Chapter 746: Gaining Recognition

Max’s eyes glinted with cold resolve as he made that decision firm in his mind. Wherever he moved on the battlefield, he left behind him a wake of carnage: a litter of monstrous corpses sprawled across the red-soaked earth, severed limbs twitching, and dark blood hissing and steaming where it splattered upon the heated ground.

Each step he took, each flicker of his blade, pushed him closer to that deadly number, as the horde of Nulls fell beneath his unstoppable advance like wheat before the scythe.

This kid... his Level 2 Sword Concept is already edging into intermediate stage mastery. One of the elders, a seasoned expert tasked with overseeing the defense of the first circle, couldn’t help but pause mid-slash to watch Max, genuine admiration glimmering in his sharp eyes.

It was a level of sword mastery typically seen only in peak Champion Rank experts who’d spent decades honing every nuance of their technique—and yet here was Max, standing at merely the First Level of Master Rank, carving through the battlefield as though he’d been born for nothing but slaughter.

All around him, other experts and warriors battling desperately against the relentless surge of Nulls found themselves unable to tear their eyes away from the spectacle unfolding amid the chaos.

"Who is this kid?" one man gasped between heavy breaths, sweat and blood streaking his face as he barely dodged the claws of a snarling Level 4 Null. "He’s only at the First Level of Master Rank, and he’s chopping down Level 4 and Level 5 Champion Rank Nulls like he’s slicing through vegetables."

"Yeah, right!" another hunter shouted back, his voice ragged from exertion as he slammed his blade into a Null’s chest. "In the entire first circle, I doubt anyone else has racked up even half as many kills as him. Look at that sword—every time he swings, a Null is cut perfectly in half. It’s insane how strong he is!"

A third fighter, eyes wide as he parried another blow, couldn’t suppress his disbelief. "How can someone at the First Level of Master Rank have this kind of strength? It’s heaven-defying to possess such combat power so early. It’s just not normal."

"True," an older expert chimed in, panting as he wiped splattered black Null blood from his cheek. "Either he’s a hidden genius from one of the Seven Overlord Forces who’s come here because of the Hunter Association’s mandatory rules, or he’s someone from the Four God Nation. No ordinary background could produce someone like that."

Voices carried over the battlefield, even amidst the thunderous din of Null shrieks, clashing steel, and explosions of elemental energy. Awe and incredulity rippled through the ranks as more and more experts paused for the briefest moments to steal glances at Max, who was moving through the battlefield like a silent storm, his blade flashing in arcs of lethal brilliance.

"Geniuses these days are truly getting more and more terrifying," someone else shouted as they slammed a fist blazing with fire into a Null’s skull. "The other day, over in the Battle Realm, there was that figure called White Death who defeated countless Level 3 and Level 4 Champion Masters—and even some 2-star geniuses. Left the entire place speechless! In the end, the whole Middle Domain erupted in chaos as the name of White Death spread wide and far, but to this day, no one knows who he really is—or even where he came from."

Another expert gave a low whistle, ducking beneath a claw swipe. "Yeah, I heard that too. And now this kid shows up, massacring Nulls like he’s taking a stroll in the park. Makes you wonder if we’re all even cultivating the same way as these monsters..."

Meanwhile, at the very center of these swirling conversations, Max continued to push forward, utterly focused, his Severing Flow Sword Art unfurling in seamless, fluid motions. Each slash of his sword sent high-level Nulls collapsing in perfect halves, black blood spraying like ink across the blood-drenched earth.

The faint glow of his sword concept pulsed around him, a halo of sharp, invisible force that seemed to sever space itself, giving him an almost ethereal presence amid the hellish battlefield.

To the warriors around him, it was as though Max stood apart from reality itself, a figure whose very existence challenged every notion of what an expert at his level should be able to achieve.

And all around, the voices of both awe and disbelief continued to rise, as the experts and geniuses of the battlefield couldn’t help but talk among themselves, shocked and riveted by the sight of one young man, a mere First Level Master Rank genius, killing his way single-handedly through the endless horde of Nulls in the first circle, leaving nothing but corpses in his silent, unstoppable wake.

’Huh?’ Max’s brow furrowed sharply as his eyes darted across the battlefield, his senses honing in on a surge of chaos flaring on one particular flank. Through the gaze of his Three Dimensional Body, he saw that the side where Alice’s team was fighting had suddenly become a focal point of the Null assault.

The number of Nulls there was ballooning at an alarming rate, like a dark tide crashing ever higher, pouring in relentlessly with monstrous snarls and flashing claws. Even with several other teams fighting alongside Alice’s group, the experts there were struggling to hold the line.

Max’s sharp eyes picked out warriors staggering back under claw strikes, formations breaking as Nulls clawed their way through gaps in the defense. Attacks that should have cleanly felled enemies were being overwhelmed by sheer numbers, and for several fighters, even defending themselves had become a desperate effort rather than a battle they could win.

It was clear that if nothing changed, that side of the battlefield would collapse—and with it, the entire defense of the first circle could unravel into catastrophe.

Seeing the peril, Max didn’t waste even a heartbeat. His figure flickered like a spark of lightning as he teleported across the field as he reappeared just before Alice and her embattled team.