The Innkeeper

Chapter 1194: One man army I

BANG!

Lex used the hammer to smash down on space itself right before him, causing it to crack. Yet the cracks also began to heal the very moment they were formed. This place was not like BGY-987, the planet where the Midnight Battalion had waited for him.

There, the fabric of space had been frail and fragile, breaking easily. That was both a boon and a curse, for it made using destructive space techniques easier, and a curse because if he was not careful he would end up destroying a lot more than just space.

But here, the laws of space were whole and healthy, and so as Lex tried to break space, space itself tried to resist and heal. Technically speaking, if Lex wanted to just create a small fracture in space he would not need to take such extreme measures. But his aim was far larger than a small fracture, which is why he was doing things in a much simpler and brutish fashion. He was forcing space to shatter over a large area.

BANG!

He smashed again, and as his hammer bore down, it was not just space that felt the tremors caused by his heavy blows. It was not even limited to the floor of corpses upon which he stood. No, the tremors of his blows spread to the hearts of all the other contestants who were around him, watching.

They spread to the hearts of the abomination, who felt a lethal threat from his actions. The tremors shook the hearts and minds of all those who were streaming this fight, and even of those who were supposed to be overseeing things.

"Should we stop him?" a worried, disembodied voice asked.

"No, the karma of this place needs to be resolved naturally. By bringing everyone here we are already pushing the limits of what that allows. Even if he destroys the very graveyard itself, that is also a resolution to the karma. Keep your eyes on the greater goal. Do not fret these small losses."

BANG!

The sound of Lex's hammer punctuated the end of their conversation.

*****

Giselle was extremely concerned about verifying Lex's survival, but she was soon kicked out of the Temple of Frozen Dawn before she could. Moreover, she was certain he was not staying in the same hotel as her.

So she could not put the matter aside and focus on her training. When the next trial started, and she arrived in the graveyard, she no longer needed to keep her cultivation suppressed. She undid her seal, revealing her natural cultivation as a 3rd stage Earth Immortal.

Unlike the previous realms, which were divided into beginner, late and peak stages, the immortal stages were each divided into 9 stages, and going from one stage to the next required passing a minor tribulation.

Moving from one large realm to another, such as Earth Immortal to Heavenly Immortal, required overcoming a large tribulation. The fact that she was already a 3rd stage Earth Immortal meant that her progress speed was exceptionally abnormal. Yet that was entirely arbitrary, since her cultivation realm was not a good reflection of her power. After all, she had always been stronger than her realm suggested.

In the darkness of the graveyard, she prepared herself to unleash her power. Her every move, every breath, every blink of her eye already overflowed with grace and elegance, yet it suddenly took on another, more ethereal charm.

Her every movement had a certain sense of flow in it, as if she was one with nature around her. Gravity worked with her, not against her. The wind blew in support of her, erasing any resistance. The world bent itself to accommodate her.

She was free and unshackled. Anyone observing her would feel like they would see… grains of sand, flowing in the breeze.

Just as she was about to unleash her newfound power, ready to test it, a bright yellow light cut through the darkness, and a dragon made of flames unveiled itself in the distance. More and more mythical creatures appeared, and standing amidst them was a young man with a focused expression.

BANG!

She felt it. It was not his savage might, nor the cracking of space, nor the absurdity of the situation of a single man taking on the entire trial by himself that she felt. No, what she felt was the severity of his will. A thought flickered through her mind.

She wondered who exactly was unfortunate enough to piss off Lex so much? Of course she recognized him. The distance meant nothing to her eyes, or her other senses. She was an immortal after all. But besides just his burning intensity, there was one more thing that intrigued her.

Right now, he looked so much different from that guy in the temple asking questions about mops. There were no jokes filling the silence right now. There was only the drive to eliminate the obstacle between himself and his mission.

But Giselle had her own mission in this graveyard, so she stopped looking at Lex, and began her own slaughter. Oddly enough, even though she was incredibly lethal, and did a significant amount of damage to the abominations, no one noticed her. It was as if her moves were timeless.

*****

The Midnight tavern was full - fuller than usual, considering that it had experienced a recent upgrade. The tavern owner had recently decided to triple the size of his building. Of course, he didn't add anymore floors, but just took over the neighboring buildings, tore them down and expanded the tavern. No one minded, since the tavern was super popular anyway.

"Hey, little huntress," the tavern keeper said to the little girl covered in blood, despite looking quite pale herself. She had recently suffered a grave wound, and if it hadn't been for timely treatment administered by the tavern owner, she might have become a cripple.

"I heard you're in need of money lately," he continued, ignoring the blatantly obvious anger in her eyes. Someone had targeted her, and caused her to lose out a lot. He knew. How could he not know? He even knew what she wanted that money for, though he would never tell her.

"Yeah. So what? You accepting new kinds of beasts? It'll take me a couple of days to recover, but I can start hunting as soon as I can walk without limping."

"No, you silly girl. Hunters need to use their brains as well sometimes. Use the opportunity that is presented before you."

"What do you mean?" she looked at him oddly.

The tavern keeper only smiled, and pointed to the massive projection screen in the middle of the tavern bar.

"You have to figure that out for yourself. By the way, completely unrelated, but the tavern is accepting bets for who is going to win this tournament. I myself have placed my bets on that guy with the hammer."

The huntress gave him an odd look.

"If the tavern is the one accepting bets… why are you placing bets?"

"Hey, the tavern is the tavern, and I'm me. Anyway, you do what you want. Good luck with your money crisis."