Seed Of Speed

Yengu and Ngufi landed on the branch next to Celita, who was watching Diego down below. They were breathing a bit hard, but otherwise, they were silent, awaiting their orders.

"I want you both to round at least ten ogres and fifteen trolls each then bring them back here," Celita said.

Ngufi looked shocked while Yengu frowned and said, "Mother, I know he has reached our level of strength, but that would be twice our testing level."

"Three times since I'm going to collect some too. Rozama thinks he will be able to help me venture into the other worlds, so I need to see the limit of his power," Celita said.

"But that many will spawn a Commander," Ngufi said quickly.

"That's the point. Humans aren't like us. They may be born with weak bodies, but their powers allow them to grow much stronger than us, at a much faster rate. He could already kill an ogre without his cultivation, so with it, he is likely as strong as the leaders of the Grassland Armies."

"Please don't get him killed, mother," Yengu sighed.

"We will intervene, if it looks like he can't handle himself, but his speed should ensure that he won't get himself killed. Now go, we've given him enough time," Celita ordered.

Down below, Diego was donning the armor Swordflash had made for him. Much like his spear, the armor was a higher quality than what Silverflame had made for him in the past. He could not wait to try it out, but he also knew that he should not waste his prana energy to activate his Manifested Armor to just mess around. Enemies would be arriving soon enough.

Minutes later, Diego could hear the thud of ogre feet, so he jumped off the root. Ngufi broke through the surrounding brush and dashed past Diego before leaping up onto the root. He expected the first few ogres that thundered into the area, but not ten of ten of them. Following behind the ogres were something he had not seen before.

Diego did not waste any time and shot towards the first ogre with his [White Lightning Shoot Star] while also activating his [Tri-Bladed Drill] over the tip of his spear like a death beam white light. Without his chi, he had only been able to pierce the ogre's tough hide because of his Spear-Heart, but now, there was practically no resistance at all.

The chi blades around his spearhead were dyed violet and white and further strengthened by the enchantments built into the weapon. Each one was rooted to the tip of the spear and extended thirty centimeters outward while spinning at speeds so fast that his [Speed Sight] could bȧrėly manage to separate the lines. They easily shredded through the body of the first ogre and, although he stopped moving, the chi blades continued to shoot forward, killing the next ogre in a similar fashion.

Before he could attack anything else, Yengu jumped out of the brush and, like his brother, ran past Diego before joining Ngufi on the root. Yengu's group consisted of twelves ogres and sixteen trolls, all looking angry. Diego was forced to suppress the urge to use his [Speed Clones] to deal with everything quicker, so instead he activated his [Speed Sight], [Six Silver Wings], and [White Lightning Array].

It was as if the world was suddenly frozen in time because his [Speed Sight] was based off of how fast his body could move at any given time, so combining his [Six Silver Wings] and [White Lightning Array], his 'sight' slowed down more than it ever had in the past. He could see twenty different chi lines, stretching out in different directions, and, the moment he shifted his body to travel along one, he found himself at the end of the line before he knew it. With just a few shifts of his body, Diego flash all around the battlefield, in between the ogres and trolls with incredible ease.

"His speed is as fast as mother's," Ngufi could not help but comment.

"Humans have too much potential," Yengu sighed.

Celita was the next to appear, leading her own pack of ogres and trolls, and passed them off onto Diego just as the others had done. Her pack was even larger than Yengu with twenty ogres and eighteen trolls. Now, with the two he had already killed, Diego found himself surrounded by forty ogres and almost sixty trolls, but he was not worried.

Despite bȧrėly reaching these monsters' waist, to Diego, their movements were incredibly slow and sluggish. He felt like he had minutes to dodge their wild swings, and all of his movements could be completed nearly as quickly as he could think of them. Slowly, he pulled them towards one side so that they would bunch together then he started his slaughter.

The three lead ogres charged forward, but Diego met them head on with the full powered version of [Ten Strikes, One Thrust]. Nine, ghostly spears formed with his attack, but instead of them bunching around the one in his hand, the spears all created a horizontal line on either side of the 'true' one, each topped with a [Tri-Bladed Drill]. A shower of blood and flesh was thrown into the air as the ten spears tore through the three ogres, and it did not stop there as the next wave of five ogres were maimed by the continuation of the skill.

Standing slightly taller than the rest, the Troll Commander actually had a smaller build than the others, but it did not seem weak in any way. Instead of holding a large wooden club like the other trolls, this one carried a large bastard sword, fit to his massive size, in one hand and a white horn in the other. He brought the horn to his lips and blew a loud long note.

As if possessed, the troll pulled back from the ogres while the bodies of the ogres released a hazy green vapor from their bodies. The muscles of the ogres swelled noticeably, but even though they were now faster, they still could not manage to land a hit on Diego. The trolls, however, formed a ring around Diego and the fighting ogres. They switched the hand their clubs were in then knelt down and dug into the ground with their empty hand. By whatever strange magic created them, each one pulled out a stone, larger than the size of Diego's head.

Obviously, Diego noticed the strange behavior right away, and even saw the unusual troll, but he was still confident. He activated [Ten Strikes, One Thrust] with [Tri-Bladed Drill] and cut through ten more ogres this time. He was about to turn and attack the others, but the trolls that were on the side where the ogres were killed threw the large boulder in their hands.

"Shit," Diego cursed as he flashed away from the attack.

The boulders had no eyes and smashed into the front row of the ogres, but they shook off the damage. Diego appeared on the other side of the group of ogres, but the trolls on that side simply threw their stones and he was forced to flash away again. The only place he was safe from the boulders was in the center of the remaining ogres, but they would not last forever.

Again, Diego had to suppress the urge to use his [Speed Clone]. Although he could still handle this new development, that did not mean he did not want to end this fast. Instead, he tried something he had only thought of while in his mental plane and never actually tried to create the attack.

He flashed into the center of the ogres and changed his grip on his spear to hold almost like he was swinging a baseball bat. He created three chi wall blades that suck out from his body and spared evenly apart, the same length as his spear. Keeping his left foot planted on the ground, he kicked off with his right and spun like a top, slicing through the ogres.

::[Tornado of Blades] skill learned. 10 mastery points awarded::

As soon as the alert rang through his head, Diego was hidden behind the swirling streaks of white and violet. The tornado carved its way through the ogres in the matter of minutes, slaughtering all the remaining ones. A few trolls tried to throw stones at him, but the rocks were deflected with multiple gashes embedded on the surface.

With the advantage of the system, activating his skills were far easier than normal people so he could cast them in what would be too awkward for normal people to achieve. He held out his spear away from his while activating [Tri-Bladed Drill] and carved his way around the ring of trolls. Although the attack did not kill any of them, each one had major damage to one of their arms, if not both. Only the commander dodged Diego's attack, and gave him an angry roar as he passed.

Diego jumped back to where he had first started this test and beckoned with his empty hand towards the Troll Commander then said, "Come on, you ugly bastard!"