RE: LORD OF TIME

William, Alicia, and Liam watched as the mutated scorpion stopped before a six-meter-high sand dune.

Using its pincers, the monster began digging away the sand covering the dune.

”What is it doing?” Liam asked, raising an eyebrow as he watched the monster’s actions.

William narrowed his eyes and carefully examined the sand dune.

”That’s not a sand dune...” As William spoke, a large amount of sand collapsed because of the gap the scorpion had created.

”It’s a cave that had been buried beneath the sand.”

A wide entrance appeared before the monster, and it easily crawled inside.

Once the monster disappeared into the cave, the entrance gradually began to close again as fresh sand carried by the constant sandstorm poured over it.

”Fire Crystal Ore is normally found a few hundred meters underground. This cave must be an entrance leading to the underground area where the mine is located,” Alicia said in a low voice as she looked at William.

”What’s next?”

William remained silent for a moment before asking,

”Do you guys want to compete?”

”Compete?” Both Liam and Alicia were taken aback by William’s words.

William turned to look at them and explained his plan.

A few minutes later, Liam and Alicia were standing about one hundred and fifty meters away from the cave entrance.

”I don’t think this plan is a good idea,” Liam said in a low voice, gulping nervously.

”Remove the doubt from your voice because this plan is definitely not a good idea,” Alicia grumbled as she stared at William, who was now standing right outside the cave entrance.

”This guy is just a madman.”

As she spoke, they watched William walk into the cave.

A few minutes later, they suddenly heard a huge commotion coming from inside.

Rumble!

The sand dune surrounding the cave began to tremble violently, and the next second—

Woosh!

A figure shot out of the cave at an astonishing speed.

”Be careful while fighting, or they might just roast you alive!” William shouted as he dashed out of the cave, his entire body drenched in sweat.

The Silver Wing Spear appeared in Liam’s hand, while Alicia held her staff in her right hand and a bottle of Minor Aether Energy Recovery Potion in her left.

William didn’t return to Liam and Alicia’s side. Instead, he remained standing near the cave entrance, his eyes narrowed.

BOOM!

The cave entrance, which had already begun closing because of the falling sand, suddenly exploded outward as a swarm of mutated sand scorpions rushed out.

Within just a few seconds, the entire area outside the cave was filled with mutated sand scorpions.

”This... What exactly did William do inside for all of them to come out at once?” Liam couldn’t help but gulp as he stared at the nearly sixty monsters that had rushed out of the cave.

About half of them were still unranked, and the armor covering their bodies was far from turning completely red, indicating that they were still in the middle of their mutation.

Among the remaining monsters, nearly twenty were at the Early Stage of Star Warrior, seven at the Middle Stage, and three had already reached the Peak Stage.

”Just fight the ones you can handle. If you feel it’s too dangerous, don’t try to act brave. Retreat immediately,” William warned one last time before shifting his full attention to the swarm of scorpions that were glaring at him with bloodshot eyes.

”Do you guys really have to be this angry? I only lit up a few Fire Crystals and blew some of your companions to pieces. It’s not that big of a deal, right?”

William’s words were like pouring oil onto a blazing fire and every mutated scorpion let out an enraged shriek before charging toward him.

Watching the swarm rushing at him, William wasn’t the least bit afraid. Instead, he felt somewhat excited.

’I can finally let loose and test my current strength to see just how different I am from my former self in the original timeline.’

A few gusts of wind swirled around William’s feet as he shot forward, his figure turning into nothing but a blur.

The Gale Tiger Body Forging Technique that William cultivated primarily enhanced his agility. On top of that, he had already merged the Wind Steps he had obtained from Lucas with his Phantom Steps battle art.

Now, besides its erratic movements that confused enemies, Phantom Steps also possessed a top-tier burst of speed.

In an instant, William appeared before the mutated sand scorpion leading the charge.

”You are just an unranked baby. Go back and sleep.”

William shouted as he threw a punch.

It was the first time he was using the full strength of his physical body after breaking through to the Middle Stage of Star Warrior.

BOOOOOOM!

A deafening explosion echoed across the surroundings as the one-and-a-half-meter-tall mutated scorpion, weighing well over one hundred and fifty kilograms was blasted backward as though it had been struck by a speeding truck.

BANG!

The scorpion crashed into the swarm behind it, knocking five other mutated scorpions off their feet.

All of them suffered varying degrees of injuries, while the one William had punched died instantly.

However, there were still over fifty mutated scorpions remaining, and several of them managed to reach William.

