Dimensional Descent

Leonel steadied his breathing.

Not every battle had been as simple as the one against Zyllee. Many were more cautious and sometimes Leonel's plans didn't work out as perfectly as they did in his mind. But, regardless, Leonel had already gained 7 slaughter points. Five of which came from demons and the remaining two of which were humans. Now, there were only three left, Big Buddha, Umred and Cralis.

Leonel felt that there were more who had entered this trial, but, it seemed that their senses hadn't been sharp enough to come to the castle.

This was already the best result possible. Leonel didn't want to make it too obvious that he was here. If he did, those who were powerful would realize that it was a trap. In that case, it was best to miss out of luring everyone if it meant capturing all of the big fish.

Leonel took a deep breath.

'Of the three that remain the weakest is…'

Leonel sighed. He had been subconsciously putting off confronting Big Buddha. In truth, several of those he had already killed were more powerful than the large bellied Commander.

Leonel knew that he was still too soft hearted, even now. But, there was nothing much he could do about his own disposition.

All of his kills up to this point were strangers or those he hardly knew. Big Buddha could be considered to be the first person he would kill that he had once had a decent relationship with.

Even thinking this, Leonel felt silly. After all, this so-called 'decent' relationship was just a matter of conversing with this larger than life man for a couple hours, if that. But, Leonel still felt that it would cause a knot in his heart.

Leonel closed his eyes and took another deep breath.

'He's trying to kill you.'

These were the only words Leonel whispered to himself. They were words no one else would ever hear, but he repeated them to himself again and again.

Leonel's eyes remained closed for a long while as he calmed his heart. When they opened again, his calculating gaze had returned.

'Get ready, Little Blackstar.'

Leonel sent his thoughts over to the little mink. After unlocking 'Perfect Union', doing such a thing wasn't an issue. Though the little mink and him couldn't communicate in the truest sense, it was possible for them to understand each other's intentions as though it was their own. In a way, their ability to understand one another was even better than if they used words and it was also much quicker as well.

Leonel shot forward, his steps exceptionally light.

One of the benefits this trial had given him was an understanding of movement. Leonel had never really considered its importance before.

Originally, he had been entirely focused on just improving his movement speed. The restrictions within the trial were so great that he felt stifled. After all, ever since he awakened his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, speed had become one of his strong points.

However, after unlocking the skills within his physical roots, Leonel began to realize that movement was more complex than he once thought. It wasn't always strictly about straight-line speed. In many ways, agility was even more important than pure speed.

It wasn't just about speed, but how he fused a myriad of changes to his movement.

Leonel was a marksman. It could be said that this was the path he was by far the most talented in. As a result, he knew how easy it was for him to hit a target with a predictable path. It was to the point where he would never miss such a target.

But, what if said target not only had speed, but also an enigmatic method of using it?

When Leonel used his Dream World to simulate such things, he realized that even without improving his power by much, if all he did was focus on his movement technique, his lethality was increase by 100% if not more.

Knowing this, Leonel realized two things. First, he realized that when he left this place, he should use one of his rewards on a movement type technique. They were far more important than he had given them credit for. And the second thing was that he realized his best bet at this juncture was to pour all of his skill points into his physical root skill tree.

All 3020 of his previous earned points had gone exactly there.

<Silver Skill 'Explosive First Step' Chosen>

<Silver Skill 'Abrupt Stop' Chosen>

…

<Gold Skill 'Irregular Steps' Chosen>

Leonel streaked across the castle, appearing where Big Buddha was in a flash.

As though to stop himself from hesitating, he didn't pause for a single moment. With a single motion, his palm flipped, causing a corpse he had kept within his spatial bracelet to launch toward the large man.

Big Buddha had long since grown impatient. He had been looking everywhere for where Leonel might be, but had found nothing. In addition, it was obvious that Leonel was fine, or else the Random Event would have come to an end already. Yet, all this time, he hadn't heard anything. He couldn't help but grow anxious.

It was at the moment he was thinking of backtracking and leaving the castle entirely that he suddenly realized the same thing Zyllee had just moments later… A corpse was coming toward him.

Big Buddha's eyes widened. However, he managed to react reflexively.

His palms were suddenly coated by a massive energy. In the blink of an eye, that energy seeped into his flesh, expanding the size of his hands until they rivaled his massive body in size. On the surface, his ability seemed somewhat comical. But, in practice, it carried a devastating power.

Big Buddha slammed a palm forward, not holding back in the slightest.

BANG!

A shower of shrapnel assaulted Big Buddha. However, his palms were so large that his attack acted as a defense at the same time. Though bits of hard metal sank into his palm, a strong reflective energy blasted them away before he could suffer any real injury.

"LEONEL!" Big Buddha roared.

He was completely enraged to the point of being irrational. He seemed to have completely forgotten that he had come here to kill Leonel.

However, Leonel had already set his mind to the task. There was no way he would allow Big Buddha the time to rest, nor would he allow himself the time to hesitate and regret his actions. Aina had told him once before… to be kind to your enemies was to be unkind to yourself.

Leonel pinched two arrows between three fingers, nocking them both at once and activated the Silver Skill 'Double Shot'.

SHUUUUU!

Leonel's arrows twirled around one another in the air. At first, their spiral seemed separate. But in the next instant, they seemed to fuse, becoming a spinning corkscrew of Force in the air.

"AGH!"

A large finger was severed before Big Buddha could react. It flailed in the air before dissipating the energy that formed it and hitting the ground at its normal size.

Unfortunately for Big Buddha, Leonel's gaze remained cold and calculating.

Leonel activated the Silver Skill 'Hot Streak', eliminating his cool downs for the next 10 seconds. Then, he immediately activated the Silver Skill 'Five Pronged Net'.

He fired five arrows in quick succession. Each curled in the air from five different directions, firing toward Big Buddha from five separate directions at once.

Big Buddha panicked, swatting his two massive palms to the left and right, smashing apart 'Five Pronged Net' before it could form.

Unfortunately… that exposed his front.

The Silver Skill 'Shooting Star' activated.

Lightning crackled and wind sliced. Leonel's gaze met Big Buddha's. Though his heart shook when he saw the fear and helplessness, his steady hand never wavered.

SHUUUUU!

Leonel's expression suddenly changed. He retreated with his quickest steps, not forsaking his Light Elemental Force for a even a moment.

A battle ax suddenly smashed down from his side. However, there was no owner behind it. It was clear that it had been thrown toward him. Had he not moved, his arms which had just been holding up his bow would have been severed.

However, it was fine. He had already released the arrow. Regardless, Big Buddha would die.

At least, that's what Leonel thought before a second variable appeared.

A massive broad sword smashed into one of Big Buddha's palms, sending him flying to the side.

Big Buddha slid along the ground in a sorry state. It was clear that whoever had 'saved' him hadn't really cared about his well being because he seemed to be barely alive. It was as though their goal was to prevent Leonel from gaining more slaughter points rather than saving a comrade.

Leonel's expression grew heavy. He recognized those two weapons.

Umred and Cralis had managed to see through his maze of spells.