Zarek would have laughed if it wouldn't have cost him some time. This was what he had really come here for.
Using the momentum of his heel strike against the Hub, he backflipped to his feet, landing in a crouch that sent him out of the way of the second arrow. He already knew that the archer would need a split second more to send the third because of his abrupt change in position, so he was already stepping forward, grabbing at the jackpot.
When he saw what it was, his gaze flickered for a moment before he put it away in the safest place he knew.
His crotch.
—
[You have received: {A Class Essence Collection Vial}]
—
Zarek turned away and high-tailed it out of there. He didn't look toward Orienn again. He knew that the latter definitely had the momentum to block the glaive. However, he did stop by Lyn and Vaugn's bodies, ripping the lance out from the former's chest, snatching what storage vessels they had on them, and continuing to run.
He ducked to one side, slipping by a tree just as an arrow whizzed by. It roared with life, ripping a chunk out of the trunk that made it look as though an enormous beast had taken a bite out of its side.
Zarek never slowed, and his movements were too unpredictable. Even when it seemed his momentum might hit a snag, his B Class Lurker's Godsfall Intent was akin to his savior, one elastic line after another bungee-jumping him from one location to the next.
If anything, having so much momentum in the opposite direction of where he wanted to go only made it so that the Lurker's Godsfall snapped him back in the way he wanted to go even faster.
Without Lyn to manipulate the trees, he was like a fish in water, making it to the valley face in a blink and attaching a line to the peak. In one fluid motion, he swung to the top, twisting his body as yet another arrow came for him.
Zarek was too experienced. He knew that the one time he would be the most vulnerable was when he did this. It was the one time it would also be the easiest to predict his trajectory.
Or so it seemed.
Zarek twisted not to face the arrow head-on—that would stall all of his momentum and leave him clinging to the rock face.
No, he twisted to get a better angle for the lance.
'You're a beautiful little weapon, aren't you?'
The faster he was moving, the more wind the lance had to manipulate. And if he gave it a little push on top of that?
Zarek's Lurker's Godsfall had wrapped around the gorgeous green jade and white marble lance like a spring, tightly winding around it until it seemed like the two might burst.
And then Zarek yanked.
The lance spun out of his hand like a drill, all the elastic potential in his Lurker's Godsfall unwinding in a single instant until it was spinning so fast the beautiful patterns blurred in murky lines of green and white.
BANG!
The lance shot up like it was rocketing out of a gun's barrel.
Zarek smiled, waving in the direction of the archer—the real direction—as the line went taut.
He was yanked upward even faster, the arrow whizzing by beneath his feet as he soared over the wall in a single leap.
The moment Zarek cleared the rock face, his arm pulled, yanking the lance back downward.
He landed in an almost delicate crouch, the ground barely registering him at all.
His gaze flickered to the side and he shook his head. At first, he thought he'd just have to leave Thalion behind, but who would have guessed that the latter would be so close by?
Zarek weighed his options for a second, wondering if it was still worthwhile to bring such useless dead weight with him. But he decided that he hadn't unearthed nearly enough information from the boy-man just yet.
Another line of Lurker's Godsfall came out of him and he caught the boy-man by the shoulder, the latter cowering behind a tree with his head in his hands as though he was afraid to be thrown into another battle.
He screamed at the sudden jerking movement, trying to run, but he was already pinned beneath Zarek's arm by then.
In a rush, they sprinted out.
…
Orienn coughed, heaving as he slowly put his hands down. He didn't know how Zarek had managed to do it, but that attack…
He looked down at the glaive.
'No, it should be this weapon. What a scary guy…'
They had all scanned Zarek. Until now, Zarek had been on Earth where counter and scouting Skills weren't common to begin with, so he hadn't made it a priority to get a counter.
Due to this, they had all seen Zarek's stats in the hall. And Zarek was quite well aware that they had too—he had just acted as though he couldn't feel it.
Zarek could only be said to be one of the most pathetic trial takers they had ever seen, and they could guess his Growth Potentials weren't very good either.
So how was it that he was so lethal?
Lyn and Vaugn weren't Demons, but they weren't scrubs either. They could be considered to be within the top half of participants this time, but they had died like dogs.
And he had almost suffered the same fate.
'Holy shit. Did he defeat Thalion? Is that why that midget became a distraction for him?… they're going to want to hear about this…'
They all knew that Thalion was worthy of being the Eighth Demon, but those families were all coordinating to weaken the Imperial Wind Lineage, so how could they not take the opportunity to knock Thalion down a peg too?
But if Thalion was defeated, then didn't that mean that someone with the strength to face the Seven Demons had appeared?