I Became The Mafia Boss Inside The Novel-Chapter 78 Judgement (2)

Hearing that, Elias merely smiled silently. He had a calm and amused expression. He had no intention to reveal anything at all, it seemed like.

But that only brought more fear to Garuda instead. The silence was basically a confirmation of his conjecture.

'I... I have to run!'

Right now, every bit of bravado and arrogance he had as the Baron of Pride vanished—Garuda was thoroughly afraid of that power.

Without slowing down, Elias dashed in once more and began his offense against the Baron of Pride!

Garuda was afraid. Thus, he tried to avoid every attack and used his "force ability" to attack Elias from a distance.

Boom! Boom!

But Elias forcefully advanced, disregarding the attacks. He resisted the force impacts, leaving a trail of blood on his mouth.

[Indomitable Spirit]

His eyes flickered a strange red gleam, as though the awakening of a wild beast. He chased the Baron of Pride without regard.

Garuda dashed away without slowing down. He continously snapped his fingers and used mana to generate force impacts.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Bo...

Everyone watching the battle was in disbelief. It was as though the roles between the predator and prey had swapped.

The overbearing Baron of Pride ran in fear, while chased by the ruthless Elias.

This sight continued on and on until Garuda found himself slowly losing out on mana from his force attacks.

He had to stop.

But to his increasing fears, his attacks didn't weaken Elias at all.

It made it seem like Elias was growing more stronger, faster, and durable as the battle went on.

That was — terrifying.

Garuda's hands trembled. No matter what, he couldn't get close to the man with his terrifying abilities. He had to run.

The disablement of mana.

What kind of power was that? It was a power that prevented the use of the fundamental energy.

Perhaps if Garuda was still in full health, he wouldn't be this nervous and afraid—but he was heavily injured without lick of protection.

If his mana was disabled, and a terrifying attack came to him, he wouldn't be able to do anything but die crudely.

Currently, he was just relying on his advantage of experience, mana, and ability. His body was basically near death at this point.

'No, perhaps I'm overthinking things. There's no way such a power like disabling mana exists, perhaps it's an artifact, not a technique...'

'That sounds right. If I look back, my mana was only disabled when his hands began to touch my body, but right now he doesn't, I can use mana...'

Garuda took a deep breath. If that was the case, then the item should be very visible. He looked at Elias and noticed the black leather handwear.

'Perhaps it was the gloves...?'

***

In truth, Garuda, the Baron of Pride, was wrong about his guess.

It wasn't the gloves. It was a technique.

Furthermore, Elias's power didn't disable mana. It was more complicated than that.

From the rewards of [Subquest No. 2], Elias had obtained Limitless from [Advanced Talent Selection], and Emperor's Wish from [Advanced Item Selection].

That leaves his remaining unknown choice from the [Advanced Technique Selection].

After browsing the hundreds of techniques in the list, in the end, he chose the technique that he liked the most and had great potential.

[Six Flows of the Spirit]

It was a technique that unlocked the user's true spiritual abilities and made them able to control the "power of the spirit" fully.

Elias thought it was the best technique among the rest. As the author of the novel, he knew that the power of the spirit was one of the best later on.

What was the "power of the spirit"?

To explain it in simple terms, it was the ability to manipulate and control the mana inside the body on another level.

Natural mana came from the Spirit of the Universe, but a person's own mana came from their own living spirit.

Therefore, being able to control the "power of the spirit" was akin to being able to manipulate one's mana on another level.

It might not seem impressive upon first glance, but it was more than that. This technique brings six abilities, of which Elias, unlocked four:

"Contain" which, in its name, makes him able to concentrate his mana in a particular part of his body to achieve greater effects.

"Release" on the other hand, makes him able to release his own mana to the outside world as he desires, even if the target was a living being.

"Limit" makes him able to decrease the amount of mana inside his body to a certain degree in exchange for greater quality. 𝐛𝐞𝗱𝗻𝐨𝐯𝗲𝗹.𝐜𝐨𝐦

"Expound" on the other hand, makes him able to expound the mana inside his body to increase his mana reserves.

These abilities didn't seem much compared to other techniques, which boasted overwhelming destructive force and killing power.

