Chapter 48: Enhanced

The flail swung faster than the words out of Celeste’s mouth. Her warning would have been too late.

Despite that, Eren twisted his body backwards, avoiding the path of the spiked flail.

A patch of heat in his chest warned him as the flail swung up to the ceiling, before falling back straight towards his body in a strange, unnatural trajectory.

He lowered his posture and tucked his elbows. Feet, creating spiritual roots on the ground.

The swinging flail was met with a thunderous Primal Strike that sent it crashing onto the wall.

Stone colliding with stone.

The flail shattered completely, sending chips of stone hurtling everywhere.

The wall now bore the scars of his devastating Primal Strike, with some cracks even leading up to the ceiling. Above him, the metal chain where the flail hung from now swung limply in the air.

Eren was shocked by his own strength.

It was a routine execution of his Primal Strike. His focus, not even in full force.

Yet its power exceeded that of his own expectations, and the expectations of a normal Primal Strike.

Heishtå, he cursed to himself.

He expected his meridians to enhance his strength. That’s why he held back on purpose. But even with his own self-limiting factor, it still exhibited an augmented power by more than half of its expected value.

This diverged greatly from the Venerable Ursine King’s experiences. Even with opened meridians, his punches weren’t as powerful as Eren.

Furtively, he took a glance at Celeste. Her face was one of complete astonishment. She saw everything.

Heishtå, he cursed again.

"How... how did you do that?"

She carefully approached the cracked stone wall, feeling the depression the flail had left behind. On her feet, the stone debris showed the destructive force of Eren’s Primal Strike.

"It was fragile," he said. A flimsy excuse.

"That flail came from behind you," she said in a hint of disbelief. "It was your blindspot. You couldn’t have seen it coming. You moved even before I saw what was happening."

Eren had no refute. The [Zenith of the Feline] gifted her with an increased sense of perception and reaction time. But somehow, he was faster than her.

She looked at the swirling smoke of red Psions in his hands. He could see suspicions emerging from her expressions.

’Did he lie?’

’Is his Martial Manual something more complex than a Primal Strike?’

She would see no such evidence. But the seed of doubt was already planted in her mind.

Eren tensed. Waiting for her reaction.

"I’m afraid of balloons," she blurted out. "I can’t stand them. They scare the hells out of me. Even when the other kids made fun of me, I always stayed in the bathroom during birthdays or celebrations. Just looking at their pictures sends shivers down my spine."

"What?"

"It’s one of my greatest secrets," she told him. "Now we’re even."

Eren stayed silent for a few seconds, before a snort exhaled out of him. Then, he began laughing to himself. His hearty chuckle echoed through the tunnels, contrasting the biting cold of its dark interior.

"Rude!" Celeste frowned.

Athan emphasized weak points with fervid attention. He said Eren needed to learn how to spot it because no one would willingly show their weaknesses.

And if he found someone who would, Athan would fly around the nine realms vulnerable and bare naked like a crazy person.

Eren felt sorry for all of Immoræ for making that bet.

He knew Celeste was telling the truth. It perfectly coincided with the requirements of the [Zenith of the Feline] Martial Manual: a ridiculous and bizarre phobia like the fear of balloons.

"You don’t get the right to make fun of me," Celeste said. "My secret is one of my biggest fears. While your secret is that you’re hiding a much more powerful Martial Manual than other people think. How is that fair?"

Eren wiped the tear off his eyes. "Alright, alright. I’ll stop."

"Now can we continue on? We’re running out of sunspores."

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Eventually, Eren composed himself and they continued to creep through the Subterranean Burrows.

A few more traps sprung against them along the way. But nothing that they couldn’t handle. More of the same ambushes from before.

Their pace quickened as they got accustomed to the traps. Eren didn’t have to hide his enhanced Primal Strike and his near-supernatural instincts.

He took point from then on, as his [Masochist’s Dream] allowed him to sense traps before they activated.

As they got closer and closer to the end of the tunnel, the light on the other side kept getting brighter and brighter.

It came to a point where they didn’t even have to use the sunspores to illuminate their way forwards. Just in time too. They used up almost all of their sunspores, with only a few pieces left in reserve.

Muffled sounds coming from the other side echoed through the tunnel. Hushed conversations. Fire crackling.

Finally, they stepped foot out of the tunnel.

A large open space opened up to them.

The first thing they saw was a large campfire in the middle of this cavern. Made from wood stacked almost twenty feet high in a square pattern, with more logs inside to fuel the fire.

Its flames billowed up, illuminating most of the cavern floor with the shade of a fading sunset.

Grey smoke rose up to the dark, unseen ceiling. Eren estimated this place to be almost as tall as the pit they fell in.

Examinees lined around the campfire, warming their hands from the eerie cold of the Subterranean Burrows.

It was a large space. Even bigger than the gymnasium itself. Enough to accommodate all thousand or so examinees.

In fact, it looked exactly like that. Hundreds of examinees spread around the large underground chamber.

A few of them turned their heads as Eren and Celeste exited the tunnel.

Their eyes were vigilant. Seeing if the newcomers sustained injuries or if they carried with them something valuable.

Eren observed them too. As he did so, someone called out to them.

"Celeste!"