Chapter 106

The moment Alex’s eyes landed on the inconspicuous grey sedan that had been following them for several minutes now, his face immediately turned ugly.

He was like a hundred percent sure that he had seen the same car parked near the school gates earlier. The car maintained a certain distance, neither closing in nor falling too far behind. And the worst part was that whenever he turned or switched lanes, the damn car would keep on following.

Alex’s fingers tightened slightly around the steering wheel. He’d be dumb if he kept on believing that the car had nothing to do with theirs.

’Could it be another set of attackers...?’

Beside him, jade remained calm and indifferent like a sculpture carved from ice. Her ocean blue eyes stared silently ahead while occasional flashes of lightning illuminated her delicate side profile.

Since the car speed was gradually increasing, he found it strange that she didn’t seem nervous or cautious. She didn’t even ask why he had suddenly begun accelerating.

Because by now, if it was another girl in her place, they would have already started asking like a thousand questions in one minute.

Well, since she wasn’t complaining, and he needed to lose the tail, he decided to increase the speed, and stepped on the accelerator. Immediately, the Lamborghini Murciélago roared to life, surging forward as the speedometer climbed rapidly.

Still, the damn sedan remained locked behind them. Alex narrowed his eyes. If he had been alone now, he would’ve already stopped this car and confronted whoever was following him directly.

But jade was sitting right beside him. And unlike him, she was a normal human being, so if things manage to turn south, she could die. So for that reason alone he refused to drag her into danger.

FWOOOSH!!

"What the hell!"

All of a sudden, Alex looked toward the rearview mirror and saw something that looked like a compressed wind slash, nearly a meter long and faintly visible as a crescent of distorted air streaked from behind and slammed into one of the tires he had just replaced not too long ago.

The rear tire of the Lamborghini exploded instantly, and the entire car violently lost balance.

"Shit..!"

The car spun uncontrollably across the wet road.

SCREEECH!!!

Reacting quickly, Alex pulled the slightly shaken girl beside him, tightly against his chest. His arms wrapped protectively around her head while he made sure his body absorbed most of the violent impact.

The Lamborghini spun rapidly two more times before slamming to a stop on the side of the road, with smoke rising from the ruined tire. For several seconds, only the sound of rain filled the area.

Alex slowly released the breath he had been holding. With his enhanced physique, he had barely felt anything from the crash aside from some minor discomfort. But a normal human would have most likely died or ended up hospitalized after a crazy accident like that.

"You alright?" He asked calmly.

Jade remained in his arms for a brief moment before slowly lifting her head.

"... I’m fine."

Her voice sounded surprisingly calm and steady despite the situation. Alex quickly disengaged from her warm body and pushed open the damage door, though not before leaving some words.

"Since you’re fine, stay here and don’t come out no matter what. The moment I step out, make sure you lock the door."

After saying that he stepped out into the heavy rain, causing cold water to immediately soak his clothes. He had clearly seen that attack. And It looked like some sort of wind based ability, most definitely from an Awakened. That meant an Awakened was in that car.

At that moment the grey sedan behind them slowly came to a stop. Then the doors opened one after another, and three men stepped out calmly, unfazed by the storm around them.

One was a tall Chinese man who appeared to be in his mid thirties with bright sharp eyes, and a lean muscular build.

The other two were Americans like him. One of them looked thin with blonde hair and sharp green eyes, while the other was average looking but possessed a sturdier build and calm expression.

The system’s concerned voice suddenly echoed inside Alex’s head.

[Alex please be careful, all three of them are Awakened]

Alex’s eyes widened in shock. So let him get this straight, three Awakeneds were ambushing him? Crap! This was beginning to look far more serious than he had initially expected. He only hoped that all of them would be Early Realm Awakened.

The Chinese man stepped forward with rain streaming down his face, and asked calmly.

"So you’re the one who dared to hurt Young Master Renzo. I must admit you are really brave and stupid."

Alex frowned, genuinely confused. Since when did he hurt that bastard, Renzo. Yeah, he did decide to face him after leveling up, but he hadn’t attacked the guy yet, so what was he talking about?

"Sorry, I think you must be really confused. Since when did I touch that guy...?"

Before Alex could continue his sentence, the thin man suddenly thrust his hands forward.

SHING!!

A sharp crescent shaped wind slash tore through the rain directly toward his neck. The thing was fast! Extremely fast!

Alex immediately dodged sideways, making the invisible slash narrowly miss him and sliced cleanly through a nearby traffic pole instead.

BOOM!

The metal pole collapsed heavily onto the wet ground. Alex’s eyes sharpened at that moment, if he had been a second late, that damn attack would have sliced his head clean off.

So without hesitation, two black frosty shards instantly formed above his palm. He shot them forward, aimed exactly at the thin man’s head and neck, to immediately finish him so that he could handle the rest.

The thin man’s face changed almost immediately. It was too fast. But at that moment... a glowing green forcefield suddenly materialized in front of him.

BOOOOM!!

But the two black shards managed to collide violently against the shield, causing cracks to spread instantly across the green barrier.

Then...

KRAAAK!!

