Chapter 146 - 146 – Defense Line  

The time passed without much talking as Gravis, and the other disciples, waited for the stronger ones. It took a couple of minutes, but then new people started arriving. The first person that came was at the eighth level of Energy Gathering, and he immediately took out a bottle of pills, ready to throw them at Gravis.

PACK!

One of the disciples that had been here since the beginning grabbed the arm of the new arrival, stopping him from throwing the pills. "What?" said the new arrival but couldn’t say anything further as another disciple kicked him in the stomach. He fell over, and the surrounding disciples started piling on him and kicking him while he lay on the ground.

"You idiot! Do you wish for death so much?" shouted one disciple, furiously kicking the downed one.

"I’m sure our brothers told you what happened to the previous ones! Stop seeking death, you fucking idiot!" said another one, increasing the power of his kicks. They were protecting the life of the new arrival from his own stupidity.

Meanwhile, another new arrival at the eighth level readied himself to throw his pill-bottle to Gravis.

RHOOM BANG BANG BANG!

Another hill of disciples piled onto him and, just like the previous one, started fervently kicking the downed disciple. "Fucking stop!" shouted the kicking disciples.

The downed disciples could only cry bitterly. ’That’s what I want to say!’ they thought as their brothers were beating them.

More disciples started arriving with their pills ready. They had heard what their brothers had told them, but who would believe such nonsense? Some guy at the sixth level of Magic Gathering was beating people two realms higher than him without breaking a sweat? Not even the geniuses of legends could do that!

Like this, nearly every new arrival got taken down to the ground as the number of beatings increased.

PAK PAK PAK PAK PAK!

Yet, the tide of stupidity was unstoppable as Gravis caught five bottles of pills simultaneously. Five disciples at the eighth realm managed to throw their pills at Gravis at the same time, and the kicking disciples finally stopped as they furiously grabbed their hair in frustration. ’You fucking idiots!’ they all screamed in their minds.

The five disciples stood in the front, looking at their disciple brothers in disdain. "You cowards don’t even dare to fight someone several levels below yours. You should feel ashamed of yourselves!" shouted one of them with thick disdain dripping from his voice.

A famous saying went through the watching disciples’ minds as they heard the guy. ’The gates to heaven are open, but you choose to barge through the locked gates of hell!’ It was already too late, and they couldn’t stop them anymore. The best the disciples could do was keep future arrivals at bay until they saw what happened to those five.

Like this, a peculiar scene of hundreds of disciples blocking all paths to Gravis was created. The disciples readied their weapons for intimidation and acted like they were defending their home from invaders. Yet, the "home" they were protecting was Gravis, while the invaders were their fellow brothers and sisters. ’We must protect our brothers and sisters from their stupidity!’ they thought, ignoring the fact that they had acted the same way just a couple of minutes ago.

Gravis found this scene to be quite entertaining, but he quickly focused on the five disciples standing at the front. "Alright, you can all come at me at the same time," he said nonchalantly.

The five disciples first were surprised, but then showed thick disdain towards Gravis. "Who do you think you are? Do you think you are Heaven’s chos-... a God?" the disciple quickly corrected himself as he realized that Gravis, as a Heavenborn, was actually Heaven’s chosen. "Move aside!" he shouted as he pushed the one beside him away.

BANG "AH-!"

His scream was cut off as a pillar of lightning appeared under him and scorched his whole body. The disciple had immediately died. Gravis didn’t care if they accepted going at him at the same time. Gravis had moved his lightning across the floor until it was under the guy and then detonated it. As long as the guy didn’t move, the lightning would hit. They had paid for their deaths, and death they shall receive.

The guy who had just been pushed looked to the one that pushed him, but his mind stopped as he only saw a black corpse falling down. "Wha-"

BANG!

That disciple was incinerated too, as Gravis used the same attack again. Like this, only three of the five people remained. Most of the disciples at the "defending position" didn’t turn around since they were busy defending against an onslaught of stupidity.

An explosion of lightning sounded different from an explosion of fire. They had already guessed that those two explosions probably meant that two of their brothers had just died. This only strengthened their resolve to defend.

The remaining three disciples "fighting" against Gravis drew their weapons immediately, and their breathing quickened. Their emotions were going wild, and the long-forgotten feeling of death appeared again. One of them saw lightning creeping towards him on the floor, and his whole body shivered. ’I can’t die!’

He jumped to the side, evading the lightning, and looked back at the explosion that had just happened at his previous position. He watched the explosion in shock as he felt like he had just dodged death.

BANG!

The disciple got incinerated as Gravis shot a lightning bolt at him. The disciple had been fully focused on his near-death experience and hadn’t watched Gravis. Gravis, of course, wouldn’t miss such an opportunity. Like this, only two people remained.

The two people hyperventilated in panic, and their weapons shivered. Fear and absolute panic rampaged inside their minds. ’I’m going to die,’ they thought, overwhelmed with fear. The sudden appearance of such an intense fear made them lose their rationality. They quickly turned around and fled.

BANG!

Another disciple exploded as Gravis threw a lightning bolt at the back of his head. That disciple had not watched Gravis while fleeing, which had been a bad decision. The other one still had enough rationality to keep an eye out for Gravis. Gravis released lightning around him as he bent his legs, ready to sprint forward.

BOOM!

The earth under Gravis exploded as he used his body’s full power to accelerate, supported by his lightning movement. Regarding speed, the fire element could be considered okay. It was not fast, but it also wasn’t slow, while lightning was considered as the second fastest element, just behind wind. Together with Gravis’ powerful body, one could imagine his speed.

The last disciple wasn’t even able to flee to the defending line of disciples before Gravis already appeared behind him. The shock of Gravis’ speed made the disciple freeze, and Gravis used a lightning bolt to explode his head. Like this, all five disciples had been killed.

Gravis had stopped absorbing Energy when it had reached 99% of the amount necessary for him to break into the next level. Theoretically, Gravis could also remain at 100% of the requirement. He would just need to not condense his Energy to remain at the level.

He chose 99% instead of 100% because of the feeling of reliance. If he fought a strong enemy while having the possibility to make a breakthrough at any point, he wouldn’t feel genuine danger. It would be similar to having a strong person behind him that could intervene if he died. This was not real life and death tempering.

Gravis used lightning movement to make all the corpses move to him. He quickly went through their remaining valuables and pocketed anything that he could need in the future. Then, he threw the thoroughly cooked corpses over the river, one by one.

Skye was super happy, right now. So much good food!

The fighting at the front had ended by now. The new arrivals saw what had happened to the earlier arrivals and their bodies shivered in fright. They quickly understood why their brothers were keeping them away. The new arrivals quickly joined the defense line. Who were they kidding? Killing one person at the eighth realm was one thing, but straight-up slaughtering five of them at the same time was something completely different.

Like this, Gravis impatiently waited with crossed arms for someone strong to arrive.

’How long is this going to take?’