Chapter 35: Limitations
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From afar, Geruldo saw the mysterious young man standing in front of the Lord of Variance without cowering in fear. He couldn't believe what he was seeing right now. Not just him, but all those around Geruldo were surprised to see a man, despite his young age, possess such strength and guts to face the terrifying monster.

"He's Mister Soru. He'd buy us some time to escape!"

Geruldo looked directly into Gobuchiki's eyes. He saw how he trusted such a human to fulfill his task just by looking at it.

He trusts that young human so much... Isn't he afraid that he might fail at stalling that insane monster?

All of them were surprised when the two individuals began to fight. Geruldo snapped from his daze and immediately stood up to help those who were trapped on debris. After they managed to help them, they immediately fled away in order not to get caught up.

While running, Geruldo saw that Soru hadn't suffered any damage at all since their fight began.

"Sir Geruldo, you don't have to worry about Mister over there. He's insanely strong!" Gobuchiki said while running along with them.

"With him protecting our backs, we can rest assured!"

Geruldo was surprised at how a goblin could place his survival on a different race, especially a human. From his understanding, there is no such merit for a dominant race to help an inferior race. But seeing how it differs from his perspective, such a scene brought him a new light.

Geruldo looked forward and continued to run away with all his strength.

I don't know what that young human's thinking of, nor did I have the right to criticize his actions...

Geruldo held his club tightly while running without looking back.

Please be safe, young man Soru!

Meanwhile, Soru noticed that Gobuchiki managed to evacuate all of them to safety. Now that one matter's been solved, he needs to deal with the other one.

During their fight earlier, Soru didn't pay any attention to Adeptus's appearance. Now he noticed how unusual the monster looked.

Its body was huge, with muscles and pale gray skin. Its face was strange, with horns coming out of its eye sockets. A gaping mouth that resembles the orc was visible. He also noticed an elongated tail attached from the rear of its head. Its weird appearance is the result of the amalgamation of multiple monsters it fought before.

Soru looked around and saw that everyone was already evacuated safely. Only he and Adeptus were left at the scene.

My work here is done...

Adeptus noticed that the young human who suddenly interfered in its affairs walks away as if nothing had happened. The monster got enraged, mistaking his action as a sign of mockery and disinterest.

The monster charged towards Soru and clenched its fists. The monster gathered its strength and channeled it to its hands, stacking its destructive blow in order to tackle the annoying human in one swoop.

Using its ability called Reactive Selection, Adeptus was able to obtain physical strength from the monster it fought earlier, which is a troll known to have superior physical capabilities. By continuous adaptation, Adeptus managed to mimic its strength and body, and even surpassed its physical strength to the point that the troll was left in the dust.

As Adeptus's fists were approaching, the monster increased the punch's speed further. This action caused its fists to break the sound barrier, creating a small shockwave right before it made contact with Soru's body.

BOOM!!

Adeptus was surprised when it was knocked away instead of Soru. Adeptus was instantly shot a mile away and rolled on the ground before stopping on a huge boulder.

"GRAAAAAAHHHH!!"

Soru could only hear several trees crackling in the distance. After knowing that the monster wouldn't let him go easily, he sighed.

It looks like I need to shrug it off...

After the noise faded in the background, he immediately teleported up in the sky and looked for Adeptus's whereabouts.

Up ahead in the distance, Soru saw Adeptus lying on the ground. As the monster laid on the soft soil, it didn't stand up right away after being struck by a sudden realization.

Adeptus realized that the individual, which is Soru, has an unusual capability of reflecting attacks. Adeptus confirmed it by feeling the force exerted from its fists is completely identical to the damage it receives after landing the damage on the target. In addition to that, the monster couldn't feel the flow of aeon while using that strange ability.

After figuring out the nature of his peculiar ability, the monster couldn't help but feel elated. Knowing that the attacks it receives only came from its own all along could help the monster adapt and gain more tolerance to such damage. By simply stacking its own attacks, its endurance will reach even greater heights.

Adeptus looked above and saw him hovering in the sky. The monster quickly stood up and gathered all its strength to its lower body and jumped up the sky.

"GRAHHH!!"

In just a second, the monster managed to leap thousands of meters in the air. But to its surprise, Soru vanished right before it arrived.

A confused Adeptus looked around while descending. The monster was baffled that the human it was fighting disappeared without a trace.

After the monster landed safely, the ground shook and the trees swayed violently. Adeptus noticed Soru ahead, standing still while looking into its eyes in a cold gaze. Seeing that the annoying human was on the ground all along made the monster furious.

