Leonel took a step forward and struck out with the wooden spear. He used just a single arm, but the blade still seemed to sing.
It had been a while since he used a wooden spear, and somehow it felt to resonate more with him. A spear from his Emulation Spatial Force and Scarlet Star Force was powerful, but it was precisely because of that it lost the most integral parts of what it meant to be a spear.
His strike didn't have to be perfect, his Emulation Spatial Force made the blade sharp enough to cut through anything. It didn't have to be powerful. His Scarlet Star Force could blaze through anything.
But now, with a simple, unadorned spear in his hand, a white cloth fluttering around where the polearm and blade met, if he wasn't perfect, he really would be cut at the waist.
The Oryx had never felt something like this before. It was just a simple strike, but it somehow felt like there was no perfect response to it. He couldn't dodge it, he couldn't block it, he couldn't counter... there was no perfect response.
In the last moment, the Oryx unleashed a roar and lashed out. It wasn't like the warrior of the Oryx to simply bow down and accept death. If he couldn't find a counter rooted in skill, he would just have to brute force his way to victory.
'Oh?'
The digitigrade legs of the Oryx seemed firmly rooted into the ground, almost as though he had become an ancient tree. Earth Force fuelled his attack, and he swung down with all his might, borrowing momentum from the planet they stood on.
If the strike hit, Leonel's spear would indeed be blasted to smithereens. He didn't dare to use his Spear Force so casually anymore, so the wooden spear had no protections aside from the simple wood it was cast from.
Of course, this was from a tree in Anastasia's world, so it was Ninth Dimensional in character. But it had no other sorts of special qualities to it. Even if it wasn't shattered, it would definitely be heavily damaged.
But Leonel's reaction wasn't so fierce at all. His wrist tilted just the slightest bit, and the Oryx missed his spear by a hair.
Sparks flew as metal clashed against metal.
Leonel wrist tilted once more and the Oryx's ax was sent flying overhead. At the same time, his spear blade pierced through the Oryx's tough outer skin, slipping between two ribs with ease.
The blade stopped at that moment, causing the Fifth Dimensional Oryx that wanted to take action to freeze as well.
Leonel smiled. "It's best you don't move. If I press just a little harder, I'll puncture his lung. If I press a little harder than that, I'll skewer his heart. You wouldn't want that, right?"
The waves of Dream Force made the Oryx feel as though Leonel were speaking their language, and this made them more shocked than maybe even the swift defeat of their leader.
"Now, tell me, where is this place? Who rules this Domain?"
Leonel wasn't sure that this Dimensional Verse even had Domains. He had only come into contact with other Incomplete Worlds for a short time, but it was still enough for him to know that not all of them had the same setup.
Some had already been conquered entirely by one Race alone. Some only had two Races leading the charge. The number that were like Leonel's own and had multiple Races divided across several Domains were actually a bit rarer in number. Usually, one Race or a handful would get the leg up in evolution and then take over most of everything, leaving scraps for everyone else.
The reason Leonel still asked this question, though, was because these few didn't seem surprised enough that he was human. Unless they were a bit slow and didn't notice until now, this was a pretty good bit of information to go off of.
"... This is the Oryx Domain."
The leader didn't understand how Leonel didn't know the answer to this question, but he still answered anyway.
Leonel was a bit surprised as well. He knew that the leader wasn't misinterpreting his question, calling this single planet a Domain or something like that. That was because the way his Dream Force translated was the same way his father's silver dictionary translated.
He was hearing the meaning of their intentions, not their arbitrary understanding of the word.
If this Oryx had said Domain in their language, but actually meant city, or planet, or even penis, that was the word that Leonel would hear.
This was also why it was very difficult for people to lie to him these days.
What shocked Leonel was that this world actually had a substantial enough Oryx population that they controlled a Domain to themselves.
"What are the other Domains?" Leonel asked. "Who rules them?"
The leader frowned, but he still answered once more.
"The Rapax Race and the Sea Gods."
Leonel blinked. Sea Gods? What was that?
Once again, these people had different words for their Races, but his Dream Force had still translated those terms into Rapax and Oryx, so the fact he had said Sea God couldn't have been a mistake.
He truly meant Sea God.
"Which of you three is the strongest?"
The Oryx leader roared. He would have even beat his chest if not for the fact there was a spear sticking out of it.
ƈοm
Leonel raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "So the Sea Gods."The leader froze, and hints of embarrassment and defiance appeared on his face. In the end, though, he didn't refute.
'Interesting... two new Mortal Races, each substantial enough to own an entire Domain to themselves... And there are no humans in this world? But why?'
"There's no Human Domain?" Leonel asked. "But why did you recognize us?"
"There is no Human Domain, but there is a small Human Empire. It has managed to hang on, though it's hard to say if this will last for long..."
