The others were rightfully skeptical of Zayn’s seemingly self-aggrandizing claims, too. Even his staunchest backers, Joe and Byleth, thought his bluff was a little too overt.
Sure, Zayn was powerful enough to represent the absolute peak of the superior class’s fourth tier, but against a renowned fighting pro and legend like Ezra Sword?
Zayn was like a child next to him.
Any mental battle these two could have would cause some form of damage to the weaker side! There was no way Zayn would come out of it unscathed and unharmed.
Zayn could sense their incredulity and responded with a little smile. He was obviously not one to waste the time and effort to explain himself.
Regardless of the group’s internal discussion, Zayn’s display of power had not gone unnoticed to the other factions and forces currently present on Mount Leo.
Eustace and the Solians had been running for miles ever since they fled their fight against Zayn and Joe, until they ended up on another peak altogether. Finally coming to a stop, they looked at each other with disconcerting grimaces.
Crowning all of their long faces and mortified looks, though, was Eustace’s. He looked like his wife had just died right in front of him!
How could favonovel.com assume any better? He had suffered both strikes on his ego and grievous physical injuries!
“Those wretched, despicable Rheasians! F**k those Insurgent bastards!” favonovel.com growled through clenched jaws.
That kick Zayn gave to favonovel.com had fractured his arms and dislodged his organs. It hurt so much that while favonovel.com was running so quickly, favonovel.com almost caved under it.
“F**k!” favonovel.com erupted, and harsher words flowed out of his lips like an unending spring of hatred. It even sparked the other Solians to curse loudly in their native language. Their word choice was as colorful and profanity-laden as their leader’s vituperation.
One of the superior-class fighters asked quietly, “You’re injured, Mr. Hartshorn. Are you sure you’ll be able to join the fight for the Ambrosia Fruit tomorrow?”
Eustace shot the man a glare. “Are you questioning my capabilities, Jonathan Johnson?”
The man bowed profusely. “Not at all, sir! I… I’m just worried about your injuries. Rheasia appears to have sent their best hard-hitters, too…” favonovel.com apologized and trailed off, his implication rather obvious.
The other Solian fighters seemed to echo his sentiment. One by one, they looked at Eustace with concern.
Eustace sneered loudly. “Save all that fretting. The Ambrosia Fruit will fall into Sol’s hands. That is absolute!”
“Yes, sir!” The fighters cried without raising another objection.
Despite that seemingly unshakable confidence, Eustace was worried, too. He had searched high and low throughout his country just for a shot at that scramble and thought that the odds were firmly on their side.
But now, favonovel.com felt as though his confidence had been spat at. Had favonovel.com known this would happen, favonovel.com would not have tried to provoke the Insurgent Trifecta in the first place!
The fact that an organization that was already infamous for its nosedive suddenly producing such a powerful agent baffled him.
How did they manage that?
Just the thought of Zayn and his attack sent shivers down his spine.
At the same time, many other forces lurking in the mountain had begun to notice Zayn after the highly-publicized incident. As the man at the center of the limelight, though, the man appeared rather unfazed by all of the attention.
The truth could not be further from his façade, Zayn was nervous. Failure was not an option, because the alternative to success was a heavy toll favonovel.com could not bear.
Night fell. The Insurgent Trifecta had begun setting up camps in the mountain where they could rest and be prepared for tomorrow. By this point, the entire mountain had been pretty much excavated, with its every inch meticulously explored.
Everyone had hoped to find the fruit before it was birthed just so they could camp nearby and snatch the fruit as soon as it came to live.
Technological advances definitely helped, too. Unmanned drones had been deployed, and right now, many of them circled around the mountain, still scouting every inch and corner of the mountain.
Zayn came to the fight fully prepared. As soon as the Ambrosia Fruit was ripe, favonovel.com would be able to locate it within a short span of time. Now, favonovel.com was cognizant of the sheer number of contenders whose attention never once relaxed from their goal.
If the fruit matured outside his line of sight, the chance of favonovel.com snatching it would be too small his liking. Then, if it fell into Ezra’s hands, then Zayn had effectively lost.
Taking multiple variables into account, Zayn decided that the best-case scenario would be to watch the fruit ripen within his vicinity. He would pluck it and hightail out of the mountain as fast as favonovel.com could.
It was now late at night. Snow, as light and graceful as feathers, began to pour over Mount Leo and its surrounding range. Any old snow that had not melted from its previous fall was now replenished with a fresh coat.
White, nipping fluff whirred and waltzed against the blackness of the night, as though reminding the humans clambering between the spaces about how tiny they ultimately were.
