Deathly silence covered the stadium as the spectators kept reviewing the image of Krialder's disintegration over and over in their minds, wanting to comprehend what the f*ck had just happened.

They turned to look at their seat neighbor just to see the same confusion clouding his eyes.

​​

They could understand if Krialder ended up with a hole in his chest or even exploding into a shower of blood.

But turning into dust from the same golden beam that struck others before? They simply couldn't fathom how it happened!

"La, Landlord has successfully slain Krialder, one of the players with the highest potential to win the game!" Kayn stuttered his commentary while his eyes were completely focused on the replay, wanting to spot the difference before then and now.

Earlier, everything happened so fast by the time he realized that Felix was gunning for Krialder, the deed was already done!

After watching the replay in slow motion, he couldn't help but spot the pitch-black nail and how it got created.

"Poison!! Solidified Poison! That's it!" Kayn exclaimed loudly in shock, making the viewers start clamoring out loud for him to play the replay.

Especially Krialder's fans were still finding it difficult to believe that their idol had been disposed of just like that. They expected him to use a coupon or something to save himself but...He didn't.

How could he even request the Queen when he got disintegrated almost instantly?

The moment corruption inducement touches someone's body with weak poison resistance, it removes them from existence.

That's why Felix named the new technique as Jörmungandr's Ordnance since the main firepower was the poison nail instead of the lightning force!

A second later, Kayn played the replay on a different screen, leaving the first one still focusing on Felix who was currently speeding unhindered towards one of the five parachutes.

It was going to take him at least 15 seconds to reach them since they were quite far.

However, the viewers didn't even glance at the main screen but focused on the replay that was playing in slow motion.

This allowed everyone to spot the sequence of Felix's attack right from the start!

"Solidified poison! He actually reached this far!" Maganda Chief stood up from his seat as stared with widened eyes at the stiff black nail.

"How long did he possess poison manipulation?" Zosia said with a slight tremble in her tone, "It can't be less than 3 years."

Zasia's calculations were based on the first extrastriatal contact with the earthlings. In her eyes, Felix was merely a commoner before the invitation.

She was absolutely right in that sense but also wrong in her calculation. After all, Felix got his manipulation in less than a year now!

If those fogies knew that he made such skyrocketing progress in less than a year, they would probably assume that the Organization had done something to modify Felix's body!

It was simply impossible in their eyes to reach such a height in this short period!

If only they knew about Felix's daily grind that would drive anyone crazy, they wouldn't be thinking the same!

"So he can create a solidified poisonous nail. That's cute." Erebus chuckled while glancing at Jörmungandr.

Seeing that he didn't receive a response, he asked, "How long did it take him to reach this level in his internal manipulation?"

"Instead of asking about him, you better start to worry about your own champion." Jörmungandr said casually.

Erebus waved his hand dismissively, "Your champion might have created an upgraded technique between two elements but it still as useless as the normal one. Nothing could touch my champion."

Lady Sphinx took a small elegant sip from her teacup and said calmly, "He might not be able to touch him but he will most definitely be able to touch his parachute."

"I wonder about that." Erebus grinned faintly and stopped talking at once as his champion was almost above the first parachute.

Out of nowhere, a golden beam had emerged and gone right through him just as he was about to touch the parachute.

Alas, he ended up going through it as well due to his ability.

Before Felix could smile at his successful attempt, he realized that Saltz Master's body didn't reconstruct instantly as the last time.

Instead, it spread slightly with the wind before five black balls emerged in the area he was at. Those five balls started to shapeshift rapidly!

In less than a second, they all turned into the same version of Saltz Master!

Everything about them was black just like Saltz Master!

'Shadow Decoys, damn it, I didn't think he could construct them in mid-air with all of this wind smacking into us.' Felix cursed while trying to track the real Saltz Master with his infrared vision.

However, it only shows him five masses of white energy. There was no heat, no bones, no organs, nothing!

Felix could only watch them head to different parachutes, making him understand that he couldn't hit all of them since he had already run out of the stored lightning.

He was using it on and off throughout the entire game and it was a truly limited resource!

Without it, he lost the ability to think and move faster than everyone else.

