of raw meat, holding it towards the eagle.
The beast eagerly tore into the flesh while Julian calmly ran his fingers through the dark feathers along its neck.
Once it finished feeding, Julian gave its head one final pat before his eyes narrowed slightly. "Now then, what have you discovered about that commoner?"
In response, the beast relayed everything it had gathered through their bond....
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[Chapter 304: G3]
Plot Points= 52,000 PP
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