Just as the tip of the sword was less than 20cm from his face, Nick suddenly flicked a finger, and a spiraling gust shot out, knocking Selina's blade slightly off course.
Whoosh!
The tip deviated, brushing past a few strands of Nick's hair, then continued stabbing forward from inertia.
But because of that, the distance between Selina and Nick was pulled even closer.
"Not good!" Selina jolted, realizing she had been tricked, but it was already too late. Nick's hand, the one holding the wind sphere, shoved toward Selina.
At the same time, Nick suddenly sensed something and hastily retreated.
A tiny fireball the size of a marble streaked toward him at bullet-like speed. But Nick's reflexes were terrifying. In a split second, he tilted his body, using the wind sphere in his hand to block the shot, and then... a violent explosion erupted.
BAM!
"Agh!" Selina was blown backward by flames and countless gusts of wind, but she steadied herself almost immediately.
The hand gripping her sword trembled slightly, but she still held it tight.
Nanoe frowned and asked, "You okay?"
"I'm fine, it's just... his reaction speed is terrifying," Selina said.
Rover didn't say anything, and no one noticed that the chain on his hand had disappeared.
As the dust cleared, Nick stood at the heart of the blast, yet his body was flawless, not the slightest injury on him, a thrilled smile spreading across his face.
"Perfect... this is how it should be..."
Rover frowned, his fingers twitching.
Clink clink clink!
The chain crawled along the ceiling like a snake, instantly shooting straight for Nick's head, but...
Nick didn't even look at it. He reached out and precisely caught Rover's chain.
"Looks like... I underestimated you a bit," Nick said with a grin.
Rover clenched his fist and replied softly, "But you still haven't rated me high enough."
"What?!" Nick's eyes widened as he realized the chain had already wrapped tightly around his hand, then cinched down.
He tried to use his other hand to pry the chain open, but Rover jerked his arm upward. Nick's sleeve suddenly tightened, yanking his other arm up, and the chain swiftly bound both of his hands together.
"Damn it!" Nick cursed under his breath. He tried to stomp his feet against the ground, but Rover obviously wasn't going to let him.
Clink! Clink!
The chain rang out as it yanked Nick up into the air. His feet hovered more than 20cm off the floor, making him look like a chicken waiting to be slaughtered.
Damon and Laura stared, unable to believe it. They knew exactly how strong Nick was. If he weren't, how could he have taken first place in the second round?
But what shocked them even more was that Rover had restrained Nick in just a few seconds.
It was something they had never imagined.
"Oy! Are you kidding me?!" Damon scowled, muttering, "Isn't that bastard a newbie?"
"He really is a newbie," Laura said with a smile. "But this newbie seems different from those useless newbies."𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
"Do we need to help him?" Damon asked with a frown.
Laura glanced at Nick and said softly, "Doesn't look necessary."
Hearing their conversation, Rover's gaze turned even sharper.
Nanoe and Selina also stared at the two of them, on guard to the extreme.
Rover frowned and said, "Looks like a Rank 2 Survivor isn't that strong after all..."
Nick snorted a laugh. "Hahahaha... hahahaha..."
Rover frowned, not wanting to waste words. He controlled the chain again, tightening it around Nick's hands, but... at that moment, Nick spoke.
"You think... this is enough to kill me?"
Right then, between Nick's two hands, a small wind sphere the size of a tennis ball suddenly appeared, and then...
"Idiot!"
The instant Nick finished speaking, that sphere detonated.
BOOM!
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
A terrifying shriek of wind erupted, accompanied by razor-sharp wind blades slashing toward Rover's group.
He frowned, his face showing neither fear nor worry, and casually swept his hand.
In that instant, the space in front of him suddenly condensed, as if it had become a sheet of glass, blocking the way.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Countless gusts smashed into that glass surface with heavy impacts, yet it remained unmoving, shielding Rover's group.
