Free Web NovelChapter 138: Enough of Observing
Victor remained seated on a thick branch of a tree partially submerged in the swamp, watching the chaos unfold across the region. The Blood Demon’s Concealment continued to completely hide his presence, allowing him to observe the combat without interference. The distance between him and the battlefield was great, but his current senses rendered it irrelevant. In practice, he could see better from there than many of the participants could see just a few meters from their target.
What caught his attention most was not the violence.
It was the tranquility.
Leon was being attacked by more than thirty vampires at once. Spells streaked across the air. Blood techniques exploded in all directions. Enchanted weapons emerged from blind spots. Ambushes came from above, from the sides, and even from underwater. Even so, Leon didn’t seem surrounded.
He seemed bored.
Victor had seen confident people.
He had seen arrogant people.
He had seen strong people.
Leon didn’t quite fit into any of those categories. The man gave the impression of someone who simply didn’t see those present as legitimate threats. Not because he was trying to belittle them. Not because he wished to humiliate them. Just because his mind seemed genuinely incapable of registering those attacks as something dangerous.
It was a subtle difference.
But enormous.
An ordinary vampire would feel pressured in that situation.
Leon seemed to be solving a domestic task.
A blood spear pierced the air, attempting to pierce his back, while two participants advanced simultaneously from his flanks. The coordination wasn’t bad. In fact, Victor had to admit it was one of the best combinations he’d seen during the entire exam.
The spear arrived first.
It didn’t even touch Leon.
A shadow emerged behind him like a living organism and completely swallowed the attack. The technique simply vanished within that black mass without leaving any trace. No explosion. No resistance. No impact.
It disappeared.
The two attackers arrived soon after. One of them wielded a short sword enveloped in scarlet energy. The other carried metallic claws reinforced with runes. Both advanced just as Leon’s automatic defense seemed occupied.
Victor even thought they might have found an opening.
Then the shadow behind Leon opened its eyes.
Literally.
Dozens of red eyes emerged from the darkness.
Victor blinked slowly.
"...This is disturbing."
The two participants didn’t even have time to react.
Black arms emerged from the shadow and struck them before they could even complete their offensive movements. The bodies were thrown away with such force that they pierced multiple trees before disappearing into the distant swamp mist.
Leon didn’t even turn his head.
He didn’t even look at them.
He didn’t even confirm if they were alive.
He just kept walking.
Victor rested his chin on his hand as he watched.
Now he was beginning to understand the problem better.
Leon’s physical strength was absurd. This was already proven by how he had turned the hydra into pieces using only his fists. However, that wasn’t the most dangerous thing about him.
The real problem was his versatility.
Normally, individuals specialized in strength possessed some predictable weaknesses. Limited speed. Reduced range. Dependence on close combat.
Leon seemingly ignored all of them.
Those shadows functioned as defense.
As attack.
As territorial control.
As detection.
Perhaps even as transportation.
Victor watched a black current emerge from the ground and pierce through a participant who was trying to escape. The man was violently pulled back and thrown against a tree so hard that the entire trunk split in two.
That didn’t seem like a newly awakened ability.
It seemed like something trained.
Refined.
Used countless times.
Which was curious.
Because all the participants in that test were relatively young.
Leon was clearly hiding more than he was letting on.
In the heart of the swamp, the survivors finally realized that continuing to attack individually was futile. They began to reorganize. Small groups formed quickly as improvised strategies emerged amidst the chaos.
Victor had to admit that this was clever.
Not very useful.
But clever.
Five vampires advanced together from the right while six others prepared a sequence of ranged attacks. The objective seemed simple: to overwhelm the shadows through sheer volume.
For a few seconds.
It worked.
Or at least it seemed to work.
The shadows were pushed back.
Some attacks actually reached Leon.
Explosions illuminated the area.
Columns of energy struck his position.
The entire swamp trembled.
Victor watched silently.
The attackers did too.
There was a brief moment of expectation.
Perhaps hope.
Then the smoke began to clear.
Leon stood exactly where he always stood.
Uninjured.