The forcefield shattered apart completely, making the caster... the sturdy man grunt painfully while staggering several steps backwards from the impact. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

However, the slight delay from the forcefield gave the thin man just enough time to dodge sideways. The black ice shards shot passed him with a whoosh! and flew for ten meters before embedding themselves into the road behind.

BOOM!!

Chunks of asphalt flew upward, before inky black frost began spreading for half a foot before stopping.

The Chinese man’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Interesting! For your attack to easily shatter a forcefield shield that would normally require many strikes from an Early Realm Awakened tells me something. You are in the same Realm as me. A vanguard Realm expert. In that case I suppose I need to act."

The next second the Chinese man exploded forward with monstrous speed. At that moment from his elbow down to his fist, began to glow with a bioluminescent blue light that looked particularly sci-fi.

The light from his arms illuminated the rainy street eerily.

"My ability," the Chinese man said coldly while rushing forward, "Allows me to multiply my physical strength by two times. Letting me deal with other Vanguard Realms Awakened with ease. Now let’s see how you square up against me!"

He threw a punch brimming with destructive power. Alex instantly realized that this wasn’t something he could casually dodge carelessly with the other two supporting from behind.

So instead, he gathered all his strength into his fist and punched directly forward.

BOOOOOOM!

The moment their fist collided, it sounded like a miniature thunder exploding on impact. A small scale shockwave immediately burst outward, causing rainwater to blast away from both fighters. And the ground beneath their feet cracked and formed a small crater.

Both men were forced half a step backward. Alex’s eyes widened slightly. Even the Chinese man’s expression changed too. For a moment, both looked genuinely shocked with the outcome.

Then slowly, the Chinese man grinned.

"So you’re stronger than normal Vanguard Realm Awakened too." His glowing fist crackled brighter. "Good! This should be interesting."

He attacked again, and this time he threw a barrage of punches, but Alex met them head on, without backing down.

BANG! BANG! BOOM!!

Every collision of theirs sent miniature shockwaves through the street. It felt exactly like two speeding cars moving at top speed, crashing against each other.

As they kept on fighting Alex quickly began to realize something. That was, the man’s striking power was indeed monstrous because of his enhancement ability and could match his.

But aside from strength, he surpassed him in everything else. From reaction speed, to movement, to body coordination, even to combat instinct. He was the superior one.

So the moment another glowing punch rushed toward his face, Alex tilted his head sideways and dodged the man’s fist before driving a deadly punch toward his ribs.

At that exact moment, a green forcefield appeared instantly between them.

BOOM!!

Alex’s fist shattered the barrier almost immediately. However, that tiny delay changed everything. The Chinese man twisted and jumped five meters backward.

The sturdy man flashed Alex a cold annoying smirk from afar, causing Alex to grit his teeth.

’So this is their strategy? The shield user would delay my attacks for a split second whenever I’m about to land an attack against the Chinese man.’

’Damnit! This is beginning to get annoying! Against vanguard level opponents every split second matters immensely. If they keep this up, both I and the Chinese man will quickly get tired, leaving the two early Realms Awakened to deal with me easily.’

The Chinese man rushed again like a charging bull, and rained consecutive glowing punches toward Alex like cannonballs.

Alex was able to avoid two of them, block one, and just as he attempted stepping backward to create some space...

SHING!!

A wind slash suddenly tore across the road behind him, but Alex was immensely lucky, and instantly shifted sideways instead. The invisible blade sliced apart the ground where he would have retreated a second ago.

’Damnit!’

Now he understood. The thin guy wasn’t only there to finish him when he gets tired. He was there to control his movement, by restricting space. So that meant any backward dodge became dangerous. Meaning Alex had no choice but to stay within close combat range against the Chinese man.

And every time he even attempted to use his Deathfrost Bloom ability against the thin man, the damn sturdy man would create multiple walls of forcefield to slow down his ice shard speed.

The Chinese man launched another heavy punch, but Alex countered with a punch of his own, causing the ground to once again crack beneath their feet.

With every attack the Chinese man’s eyes slowly began to fill with increasing disbelief. This was insane! He was using a two times enhancement ability. Yet this monster in front of him kept matching him physically despite supposedly being a newly Awakened Vanguard Realm expert.

And not only that, but the brat’s combat speed was superior. Several times already, Alex had nearly landed devastating direct hits that would have been fatal if not for the support from the other two.

"This is ridiculous! Even with all three of us working together, how can we still not suppress this brat completely?! Guys! Let’s finish him now!"

Immediately he said this the Chinese man lunged forward again with another glowing punch aimed directly at Alex’s head. At the same time the thin Awakened immediately prepared another wind slash from afar.

It was the mother of all perfect timings.

Alex saw both attacks coming simultaneously, and panicked a bit. Even he couldn’t avoid both attacks cleanly, with the damn sturdy man forming three forcefield shields behind him to cut off any escape.

Suddenly...

KZZZZZT!!!

A brightly colored ocean blue bolt of lightning tore across the rainstorm. The lightning bolt was nearly one and a half meters long and as thick as an arm.

It illuminated the entire dark street in blue, and sliced directly toward the incoming wind slash.