Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 281: Booa

Chapter 281: Booa

"This must be the Booa, right?"

"Yes!" Couma replied. "Only they make noises like this at night."

The cries grew louder, closer, until finally, the creatures emerged from the shadows of the trees. Three feet tall, the Booa resembled giant, golden-coloured hyenas. They didn’t immediately bounce on them. They were each Level 20 like the Yumboes and there were ten of them.

However, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that they were vastly stronger. ’Levels aren’t the most reliable indicators for strength. Skills, nature or nurture, these things are what truly help gauge strength. The Yumboes are peaceful Elves. These hyenas are predators and nothing more.’

"Pauline?" Kazi asked. "They’re going to pounce. You ready?"

"Yes!" The thin woman clutched her staff and took a deep breath. At the tip of her wooden staff, a magic circle materialized. Two rings and a dot. That was what she wanted to draw.

Too little, too late. The Booas pounced.

Pauline was caught off guard. The Yumboes were not. With a wave of the hand, the Elves all threw wind magic at them and stopped them in their tracks. No, they did more and pushed them back as they threw forward a second arm. Kazi glanced at Pauline who gulped and attempted a second magic circle.

The noble failed. The eight Yumboes were forced to maintain the blast of wind. The Booas tried to keep walking toward them but failed to make distance. Kazi kept an eye on Pauline who looked like she couldn’t try again. Not out of a lack of mana but confusion. Doubt. Too many options were open to her.

You mess up once in a desperate situation, you think you have to try something else. Like inputting your credit card and getting the pin wrong twice. You get nervous. Sweaty. Your ears start to redden.

Kazi was already equipped with Stormedge. Mana flowed through him and in several dashes of speed—

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

He began to take the giant hyena creatures down. "Super Spark Strike!" The smooth flow and control of mana dropped slightly. Was it because he wasn’t equipped with the Sorcerer Class? The difference was slight but he felt it. If it wasn’t for the System, most players would not be able to use Mastered Flow of Mana with a skill. Kazi was different. He was Ascended.

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

It was over in a flash. One second, the Booas were fighting a hard battle against the elves’ wind magic and the next second they were dead. Their corpses fell, electrified, and that was that. Kazi was already walking back, swinging his sword to one side. He received over a hundred thousand XP.

"Nice job, Couma!" Kazi dropped a hand down and the elf high-fived him. Pauline stood there with her lips parted and in awe.

"Wha...how...that was so...fast...!"

"Comes with being a swordsman."

"But...you’re using the Amateur Player Class."

"I’m a special swordsman."

"That...doesn’t..." Pauline didn’t know what to say. "Are you cheating?"

"Is that possible?"

"I don’t know, is it?"

A beat passed. "Hm. Seems like everyone else is battling too. Hear that?" Kazi said, bringing out an ear.

Pauline tried to listen. "Yeah, I kinda hear it."

"You don’t hear it, do you?" Couma said.

"Nope, not at all. Is this another cheat?"

"You really won’t let go of that, will you?" Admittedly, her blunt remarks caused his shoulders to relax. "The night isn’t over just yet," Kazi said. He peered over his shoulder, left eye pulsing. "I see the stone partridges coming. Ten seconds."

"Oh." Her face paled. "Those things are super fast. Can you...?"

"No problemo. I got this." Kazi glanced at the Yumboes. "You guys reserve your magic."

Couma saluted him. "Understood."

As predicted, in ten seconds, the stone partridges surged forward with lightning speed. Kazi’s reflexes kicked into high gear. With a swift motion, he drew his scimitar, Stormedge, and assumed a defensive stance. No Mastered Flow of Mana, only Foresight.

Three futures flashed through him. Four was his maximum before his mana bottomed out and he was in pain. One future he didn’t move and let them hit him. A second future where he attacked with his sword. A third future where he struck with Fire Darts. The stone partridges were twenty metres away, forms almost invisible in the dark, their grey forms hurtling towards him with incredible velocity. Kazi remained calm. He knew every possible movement, he knew they relied on their beaks, speed, and numbers to deliver injuries, and he knew the Yumboes could stop them with their wind magic.

’You stone birdies have high defense...’ Kazi raised his sword at them. ’But low HP. Fire Dart.’

The first dart of fire struck. Six stone partridges remained. He listened to the vibrations in the air. It was hard to make out but he had shot targets from much further. He was a mercenary during much of his late-teens afterall. This was nothing.

’Fire Dart. Fire Dart. Fire Dart.’

He sniped them off, then burst forward. 105 MP was left. He ran into the forest, jumped, and thrust his blade forward. ’Super Spark Strike!’

The stone partridge in the lead shattered. Kazi landed and then hopped again. ’Super Spark Strike!’ In a wide sweeping motion, he took out the last two stone partridges.

By the end of it, he had 25 MP left. He received seven stone shell pieces and a total of 91,800 XP. Walking back, he filled back up to 3405.

******

"They always say talent is everything. That if you’re born with raw magical ability, you’ll rise to greatness effortlessly. But that’s a lie. A comfortable lie people tell themselves to explain why some succeed while others fail. If talent were all that mattered, then half the so-called prodigies in my class wouldn’t be crumbling under pressure every time they make a mistake.

Mentality—that is what separates the good from the great."

- Notes of Leonidas "Leo" Promachos, 168 HE

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