Chapter 406 C406. Rain V Nine
Nine\'s aura flared up as his muscles tighten and his now bare feet, easily dug into the concrete floor, his knees bent in preparation to lung at his opponent.
However—
Before he could even complete his sentence, a tiny palm in comparison to his now-massive face had covered his vision as she had grabbed his face and his surroundings instantly changed.
He had immediately sensed the sudden difference in his environment with his magic sense, and before he could even process the sudden rush of new information, his massive body was tossed across the vast wilderness, his eyes burning under the sudden blaze of a red sky with a collapsing sun despite the fact that it had still been the middle of the night a moment ago.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!... ... ...BOOM!!!
With a wild toss, Nine massive frame had been flung through the air with an absurd force as his body smashed through countless hills and mountains before finally losing its inertia and slamming into the ground with a devastating force that left behind a massive crater as though a meteorite had just crashed on the surface of the planet.
Nine was confused.
His mind had gone blank momentarily but he quickly snapped out of it. He had spent years, decades, even centuries nurturing those four to serve as the ultimate stepping stones to his greatness.
Throughout his life, Nine, or rather, Benjamin Olsen. A man that had reincarnated into this world from Earth, had never once failed to accurately judge his opponent\'s capabilities.
He was once a skilled boxer that had moved from his home country in Africa to dominate the heavyweight division in America at the early age of 15.
He had always been bigger than the others around him causing him to get in fights with people older than him all the time. However, contrary to his massive frame at the time, he had never been the confrontational type. As such, he has developed a keen eyesight for his opponent, knowing when to fight and when to flee.
He wasn\'t an idiot, he wouldn\'t stand to fight an opponent he knew he couldn\'t defeat for any reason and that trait of his was why he had been undefeated in his time as a boxer, holding a record of 44 wins, 0 losses, and 0 draws.
That trait of his had also followed him to this world the moment he woke up inside the body of a kid that had been abandoned by his parents in the forest after dying an unremarkable death at the hands of a stray bullet, during a mass shooting at a certain event he had been invited to.
He had been forced to suffer through various hardships as he had to survive in this dangerous world alone in the middle of a very dangerous forest.
Unfortunately for him, he wasn\'t lucky enough to be born in the body of a baby and the body of the starved child he had taken over had already passed the age necessary for absorbing Mana essence and shaping his mana pool so he didn\'t have any influence on his magic potential.
Fortunately, his training as a human allowed him to survive in the forest and hunt the weaker animals while escaping and avoiding the monsters. However, during a rather dangerous encounter, he awakened his innate ability and devoured a monster he had studied in order to avoid its territory and had suddenly increased his strength and magic potential.
Later on, he was discovered by a band of mercenaries and soon joined Numbers as the organization granted him the resources and leeway he needed to study and understand how his ability worked.
Throughout the years, he had killed and preyed on the souls and bodies of over a thousand demons and lesser demons and despite figuring out that stronger opponents granted him more strength and abilities which increased his magic potential, raising his original Tier 3 potential to a Tier 5 and rising through the ranks.
He still felt the vast amounts of soul energy being wasted every time he used his innate ability on his enemies. However, that quickly changed when he killed and absorbed the soul and body of one of his closest comrades in the organization that had attempted to betray them.
The amount of energy he has gained despite the low magic potential of the target was massive. He had gained a full tier, something that only happened whenever he preyed on over 400 people.
He soon figured out how his abilities work so he decided to create his little faction in the organization as he went around recruiting talented individuals to feed his hunger for power.
This was one of the secrets kept by the Single Digits who had been aware of his vast potential for greatness and turn a blind eye to his hunting spree within the organization. Even then, nothing could satisfy his hunger for power.
The truth was, Benjamin hated himself. More accurately, he hated his cowardly nature despite his manly appearance. He hated himself anytime he had to run from a fight just because he might lose.
This was why he had immediately sought after strength the moment he learned of his innate ability to infinitely increase his magic potential by becoming a true Predator. He hadn\'t cared for the ones he had to kill to attain this strength, he just wanted to never feel that way again. After all, these were all demons he was talking about.
To him, demons weren\'t worth his sympathy despite him also being in the body of a demon currently. It didn\'t matter to him as long as he could become the strongest in this world.
However, the fact that his ability was so limited that he had to consume thousands of lives to gain any significant increase which was only getting more difficult the higher his tier increase was a problem.
Even if he could cover his tracks as a high-ranking member of Numbers, that didn\'t mean he could just go around killing in the thousands without drawing the attention of the Great Five or other powerful beings like the Seven Primordials.
As such, the fact that he could gain more for less was the best solution to his problem. Yet, he had been forced to end his stalking early, and even worse he had failed to kill most of his prey and had lost a lot of soul energy.
