Novel's Extra: I Awakened The Strongest Physique From The Start

CHAPTER 142 - Immortals?

The sound of steel echoed sharply in the cavern as Alex's blade clashed against the woman assassin's dagger—a woman he had killed at the start of the fight.

Her fiery glare bore into him as she snarled, her voice dripping with venom. "You'll feel the pain I felt when you killed me last time!"

Her dagger aimed straight for his head, a lethal arc shimmering with energy. Alex didn't bother to respond with words. Instead, he huffed, his body reacting instinctively.

With a sharp kick on the body of the assassin he was about to kill, he sent the guy sprawling into the wall. At the same time, he used gravity manipulation, turning himself weightless, allowing the momentum to spin him mid-air.

The assassin's eyes widened as Alex's blade descended in a blur, cleaving her body cleanly in half, the force splitting her from shoulder to hip.

Her bisected body hit the ground with a wet thud, but Alex was already moving, aiming for the weaker assassins to thin their numbers.

'I can feel it,' he muttered inwardly. 'The energy is similar to the one that revived the star connection realm assassins on their body.'

[Yes, they might revive as well.] Sophie replied to his words, making him frown, raising his sword to kill the assassin who was embedded in the wall.

'They must have some kind of weakness...' Alex's jaw tightened as he tried to look for the weakness, but before he could think deeper or land a strike, a cold grip latched onto his ankle.

Alex's body fell to the ground due to the sudden break of momentum, and he glanced down to see the severed upper half of the same woman clutching him with bloodied fingers.

"You can't kill me..." She spoke with blood flowing out of her lips, a sneer hanging on her lips as she seemed immune to pain.

Her body was regenerating, flesh knitting back together slowly, but...

'She's weaker,' Alex's frown loosened a bit. He could tell she was weaker than the star formation assassins right now, just from her grip alone.

'They can't use their full power while regenerating,' Alex concluded, noting one weakness, then without wasting any time, he sent her sliding across the floor like a broken doll with a strong kick.

A chilling laugh echoed through the cavern, drawing Alex's gaze to the assassins' leader, who leaned lazily against the cracked wall, watching the chaos unfold.

"It's no use," the leader said, his voice filled with smug amusement.

Before Alex could process the words, six star-connection realm assassins lunged at him, their synchronized attacks blindingly fast.

"I'll admit," the leader continued, his tone almost conversational, "you've shocked me, Alex. Thirteen stars... I didn't see that coming."

Alex gritted his teeth, making his body weightless, slamming his elbows into the ground to lift himself, and before the assassins' blades could reach him, he used his vein ability to launch himself toward a weaker assassin.

The assassin's blades slashed the air, and Alex's sword moved like a flash of light, cutting another star-formation realm assassin in a spray of blood.

The six assassins were relentless; they launched at him again, their movements precise and calculated.

Frowning, Alex used his ability again, his green vein moving at him to pull him. He had been shifting abilities way too many times. From weightlessness to the weight multiplier of gravity manipulation, expanding mana like nothing.

"But no matter what you do," the leader said, his voice dripping with mockery, "you won't win. They're adapting. They'll learn every trick you have, and soon, nothing will work on them."

As if on cue, one of the assassins severed Alex's vein connection mid-movement, sending him crashing to the ground.

The leader chuckled darkly. "See? They're already catching on."

Alex's eyes sharpened, his mind racing.

'Gravity multiplier.' He slammed his hand into the ground, increasing the gravity in the area. The sudden shift slowed the assassins, their movements becoming sluggish.

Without wasting a second, Alex darted toward a cluster of weaker assassins, slicing through them one by one. His strategy was clear—eliminate the lesser threats while evading the stronger ones.

The leader watched with a calm expression, his arms crossed. "Kill the weak and run from the strong. A decent strategy, I'll give you that."

Alex killed another assassin, blood staining his blade as he ducked under the blade of one of the star-formation realm assassins, who had their numbers back to seven. The woman he had cleaved earlier was back on her feet, her wounds fully healed.

"But you see," the leader continued, his voice like a knife in Alex's ears, "that strategy only works against people who can die. How do you plan to escape immortals?"

