Chapter 2499: Deviation

The group of demons rushed into the earth, moving so quickly through the paths that Leonel had left behind that they were already seconds from catching up with him.

However, when they got to the end of the path, they found nothing. Leonel seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Khelgis frowned. He was certain that someone had just followed this path, but the problem was that Leonel seemed to have vanished into thin air.

There wasn't anywhere else that he could have possibly gone. There were no other patches of soft earth.

Was it a diversion? No, that didn't make sense. If he had the time to set aside and make a tunnel to distract them, why would it have just a single path? At the very least, he should give it some branching pathways so they would be distracted for longer than a few seconds, or make it so that they would split up and be easier to pick off.

However, none of that was happening here, and it was more confusing than anything. If Leonel could suddenly vanish into the earth, then why had he made this tunnel to begin with?

Khelgis' eyebrows flared with dancing flames. He didn't like this feeling at all. No one could lead him by the nose.

...

Leonel sat in a small crevice. Little Blackstar lay on his lap, panting for breath.

He could only shake his head, what a close call. But it seemed that Little Blackstar had given everything he had just to get them to this point.

In the final moment, when Leonel was struggling to make it through, he asked Anastasia to scan the rubble to see if there were any nearby pockets of air. Luckily there were, and he relied on Little Blackstar to get to them.

Unfortunately, they had almost died when Blackstar hit his limit. Some things were simply easier to phase through than others, especially when it was such a dense mine of Ninth Dimensional Urbe Ore that was in question.

Leonel couldn't help but chuckle to himself. He used to be able to face off against hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of opponents at once before. But now less than a dozen had forced him into this situation.

Of course, this wasn't just because he had regressed to the Third Dimension. In fact, the current Leonel was already stronger than he had been back in the Dimensional Verse. It was just that these opponents were simply far too powerful.

If there had just been one demon, he could have just directly fought against them or had Little Blackstar get a few reps in himself. But this number was not only too great, but...

'Sun and Moon Demons...'

The pressure he got from them was far greater than any of the others. That wasn't to say that the others were weak because he had to take them seriously as well. It was instead that the Sun and Moon Demons were actually so powerful.

Although Leonel knew that it was an illusion, they almost gave him the same level of pressure as Vivak or the other Ninth Dimensional existence.

'It seemed that Eamon was correct. The Sun and Moon Demons really are Middle Class Demons... Likely Uncommon. The Bull, Lust, and Cobra Demons should be Higher Demons, a step below Uncommon Demons... But the chasm between being a Low-Class Demons like the former and a Middle-Class Demons like the Sun and Moon Demons should be huge.'

Leonel could guess by this one encounter that it had to be true. It was beyond Force Manipulation...

It had to be remembered that one of the reasons the human alliance hid the existence of Force Manipulation from the general human population was because it was the great equalizer. Meaning, one could use Force Comprehension to make up for a gap in talent wherever there was one.

But that didn't mean that Force Manipulation exceeded raw talent alone.

Shan'Rae had spoken down to Leonel, saying something about how he didn't have the right to speak with her because he hadn't even comprehended even one Impetus State Force. But that didn't mean she had entered the Life State. In fact, he was fairly certain that El'Rion hadn't either.

Shan'Rae and El'Rion weren't just juniors of their Race, they were children. El'Rion was just 14 years old, and Shan'Rae was probably similar. What distinguished them from everyone else was their raw talent.

El'Rion had been born with a body so powerful he not only looked like an adult, but even Leonel's improved Starships had only left him with a few scratches.

This was all to say that Force Manipulation was just one standard by which to measure a person. Their intrinsic gifts, what they were born with, the blood running through their veins, was another huge aspect.

Even if Leonel had the same level or even Force Manipulation surpassing El'Rion right this moment, he still didn't stand a chance against the man.

This was the difference.

And now he was keenly feeling that weight right this moment. Khelgis and Adru were on another level.

However, Leonel didn't feel helpless. His caution should never be mistaken for cowardice.

Ultimately, he knew that the fact his body was still in the Third Dimension was actually weakening his current greatest strength: his Force Manipulation. His body had become its own sort of bottleneck.

'Annoying, but manageable.'

"Hey, what do you think the best path for my Metal Body is?"

Leonel had been focused on moving through the Dimensions so much, he had forgotten that retreating back to this stage was an opportunity to lay out his entire foundation again. This interaction had reminded him that your Dimension might have some importance, but it was only one pillar of many.

Since his father had a plan for his Dimensions, would he like not have a plan for this as well?

But Leonel was surprised when he got his answer.

[You've deviated from the original plan. The only information I can give you is to absorb mine sources rather than just ores]