Chapter 60: The Space Freezing Finger

Chapter 60: Chapter 60: The Space Freezing Finger

"Shadow!" Grant’s furious voice rang across the battlefield.

"What did you do to Timothy?" His eyes burned with anger.

"And the Bloodshadow Cult actually sent someone into this secret realm to carry out an assassination? Does your leader really think he can hide forever? Once this reaches the Extraordinary Division, do you think the Cult will escape the consequences?"

Shadow did not answer. A professional assassin had no reason to waste time arguing with his target. He simply watched Grant coldly and retreated several steps.

That first strike had never been intended to kill. It had been a test. Shadow’s real plan was to wait until the Steel Hyenas had exhausted Grant, Mira, and Evelyn before making his decisive move.

Grant understood it immediately, his expression darkening.

"We’re leaving. Now!" he shouted, turning toward the two women. "Mira, Evelyn, break through with me!"

There was no point remaining here. Grant reached into his storage ring and pulled out a pill before swallowing it.

The moment it entered his body, his aura surged. A 2nd-grade Bloodrage Pill.

The medicinal energy erupted through his body, temporarily forcing his strength higher, and he intended to use the boost to tear open a path through the Steel Hyenas.

Mira and Evelyn immediately followed. Neither woman knew much about the hidden criminal organizations operating throughout the country, but Grant’s reaction had told them everything they needed to know.

Shadow was dangerous.

They had no intention of wasting their own pills yet.

Even if they escaped the Steel Hyenas, Shadow would still be waiting for them afterward, so they needed to preserve their strength for the real battle.

Unfortunately, they had underestimated the monsters surrounding them.

The Hyena Queen, which had remained motionless throughout the battle, finally moved. Its massive body suddenly shot forward, its target Grant.

In the blink of an eye it crossed more than ten meters and appeared directly above him.

Grant’s pupils contracted. He immediately raised his sword and thrust upward, aiming for the beast’s exposed abdomen.

The Hyena Queen’s enormous paw struck the sword aside, and before Grant could recover, its body slammed into him with terrifying force.

The impact sent him staggering backward.

One step. Two. Three.

He was forced back nearly eight steps before finally stabilizing himself.

A long bloody gash had appeared across his body. The Hyena Queen’s claws were as sharp as blades.

Grant’s expression became grim. Demonic beasts possessed naturally superior physical bodies compared with humans of the same cultivation level, and that was why fighting fifteen high level Steel Hyenas at once had already pushed him to his limits.

And the Hyena Queen was on an entirely different level.

Seeing Grant injured changed everything. Mira and Evelyn immediately reached for the pills they had prepared.

At the same time, Shadow moved.

His fingers tightened around his dagger, and his entire body became a black blur as he shot straight toward Grant.

Grant was the strongest threat on the battlefield. If Shadow could eliminate him now, dealing with the remaining two women would become considerably easier.

At almost the exact same moment, the Hyena Queen lunged again.

Grant found himself trapped between two deadly attacks. A powerful monster in front. A murderous assassin behind. There was nowhere to retreat.

For the first time, Grant felt genuinely cornered. Mira and Evelyn wanted to help, but neither had enough experience with true life or death combat to react quickly enough.

Then a familiar voice suddenly drifted across the battlefield.

"Well, what a coincidence," the voice said, calm and almost amused. "We meet again."

Everyone froze. Grant’s eyes widened. Mira’s expression changed instantly. That voice. There was no mistaking it.

Mr. X!

Relief flooded Grant’s heart. They were saved. Mira’s eyes brightened as well.

Evelyn was equally relieved, though unlike the other two, a strange suspicion surfaced in her mind.

Again? How could this possibly be another coincidence?

The mysterious alchemist had appeared when the giant lion attacked, and now, just when they were facing another life threatening situation, he had appeared again.

Was he really wandering around the secret realm by chance, or had he been secretly following them the entire time? If the latter was true, then why?

Evelyn could not help thinking about Xavier. How exactly had he managed to establish such a close relationship with someone as mysterious and powerful as Mr. X?

Even if the two were extremely close, would an alchemy master of this caliber really go so far as to secretly protect Mira?

The more Evelyn thought about it, the less sense it made.

Still, whatever the truth was, his appearance could only be a good thing.

Shadow, however, felt completely different. A chill ran down his spine, and his scalp tingled.

He had known from the beginning that this mission involved risk, but that was not the gamble he had been making.

After secretly observing Mira and Evelyn for most of the day, Shadow knew that neither woman had much real combat experience.

As for Grant, Shadow believed he could handle him, since his strength was only slightly inferior to Grant’s, and with his assassination techniques he was confident he could deal with the three of them as long as nothing unexpected happened.

The real variable had always been Mr. X. Shadow had gambled that the man who saved them from the giant lion earlier really had been nothing more than a passerby, that his appearance had been a coincidence.

Now he knew he had lost.

Run.

That was the only thought remaining in Shadow’s mind.

He did not care about the mission anymore. He did not care about Mira or the Bloodshadow Cult’s orders. He simply needed to escape.

But the instant Shadow tried to turn around, his entire body suddenly froze. Not because he was afraid or because someone had grabbed him. Something far more terrifying had happened.

For a brief moment, it felt as though the entire world had stopped moving.

Xavier had made his move. It was none other than the Heaven Piercing Sixfold Finger, the terrifying ninth-grade martial technique he had kept hidden from everyone.

Now that Xavier had reached the pinnacle of the Foundation Establishment Realm and was only a step away from the Spirit Platform Realm, the technique had become even more frightening.

The instant he activated it, a strange force spread outward.

Within a 200-meter radius, space itself seemed to lock into place. Dust hanging in the air stopped drifting.

Drops of blood falling from the Steel Hyenas remained suspended. The Hyena Queen was frozen halfway through her leap.

Even Grant Mercer, who was crouched on the ground and preparing to defend himself, was completely immobilized.

Everything had stopped. Yet their minds were still functioning. Xavier had not actually stopped time.

He had simply sealed the surrounding space so thoroughly that nothing inside it could move.

Under the horrified gazes of everyone present, Xavier calmly walked toward Shadow, a faint smile appearing on his face.

"So, you’re one of the Bloodshadow Cult’s assassins?" he said, glancing at the frozen assassin.

"Good. I’ll remember that. Don’t worry, your companion won’t be lonely for long."

Before Shadow could react, Xavier’s sword flashed, sweeping cleanly across his neck.

His head was severed instantly. Xavier casually kicked it upward as though he were kicking a ball, and because the surrounding space was still frozen, the head stopped more than three meters above the ground.

Not even a drop of blood escaped.

The Bloodshadow Cult’s assassin, Shadow, was dead.

Xavier did not waste another second on him. His attention shifted toward the Hyena Queen.

The enormous creature’s scarlet eyes were filled with fear, and it seemed to understand that the human before it was far beyond anything it could fight. Its instincts screamed at it to submit.

Unfortunately, Xavier had no intention of sparing it.

"You’re hideous," he said, curling his lips.

Then he swung his sword, and the Hyena Queen’s head was sent flying.

What had been an extremely troublesome peak second tier monster was killed by a single ordinary sword strike.

Xavier had not even bothered using the Wind and Thunder Sword Technique. It simply was not necessary.

His Chaos Body, combined with his peak Foundation Establishment cultivation and the Grade 5 longsword in his hand, had pushed his physical strength far beyond what someone like Grant could imagine.

The Hyena Queen was already dead, and the remaining Steel Hyenas were even less of a challenge.

Xavier’s figure flickered repeatedly, and one after another the monsters fell beneath his blade. In less than a few breaths, the entire pack had been wiped out.

Unfortunately, none of the Steel Hyenas possessed a demon core, and Xavier could not help feeling slightly disappointed.

He had already tasted the benefits of investing in a demon core, and naturally he hoped to obtain more. But there was nothing he could do about it.

He sheathed his sword and glanced at the others.

"I have somewhere else I need to be, so I’ll leave you to it," he said, smiling faintly. "Until next time."

With that, he snapped his fingers. The spatial seal instantly disappeared, and the force that had been holding everything in place vanished.

Xavier’s figure flashed into the distance, and by the time everyone regained control of their bodies, he was already dozens of meters away.

A few more flashes later, he had completely disappeared.