The monster immediately took a step and vanished in the air as it moved at extreme speed. Adeptus then sneaked behind him and threw a punch, much stronger and faster compared to the previous ones. 

"This monster won't stop no matter what I do..."

While Soru was busy coming up with a solution, he didn't notice that their fight brought him to the shoreline, situated at the northernmost side of the Great Forest of Drys. Upon smelling the salt in the air, he realized their arrival at the place.

"Hm?"

Soru was instantly captivated by the vast sea stretching at the horizon. The monster also stopped when its opponent wasn't looking and got distracted.

Seeing it as a perfect opportunity, the monster launched a sneak attack and rushed towards him. However, Soru knew that it was coming and reflected the attack back at Adeptus. The monster instantly knocked back and fell to the ground.

As the monster lay on the fine sands on the shore, the monster was trying to figure out how to overcome the situation. No matter how fast the monster moves, its opponent could predict its attacks with ease.

Suddenly, a voice echoed within Adeptus' mind. The voice was unique, with an uncanny sound that resonates into the very being of the monster. It sounds like it was speaking directly at the monster's soul. 

<Individual "Adeptus" will be granted an Ultimate-class ability.>

Adeptus somehow understood the message behind the voice. To its understanding, the mysterious voice offered the monster a solution to its problem. The monster immediately accepted the gift without hesitation.

 <Exile.>

While Soru was looking in the monster's direction, his eyes widened upon seeing Adeptus vanish from where it was lying. Unbeknownst to him, Adeptus used the newly acquired ability that was granted by the mysterious voice.

Exile is a spatial-type ability that enables the user to hide at the back of the world, located outside the physical space. Due to its rarity, it is considered Ultimate-class, and only a few individuals on the continent possess such a unique ability.

Although it could hide the user outside the space, the user must come out to launch an attack at the opponent; otherwise, it won't cause a direct influence outside the space.

Despite such disadvantages, the monster already thought of a way to attack him. First, Adeptus went out from hiding and appeared in front of Soru. Soru saw the monster appear out of nowhere whilst waving its left hand in the air.

Adeptus waved its hand swiftly, infusing the wind it generates with aeon. By making such a move, a gale of wind strengthened by aeon flew at Soru. Adeptus, by comprehending the principles of such an attack, immediately acquired the ability Gale Cleave. The moment Gale Cleave was generated, Adeptus quickly hid outside the physical space.

Soru noticed the attack and immediately evaded it by teleporting. Seeing that its opponent was wary of the attack, Adeptus repeated the method several times. The monster quickly adapted the pattern of its attack using Reactive Selection, which is improving at an exponential rate. Now, it appears like several Gale Cleaves came out of nowhere and attacked Soru.

Soru was teleporting without rest in order to avoid the barrage of attacks. However, Adeptus already adapted his pattern and managed to hit him several times. Soru, unable to see his opponent, had no choice but to transfer the damages he received to the objects he sees around.

I want to use these attacks and deal damage to Adeptus, but I can't see nor feel its movements anymore...

"This is quite an inconvenience..." Soru murmurs.

Soru recalls his previous encounters with Veylir's soul body and the glowing orb that talks. Now that the situation with Adeptus was similar to theirs, just using his naked eyes won't be sufficient to "see" them completely. He must use a different method to expose the monster.

...Maybe I'll use "it" again.

Soru already gave it some thought earlier. But for some reason, his hesitation to use it was holding him back. As he ponders whether he will do it, in the end he gives up and proceeds to do it.

"Second Limiter: Release."

Several long, thin lines suddenly appeared in his vision. The number of lines fluctuates as seconds go by, seemingly stretching across infinite distances.

"Figures."

What Soru was seeing right now is what he dubbed as "Lines." It is an extremely long, straight line that entangles between the individual and him. The line thickens the more they intertwine each other. Its main purpose was to protect himself from external threats, acting as a self-defense mechanism.

Since he found these lines quite an inconvenience, Soru establishes several limits on how he perceives these lines: the First and Second Limiters. Soru only released the First Limiter as default. 

At First Limiter, Soru sees the lines appearing when something is being directed towards him, whether it may bring him any harm or not. 

Although he could use his powers on objects he normally sees, there are cases that they're too fast for him to dodge and perceive, or any invisible and abstract status effect. That's where these lines come in handy. By seeing these lines, no harm will come to him. However, these lines won't reveal the origin of the attack since he could only detect those who were aimed directly at him.

