Dimensional Descent

Leonel's speed was much greater than it had been before as he entered the bubble of the young man he had seen earlier. He thought it would be smartest if he entered more known territory. Not only was he certain that there was a person here to target, but he was also of a strength Leonel was confident in dealing with.

Leonel's steps paused for a moment and he turned back, pressing a hand toward the forcefield. The forcefield rippled, but stopped his hand from passing through. It seemed that by stepping into this region, he had locked himself into a cage and he couldn't retreat as he pleased.

That much was fine. He had considered the possibility of this happening which was why he had chosen a known location to begin with.

Turning back, Leonel shot into the distance again, leaping into the trees agilely and vanishing into the foliage. He moved forward without a single hint of a sound, scanning the region quickly with his eyes.

It was impossible to lure out this enemy like he had the beasts of his bubble. Humans might be intrigued by a Force Eruption, but there was a more likely than not chance that if the young man sensed a Force Eruption, given his strength, he would stay quite a distance away from it. He likely wouldn't take the risk if he didn't have to. So Leonel had to find him on his own.

The good news was that Leonel's senses were much sharper after absorbing so many Beast Crystals. So, he cut a straight line through the closed off bubble, paying keen attention. His ears twitched every so often.

Finally, he caught the faint sounds of battle.

He changed direction, gliding through the trees and moving up higher as he moved. Eventually, he could sense the strands of Spear Force gliding through the air and he locked onto a battle occurring about 300 meters ahead of him.

The young man stood his ground as he faced off against two beasts. He was clearly much stronger than he had been when Leonel last saw him, and his confidence and battle style proved this much. However, after observing him for a while, Leonel felt that he was no threat at all.

Without waiting for the battle to conclude, Leonel suddenly leapt forward. He pushed off of the trunk of the tree he stood within with such force that it bent in the opposite direction far enough to nearly touch the ground.

The young man was completely caught off guard by Leonel's sudden appearance on the battlefield, but before he could react, Leonel's Absolute Spear Domain had already shredded the two beasts he landed between to pieces.

The pupils of the young man constricted. He immediately felt the potency of Leonel's Spear Force and it caused him to shudder.

His own Absolute Spear Domain erupted in an attempt to counter Leonel's, but it was shredded to pieces as well, crumbling before his eyes.

Leonel took a step forward, closing the distance.

Seeing that the situation wasn't good, the young man pierced forward with his spear, trying to catch Leonel off guard and make him pay for his nonchalance. However, Leonel simply tapped them with a finger, his Spear Force suffocating the young man's.

The young man's spear was blown to the side as Leonel's own thrust forward, nailing the former right in the collarbone and pressing forward until he was nailed to a tree.

The young man roared out in pain and tried to swing out with his spear in vain, but Leonel's hand grabbed its polearm with one hand, released his grip on his own spear, and then used it to grab the young man's throat, suffocating the rest of his pained outcry.

In just a few exchanges, the young man found himself weaponless and restricted. He couldn't even move an inch without the spear through his collarbone making his body shudder with pain.

When he looked at Leonel's face, there couldn't help but be a hint of defiance on it that masked a lingering fear. He had seen Leonel before, but back then, he had been very confident in his abilities. It had only been about three quarters of a day, how had someone who had been his equal become so powerful?

No. it was simply impossible for someone with Spear Force this powerful to have shown the kind of weakness he saw from Leonel earlier, nor was it possible for there to be such vast improvement in the span of a day, it didn't make any sense.

Leonel was about to begin questioning the man before him, but to his surprise, he felt an odd pull from the young man's spear. Subconsciously, Leonel felt that if he touched his spear to the young man's spear, it would upgrade to a new level.

Leonel tucked this information into the back of his mind and released his grip on the young man's throat slightly.

"What is your name?"

The young man was trying to decide what to do at this point. If he struggled, he might just die. But if things ended like this, so would his tribulation. He hadn't even cleared his bubble yet, this wasn't even enough for the lowest tier of clear. When he went back, his Spear Domain Ring wouldn't even acknowledge him and he would have to pass it to someone new. This was simply far too frustrating.

However, when he heard Leonel's question, he was a bit surprised. Why was he asking this?

The young man forced himself to calm down. Ultimately, he was a genius among geniuses, there was a very obvious reason he had been able to get to this step. Even in this situation, he hadn't fallen to despair just yet.

He didn't really want to answer Leonel's question, but maybe there would be a chance to find an escape route if he delayed.

"My name is Nelligan Trudeau."

Leonel frowned, he didn't recognize that name or family...

"Nelligan, where are you from?"

Hearing these words, the young man suddenly understood. His astonishment was painted all over his face.

"Oh... you're from one of them. I can't believe I actually lost to someone from one of them, my dad's gonna kill me!"