UNLIMITED SPEED

Elder Von lowered the five to the ground as pillars of vibrant blue flames rose up around them, followed by beasts manifesting out of the pillars.

Noah immediately understood that the flame beasts were in tier 4. In short, they could wipe the entire group out but were for their protection. Heck, the incredible heat they released didn't hurt the four experts.

Noah felt and watched the world around him seemingly come to a stop after those protections, both visible and invisible were placed around them.

The darkness element expert responded to that by creating spheres of rapidly rotating darkness. The mere preparation of his attacks caused the ground beneath him to corrode rapidly and soon large chunks of the prairie found holes opening in its structure.

Although both individuals fought for control over the environment, the effects of their attacks spread without the least bit of hindrance, only their aura's not mixing.

Seven of such spheres floated around the expert but that wasn't their final form, since the spheres began to shrink until their forms changed to that of featureless humanoid figures.

"Hmm... interesting," Elder Von's voice pierced their auras to reach everyone's ears.

"I do not understand what path you've stepped on, but those puppets will not be enough for my attack," Elder Von explained waving his left hand at the space between him and the bandit.

Vibrant blue flames erupted out of thin air to trace a large magical circle. The sky trembled and the ground shattered until a massive chunk of the prairie had disappeared.

Out of the magical circle, came forth a bow of immensely dense flames that had become solid due to their density.

The ground melted when that normal-sized object revealed itself to the world, as even the pillars surrounding the four experts trembled greatly as a result of the searing heat.

Noah and the others knew for sure that the area had become inhabitable for experts lower than tier 4. Only death awaited them if they stepped out of the protection.

The bow although reaching insane levels of heat landed on Elder Von's palms without the slightest hitch and the expert didn't hesitate to point that weapon at the darkness expert in the distance.

"This is merely a spell," Elder Von announced entering a stance that suggested he was about to attack. Placing his hand on the bows flaming strings, he drew at it and an arrow manifested in it.

"I plan to end this battle in one go since we have somewhere to go. However, if you survive this, I'll fight you properly," Elder Von declared raising his bow to face the sky. Then he released the arrow.

The world went silent as a blue streak flew high into the sky until it passed the clouds breaking them, before vanishing in the sky. However, a great rumbling began, followed by the appearance of hundreds of flaming streaks descending towards that region at incredible speeds.

They would arrive in less than a second, but the darkness expert seemed calm, while his puppets remained in their position.

Noah feared for his life at that moment, since even Elder Von moved closer to them before carrying them high into the sky away from the site of the attacks.

The streaks eventually arrived on the ground and the world went blue before the eyes of Noah and the others.

Explosions of immense scales spread out in the environment followed by mighty blasts of searing heat.

Just when Noah thought the darkness expert had to be dead since even the shockwaves coming from the explosions made the flaming beasts lose portions of their structure, a black line erupted out of the blinding blue light to sever it in half! Tainting that radiance.

The light vanished at that point, and Noah watched the explosions cease. Shock.

'He cut light!' Noah shuddered at that thought, but even after replaying the scene a few times, he still came to the same conclusion. 'But that should be impossible,' he wondered in great confusion but focused on the scene since things had started to calm down.

Liam, Illiana, Williams, and Noah held their breaths at the destruction that lay before them.

Pure chaos.

The ground beneath them had disappeared, rid of craters of incredible sizes. More than half of the prairie had turned into a burning wasteland, and even the forest in the distance suffered greatly.

A significant portion of the ground had been shaved off and was riddled with pools of burning soil and molten rocks. No sign of greenery existed on the horizon and Noah had to swallow hard when he managed to gauge the power within that attack more or less.

Tier 4's were practically gods. It felt unimaginable that there were experts far more stronger than them, even stronger than tier 6! Tier 7.

'Those guys should be capable of planetary destruction,' Noah thought swallowing hard. He truly was an ant compared to the powers that existed in the world.

Shifting his gaze from the burning scenery to the darkness expert, Noah trembled again seeing that the expert looked fine, except that his humanoid figures had disappeared, and he had a blade in his grip.

"Impressive," Elder Von commented nodding his head as if he expected that outcome.

"Darkness affinity wielders won't be so rare if they weren't powerful," the elder gave a short laugh. "Now you've earned the right to fight me properly," Elder Von announced as a crimson red battle armor appeared on his figure followed by a battle sword.

"I'd rather not," the darkness expert replied spitting a mouthful of blood. To the outside world, he had comfortably handled the power within the spell, but the truth was he had shielded himself with his puppets at the last moment while conjuring a series of barriers more than ten in number. Yet they had still crumbled when the attacks converged on his figure.

The elder's strength was monstrous. And he didn't even look drained from unleashing something so powerful. Now he understood why those of the Great guilds were considered the best of the bests.

Waving his right hand after he announced his opinion about the matter, the five experts of the great guild watched twenty balls of compressed darkness manifest from a black magical circle to shoot towards their figures, while he made a break for it.

Elder Von moved at that sight. He immediately understood the intentions of the bandit and dodged the balls to shoot toward his escaping figure.

Elder Von sent his four juniors to the sky still protected by the beasts and an invisible barrier.

"I'll be back!" His voice reached their ears even if he had left their visual range.

'How are we supposed to watch your battle now,' Noah pouted, even if he turned his focus to the effects of the black spheres.

Upon contact with the already destroyed ground, those masses of darkness exploded into expanding rivers of blackness that corroded everything they touched.

The potency of the corrosion was even greater than Elder Von's flames, but that didn't change anything much since after about a minute, another significant portion of the terrain had been shaved off, and looked toxic since a grey smoke rose to the sky, but they were protected by the barrier surrounding them.

Off in the distance signs of explosions continued to rage on, and flashes of blue light were the most prevalent.

Shock waves of their ongoing battle reached the position of the four, but their might had been reduced to a mere breeze.

The group had to wait about thirty minutes before Elder Von returned, and the unconscious figure of the darkness expert lay on his shoulder. The man was naked. All his clothes burnt. Plus his figure looked bloodied, and he was missing a right arm and a head full of hair.

Trees burnt on the horizon sending a massive wall of smoke into the sky, but the elder didn't seem to care that he had made land areas of miles in size turn into burning landscapes.

Without even speaking, the expert waved his hand and a rectangular portal appeared in the sky.

The platform they stood on floated towards the portal at that point and the flaming beasts dispersed under the shocked eyes of the experts.

"Walk into it and you'll arrive at your destination," Elder Von stated with a wide smile.

However, before the four could open their mouths in protest, he spoke.

"I had wanted to lure him out first that's why. Moreover, his hidden presence had made sense after you explained that there had been a tier four expert leading the bandits." The elder explained patting the experts bareback.

"The guild will find out what he was hunting humans for," he stated, allowing a bridge of harmless flames manifest before the experts.

"I'll meet with you when I drop him off. Do not worry the people on the other side will treat you well."

"Rest well, the tournament will begin in two days." He commented before watching them enter the portal, after which he opened another one and stepped through it.