Dimensional Descent

Leonel groaned, trying his best to stand. 

He felt his mind spinning. The thumping pain in his mind had been slowly growing since his Soul Force ran dry. After getting knocked away by Big Buddha, it seemed to have dampened his pain threshold, making it feel as though someone was constantly hammering his head. 

Leonel stumbled to his feet. In one arm he held onto the little mink and in the other… there was nothing. His bow was too heavy. How could he continue to carry it as he ran? Plus, with the current state of his mind, there was no guarantee that it would even be useful to him now. 

Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for someone like Big Buddha to catch Leonel off guard. But, these weren't normal circumstances. 

He truly couldn't believe that a half dead Big Buddha would rather risk his life and drag up his last bit of strength to push Leonel back toward Lamorak. Was he really that hateful? Was he really so much of an eyesore to this man he once respected?

Leonel coughed violently. Luckily, no blood came out. But, his body felt uncomfortable all over and no place felt more so than his heart. He was caught between shock, despair and rage. The emotions swelled up within his chest to the point it felt his torso might burst at any moment. 

At that moment, Big Buddha that had been standing before Leonel fell to one knee, weakly gasping for breath. 

Blood leaked from his lips as his massive hands shrank down once more. It seemed that he had used up the last of his strength sending out that final attack. 

Big Buddha didn't really understand the situation. His actions weren't so planned as one might think. He only barely managed to lock onto Leonel with his senses and decided to launch a counter attack with everything he had left. 

Of course, he could vaguely tell that Leonel was running from something. Being able to obstruct Leonel gave him a faint satisfaction even as his body seemed like it might collapse at any time. 

At that moment, Leonel already knew it was too late to keep running from Lamorak. Not only did he need to reach the teleportation pad, but he needed at least a one to two second delay between the time he reached it and Lamorak's appearance. It was such a small time requirement, yet it felt worlds away at this point. Just a single action of Big Buddha's had brought all of that crumbling. 

Leonel clenched his jaw, turning his gaze back toward Lamorak's figure. As though realizing the situation, the latter had long since stopped running. He walked with a calm pace, closing the rest of the distance between him and Leonel in what seemed like the blink of an eye. It wasn't long before he was standing just five meters from Leonel. 

Whether it was due to caution or another reason, Lamorak didn't move to kill Leonel immediately. He still had no idea how Leonel had dodged the barrage of arrows previously. In fact, even taking a larger step back, Lamorak wasn't exactly sure what happened between Leonel and the two Demon Lords. 

His instincts told him that Leonel was a spent force. However, he still remained hesitant. To be able to push two top four Demon Lords to the brink of death… Lamorak could only admit that this was something he couldn't have done so easily. 

Could it be that Leonel was actually more powerful than him? 

It was a thought that had wormed its way into Lamorak's heart. It made him approach the situation differently than he would have in the past. 

"It seems your actions have given you enemies everywhere."

Leonel didn't respond to these words. The act he had put on in Camelot was one thing, but this was the true Leonel. He had no intention of throwing a temper tantrum for the man before him. No matter how wronged he felt, no matter how unfair it seemed, he had nothing to say. 

He stared toward Lamorak as though waiting for his next action. 

Lamorak's eyes narrowed. It seemed that he too realized that the Leonel of before had been nothing more than an act. The truest form of Leonel, the one where he could cast off his fears and face the trial ahead with his everything… that was the Leonel before him. 

A stifling pressure exuded from the young 18 year old boy. Beneath it, Big Buddha felt stifled to the point of being unable to breathe. 

Leonel flipped his palm, using his Internal Sight sparingly to communicate with his spatial bracelet and bring out the dictionary. 

Lamorak took an involuntarily step backward believing that this might be a trump card. How could he know that it was nothing but a walking encyclopedia?

From what Lamorak knew, only the treasures of Merlin worked within the trials, so how could he think that the small silver disk in Leonel's hand was anything but lethal? 

"What's the fastest way for me to replenish my Soul Force?"

Leonel's sudden words stunned Lamorak. 

[*Ping*]

[ Replying to Seed, [Dimensional Cleanse] ]

Hearing these words, Leonel came to a certain understanding. 

His spirit always skyrocketed after cultivating [Dimensional Cleanse], this was especially so after forming his One Star and subsequent Two Star Constitution. Those benefits had become less obvious after awakening his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor's Wisdom Branch. But, that didn't change the fact. 

In fact, when Leonel first chose [Dimensional Cleanse], his purpose was to find a technique that could help him capitalize on his ability. Back then, his exact words to Uncle Montez had been…

~"I felt this one could help improve my ability. I had already chosen before I knew its name."~

The moment he laid eyes on [Dimensional Cleanse], it felt as though it was calling out to him. The only unfortunate part was that the technique was incomplete. 

Back then, he only had a Tier 9 Black reward to exchange for it. How could he trade for the whole of [Dimensional Cleanse]? Leonel suspected that there were even abilities of his Two Star Constitution that he was unaware of even now…

Now that Leonel thought about it, he shouldn't have been able to trade for Little Tolly with a Tier 9 Black reward either. Yet, Uncle Montez had still given the little guy to him… He had been ignorant back then, but how could he still be so?

What if [Dimensional Cleanse] was the same? A reward he shouldn't have been allowed to lay hands on, yet Uncle Montez bent the rules in his favor…?

Leonel closed his eyes. 

He didn't have Soul Force and his ability had entered a state of dormancy. As a result, he could no longer split his mind toward different tasks. He was no different from a normal human with an abnormally strong body. 

If he circulated [Dimensional Cleanse] now, he could focus on nothing else. If he was distracted for even a moment, he could suffer backlash and cripple himself. 

Leonel clenched his jaw. When his eyes opened once more, he looked toward Lamorak with a piercingly cold gaze. 

Violent winds suddenly shot up around him as all the Force within several hundred meters surged toward him in full force.