CHAPTER 30: A TOUGH BATTLE

*Whoosh.* With one hand holding onto the staff, the Torkun supported its body with its other hand and charged directly at Leo.

"You guys should support me from the side." Being the strongest among the three, Leo also charged at the Torkun as he decided to attract the aggro. The other two also moved forward although they were a bit slower than Leo.

A sly glint flashed in the Torkun's eyes.

When Leo was closing in on the Torkun, he leaped up, ready to pounce on it.

However...

Several branches sprouted from the ground and clutched tightly to his limbs before they yanked him back to the ground.

Surprisingly, the Torkun didn't continue its charge at the caught Leo and instead leaped very high into the air in Rio's direction with the staff raised up high with both of its hands.

Normally, Rio could erect a stone shield to defend against such an attack, however, because he was caught off guard, he didn't have time to cast the spell.

'Shit!' That was what passed through his mind before...

*Bang!* his head was smashed deep into the ground, and a deep gash opened at the top of his head.

The Torkun raised its staff once more to finish him off when...

"YOU DARE!" Leo screamed out in anger.

"Stone spike," Dio called out loudly

A huge stone spike grew from the ground behind the Torkun before piercing its abdomen.

*Roar!* the Torkun roared in pain and brought down the raised staff with its left hand while it swung its right hand at the stone spike behind it.

*Bam!* the spike was smashed into smithereens.

Before it could let out a relieved breath though, Leo instantly appeared behind it having escaped its plant magic.

He swiped his huge claw at the Torkun's back.

*Spurt!" A huge fountain of blood gushed out as the Torkun was sent flying forward.

"Are you okay?" Leo quickly asked the rising Rio.

"No," he whimpered painfully.

"This is our chance." Leo quickly helped stabilize Rio before he shouted at the approaching Dio:

"We have to restrain him now!" As if they both understood his words, Dio and Rio's faces immediately became serious.

The three shouted simultaneously:

"Stone hands."

"Stone hands."

"Stone hands."

A pair of sandy hands rose up from the ground before they quickly encircled the still listless Torkun and caged it.

"NOW!" Leo shouted.

"Fuse!" the three shouted simultaneously again.

The three pairs of hands that held the Torkun suddenly melded before fusing together to form a barrier that covered the entirety of the Torkun's body except for its head.

*Roar!* The Torkun let out an angry roar as it tried to escape its constraints with no success.

The other three didn't have it easy either as many beads of sweat rolled down their faces before falling on the ground.

Leo gritted his teeth fiercely.

He was the only one who could still act as it took a huge amount of concentration to create the 'stone hold'; any mistake and the Torkun could escape.

Focusing to his very best, he willed the remaining mana in his body and a huge stone spear started taking form above his head.

After a few moments, he was just about to hurl the stone spear at the Torkun to kill it once and for all when...

*Whoosh.*

The four in battle saw something flash before them. They couldn't see it.

It wasn't until what flashed stopped in front of the stone barrier restraining the Torkun that they could make out the figure.

A golden-haired boy of about 8 years old appeared in their vision.

'What the h...' before they could properly react, the boy threw two punches, and the stone barrier collapsed.

Leo, Rio, and Dio's eyes almost popped out of their socket.

How is that possible? What a peak-beginner spiritual beast could not break, a human with no mana broke it easily.

It was unfortunate that they were too weak to see what truly happened at that instant.

Because if they did, they would know that what truly happened was nothing short of heaven-defying.

It was something that was supposed to be impossible.

All but one person though, as the artifact spirit saw what happened clearly.

Even as the supreme treasure of the realm of the gods, the artifact spirit couldn't stop itself from letting out the words:

[What the f*ck?]

.....

A few moments earlier, Arlo closed his eyes as he recalled his last battle. He had always thought about what he could have done to win against Tina.

After thinking about it for some time, something finally came to mind.

It was something purely nonsensical.

However, if he wanted to become stronger as an unawakened, he had to try it at the very least.

Previously, in order to maximize his battle prowess, he would concentrate the surrounding Ki on certain parts of his body.

However, the highest he had ever concentrated at a part was 25%.

So what if he concentrated 100% of the Ki on only one part?

How explosive would his battle prowess be?

There was a shortcoming though.

If he concentrates all his Ki on one part, the other parts of his body would be no different from a mortal's.

And that would be completely inefficient, as he couldn't single-handedly use only one part of his body in a fight.

This is where a crazy idea popped up in his head.

Would it be possible to instantly move the concentrated Ki from one part to another?

Though the word instant is used, the concentrated Ki will actually be moved in picoseconds rendering the time to displace it negligible.

To actually move 100% concentrated Ki in mere picoseconds...

Would it be possible?

Arlo's closed eyes snapped open.

'I won't know until I try.'

His body turned into a black hole sucking in the surrounding Ki.

Once his body became saturated, he concentrated all the absorbed Ki into his right eye.

His right eye suddenly erupted with a white light, before the light turned into a whitish smoke.

His right vision became clearer than ever before as he could now see minute things that could never be picked with the naked eye.

Focusing his right vision on the stone barrier, he could instantly see the concentration of mana in it.

"Found it." It didn't take him long to find out where mana was least concentrated.

'Let's do it!'

"Haa" He released a light breath.

He lifted his right leg and stepped forward.

In the process of his leg stepping down; in a frame where time is slowed by over a million times, the white smoke speedily streaked down his eye to the sore of his right foot, and...

*Tap.* his right foot landed.

The result?

*Bang!* he launched forward like a missile, and with a single step his body covered a distance of twenty meters with dust in his wake.

His left foot was just about to land on the ground when...

*Whoosh.*

Once more, the white smoke streaked through his body like lightning and instantly arrived at the sore of his left foot.

*Tap.* His left foot landed and once more...

*Bang!* His body covered another twenty meters.

*Whoosh.*

Arlo flashed past the three men and arrived at the restrained Torkun in a mere five breaths.

When he arrived in front of the spell's weak point, he simultaneously threw both of his fists in a punch, and in the process, the white smoke streaked from his leg to his right hand before it landed on that weak point.

Before any sound was even released, the white smoke continuously streaked from his right fist to his left fist before it returned down the same path.

The result?

Two hundred punches were thrown out in a mere second.

However, to the naked eye, only two punches were thrown.

*Boom!*

A huge shockwave was generated as the stone barrier instantly shattered into countless pieces like a shattered mirror.

Watching this breathtaking scene that just played out, the artifact spirit involuntarily let out a...

[What the fuck?]