Chapter 18: Drop Dead! Desperate Counterattack!

Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Drop Dead! Desperate Counterattack!

The colossal blade of darkness descended from above.

The bald leader stared at it, his expression twisting with disbelief.

It was an attack unlike anything he had ever encountered.

There were no elaborate magical patterns, no blazing elemental energy, and no deafening roar. The weapon was formed from pure darkness, its enormous blade swallowing the light around it.

Yet the pressure it released made even a Level 115 powerhouse feel as though death had already reached for his throat.

"No... What is this?"

"This is impossible!"

The bald leader’s disdain vanished, replaced first by confusion, then by disbelief, and finally by a terror that pierced straight into his bones.

He struggled desperately against the restraints holding him in place.

The holy chains tightened around his limbs. The enormous stone hands continued gripping his legs.

Those restraints had cost the principal and vice principal nearly half their remaining lives. Even a powerhouse like him couldn’t break free instantly.

"Drop... dead!"

Nathaniel pressed his finger downward.

BOOM!

The enormous shadow blade struck.

The bald leader’s Blood Fiend Aura, which he had trusted to protect him from almost any attack, offered no meaningful resistance. The blade passed through it as though it were nothing more than a thin veil.

Then it struck his body.

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

Only a brief, dull impact.

The body of the Level 115 Bloodthirsty Asura, a man who had spent years strengthening himself through countless battles, was unable to withstand the terrifying power of the attack.

A damage indicator appeared above his head.

[-1,500,000 True Damage!]

One million five hundred thousand.

The number was so enormous that many of the people watching struggled to comprehend it.

The bald leader’s health bar, which had seemed almost bottomless, plunged by two-thirds in a single instant.

"AAAAARGH!"

His scream tore through the gymnasium.

Blood burst from his mouth. His bones shattered under the force of the attack, and his body went limp as he dropped from the sky like a broken puppet.

Silence followed.

Absolute silence.

The teachers fighting desperately below stopped in disbelief. The students hiding behind the broken defensive line stared upward with wide eyes. Even the surviving members of the Lion Syndicate momentarily forgot the battle.

The two remaining leaders hovered motionlessly in the air.

Everyone stared at the falling bald man.

Then they looked at the damage indicator.

One million five hundred thousand.

And it was True Damage.

It ignored physical defense.

It ignored ordinary resistance.

Even the enormous difference in their levels hadn’t protected him.

Someone swallowed nervously.

The sound seemed unnaturally loud in the silent gymnasium.

The principal and vice principal, whose faces had been filled with despair only moments earlier, stared at Nathaniel in disbelief.

Then their expressions changed.

Shock gave way to astonishment, and astonishment turned into overwhelming relief.

They had been standing at the edge of death, fully prepared to sacrifice themselves.

And now, the student they had desperately tried to protect had delivered an attack that exceeded anything they could have imagined.

"One... one strike?"

The principal’s voice trembled.

He was a Level 120 Holy Light Priest. Even when he risked everything to unleash his strongest attack, dealing one hundred thousand damage would have been an extraordinary result.

Nathaniel had dealt fifteen times that amount with a single attack.

And he had done it without approaching the enemy.

The principal looked at the young man standing below, unable to find the words to describe what he had just witnessed.

But Nathaniel wasn’t finished.

"What are you all waiting for?"

His cold voice snapped everyone out of their daze.

"Don’t let them recover!"

Nathaniel wasn’t about to give the enemy a chance to regroup.

The bald leader was severely injured, his health reduced to a fraction of its original amount. Before he could recover or escape, Nathaniel raised his hand again.

"Shadow Execution!"

The skill activated for a second time.

Another massive blade of darkness formed above the battlefield.

The bald leader’s eyes widened as he struggled to regain control of his body.

"No! Wait!"

He tried to gather his blood energy, but his shattered body could barely respond.

The second blade descended.

BOOM!

The attack struck with merciless precision.

[-1,500,000 True Damage!]

The bald leader’s remaining health vanished.

His body disintegrated beneath the overwhelming force of Shadow Execution, breaking apart into countless fading particles of darkness.

Within moments, nothing remained of him.

A Level 115 powerhouse.

One of the three leaders of the Lion Syndicate.

Dead.

The entire exchange had lasted only a few seconds.

The battle that had seemed hopelessly one-sided, with three powerful enemies overwhelming the academy’s two strongest defenders, had suddenly changed.

The Lion Syndicate had lost its strongest leader.

The remaining two were now facing a situation they had never anticipated.

Their gazes shifted toward Nathaniel.

There was no mockery left in their eyes.

No amusement.

They looked at him as though he were some terrifying monster wearing a human face.

Fear spread through their hearts.

