Chapter 420: Trace 2
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
This Fourth Princess had a rather voluptuous body and was a little beauty. Since she was able to sit next to Avic, that must mean her position was significant as well.
"It’s okay, with Garen’s ability, two lowly Form Two totem users won’t be any trouble," Avic replied nonchalantly.
"But one of the participants is His Excellency Garen’s relative, wouldn’t this be…" Another royal daughter spoke, it was the Second Princess.
This icy beauty wearing a white lace flower crown reminded calmly.
Garen glanced at the two royal daughters, the corners of his lips curving, but he didn’t say anything.
Avic frowned slightly.
"I heard that Your Excellency Garen is extremely capable, but to think you have been recognized by His Majesty as one of the top ten in the Silver Palace. Could we trouble Your Excellency to show us a glimpse of your prowess?" This came from a young man dressed in red, sitting among several nobles by the side.
"That’s Grand Duke Cody’s son, Barton." The little princess next to Garen, the Eleventh Royal Daughter, explained to Garen in a small voice.
She was no older than eleven, but her eyes were crafty and sly, her expression perfectly that of a pure loli, whereas her heart hid some considerable tricks.
"The Grand Duke’s son?" Garen’s gaze grew serious.
Just then, Avic did begin to understand what Barton was getting at.
"This is Barton, Grand Duke Cody’s fifth son. He’s the same age as you, Garen, the two of you should have a lot to talk about. What do you mean, Barton?"
"Wall of Glory." This young man in red said with a faint smile, "The Silver Palace’s Glory Wall is the best way to prove one’s power. Since Your Majesty believes His Excellency Garen has the ability to reach the top ten of the Silver Palace, then let us please have His Excellency show us, and allow us all to witness his greatness."
Avic was evidently very soft with this Barton, seemingly rather wary of Grand Duke Cody behind him as well.
"That’s true, as long as the Wall of Glory leaves behind a mark indicating the top ten, then we will naturally believe in His Excellency Garen’s abilities," the Second Princess added.
"Wall of Glory?" Garen was slightly confused.
The Eleventh Royal Daughter, the loli explained to him again. "The Wall of Glory is an heirloom the Silver Palace uses to measure someone’s ultimate destructive power. It can’t be destroyed, and only someone whose power is in the top hundred among the Silver Palace can even leave a mark on it. Different levels of power will leave marks of different depths."
"It’s something to measure one’s true power?" Garen understood.
"That’s right. All the strongest fighters in the country had been invited here by Father for a test, and there are still the marks from their tests on it. You absolutely can test your power relative to the whole kingdom there." The Eleventh Royal Daughter said with a smile.
"That’s good. I’ll go try it out."
Avic was a decisive person as well and immediately called a temporary stop to the competition.
"Good, then let’s all go to the Wall of Glory, to see just how strong the legendary Nine Headed Hydra is!"
Compared to a match between normal totem users, a move from a peak-level fighter like Garen was evidently more worth watching, so all the royal sons and daughters were instantly interested. Barton and the few others shone with even more anticipation.
The group immediately got up, and the competition participants rested temporarily.
Avic led everyone into another empty arena.
In the middle of the arena, there was a tall square wall like white jade, with marks and dents on it. More fighters than could be counted had left their own marks here.
This wall looked like a very ordinary tall wall, five meters tall and more than four meters wide, with some damage and marks on the sides. It was obviously an outer wall left from some destroyed building.
When Garen and the others arrived, some people were desperately attacking the wall.
Two of them twinkled with light, in a short-lived Spiritualization possession.
Seeing His Majesty approaching, these people immediately called back their totems and bowed at Avic politely.
"Welcome, Your Majesty!"
"Step down for now, I want to use the Wall of Glory." Avic waved at them.
"Yes."
They seemed to be officials in the palace, leaving rapidly without hesitation, giving up their space.
As everyone else watched, Garen went up and stood in front of the white Wall of Glory, examining the marks on it carefully.
Once he saw the marks, his heart gave a small jolt.
These marks were automatically arranged in a straight line from top to bottom. From deep to shallow, it was unexpectedly orderly.
"That there is the magic of the Wall of Glory, once you attack any part of the Wall and leave a mark, then that mark will be automatically moved into this line. From deep to shallow, naturally, the levels of strength can be easily distinguished." Avic explained loudly. "And this wall only records the top hundred strongest, if your attack can’t even reach number one hundred, it won’t be shown here."
"It is indeed magical." Garen nodded in appreciation.
"The three strongest fighters in the Empire have left their strongest marks here, now it’s your turn," Avic said with a smile. "Come, give out the name list!"
A servant immediately gave Garen a name list scroll.
He opened it up and saw that it recorded the information about the owners of these marks.
The first and deepest one was enough for someone to stick a thumb inside, and was left by the Empire’s Grand Duke Benoc. Benoc was Prynne’s grandfather, a terrifying reproductive machine that could create an entire family on his own… He had twenty sons, sixteen daughters, his sons’ kids, his daughters’ kids, and so on, creating a huge family clan. Among all the sons and grandsons, Prynne was part of the more favored group.
The second one was from the defense minister Veska, only a little shallower than Benoc’s.
The third was an unfamiliar name, Georbas Allen. Completely unheard of.
Next, the fourth belonged to the other Grand Duke, Cody.
The fifth one later was the Guard Captain Edin. After that were many nobles and earls, each more unfamiliar to Garen.
Garen didn’t look anymore, putting down the name list and returning it to the guard at the side.
"Can we start now?" Avic asked loudly.
"Of course." Garen smiled, and a gust of fast wind blew about him, puffing up the clothes of everyone around him.
