Varian killed 90,000 rank 1 elves in thirty minutes in a battle that could only be described as leisure. The 9,000 rank 2s didn't even last twenty minutes.
While the first battle didn't affect many elves, the second did. Especially the speed and ease at which Varian fought overturned their expectations.
No matter how much they checked, Varian's body was at its peak as was his aura.
The only thing that was slightly tired was his mind. But the recovery of his mental state was discernable. His spirit power helped him greatly and Varian technically took no toll because of the battle.
The 900 rank 3s were stopped from fighting him and dying like their predecessors. The 90 rank 4s and the 9 rank 5s looked at the girl with a pleading gaze.
'It'll be painful if they die but this man can't be tired to death.' After thinking of the gains and losses, the girl nodded lightly.
"Can't take me one on one anymore?" Varian snorted as the horde of elves descended.
Even though the 99,000 of the 99,999 that came after him died, it's the 999 that posed him an actual threat.
The 900 rank 3s started using the power of spirits to push him into illusions and slow his movements.
The 90 rank 4s used the power of energy to create mini-explosives around him. A single explosion wouldn't hurt him, but ten, twenty, or forty? It'd hurt like hell.
But the most problematic were the 9 rank 5 elves.
They were time rankers.
'Shit!'
Varian felt an oppressive time field targetting his mind. His thoughts slowed down to an uncontrollable degree, then those slowed-down thoughts were bogged down by spirit attacks. Whilst all this was happening, little purple blocks of energy raced toward him.
"Fuck this shit!" Varian first fused his powers into the time path and broke the time distortion for a moment.
Then, without trying to fight in a situation he had no chance, he raised his space powers and teleported right into the middle of the rank 3 Spirit elves.
"Oh, n—"
His thinking and movements were once again caught by the time distortion and slowed to less than half. Those thoughts were bombarded by full-blown attacks from the Spirit elves who panicked when he appeared in the middle of their crowd.
Varian let his consciousness fight against the spirit attacks and left his body under the control of his instincts.
As an Adept, his physical body was on the path to perfection and it could perfectly use his instincts.
So, it did.
Even though he slowed down a lot, Varian's speed was still faster than rank 3 Spirits.
So, when he fused his powers into the Adept path and carried out a massacre, the Spirits were killed with ease.
But in this state, he wasn't faster than the energy explosives that reached him.
Despite trying to dodge, Varian took the brunt of these attacks. The explosions raised a huge mushroom cloud into the dark space and shone brighter than a star for a second.
In the dust and debris, Varian half-knelt on the ground, his arms both missing, half of his chest and his skin mostly gone. His beating heart was visible, and so were his neck bones.
All it'd take is just one attack and he'd be a goner.
"Kill!"
The rank 4 elves wasted no time. Even though there were still some rank 3 Spirit elves alive, they combined their auras and shot a gigantic explosion bomb at Varian.
The rank 5s acted in the gap and cast a few invisible time attacks. Varian's injuries which were healing due to his natural regeneration started to get worse. The new skin and flesh began to rewind and disappear altogether, preventing him from recovery.
"I won't survive if I face it." Varian sighed inwardly and took out a treasure he didn't want to use.
Fairy Dew.
Until now, he only used bits and pieces of it. But now, whatever remained in the bottle poured down his bloodied throat and spread into his body.
The rank 4 and rank 5 elves only saw a brilliant white light from Varian before the purple energy ball enveloped him and exploded.
The elves looked at each other for a moment before turning to Maria who was unleashing hell on the elven warriors.
None of them had doubts about Varian's fate.
But when they heard calm footsteps from behind, the elves, be they rank 4 or rank 5, trembled in fear and turned their neck stiffly.
Varian, brimming with tremendous vitality, walked out of the explosion without even a scratch.
The rank 4s cast attacks in panic. The fused energy sphere hit Varian straight in the chest and tore a hole through him. But before they could even sigh in relief, the injury healed up.
