NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1141: Sneak Attack!
"Relax," Max said calmly, his tone indifferent. "If I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead."
With that, he turned and began walking away. The glowing blue and pink forest parted for him as he moved, the spatial energy around him bending naturally with his steps.
As his figure disappeared into the distance, one of the trembling geniuses whispered, "That… that was too strong. This guy was too strong."
Another replied quietly, still staring in the direction Max had gone. "If that's what it means to be a golden crown genius… then we are nothing but insects before him."
And as the echoes of their voices faded, Max continued deeper into the forest.
The deeper Max walked into the glowing forest, the quieter it became. The humming of spatial energy had dulled to a soft whisper, and even the faint rustling of leaves above had gone still. The trees here were thicker, their pink trunks pulsating faintly with light that seemed to breathe in rhythm with the forest itself. The air shimmered slightly, giving off the feeling that space itself was stretching and folding in strange ways.
Max walked calmly, his senses sharp but relaxed. His control of space was now so fluid that the distortions in the forest no longer bothered him. Every step he took flowed in perfect harmony with the energy of the world around him. Yet, something—something faint—brushed against his awareness.
His eyes narrowed slightly. He didn't stop walking, but his Three Dimensional Body immediately expanded, scanning the forest in all directions. It was subtle, barely noticeable—an energy signature hidden deep in the layers of folded space. Whoever was there was skilled enough to mask their presence from even powerful sensory techniques.
But not from Max.
'Someone's here,' he thought calmly, his body still moving at the same pace. 'Strong… and cautious. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike.'
He didn't give any sign that he had noticed. His breathing stayed steady, his eyes forward. The faint energy signature didn't move, but it pulsed faintly—like a heartbeat.
Then it came.
Without warning, space behind him tore open like paper. A golden flash erupted, followed by a piercing strike that shot forward faster than lightning. The attack carried terrifying energy condensed to a needle point, aimed straight at the back of Max's neck—an instant kill strike, sharp enough to pierce through space itself.
To any ordinary genius—even one crowned with gold—that attack would have been impossible to react to. It was too sudden, too fast, and too precise. A single heartbeat would have been enough for it to claim a life.
But Max wasn't ordinary.
The instant the space began to tear, his Three Dimensional Body mapped the distortion and reconstructed the trajectory of the attack in perfect detail. He saw it—every micro-shift, every flow of energy, every direction of force—before it even emerged.
'Found you,' Max thought, his lips curling into a faint smile.
He twisted his wrist, and the space around him folded. In an instant, he was gone.
The golden strike pierced through where his neck had been a fraction of a second ago. The blow shattered the nearby trees, leaving behind a crater and a long scar across the ground that crackled with golden light.
"Impossible!" a voice hissed from the fractured space behind him.
Before the figure could even pull back, Max reappeared behind him—silent, invisible, deadly. Blue lightning sparked faintly along his arm as he extended his hand forward.
"Second Level Concept of Space—Spatial Anchoring!"
The air around the golden-crowned genius froze solid, locking every molecule of space in place. The attacker's movement stopped instantly. His eyes widened in panic as he realized he couldn't even move his fingers.
Max appeared right beside him now, his presence calm but cold. "A sneak attack on me?" he said in a quiet, indifferent voice. "You must have a death wish."
He turned his head slightly, studying the figure. The man wore a long silver robe adorned with golden inscriptions, and a shining golden crown floated above his head—clear proof of his status as a golden crown genius. His weapon, a long silver spear, was still vibrating faintly from the failed strike.
"How did you see through that?" the man asked, disbelief and frustration in his tone. "That attack bends through space itself. No one could have—"
"It's because I am stronger than you," Max interrupted him, his voice calm but edged with authority.
The man tried to speak, but Max didn't let him. His sword appeared in his hand in a blur of motion, and the space around it began to twist violently. The faint hum of the blade merged with the vibration of spatial energy until the two became indistinguishable.
"Fourth Level Concept of Space—Spatial Collapse!" But just at that moment, the man shouted causing space around him to collapse as his figure disappeared into it.
"Fourth level of concept of space?" Max was surprised but not shocked. He guessed that the man might have spent too much time here in this forest killing those strange beasts and comprehending the space concept ultimately increasing his concept of space to 4th level.
Max lowered his sword, his expression indifferent. "Seems I should increase my pace too."
Blob's voice came through, calm but impressed. "Spatial Collapse, the fourth level concept of space... That man only seem to have comprehended it a while ago otherwise if he had deduced an attack with it, you would have been seriously injured if not dead directly. The ability to collapse space isn't something that should be taken lightly."
Max nodded. "I knew. I was also surprised he used the 4th level concept of space just now. But that is also the proof that one's comprehension of space can truly reached 4th level here, if they killed more of those strange beasts lurking in the forest." His eyes were burning with resolve.
The forest rustled softly again, its colors returning to their tranquil glow. Max turned and continued walking deeper into it. He wanted to comprehend the 4th level of Concept of Space as fast he could.