Chapter 98: Chapter 98: The Hero Ended Up Beneath My Boots

I looked directly at Angelica. “Should we end this now?”

She nodded. Raised her sword as a signal to begin.

But before she could take a single step, Charlotte just jumped in between us with words.

“Princess Angelica, let me handle this.” Her voice was sharp. Certain. “After all, this is my fight. And the person standing right in front of me needs to be shown his place so he never dares to oppose us again.”

I pressed a hand against my chest. Dramatic. Wounded. The perfect performance.

“Ouch. That hurts. You broke my poor heart again, darling.”

Her face twisted with a hiss. She turned to Angelica, her eyes practically screaming get out of this fight.

Angelica read the message.

She drove her sword into the ground.

That was her answer.

Charlotte grinned seeing that response. And me? I couldn’t care less. Because the difficulty level just dropped.

Facing both of them at once would have been rough considering their combined strength. But I still would have won. Now it was just going to take less effort.

Charlotte wasted no time. She raised her hand and the positioning of her fingers, the angle, the adjustment of her wrist told me exactly what was coming.

Lightning bolts.

And I didn’t just know which attack she was casting. I knew every single weakness and strength it carried.

The bolts that were about to be summoned would be fired at me in a pattern. Three of them. Her maximum output.

I grinned while walking toward her. Casual. Like a final boss who had already finished reading the script.

“Casting time, five seconds. Three lightning bolts. Which happens to be your limit.”

She twitched. Every muscle in her face contracted at once because she knew I was dead accurate.

But her stubborn ass pulled the trigger anyway. Three bolts of lightning materialized just ahead of her outstretched hand, crackling with electric fury.

I kept walking. “These aren’t homing missiles. So you’ll just send them my way.”

My eyes traced the trajectory before they even launched.

“But looking at where they’re aimed, it seems like you’re planning for a future that will never happen.”

Her expression shifted to confusion but I wasn’t done.

“You think I’ll take the bait. Run away or dodge left or right. Only to find one of those corner bolts waiting at my escape route. Ready to punish this heartbroken soul for trying to survive.”

Confusion shattered into shock. Because I was reading her like an open book.

And why wouldn’t I? I had been studying her movements the entire fight. Analyzing every pattern. Every habit. Every tactical tendency she had.

On top of that, the fragments of Deculein’s memories gave me something even better. Personal knowledge. He knew her from their time together. Her fighting style. Her ego. Her predictable need to prove herself the smartest person in the room.

All of it was loaded in my head and ready to be used.

She fired anyway.

Three bolts screamed through the air.

Somehow they didn’t look scary at all.

I kept walking with bored face and loose shoulders. Every step telling the crowd that this attack wasn’t worth a flinch.

But inside? I was buzzing with excitement. Because this was it. My aura farming moment. The scene that would make every spectator in this arena rethink who the real weakling was.

Just as I predicted. Only one bolt was aimed at me. The other two were angled wide, their explosion radius nowhere close enough to reach where I stood.

So I debuffed the single bolt coming my way. Weakened its mana structure mid-flight.

Then I buffed my axe. Pushed every drop of enhancement into the weapon gripped in my hand.

And I threw it.

The axe spun forward with whatever strength my body could produce. It met the incoming bolt head on.

CRACKOOOM.

On contact the bolt didn’t shatter. It transformed. Lightning wrapped itself around my axe like it was trying to devour the toughest metal this world had ever forged which it was.

I kept walking. Unbothered by the chaos surrounding me.

Behind me the two stray bolts hit the ground.

BOOM. BOOM.

Explosions erupted on both sides. Dirt and debris scattered in every direction.

But the real show was in front of me. My axe hung suspended in mid-air while a massive current of lightning coiled around it. Two forces wrestling for dominance.

I stopped walking. Stood right beside the spectacle of clashing power. Close enough to feel the static pulling at my skin.

Then I spoke. Not to Charlotte. Just out loud. “You got a powerful attack right there.”

A pause.

“But it’s still too weak for someone called a hero.”

I didn’t look at her. I didn’t need to. I knew those words were carving damage deeper than any spell could. That was the plan. Break her composure. Push her ego until she snapped and threw everything she had left.

THUD.

My axe dropped to the ground right beside my feet. The lightning dissolved around it like it had been swallowed whole.

The blade was glowing now. Shining bright as if Charlotte had just done me the favor of polishing it clean.

I bowed down to grab it.

And the second my fingers wrapped around the handle, I felt it. A shift in air pressure. A deep buzzing vibration spreading through the ground beneath me.

I knew what was coming.

Without a fraction of hesitation I sprinted. Ten steps. Then launched into a long jump and rolled the second I touched down, squeezing every possible inch of distance out of my body.

KRAKABOOOOM.

Behind me, heaven descended.

The same horrifying pillar of thunder she had used on Aria crashed into the spot I was standing a moment ago. The impact shook the entire arena. Dust and debris erupted skyward. The air turned thick enough to choke on even from this distance.

And the feeling of being this close to a direct lightning strike? My heart was hammering so hard I could hear it in my ears.

I turned toward Charlotte and started walking again. Casual as ever.

“Lightning attack, huh?” I tilted my head. “Ten seconds to cast. Ten more seconds before it actually reaches the target.”

Another step.

“And the range? Only ten meters. So I just casually walked off ten steps.”

I shrugged.

“It’s a powerful attack, yes. But only in the right user’s hands. That kind of spell is meant to be used when your opponent is distracted. Just like you did with Aria. Or it works on a fool.”

I pointed at her.

“So here, you were the fool for thinking it would work on me.”

Her face was pale.

“All it did was suck the mana from your core and give you nothing in return. But I’ll give credit where it’s due. Standing beside a lightning strike really does get the blood pumping. Got my adrenaline spiking. So your attack did help after all.”

I was close to her now. Too close.

She raised her hand to summon a massive spear. The same kind she had hurled at Aria earlier.

But I could see the struggle. Her hand was trembling. The mana wasn’t responding properly. She was running on fumes.

And then came the cherry on top.

I casted debuff on her.

The effect was instant. Whatever she was barely holding together collapsed. The half-formed shapeless mana above her hand flickered twice and then evaporated into the air like it was never there.

Before she could process what happened, I closed the gap.

My boot slammed into her gut.

She hit the ground hard. Gasping. And before she could move a finger I stood over her. Left boot pressing down on one hand. Right boot pinning the other.

No hands. No magic.

The playfulness drained from my face. Replaced by something colder.

“You call yourself a hero?” My voice was low. “You’re pathetic as hell. With this type of attitude and mind, you don’t even deserve to be the dust around a hero.”

A grin broke through the cold.

“A hero like me.”

She was cursing me from behind her teeth but I continued.

“I know you’ve been gifted one of the most powerful things in this world. The fastest mana core regeneration. But what good is that when you drain yourself dry with your own ego? Throwing the highest mana consuming spell when you’ve got nothing left in the tank.”

I leaned down slightly.

“You have the fastest regen ability. But not the capacity. And that’s why you’re here right now. At the same level as my boot. The so-called weakling’s boots touching the so-called hero.”

I straightened up. “Well, scratch that. I don’t have time to argue with a scheming bitch like you.”

I brought my axe forward and let the edge of the blade graze along her neck. Light enough to feel. Heavy enough to terrify.

“So how do we settle this? Will you submit on your own, or should I have to separate your head from your body?”

“I SURRENDER!”

Her scream echoed across the silent arena.

I smiled. Pulled my axe back. Stepped off her hands and walked away without looking back.

“Good.”

My eyes found the last opponent standing.

“Now it just leaves one royal chick.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep