The Hero System - Chapter 31

The two glared at each other for a good five seconds. The black-haired youth was the first to attack. Like lightning, he dashed toward Jonah and slashed. It was obvious that he used some movement skill. However, Jonah felt pressured faced with the opponents’ spiritual energy.

‘Fifth Level Energy Condensing Stage’ Jonah’s eyes narrowed as he tightened his hand on the spear.

Even though the opponent was two level’s stronger than him, Jonah wasn’t afraid. After all, he had been in more deadly battles and faced stronger opponents. With a new rare skill in hand, Jonah was confident he can emerge victoriously. However, that wouldn’t be easy.

Jonah didn’t dodge this time. With his spear, he blocked his opponent’s sword. This wasn’t being overconfident, but testing the waters. When the two clashed, they were almost equal.

‘It seems this guy focused on his strength Hmph!’ The black-haired smirked and started his endless attacks.

One after the other, the attacks landed on the spear shaft. However, Jonah wasn’t cornered. He relieved actually. After all, the system was right.

When they clashed earlier, Jonah’s strength rivaled his opponent’s. He realized this youth must have cultivated a technique that focuses on agility. Thus, Jonah’s strength was close to his since his technique wasn’t that average.

In normal cases, Jonah would have been overwhelmed by his opponent’s speed. After all, there was a two levels difference. However, he had the Foresight skill!

After several clashes, Jonah decided to go on the offense. Even though he had resolved his heart, the old taboos of civilization made him quite hesitant to hurt his opponents. However, that was before he saw how his opponent kept ruthlessly attacking.

Leo, on the side, took out his guns. Since the opponent was trying to kill his friend, he had no reason to hesitate. Even though he didn’t kill anyone before, he was willing to do so for his friend.

Seeing this, the brown-haired you also unsheathed his sword. He ruthlessly dashed toward Leo, who was preparing to attack.

‘A Third Level cultivator!’ Leo’s heart shook. His opponent was two levels above him. Even though he had a powerful cultivation technique, he didn’t have the time to cultivate it. However, he can’t let his friend fight alone.

Pang! Pang!

Cling! Cling!

Leo shot two bullets toward the brown-haired youth. However, the latter easily deflected them with his sword. Seeing this, Leo gritted his teeth and started shooting again. While the opponent deflected his bullets, he’d use that to back away and shoot again.

When Jonah saw this, his gaze went several degrees colder. Using Spider Steps, he dashed toward his opponent. The black-haired youth didn’t see that coming since he thought Jonah’s speed was going to be quite inferior to his. Thus, he wouldn’t go on the offense. However, he underestimated his opponent too much.

Jonah thrust his spear toward the youth with no hesitation. Right now, hesitation would only be courting his death. Since the opponent didn’t mind hurting him, he wouldn’t be that kind!

Luckily for the youth, he had the upper hand in agility. Using his sword, he diverted Jonah’s thrust. He was glad Jonah was only an ‘inexperienced trash’ who would give away such an opening.

With a smug face, the youth slashed toward Jonah. His strike was fast and it aimed straight at Jonah’s neck. Even for the dumb onlookers, it was obvious that this youth was out for the kill.

The youth’s sword descended and it didn’t slow down one bit. Rather, it was accelerating. The crowd were excited and waited for the blood to be spilled. However, they were bound to be disappointed.

For some reason, the youth’s sword stopped halfway to its target. Furthermore, the youth didn’t even budge and was frozen like a statue. Everyone was stunned. They all turned to look at Jonah, assuming he was the one who did this.

However, Jonah also couldn’t move his body! He felt like he was restricted with chains from every single angle and he had no way to break free! Even the brown-haired youth and Leo were frozen!

“That’s enough.” A gentle, but stern, voice rang through the hall. Without even looking at the person, everyone realized that this person is someone of importance.