Adeptus changing its tactics to launch projectile attacks caused the monster to seem "undetectable," unlike using a part of its body like fists and exposing its location. Unbeknownst to the monster, its plan to indirectly deal damage to him gained a massive advantage. But such a plan won't work anymore now that Soru has released his Second Limiter.

Due to its desire to pursue him, the monster was instantly tethered to Soru the moment Second Limiter was released. The nature of this limiter is that, when released, a specific line appears when an individual subconsciously thinks Soru. No matter how well-hidden an individual was, their existence will be revealed at a moment's notice.

Now that it's released, I could see that monster without any problems.

With the help of this specific line, Adeptus was revealed moving outside the physical space at extreme speeds. Accompanied by the several flickering lines caused by the multitude of Gale Cleaves being released, the entire scene was chaotic to watch.

"This..."

Despite seeing such chaos, it doesn't affect his fight with Adeptus even a bit. Since his powers are always active, the transferral power would take effect immediately. But in rare cases, he intentionally delays it in order to catch the enemy off-guard. 

Adeptus increased the volume of Gale Cleaves to tenfolds, releasing hundreds in just a second. Soru, knowing Adeptus' exact location, instantly directed these attacks at the monster. On the other side, Adeptus was surprised that none of the attacks managed to reach the opponent and vanished without a trace.

"GRAAHHHH!!"

Outside the physical space, Adeptus was injured by several Gale Cleaves and writhed in pain. Its ultimate-class ability, "High-End Regeneration" took effect and healed its injuries in just a second. 

The monster was surprised at how its opponent managed to detect its location despite being outside the physical space. Seeing how the human were locking his gaze in its direction, Adeptus realized that its opponent could now see the monster.

Adeptus had no choice but to repeat the same process over and over again. The monster knew what it was doing, using the Gale Cleaves to adapt up to the point that it wouldn't cause any harm to its body.

Soru noticed it right away upon seeing that the cuts on the monster's skin diminish over time until none of them manage to injure Adeptus. He saw the monster grin while attacking him relentlessly.

Soru was conflicted at what he saw. For the second time, he encountered such a tenacious opponent. Seeing that all of the attacks it releases won't do any damage when transferred back, Soru has no means to defeat it if he continues it without a plan. If he wants to wrap this up, he must use a stronger means to defeat the opponent in one fell swoop. And that only means was the one he used to defeat the Wildfire Dragon.

Although he was hesitant, he had no choice but to execute such a plan. For the last time, Soru looks around the shoreline, engraving the scenery in his mind. Moments later, Soru raised his palm and took a glance at the sun while covering his eyes. The monster noticed its unusual movement. 

Scared that the opponent might do something big, the monster plans to unleash a giant Gale Cleave to prevent his plans. As the monster prepares to unleash it, Adeptus suddenly explodes.

It was quick, covering an immensely vast area in the blink of an eye. Even though Soru only transferred the total energy release of the sun for even just a second, the force was great enough to vaporize everything it touches.

Soru wasn't able to see how large the explosion outside the physical space was. The beach remains unaffected, including him as well. Seeing that the explosion wouldn't reach him anyway, he let it grow uncontrollably.

Suddenly, the line that connects him to Adeptus vanished. This means one thing to him, and that is the monster's brain activity stopped. For that reason, Soru assumed that he finally dealt that monster, and their fight was over.

"I guess it's all over now..."

Soru looked around and noticed that the beach was fine after using such a large-scale attack. He sighed, turned his head around, and walked towards the forest.

"And here I thought the beach gets destroyed the moment I use it."

I'll just assume that the monster possesses peculiar powers to contain such energy without affecting the surrounding area.

While walking in silence, he was stuck in his thought. He thinks that in a world full of wonders and magic, that kind of ability most likely existed. Soru didn't know what extent of absurdities these abilities may reach, but what he understood is that there are individuals similar to him who are special and possess powers that alter nature and maybe fate itself.

Soru continues to walk while using the line that he was seeing right now. Since the Second Limiter was released, there are lines that stretch in a certain direction. Although he couldn't see the other end, Soru knew that these lines were connected to the people that knew him in this world. If he follows it, he will arrive at the settlement in no time.

While taking a step, Soru stopped upon sensing a bloodlust. It was so intense that it was hard to ignore even for him. He immediately turned his head and saw a thick line in his vision.

Even though his reaction didn't change a bit, he was puzzled and immediately stepped away.

This line...

Soru couldn't see the other end of the line. Since the line stretched infinitely, he couldn't measure the exact distance of his opponent from him. But his mind was screaming at him, pointing to a certain individual that was most likely directing this intense and suffocating intent at him.

"Adeptus..."

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