UNLIMITED SPEED

Silence fell among them as each of them contemplated their next actions.

“We should leave,” the blonde hair guy suggested.

“But Elder Von ordered us to stay put.” The green-haired man also named Williams countered with a frown.

“You don’t suggest we take it on, do you? It’s a higher stage beast,” the blonde-haired guy glared back.

“We really don’t have time for this,” Noah butt in with his eyes focused on a particular direction. “It’s here already,” he announced and a pair of mysterious-looking daggers appeared in his hands.

The eyes of Williams and the blonde-haired guy widened in shock at that gesture. No one ever pulled out their weapons unless they were prepared to engage something in combat.

“Have you gone mad?!” Williams spoke first, but he too readied his axes.

‘This Is why I hate groups,’ Noah snorted inwardly then the beast revealed itself.

“Fast!” Noah commented disappearing from his position, to clash with the beast heading for them.

An incredible amount of force landed on his crossed daggers and flung him away. The wolf had head-butted him out of its way, but he had managed to stop its astonishingly rapid movements to allow the others gain clear visuals of it.

However, rather than test their strength against a higher-stage beast, the three experts raised their hands to utter words of different spells.

The area lit up with the light of magical circles and a deep rumble shook the land for hundreds of meters in radius.

The ground opened to spit out huge spherical rocks, courtesy of Williams. His spell uprooted many trees plunging the area into utter chaos.

Followed closely by that incredible spell was jets of flames courtesy of the blonde-haired man. And last but not least masses of liquid water in the shapes of bears emerged out of a blue magical circle to barrel toward the stunned wolf.

A spectacular explosion occurred immediately after the spells reached the beast’s figure and Noah had to activate his armor to not allow his clothes to get damaged.

The ground opened as a result of the explosion, but everything suddenly vanished revealing the wolf, it only had a few superficial injuries. However, its mouth was already opened and energy from its orange core poured into its throat creating a spinning mass that made its surroundings fall into even more chaos.

Noah saw that the three were stunned by the seeming lack of effect of their spells on the beast, but he had no time to stand by. The wolf was about to release something big, something probably capable of wiping that area out. At least according to his instincts.

Notwithstanding, Noah didn’t feel any fear, heck his mind buzzed with excitement.

Although he had spent many months focused on his martial arts training he had never forgotten to get used to the power his spells could handle, so when strands of erratic energy began to accumulate on his palms, he knew exactly what he was doing.

The activation of his lightning affinity caused a great sound, one that rivaled the sound of the wolf’s preparing attack.

“You guys should probably find cover,” Noah’s calm voice boomed in the surroundings when the wind suddenly picked up.

Less than two seconds after his words passed, a blinding deep-yellow radiance lit up the forest followed by the loud discharge of a mass of finely condensed electricity.

The survival instincts of both the wolf and the experts went wild as a lightning bolt in the shape of a sword shot forward with blazing speed.

The attack reached the wolf in an instant then everything went yellow.

The ground for more than 400m radii disappeared, and the trees found more than half their structure directly turning to ash as a result of the sheer amount of heat the attacks detonation could produce.

Noah had to escape his attack to not get himself seriously wounded and thankfully his group had moved when he had spoken.

The effects of the lightning bolt eventually died down but fire was everywhere. A thick mass of black smoke rose to the sky as the searing heat in the area continued to remain long after the lightning bolt had completed its objective.

Cold expressions appeared on the faces of the now spread-out group when their eyes fell on the body of the wolf.

Still. 𝙚𝙙𝙤𝒗𝒆𝒍．𝒄𝙤𝙢

A completely black sculpture stood at the center of the chaos. The attack had fried the wolf entirely as even its mouth was still open. It had launched its attack but the power contained within the lightning bolt had been overwhelming for it. After all, it was only at the beginning stages of the higher stage.

“What sort of man is he,” Williams and even the other two found themselves muttering. Then they sighted his figure moving closer to the around 11m tall figure of the dead wolf. Untouched by the chaos his environment experienced.

There and then, they saw him in a new light. Mighty, regal, and monstrous, were what they used to classify his unholy power. He was an expert that shouldn’t exist, and they quickly realized that Elder Sarah’s words had been too true. All of them put together couldn’t dream of standing at his level.

Sure they were strong in their own right. Heck, they had met individuals who call them monstrous. But their power paled greatly in comparison to the white-haired man. He deserved that title. For the first time since they joined the guild, they witnessed the type of power those termed monsters held. What a sight it was.

Noah kept a thin cold barrier around him, he had learned to do new stuff with his elements and one of them was giving shape to his attacks, making them more deadly and precise.

‘Only at empowerment can my body match the power of higher stage beasts, for now, I can only block their physical blows a bit,’ he evaluated, recalling how strong of a force the wolf had been capable of.

Waving his hand at the charred and still smoking figure of the dead wolf, he stored it in his inventory in hopes of retrieving its mana core. The body would be useless as a result of its state. Only a little breeze was required to make it disperse in the wind.

The wolf’s figure vanished at the wave of his hands after which he turned to leave. Then, however, was when he noticed his group, but most especially their expressions. Not even the pink-haired lady was excluded.

They all looked at him; a bottom-level middle-stage cultivator, with reverence.