Chương 188: Chapter 185 - Strongest of the Fourth Realm

The Flesh Titan was still completely focused on the only thing it considered a threat. It attempted beam attacks, swings, and stomps, but Valee was too quick. Using her tendrils to push, pull and fling herself around the battlefield. The Flesh Titan tried as hard as it could, but it could not keep her off of it and it knew that trying to bodyslam her was futile. But it was slowly getting better at using its limbs. That was what made Valee worried.

The throwing weapons had all been exhausted and the Flesh Titan was no longer sending shadowy hands to retrieve them. The shadows focusing on recovering the damage to its flesh than anything else. Not that they were much of a threat. As long as [Threaded Thoughts], [Tremorsense] and [Enhanced Senses] were active, Valee could see everything coming. She crawled over its elbow, swinging herself down as it tried to fling her off.

The Flesh Titan was basically on all fours, realizing that using all of its limbs and torso was the best way to try to trap her. Sideark's voice came through her phone.

"Now!" Valee threw herself towards the ground, a little further away from the bulk of the Flesh Titan. She made it look like she hit the ground hard, her earthen whips limp on the ground around her. The Flesh Titan slid forward, far too mobile for something so big. Eager to squish her out of existence. The Flesh Titan slammed its hand down, Valee coming to life and dodging just in time. It may have been learning but it was still too predictable.

Right below its chest, Shara tore out from the ground, jumping with all her might, her spear in front, roaring her fury. A bright blue light that shone in the dark—piercing the ocean of inky hands with her spear and aura alike. Burning them alive in her fury. Her aura scattered the hands, making them flee or burn alive. And the Flesh Titan—staggered. Its mobility hampered with its core damaged. Though not enough for it to slowly raise an arm, wanting to grab at the obstruction in its chest.

Without realizing that Valee's tendrils had attached to its arm. The force of the titan arm rising brought out one last spire of earth as Valee heaved with her newly enhanced might. Aiming, hoping, praying that she wasn't going to miss. The earthen spire slammed into the titan's stomach. Opening a fresh new hole. The wave of inky hands that were trying to go up to repair the titan's chest and overwhelm Shara's aura, started spilling out of the new hole.

A tidal wave of connected—confused arms and hands trying to maintain cohesion. And failing. Just like the Flesh Titan. Two holes now. One where the shadowy hands could not fill and one where a giant stone spike was sticking out of it. It tried to grab the stone spire out and its hands—slipped. Without whatever structure that was holding it up in its chest, it collapsed forward—Valee barely swinging out of the way. She turned back in horror.

"Shit, Shara!" While the stone spire was now sticking out from its back, the queen of the Unwanted was still stuck embedded in its chest. Valee hopped onto the back, tearing through flesh with her tendrils—having completely forgotten about the appendages around her. A battleaxe flew at her head—and a sword slammed into it midair. Sideark was dashing towards her, camera in hand. Having thrown his sword. Valee nodded, having realized she had almost made a fatal mistake at the end.

She turned off [Threaded Thoughts] as she focused with all her mind. A presence was on the inside, rapidly making its way up through the back of the Flesh Titan. Valee breathed a sigh of relief. Sharasshvil, Queen of the Unwanted Elves tore up and out of the Flesh Titan's back. Flesh and gore covered her triumphant body, a piece of flesh in her mouth. She swallowed it, relishing in the taste as she roared her victory. Valee turned to Sideark who was still recording. Sideark side-eyed Valee.

"Don't worry, I'll edit that out." … Shadowstrider arrived first, then was joined by Zedart and Mahjit. A few other brave adventurers approached the fallen titan. What they all saw was this: An annoying, albeit talented streamer-adventurer talking to his camera, describing in vivid detail about what happened. Perhaps embellishing his part a little but still giving the most respect to the two heroines of the hour. A Queen with a bright blue aura, the color of the sky and freedom.

She was regularly going back and forth from the Flesh Titan's back and into its chest. Preventing the inky hands from coalescing once more. Sometimes she sat down and meditated, something that Sideark had told her would make her look much more dignified. There was something to be said about the videos and images Sideark took that day. The image of a savage too-thin queen, finding enlightenment on top of a titan she had felled. Posters of this moment would undoubtedly be made and be put on sale on Sideark's site.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Though it was doubtful if he would make profit from the other heroine. Only because she was definitely capable of suing him over it. The other heroine was standing high above, watching it all, her arms crossed. Tendrils reaching down, chopping away at any flesh tendrils that attempted to regenerate. Priority One. Strongest adventurer in the Fourth Realm. A Titan Slayer. Valee Dubois.

"VALEE THE SPIDER!"

"WHICH ONE OF YOU WHORES SAID THAT!? I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU IF THAT BECOMES MY MONIKER." —— Ryan had no words for what he'd just witnessed. He knew Barry would give him shit for it, but he couldn't help but blame himself for not having seen this coming. The idea that he couldn't have done a better job and prevented this was hard to let go. But… it had been damned glorious. Valee and Shara standing victorious, even Sideark Ryan almost respected. It was… complex.

"Feels weird doesn't it? Remember this feeling, Ryan. Sometimes, you've got to let people rise up for themselves. It was a hard lesson for me to learn too." Her words triggered a memory of King Theskar for some reason. The question that had hung in the air. How did you make sure a civilization ruled by a benevolent dictator didn't fall? He thought about it for a moment, and still didn't like Theskar's answer. It wasn't satisfying enough. So he chose another.

"Right, adventurers, that's the answer." Ryan nodded sagely. Gamielle bonked him in the head with a chop.