Not even looking bothered.
Victor began to laugh.
It wasn’t a funny situation.
But the expressions of the other participants were.
That specific moment represented the exact instant when a person realizes their plan isn’t working. It was almost possible to hear their thoughts.
"This should have worked."
"Why didn’t it work?"
"What exactly is this guy?"
Leon then did something that caught even Victor’s attention.
He raised one hand.
Just that.
No great preparation.
No speech.
No exaggerated movement.
The shadows of the entire swamp responded immediately.
The dark water began to move.
The trees began to cast larger shadows.
Even the mist seemed to be being absorbed.
Victor felt the amount of energy increase.
A lot.
Very fast.
The participants felt it too.
The problem was, they realized it too late.
The ground beneath them opened up.
Hundreds of black stakes emerged simultaneously from the swamp.
The scene looked like a trap set by an extremely creative lunatic. Shadows exploded upward in all directions, transforming the entire terrain into a deadly field.
Screams immediately echoed.
Several participants were hit.
Others managed to escape by inches.
Some tried to fly.
The shadows followed them.
Victor watched intently.
Now he understood.
Leon wasn’t fighting the participants.
He was controlling the battlefield.
The difference was gigantic.
While the others needed to move to attack, Leon transformed the entire environment into an extension of his own body. It didn’t matter where the enemies ran. It didn’t matter which direction they chose.
Everything was within his reach.
Everything.
Victor crossed his arms slowly.
It was an extremely efficient skill.
Frighteningly efficient.
And the most worrying thing was that Leon still didn’t seem to be using it all.
Not even close.
His expression remained calm.
His movements remained economical.
His breathing remained steady.
Nothing indicated effort.
Nothing indicated difficulty.
It was like watching someone crush particularly persistent insects.
Victor remained silent for a few seconds before finally smiling.
Because this was probably the first time since the beginning of the exam that he had encountered someone truly interesting.
Not just strong by normal standards.
Not just strong for his age.
Truly strong.
The kind of person capable of completely altering a battle simply by being present.
As he watched another wave of participants being tossed into the air by black currents rising from the swamp, Victor put his hands back in his pockets and continued watching.
Because one conclusion was already quite clear.
The other vampires had prepared an ambush for Leon.
But, at some point during the first few seconds of the combat, the situation had completely reversed.
Now it didn’t seem like thirty participants were hunting one man.
It seemed like one man was hunting thirty participants.
Victor remained observing the massacre for a few more seconds while the survivors continued desperately trying to find some way to cross Leon’s dark domain. The situation had long since surpassed the concept of a balanced battle. The entire swamp seemed to belong to those shadows. Every tree projected darkness. Every puddle reflected darkness. Every empty space seemed to hide more darkness waiting for an opportunity to attack.
And Leon remained at the center of it all.
Immobile.
Calm.
Like a king observing a mass execution.
Victor rested one hand on the tree trunk as he analyzed the scene through that monstrous perception that had awakened after absorbing the Primordial Blood. The more he observed, the stranger it seemed. Because Leon was strong.
Very strong.
But something didn’t fit.
That ability was working too well.
The movements were too refined.
The control was too precise.
It seemed less like a recent awakening and more like a technique trained for years.
Victor narrowed his eyes slightly.
Then he made a decision.
"Let’s test it."
His voice was low.
Almost a murmur.
He finally stood up from the branch where he was sitting as the wind slowly swept through the destroyed forest around him. The Blood Demon’s Concealment remained active, completely hiding his existence from the rest of the battlefield.
No one noticed him.
Not the participants.
Not Leon.
Not even the shadows themselves.
Victor then slowly extended one hand.
The air grew cold.
Very cold.
Small dark crystals began to appear around his fingers as a black and bluish mass gradually took shape before him.
Black Ice.
That substance remained strange.
Even now.
Even after so many hours using that ability.
The ice didn’t look like ice.
It looked like something dead.
Something ancient.
Something that should never exist naturally.
The structure continued to grow.
First a rod.
Then a blade.
Then a sharp point.