Alex didn't respond. He focused on his movements, his sword cutting through another assassin. The pile of bodies around him grew, yet he didn't feel any sense of accomplishment.

He could already see the weaker assassins he had killed getting attached, making his eyes flash dangerously.

"You've been using abilities here and there," the leader said, his grin widening. "And while I must admit that your large mana pool was another surprise to me, you will eventually tire out."

Alex growled as he heard those words, his gaze shiffting at another star formation assassin before he kicked the guy to the cave's wall. Blood sprayed out of the guy's lips as his body—bones and muscles—turned into a mush.

Alex's strength boosted by thirteen stars was way too much for any star formation realm assassin. Facing him alone was hard for even the star-connection realm assassin—the reason they were attacking him together.

"Haha, run. Run as much as you can," the leader laughed as he looked at Alex's futile attempt to kill the unkillable. "You will die the moment you run out of mana—"

Just then, the cavern began to rumble, cutting off the leader's words. Small rocks fell from the ceiling, and cracks spread across the walls like veins.

The leader's smirk faltered. "Wait..." He looked around, realization dawning. "You've been weakening the structure this whole time?"

The leader's gaze roamed at the walls, every corner cracked by the earlier impact from the assassins' bodies that Alex had thrown away.

Alex's cold gaze flicked toward him. 'Part one, done.' Whipping his sword in the air, he wiped the blood off its blade, his gaze fixed on the assassin leader.

The rumbling grew louder, and massive chunks of rock began to fall. The leader cursed under his breath, his calm demeanor replaced by rage, his gaze locked on Alex. "Are you intending to bury everyone under—"

Without a second's belay, he rushed toward the exit as well, roaring at his subordinates, "Retreat!"

Without waiting for them to move, the leader, with a surge of dark mana, propelled himself toward the exit.

At the last moment, however, his eyes widened as he saw Alex rushing back into the cavern.

'What the fuck...?' Before he could even follow Alex with his gaze, the cave collapsed in a deafening roar, burying everything beneath tons of rock.

Outside, the leader landed on solid ground, panting as he turned to face the destruction. The cave had become a massive sinkhole, a 40-meter-wide chasm filled with debris.

He smirked, brushing dust off his shoulder. "Fool. Why the fuck did he enter the cave—"

His words caught in his throat as his gaze locked onto a faint, icy blue glow amidst the rubble.

The rocks shifted, and a barrier of crystalline ice pushed upward, revealing Zahara. She stood tall, her body wrapped in an ethereal, icy-blue aura. Her hands pressed against a massive rock above her, shielding both herself and Alex, who had his arm twisted into an impossible angle.

Your journey continues at empire

The leader's jaw clenched. "Impossible..."

He could see Alex chugging down a healing potion, healing his wounds.

"That's not their power," growled the leader as his gaze finally locked into the pendant on Zahara's neck.

"T-That's..." He clenched his fists as he noticed the mana pouring out of it. That locket was the source of everything—the artifact responsible for that strange icy energy around Zahara.

"You didn't expect that, did you?" Alex chuckled, his aura changing from that of a cornered lion to one filled with confidence. 'Part two, done.'

All this time, he had been aiming for this. Using his and Zahara's system inventory, Alex had transferred this locket to her, and the moment he used flashbang was when she had put it on.

Since then, although confident about Zahara's survival, Alex hasn't lowered his guard. He waited for this exact moment, planned for this, and now he was here, standing next to Zahara, who was protected by Vanessa's defense skill, which was like a max-level shield.

But just then, the assassin leader's frown relaxed, and so did his fists. Leaning back on the tree closest to him, he yawned, "Is that all?"

"Why do you think that changed anything?" He asked with his eyes half open, his smirk back on his lips, making Alex frown a bit as the rubbles under his and Zahara's feet shifted.

One by one, the assassins who were supposed to be crushed stood up by pushing away the rocks, their cold eyes fixed on Alex. Other than their clothes being torn apart, there was nothing about them that looked crushed.

Pointing at them, the leader grinned, "They are still alive. And they are still unkillable."