Chapter 342: Single Finger

Atlas and everyone who had been floating high in the sky suddenly found themselves in a completely different location. The place was separated from outer space itself, as Atlas had created an isolated space by altering the logic governing spatial connections.

It was a space of his own making, detached from the surrounding Galaxy and suitable for the battle that was about to take place.

The arena Atlas had created was an enormous circular structure suspended in the depths of this isolated space. Its surface stretched across several kilometers, formed from a dark, seamless material that reflected almost no light.

Thin silver lines ran across the floor in intricate patterns, dividing the arena into several sections while faint traces of Aether circulated beneath the surface, reinforcing the entire structure.

A transparent barrier surrounded the arena, separating the two combatants from the observers outside. Atlas hadn’t constructed any seats for the audience, nor had he made any other arrangements for their comfort. However, the rulers and the other observers immediately created seats for themselves using their respective abilities, settling down outside the barrier without worrying about such trivial matters.

Atlas stood near one edge of the circular platform, examining the structure he had created for a brief moment before shifting his attention toward Kael, who was standing near the opposite edge.

Kael looked around at the barrier and the platform beneath his feet before turning toward Atlas, "This is the best place to battle, this platform can withstand our powers."

Atlas nodded calmly before turning toward the Dragon Emperor, who was now seated outside the barrier, floating high above the arena. Although there were no physical sources of light anywhere within the isolated space, every part of the arena remained clearly visible to the observers.

It was obvious that Atlas had accounted for this as well, altering the logic of light so that everyone could see the surroundings without any difficulty.

Looking at the Dragon Emperor, Atlas smiled slightly before turning back toward Kael, "Alright, let’s begin. The Dragon Emperor seems to be itching to join the battle." His words immediately caused Kael’s expression to change as he gritted his teeth and shouted, "He won’t be joining this battle because I alone will be enough!"

The moment he finished speaking, Kael moved. His body became a blur in everyone’s eyes before he suddenly appeared directly in front of Atlas in less than a second. The movement was so fast that even the observers had to narrow their focus and accelerate their perception to follow what was happening, allowing them to observe the exchange in what appeared to be extreme slow motion.

Kael’s fist shot forward with intense force, causing the space directly in front of it to bend slightly under the pressure. His target was Atlas’s chest, and he attacked without the slightest hesitation. Knowing that holding back against Atlas would accomplish nothing, Kael pushed his speed even further as he concentrated his strength into the punch.

BOOOOOM!!

Kael’s punch landed with tremendous force, producing a massive shockwave that spread throughout the arena and caused the entire structure to shake violently for a brief moment. However, the smile on his face vanished almost instantly as he looked through the small cloud of dust created by the impact.

His eyes widened in unfiltered shock when he saw Atlas standing exactly where he had been, stopping the punch with nothing more than a single raised finger.

’What the fuck?!’

Kael couldn’t help but curse inwardly as he stared at Atlas’s finger, unable to understand how his attack had been stopped so effortlessly. ’All my stats are over five thousand! What the hell is happening right now?!!’ His mind immediately returned to the time he had spent farming levels and increasing his stats by slaughtering Monsters inside the Ruins.

It was during that period that he had discovered something unusual about his System’s stat calculations, something that had gradually become more apparent as his strength increased.

Normally, whenever he used his Unique Ability to perceive someone’s status, he would see stat values numbering in the thousands or even hundreds of thousands, including those belonging to individuals at the Ex-rank and Special Ex-rank.

Yet...his own situation was completely different, as even when his stats had been around six hundred, their actual value had already been comparable to the strength of an SSS-rank individual. This difference had become even more apparent as he continued increasing his stats and advancing through the ranks.

After increasing his stats by hundreds and eventually thousands of times, Kael had reached the Emperor Rank with 5,500 points in every stat. Despite those numbers appearing relatively small compared to the values he had observed in other powerful individuals, the difference wasn’t an indication that his stats were inferior.

His System operated on a fundamentally different scale, where each point represented considerably more than the corresponding numerical value used by other cultivators.

That was why Kael had eventually stopped relying on displayed numbers alone to judge his strength. The stats he saw through his System and those belonging to other individuals could not be compared directly, even if both sets of numbers represented similar attributes.

However, even after understanding that difference, Kael had never imagined that his all-out punch could be stopped by a single finger, leaving him staring at Atlas as he tried to comprehend the enormous gap between their physical strength.

Atlas’s voice suddenly pulled Kael out of his thoughts, "Is that all you’ve got? Then, as I said, you need the Dragon Emperor’s help." His expression remained calm as he looked at Kael, seemingly unaffected by the attack that had just landed against him.

Without giving Kael another moment to respond, Atlas finally moved. His right-hand palm streaked forward, not even a blur forming as space itself failed to track the speed of his attack, in that same instant his palm struck Kael’s abdomen in one smooth motion.

"KHUG!"

The moment his palm struck Kael’s abdomen, he coughed a massive amount of blood as his body bent forward in an unnatural angle. His widened eyes barely registered Atlas’s face before a tremendous shockwave spread from behind him.

BOOM! CRACK!!

Sound spread throughout the arena as the platform itself got destroyed behind Kael before his body finally launched backward, grazing the platform ferociously as his flesh and bones cracked from the constant impacts it faced. Even with his healing abilities passively working, they failed to keep up with the speed of his injuries.

THUD

Only when Kael’s body collided with the barrier did it come to a stop. Atlas’s voice echoed throughout the arena once again, "You will show me your abilities now or would like to call the Dragon Emperor to help you?"

Atlas turned towards Kael and spoke with his indifferent expression, "Even then, I don’t think will be enough to face me."