Chapter 551: Have I made a deal with the devil?
Chapter 551
BANG!
A cacophony of a bang echoed like thunder as Grey exploded from where he stood, surging forward to meet the dozens of beasts.
BANG, BANG, BANG!
BOOOM!
Grey had now become a storm of lightning, his entire body wrapped in crackling arcs as he blurred from one beast to another. His sword sliced through their ranks as though they were nothing more than sheets of fragile paper.
He was surrounded on all sides by seventy sky-ranked beasts, yet not a single one could pin him down. Their roars were deafening, claws raking through the air, but Grey was untouchable. He leaned backwards at the last possible second to avoid a vicious claw strike, then without wasting time, swung his blade forward. A massive lightning slash roared out from his sword, carving through several beasts in one devastating sweep.
With that one strike alone, five beasts fell screaming, their charred bodies collapsing to the ground as the attack ripped further into the earth, gouging out a deep scar that smoked violently.
’If I can’t emit Ki visibly, I can at least emit lightning.’ Grey thought inwardly as he shot himself into the air with blinding speed, narrowly avoiding a beast that attempted to smash into him like a falling meteor.
His sharp gaze flicked backward for a brief moment. He saw the group of students, all of them trembling yet obediently keeping their eyes covered, too afraid to risk even a glance.
"Perfect." He muttered under his breath, and with a sharp snap of his fingers, twenty lightning arrows erupted into existence, glowing like miniature suns.
The beasts were too slow to react. The arrows tore through the air and impaled a dozen of them before detonating inside their bodies, frying them alive from the inside out. Black smoke curled from their open maws as they collapsed one after another, while the ground itself was left scorched and cratered.
Now only about fifty-five beasts remained, but their bloodlust had not diminished. With a unified roar, they all leapt into the air at once, a tidal wave of monstrous power converging on him. Grey’s eyes widened slightly.
He wasn’t fast enough.
One of them reached him first, its massive claw swiping with deadly force, and Grey was whacked clean out of the air.
BAM!
His body smashed into the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and rubble. The impact rattled his bones, blood sprayed from his lips, and his vision blurred for a heartbeat. His ears rang, his chest screamed with pain, but the guttural growls of the incoming beasts dragged him back into focus. They were descending on him, intent on crushing him into paste.
"Shit!" Grey cursed through gritted teeth. Planting his hand into the ground, he released a burst of wind magic beneath him. The sudden lash of air coiled and flung his body away just in the nick of time.
Because—
BANG!
The combined weight of over fifty beasts slammed into the spot he had just vacated. The ground shattered like glass under their force, sending chunks of rock flying in all directions. A deafening shockwave rippled outward, thick dust rising in an all-encompassing veil that blanketed the battlefield.
Even the students, who had been standing at a distance, staggered as the shockwave slammed into them. Their hearts pounded violently in their chests, and for a moment they thought the world itself was being torn apart.
’Damn it, damn it, damn it! How... how can a yellow band student like me hold his ground against seventy sky-ranked beasts? This isn’t normal. Isn’t he supposed to be just a stage two warrior? What kind of monster did we make a deal with? Have I... have I struck a deal with the devil?’ The blonde-haired student trembled, his thoughts spinning out of control, his palms clammy with sweat.
"What do we do, Jared?" one of the females whispered, her voice breaking as she leaned closer to him.
"I... I don’t know right now." Jared’s throat was dry as he spoke. His brows creased tightly, fear seeping into every word. "I never actually expected that he would be this strong. I... I think I know what to do to get out of this mess."
But even as he said that, his eyes remained sealed shut. He dared not open them, not even for a second, unwilling to peep at the carnage unfolding just a few meters away.
Immediately after the beasts crashed into the ground, kicking up a thick veil of dust, Grey seized the opportunity. Controlling his lightning down to his feet, he compressed it tightly there, and then with a thunderclap bang, he shot forward like a streak of pure destruction.
In the blink of an eye, a dozen beasts fell to his blade, their bodies cleaved apart by arcs of sizzling electricity. He immediately leaped back out of the way, a bead of sweat sliding down his face, his chest burning as though fire had been lit inside his lungs.
’Damn it! The pain in my back is getting worse by the second. These wounds are reopening, and I’m exhausting myself at a terrifying rate.’ Grey thought as his chest rose and fell rapidly, his eyes locked on the forty-three remaining beasts that charged at him like a tidal wave.
With a burst of speed, he ducked low, avoiding a claw swing that tore through the air just above his head. He leaped backwards in retreat, refusing to retaliate too early. Another beast came at him, its claw slicing downward toward his neck, but Grey twisted aside at the last second and countered with a brutal thrust. His sword jammed upward into the beast’s jaw, ripping it open in a shower of gore.
Without pausing, he channeled all his Ki into his foot and slammed a devastating kick into the beast’s abdomen. The corpse was hurled like a cannonball into the oncoming horde, smashing into several beasts with so much force that a chorus of loud bangs echoed as they tumbled across the battlefield, either dead or too broken to rise again.
Now, only thirty-five remained.
’Energy...’ His eyes widened as instinct flared. He spun around, leaning sideways just in time to watch a razor claw graze past his cheek in slow motion. But before relief could settle in, the beast snapped its arm back unnaturally fast. A brutal punch slammed into Grey’s gut, forcing a mouthful of blood from his lips as he was sent tumbling across the ground.
"Crap!" Grey snarled as he stabbed his sword into the earth, grinding his body to a skidding halt. He looked up just in time to see two enormous legs crashing down toward his skull.
"Aerius Ultra!" he roared, thrusting both palms outward.
BANG!
A monstrous gust of wind erupted, slamming into the incoming beasts with overwhelming force. Their eyes rolled back, their bodies flung violently across the clearing, tumbling end over end before smashing into the ground.
Now, only thirty were left out of the initial seventy.
His chest rose and fell in ragged bursts, his arms trembling from strain, but Grey still forced himself upright. His grip on the sword tightened even as exhaustion weighed heavily on him. With a wide, almost savage grin, he beckoned the remaining beasts forward.
They obeyed instantly, charging with killing intent. One beast reached him first, slashing down with a vertical strike. Grey twisted smoothly aside, dodging with casual precision, then swung his sword upward from below. The beast was cleaved cleanly in two, its halves falling apart in midair.
Not stopping, he vaulted upward, twisting and spinning in the air. For a moment, he looked like a storm given human form. With one final roundhouse kick, he unleashed a colossal gust of wind laced with lightning, a spinning blade of destruction that tore through twelve beasts at once, reducing them to scorched, broken remains.
Seventeen were left.
Grey became a blur. His movements were so fast they resembled afterimages, his figure flickering from one side of the battlefield to the other. His sword tore with merciless precision, lightning crackling across his blade, each strike reaping a life in a single instant. Blood sprayed, thunder roared, and beasts fell one after another, their deaths punctuating the chaos with heavy thuds.
Minutes later, the final beast collapsed with a thunderous crash, its massive body twitching before it went still forever.
The Supreme Magus stood tall amidst the carnage, chest heaving, his body drenched in blood and sweat. His back was bleeding from reopened wounds, his abdomen burned, his mouth was stained crimson, and his arms shook under the weight of exhaustion. Yet despite this, he had done it—seventy sky-ranked beasts had been annihilated by his hand alone.
Beasts that a rank Thalos once swore would tear him apart without mercy.
Grey tilted his head slightly, exhaling a ragged breath, and in a calm, almost casual voice, he said,
"You can look now."