Chapter 188: Birth of the Reaper [@Thomasinho Golden Ticket Bonus - ]

Chapter 188: Chapter 188: Birth of the Reaper [@Thomasinho Golden Ticket Bonus Chapter]

’They are trying to hide pretty well now, I can’t even sense their gaze on me anymore, but before it was definitely there.’

Alex had clearly felt the mana disturbance earlier, along with the distinct sensation of being watched.

Now both were completely gone.

Whoever it was had withdrawn far enough that even the Eye of Flesh could no longer pick up a trace.

They were probably ranked well above him, which explained how easily they had erased their presence once they decided to stop being observed by him.

A new tingle brushed against his senses.

It was slight, but clear.

"Hmm? Let’s see..." Alex turned toward it at once and rushed in that direction without hesitation.

After Alex’s startling display of dominance against the tiger, participants from the other royal households across the kingdoms had also begun to move in earnest.

Descendants of the Vectorian Imperial family, the Sol Kingdom, the Sakura Kingdom, Winterfang, Stonehelm, and others started hunting creatures in their own sections.

Skills collided with beasts.

Creatures fell one after another.

Unlucky participants who got caught between them were eliminated just as quickly.

The live feeds filled with multiple simultaneous battles, each household trying to claim visibility and points.

Alex had been at the bottom of the priority list when the Proving first started.

His feed had risen to the middle when more people noticed him trapped in the web, then to the top area during the spider fight.

Now that the major battle was over and no new creatures or participants were immediately visible around him, the system began lowering his feed priority again.

The image started to drift downward among the many screens.

Then it snapped back up.

The screen showed Alex rushing toward a huge goblin creature, Amethyst Paradox already in his hand.

He closed the distance in a clean burst.

The goblin said something unintelligible and then it swung its arm in a wide diagonal slash meant to take his head.

"RAAAH—"

WHOOSH!

Alex shifted his body and fluidly dodged the attack.

The Eye of Flesh had already shown him the dense mana concentrated in the goblin’s shoulder and the weaker flow along its torso.

Amethyst Paradox flashed once along the optimal line.

SLASH!

The goblin’s entire body was cut diagonally in half.

BURST!

It dropped dead as a thick geyser of red blood sprayed outward across the cracked stones.

THUD! THUD!

[ You have killed an evolved goblin monster. lvl 8 ]

[ You have gained 3.1 XP ]

"That’s the second one..." Alex muttered and was already moving toward the next tingle of mana disturbance he could feel.

The previous kill’s residual energy was still dispersing behind him, but he no longer needed to look back.

Alexander Abyss : 13800 → 14600 Points.

Only seven seconds passed before the screen shifted again.

Alex was rushing toward another mana creature.

This one was a heavy, boar-like beast.

It sensed something approaching, turned, and roared in challenge.

"ROAAA—"

SLASH!

Amethyst Paradox flashed.

BURST!

The boar’s head fell cleanly from its body.

THUD!

The last thing it saw was a black-haired boy already moving away at speed.

Alexander Abyss : 14600 → 15200 Points.

Alex locked onto the next direction without slowing.

"Oh... I am starting to feel it... this feeling..."

He was already getting a better hold of the Eye of Flesh.

The information no longer felt quite as dense.

Adaptation worked steadily in the background, helping him process the constant flow of mana currents and sensory input without overload.

Another shift of the main screen.

Another scene of the Third Prince surging toward a creature.

One slice of Amethyst Paradox.

SLASH! BURST! THUD!

One kill.

Alexander Abyss : 15200 → 15600 Points.

Another shift.

Another view.

Another clean slice.

SLASH! BURST! THUD!

Another kill.

Alexander Abyss : 15600 → 16000 Points.

Another shift.

Another—

Alexander Abyss—

Another.

Alexander Abyss—

Another.

Alexander Abyss—

Another...

The roar of the crowd, which had been at an all-time high only minutes earlier, began to fade.

Soon there was only silence as they watched the unthinkable unfold across every major feed.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Many people sat with their mouths hanging open.

In taverns and public squares across the empire the usual shouting died away until the only sound left was the low hum of the projection crystals.

The Third Prince was moving as if he already knew exactly where to find the next mana creature.

He dodged their attacks with fluid precision and ended them in single, exact strikes.

It looked as if he knew where their weak points were, where to hit to guarantee a kill.

The efficiency was almost impossible to accept at face value.

"W-why is he moving like he already knew where all the creatures are?"

"A-and he is no longer wasting any movements to kill them..."

"Did he just get much faster, or am I the one who is hallucinating here?"

"I want to deny it, but it looks like he really did get much faster... even stronger than before..."

"What just happened...?"

Alex moved like he already knew everything.

Like he knew where the mana creatures were so he could reach them by the shortest path possible.

He went from one monster to the next, severing bodies with single slices of the purple chain-scythe.

Sometimes a creature never even saw him.

The Third Prince simply used the chain mechanism to puncture the brain from an angle from a large distance, and moved on as if it were the most ordinary action in the world.

It was like watching the Birth of a Reaper.

Wherever he moved, death followed.

No one watching could fully explain what they were witnessing.

The speed, the precision, and the complete lack of hesitation created an atmosphere that felt heavier than any of the earlier spectacular fights.

Even the other household participants who had been dominating their own sections began to notice the shift in the Live Points Rankings.

More and more focus locked onto the black-haired boy cutting through the ruins.

Alex himself remained focused on the next faint tingle of mana ahead.

The Eye of Flesh kept the nearby currents clear.

Adaptation kept the flood of information manageable.

Amethyst Paradox stayed light and ready in his hand.

Each kill was clean, each transition to the next target almost seamless.

The only thing that mattered was the next faint disturbance of mana ahead of him and the clean line of the strike that would follow.

He simply continued the hunt, points climbing with every precise strike, the ruined city steadily emptying of anything that could still be called a threat within his current range.

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End of Chapter 188: Birth of the Reaper

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