Rover frowned and looked ahead. Smoke and dust filled the corridor so thickly that nothing could be seen clearly. Then, all of a sudden, his skill [Intuition] automatically activated again.
He swung his hand, and the glass rapidly changed shape, turning into a diamond-shaped shield with its tip pointing forward.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
A violent gale crashed in, as if it wanted to blow everything away, but its force was quickly nullified.
Rover, Nanoe, and Selina behind the glass were almost completely unaffected by the gale, because when it collided with the glass, the sharp tip dispersed nearly all of its momentum.
Selina and Nanoe were both anxious. They hadn't expected a battle at this level to surpass their limits by several times over.
Watching the howling currents whip past both sides of the diamond-shaped glass Rover had formed, Selina and Nanoe both shuddered.
Selina extended her sword, trying to let the blade touch those currents. In the next instant, the wind, carrying countless grains of sand, collided with the sword and sprayed sparks everywhere.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
[Weapon durability: - 3]
Selina jolted and hurriedly pulled her sword back, her eyes filled with disbelief. Just wind and sand alone could reduce the durability of this sword.
If their bodies were caught in that gale, then they would...
Rover glanced at Selina and Nanoe. Of course he knew what they were thinking. But he wasn't too worried, because he knew clearly... he could not lose this fight.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a shadow hidden within the raging gale appeared above Rover's head.
A flash of green light flickered, shooting toward Rover's head at terrifying speed.
"Rover!"
"Master!"
Nanoe and Selina only had time to scream. They couldn't react, their eyes wide as they watched that sharp green light streak toward Rover's head.
Just as it was less than 10cm from his head, a chain suddenly appeared, blocking above him.
CLANG!!!
Metal slammed into metal, and sparks burst wildly in every direction.
Rover swung his hand. Nick's body seemed to be seized by an invisible hand, then slammed up against the ceiling.
BAM!
"Agh!"
The impact was so violent that Nick let out a pained scream, but Rover didn't let him go. The glass Rover had created from air compressed to the extreme swung up, as if he meant to press Nick into a thin sheet of paper.
"Tch!" A click of the tongue sounded as Damon's figure suddenly appeared beside Rover. He held an axe, chopping sideways toward Rover's neck.
"Get lost!" Selina shouted, her sword tip stabbing toward Damon's axe hand.
"Damn it! You fucking bitch!" Damon gritted out, retreating. If he hadn't moved, that sword tip would have pierced straight through his wrist.
But before Selina could close on Damon, countless strands of hair surged toward her like a black tide.
"What?!" Selina jolted, but her body was already lunging forward, and inertia left her no way to pull back.
BAM! BAM!
Two fireballs slammed into the mass of hair and instantly exploded, making it look like a living creature that had just touched concentrated acid. It trembled violently and recoiled.
Nanoe frowned. "Selina, hold him off. I'll support you."
Selina nodded. Her figure flashed, like a gust of wind rushing toward Damon.
Damon gritted his teeth and shouted, "Bitch!"
WHOOSH!
He spun, using the momentum to swing the axe blade at Selina.
CLANG!
Axe and foil sword collided, sparks bursting, but what was striking was that both Selina and Damon were knocked back.
Damon retreated one step, but Selina stumbled back four or five steps before she could steady herself, her sword hand trembling as if she could barely hold the blade anymore.
Nick also gritted his teeth. A massive pressure of wind slammed down, forcibly prying the air-glass Rover had formed away from his body, giving him a pocket of space.
Rover clenched his jaw, but that air-glass could not last long. In the next moment, it exploded.
BOOM!
The blast rang out, and Nick used that opening to leap backward.
The six of them returned to their original positions. However, the disdain on Nick, Damon, and Laura's faces had vanished, replaced by shock and rage.
The atmosphere was tense to the extreme, thick with the smell of gunpowder, as if a single spark would make this entire area explode.
At that moment, a voice sounded from behind Rover. "Enough! The monsters aren't even here yet, and you've already started killing each other?"
"Yeng Lan?!"