Matthew Atkinson & Natalie Russell
Global Layer of the Supernatural Realm
After Aria Powell, it was Natalie's turn; however, the girl listened to Matthew's advice and chose to forfeit.
A moment later, the fifth-rank youth who made the bet with Matthew also took to the stage.
The opponent possessed a speed-type ability, making him extremely fast. He was able to destroy the spark source in Bumblebee's chest before Bumblebee could even react.
The Bumblebee, having lost its sparkling source, immediately lost the luster of its scarlet electronic eyes and collapsed to the ground.
The young man glanced at Matthew in the audience, then returned to his seat.
"With this kind of speed..." Professor Holland said solemnly, "This guy's agility attribute is at least 2500 points. His overall strength is probably very close to the sixth rank."
Upon hearing this, Grand Magister Russell immediately looked at Matthew and snorted coldly, "When you lose, let's see how you get out of this mess."
It seemed that Grand Magister Russell's comment came at the perfect time.
The young man had just returned to his seat when he heard Grand Magister Russell's words. He immediately smiled and said to Matthew, "Kid, with so many people watching, you better not try to cheat."
Upon hearing this, Matthew immediately replied, "I was the one afraid you'd try to renege on your word."
...
Only in the afternoon was it Matthew's turn to go on stage. When Matthew stood up, he immediately attracted everyone's attention.
"Matthew, don't be reckless." Professor Holland said hurriedly.
At this moment, the portal appeared in front of Matthew. He gave Professor Holland a confident smile, then stepped into the teleportation portal.
He was already planning to demonstrate some of his strength in this round to avoid Professor Holland, Grand Magister Russell, and others constantly worrying about him and rambling on for ages.
Once on the stage, Matthew threw a punch without saying a word.
-Bang
It was a powerful punch, and with Matthew's current strength, the impact was astonishing.
On the ring, a fierce gust of wind suddenly swept up, covering almost half of the ring.
In the gale, there were even a large number of wind blades.
The Bumblebee in the distance had no time to dodge and nowhere to hide. Its huge body was instantly shredded into a pile of scrap metal.
Instant kill.
Matthew didn't even turn his head and looked at the audience. He went straight back to his seating area.
In terms of defeating speed, he was no slower than Aria Powell in this round.
When Matthew returned to his seat, everyone was looking at him with a surprised expression.
Even the powerful team behind him looked at him in surprise.
Everyone has witnessed Bumblebee's strength. It was powerful.
Even for a seasoned fifth-rank expert, killing Bumblebee in a short time wasn't easy. They would have to use every trick in their book. Like Grand Magister Russell did.
How could Matthew, a freshman, be able to defeat it so easily?
Only Natalie remained calm around them.
"Matthew, you..." Professor Holland asked in surprise, "What kind of skill is that?"
"Supernatural Skill: The Fist Impact," Matthew answered truthfully.
Unexpectedly, his honest answer surprised everyone even more.
"Impossible!!!" Another male professor in the group couldn't help but say, "This supernatural skill requires immense strength to be effective. For someone like you to kill Bumblebee from a distance like that... you must have at least 4000 points of strength attribute, right?"
Although the supernatural skill "Fist Impact" was not a common skill, it was still relatively well-known.
It was recorded in the book "The Complete Book of Supernatural Skills".
Most of those present were learned professors, so they naturally understood that what Professor Richardson said was rather moderate.
Bumblebee was a mechanical life form, and its natural defenses were far superior to those of flesh and blood.
For someone like Matthew to shatter it into pieces from such a distance with just a punch, it would probably require 5000 points of the strength attribute.
Because the impact of a 'Fist Impact' punch decreased with distance.
"My current strength attribute is indeed quite high," Matthew said.
Professor Holland immediately asked, "How many?"
"A little over three thousand," Matthew answered truthfully as before.
However, even without considering the boost from Armament Haki, his current strength attribute, which had increased fivefold, was already over 15,000 points based solely on the boost from his Super Strength innate skill.
Moreover, the Super Strength was a passive skill that had always existed within Matthew's body. Unlike Armament Haki, which required activation before amplification.
That was what made Kryptonian Physique so amazing.
"That's not enough for such a power. What Professor Richardson just said was moderate. To make the 'Fist Impact' have the destructive power you have, you need at least 5000 points in the strength attribute."
Then Professor Holland suddenly added, "Never mind, this is your strength. You don't need to reveal detailed information. Just tell me, roughly what rank is your current strength at?"
"Professor Holland, how am I supposed to answer that question?" Matthew said helplessly. "I've never participated in a strength test, and I don't know the criteria for judging strength, so how can I estimate my current strength?"
