King's Rule: Creating the Strongest Kingdom With My Broken Talent-Chapter 18: No Way, Right?

The air grew tense as silence descended.

Mana surged from everyone present...

Everyone except Vesh.

The first to make a move was the duo—Temu and Quenila.

Two shining steel daggers shot forward, while two spiraling beams of water followed close behind, all four attacks aimed precisely at Vesh’s limbs.

The other three were clearly weaker, but this guy, someone around their age who had just woken up, still demanded some caution, so they decided to incapacitate him first.

As their attacks reached Vesh without any resistance, they expected to see his limbs getting severed, making him drop down as a quadruple amputee.

But instead...

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Sparks flew as something faint flickered around Vesh, completely nullifying their attacks.

A semi-transparent barrier appeared, hexagonal and shining like a diamond.

"How is this? Good, right?" Vesh smiled. "It’s way tougher than steel, but strangely, water can still cut it."

"Crystal??" Quenila exclaimed in shock. "To create a crystal, you need at least S-rank Earth Mastery or Crystal Mastery. But even then, how could it defend against our attacks?"

Vesh blinked.

"Crystal? Well, technically, a diamond is a crystal, so yeah, you could say that. But I don’t think you need S-rank Earth Mastery for it. And this isn’t just a diamond. It’s a diamond woven in three layers."

Still smiling, he added, "Though I doubt you would understand how I created a diamond or that there’s more than one way to build such tough structures by properly combining elements if your control over Mana itself is sufficient."

Vesh noticed his Seed Force had reached 4000 and grinned.

An exotic wheel reflected deep within his eyes as it slowly spun.

’I can defend against their attacks with my highly sophisticated skills without trouble. No wonder my combat power is shown as higher than theirs.’

"Humph, you can’t fool us with that." Temu snorted. "When you blocked our attacks and released your aura, I gauged your Seed Force with mine. It’s six thousand lower than mine."

Quenila blinked. "In that case, you are simply dreaming if you think you can beat us. You don’t have as much Mana as we do, and with your lower Seed Force, your attacks won’t be strong enough to break our defenses."

"Come on," Temu grinned. "No need to struggle pointlessly. I actually have a fun game in mind, and it’s very fun."

His smile widened as he continued.

"First, I’ll cut off both arms of everyone who is behind those walls and toss them randomly into the forest. Then we’ll release them and watch them scramble."

He chuckled. "If they manage to find the arms that belong to them, I’ll reward them with swift death. The others might just bleed to death, though. But watching them search will be the fun part, right?"

Vesh’s eyes turned icy.

"That’s what you call a fun game?"

"Absolutely."

Inside his Life Nexus, the Wheel of Elements stirred into motion.

Several elemental strings connected together from three sections—Fire, Lightning, and Wind.

"I also have a game suggestion," Vesh said coldly with a smile.

"I will attack, and you defend."

He paused for a moment.

"I call this... Death Trick Slash. Let’s see if it works."

The moment Vesh finished speaking, he waved his hand downward in a sharp vertical motion.

With that, a plasmic crescent violet slash, as thin as cicada wings, surged into motion.

The moment it appeared, faint violet-blue lightning flickered across its surface before condensing into a brilliant neon glow.

Then it tore through the air in complete silence, and in a blink of an eye, streaked toward Temu.

Its speed was twice that of the daggers Temu had thrown at Vesh.

Temu couldn’t dodge even if he wanted to, and the incoming slash looked dangerous, so all he could do was rely on his A-rank Metal Mastery to activate a skill he had learned—Metal Coating.

A thick layer of metal rapidly formed around his body, akin to a suit of heavy metal armor.

At the same time, a smug smile appeared on his face. ’Heh. Whatever this is, it can’t hurt me with your measly Seed Force.’

Just as that thought crossed his mind, the violet slash finished passing through him.

Right through the middle.

"Heh, told you. Your attacks can’t do shit to us. Hahah—"

But just as Temu began laughing, his vision suddenly blurred, and a sharp pain pierced his mind. The tension and pressure from laughing only hastened what was about to happen.

He turned toward Quenila and saw her eyes widen in shock, and reflected in those eyes was his own body.

’No way... right?’

Those were Temu’s final thoughts as his body split clearly into two from the middle.

Thud!

Quenila’s eyes trembled. As soon as Temu’s two halves hit the ground, she snapped her eyes back to Vesh. Her hand shook as wind surged around her.

’Elder Forguin!’

Vesh’s eyes narrowed at the compass that suddenly appeared in her hand as he sensed mana fluctuating from it.

’What? Did she call for reinforcements?’

A frown formed on his face, and along with it, two more Death Trick Slashes manifested before him, hovering in the air.

"What did you do?" Vesh asked.

Quenila gulped. Sweat formed on her forehead in nervousness, but she forced herself to regain composure.

"It’s over. Elder Forguin is coming here. He knows my location. These tricks won’t work against a Sprout-rank powerhouse like him."

Vesh nodded calmly. "Thanks for the information."

Turning back to the trio behind him, he said quickly, "Release your mana outside and go back inside. I am going to use it to create a barrier; I don’t have enough for it myself. Fast."

Kayan, Arga, and Rovina immediately obeyed as told and rushed inside.

Using their mana, Vesh formed a crystal barrier around the territory.

Swoosh!!

A water orb wrapped in swirling wind shot toward Vesh the moment he turned his back toward Quenila.

But just when it was a meter away from him, a pitch-metallic maw—without eyes or teeth—suddenly manifested and devoured the orb before shooting upward.

Poof!

Instead of exploding the maw open, it merely pushed out some air.

"Thanks for the mana." Vesh turned back to Quenila with a smile as the maw vanished. "I call it Energy Devouring Maw. Glad it worked as I intended. The conversion rate is a bit low, though. I think you probably used 500 mana for that, but I only gained about 230."

"H-How?" Quenila took a step back. "How can you use such advanced skills?!"

"Mana is interesting." Vesh replied with a smile.

The moment Quenila blinked, Vesh moved.

Wind surged around him, and he appeared right beside her.

A strange coating appeared around Vesh as well, like a suit of crystal, as he swung his hand forward and grabbed Quenila by the neck.

"You’re physically stronger than me," he said calmly. "But don’t try to struggle, or the two Death Trick Slashes hovering above you will kill you before you can even blink."

Quenila looked up.

Two menacing slashes hung silently above her.

And so, Vesh flew into the air, wind spiraling beneath his feet and flowing like ribbons around his arms.

While flying, Vesh began modifying Arcane Cultivation, turning it into an array that would activate and function without requiring his constant focus.

’A Sprout-rank powerhouse... he must be strong. I have to get away from here and lead him somewhere else.’

’King’s Rule. I fly toward a place with the highest magical purity within a thirty-kilometer area.’