'F*ck it, let's wing it.'

Knowing that time wasn't his ally, Felix immediately aimed at a random version of Saltz Master and then fired Thor's Ordnance with a normal nail.

POOOF!!

Just like the previous times, Saltz Master exploded into a cloud of dark matter.

However, this time, the cloud had spread out in the atmosphere, making Felix figure out that he had struck the wrong target.

When he looked at the rest, he saw that one of them was hugging a parachute while the rest were gliding slowly towards him!

'Let's see how you can protect your parachute now.' Felix narrowed his eyes at the real Saltz Master and fired off another golden beam at him.

Those beams were fueled with only 10% of his purified energy, making him have an easier time spam them like this.

They might be weaker versions but they get the job done by forcing Saltz Master to turn into a living shadow.

Pooof!

While Saltz Master had exploded into a cloud of dark matter, the parachute backpack had actually disappeared!

Felix saw that it had been engulfed into a sphere of darkness before vanishing like magic!

When Saltz Master's body got reconstructed, he turned around and gave Felix a nonchalant look, like he wouldn't care about whatever he did to him from now on.

'Motherf*cker, where did he hide the parachute!' Felix was absolutely baffled by the situation since he had never seen Saltz Master utilize this technique in his previous games.

What he didn't know was that even the viewers and Kayn were shocked by the technique!

"Did he simply turn the parachute invisible?" Kayn shook his head at his own theory, "It would have left a presence and Landlord wouldn't miss it."

True enough, Felix had focused deeply on the areas around Saltz Master, yet he didn't see any peculiarly.

He understood that if the parachute was merely invisible, it would be subjected to wind resistance, leaving a slight distribution in its descent..

But, there was nothing at all!

Felix focused first on securing his own parachute as he had finally reached one of the remaining four.

He picked it up and strapped it on his stomach so those behind him would aim at it so easily.

Luckily for him, they seemed like they didn't plan on starting a fight now but just keep the pace as it was.

There were two remaining parachutes for them so there was no need for battle.

Meanwhile, Erebus was laughing loudly while looking at Lady Sphinx's and Jörmungandr's disgruntled expressions.

"Haha, your little boy isn't the only one who is improving his elemental manipulation." Erebus praised with a delighted expression, "My lad has finally touched the limits of the 2nd stage of elemental manipulation."

Jörmungandr couldn't help but let out a long exhale and praise, "To actually be able to transport objects to the Shadow Realm while at such a young age. I gotta admit, he truly a prodigy that was born to master shadows."

When Jörmungandr tried to compare him to Felix who was still struggling to feel the poison around him, his eyelids could only twitch slightly.

He might feel that Felix's speed was trash compared to Saltz Master, but he knew that he was hardworking...With elements that he possessed and hopefully other future elemental manipulation, his true potential is a million times better than Saltz Master.

He might be ahead now, but Saltz Master was soon going to hit the wall of 2nd stage of elemental manipulation without any method to improve it.

The only way to go higher was by having the primogenitors' own perfect manipulation that would help him reach 3rd stage...Felix already had it!

"Can he transport himself to the shadow realm yet?" Lady Sphinx asked with a hint of worry.

"If he could, this game would have been in the bag before it even started." Erebus shrugged his shoulders, "Sadly, he can only transport smaller objects for 8 minutes maximum."

Lady Sphinx sighed in relief at the sound of that. She knew that if Saltz Master could transport himself, then he wouldn't even bother with a parachute.

After all, he could transport himself to the shadow realm right before he touches the ground.

Then, he could transport himself without the build-up velocity that he created throughout the entire descent!

'Damn it, if I can't target his parachute this only means that I need to eliminate him right when he opens it up or inside the thunderstorm.'

Felix decided to save his energy for the troposphere layer and simply focus on defending his own parachute until he reached it.

"Three players at the front! Two more right behind them! The rest are either catching up or still hunting down loot boxes." Kayn commentated with a thrilled tone, "The troposphere layer is only ten kilometers away from Blade Curser and Saltz Master! This is the shortest layer and also the one with the most obstacles!"

"The game was about to enter its final critical stage!"