"That makes sense," Professor Holland nodded.
"However…" Matthew suddenly changed his tone and said, "I feel that my current overall power should not be lower than a seventh rank."
When he said this, everyone was perplexed.
Unexpectedly, Professor Isabel Grant just rolled her eyes at him.
Professor Holland also added, "Don't joke around."
Matthew: "..."
'I knew these bastards wouldn't believe me.' He thought. 'Never mind. Let's prove ourselves with our abilities.'
...
The second round of challenges lasted 4 days and eliminated 23 million supernatural individuals.
This Global Layer Competition involved supernatural individuals from around the world, with a total of over 40 million participants.
And after only two rounds, most of them have already been eliminated.
This also showed that among the supernatural individuals, there were many weaklings who just coasted, as well as quite a few hidden talents.
At night, at the villa, the group sat around the dining table, eating dinner and discussing things.
"After two rounds so far, we have earned a total of 31 competition points," Professor Isabel Grant said.
The first round of Spider-Man awarded 1 combat point to each successful challenger.
Everyone successfully completed the challenge in the first round, and the team earned 10 competition points.
And the second round of Bumblebee awarded 3 competition points to each successful challenger.
However, three team members were eliminated in the second round. One of them was Natalie, and she voluntarily forfeited.
Besides Natalie, two other professors were restrained by Bumblebee and had to surrender.
"What about our ranking?" Grand Magister Russell asked, frowning.
"We are not in the rankings." Professor Isabel Grant shook his head and said, "The ranking in the Global Layer only shows the top 500. All those currently ranked in the top 500 have full 40 competition points. We can't get in the rankings."
After these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the restaurant section was somewhat silent.
Fortunately, this outcome was expected by everyone, so it was still acceptable.
"I'm sorry, I've let everyone down," said Professor Richardson.
Upon hearing this, Professor Isabel Grant immediately said, "Richardson, don't say that. Judging from the difficulty of the opponents provided by the Supernatural Realm, we probably won't be able to hold on for long..."
...
The next day, Professor Isabel Grant's words proved prophetic.
When everyone arrived at their seats, they discovered that the third-round defending champion appeared to be an alien.
This alien, with its 3-4 meter size, muscular build, pieces of armor it wore, and the strangely shaped hammer it held, would have been enough to strike fear into the hearts of many who saw it.
Matthew's expression changed upon seeing this creature.
Cull Obsidian. One of Thanos's adopted children and a member of the Black Order.
An alien possessing Superhuman Strength, Superhuman Durability, Superhuman Speed, Superhuman Stamina, and a Regenerative Healing Factor, and thought to be able to go head-to-head with the Hulk.
This defending champion appeared significantly stronger than the previous ones.
But Matthew's mind was elsewhere.
'Did Cull Opsidian's presence here mean there were layers of supernatural realms opening up to the MCU world?' he thought.
"Huh? I don't recognize this round's defending champion at all." Professor Holland frowned and asked, "Have you seen him before?"
Everyone shook their heads.
Only Aria Powell spoke and said, "His name is Cull Obsidian. He's a super-strong, super-durable, fast, long-lasting combat alien with rapid healing. I don't know if his power is at the sixth-rank level, but if not, it should be pretty close."
"If he really is a sixth-rank powerhouse..." Grand Magister Russell gritted his teeth and said, "Then we're probably going to be eliminated in this round."
"I estimate that quite a few people will die in this round," Aria Powell said directly. "He is extremely powerful, and his attack speed is fast. People who aren't physically strong enough simply can't withstand it. I suggest you all just forfeit."
Upon hearing Aria Powell's words, Professor Isabel Grant and the others frowned.
They were naturally unwilling to give up. Having arrived at the Global Layer, everyone naturally wanted to achieve good results.
Before long, the challenges on the rings had begun, and many of the supernatural individuals who advanced in the previous round stepped onto the arena to fight against thousands of Cull Obsidian.
Those supernaturals who could defeat Bumblebee were generally at least at the fifth rank.
However, they were completely outmatched by Cull Obsidian.
Cull Obsidian didn't even need to use his hammer to easily defeat a fifth-rank supernatural.
Only when encountering some formidable supernaturals, Cull Obsidian would use his signature weapon, the Chain Hammer, which can take on many different forms.
And on the rings, people finally started dying.
Seeing these scenes, countless supernatural individuals were visibly shaken.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.176: Actions Have Consequences
Ch.177: The Fourth Champion – Steppenwolf
Ch.178: Matthew Unleashes a Part of His True Power