The throne room had transford into a ss. Several pillars had collapsed, and the floor was full of cracks and potholes from what looked to be explosions.
The students were not in the best shape either, their numbers having dwindled by almost half in one short mont of carelessness.
Despite Kate’s warnings, so of the third years still underestimated Lake, especially with the effects of the seals in place. In return, Lake capitalized on this to break through their formation and dive straight into the second layer, the majority of which were only Martial Apprentices.
What happened from there could only be described as a massacre.
In the blink of an eye, a dozen students were eliminated, and by the ti the third years had surrounded him again, another two dozen had been defeated.
"KHAHAHA! Is this all you have?!"
Lake laughed maniacally as he dodged and countered another attack flawlessly.
After kicking away the student who had just attacked him, he dodged two arrows before spinning around and deflecting a sword strike with his gauntlet, following up with a palm strike that sent the student flying into the crowd of approaching third years.
He didn’t have ti to rest as another two students appeared on his flanks for a pincer attack.
He was about to counter their attacks when he sensed two other students rapidly approaching him from above and behind.
Whoosh! Bzzzt!
Wind roared and lightning flashed as he was attacked from all four sides, yet in the face of all this, he just gave a chillingly wide smile, his pearly white fangs on display.
BOOM!
An impact like an explosion rang out as a figure could be seen rapidly backstepping out of the resulting cloud of dust. Following from beyond the dust was a clawed hand bursting forth. It tried to grab the figure, but before it could, an arrow flew by and knocked the hand off course, allowing the student to barely escape, the lightning crackling around his body slowly subsiding.
"Bradford! Fall back!"
A voice shouted from behind him as Bradford lightly tapped the floor while flying back, lightning bursting forth for a brief mont as he was launched into a backflip just as a radiant flash of silver mana cut right below him, splitting the cloud of dust in two.
As the dust cleared, what remained was only the Demon King, standing there with his right arm raised in defense, a clean cut visible to all.
"Tch! So you do have sothing after all..." Lake frowned in disdain as he stared at the wound on his arm. With a sickening crunch, he clenched deeply into the skull of the student in his other hand, causing him to groan in pain before vanishing into specks of light.
Bradford, who had retreated back to the second layer, panted heavily as he stared at Lake. He swallowed dryly as he recalled the exchange that had just happened.
Of the four students who had attacked him, only he had managed to get out. Even Bramble, who had approached from the skies, couldn’t escape and fell into that demon’s grasp in less than a second.
’Just what the hell is he...’
Bradford could only silently grind his teeth, an unexplainable feeling of anger growing inside him.
’Just how the hell is he so strong?!’
Fwoosh!
Even with the loss of their comrades, other students continued to charge forward to fill in the missing space and keep pressure on Lake. Especially now that they had seen him bleed, their eyes were filled with an unusual zeal.
Today, they must bring down the Demon King!
***
[Raiding101 -....]
[MultipurposeUser -....]
[Mangoeater2099 - Why is chat so quiet? Just got back.]
[KingofPong - @Mangoeater2099, Take a look at the stream.]
[Mangoeater2099 -....]
Surprisingly, after the battle began, the situation online seed to miraculously quiet down. Barely a soul was posting ssages or comnting on the forums, as everyone’s full attention seed to be stolen by the figure on the screen.
The maniacal laughter, the constant disdain and mockery, his overwhelming charisma. It all played a part in keeping their attention, but the biggest factor was his strength. The sheer disparity between him and the other students left everyone in awe.
The battle had been going on for less than ten minutes, yet he had managed to capture everyone’s eyes in that ti.
***
’Hm, there’s definitely an improvent.’
Lake’s senses quietly encompassed the entire arena, observing each student’s movent and techniques even as he displayed an outward look of mania.
’The third years are a lot stronger than I expected.’
Although they made a mistake early on, they hadn’t given him another opportunity since. Even Lake couldn’t break through their formation using only his physical strength and had been forced on the defensive.
Despite his outward display of power and dominance, even he was struggling to keep up with the combined assault of all three grades.