But Elias still chose this technique because for him it was the technique that had the most practical application and potential.

It didn't have overwhelming force, but it was extremely powerful in the right user. For example, its most basic application is [Transfer].

[Transfer] was the ability he used against Ragna, Lance, and Garuda which was able to inflict true damage and 'disable their mana' in their own perception.

By using "Contain" and "Release" at the same time, he's able to gather mana on his fingertips and transfer it to the opponent's body.

Since foreign mana entered the opponent's body, the mana inside them would panic or suddenly freeze by the sudden invasion.

Thus, it was called [Transfer] the most basic application.

That was what made Garuda's mind go blank as he was unable to use mana. His mana was disturbed by foreign mana, in extension, affecting his mind.

This effect was greater the less stable the opponent's mind and mana control was. Thus, it was rather weak against Sorcerers who boast great minds and mana abilities.

But... it's applications didn't end just there.

***

Whoosh!

At that moment, Elias suddenly stopped his assaults. He grinned while a trail of blood could he seen from the corner of his mouth.

"...This should be enough. As expected, even with your heavily injured state I was still injured by your attacks and abilities."

"I could only say that I made you too strong. But that was your purpose. You were a character that wasn't meant to be beaten this early afterall,"

Elias sighed wistfully. If it was not a person of his caliber fighting the demon of pride, they would've probably exploded from the force attacks alone.

Regardless, he had prolonged this fight enough to lower Garuda's strength at a sufficient level. It was time for the execution itself.

Elias' smile was wiped away as he slowly removed his gloves.

"Playtime is over, Baron of Pride."

He slowly said while Garuda stood in confusion and fear. He took out Emperor's Wish which was in the form of Slaughterer, and held the gun calmly.

Without any emotion on his face, he pointed it at the confused Garuda and pressed the trigger of Slaughterer seven times.

Seven different bullets came out and shot through Garuda!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Ba...

Garuda snapped back to reality in an instant. Seeing that he still had ample mana left, he instantly snapped his fingers to shatter those bullets!

Boom!

However, that proved to be a fatal mistake. As the bullets exploded into a mist, several strange effects suddenly erupted that bound his movements!

Before Garuda could react, he was assaulted by the binding effects of the bullets. This was the true strength of Slaughterer.

It could restrict anything on its path unless the opponent had a special ability to resist entanglement or controlling ailments.

"...What... is this....?"

Garuda felt a plethora of different binding elements connect to him. At this moment, he couldn't move at all. His body shook.

Terror seeped into him, this was the worst-case scenario he had envisioned. It seemed like he was going to die without even putting up a fight.

Thump! Thump...

Then, silent footsteps slowly rang in his ears.

Garuda slowly raised his head and saw Elias slowly walking to him. His eyes widened in fear.

Elias gazed directly into Garuda's eyes. He raised his hand and held the Baron of Pride's head casually, as though playing with it.

"If you weren't so injured, then you probably wouldn't have been restricted by Slaughterer. It's effects are greater against demons. You also would been able to put more of a fight than die a meaningless death,"

"But... unfortunately, life isn't so fair. I'm sure your kind knows that very well. Now, prepare yourself, demon or pride."

Elias slowly raised his left hand. He clenched it tightly and gathered mana using "Contain" on his fist.

Then, he simultaneously used "Expound" to increase the mana quantity inside his body to an overwhelming level.

He felt exhaustion creep up to him.

But he didn't stop and used "Limit" to turn that vast mana reserves into a point-sized amount of mana the emitted overwhelming power.

Whoosh!

While he stood, the air was shaken and suddenly intensified in pressure. It seemed to be a prelude to a terrifying attack.

At that moment, Garuda's fearful eyes turned blank.

"—!"

Then, within a moment's notice, Elias finished his preparation. His fist, which was radiating of great mana and power, came crashing down on Garuda's face!

Utilizing "Contain", "Expound", and "Limit", and "Release" simulatenously — this was an specialized attack he made called [One Punch].

Whoosh!

Unlike the other seemingly, ordinary punch Garuda had received—this particular punch was like a heavy bomb that destroyed everything on the surroundings.

Literally, not metaphorically, the punch was a heavy bombd that exploded upon contact.

BOOM!