Woosh! Woosh! Woosh! - - - -

Sharp tail stingers engulfed in flames shot toward him from every direction, completely blocking every possible escape route.

But William remained calm.

A hazy white light flashed through his eyes as he activated the Time Perception ability granted to him by the Time Star Codex.

Eerything in his eyes slowed down.

The monsters.

The burning tail stingers.

Even the grains of sand drifting through the air.

William instantly bent his body into an almost impossible angle.

The next moment, five flaming tail stingers brushed past him, barely missing his head, chest, and arms.

The monsters were stunned by what they saw, and their minds froze for a moment, unable to comprehend how William had avoided their attacks.

William did not care about the monsters shock. Wind swirled around his feet once again, and he vanished from the middle of the swarm.

BOOM!

A thunderous explosion rang out as an Early Stage Star Warrior scorpion that had just attacked him had its head crushed by a single punch.

Before its corpse could even hit the ground, William disappeared once more and reappeared beside another monster.

This one was at the Middle Stage of Star Warrior.

The instant William appeared beside it, the scorpion reacted quickly and turned around to attack.

But before it could—

BOOOOOOM!

William’s fist smashed into its body, causing it to stagger backward as a painful shriek escaped its mouth.

William was surprised when he saw this as he hadn’t expected a Middle Stage Star Warrior mutated scorpion to survive one of his punches.

His attack had only left several cracks across its hardened armor.

However, he didn’t have time to dwell on it, as the surrounding monsters immediately launched another wave of attacks.

Woosh!

A blazing fireball suddenly shot toward him from the side and engulfed his figure.

BOOOOOOM!

The fireball exploded violently, sending countless grains of sand flying in every direction.

The Middle Stage Star Warrior scorpion that had fired the attack revealed a joyful expression when it saw the explosion consume the evil bastard.

But before it could celebrate—

”That was dangerous, you know.”

A calm voice reached its ears and before it could react, a heavy punch slammed into its head, causing more cracks to spread across its armor.

’Using my physical strength without a proper technique is a bit wasteful...’

Under the effect of True Wisdom, William’s mind entered an accelerated thinking state.

Countless memories from the original timeline flashed through his mind as he searched for a battle art suitable for his current fighting style.

It didn’t take long before he remembered one he had practiced during the early years of his previous life.

Since he had already mastered it once before, all he needed to do now was make a few adjustments to suit his current body.

The current situation, where he was surrounded by dozens of monsters was the perfect opportunity to refine it.

Not far away, Liam and Alicia had also been surrounded by monsters.

Fortunately, the ones attacking them consisted mostly of unranked scorpions along with a handful at the Early Stage of Star Warrior.

Working together, they had no trouble holding them back.

”This is not what I expected,” Liam couldn’t help but mutter as his Silver Wing Spear pierced through the head of an unranked scorpion.

He glanced toward the area where the majority of the monsters had gathered and his entire body shivered.

Goosebumps spread across his skin as he watched a single figure wreaking havoc among the swarm.

Alicia was even more shocked than Liam.

It wasn’t because of the absurd physical strength William was displaying.

After all, he had already told them that he possessed a Legendary Grade trait that enhanced his physical strength.

The true reason she was shocked was the way he fought.

The way he approached monsters...The way he dodged every attack...

The way he seized every opening without wasting a single opportunity.

Everything pointed to someone with immense combat experience and extraordinary battle instincts.

Moreover, she had witnessed him dodging attacks from impossible angles.

Even while completely surrounded, he somehow managed to evade every strike.

On top of that—

’He is definitely using a very powerful movement battle art... and his mastery of it is far beyond the Beginner Level.’

Just watching William fight sent chills down Alicia’s spine.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Suddenly, a deafening explosion far louder than any before echoed throughout the surroundings, even blowing away the sandstorm in the area where William was fighting.

Alicia immediately turned toward the source and the instant she did, her eyes widened in disbelief.

”What the fu*k...”

Despite being a well-mannered noble lady, she couldn’t stop herself from swearing as she watched William blow apart the head of a Middle Stage Star Warrior mutated scorpion with a single punch.

(You have learned Low-Level Battle Art — Shockwave Fist.)

A notification appeared before William’s eyes, causing the corners of his lips to curl upward.

”Now we are playing.”

He muttered before disappearing from atop the dead monster, completely unaware that ever since he had approached the cave, the title Favored by the Supreme on his status window had been trembling more violently than ever before.