Chapter 468: Another One
“For someone who wields the power of time… I can’t help but be disappointed,” Chronos said with a slight frown. “Your performance against Vatyra was noteworthy. I’d show that to any of my future or past disciples.”
“But this…” Chronos scratched his cheek. “Were you even trying?”
[Damn,] Burger mumbled. [You sure as shit won’t be living this one down, will you?]
Probably not. Rael shook his head inwardly. But really… I thought this guy was the angelic warrior type, not a harsh mentor.
[Bit off more than you can chew?] Burger chuckled. [Just get it over with. I’ll come back in a million years. Maybe by then you’ll be unfrozen. If not, then… I’ll make sure to spend your money wisely.]
Despite Burger being a bastard, Rael had no choice but to ignore him and focus on Chronos instead.
“I was trying,” Rael said, slightly embarrassed. “I’ve never used a time skill before, so I don’t really know how to control it.”
“That’s no excuse,” Chronos replied. “You seem to have a knack for the time affinity, at least a little more than most. But you just cast a simple time freeze spell on me?”
The moment he finished speaking, he snapped his fingers, and in the next instant, the Supreme Monsters who were bickering off to the side froze.
“With time, you are powerful,” Chronos said. “If your enemy doesn’t expect it, you can stop their very existence in time.”
He glanced at the Supreme Monsters. “They are not my enemies anymore, but if they were, then they’d be dead.”
Rael narrowed his eyes slightly, and to his surprise, they were really frozen in time. There was no mana flow or anything of the sort. It really made him think about how they managed to defeat Chronos in the first place.
As if noticing his thoughts, Chronos chuckled.
“Being beyond immortal is no fun,” Chronos replied, a faint smile appearing on his face. “I was bored of the mundane life in the Transcendent Realm, so when Zarkul and his daughter came to invade it, I decided to tag along in hopes of there being something or someone interesting, and I was right.”
“His daughter is a prodigy, and now…” Chronos trailed off. “I suppose you’re like a caterpillar. You need to grow to eventually become a fully developed butterfly. When that happens, I believe you could soar even higher than Zarkul’s daughter.” ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel⸺fire.net
Then, he snapped his fingers again, unfreezing time for the Supreme Monsters. Surprisingly, except Evelyn and Zarkul, who had slight frowns on their faces, the others hadn’t noticed it.
“But your time-controlling powers are truly pathetic,” Chronos said and stepped forward, tapping Rael on the forehead.
In the next instant, Rael felt rejuvenated as all of his mana suddenly came back.
“Try again,” he instructed. “Don’t cast the skill. Do what you did with Vatyra.”
Although Rael was speechless, he decided to try it out anyway.
Activating the time skill inside his heart was pretty simple, and because he was not mixing it with any other skill, he could control it freely. Soon enough, the skill dissolved, leaving behind only the Time Mana.
Since he figured control skills would be better used mentally, Rael sent the Time Mana all the way up to his brain, and in the next instant, the world around him slowed down considerably.
The Supreme Monsters’ mouths were moving slightly slower, and Melina was completely frozen. Rael’s movements, on the other hand, remained at the same speed.
There was just one problem, and it was the fact that this Time Mana he had gathered inside his mind was getting drained way too fast. It was almost as if he needed a quadrillion MTP just to be able to use it for longer than 10 seconds.
But Chronos wasn’t affected in the slightest as he hummed in satisfaction and looked around.
“Not bad. Area Control is a major part of Time Control. It’s just a pity your maximum range is one hundred meters. But if you compress it, I’m sure the effect would be even stronger,” Chronos remarked.
Yet right as Rael was about to answer him, blood began spurting from his nose as he staggered back.
Before things could get too out of hand, Chronos tapped Rael’s forehead. Not only did he heal and restore his mana, but he also dispelled the Time Mana from overwhelming him.
And in turn, the Supreme Monsters were left slightly surprised. However, since the duel was going on, they didn’t dare to step in.
“Hmm… You should try your eyes next time,” Chronos said. “We send the mana into the brain to create an Elemental Domain.”
“Eyes, on the other hand… you can directly freeze anyone you’re looking at. It’s far more mana-efficient,” Chronos added and fell silent.
Rael rubbed his temples, waiting for the numb pain to go away. When it did, he spoke.
“How do you do it then? I mean… where do you send the mana?” Rael asked.
He knew there had to be some sort of trick.
“Dear child… the sooner you accept that we are not equals, the sooner we can establish your position,” Chronos replied coldly.
“I don’t need such feeble conduits to use Time Magic. When you get to a certain level, you won’t have to either. But for the time being, focus on refining what you have. That’s all I can tell you.”
This guy is way too blunt. Rael sighed inwardly. But I can’t say he’s wrong. He’s probably like a gazillion years old, and he’s a Grade 9 Calamity Class being for a reason. His level is -1, so probably even the system doesn’t know what to do with him.
Yet the moment he had that thought, Chronos cleared his throat, an impatient look appearing on his face.
“I’m only slightly satisfied with your Time Control. However, we will now move on to the second phase of this duel.”