<h4>Chapter 102 The Chase Part-4.</h4>


    Inside the SSA


    ''Hmm, it seems they are already catching up to me, I must acknowledge that Lia indeed has progressed a lot, those strange wings… they have given her an insane boost in speed…'' (Rio)


    Rio nced behind him and he could already see the brightly shining silhouette of Lia''s wings in the distance. Due to the dark clouds, the sun''s been blocked thus her wings are shining even more.


    ''That cat is not an ordinary spirit beast, it must be at least an S-ranked beast for it to have the morphing abilities like that, it can be even higher…'' (Rio)


    ''Lia alone is not enough, the main problem is that meat shield Link, sword intent might work on him but that guy has an insane amount of HP…'' (Rio)


    (By the way, Link already had 8000 hp when he was only at rank C, now he is at rank B+ his hp has increased beyond twenty thousand. He has ten times more hp than Rio. A true meat shield with maxed-out defense.)


    Just when Rio was contemting on his strategy, his danger senses suddenly tingled like crazy, Rio directly jumped away from his sword and fell to the ground. Still, he got scratched on his right arm by a knife-like-shaped shining mana.


    The knife-shaped object exploded but since Rio was out of its range he didn''t get affected. As Rio was about to fall to the ground his sword returned and hended safely on his sword.


    Rio looked at the familiar figure that was getting closer and closer with each second.


    ''That seems to be a spirit beast-based attack, simr to her wings I think… this is troublesome… I didn''t expect her to have such long-range attacks… even my mana detection can''t catch a spirit beast''s dense and controlled mana… I need to work on improving it…'' (Rio)


    Rio looked at the three newbies and untied them from the ropes.


    "You guys go straight in this direction, if even one of you can survive this hour we can win, so run as if your life depends on it, I will keep them busy… go!" (Rio)


    Hearing Rio''s serious tone, all three of them nodded their heads and hurriedly ran in the direction Rio had pointed.


    ''Well if not for that guy Liam, I could have hidden them somewhere so that they can''t be found at all, but that guy is one of the most talented magicians of this era, he can track them down easily… it''s better to keep him here, they still have a chance if I just keep those three busy…'' (Rio)


    "You think I will let them go?" (Lia)


    [Divine spirit''s blessing: Rain of silver death!]


    Lia pointed her pointed sword covered in silver aura towards the sky, her silver pupils shined brightly like diamonds, and her silver wings gave her the appearance of a war angel. A huge magic circle appeared in the sky, its silver brilliance seemed to be blinding the eyes of enemies.


    "In the name of the divine lion Kawaki! I purge thee! Be grateful as your sins have been washed away!" (Lia)


    After saying her divine chant Lia pointed her sword towards the fleeing members of team 2. Her silver hair covered in divine aura shone brightly as a thousand divine swords were fired with insanely fast speed.


    Looking at that insane spectacle Lia had created Rio was extremely surprised:


    ''Oi oi, is this the same Lia from the novel, when did she get this strong… moreover such a huge amount of mana… is this even something an S-rank potential holder can do, don''t tell me that divine spirit increased her talent too…'' (Rio)


    ''Well, it could be possible that the Lia in the novel never reached her true potential as she was corrupted by darkness, but this Lia seems to have tapped into her true potential…'' (Rio)


    A smirk appeared on Rio''s expressionless face, and a rare spark of light appeared in his dead-fish-like eyes:


    "Huh, interesting, very interesting…." (Rio)


    Rio turned his sword into a katana and assumed his stance:


    [Sword Intent!]


    [Concentration!]


    [Elemental Sword arts: Thunder type: Horizontal spread!]


    Rio struck a horizontal sword strike and thunderbolts spread everywhere like roots of a tree making a huge shield-like structure.


    ''The best way to counter divine beasts is sword intent, but it consumes too much mana, and spreading it like this needs twice the amount of mana… it''s a good thing I increased my mana capacity recently…'' (Rio)


    Ny-nine percent of the divine swords were blocked by Rio''s counterattack.


