Chapter 120: The Pillar That Wouldn’t Fall 2

Chapter 120: Chapter 120: The Pillar That Wouldn’t Fall 2

The impact shook the entire street.

A blast of wind tore down the main street, ripping up loose asphalt and kicking up a blinding cloud of gray dust.

Kael braced for the pain.

One second passed. Two seconds.

Nothing hurt.

Kael slowly opened one eye.

The massive, three-ton claw hadn’t touched him. It was suspended six inches above his hair, frozen mid-air.

Standing right in front of him, planted firmly on the cracked street, was a single figure.

Black hair whipping in the wind. A bare, scarred chest. A pair of calm, icy blue eyes glowing with boundless power.

Felix was holding the entire weight of the SS-rank monster with one single, raised palm, wrapped in a brilliant blaze of emerald mana.

His boots had sunk four inches deep into the solid asphalt, but his back was as straight as an iron pillar.

"You’re not stepping on my idiot teammate,"

Felix said, his voice flat, steady, and dead-calm.

The drake screeched in confusion, pushing down with all its massive weight.

Felix’s green eyes flared. "Not today!"

WHOOOOOOOOOOOM!

He shoved his arm upward, launching the massive beast’s foot back into the air.

At the exact same instant, Felix unleashed his core. A massive, brilliant dome of healing mana erupted from his chest, washing out thirty meters in every direction like a warm summer breeze.

The second the light touched them, the impossible happened.

Ryan’s internal bleeding vanished.

The cracked ribs in Lena’s chest snapped smoothly back into place.

Mira’s ragged breath stabilized.

The deep slashes covering Orion’s arms sealed into faint pink lines.

Over in the rubble, Darius gasped as his crushed shoulder popped back into its socket and knitted together in seconds.

Aria pulled in a sharp, deep breath of clean air, her blurred vision clearing up instantly as the blood on her face dissolved under the warm emerald current.

Kael sat on the ground, staring in utter disbelief at his right arm. The third-degree burns had completely peeled away, replaced by healthy, unblemished skin. His ribs didn’t hurt. His mana fatigue was fading.

"You..." Kael stammered, looking up at Felix’s broad back.

Felix didn’t look down. He rolled his shoulders, watching the drake recover its footing. "You always make me run across the street at the last second, Kael. It’s getting annoying."

Across the road, Lena fell to her knees, wiping tears and soot from her cheeks, screaming at him with a mix of fury and relief: "You always show up at the very last second, you bastard!"

Felix turned his head slightly, offering a faint smirk. "Sorry."

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" she yelled, her voice cracking.

"Yeah. Sorry about that too."

Kael scrambled to his feet. He flexed his fully healed fingers, feeling the fire mana humming back to life inside his chest. A wild, arrogant grin spread across his face.

"You really hate seeing me die, don’t you?" Kael chuckled.

"I hate your guts," Felix replied dryly. "Don’t flatter yourself."

"Fair enough!" Kael laughed loudly, snapping his fingers.

FWOOM!

Raging orange flames, laced with blue severance light, erupted around Kael’s fists. He glared at the massive drake in front of them.

"Hey, ugly! You tried to step on my face while I was down!"

Kael threw both hands forward, blasting a massive torrent of fire straight into the drake’s snout.

ROOOOAAAR!

The beast thrash its head, blinded by the sudden inferno.

"How do you like that, lizard?!" Kael shouted gleefully.

"Much better," Felix said, smiling faintly.

All around them, the strike team was getting back on their feet. Aria picked her silver spear up from the dirt, spinning it once before resting it firmly in her grip.

Darius shoved a slab of concrete off his chest, rolling his shoulders with a heavy, dangerous scowl.

Darius walked up beside Felix. "You took your sweet time."

"You’re welcome," Felix said.

"Still a pain in the ass."

"Still keeping you breathing."

"Touché."

FWIP. FWIP.

Two more figures touched down on either side of Felix. Seraphina landed on his right, her silver hair tangled with dust and dried blood, her water scythe humming with quiet blue electricity.

Liora dropped down on his left, her pink hair slightly messy, her dark daggers coated in fading black mist. Both women were breathing hard, their uniforms torn, but their eyes were razor-sharp.

Felix looked at them. "You two holding up?"

"I’m fine," Seraphina said coldly.

"Ready to fight," Liora nodded, cracking her knuckles.

Felix turned his gaze back toward the thrashing drake. His smile faded, replaced by dead, tactical focus.

"Listen up, everyone," Felix said, his voice carrying over the crackling flames.

The strike team closed in behind him in a tight semicircle.

"I can’t just slice through its neck like the last one," Felix admitted.

Aria’s sharp eyes scanned his face. "Your core is running dry."

It wasn’t a question.

"Yeah," Felix said, flexing his left hand. A faint green flicker sparked over his skin, but it was visibly thinner than before. "Healing the entire squad twice and fighting an SS-rank ate through my tank. I don’t have enough mana left to burn through its thickest armor."

"Then we sever the drug," Seraphina said, stepping forward. "Just like the first one."

"Exactly," Felix said. He turned his head and looked directly at Darius. "And you’re the one who’s going to do it, Darius."

Darius blinked, surprised. "Me?"

"Your earth mana has the highest physical density and penetration power of anyone on this squad," Felix explained rapidly. "Once the path is open, you need to physically drive your arm straight into its chest, find the foreign energy wrapped around its heart, and rip the booster out."

"Meaning I have to get in close," Darius murmured, looking at the towering beast.

"Point-blank," Felix confirmed. "The foreign mana will fight back. It will try to chew through your arm the second you touch it. It’s going to hurt like hell, and it might cost you."

Darius looked down at his calloused hands. Then he looked up at the roaring monster. A calm, fearless grin touched his face.

Darius rumbled, raising his massive fists, "I’ll pay the tab. Let’s kill this thing."

Aria leveled her spear beside him. "You won’t be doing it alone."

"Nobody fights alone today," Felix said, his voice hardening like steel. "Aria, Sera, Lio, Kael, Lena, Ryan, Mira, Orion. Frontal assault. Don’t worry about landing the killing blow, just shatter its outer armor and pin its limbs to the ground!"

"Finally," Kael laughed, fire swirling around his boots.

"Move out!" Felix roared.

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