Chapter 176: Mission Completed
Chapter 176: Chapter 176: Mission Completed
Chapter 176: Mission Completed
The massive Level 9 beast turned its glowing blue eyes toward the youngest and weakest of the trio, letting out a rumbling growl of mockery.
But to the beast’s surprise, the sixteen-year-old boy did not turn and flee.
His second-level Spirit Manifestation aura surged up, expanding far beyond what his realm should have allowed.
He stepped directly into the path between the advancing beast and his fallen companions.
Seeing this, the violet panther raised its lightning claws, and pounced at Jace.
"DON’T LOOK DOWN ON ME, YOU OVERGROWN CAT!"
Jace’s sword blazed with a searing white light as he launched himself forward.
He didn’t meet the panther’s charge head-on.
Instead, he angled his approach at a sharp diagonal, sliding beneath the beast’s sweeping paw by a margin so thin that the violet lightning grazed the skin of his face.
Astral Severing Strike!
As the son of High Preceptor Octavius, the resources, teachings, and martial arts poured into his foundation were of the highest Epic tier.
SLASH!
The starlight blade crashed against the panther’s lightning-sheathed body, actually managing to slice through the beast’s innate defense and drawing a thin line of blood.
ROAR!
The panther snarled in pain and fury. Its violet eyes locked onto the tiny human who had dared to wound it.
But Jace was already gone.
He had kicked off the beast’s own leg, using the momentum to launch himself backward and out of immediate striking range.
His landing wasn’t clean — he stumbled slightly, blood dripping from a shallow gash on his shoulder where a stray arc of the panther’s lightning essence had grazed him — but his eyes held no trace of fear.
But Jace didn’t retreat.
His battle instincts were incredibly sharp since a very young age.
It was aggressive, unpredictable, and lethally creative, a style forged from years of practice, and an innate combat intuition.
The panther lunged again.
Jace met it with a ferocious counterattack, his blade moving with unconventional and erratic patterns.
The beast’s predatory instincts couldn’t fully predict his movements.
For a brief moment, the son of the High Preceptor truly displayed exactly why he was considered a peerless genius.
But raw talent could not defy the fundamental laws of cultivation forever.
The Level 9 Violet Thunder Panther grew enraged by the annoying insect buzzing around it.
BOOM!
The panther reared onto its hind legs and brought both massive forepaws crashing down simultaneously.
Jace raised his sword in a desperate cross-guard.
Yet, the lightning hit him like a falling mountain.
A dome of concentrated violet lightning exploded outward from the point of impact.
Jace was caught in the shockwave.
Lightning tore through his defensive aura, sending him flying backward, his body rolled several times before digging his sword into the dirt to stop his momentum.
"Jace!" Beric screamed, terrified for the boy’s life.
Jace coughed up a massive mouthful of blood, his black and silver-trimmed inner palace robes torn, revealing several burnt marks on his body.
And yet, when he lifted his head to face the approaching beast, his eyes held not a single shred of fear.
Jace’s trembling hand reached into his robes, and withdrew something.
It was a glowing jade amulet—a life-saving trump card given to him by his father, possessing a single strike of a Domain Master’s power.
His father had told him to use it only when you have absolutely no other choice.
’No other choice?’ Jace thought with a bitter grin. ’I think this qualifies.’
But before Jace could fully activate the talisman—
Swoosh—!
A gust of violent wind swept past Jace, almost tumbling him over.
He blinked as he looked ahead, a tall, dark-robed figure had appeared between him, and the beast at some point of time.
The Level 9 Violet Thunder Panther was already mid-pounce.
Its glowing blue eyes widened in shock, but its momentum was already fully committed.
Its lightning-wreathed claws slashed downward at Rhain that stood in the path.
Facing the attack, Rhain unbotheredly raised his right hand, curled his fingers into a fist, and delivered a casual punch.
His fist collided squarely with the massive panther’s descending skull.
BOOM!
CRACK!
The Level 9 Violet Thunder Panther didn’t even have the chance to let out a whimper of pain.
The beast’s enormous body — a creature that weighed several tons and radiated the pressure of a peak Spirit Manifestation Realm was launched backward through the air like a ragdoll.
It tore through the branches of several ancient trees before crashing heavily into the dirt dozens of feet away.
It did not move again.
The violet lightning that had blazing so ferociously across its body died entirely.
Jace’s hand hung frozen in the air, still clutching the talisman he was ready to activate.