A young woman, who appeared to be a little over 20, walked over gracefully from the entrance’s direction. The way she carried herself was like a queen gracing others by her presence. Her brown hair was tied to the side by a jade colored hairpin. She wore a long-sleeves shirt that was bottomed up all the way to her neck. Wearing a light jacket with a symbol on the back, the girl’s body was well-proportioned.

Even though the symbol looked rather plain being a blue whirlpool, everyone had respectful looks when they saw it. After all, it was the symbol of The Spirit Organization. Wearing it signified that the person was one of the organization staff.

Even though everyone who passed the assessment was a ‘member’ in a sense, no one dared to wear such an outfit. Only the cream of the crop, the geniuses worshiped by many, can be a true member of the organization. Membership would grant immense benefits and wealth, however, the requirements to join and the responsibilities were quite harsh.

“Greetings, young miss.” The black-haired youth said respectively. Even though he felt awkward being frozen and talking, he couldn’t do anything about it. Luckily, he can at least talk.

“I’m sorry for such inconvenience. This guy here dared to assault us so I was going to teach him a lesson.” The black-haired youth said with a wronged expression. It was clear that he was hinting that the girl shouldn’t have intervened.

“Assault you? Weren’t you the one who attacked us out of the blue?” Jonah sneered.

“You’re not allowed to do that in my presence. Furthermore, he wasn’t the one being taught a lesson here.” The young woman told the black-haired youth while glancing toward his back.

Everyone was bewildered. After all, from their place, they can see the young woman saved Jonah. They followed the young woman gaze and looked at the back of black-haired youth. However, they couldn’t see anything.

“Wait What’s that? Are they needles?!” One of the cultivators who had a good eyesight spotted thin needles behind the black-haired youth. He then calculated their numbers and there were four needles! Each one located behind the two triceps and two calves. Since the needles were rather thin, and the crowd kept their distance from the fight, no one saw it!

The black-haired youth saw the shocked expression of the crowd and had a bad feeling. He didn’t understand what they meant by ‘needles’. However, just the name alone was sufficient to make him realize that this youth has done something without him knowing.

Even though Spiritual Sense was just a common ranked skill, it was still a spirit skill. Even if a person can train his spiritual energy to be able to detect, it wasn’t that easy. People like Jonah, who learned it with ease, were nonexistent!

“I’ll let you move now. If you dare attack again, you die.” The young woman said expressionlessly. However, she didn’t forget to emit a sliver of killing intent that was enough to make the four youths shiver.

When the black-haired youth was able to move again, the first thing he did was to look at his back. When he saw the needles slowly retreating toward Jonah, he couldn’t help but feel afraid. Even though the locations the needles were aimed at were nonlethal, he would be bedridden for at least 2-4 if they had torn his muscles!

“Okay, the show is over. Follow me to take your assessment.” The young woman said before walking out. The rest slowly started to follow behind.

“Leo, you’re alright?” Jonah asked as he walked over. However, this gaze didn’t leave the other two.

Earlier, Jonah had used his skill without anyone noticing. He moved his needles near the ground slowly to circulate the youth. Luckily, this youth wasn’t proficient in using Spiritual Sense.

Even though his attacks weren’t lethal, they were enough to immobilize the youth. Jonah, however, didn’t want to kill him. Still, crippling him for trying to kill wasn’t out of his mind. Jonah didn’t want to be a weakling stepped upon by others.

“Yeah, you?”

“I’m good. Let’s go.”

“Wait, what about them?” Leo asked as he followed.

“We’ll teach them a lesson if we have the opportunity. For now, let’s focus on the assessment.” Jonah said to which Leo nodded.

The other two youths also followed along and didn’t forget to glare at Jonah and Leo. However, slight fear can be seen in the black-haired youth eyes.

Jonah kept talking to Leo about the assessment and didn’t notice the interest in the young woman’s eyes as she glanced at him while walking.

Sorry for being late. The shitty laptop isn’t working today. Enjoy and earn a bonus chapter!