Still, what he had absorbed should\'ve been enough to deal with this dark elf.
His keen sense to tell an enemy\'s strength has only gotten better after coming to this. world and mixing with his magic sense and enhanced perception.
He had accurately judged that this dark elf had recently ascended to become a Demigod which was why she was being so cocky as he was only at the peak stages of the 5th tier earlier.
However, he has absorbed the strength of four preys he had stalked for more than a decade, and had risen rapidly despite the loss of energy and reached the peak of the 6th Tier.
Plus, to contain such a rush of energy he had unrestrained his true demon form and was now. comparable to a true Demigod temporarily plus he currently has two Magic artifacts on him that should be passively boosting him as well.
Also, the more he fought and digested the vast energy within him, the stronger he would ultimately become when he finally stabilized the chaos within himself.
So right now, he was at least comparable to a basic 7th Tier being as well and would only grow stronger, which was why he couldn\'t understand how this had happened.
Not only had the dark elf taken him by surprise but she had also forcibly teleported him against his will to the outskirts of the omniverse. He could sense the slight difference in the vibrations of the molecules in the air and instinctively knew they were no longer in the same dimension.
To impress such an influence on him at this stage should\'ve been impossible. So, how the hell did she do it?
\'Don\'t tell me? She also possesses multiple Magic Artifacts of her own?\'
Although this was relatively unknown, it was a fact that carrying more than one magic artifact on hand for an extended period of time, without storing them in a storage box could sometimes grant a passive boost to one\'s abilities.
The truth was, this depended on the type of artifact and their ranks as high-grade magic artifacts possess dense mana aura that could strengthen the users\' Mana body after a certain period, and depending on the type of artifact, it would improve one\'s strength or speed, defenses or attack power.
However, aside from Demon Lords and veteran Demigods, no one would casually display a valuable item like a magic artifact on their person where it could be easily stolen even from a distance which was why Nine had not even considered this possibility.
Nine stood up in his crater, barely a millisecond had passed since he was slammed here as he was currently using thought acceleration to gather his thoughts, everything around him seemingly moving slower the more he accelerated his thoughts.
Nine sighed heavily, the fear of defeat slowly crept into his heart for a second as he changed his mind. He cannot keep running forever.
The energy he has absorbed was yet to be fully digested and he still had several escape plans for dire situations so there was no need to panic.
Nine smirked as he wiped the blood away from the corner of his face where the dark elf\'s nail had dug into his skin and left a scratch that had already healed.
His body could feel the change in pressure from the differences between this dimension and theirs, the vast increase in gravity and the thin air, almost completely devoid of Mana essence.
This was no doubt the outcome of a dimension on the verge of destruction. A place completely devoid of life and the perfect stage for a clash between Demigods.
He steadily forced himself to adjust to the new environment as he began his counter.
He then assumed a fighting stance as he prepared to receive the emissary that had chased after his body. He had boosted his thought acceleration to its limit to get a breather but the emissary was still moving fast even in plank time.
It was almost as though the world had stopped without the need for that item.
\'So this is the power of a Demigod?\'
Nine was reveling in his newfound strength as he observed the world moving at a speed he had never thought was possible. At this point, he realized how Number 10 had been defeated even with that artifact.
Anyone capable of moving in Plank time was already capable of stopping time without the need of expending Mana. He almost felt like a fool for thinking that item was unstoppable.
Nine laughed within himself as he took a boxing stance instead of the wild one he had taken earlier. This would be the first time since he came to this world, he had ever taken any opponent this seriously.
The emissary had reached him and swung her dagger, he quickly weaved and threw a jab with the force of a nuclear explosion but even such a quick strike was avoided by her frightening agility.
\'Two can play that game.\'
The next few moments were intense as he threw a fury of jabs and weaved through her barrage of attacks. They weren\'t making any wild movements and were practically standing in the same spot yet the ground and everything around them was being blown away by their strikes and swings.
Mountains were being leveled and the terrain was rapidly being altered. It was only now that he understood just how truly naive he had been in the base.
The fact was, this elf has been using magic to protect that base from being blown away so as to not destroy the city. With his fast the vast wilderness had become a desolate wasteland, he could understand why he had never heard of any fights between Demigods and demon lords.
They were currently on a desolate island in the middle of an already collapsing dimension yet he felt as though any careless movement and they would completely wipe out this dimension before it\'s time.
Just as the slight bit of worry surfaced in his mind, Nine felt his mind go blank as his head was rocked by a powerful kick to the dome.
*Bang!
"What\'s the matter, getting cold feet?"
"Wha— how?"