Chapter 111: Tolu wins!

Chapter 111: Chapter 111: Tolu wins!

The referee’s hand came down.

"Begin!"

The girl from the Inaara Family moved first.

Fire exploded around her body.

It wasn’t the wild, uncontrolled flame of an inexperienced cultivator.

The fire was compact.

Dense.

Controlled.

It wrapped around her arms and legs like a second layer of flesh, flickering around her without wasting a single spark.

Tolu’s eyes narrowed.

She was already moving.

Her foot struck the ground.

BOOM!

She crossed the distance between them almost instantly.

Her fist came toward his face.

Tolu raised his hammer.

CLANG!

The impact rattled his arms.

He immediately swung the hammer toward her side.

She twisted around it.

Her elbow struck his chest.

Tolu staggered backward.

Before he could recover, a flaming kick came toward his head.

He ducked.

The kick passed over him.

Tolu drove the hammer upward.

She crossed her arms.

The hammer struck.

BOOM!

She was pushed several meters backward.

But she landed smoothly.

Not even a stumble.

Tolu’s expression hardened.

She was experienced.

Very experienced.

There was no wasted movement.

No unnecessary attack.

Every strike was designed to lead into another.

Every retreat created an opportunity for a counterattack.

Tolu had fought many opponents over the past months.

But this was different.

She understood battle.

Not just cultivation.

Battle.

She rushed him again.

A flaming palm struck toward his chest.

Tolu blocked with the hammer.

The flame wrapped around the weapon.

Heat immediately spread into his hands.

He gritted his teeth.

She twisted her wrist.

The fire suddenly changed direction.

It flowed around the hammer and toward his arm.

Tolu released one hand and stepped backward.

A flaming kick followed.

He raised his forearm.

The kick struck.

Tolu was thrown several meters.

He landed on his feet.

The crowd roared.

"She’s controlling the fight!"

"She’s not giving him any space!"

"That girl has been fighting for years!"

Tolu breathed slowly.

His arms were already beginning to ache.

The girl didn’t wait.

She came again.

Tolu swung.

She stepped inside the attack.

Her shoulder struck his chest.

Tolu stumbled.

Her knee followed.

He blocked with his thigh.

Flames exploded against him.

Tolu was forced backward.

He swung again.

She ducked.

Her fist struck his ribs.

Another burst of fire.

Tolu felt pain spread through his side.

He gritted his teeth.

She was overwhelming him.

Not completely.

He could still hold his ground.

He could still defend himself.

He could still force her back when he landed a clean attack.

But she controlled the pace.

She decided when they exchanged blows.

She decided when to retreat.

She decided when to attack.

And every time Tolu tried to change the rhythm, she adapted.

Another flaming strike came.

Tolu blocked.

The force drove him backward.

Another.

He blocked again.

The third strike slipped through.

A fist struck his shoulder.

Fire exploded.

Tolu staggered.

The girl immediately followed.

Tolu raised his hammer.

Their weapons collided.

The impact sent both of them backward.

Tolu landed several meters away.

She landed smoothly.

She was breathing harder now.

But she wasn’t exhausted.

Not yet.

Tolu looked at her.

Then at his hammer.

He could keep fighting like this.

But he would eventually lose.

He needed something else.

Something powerful enough to change the fight.

Tolu closed his eyes for the briefest moment.

His connection reached beyond the battlefield.

Beyond the arena.

Beyond the capital.

Into the depths of his dungeon.

Heart.

The familiar voice answered immediately.

I am here.

I need power.

There was no hesitation.

How much?

Tolu looked at the girl.

She was already preparing another attack.

As much as you can safely give me.

A brief silence followed.

Then the Dungeon Heart responded.

Understood.

Energy surged through their connection.

Tolu’s eyes snapped open.

His aura changed.

The earth beneath his feet trembled.

The girl noticed.

Her expression became serious.

Tolu tightened both hands around his hammer.

"Rising Monolith."

He smashed the hammer into the ground.

BOOM!

The battlefield exploded.

A gigantic pillar of stone erupted beneath him.

It rose violently.

The force carried Tolu upward.

But this time it was different.

The technique was far larger than before.

Far stronger.

The Dungeon Heart was feeding him energy.

The monolith continued rising.

Ten meters.

Fifteen.

Twenty.

The arena shook.

The protective formations surrounding the battlefield flashed brightly.

The spectators erupted.

"What is that?!"

"He’s controlling the arena itself!"

