Walking on air—could humans really achieve something like that?
Even if such magic existed, Sloth was now fully aware that there wasn't any magical energy flowing through the air.
In other words, Wood managed this incredible feat purely through his physical abilities and skill!
"What… What are you?" Sloth shouted angrily, glaring at Wood, who was stepping on the air as if it were solid ground, moving swiftly. Even with his mental instability, Sloth couldn't help but be enraged.
If Wood were a birdman or some other demi-human species, Sloth might have understood, but Wood was clearly an ordinary human. How could he possess such outrageous skills?
"Don't you understand? Even a human body holds infinite potential. With enough training, feats like this aren't completely impossible."
Wood's physical strength was more than enough to execute the "Six Powers," and the current skill he used, "Moonwalk," was clearly beyond Sloth's understanding.
"Grrrr—!"
Just as Wood was talking to Sloth, a deep whale song suddenly echoed through the mist around them, and the next second, a massive plume of white mist shot toward him.
The White Whale's "Vanishing Mist" could erase a target's existence, making it far more dangerous than Sloth's "Invisible Hands."
Faced with the incoming mist, Wood did not attempt to meet it head-on but instead conjured a green magic circle in front of himself.
A fierce wind vortex roared from the magic circle and collided with the White Whale's plume of mist.
The mist had the properties of water but remained in a gaseous state, and no gas, no matter how dense, could withstand the onslaught of a tornado.
The wind vortex, like a spear, pierced straight through the White Whale's mist.
In the same instant, Wood's figure vanished from his previous position, tracing the direction of the plume to locate the hidden White Whale amidst the thick mist.
"Armament Iron Body: Sky-Splitting Stone Smash!"
Combining the "Shave" and "Moonwalk" techniques from the Six Powers, Wood accelerated through the dense mist. The White Whale, whose sneak attack had failed, had intended to retreat into the mist once more but failed to notice the figure above its massive head.
From several hundred meters up, Wood appeared suddenly above the mist. His leg, cloaked in a black metallic sheen, descended with blinding speed.
Gravity and his own weight accelerated the kick, creating a shockwave akin to a meteor descending from the sky, complete with wind barriers and a fiery trail.
The White Whale, a colossal creature over fifty meters long with a massive horn on its head and white fur that could significantly weaken magic and physical attacks, was no match for the force of Wood's kick.
The moment Wood's foot connected with the whale's head, a tremendous shockwave swept outwards. With a clear crack, the massive horn on the White Whale's head shattered, and its colossal skull visibly caved in.
"Grrrr—!"
A whale's cry, sounding almost like a child's wail, echoed through the mist. Anyone with functioning ears could hear the pain in that cry—far more intense than any previous calls.
Ripple after ripple spread out from beneath the White Whale, and the next moment, the gigantic creature, over fifty meters in length, plummeted from the sky, breaking the sound barrier as it fell!
"Boom—!"
The deafening crash that followed shook the ground, causing those in the area to feel the earth tremble beneath them.
The dense mist obscured their vision, making it impossible to see what had happened, but the agonizing whale cry was enough to indicate that the one taking the blow was certainly not Wood.
"Is that guy even human…?"
Unlike the others, who were still surrounded by the thick mist, Sloth had been fighting Wood up close and was therefore closest to the White Whale.
Thanks to the Witch Factor inside him and his own origin as a minor spirit, the mist had little effect on him.
Because of this, Sloth had a clear view of everything that had just happened. He had initially believed Wood to be nothing more than a skilled swordsman and magic-user. But that single kick shattered all of Sloth's beliefs.
Humans being able to move through the air was already ridiculous, but Sloth could grudgingly accept it. However, the sight of a human delivering a kick that not only broke the sound barrier but also sent a fifty-meter-long, several-hundred-ton whale flying for kilometers across the ground—how could that be humanly possible?
Such strength and power—not even ancient magical beasts were known to possess such capabilities!
Wood's kick not only sent the White Whale flying, but it also shattered Sloth's confidence.
Sloth had been confident that, with his formidable earth magic, the "Invisible Hands" ability, and the White Whale's occasional sneak attacks, he could take down Wood.
But the White Whale, currently lying in a crater with its massive body unconscious from a single kick, proved to Sloth that this young knight was nothing short of a monster.
Sloth quietly committed Natsuki Subaru's face to memory—retreat had already started to form in his mind.
He may have been mentally unstable, but he wasn't an idiot. It was clear to anyone with a discerning eye that Wood was in a league of his own.
One of the Three Great Beasts, the White Whale, had been kicked away like a child. Staying longer would only mean death.
Just as Sloth and his remaining underlings were about to retreat under cover of the lingering mist, a massive green magic circle rapidly expanded from beneath Wood's feet.
As Wood's immense magical power surged, the magic circle grew exponentially, quickly encompassing tens of kilometers, enveloping the entire plain!
