Chapter 132: Record Clearence Time.
This reaction was shared by most, as they finally realized that Levi’s disability had its weaknesses, plus its strengths.
Kree...
With one final screech, Nyxformis Queen was slain at last after five years of terrorizing the Training Center’s Daywalkers... Its abdomen was busted wide open with eggs shattered and juices flowing everywhere.
What confirmed its death to everyone else was the soldier ants abruptly coming to a halt and starting to run everywhere without purpose or direction... It was as if they had lost their guiding system.
Although they owned Shadowlife seeds too, it was going to take a short while before they regained control over their instincts after the death of their Queen.
Levi knew this too, and he had no plans to stay amidst them for too long... Especially when he could feel his reservoir nearing the danger zone.
"Kill as much as you can." He told his friends.
Jojo and Nurah broke out of their daze, realizing that it was the best time to farm a hefty amount of crystallized seeds.
He swiftly sent his staff’s crown to the other side, and this time, he locked it around the limb of the Queen. Then, he started pulling her outside of the Shadow dimension.
After imploding her abdomen, she became ten times lighter, allowing him to pull her out with a bit of difficulty.
The moment it emerged in the open, most of the viewers gasped at its wretched condition. They could tell from first sight that Levi was beating it black and blue, not missing once!
Levi swiftly located the crystallized seed’s location. Instead of getting close and dirty, he sent out his chained crown again and hit the crystallized seed outside of the giant wound on its abdomen.
He knew that crystallized seeds were extremely difficult to break, even if they belonged to a low-tier nightcrawler.
Next, he picked it up with a piece of cloth and cleaned it until it was sparkling blue gemstone.
He aimed it at the sky and reported with a pleased smile, "Mission completed."
Instructor Seraphis smirked in satisfaction as he gazed at the crystallized seed, showing this scene to everyone through his livestream.
"Good work... You can come out. I will clean up the rest."
Hearing the message, Levi and his friends showed a delighted expression as they swiftly stopped their massacre and exited the nest from the same hole.
Jojo helped them fly to it by allowing them to hold onto her floating praying beads.
After reaching the surface, they noticed Arthur was sitting with one hand above his knee near the crater.
He was munching on sunflower seeds while surrounded by a couple of soldier ants, who courted death.
"All done?" Arthur asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yep."
Arthur asked Astra AI for the time, and when she told him that it had been four minutes since the start of the expedition, he was left speechless.
It wasn’t just him.
The region’s network was going absolutely wild with tweets and clips of their expedition, some clips hitting a hundred thousand views in seconds!
-Four minutes!! Four f*cking minutes!! Are you shitting me?!-
-This is insanity! When did those four monsters come from?! Specifically, Levi, that damn walk amidst hundreds of ants! It’s still giving me goosebumps!-
-Has our region finally gotten blessed with prodigies capable of uplifting our region’s worldwide rank?-
News outlets, celebrities, politicians, officers, and normal citizens...it didn’t matter their social status. WeConnect was packed with tweets from everyone, even the haters.
-Tsk, they have cheated their clearance. They were supposed to enter the nest from the tunnels and fight their way to the heart like every other squad. Only then will their clearance count.- a hater typed, venom spilling from his words.
Alas, it took no less than a second before his tweet was bombarded with comments, 99% of which were laughing at him.
-You are an embarrassment to your family. If you had two functional brain cells, you would have realized that one of them must have scouted the heart of the nest from the surface. Then, they had Arthur with his big guns blow a hole directly above it.- +8054 upvotes.
-If the other squads had it in them to do the same, they would have gone for it. No one is as stupid as you to choose such a suicidal path that leads to nothing but failure.- +9421 upvotes.
In no time, those two comments were upvoted to the very top for the hater to bless his eyes with. A moment later, the hateful comment was deleted... The citizens rejoiced and went to hunt for the other haters.
While a war was ongoing online, Instructor Seraphis descended next to them and gave them a head nod in gratification.
"You sure have blown my expectations out of the water," he praised, his eye leaning to Levi, "Especially you... Those powers, your Nightcrawler has picked the right partner to wield them."
Instructor Seraphis already knew that Levi’s powers were related to sound manipulation after learning about his echolocation ability during the spars. But he didn’t expect the rest of Ash’Kral’s arsenal to be this deadly.
A silent, deadly field of killer frequencies? Such an ability was as powerful as a tier 3 ultimate ability. If Levi unlocked it as a mere innate ability at a Rookie rank, he couldn’t imagine how powerful the higher ones would be.
Lord Idriss, Sir Alaric, and the rest of the spectating high-ranking Daywalkers all felt the same.
-Is he worth the investment?- The Midnight Slayers’ Chief murmured.
-To reach the third stage, he must have burned through many growth totems... Such an approach will lose its value the moment he becomes a Pathfinder.- Sir Alaric shook his head.
-He is truly the full package, if only his disability were treatable...- Lightbearer Alliance’s leader sighed.
As high-ranking Daywalkers, they understood that Levi’s disability wouldn’t pose a true problem at the lower ranks. He could cheat his way up the ladder with growth totems and manual cultivation.
But once he evolved to a Pathfinder, his speed would drastically decline, as not even growth totems would be enough to help him reach the plateau.
He would need ones of much higher quality, and unfortunately, their holy region’s rank was too low to secure them from the Solar Aegis Sanctuary.
Thus, they believed that Levi had a high chance of becoming a powerful Pathfinder Daywalker, but his road might end there... Unless.
"If he were to become a Raider and climb the CRS platform’s ladder, the rewards bestowed would give him a path forward," Lord Idriss muttered, many thoughts going through his mind.
But he kept them to himself and watched the cleanup by his old friend, knowing that he was in for a show.
"It’s been a while since I saw him make a move..." Lord Idriss smiled nostalgically.
"I suggest you step away," Instructor Seraphis warned.
Levi and the others put some distance between themselves and the abyss, watching in great interest as Instructor Seraphis summoned his infamous weapon... Lionheart’s Fang!
Roaar!
The moment it manifested before them, a lion’s roar resounded in the area, leaving everyone to gaze at its regal brilliance that set it apart from all others.
Its golden surface gleamed like sunlight striking old armor, catching and throwing the light with a sharp, proud edge. The crossguard swept out like a lion’s mane...wild, regal, impossible to ignore.
Meanwhile, the grip was bound in worn black leather, stamped with faded royal crests nearly rubbed smooth by time and use.
It didn’t just look like a weapon fit for a ruler; it felt like something born from the right to rule!
Instructor Seraphis ignored everyone’s looks and jumped into the abyss with the Lionheart’s Fang pointed straight to the ground.
He plunged through stale air and flying debris, fists clenched around Lionheart’s sword. The howling of the abyss mixed with the ants’ shrieks... and then, the ground came racing up to claim him.
With a bone-shaking force, he drove the sword’s tip into the ground, steel biting into stone, and sparks of molten light erupting around the impact point.
Then, he uttered indifferently, "Lionheart Arts: Pride Above All."