    ''It seems I still have to expend some more mana…'' (Rio)


    Just when Rio was about to attack once more, his mana-sensing skill triggered and he ducked to the left.


    Looking back Link was squatting at the ce Rio stood just a moment ago. His fist rested on the ground where a huge crater was created. (At this point I won''t be surprised if Link made craters in the ground with a sneeze.)


    "fuh~ finally caught up! You are certainly quite fast in running away, hah! Are you that scared of me, the mighty and righteous Link!?" (Link)


    ''He made me miss those one percent attacks, at least one of them would havended on those newbies…'' (Rio)


    "Bahahaha, Rio the sacredly cat, hahaha…" (Link)


    ''Change of ns, I will beat the sh*t out of this guy first, then rescue those three…'' (Rio)


    …


    …


    SSA, Central Area.


    "I have already healed the other two, senior Liam!"


    Liam looked at the healer student and nodded his head. Then he nced at the direction Rio flew away and his eyes narrowed a little. The atmosphere around him became cold and a creepy smile appeared on his shrewd-looking face.


    ''You better be ready to face retribution for what you did to my familiar…'' (Liam)


    "Okay, you guys step back a little let me summon some help for us, we have to catch up to those three after all." (Liam)


    The trio nodded their heads obediently and moved as far as possible, to not get caught up in the dense mana, after all, no one wanted to faint from the overdose of mana in the middle of the forest.


    Liam brought out a floating orb with mysterious carvings on it, from his storage ring. This is Liam''s real weapon. For normal fights he uses a magic staff as a medium but only when he has to fight seriously does he use this weapon.


    (Weapon intro ahead)


    [Item Name: Azazel''s Dreaming Heart]


    [Item type: Magic medium]


    [Item rank: S+]


    [Item Description: An excellent magic medium suitable for a mage of any rank. Made out of the heart of the Demon General Azazel, it has excellent mana amplification capabilities. It was made by an elven cksmith at the personal request of Neo Aldif during his younger days. It is said that after ripping apart the heart of a general rank demon Neo forced an Elven cksmith to make this thing. It waster gifted to Liam Aldif on his 12th birthday.]


    [Item abilities:


    1. Mana storage: 10000/10000


    2. Mana amplification by 2 times.


    3. Keeps user in a calm state in every situation.


    4. The user is immune to all illusion attacks below SS-rank.


    5. Forced Summon - Can summon any one summon, from the user''s familiars without consuming any mana once a week. ]


    …


    Liam put his arm on the ground and a huge magic circle appeared which covered the whole central area:


    [Forced Summon: Shadow Dragon: Elisia Mistilteinn!]


    Winds howled like they were weing an evil creature''s descent on the earth, the surroundings became darker and a chilly atmosphere spread around.


    From the dark ck magic circle, a shadow rose and slowly took the shape of a colossal dragon. The dragon''s eyes shined bright red and its aura made the newbies tremble in fear.


    The dragon looked towards the sky and made a huge roar as if it was trying to dere its presence to the world. Its strong voice spread far and wide making the monsters in the nearby forests shiver.


    Looking at the shadow dragon a creepy smile appeared on Liam''s face.


    ''I will go out this time, don''t let me down now…'' (Liam)


    …


    …


    Author''s note:


    Yo! A true dragon has entered the battlefield that was already very chaotic, I wonder what this will result in.


    Question of the day:


    Who do you think has the most broken and overpowered abilities?


    1. Rio (Sword intent is indeed a broken ability, it makes you immune to many things, and it''s good for all uses attack, defense, and support.


    2. Link (Overbearing strength and defense with near inexhaustible Hp, this guy is the true definition of pain in the-)


    3. Lia (Support of an SS-rank Divine spirit and its vast knowledge can be very valuable, indeed)


    4. Liam (Broken artifacts, insanely strong summoned beast a true dragon, huge mana pool, and a calcting personality.)


    Hidden option:


    5. Author''s Keyboard (Half of its keys are broken, like they are, literally separated from it. Years of stress have caused it to be broken yet still overpowered.)