"Retreat to a hundred meters away!" Avic said loudly and was the first to retreat together with some guards.
The princes and princesses all stood behind their personal guards, retreating to a hundred meters away.
The Grand Duke’s son, Cody, didn’t change his expression, and only retreated fifty meters away, two red-bearded old men protecting him on either side.
"Tell me, what position would this person’s power be on the wall?" Barton asked in a low voice.
"Should be above thirty, but no more than twenty-five," one old man said softly.
"If the two of you fought him, what are your chances?" Barton’s eyes sparkled, as he continued asking.
"The records say the Nine-Headed Hydra isn’t that strong and is placed number 137 among the ultimate totems. Even if this person is highly accomplished in close combat, it wouldn’t be too hard to defeat him. I alone would be enough." The old man with the longer beard said arrogantly.
Barton nodded slowly.
"In a fight between Form Four and Form Five fighters, totems practically won’t fight on their own anymore, it would mostly be a fight between totem users themselves. At that time totem users would have twice the defense of totems themselves and would have the same offensive power as the totems. He’s like us, his own physical body is extremely powerful. To have such power at this age, he’s already extremely formidable." The red-bearded old man explained.
Barton’s expression was slightly wistful.
"Too bad he chose the wrong totem, the Nine-Headed Hydra’s potential isn’t enough, he’s already reached the limit at this point."
"That might be even better, the Secret Service has always been rather at odds with us from the Geometry Service. Seeing as he’s already reached this level at this age, if he didn’t choose the wrong core totem, his advancement from here on out would be too terrifying. By the time he changes a core, who knows how many years would have passed."
Barton nodded and didn’t say any more.
Just then, the surrounding servants and maids had long since hidden themselves away in a further place, terrified of being caught in the blast.
Garen stood in front of the tall wall, after taking a look around him, he saw that everyone had backed away.
He smiled slightly. The three dots on his forehead shone with a bloody glow.
The air around him began to ripple and form translucent red salamander heads. There were nine gruesome heads in total, constantly twisting and roaring.
Phew!
A huge breath of air expanded across all directions explosively. Like a blast of wind, blowing everyone around it into taking a few steps back.
The two old men in front of Barton raised one hand each, creating a pale blue circular membrane that blocked the raging wind like a glass wall.
The clothes of everyone around him fluttered loudly in the wind. Although Barton had seen many Form Four fighters make their move before, but such a young face together with such overwhelming power was still enough to make him feel strands of envy and jealousy.
Just then.
In the middle of the arena, Garen raised his right hand, and the nine pale salamander heads became nine blood-red shadows, twisting over his arm.
Bzz…
Garen’s body slowly emitted a soft sound like a tremor. A thick, blood-like aura slowly flowed down his legs, spreading in all directions.
Barton didn’t notice anything, because he couldn’t see this blood-like aura, but the other two old men’s expressions changed drastically. Each one of them held up a hand, grabbing him and rapidly pulling him back fifty meters.
Barton’s face was full of confusion, and he was about to ask. For some reason, he was having difficulty breathing, and couldn’t open his mouth to speak.
"To think… to think!!" The old man with the long beard was filled with shock, staring hard at Garen in the arena, "His own body’s power has actually reached such a level…"
"Big brother?" The other old man spoke, his expression similarly shocked and fearful. "Could he really be that sort of person?"
The old man with the long beard nodded his head slowly.
"Young Master Barton, from now on you must never incite that Garen. Avoid any frontal conflicts with him whenever possible."
"Why?"
"This man has a heart so cruel it has reached an extreme. As a totem user, he still went to study the martial arts and physical fighting skills that even normal people find excruciatingly painful, and he even trained these martial skills to such a terrifying level, such a person’s will has already reached an incomprehensible level!"
"No wonder he could escape from the clutches of God Cloud’s clones." The other one looked as though he finally understood everything. "I saw a totem user like that before, he has extremely powerful martial arts, and after reaching a high level as a totem user, he merged his martial arts and totem together, achieving an extremely powerful level. His endurance is almost limitless and was extremely aware of the battle situation. If someone of the same level wanted to kill someone like this, it was practically mission impossible."
Barton’s expression was unnaturally heavy, this was his first time hearing the two old men next to him use such a serious tone.
"Someone like this already has such powerful survival power, added together with the Nine-Headed Hydra’s survival power…" The old man’s tone got more and more wary.
Just then, a cloud of black-red mist rose in the arena. Enveloping Garen inside.
Roar!!
The gruesome Nine Headed Salamander moved vaguely in the mist.
Finally, the countless black-red mists gathered quickly, solidifying in Garen’s palm.
He smiled, and reached out his right hand lightly, pressing on the face of the wall.
The power of the Nine-Headed Hydra totem was the strongest destructive force, as for the rest of its power they were only about support and recovery. The strongest part of the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon was its terrifying physical power.
So the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon’s power was stacked together with Garen’s own power and added on to the ring Troll Grip’s power. This was Garen’s strongest attack.
And now, Garen used at least half of its power.
The pure and terrifying power crashed into the Wall of Glory mercilessly.
Crack!!
Without any premonition, the ground under Garen’s feet collapsed. Forming a huge semi-circular dent, countless stone shards and dust formed a whirlwind flying everywhere. The place where the palm and the wall met, however, didn’t make too much noise. It was just one soft sound.
Smack.
After the Nine-Headed Dragon evolved, Garen’s actual strongest ability, was actually pure strength!
Be it Life Tear or Poison Mist Corrosion, neither was nearly as terrifying as his own pure strength. It was only half of his power.
Even he was quite excited to know, where his own true power lay among the many elite fighters of the Kingdom.
Pulling back his palm, Garen looked at the wall with a hint of anticipation.