“Y-You! How are you not-?”
“Eliminated?” Charles cut off Xavier’s voice in his mind with a ferocious smile and asked.
His body blurred and he barely dodged the ice spears trying to pierce his vitals before he faced an Ice phoenix trying to freeze his neck again.
He raised his bloodied arm in defense and punched at the creature, all the while defending himself against the horrendous mental interference.
He was trying to sense Xavier, but with Sarah relentlessly attacking him. Thankfully, his transformation beast—Fenrir possessed keen sense. So, while finding telepaths was very hard for others, all he needed was time.
So, he responded to Xavier, in a bid to distract him.
“I thought I was eliminated too…but haven’t you heard of the so-called treasures?” Charles said and felt the mental power in his mind shake.
Taking advantage of it, he appeared in front of Sarah and punched down at her.
His fist broke her defensive ice walls and connected with her body.
Sarah’s eyes flashed blue in the last moment and she threw a spear at him before his fist punched her.
Boom!
Sarah collapsed to the ground as she weakly coughed out blood, her face paling further with each second.
She looked up and saw her spear had pierced Charles’ arm, freezing his blood and increasing his injuries.
“Argh!” Charles channeled his prana and forcibly dispelled the ice mana in his body.
On the other hand, Xavier continued attacking Charles from the distance. He was rapidly thinking about Charles’ words.
‘Treasures…ah!’
The areas they went to had flags, but they were originally places for the best treasures.
For instance, Twisted Islands was supposed to have a special treasure that could improve one’s space path greatly.
It was very useful even for a level 6.
Of course, they all knew about this, but there was just one problem.
All of these treasures were hidden.
Finding them was almost impossible. In fact, after getting the flag, all the teams did look out for treasures, but they couldn’t find any.
Some had special restrictions, some were stored in special places and others needed some sort of ‘achievement’.
It was like the special quests of a game. But they didn’t know the trigger actions.
Regardless, Xavier finally understood why Charles wasn’t eliminated and why his injuries were partially recovered.
‘None of us found treasure, but only he did. Is Charles really better than me?’ Xavier couldn’t help but doubt himself.
Charles felt the mental power in his mind fluctuate and smirked inwardly.
It was pure luck that he found the treasure.
After he attacked the messengers, he almost lost his mind. He believed all the teams would come for him.
Even if one did, he’d be doomed.
So he recklessly charged towards the flag.
‘Perhaps there is some healing treasures that can bring me back to my peak.’
That was his initial train of thought.
He did get some healing fruits, but they were far from sufficient. In fact, the deeper he went, the worse his injuries turned out.
By the time he reached the dome holding the flag, he realized he had no way out.
Even if he went back, he’d still be eliminated in the hands of the team. There was only one way.
‘If I’ll be eliminated no matter what, then I’d rather be eliminated by this beast than those teams.’
He thought and fought the half-dragon guarding the flag.
He gave it his all and killed the creature.
But by that time, he collapsed under the beast’s corpse and was on the verge of death and by default, elimination.
When he closes his eyes in resignation, he felt a vibrant aura from the distance and saw a staircase opening into the underground.
‘Treasure!’
He understood and crawled out from the beast’s corpse. When he was about to enter the stairs, he realized something and gritted his teeth.
Clang!
He sent a message to his messengers.
‘Move out of the regions with flag’
Then he severed his hand with the comm without hesitation.
He crawled into the staircase after taking one last look at the flag he left behind.
The staircase vanished and he found a healing fruit treasure.
It was much better than everything he found. He went from on the verge of death to the strength he had shown against the trio.
On the other hand, Xavier team arrived and saw the three clues he left behind.
His severed arm under the corpse, the untouched flag and the final message indicating his abandon of the trial.
Charles recuperated after they left.
Boom!
Boom!
Charles punched down at both Sarah and Ashtarh as veins popped on his head.
They both returned their fists and the three of them wobbled backward.
Suddenly, Charles raised his leg and kicked the ground in a certain direction.
Kacha!
A huge crack appeared in the ground and continued into the distance.
“Cough! Cough!”
Xavier appeared just beside the crack in the distance as he bend down and coughed out blood.
His face was ghostly pale and he looked at Charles’ in fear and despair.
‘Just one attack…but with my body, I’m already on the verge…’ Xavier forcibly controlled his mental power and was about to cast an illusion to hide himself again, but Charles didn’t give him that chance.
He raised his bloodied leg again and kicked the ground once again. Even if Xavier ran, he wouldn’t be able to escape the destruction.
“Stop!”
Ashtarh and Sarah both yelled as they attacked him with all they got.
If Xavier was gone, then things would turn for the worse.
“I’m not going to make the same mistake again.” Charles said and despite the attacks from the two, he kicked the ground.
Boom!
The cracks widened and the whole field shook.
A silver light flashed in the distance announcing the elimination of Xavier Bell.
At the same time, Ashtarh’s and Sarah’s attacks landed on Charles, blowing him into the distance.
As he spewed out blood in mid-air, Charles flipped and landed on his feet.
“Cough. Cough. Pretty heavy handed there.” His brows knit as he felt the two heavy injuries.
Ashtarh’s punch nearly sunk his chest and broke a couple of his ribs.
Sarah’s ice spear, augmented by her physical power tore open a gap right beside his heart.
These guys both went for his heart and if he didn’t twist his body in the last moment, he might have been eliminated.
But ultimately, he wasn’t.
“Ahahaha! Xavier is out!” Charles laughed, not caring about blood spilling out of his chest.
“Let’s decide with this one strike.” He said, and gathering all his strength, shot towards the two.
