CHAPTER 260: GRAK INTEREST (2)

Adrian wasn’t any way surprised by the news. He saw nothing wrong with meeting them. In fact, he welcomed it.

He soon arrived at the edge of the houses, where he met the Graks. There were four of them and their appearance almost reminded him of the Garogs.

Adrian walked calmly to them and began politely. "To what do we owe—"

"You," Grok snarled. "You’re the source." He slammed the butt of his massive maul onto the ground, the impact sending a small tremor through the ground. "Give us. Now!"

Adrian was genuinely surprised. He hadn’t expected them to be this... blunt and demanding. Karl, however, didn’t find it funny at all. He found it insulting.

"Whoa, whoa, fellas," Karl said, stepping forward, a wide, challenging grin on his face. He let his Transcendent aura flare to life. "Is that any way to talk to a Sovereign? You’re new to our little corner, so let me explain the rules. You don’t make demands. You ask. Nicely."

Grok’s reptilian eyes swiveled to Karl. He saw the aura and the grin, as well as a challenger. He didn’t take the action lightly. With a furious, guttural growl, he moved.

With a speed that was terrifying for a being of his size, he closed the distance and swung his massive, spiked maul in a low, horizontal arc.

Karl, expecting the attack, tried to jump back, but he wasn’t nearly fast enough. The flat of the colossal maul swept him off his feet, catching him in the air with the force of a freight train.

~WHAM!~

Karl was sent flying like a helpless projectile, soaring several hundred meters across the streets.

He slammed into the wall of a distant house, the impact shattering the super-hard wall and his bones as well.

The sudden, brutal attack forced a wave of shocked silence.

Nyra and Serena gasped, their hands flying to their mouths and their magic flaring to life.

Grok spat on the ground, his gaze shifting back to Adrian, his sneer widening. "He talked. I hit." He pointed his maul at Adrian. "Now. You give us food."

Adrian’s casual, almost amused expression vanished, replaced by a cold so profound it seemed to lower the temperature of the air.

He didn’t say a word. He simply unleashed the full, unbridled weight of his soul aura.

The Grak leader, his sneer frozen on his face, suddenly felt as if a mountain had been dropped on his shoulders.

The three other Grak warriors froze, their hands on their mauls, but they found they couldn’t draw them. They couldn’t even move. They were pinned, rooted to the spot, their own powerful auras being crushed like paper.

Grok was the only one who could even resist, his stone-like muscles trembling with the sheer effort of staying upright, his four eyes wide with a new, dawning terror.

Adrian gave the Grak leader an illusion of freedom. He let his aura "flicker" for a microsecond, a seemingly involuntary waver, as if the strain of pinning four powerful warriors was too much for him.

Grok saw the "weakness" and roared, his pride and his rage overriding his fear. He broke free from the pressure and exploded forward, his four arms raising his maul high for a devastating execution strike.

Adrian, who had been waiting for this exact moment, was a step faster. As the Grak overcommitted, he moved.

It was a single, fluid, and impossibly fast motion. He spun on his heel, his leg lashing out in a perfect, mana-enhanced spiraling kick. He didn’t aim for the maul. He aimed for Grok’s center of mass.

~BOOOOM!~

The sound was not a crack; it was a cannon shot. Adrian’s foot connected with the Grak’s armored chest.

The resonant pulse of his technique bypassed the stone-like hide, shattering his innards and sending the colossal alien flying backward like a green-brown comet.

Grok flew a hundred meters, slamming with a sickening thud against the shimmering, translucent wall of the Sector Bubble.

The barrier flared with a brilliant light, absorbing the cataclysmic impact and then dumping the Grak champion onto the ground in a broken, unmoving heap.

Adrian didn’t stop. He crossed the distance in a single, silent dash, appearing above the fallen Grak.

He stomped his boot onto the alien’s thick, scaly throat, pinning him to the ground and leaning in with his face inches away from the Grak.

His calm, blue eyes were now burning with a cold, no-nonsense fire giving Grok a sense of hopelessness.

The attack had hurt him, truly hurt him, in a way he never thought it would. His comrades were still frozen, rooted in place by the overwhelming aura.

He had no other options. He looked up at the terrifying, calm-faced human, and with a gritted, pained groan, he admitted.

"You... win. I give up."

Adrian stared down at the defeated Grak. He was not interested in his admission as he was still deeply dissatisfied.

For a start, he had learned from the PAD that fighting was not tolerated within the Slums, a law designed to protect weaker races.

Yet he had just witnessed these aliens intrude on his designated sector, make demands, and go as far as attacking one of his own with lethal force. If it hadn’t been Karl, if it had been a normal human civilian, they would have been killed instantly by that single, arrogant attack.

Adrian leaned in closer, his voice a low, dangerous whisper that cut through Grok’s pained groans. "Why did you attack us? You broke the Concordat’s law. Get talking. Now."

Instead of the fear or defiance Adrian expected, he only saw a look of genuine, almost comical, surprise in the Grak’s four eyes.

Grok let out a pained, wheezing laugh. "Attack?" he rasped. "You are not a challenger? You dare to be scared of a simple... challenge?" He spat a glob of green-black saliva at Adrian’s face.

Adrian shifted his head a fraction, the glob missing him completely and sizzling on the pavement.

"I’m not scared," Adrian said, his boot pressing down hard enough to make the Grak’s stone-like skin crackle. "And that doesn’t answer my question."

The Grak still ignored him, as if the question itself was too stupid to even consider. To him, Karl had flared his aura, issuing a challenge. He had responded. Adrian had responded back by defeating him.

This was the natural order. The law was just a suggestion. "Fine," Grok grunted, his eyes gleaming with a different kind of light.

"You are strong. Stronger than me. I acknowledge this." He looked up at Adrian, his gaze now sharp and formal.

"Well, Adrian. I, Grok the Crusher, formally challenge you to a Clash Duel. In the arena. If I win... you sell us the food of life."