Cipher felt that although he could still go on and drain the others’ mana completely, winning the battle of attrition, he would burn through too much Demonic Qi, which wouldn’t be good.
Although the Heavenly Demon said she had no issue with it, he didn’t feel it was appropriate. The Heavenly Demon always helped him, and the only thing he could offer her was Demonic Qi, so he didn’t like spending it carelessly like this.
"I’ll end this in five minutes tops," he thought.
He summoned a patch card and used it on his Unwavering Will skill.
[Skill: Unwavering Will (B-Rank)]
[Type: Toggle (Passive/Active)]
[Cost: 200 Mana (Active)]
[Description: Passively boosts resistance to mind-related status effects. While active, improves concentration to the maximum for five minutes, resisting all mental disruptions and allowing complete focus.]
Now he wouldn’t be mentally exhausted after using the skill.
The battle resumed with even greater intensity. The participants, sensing something had changed, pressed harder. Spells rained down from every direction. Blades cut into his flesh. Fists pounded against his body. Cipher took it all, his regeneration work overtime.
A sword opened a deep gash along his shoulder. Fire scorched his back. A mace cracked against his ribs. Each wound sealed, each burn faded, and he continued fighting. The cycle repeated endlessly - damage, regeneration, counterattack.
Then something shifted.
[Congratulations! Regeneration (C) has advanced to Regeneration (B)]
Before, he was regenerating 4,740 HP per minute, but now he was regenerating 9,540. Though he admitted this didn’t really matter much to him. The real problem was not the HP number but the actual damage to his body.
Although it seemed the same at first, he had come to learn that there was some sort of disconnect. Usually, the loss of HP affected his ability to act efficiently even without any visible physical injuries, but now, his HP loss didn’t matter much as he always felt at top condition.
Maybe it was because of his Infinite Stamina cheat. Now all that mattered was maintaining perfect body condition. After the upgrade, the wounds healed faster, which increased the amount of time he was moving at peak performance.
"He’s getting tired!" someone shouted from the crowd.
"We can take him down now!" another voice added.
Hundreds of fighters surged forward from every direction, their confidence building. Magic erupted from all sides. Warriors closed in with weapons raised. The arena became a storm of pure chaos, all converging toward a single point - him.
Cipher stood still.
He focused to the maximum, his mind expanding outward. He took in every single incoming attack. The sound of footsteps below as people leaped into the air. The displacement of air. The trajectory of each spell. The weight behind each weapon swing. The slight shift in posture before a strike. The flicker of mana before a skill activated. The breathing patterns. The eye movements. The muscle tension.
Everything.
[Congratulations! Battle Instinct (A) has advanced to Battle Instinct (S)]
Suddenly, Cipher noticed hundreds - no, thousands - of lines burst from everyone around him, all pointing directly at him. They were red, sharp, and seemed deadly. It was similar to his ESP lines but different.
But this wasn’t all. Blue lines burst forth, this time from him, and there were even more of them. They entangled themselves with the red lines, weaving around them, tracing paths back to the hundreds of fighters who surrounded him.
[Focus on the attack path and don’t let the information overwhelm you] the Heavenly Demon’s voice rang in his mind.
Inside the spiritual sea, the Heavenly Demon sat opposite Cipher’s other consciousness, who wore a strained expression as information flooded through him.
"Hmm, dividing the information across the two consciousnesses. I guess that works too," she said, nodding approvingly.
Outside, Cipher’s eyes became unnaturally cold. They darted from one end to another rapidly, as if he was trying to observe a full 360-degree view all at once. His head barely moved, but his eyes tracked everything.
Jin-Woo and Li Chen, who were at the front, noticed the change immediately and felt a chill run down their spines. They were about to back away when he stepped forward.
It was a single step, but it was as though he teleported.
His fist connected with Jin-Woo’s chest, throwing him backward to crash into Khaled. Thankfully, Maya set up a barrier just in time, stopping Khaled from being knocked out of the arena, but Jin-Woo himself wasn’t so fortunate. He struggled to maintain his stance, gasping for air.
Li Chen swung his sword desperately. Without even looking, Cipher deflected the blade with his own, redirecting Li Chen’s entire form and kicking him to the side. Li Chen flew like a bowling pin into a crowd of people, dropping them all toward the ground.
Amélie reacted quickly, using her shield to catch them before they could fall.
But Cipher was already moving.
He wove through the battlefield, his every movement precise. A punch here dropped three fighters. A sweep there cleared five more. He ducked under a spell, and it hit the person behind him instead. He sidestepped a blade, and the wielder stumbled into their ally’s attack.
The red lines showed him every attack before it came. The blue lines showed him every opening, every path forward. He followed them instinctively, his body moving before his conscious mind could process the information.
He moved directly toward Maya.
Fighters kept falling and being healed by her magic, then returning to the fight. But he was unstoppable now. Each step brought him closer. Dozens tried to block his path, but they fell one after another. Spells exploded around him, but he slipped through the gaps between them.
As he got close, Maya set up a barrier. Amélie stepped forward too, reinforcing it with her own magic.
Cipher didn’t slow down.
He pulled back his fist and punched.
The barrier shattered like glass.
His other hand shot forward, and Amélie’s eyes widened in shock before she crumpled, unconscious, before she could react.
He now stood directly before Maya, placing a hand on her shoulder. He looked directly into her eyes with his blank, cold expression.
"Trust me... I’m faster," he said quietly.
Maya sighed and raised her hands in surrender. "I’m out of mana anyway," she said with a slight smile.
The entire crowd that had gone silent for a moment, mesmerized by Cipher’s movements, now erupted into deafening cheers.