"Damn it... Damn it!"

The slender assassin’s hand trembled around his dagger.

He had witnessed countless battles and killed many powerful opponents, but he had never seen a newly awakened student unleash such a devastating attack.

A Level 115 powerhouse had died in seconds.

How could that be possible?

"What kind of class does that brat have?!"

The Cursed Witch’s voice rose into a sharp scream.

"Forget everything else! We have to kill him!"

The two exchanged a glance.

They reached the same conclusion.

Nathaniel Beaumont was the greatest threat on the battlefield.

If they allowed him to continue attacking, neither of them could guarantee their own survival.

They had to kill him before he could strike again.

Unfortunately for Nathaniel’s enemies, the principal and vice principal were no longer in a position to protect him.

Both men had poured nearly everything they had into their binding skills. Their bodies were badly injured, and their energy reserves were almost exhausted.

They had just used their final chance to restrain the bald leader.

Now, their strength was at its lowest point.

The slender assassin’s eyes flashed with madness.

"Then let’s end this!"

He stopped caring about the vice principal’s approaching battleaxe.

Instead, he deliberately allowed the attack to strike him.

BOOM!

The impact sent blood flying from his mouth, but he used the force to change direction abruptly.

His target was no longer the vice principal.

It was Nathaniel.

"Little bastard! Go to hell!"

The assassin’s expression twisted with hatred.

He brought his two pitch-black daggers together. The shadow energy surrounding his body compressed violently, gathering into a single point between the blades.

A thin beam of darkness began to form.

It was so concentrated that the air around it distorted.

This was his strongest killing technique, an attack refined through years of combat and countless battles.

He poured everything he had into it.

"Black Death Ray!"

SWISH!

The beam shot forward.

Its speed was terrifying, crossing the distance between the assassin and Nathaniel in an instant.

The attack swept past the principal, who tried desperately to intercept it, and shot directly toward Nathaniel’s forehead.

"NATHANIEL!"

The principal roared in desperation.

He tried to turn back, but his injured body could no longer move fast enough.

The attack was already there.

"It’s over..."

Caleb Rowan closed his eyes.

Even he, who had spent much of his school life competing with Nathaniel, couldn’t imagine how anyone could survive such an attack.

Daniel Mercer dropped to his knees, his face drained of color.

"Nathaniel..."

The surrounding students watched in horror.

They all reached the same conclusion.

Nathaniel was going to die.

No matter how extraordinary his summoning ability was, he had awakened less than a day ago. His physical body couldn’t possibly withstand the strongest attack of a Level 100-plus assassin.

There was no time to summon another Shadow Soldier.

No time to dodge.

No time to escape.

Yet, at the center of the approaching death, Nathaniel remained calm.

He didn’t panic.

He didn’t retreat.

Instead, he slowly raised his left hand.

His thumb brushed the dark ring on his left index finger.

The Ring of the Eternal Shade.

A faint glimmer passed across its surface.

"Umbral Aegis."

A system prompt appeared in Nathaniel’s mind.

[Insufficient Shadow Energy.]

For a fraction of a second, his gaze sharpened.

His reserves weren’t enough to activate the ring’s defensive skill.

But he didn’t have time to hesitate.

The Black Death Ray was already upon him.

Nathaniel focused every remaining trace of Shadow Energy he could gather into the ring.

The ring responded.

A pale, translucent barrier erupted around him, forming a perfect sphere.

HUM!

The barrier was almost transparent, its surface shimmering with a faint shadowy glow.

It looked incredibly thin.

Fragile enough to shatter with a single touch.

The next instant, the Black Death Ray struck.

RUMBLE!!!

A violent storm of energy exploded around Nathaniel.

Black energy spread across the barrier, twisting and gnawing at its surface as the assassin’s attack attempted to tear through it.

The floor beneath Nathaniel cracked.

Dust and debris flew in every direction.

The students nearby were forced to shield their faces as the shock wave swept across the gymnasium.

The slender assassin stared at the impact with a savage grin.

There was no way a newly awakened student could survive his strongest attack.

The principal’s heart sank.

Caleb couldn’t bring himself to open his eyes.

Daniel stared helplessly at the swirling darkness.

Everyone expected to see Nathaniel blasted apart.

But the scene they feared never came.

As the energy storm began to fade, a faint silhouette remained at its center.

Nathaniel Beaumont was still standing.

The translucent barrier surrounding him was covered in violent ripples. Its surface flickered under the relentless pressure, producing a harsh, grating sound that made everyone’s teeth ache.

For one brief moment, it seemed on the verge of collapse.

But it held.

The barrier did not break.

And Nathaniel, protected inside the Ring of the Eternal Shade’s absolute defense, remained unharmed.