A spear.
Long.
Elegant.
Absolutely lethal.
Victor observed the weapon for a few seconds while mentally calculating the distance.
More than a kilometer.
Maybe a little more.
Normally it would be absurd.
But he wasn’t exactly normal at that moment.
The accumulated force within his body had increased too much after awakening.
Far beyond what he yet fully understood.
Victor partially shrugged. He planted his feet firmly on the branch.
Then he pulled his arm back.
His muscles instantly tensed.
The tree trunk beneath him began to crack.
Cracks appeared in the wood.
The very atmosphere around him seemed to vibrate.
Victor smiled. freewebnoveℓ.com
And he threw.
BOOOOOOOOM.
The tree exploded.
Not the spear.
The tree.
The force used was so absurd that the fulcrum simply couldn’t withstand the initial impact.
The spear vanished.
Literally vanished.
No participant could see it.
No examiner could have followed that movement.
Even Victor lost sight of the weapon for a fraction of a second.
It pierced the swamp like a projectile launched from a divine weapon.
The air was torn.
The clouds above parted.
A black line stretched for miles in less than an instant.
Leon didn’t notice.
Not for a second.
Because at that exact moment his attention remained focused on the participants scattered around the swamp.
The shadows continued to advance.
The vampires continued trying to survive.
Then the spear arrived.
CRAAAAASH.
The impact happened so fast that the sound came later.
The tip pierced Leon’s left shoulder.
Then it continued.
Then it exploded.
The whole world seemed to tremble.
A gigantic column of black ice erupted from the point of impact while a monstrous explosion completely engulfed the area.
The swamp disappeared.
The water evaporated.
Trees were uprooted.
Shadows exploded in all directions.
The closest participants were thrown into the air like leaves during a storm.
Victor watched everything from a distance.
Then he whistled.
"...Wow."
Because even he hadn’t expected that.
When the dust finally began to settle, Leon was no longer where he should have been.
The man had been thrown across the swamp for hundreds of meters.
His body passed through trees.
Rock.
Earth.
Water.
Until finally stopping after leaving a huge trail of destruction across the region.
Silence fell.
For a few seconds.
Then Leon stood up.
Victor raised an eyebrow.
Because that was impressive.
Very impressive.
Half of his body had disappeared.
Literally.
His left shoulder no longer existed. His left arm was gone.
A large part of his torso had also been torn away.
The destruction followed a grotesque spiral through his body, as if some monstrous force had pierced his flesh while simultaneously crushing it.
It was an absurd wound.
A wound that should kill virtually any young vampire instantly.
Leon remained motionless, observing his own condition.
For the first time since the beginning of the battle.
His expression changed.
Not to pain.
Not to anger.
But to surprise.
Genuine surprise.
His eyes slowly scanned his own destroyed body.
Then they observed the surrounding area.
Then the horizon.
Searching.
Trying to find the origin of the attack.
Victor remained completely hidden.
Observing.
Silently.
Leon continued searching for a few seconds.
Then something began to happen.
Shadows emerged around the wound. First slowly.
Then quickly.
Very quickly.
The flesh began to grow.
The bones reappeared.
Muscles rebuilt themselves.
Veins returned.
The entire arm began to take shape again before the eyes of the survivors scattered across the swamp.
Victor watched it intently.
Without blinking.
Because that speed of regeneration was absurd.
Even by vampire standards.
Less than twenty seconds later.
Leon was whole again.
As if nothing had happened.
No scars.
No marks.
No sign of damage.
Just a destroyed uniform and a much more serious expression than before.
Silence fell over the battlefield again.
The surviving participants seemed unable to comprehend what they had just witnessed.
Honestly.
Victor was also processing it.
Because now he was absolutely certain of one thing.
Leon wasn’t just strong.
Nor just dangerous.
Nor just talented.
There was something profoundly wrong with that guy.
And for the first time since the beginning of the exam,
Victor felt a genuine curiosity.
Because now he wanted to find out exactly what it was.
"Well, enough observing," Victor said smiling, "Let’s steal some points."
