Varian joined the battlefield with a new face. In the new disguise, he seemed to be around sixty and had a strong build.
In the field filled with young men and women, he was out of place. With the aura he exuded and his age, there's just no way he could be a prince.
'Geezer who got lucky.'
That was the first thought in everyone's mind. The majority were of the opinion that the keys were better given to the talented princes and princesses.
So, no one liked an old bastard stealing the chance of a genius leveraging his age.
But—
Whoosh!
In the chaotic battlefield splattered with torn limbs, butchered bodies and blood puddles, the old man moved like a fish in water.
Out of the hundreds of attacks flying through each second, not a single one grazed him.
His speed wasn't very high. In fact, he was only moving in the range of mid level 7, but his timing sense and agility…they showed his vast experience.
'He's really a veteran.'
Swish!
The veteran stopped at one particular spot where a group of five were fighting a giant green humanoid monster.
It looked like a goblin from fiction, but with the dimensions of an orc.
"Kekeke!" the giant goblin cackled and raised its hand. A blue lightning snake appeared in its hand before turning into a whip.
With a flick of its hand, the whip stretched itself and was about to lash against the team of five.
"Strengthen the ice wall!"
"Freeze the space around that whip!"
"Don't get close to it. It'll burst the—"
A man stood in front of the giant goblin following which the sound of his arrival slowly caught up.
Whoosh!
"Old guy, get out or you'll di—" a member from the team yelled but her voice was cut off by the rumbling of the thunder as the whip lashed at the old man.
Rumble! Zaap!
The old man, instead of panicking, simply smirked.
Then, his hands began to glow with a golden light before turning into a mass of lightning.
'Ah! He's a lightning awakener!' The team understood the reason for his confidence but felt it was still absurd.
'His lightning path is only at low level 7.'
Kaa! Kacha!
The lightning whip clashed with the old man's hand fiercely for a moment before the old man's hands dimmed.
'Fuck! His hands are going to be fried!'
But their thoughts were proven wrong the very next second.
The whip suddenly froze and its already decreased momentum fell further.
'Ah! He's a space awakener. A dual awakener? No wonder…'
Kacha!
The lightning whip tore the frozen space and lashed forward.
The team wasn't as worried anymore.
The old man could teleport and save his life.
And since the whip was significantly weakened, they were confident in taking it.
But the old man didn't escape, rather, he kicked the ground and closed the distance with the goblin.
The team were dumbfounded at his suicidal actions.
Both his paths were only low level 7. There's no way he could win against the giant goblin which was one of the strongest mid level 7s!
"Idio—"
"Sto—"
"Esc—"
Their voices froze abruptly as they witnessed a ridiculous scene.
The old man lowered his hand, clenched his fist, covered it with a lightning glove and punched up, aiming right for the goblin's chest.
Boom! Kacha! Crackle!
The sound of bones breaking, lightning crackling and space all occured simultaneously.
"Keee!"
The goblin flew into the air and after five seconds, crashed to the ground with a thud.
The team hurriedly checked it and they couldn't help but gasp.
There was a large cavity in the goblin's chest, destroying its heart!
"Hiss!"
"Where is he?"
The man who killed arguably the strongest creature below high level 7 with a single attack!
One of the members pointed out with a trembling voice. "…There."
The team turned their gazes and flinched at the sight.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The old man's figure flashed as he fought against a high level 7 armored elephant.
Rocks and stone flew at him at supersonic speeds and injured him relentlessly.
Neither the old man's lightning attacks nor his superhuman strength were effective in injuring the armored elephant.
In the end, he teleported away from the creature and picked another high level 7.
A flaming tiger.
Boom!
It was the same result.
The flaming tiger's fire walls negated his lightning, its violent bursts broke his space locks and its fire hammers overpowered his strength.
The old man once again teleported away.
He killed a few mid level 7s here and there before turning to high level 7s once again.
Boom!
And again.
"…Why is he picking the opponents he can't win?" A member of the team asked with a perplexed expression.
The old man now had injuries from head to tie, and looked like he was about to die any second.
So why…
"Compared to him, Charles is just sooo cool." A girl in the team exclaimed.
"Why even bother? One is a genius never seen before and the other is…even though a bit strong, still a geezer who can't even fight a high level 7." Another girl shook her head.
Her eyes showed a trace of disdain as she spat. "Don't compare genius to medicority."
They were right.
The genius they so adored was indeed a mediocrity compared to the old man.
Varian could roughly guess the thoughts of the people around him. More so because he moved very closely to the white wolf.
Since the white wolf mostly picked high level 7s as its opponents, Varian too picked high level 7s in order to maintain a close distance.
The result was expected.
He lost against every single high level 7 monster he fought.
But that didn't mean he was weaker than them.
In fact, Varian was laughing inside.
'Finally! I can kill high level 7s!'
Since the last time he checked status on 38th, he had grown significantly.
Now, if he used seven, no, even six paths, he was sure of killing majority of high level 7s here.
But what delighted him even more was—
"Roar!"
The giant white wolf howled and ripped the head of the armored elephant.
The creature he couldn't defeat with his three paths, Charles did with one.
Kicking the ground, the white wolf turned around for its new prey.
Shuaa!
The old man turned in the direction of the sound.
Varian's eyes clashed with Charles'.