Speed Is King

"Hohoho. Don't worry about that. He may be approaching the level cap set by the system, but there's still a lot that he hasn't mastered. The system would still be useful to him even when he's at the Emperor level. He is totally removed from our system of cultivation and strength after all. There is much he needs to learn.

And for your other statement, yes. Starting from the King Level, growth depends on motivation and luck. We may have a massive head start on him, but with his motivation and luck, he is destined to be great, even by our standards." Monkey King nodded with a smile.

"Really? That's high praise coming from someone who could fight the great Jul'Taras to a draw!" Jessica Sands remarked.

"I'm not kidding. You're at the King Level too, right? I'm sure you've experienced the difficulty in overcoming the bottleneck to reach the Emperor Level. That bottleneck is a natural barrier that filters out those who are weak in character, those that lack motivation and those that do not have the luck." Monkey King said seriously.

"Ah hahaha. It definitely is keeping out those that lack motivation. Hehehehe…" Jessica Sands tittered guiltily.

She was a rare once-a-millennial talent with the potential to become the strongest Void Walker EVER. But even she had stagnated before the bottleneck for many long years now. It was not because she didn't have enough talent to break through, it was simply because it was too troublesome and too dangerous.

And being a precious princess of the immensely powerful Sands of Time Void Walker Clan, there was no one who dared or wanted to push her to break through.

Jul'Taras sighed deeply. She was guilty of the same thing too, with very similar circumstances back home.

Monkey King glanced at the two girls and immediately understood their situation.

"I don't mean to lecture you girls, but I hope that by watching Elliot, we'll all get some inspiration and motivation to level up. I, too, need a little bit more motivation to attempt my breakthrough." Monkey King said.

"Look! Elliot's wolves are moving out. They're going to bait the Bangtols once more!" Jessica Sands cried out excitedly, instantly forgetting her personal situation and completely breaking the sombre mood that was beginning to form.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Elliot perched on top of a particularly large tree in his Primal Feline Warrior form and waited for his wolf bait to get into position.

He watched it slink slowly towards the trio of Bangtols which were gathered in a mini clearing not far from the biggest Belcher. The other Belcher had dived into the ground a while back and had completely disappeared from Elliot's senses.

"I'll need to finish the Bangtols as fast as possible. That missing Belcher could turn up anytime anywhere." Elliot thought to himself.

He was positioned way out East of their position and the wolf was approaching the Bangtols in a straight line from where he was. It was a simple bait and ambush strategy. Elliot didn't see the need to implement a more complex battle plan against only five remaining enemies.

If all went well, a Bangtol would briefly catch sight of the wolf and then go after it alone. If all went south however, all three Bangtols would see the wolf, make a huge racket and alert the Belchers of his impending attack.

In that case, Elliot would sacrifice the wolf and order it to escape to the North, thereby maintaining his presence a secrecy.

However, it turned out that the simple plan was wholly sufficient against the low intelligence Bangtols.

Two of them caught sight of Elliot's wolf, and proceeded to silently go after it. The third Bangtol didn't even bother to turn around and check out what its buddies were up to.

"Perfect. Come back, quick!" Elliot commanded the wolf. "Wolf number two, prepare to continue leading the Bangtols to my position! Wolf three, stand by!"

Just like that, Elliot chained the bait perfectly, leading the two Bangtols a few kilometers away from the clearing.

"Frosty, get ready. Just like before, you take the second Bangtol." Elliot told his trusty "Frost Dragon".

"I am ready." Frosty replied calmly. She had positioned herself around fifty meters away from the wolf bait's predetermined route of retreat, and was in perfect position for a sneak attack.

Elliot quickly leapt down from his tree and turned into his White Dragon form as well.

"Here they come!" Elliot began charging his Azure Lightning Blast when he caught sight of the desperately fleeing wolf. The two Bangtols were merely five meters behind it and closing fast!

However, just as he was about to fire, his 6th sense began to tingle wildly and his instincts began to blare.

Elliot instinctively turned into his Primal Feline Warrior form and leapt powerfully away from his position, just as the ground suddenly exploded outwards in a burst of rocks and soil!

BOOM!

The missing Belcher shot out of the ground at the spot where Elliot was at just a split second ago!

"Jacksnot Jibbers!" Elliot cursed loudly. A few of the larger rocks had fallen on him and he was forced to retreat a distance away.

"They're not that stupid after all." Elliot thought grimly as he immediately pulled back and surveyed the situation.

Frosty had managed to fire off a couple of quick Venomous Glacial Beams and successfully killed its target. She had taken to the skies straight after that and was immediately fired upon by the first Bangtol who had switched its target to Frosty.

The Belcher was also angling it's massive maw towards Frosty as it prepared to shoot its wickedly long and powerful tongue at her.

"They've flipped the ambush on us. I should have known this would happen as soon as this damned Belcher went missing. No time for regrets though. Squad one! Attack now!!" Elliot ordered his other beasts who were all hiding nearby.

A powerful fireball was the first to launch as Rom fired at the Bangtol. A millisecond later, Aldera's Azure Lightning Blast shot out of the trees as well towards the Belcher.

BO-BOOM!!

Both attacks hit their targets accurately almost at the same time.

Join my discord channel! :)

https://discord.gg/ZqdTKhtn6z