"That’s earth manipulation!"

The girl stared upward.

Then she smiled.

"So that’s what you were hiding."

Tolu jumped.

He came down from the monolith like a falling mountain.

The hammer came with him.

She raised both arms.

Fire exploded outward.

Tolu’s hammer crashed into the flames.

BOOM!

The shockwave tore across the battlefield.

The girl was pushed backward.

Tolu landed.

He immediately charged.

His hammer swung.

She blocked.

The impact forced her backward.

He swung again.

She dodged.

The hammer struck the ground.

A wall of stone erupted.

She destroyed it with a wave of fire.

Tolu was already behind it.

His hammer came from the side.

She blocked.

Her feet slid across the stone.

For the first time, she was being overwhelmed.

Tolu didn’t give her a moment to recover.

Hammer.

Step.

Strike.

Another strike.

The girl retreated.

Tolu followed.

She blocked one blow.

Two.

The third forced her down onto one knee.

She exploded with fire.

Tolu was forced backward.

She rushed forward.

Their attacks collided again.

The battlefield shook.

The girl was fighting desperately now.

But Tolu’s strength had changed.

The energy supplied by the Dungeon Heart allowed him to sustain the technique far longer than he normally could.

His hammer moved with terrifying force.

Every impact shook the arena.

The girl kept defending.

But she was losing ground.

One step.

Another.

Another.

The crowd was going wild.

"The Inaara candidate is being pushed back!"

"She’s losing!"

"No! Look!"

The girl suddenly planted both feet.

Her eyes burned with determination.

Fire erupted around her.

The flames expanded.

They spread across the battlefield like a wave.

Tolu’s eyes widened.

He raised his hammer.

The wave hit.

BOOM!

Tolu was forced backward.

He slid across the ground.

His clothes were scorched.

His breathing became heavier.

The girl stood at the other end of the battlefield.

She was breathing hard now.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly.

Sweat ran down her face.

But she was still standing.

She looked at Tolu.

He had stopped several meters away.

She watched him carefully.

Then she slowly lowered her arms.

She needed to breathe.

Just for a moment.

She expected him to do the same.

After everything they had exchanged, surely he needed to recover too.

She inhaled deeply.

The flames around her body weakened.

She closed her eyes for half a second.

That was all the time Tolu needed.

His connection to the dungeon remained open.

The Dungeon Heart was still supplying him.

His energy had not run out.

Tolu tightened his grip.

The girl opened her eyes.

Tolu was already moving.

Her expression changed.

"What—?"

Tolu raised his hammer.

The girl prepared to defend.

But he didn’t swing at her.

He swung at the ground.

BOOM!

The battlefield exploded.

The girl instinctively braced herself.

She expected Tolu to rise.

She had seen the technique before.

She expected the enormous monolith to carry him upward.

Instead—

The earth beneath her feet moved.

Her eyes widened.

"What?!"

The ground beneath her erupted.

A massive stone pillar shot upward.

She was lifted off the ground.

Her body was launched into the air.

Tolu had used Rising Monolith beneath her instead of himself.

She realized what had happened.

"You—!"

The monolith continued rising.

She was carried higher.

Then the stone tilted.

The force changed direction.

She was thrown toward the edge of the battlefield.

She desperately tried to control her descent.

Fire burst beneath her feet.

She twisted her body.

She managed to slow herself.

Her feet touched the ground.

For one brief moment, she thought she had recovered.

Then she realized where she had landed.

Outside the boundary.

Silence.

The formations surrounding the arena lit up.

The referee stared at her position.

Then raised his hand.

"The Inaara Family’s candidate has left the battlefield!"

His voice thundered across the arena.

"Tolu wins!"

The crowd exploded.

Thousands of people rose from their seats.

Cheers shook the arena.

Tolu stood in the center of the battlefield, his hammer resting against his shoulder.

He was exhausted.

His body ached.

His clothes were scorched.

But his eyes remained calm.

Across the boundary, the girl from the Inaara Family stared at him.

Then she looked down at the ground beneath her feet.

A small, reluctant smile appeared on her face.

She had spent the entire battle believing she understood what Tolu’s strongest technique could do.

He had simply changed who it was meant to lift.

Tolu looked toward the sky.

Sixteen had entered this round.

Now only eight remained.

And he was one of them.

More importantly, the spectators now knew his name.

The representatives of the great forces knew his strength.

And the remaining contestants knew something even more important.

Tolu was not an opponent they could afford to underestimate.