Chapter 9: A Smiling Face

Lin Qing had not wanted his friend's Divine Ability to activate during this fight. He had planned on killing Hunter without much effort, but he had accepted the help anyways.

He was now glad he had, and mad that Hunter had dared to push him so far.

'This fucking Part-Marked is making me look bad,' Lin Qin thought peering at Zhang Fang and Tang Ruolan. All their actions in the HCF boot camp were being judged as part of an overall evaluation partly by these two seniors.

Losing a fight like this would hurt his chances of snagging anything remotely desirable at the end of the boot camp. It was only thanks to the Divine Active of his friend, Liu Jiong, that he was still felt in control.

[Body of the First Born] (Grade D+) allowed Lin Qing's body to shrug off the damage from Hunter's kick. By placing his hand on someone Liu Jiong could grant them such a boon.

It had its limits. It only worked on physical attacks from up to Divine Actives Grade C+ and below, and only if they didn't pierce the skin. It also hadn't been able to do anything about the actual force of the attack, which is why Lin Qing still fell towards the ground, just the damage to Lin Qing's body from the attack.

Still, Hunter's foot, strong as it was fell into this category. This told Lin Qing that Hunter's Divine Ability wasn't of a very high grade. He had already gathered how it worked, somehow Hunter's legs could be imbued with high physical strength. He could also walk through the air, but it didn't seem like it made him any faster

Lin Qing decided to play along with the idea that Hunter's attack had damaged him. Acting as if he was struggling to stand up and had the wind completely knocked out of him.

Meanwhile, Hunter was hesitating about what to to do. Standing above looking down at Lin Qing.

'What was that red flash?'

He had clearly seen a flash of red light on Lin Qing's shoulder, something none of his Divine Abilities could produce. Seeing Lin Qing staggering to his feet Hunter decided it was best to finish this quickly.

Allowing Lin Qing to re-enter the air was a bad idea. He had only been able to deal with him because he had still been close to the ground. In the end, Lin Qing could fly faster than Hunter could run.

As Hunter released [The Hooves of Sleipnir] and began to freefall directly on top of him Lin Qing saw his chance.

Channeling his Divinity into the [Wings of Boreas] Lin Qing stood up with haste and immediately dodged Hunter's plummet. He then took to the air far above where he had made it to last time. While he could still not leave the circle this was actually a benefit.

Neither could Hunter. Using his now empowered Wings of Boreas Lin Qing continuously flapped them towards Hunter on the ground below.

Hunter could feel the fast-moving wind coming from Lin Qing's wings hit his body and the temperature drop. Ignoring the rapidly dropping temperature Hunter saw Lin Qing now beginning to get closer from above.

Lin Qing was now going to use his trump card. Something he perhaps should have done from the start. A combination of the wind from the [Wings of Boreas] and [A Breeze From the North].

As Lin Qing grew closer Hunter began to now feel a force of wind on his body unlike any other he had previously felt. It was cold and biting, so much so he was forced to use Divinity to shield his body from its chilling freeze. What really caught his attention was its strength, he was actually being lifted off the floor by it.

Checking his Contract Lin Qing looked at his remaining Divinity.

Divinity: 19/30

To maintain his body temperature it would constantly cost his Divinity, giving himself the strength to maintain his balance would do the same. Seeing as the wind was increasing in strength Hunter decided to give up staying on the ground and let it pick him up.

No matter how hard he tried he could not find stable footing with [The Hooves of Sleipnir], constantly being tossed around by the wind in a different direction. In this nausea-inducing environment, Hunter was able to see Lin Qing rushing towards him, clearly unaffected by the chaotic winds.

Lin Qing took advantage of his Divine Actives with gusto. With a quick succession of strikes, that forced Hunter to guard using Divinity, Hunter had the same frost that had previously been wiped off now reapplied.

Lin Qing then stopped and circled around Hunter getting ready for another attack. Hunter tried to wipe off the growing frost with his hands, but he was unable to. As he had guessed earlier only infusing his hand with Divinity would let him.

Squinting Hunter quickly checked his Contract

Divinity: 10/30

Just staying in Lin Qing's vicinity was constantly causing him to waste Divinity fending off the increasing cold. He could wipe off the frost, but that would only serve to kill him sooner.

Just to activate his D+ Grade Divine Active [The Legs of Sleipnir] would cost 3 Divinity. If he wiped off the frost he may very well be wasting a chance to survive. As the frost slowly grew on him Hunter knew that he only had one shot left, otherwise the cold would eat through him and he would die.

Looking at Lin Qing who was not barreling towards him intent on ending things Hunter sighed and turned stopped shielding himself from the cold. Curling into a ball in the extreme wind he gripped the top of his shoe with his thumb while the rest of his hand gripped the bottom of it.

He then activated [The Hooves of Sleipnir] and while his thumb on top was still gripping his shoes the bottom portion of his fingers were now gripping the invisible platform [The Hooves of Sleipnir] had created.

Just for a second, Hunter found balance in the storm. Lin Qing noticed this and tried to pull back, but it was not too late. While using a Divine Passive did not cost Divinity, they were usable freely as long as one held Divinity within them, Divine Actives were a different story.

Rather than just using the base 3 Divinity Hunter chose to Overload his Divine Active doubling the cost and increasing the power to its limits. He then launched himself headfirst towards Lin Qing at top speed.

Watching Hunter Lin Qing began to panic, but he remembered that under the effect of [Body of the First Born] he was immune to the incoming headbutt. Watching Hunter rocket towards him he breathed a sigh of relief knowing he would be fine.

But Hunter did not headbutt him, instead, he strengthened his jaw muscles and teeth with the remaining 4 Divinity he had. Turned forward to face Lin Qing and sank his teeth into his neck.

Lin Qing looked down at Hunter horrified, confused, and furious all at once. He then lost control of his wings and fell down to the floor, blood spewing from his neck. Hunter also fell, unable to right himself as he was now in complete vertical freefall.

As they fell Feng Biao could see Hunter's arms were limp and obviously dislocated from the extreme force he had put them under. Before they hit the floor they both disappeared and instantly reappeared outside the circle. The scary face reappeared within the circle, now smiling, and then disappeared.