Beric, who was slumped against a shattered boulder with a broken arm, and Quinlan, who was clutching his bleeding chest on the ground, stared at the scene with their mouths hanging so wide open that their jaws nearly dislocated.
Under their completely stupefied gazes, Rhain calmly lowered his fist.
He unhurriedly walked forward, stepping over the broken branches, until he stood beside the massive corpse of the Level 9 beast.
"Ten," Rhain murmured to himself, his tone entirely satisfied. "The quota is finally complete."
A flash of spatial light enveloped the massive carcass.
In the blink of an eye, the intact corpse of the Level 9 Violet Thunder Panther vanished into his spatial ring.
Rhain straightened up and turned back toward the trio, before finally settling on Jace.
"You are quite good for your age," Rhain praised.
Rhain’s words finally brought them to their senses.
Beric was the first to find his voice, though it came out as barely more than a croak.
"S-Senior Rhain..." Beric stammered, his broken arm dangling uselessly at his side as he tried and failed to push himself into a proper sitting position. "You... you killed a Level 9 Spirit Manifestation beast... with a single punch..."
His eyes darted to Quinlan, who returned his gaze with equal disbelief.
"So this is the strength of a Gold Badge disciple," Quinlan whispered in sheer awe.
"No."
Both Beric and Quinlan turned to look at Jace.
Jace had also snapped out of his daze.
"That was not the power of a Gold Badge disciple," He looked unblinkingly at Rhain, "I have sparred against Gold Badge disciples before. I know their strength. None of them could do what he just did."
"Even the Core Palace disciples could not kill a Level 9 Spirit Manifestation beast with a single, bare-handed punch. The raw physical force required to cave in the skull of a beast at that level, through its innate lightning defense, without even using a martial art..."
Jace trailed off, his brows knitting into a deep frown as if the conclusion his own logic demanded was too absurd to accept.
He considered himself a prodigy who felt proud of being able to fight across realms.
But at most, he could fight two minor realms above him.
It could never be as absurd as Rhain.
Beric and Quinlan felt their scalps turn completely numb.
If even the Core Palace disciples could not replicate what they had just witnessed, then exactly how strong was the young man standing before them?
Jace finally managed to stand up, swaying dangerously.
He lifted his head, and for the first time since they had met, the defiant, combative glare in his eyes was entirely absent.
Instead, it held an admiration, and respect that he had not showed even when facing Core Palace disciples.
For a pampered, peerless genius who had never once lowered his head to his peers, admitting his own foolishness was a bitter pill to swallow.
But Jace was arrogant, not an ungrateful fool.
"Thank you," Jace stammered out the words in a tone that he never believed he could, "For saving my life... and I apologize for my previous disrespect."
Rhain simply gave a faint nod.
He didn’t care about the boy’s earlier arrogance, nor did he need his gratitude.
"Take some healing pills and stabilize your injuries," Rhain instructed flatly, glancing at Beric and Quinlan, who were struggling to stand. "My mission quota here is complete. Heal your wounds. We are returning to Stormveil City together."
The trio were struck dumb again.
It had been what?
In the exact same amount of time it took their trio to pluck thirty herbs, Rhain had tracked down and slaughtered ten late stage Violet Thunder Panthers.
But they could still picture a terrifying scene in their minds.
Rhain casually strolling, and punching around everytime he found a violet thunder panther.
Then he would simply toss the massive corpse into his spatial ring like he was harvesting cabbages from a garden, and casually walk to the next target.
The sheer absurdity of that mental image made all three of them shiver involuntarily.
If the rest of the Inner Palace disciples knew that the hardest Gold Badge entrance mission in the last five years had been completed with the same effort it took to take a morning stroll, they would probably cough up blood in sheer disbelief.
"Yes, Senior!" Beric and Quinlan responded hastily, quickly retrieving rare-grade healing elixirs from their spatial rings and tossing them into their mouths.
Jace also consumed a pill, sitting cross-legged for a few moments to soothe the damage from lightning essence in his meridians and seal the shallow gash on his shoulder.
Rhain leaned casually against a nearby tree.
A few minutes later, the trio pushed themselves to their feet.
"We are ready, Senior," Beric reported respectfully.
Rhain looked at them, their complexions looking significantly better.
He gave a slight nod. "Let’s go."
Trailing quietly behind Rhain, Beric, Quinlan, and the unusually silent Jace followed closely, heading back toward the outer perimeter of the Thunder Beast Ridge.