Though the dense mist blocked their vision, everyone in the area could see the glow of the massive magic circle etched into the ground.
"This mist is really getting on my nerves. Julius and Welkin are protecting my sister, so they should be fine.
"As for everyone else, my apologies—I'll try to minimize the magic's destructive power.
"Emperor-Level Wind Magic: Raging Turbulence!"
The enormous magic circle covering the entire plain burst into a brilliant green glow. As those standing on the magic circle felt the flow of mana beneath their feet, their expressions turned to shock.
Just as they started to make some emergency preparations, the first whiff of wind blew out from the magic circle. In mere seconds, a massive tornado rose from the center of the plain, reaching all the way to the clouds above.
The wind, with strength equivalent to a Category Twelve typhoon, not only swept up countless rocks from the plain but also uprooted many plants.
If deep-rooted plants were blown away, there was no question about what would happen to the mist or the people in that area.
But since Wood's intention was simply to disperse the mist covering the plain, he didn't unleash the full destructive power of Emperor-Level Wind Magic. Instead, he used its wide coverage to his advantage.
In less than a minute, the thick mist had completely dissipated.
The duration of the windstorm was short, and many managed to hold on to rocks and plants, avoiding being blown away. Only a few unfortunate ones, who couldn't find anything to grab, were swept into the air, now falling back to the ground.
Most who fell were warriors, assassins, or beastmen—their trained bodies weren't enough to kill them on impact, but broken bones were unavoidable.
"Wood's magical power is still absurdly strong, but he's just as reckless as ever. No wonder Sister turned out the way she did…" Tivey, one of the cat tribe triplets, sighed, undoing her defensive magic and surveying the surrounding chaos.
Alongside Welkin, who had protected Anastasia, Julius dispelled the protective barrier made of spirits, and upon hearing Tivey's words, his expression stiffened.
Not only Julius but also Crusch, positioned elsewhere, felt a similar shock as she dispelled her own magical defense. The once verdant plain had been gouged out by the storm, and her expression was one of disbelief.
As the heir of a duke, Crusch had seen powerful magic before—court magicians were not uncommon to her. Even Lugnica's strongest magician, Roswaal, who possessed the "Blessing of Magic" and could wield six attributes, held titles like "Red," "Green," and "Yellow."
Until today, Crusch had always believed Roswaal to be the strongest in Lugnica regarding magic and mana. However, today's events shook that belief.
The massive magic that had encompassed tens of kilometers—Crusch had enough understanding of magic to recognize that Wood hadn't even fully unleashed its power before cutting it off himself.
"Felix, in your understanding, how much mana would be required to release a spell of that magnitude?"
Limited in her own understanding of magic, Crusch looked to Felix for an answer. Felix, although not specialized in combat, was still the youngest to receive the "Blue" title as a highly talented magician.
"I don't know… That kind of mana exceeds what humans are supposed to possess.
"If I had to quantify it, I'd say it would take at least two full magic corps to pull off something like that."
Hearing Felix's answer, Crusch fell silent, murmuring, "So it would take about two hundred magicians to cast that spell…?"
A full magical battalion consisted of around one hundred mages, meaning that Wood's spell had the power of two such battalions!
"Lady Crusch, don't forget the other factors. He canceled the spell before it even reached its full power.
"And to control that much mana with such precision… it means that what we saw wasn't even his limit."
As a knowledgeable magician, Felix could see more than the others. Because of this, his gaze on Wood, standing at the center of it all, was filled with amazement.
In the past, Felix had doubted the rumor of Wood drawing with Reinhard, but after what he had witnessed, there was no doubt left.
A monstrous physique capable of kicking the White Whale away, swordsmanship praised by both the Sword Saint and the Finest Knight, and an inhuman level of magic power and mastery—
Wood was, by all accounts, a genuine monster, lacking any visible weakness.
Reinhard may have been considered a cheat, but he also had his flaws—his poor strategic thinking and inability to use magic.
Wood, on the other hand, had it all—strength, swordsmanship, and magic—all at the highest level, even surpassing human limits.
In a way, Wood was more of a monster than Reinhard—a flawless beast with overwhelming power.
With the mist blown away, the surroundings were now clearly visible.
Seeing Wood standing next to the White Whale, which had carved a trench into the ground, everyone present was stunned.
Because of the mist, they had heard the White Whale's cries and felt the tremors, but they hadn't imagined that the fearsome White Whale, one of the Three Great Beasts that had plagued the world for over 400 years, had already fallen to Wood.
"Grrrr—!"
With the mist cleared, the remaining two clones of the White Whale also came into view.
Both were heavily wounded from their fierce battle with an elderly gentleman.
One of the clones, seeing Wood, immediately abandoned its fight with the Sword Demon Wilhelm and charged straight at Wood's position.
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Don't forget to give Power Stone
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