Chapter 98: Hero for Once

Mana sense was a technique that sent waves of mana from your core to the surroundings around you.

These mana waves then crashed against the objects in the vicinity.

After the initial clash, the waves would bounce back toward their host, thereby letting the individual scan his surroundings.

This worked on both living as well as non-living things.

Living beings had their own mana signature, which made it a little difficult for the mana waves to bounce back after coming into contact with foreign mana essence.

As the mana signature of other beings indirectly destroyed those mana waves.

So in order to overcome this problem, one had to have a sufficiently strong mana core.

That was why only after reaching the Platinum rank were individuals able to release mana waves that were strong enough to not get destroyed on their way back toward the main body.

In the case of non-living objects—they too had mana in their foundational structures, but as it wasn’t living mana, it was far easier to scout the general surroundings using mana sense than scanning for other living beings in your immediate vicinity.

After deploying my own mana sense, I could clearly see the mana signature of a monster that appeared to have a scorpion’s body shape. As for the rest, I could tell they were students from the academy.

There was no need for me to save them.

And if they were eliminated fighting the monster, it would be beneficial for my team in the end, as after getting closer to them, I could clearly tell that these people were part of Noah’s team.

Their names were given in the group rankings… Not that I knew each of them, but I had a general idea about the identities of one or two of them.

Noah had always been good to all. And this kindness of his had always given him an edge over the other powerhouses in the world.

At the end of the day, public opinion played a major part in one’s rise in the world.

So even though I wasn’t the best guy out there…

In my opinion, there was no harm in pretending to be a hero for once.

But that wasn’t the only reason for coming here. To make use of a guy like Noah, I had to manipulate the board in his own yard.

There was no point in strategizing against Noah, as he was a protagonist. And there was a thing that the protagonist always made it out of any difficult situation.

So instead of making Noah play in my game, I had to change the rules of his own game.

It might sound complicated at first, but I had mapped out the general plan.

The monster was clearly at Silver 2. And all these students were Bronze core.

Normally they would have been eliminated within seconds, but the monster seemed to have been injured before.

Its tail was split open, with the shell across its body releasing wisps of burning smoke.

Probably the venom from the tail had destroyed its shell.

The monster’s movements were far sloppier than what they normally should have been.

Sigh.

These guys… They were quite lucky.

I released my mana pressure while charging toward the monster.

The monster, sensing my presence, paused mid-strike and turned to look toward me.

Well, it did look like the monster had paused to look at me, but the reality was that I had applied the mana pressure selectively over all the wounds across its body.

That must have been painful for the scorpion, as I could clearly feel the rage in its eyes as it looked at me.

I thought about taking out my sword, but then decided against it.

I didn’t know why, but I had this strong urge to kill this pest beneath me.

Loosening my shoulders, I approached closer to the monster.

The scorpion wasn’t just standing either. It began to use its claws—or what had remained of them—to attack me.

Its legs tried to circle around me in order to block my exit, not that I needed any escape.

I didn’t try to avoid its attack, but met its claw head-on while throwing out my own punch.

Boom!

The result being the scorpion’s body was thrown away into the distance, sliding against the sand.

Ah…

That felt nice.

The students were confused by the turn of events.

I also sensed my teammates approaching closer. Leaving the students in their confusion, I dashed toward the monster again.

It had barely managed to get itself up from the ground before I appeared beside its body and threw a punch just below its neck, closer to where its stomach should have been.

Bam!

Another hit, and the scorpion was launched into the air.

I had expected it to fly even higher, but maybe its weight was too much.

Within a second or two, it landed on the ground, its body barely able to move.

Diana and the rest had already arrived, standing near Noah’s teammates.

None of them tried to interfere in the battle, not like they could.

I gave them a brief glance only to see their faces frozen in shock.

Shifting my attention toward the monster, which was already on its last leg, I walked calmly in the direction of its body.

I felt my heart beat rising with each passing moment.

I… I was excited.

The brutality of battles always resulted in a dopamine release for me.

The monster, seeing me approach, tried to lift its body from the ground, but failed miserably.

With one casual jump, I landed on top of its back, with the monster’s head just before me.

Placing my right foot over its head, I applied a little pressure.

Crack!

I could hear its bones breaking under the pressure.

The monster let out a roar of pain, which I largely ignored.

I didn’t outright kill it. Increasing the pressure with each passing second, more cracks began to appear across its head and just below the neck of the scorpion.

Haa…

Splat!

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