Chapter 60: Countdown (2)
Chapter 60: Countdown (2)
Chapter 60
Hearing the young man’s words, the Dark Reaper Leader couldn’t help but feel deeply insulted; the contents of those words could be simplified into two different statements: 1. No matter what happens, you will die, and it won’t be painless by any means. 2. You are so weak that you aren’t even worthy of being my opponent.
The kid’s words had finally crossed the limit of what Ozaki could tolerate. In fact, the kid had crossed that line a long time ago, but Ozaki had chosen to tolerate him.
The reason was simple... he could see the potential within this youth; even more than that was his thirst for blood, one that rivaled Ozaki’s own, and that was something Ozaki valued greatly.
Because of that, he had been beyond considerate, giving the child enough chances to live. Unfortunately, all of his consideration seemed to have been completely thrown away as the kid continued to speak more and more outrageous words.
The Dark Reaper Lord didn’t immediately snap and charge forward as Rayden had expected him to do... after all, that was what usually happened in most of the novels he had read back on Earth... instead, the man took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
Even his breath seemed to carry immense force as dust rose into the air from the pressure alone: "I gave you two choices," Ozaki said in a cold voice. "You could either live or die, and yet you were foolish enough to choose death." His expression darkened: "So shall it be."
The moment those words left his mouth, he moved; the ground beneath him shattered. He moved so fast that within what seemed like a blink, he had already crossed the distance between himself and Liyu.
Without hesitation, his fist surged forward; an extremely destructive force accompanied the punch as it rushed toward Liyu’s head with the intention of crushing it completely.
Yet just as the attack came within inches of Liyu’s face, he simply took a single step; his body shifted slightly, and the punch missed. Ozaki’s eyes trembled slightly. He found it hard to believe that the kid had actually dodged his attack so easily; still, he didn’t stop.
Surely the first dodge had merely been a fluke. He attacked again, yet the second attack was dodged just as effortlessly as the first; he wasn’t even able to graze the young man’s clothing. What is going on here? The thought had barely formed in his mind before a punch slammed violently into the side of his head.
BANG! The force sent him flying backward through the air; he landed on his feet, his boots carving deep trenches into the ground before he finally managed to stop himself. Ozaki frowned; his gaze darkened as he looked at the young man, who still had one hand casually raised in a punching position.
He wanted to say something, yet before he could even form the words, several drops of red liquid began to fall from the side of his face. Ozaki slowly raised a hand and touched the wound; his fingers came away stained crimson.
Blood. His face twisted in pure disbelief. Wait... he was injured? Since when had the great Ozaki been injured? It felt like ages. Ever since he had established the Dark Reapers, he had only seen the blood of his prey... never his own.
And yet now he had been wounded by none other than a rich-looking young master. He wiped away the blood and began reconsidering his approach; this young man, judging from both his appearance and clothing, must surely come from a powerful and influential clan, perhaps even one of the Three Great Clans of the Night Region: "Are you from the Shi Clan?" Ozaki asked.
Yet Liyu remained silent; his expression stayed impassive, though his eyes continued to ooze killing intent. Seeing no response, Ozaki mentioned another name: "The Guan Clan, then?" Still no answer. The reason was simple: Liyu didn’t see any reason to grant a dead man the privilege of questioning him.
Seeing that he still wasn’t answering, Ozaki considered the final possibility: "Could it be the Li Clan?" But that didn’t make sense; the Li Clan was known for being conservative and rarely sent their people deep into the Beast Forest. Furthermore, Ozaki was certain that the Li Clan had no genius with green hair.
So where exactly had this monster come from? Before he could continue his train of thought, he noticed the gaze Liyu was currently wearing. The moment he saw it, Ozaki felt deeply insulted; it was the kind of gaze a god would show a mortal... a gaze that seemed to say, "I decide when you die. To hell with whatever clan you came from. Genius or not... you are going to pay for your arrogance."
"I will no longer hold anything back!" Ozaki roared in fury. Qi exploded around his body; his aura surged violently as he dashed forward once more. This time he was going to take the kid seriously; he would fight him as though he were facing another expert. In Ozaki’s mind, this kid was doomed for making him go this far.
His refined qi flooded through his body, strengthening his muscles and forming something akin to a miniature armor. His foot dug into the ground: BOOM! He vanished once again; appearing directly before Liyu, he unleashed another punch.
This one carried even greater power than before. To Ozaki’s eyes, the kid suddenly seemed slower; his movements appeared delayed. I got him! Ozaki thought in joyful anticipation. His fist rushed forward, yet just before the attack could connect, Liyu raised his head; their eyes met.
Emerald-green eyes locked onto Ozaki’s; a smile appeared. Then Liyu vanished; only crackling green lightning remained where he had been standing. The worst part was that Ozaki hadn’t even gotten the chance to process what had happened, nor had he gotten the chance to lament the fact that he had missed once again.
Another explosion echoed through the cave: BANG! This impact was even stronger than the previous one; Ozaki was launched through the air. He barely managed to regain his footing before crashing back onto the ground; even then, his legs sank beneath him as he dropped onto one knee.
His face was filled with pure shock; an immense pain exploded through his chest where the latest blow had landed. He tried swallowing the blood rising from within his body, yet he couldn’t hold it all back; several drops escaped from the corner of his mouth and trickled down his chin.
Silence. There was a deep, agonizing silence that filled the cave as all one hundred or so members of the Dark Reapers stood frozen in utter shock.
They watched their leader... the man they had feared and respected for so long... being thrashed around like that twice in a row; it made them want to rub their eyes to see whether they were hallucinating right now.
Some were too stunned to even do that; others actually rubbed their eyes repeatedly. Yet no matter how many times they blinked or rubbed them, their eyes continued to tell them the same thing; they weren’t trapped in some strange dream, nor were they suffering through a nightmare.
This was reality... real and undeniable. "Wait... is that kid actually beating the Lord?" one of the Dark Reaper members couldn’t help but ask, his tone filled with disbelief.
The others nodded; they were equally stunned. Seeing the gazes of his subordinates fixed upon him, Ozaki couldn’t help but feel deeply ashamed. He slowly rose to his feet and wiped the crimson blood from the corner of his lips; Liyu was standing back at the same spot he had occupied from the very beginning.
His expression remained as deathly cold as when he had first entered the cave; the smile Ozaki had seen on his face earlier was nowhere to be found. Liyu glanced down at his own hand before slowly shaking his head: "You are lucky," his calm voice echoed through the cave.
"Very, very lucky. If this happened to be my real body, then you would already have several cracked ribs by now." Liyu spoke as though he were merely stating a simple fact. He wasn’t lying; compared to the monstrous physical strength of his true body, King Rayden’s body felt strangely weak.
Liyu sighed lightly; even so, he was still vastly stronger than any ordinary Body Refinement cultivator, not to mention the fact that this body’s greatest specialty was speed.
Liyu turned his gaze toward Ozaki, who was still wiping blood from his face: "You have already wasted one minute of the time you were given to choose how painful your death will be." His voice remained calm. "You only have four more minutes before your life turns into a literal nightmare."
The words were spoken so casually that even the Grim Reaper himself might have found them chilling. Ozaki’s eyes darkened considerably; this kid was becoming far too full of himself.
Those two strikes had only happened because he had been careless and underestimated his opponent, but now that he was determined to crush him, there was absolutely no way this brat would survive.
"You should be more worried about yourself instead," Ozaki growled. "Because I am going to make you question your very existence."
The Dark Reaper Leader continued speaking, uttering several more words to hype himself up; Liyu didn’t pay attention to any of them. The foolish Dark Reaper members, however, were shouting and cheering at the top of their lungs; their enthusiasm quickly reignited Ozaki’s confidence.
Fueled by their support, he rushed forward once more. A few seconds later... BANG! BANG! BANG! Three consecutive explosions echoed throughout the cave; they were immediately followed by the sound of a heavy body crashing violently onto the ground.
The cheering members instantly fell silent; their mouths slowly opened as they stared at the scene. Their leader had been beaten down again; they couldn’t help but think in shock.
Ozaki himself felt the sting of humiliation; his pride hurt even more than his cheek, which was currently dark and swollen. If things continued like this, he would lose every shred of dignity he still possessed; with a furious roar, Ozaki forced himself back onto his feet.
His thunderous roar echoed through the cave; the crowd immediately erupted into cheers once more. Encouraged by their support, Ozaki charged forward again.
Several seconds later... BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Six consecutive impacts echoed through the cave; a moment later came the sound of another body crashing heavily into the ground.
As the dust slowly settled, everyone was finally able to see who it was. And behold... it was Ozaki once again. The Dark Reaper Leader coughed up a mouthful of blood as several stabbing pains erupted throughout his body; dark bruises could now be seen all over him... six in total.
Each one rested on a particularly painful location; the agony was unlike anything Ozaki had experienced in a very, very long time. Slowly, he pushed his battered body back onto his feet; his trembling gaze lifted toward Liyu.
The youth still stood there calmly; not a single mark could be seen on his pristine body; his expression remained composed; his gaze remained calm, as if none of this was worth his attention.
Ozaki couldn’t help but feel a violent shiver run down his spine; for the first time in years, he felt utterly inferior beneath someone’s gaze. How could someone at the Body Refinement Realm be this powerful? This monstrous? It made no sense.
The thought continued ravaging his mind as his breathing became heavier and heavier; only now was he beginning to realize that he had made a terrible mistake. He had crossed someone he should never have crossed; a sense of doom began creeping into his heart; his heartbeat accelerated.
The more he looked into those deathly cold eyes, the more terrified he became; Liyu was radiating an immense yet eerily quiet killing intent. It felt far more terrifying than any loud display of rage.
What should I do? Should I run? The thought appeared in Ozaki’s mind almost immediately; yet just as panic began consuming him, several voices suddenly reached his ears: "Go, Boss! You got this!" one of the Dark Reaper members shouted.
"Yes, Boss! Crush that brat for daring to invade our lair! Powerful genius or not, he’s no match for you! Show him why you’re the boss around here!" More and more voices rang out; the Dark Reapers continued cheering loudly.
As the words entered Ozaki’s ears, a surge of confidence slowly returned to him. That’s right; he could still win.
This kid shouldn’t be stronger than him; the only reason he kept losing was because of that strange green lightning and absurd speed. Without that speed, the brat would be doomed.
With renewed confidence, Ozaki lowered his stance; his legs spread slightly apart; his eyes became intensely focused. This time, things would be different. Without hesitation, he dashed forward once more; the crowd erupted into cheers.
They had placed all of their hopes upon him; after all, if the green-haired youth truly managed to kill their boss, then there was no need for further deduction. They knew who would be next; the answer was undoubtedly them. For their own sake, they desperately prayed that Ozaki would win.
Unfortunately for them... their prayers didn’t seem to be answered. Because roughly thirty seconds later... BOOOOM! Ozaki crashed violently into the side of the cave wall; the impact was so powerful that countless cracks spread across the stone surface.
Fragments of rock rained down; several snapping sounds echoed from within his body. His ribs had finally broken; Ozaki slid downward and crashed onto the ground with another loud bang. His entire body felt as though it had been thrown into a giant meat grinder.
Meanwhile, Liyu landed gracefully on his feet; his expression remained deathly cold. Looking down at Ozaki, he spoke calmly: "You have wasted three minutes." His emerald eyes gleamed coldly.
"You only have two minutes left."