Unlimited Power 02 - The Ranger's Domain

Chapter 728 - Goner

 Ryan suddenly teleported to the right above Belphegor and tried to punch him. Still, the demon moved his arm to block his attack. Even in that position and without touching Ryan's fist, Belphegor stopped Ryan's punch. It was Telekinesis… the skill was at a pretty high level, too, since Ryan's punch in his draconic form could do almost the same amount of damage the sloth demons could when they explode.

"So, despicable…" Belphegor said and then sighed. "You are always trying to take from others the things you want. Human race doesn't even care if they have to start wars and kill hundreds of thousands if not millions to get what they want."

 After moving away from Belphegor, Ryan noticed some marks on his fist. Even without using his body, Belphegor's Telekinesis had been powerful enough to almost crush his right fist. There was a possibility that if Ryan prepares an attack before teleporting, that he will manage to cause some direct damage. Still, in the end, Ryan had a hard time believing that it would succeed. His instincts were telling him that.

 Before Ryan could come up with any other plan, Belphegor sat cross-legged. It looked like he was getting a bit more interested in the fight. However, that wasn't something that helped Ryan. When the demon focused his eyes on Ryan, something happened… Ryan's body became more sluggish, and his body wasn't responding as fast as usual.

"What?" Ryan muttered.

 Almost one hundred demons suddenly appeared around Ryan. This time he won't be saved by Frost Armor. In the next moment, all the demons exploded, and the entire area trembled. That chain explosion had been as powerful as Ryan's fireball, and that was crazy since Ryan had to focus for a few minutes to launch that attack.

 Ryan sighed in relief a few hundred meters above, he escaped the attack, and his body was back to normal. Femradiel saved his ass.

"Thanks, Femradiel," Ryan said. "For a minute, I thought I was a goner."

"It seems he can use a higher-level version of Slow," Femradiel said. "He can use it even without touching the target, but the farther away the target is, the less effective the skill is."

 Ryan also assumed that the skill was similar to Thanatos' Death Manipulation. He could use it on anyone he looks at, and he probably can slow down exponentially anyone or anything that gets too close to him. Still, Ryan had to confirm that, but that would be difficult since Belphegor was using the demons to block the bolts.

 After coming up with a plan to land the first attack, Ryan put it into motion. Ryan created an Ice Spear and then threw it toward Belphegor, but before he could let the spear go, he used Perfect Aim, Deadly Aim, and Teleport. The projectile appeared half a meter away from the demon and almost pierced the back of his head. Ryan saw the projectile stopping in mid-air, but he also saw it moving in slow-motion.

"I guess that confirms everything," Femradiel said. "This will be hard, perhaps even harder than the fight against Thanatos."

 The real problem was the fact that Ryan didn't receive any skill to resist that effect. It possibly was a time-magic skill, but it didn't look like Ryan could learn something like Time Resistance that easily.

"If I stay hidden, I won't have to deal with that skill of his," Femradiel said. "Since he is a lazy demon, he probably won't use more than a few skills at the same time. So, I am safe from Clairvoyance. With that in mind, I will be able to help you by using Haste."

"All right, let's see how much we can resist his power by combining Haste," Ryan said.

 Femradiel also could use Mana Manipulation, so they could increase the effects of Haste by using more mana than usual. By combining their skills, Ryan felt his body and mind getting lighter and faster. It was weird, but it was an extremely refreshing feeling. 

"It seems increasing your reaction speed by one hundred percent is our current limit," Femradiel said.

"It is more than enough for the time being," Ryan said and then teleported.

 Ryan appeared right above Belphegor again, and as expected, his body slowed down when he tried to punch the demon. However, his speed surprised Belphegor, and his punch ended up landing on his face. Still, before he could be submerged on the lake, Belphegor used Teleport and appeared levitating above the lake while massaging his face. Ryan's attack only left a small bruise, but all progress is progress.

"I thought I was mistaken when I felt Thanatos and Poseidon's presence coming from you, but it seems I was wrong…" Belphegor said. "You are the human who killed them."

 Ryan decided to ignore those words. Nothing good would come by listening to the enemy in the middle of a fight. So, he teleported again and tried to smash the demon's head with both of his arms. That feeling of sluggishness came out in full, and Ryan immediately understood that his attack wouldn't land. So, he made several Hydra's bows appear above and then fired all of them. Still, despite the size and speed of all those arrows, when they approached Belphegor, they lost all their speed and power.

 Belphegor approached Ryan with his right hand pointing toward his head. Even though his Femradiel's Haste was active, his mind, for some reason, wasn't moving fast enough. Ryan understood why… it was because he was looking directly at the demon's eye. Still, even that couldn't be compared to what Belphegor was about to do. All of Ryan's instincts were warning him of it. Fortunately, Femradiel saved his ass once again by using Teleport.

"He was about to do something… I felt a large concentration of mana on his right hand," Femradiel said.

"… I noticed it," Ryan said. "Still, it doesn't look like he can use that freely, since he moved slowly toward me." 

 Neither of them had any idea what Belphegor almost did, but they knew it was something dangerous. In the end, Ryan concluded that he couldn't be trying to fight up close… that wouldn't do him any good.