"Fairy Dew has a bit too much vitality," Varian shrugged and his silhouette blurred.
The rank 5 elves quickly used their powers to freeze him but Varian's movements were just a feint.
"Arghhh!"
Terrifying soul attacks struck the 99 rank 4 elves. They clutched their heads and collapsed, convulsing and twitching like fish out of water.
The rank 5s panicked and gathered a huge amount of aura for an ultimate blow. But Varian didn't intend to follow the rules.
A strong shockwave in the fabric of space-time rippled past them, disrupting their attacks and that's when he swung his demon sword.
99 heads of the elves rolled on the ground and blood spurted out of their necks, forming a large pool.
Varian grinned at the rank 5 elves who were backing off and his eyes gleamed silver, purple, and gray.
Their consciousness blurred for a moment before a potent energy ball came through a space crack right behind them and exploded.
They used their time powers at the last moment and escaped. But the place where they stepped foot happened to have ominous black spheres that sucked out their vitality.
"Arghh!"
The rank 5 elves dried up into a bag of bones.
Varian glanced away from them and turned to the elf girl staring at him with a pensive expression.
"You." He pointed his sword at her and asked. "You're the world tree spirit or its clone, avatar, or saintess?"
The elf girl pursed her lips and stared into his eyes for a moment before letting out a chuckle. "I am a thought born out of her consciousness. Calling me a clone would be giving me too much importance."
"Alright," Varian didn't beat around the bush and said. "I'm glad we can talk. I am not trying to cause any trouble to you. I just want to climb the tower, clear the second zone and get the hell out of here.
So, you don't send your minions after me and I will leave quietly, no trouble for me and no annoyance for you. Do we have a deal?"
The elf girl's green eyes looked at him and for a moment, Varian felt like she was staring straight into his soul and deeper before the familiar slivers' power rose up and blocked that weird feeling.
"If what you said was true, I'd have left you alone. But you are here for something." The elf girl shook her head.
"Not me, her." Varian pointed to Maria who was embroiled in a tough battle against the horde.
He wondered if he should help her but decided to wait until she screamed for help.
'Coz that's what heroes do. Save people in danger. If she's in danger, she'd ask for help.' Varian thought with a straight expression.
"She is here for something. So are the people who she's in contact." The elf girl's tone grew cold. "You are with them. You are equally guilty!"
"But we have different goals! I am just tagging her and will get off at the 59th floor!"
"It doesn't matter. You are guilty by association!" The elf girl shook her head. A green light swept from her and expanded. The shockwaves from the light began to push back Varian. "I can't let anyone pass through. It's dangerous."
"What?"
The elf girl's aura soared from the Sovereign state to the peak of rank 4. Then it reached rank 5 and headed towards ra—
"Not so fast," Varian's sword sliced her into two and he sighed in relief. "Are you dumb or do you treat me as dumb? Why would I wait for you to power up?"
"Oh shit!" Maria finally screamed.
But it wasn't a scream for help. Rather, she screamed in fear at his action. "You stupid bastard, what have you done?"
"A stubborn girl wasn't taking up the peace deal. So, I killed her."
"You…what have you done? It's over! Everything is over!"
"Huh?"
The ground, no, the world tree began to shake.
Tens of millions of hands broke out from the ground and slammed on the floor, to push their body out.
Varian's heart stopped for a moment before he put on his stealth mask, used the power of order and chaos slivers to form a stealth barrier, and grabbed Maria from the middle of the stunned horde.
"Use your stealth treasures! Now!" Maria tossed open a gem ring and its light enveloped them in an elliptical formation.
Their presence dropped to an astonishing rate and the space fluctuations grew chaotic everywhere, providing a perfect cover for their escape.
"Go!" Maria screamed and Varian teleported the fastest he could.
Just a moment after they disappeared, the whole region was drowned by the attacks of a hundred rank 6s.
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