"No you dummy!" Ryan stretched and then started running towards a spire in the distance. The one that Cerul had pointed out as housing another system enhanced monster. Gamielle chased him from behind, furious that Ryan was refusing to give her any credit whatsoever.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going!? You need to admit that I was right!"

"Never! Valee was always part of my plan all along! Therefore, I was the one that was always right!"

"AHHH!" Perhaps even Gamielle had been tense watching the Flesh Titan fight because she actually started throwing [Fireballs] and other elemental balls of crackling mana at him. He spun around, throwing his antimagic imbued knives to hit them in the air.

"What happened to Fallen not interfering?!"

"I'm not interfering, I'm trying to kill you!" Cerul screeched ahead, also joining in to try and hit Ryan with a hail of magical feathers. He just stared ahead at the spire. The destination where Cerul had pointed out. Where a system enhanced monster lay in wait. Ryan remembered the insane fight between Valee and the Flesh Titan. She was good. Weaker than he had been, perhaps, but he couldn't have done half of what she did with only one Epic skill. A straight on fight with nobody else watching.

He would still have won in the fourth realm… but the fact that he was even trying to visualize the fight said it all really. Was he feeling a bit of pressure from someone that was only in the fourth realm? Absolutely not. It was finally time to test out his new skills and class in real combat, that was why he was going, that was all. — The Cataclysm Abyss. Juniper the Fair Hearted laughed at her moniker. She laughed a bitter coarse laugh as her team lay dead before her.

She laughed at herself for ignoring her Epic and having been inspired by Zedart throwing himself without a skill like hers. Now look what had happened. A sea of shadows dead. An elder bullipede slaughtered. Mimicry skitters lay dead on the ground. It looked like the aftermath of a deadly war, and she alone was the victor. A pyrrhic victory, one she was regretting. She still stepped forward. Looking for Jeksy their Unwanted guide. The place where her skill was still telling her not to go. She couldn't go back now.

Not after leading her team to their deaths. She had told them to go and they refused, saying they had their safety lives. She regretted everything. Adventuring together would never be the same without a safety life as a backup. How would they even trust her judgment again? At the very least Juniper refused to let her team's death be in vain. One Realmer, save Jeksy and at the very least it would be a difference.

"What a shitty team captain am I?"" Definitely not a smart one." The sudden voice sent a chill down her spine. She looked at the figure that stepped out of the bend, his eyes cold and ruthless. And her Epic, [Right Place, Right Time] finally went completely silent. Goreblatt lips curled into a small smile.

"I have to admit, your Epic is definitely the scariest thing I've ever had to deal with. Just getting around it took so many conditions I thought I'd never fulfill them." Goreblatt, the dark horse of the fourther tournament, the one who had killed an overeager Leafstalker, stood in front of her. Everything reeked of blood. His clothes, his brutal weapons and his aura. That wasn't what Juniper focused on though.

"Who told you what my Epic was?" Instead of answering, Goreblatt took out his cleaver. Juniper spat bitterly.

"You still carry around pig's blood to splatter on yourself?" Goreblatt bared his teeth in anger, remembering that humiliation from that odd [Mage] announcer at the tournament.

"No, this is all adventurers' blood. Adventurers and the Unwanted Elves." Juniper gritted her teeth.

"You absolute piece of shit."

"Yes. Get angry, Juniper the Fair Hearted. I have made all of your hard work worthless and will continue to kill everyone I come across unless you can stop me here. My road of slaughter is about to begin and you will be my crowning achievement as a fourther. Juniper, the one everyone acknowledges as the strongest fourther." Goreblatt spread his arms as if he was Artigan, announcing it to the rest of the world as if this was a fourther tournament and it was the finals.

Goreblatt was trying to put as much gravitas into the situation to push for the maximum amount of achievements. It was possible that he was even going for the [Strongest of the Fourth Realm] title. Juniper spat in disgust and raised her sword and shield. —— Eight minutes later… Goreblatt limped away, fresh blood splattered over his gear. It had been a difficult killing this time. Despite Juniper having been all but exhausted, she had still almost managed to kill him twice.

He kept limping, refusing to use a potion unless it was absolutely necessary. While he had over twenty healing potions in his dimensional bag, he had to ration them. Restocking on necessities was going to be difficult now that he was going to be blacklisted. If he could survive, he would not use his potions. Perhaps a little delirious, Goreblatt started talking to himself.

"She really was the strongest. I guess killing her that way wasn't enough for the strongest fourther title. Or maybe Artigan's still in the Abyss somewhere. Or maybe I needed to beat her at full strength. Ah well, what a shame." Goreblatt sat down in a narrower section of the tunnel, still bleeding out but somehow feeling quite a bit more refreshed than before. He had guaranteed himself an Epic class, he was sure of it. It would all be worth it. Especially since The Realm was in chaos.

Even if it wasn't, he wouldn't be the biggest target, Artigan would be. He gave a rare smile. An opportunity truly like this only came once in a lifetime. Maybe he could even get his sponsor to come up with clothes that made him look like Artigan. He shook his head, the blood loss was clearly too much. Something like that would likely antagonize that monster. As much as Goreblatt wanted to kill Artigan for the achievements, he wanted to talk to him as well.

Now there was someone that truly understood what was important… Even if he was likely the Witch Tyrant's pawn. Still, that kind of power and presence couldn't be faked. He was simply too powerful to have been some sort of simple lackey. One day, they'd meet and share a drink and tell each other their stories. Then they'd try to kill each other. Goreblatt had a feeling they were kindred spirits. In the silence, a small whimper echoed out from the tunnel, it came a little further down the tunnel.

He recognized it immediately, having killed a few of them before. Goreblatt shook his head and took out his cleaver. It was only right to put something so pitiful out of its misery.