If even one of his combat skills were missing, he would have been defeated within the first five minutes. Even now, he was struggling to keep up with the current intensity of facing the coordinated attacks from dozens of high-level martial warriors head on.
BANG!
Explosions continued to blast across the throne room as Lake endured spears, swords, stones, and even fists and kicks flying at him from all sides.
Actually, this fight wouldn’t have been so bad if Lake were only fighting against the horde of students. In the first place, he was dealing far more damage to them than they were to him. If things were to continue at the current rate, he would have long exhausted their fighting force by now and won by attrition.
The problem was that the enemy side had soone who made a war of attrition fundantally impossible.
’I guess it’s about ti to move on to phase two.’
Flutter!
Lake’s eye trailed the flicker of green from the enemies’ backlines, moving from injured to injured and constantly healing them back to full.
"Hmph! re mortals!"
Lake swung his arm, causing a wave of invisible mana to push back against the students around him. In an instant, a small clearing was made around him. At the sa ti, a warning notification was played from everyone’s wristwatch.
[Warning! The Demon King has entered a critical state and has beco enraged!]
"What the—He even has a phase two?!"
"Is he really a Demon King?!"
A few shocked voices echoed from the remaining students as mana continued to swirl and gather around Lake.
"Hah, I guess you fools do deserve so acknowledgent..." The swirling mana began to concentrate itself into a deep blue before entering Lake’s body. "You managed to force to this state after all."
As the last of the mana entered his body, a terrifying sense of dread spread through the crowd.
"But from now on, things will change."
The false purple color of his eyes was instantly swallowed by an azure light that seed to glow like flas.
Psst!
The wind howled as a sharp, piercing sound echoed through the halls.
Before anyone could react, Lake was already in the middle of a crowd, having eliminated two students within a fraction of a second.
Lake’s figure vanished again. A second later, another student was eliminated.
"W-What the hell is this?! Teleportation?!"
As Lake’s figure continued to vanish and reappear, many people ca to that conclusion.
"No!"
However, a few students were able to pick up on the details and realize what was going on.
"He’s just moving too fast for our eyes to track—!"
Before the student who tried to warn everyone could finish speaking, his body was struck by an incredible force that sent him flying across the hall, his figure vanishing into specks of light midair.
"Shit! Everyone! Concentrate mana into your eyes!" one third-year student managed to shout out, just barely before he saw a blurry figure rapidly approaching him.
He attempted to brace himself for the impact, but even with his enhanced senses, he was still a step too slow.
A sharp claw shot towards his neck.
CLANK!
"...Oh? I didn’t think there would be soone here who could match my speed."
Lake stared at his hand. A piece of his gauntlet had been cut, a few electric sparks traveling through his arm. Returning his gaze to the figure who stood before him, he couldn’t help but smirk.
"Hah... Hah, damn it..."
Bradford gritted his teeth as his entire body sparked with electricity.
"I wonder, just how long can you keep up?"
The smile on Lake’s face grew wider before he suddenly vanished again.
Almost instantly, Bradford raised his sword to the side in a desperate bid as an invisible pressure slamd into it, sending him skidding across the floor.
Before he could even stabilize himself, he raised his sword once more before being hit from the opposite side.
To the naked eye, it looked like he was being ping-ponged across the entire hall while swinging his sword around randomly.
Fortunately, everyone there was a Martial Artist, and they were quick to enhance their vision after they figured out what was going on.
However, even then, they could barely keep up with Lake’s movents.
"How are we even supposed to beat that...?"
A second-year student muttered hopelessly as he saw the one-sided beating Bradford was currently receiving.
To the side, Kate gritted her teeth as she gripped her blade.
She knew this wasn’t going to be easy, especially since she knew exactly how strong Lake was, but she didn’t expect him to still be so overwhelming, even with all the debuffs. She felt frustrated that this was all they could do.
"Hah..."
Exhaling a short sigh, she glanced at Gwen across the field. Seeing that she received a nod, she didn’t hesitate any longer before jumping into the battlefield.
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