Alex is attacking Ikaruga who surprisingly can follow his speed. Though maybe it's more correct to say that Ikaruga can react to his speed because she can't move as fast as Alex, at least when it comes to running.
However, she can see him when he runs with his incredible speed and she can move her sword fast enough to block his punch. She can't move her body fast enough to evade his attack, but she can move her hands fast enough to move her sword.
It's because she is used to swinging her sword at high speed, but not her whole body. So while she can move her sword very fast, she herself can't run or move her whole body as fast as when she controls her sword.
Even so, being fast with her sword isn't enough to face Alex's attacks. After all, his punches aren't just fast, they are also very strong. Ikaruga who barely has the speed to block his punch doesn't have the strength to stop it.
She is thrown back, flying, then crashing onto trees behind her. So while she can avoid getting hit directly by Alex, she still suffers from the crashes onto the trees. But just being able to block that punch has reduced the damage she receives significantly.
There's no doubt that she would get knocked out had that punch hit her stomach. Or at least her internal organs would get badly injured. But now she only feels back pain from having her back crashing onto some trees and breaking them.
"Oho? You actually blocked that. Not bad. Then how about you?"
Alex suddenly moves again at the same speed, but he changes his target to Zancrow. All of them have been focusing on Alex who can move incredibly fast. But whether they can respond to his speed like Ikaruga is another thing.
Unlike Ikaruga, Zancrow isn't trained with high speed movements. His battle skills seem to be around the same level as Natsu. So it's no wonder that he can't react to Alex's speed and gets his face hit by Alex's Lightning Punch.
Zancrow is sent flying and crashing onto trees like Ikaruga. But because he can't dodge Alex's punch and gets hit in the face, he obviously receives much more damage. He is knocked out instantly by Alex's punch that breaks his nose and fractures his skull.
"Hmm, Natsu is still more durable than you. Maybe it's because he gets beaten more often, so he has a higher durability. Or maybe you just didn't train as hard as him. Is it because you have a high level of Fire Magic I wonder?"
Alex takes his time to give a commentary after defeating Zancrow. He obviously is disappointed because he has a rather high hope for a God Slayer Mage.
"Ultear also learned God Slayer Magic even though it's a different type, so I know the potential of God Slayer Magic. But you really wasted it. Sigh, if only I can find the Fire God Slayer Magic Book you used to learn this magic, then I will give it to someone more competent to learn."
Alex shakes his head before turning around to look at Hades. He grins before disappearing again with his incredible speed. Hades tenses up and crosses his arms in front of him to block any attack that can come at him.
But the attack never comes because the next target isn't Hades, but Jose. Alex has enough of this old bastard's annoying face, so he decides to take Jose out already.
As expected of a former Wizard Saint though, Jose can react to Alex's speed. He actually has put up a defense since he saw Alex could move incredibly fast. But he can see Alex's movements and strengthen his defense immediately.
Jose has made a new defensive spell after his defeat from Alex a few months ago. He uses his phantoms to create a layer of armor on his body. His phantoms are condensed into a very hard and sturdy magic armor, but he doesn't know whether it can withstand Alex's attacks.
Though instead of sturdiness, Jose's Phantom Armor's real power is its ability to drain his opponents' magic power and life force. His phantoms can absorb life force when they pass through or touch people's bodies.
So when his opponent's attacks touch his magic phantom armor, their magic power and life force will be absorbed. Jose was thinking of draining Alex's power when he created this spell, but he made a miscalculation.
His phantoms can absorb his opponent's energy, but they can't weaken an already launched attack. They might be able to weaken magic spells thrown at them, but not a physical attack's momentum. Sturdiness is more important to stop an attack's momentum.
Too bad his magic phantom armor isn't sturdy enough to defend against Alex's Lightning Punch. The layer of transparent dark purple magic armor that covers Jose's body is broken instantly by Alex's Lightning Punch.
Alex's 1st punch already breaks it and Alex sends a barrage of attacks because he is very annoyed by Jose. So the next punches aren't even blocked by anything and just land directly on Jose's body at full power.
The punches break Jose's old ribs and internal organs. Alex punches Jose's body a few times and ends it with a punch on Jose's face. Jose is thrown into the deep and massive hole created by Hades's spell because his back is facing it, so he falls and rolls on the hole's floor until he crashes onto its wall on the other end.
Needless to say, Jose is knocked out because of the powerful punches and the powerful lightning that electrocuted his whole body. Now the ones left are only Hades, Azuma, and Ikaruga who still hang on after blocking Alex's punch.
Surprisingly, Azuma decides to attack first before Alex comes to attack him. He grows vines out of the ground beneath Alex and tries to wrap Alex's feet with the vines.
Azuma attacks stealthily and grows his vines as fast as he can, but Alex detects them and manages to avoid getting caught by them. Alex flashes away before the vines catch his feet and charges toward Azuma.
To Alex's surprise, Azuma's body is broken into pieces of wood when his punch hits. The man actually made a clone using wood which makes the Tailed Beasts, especially Kurama quite annoyed by it because it reminds them of Hashirama who once captured all of them and handed them over to different villages.
Of course, they know that Azuma isn't as strong as Hashirama. But seeing someone who can control plants like Hashirama is annoying enough for them, especially when he uses a similar technique with Hashirama.
Anyway, Azuma isn't running away. He just hides in a tree and attacks Alex from his hiding place. He creates a pair of giant hands from the roots near Alex and tries to crush Alex with those giant plant hands, but Alex manages to dodge them.
Alex tries to find Azuma using his magic sense and finds Azuma's location quickly. Hades sends magic bullets at him when he tries to locate Azuma. Alex dodges the bullets that distract him from finding Azuma, but he already finds the man's hiding place.
"... Now he acts like Zetsu."
Azuma hides in a big tree quite far on Alex's left, which makes him look like Zetsu after looking like Hashirama. Alex ignores Azuma for now and goes for Hades who keeps shooting purple magic bullets at him.
He dodges the magic bullets as he dashes toward Hades. Dodging makes him slower at approaching Hades, but it still only takes him a few seconds. He slaps Hades's hands that keep shooting magic bullets away with his tentacle tails while stopping in front of Hades.
Alex sends his full-power punch right at Hades's face. But suddenly Azuma emerges from the ground with his arms crossed in front of his face. A thick tree wall also emerges in front of Azuma, but Alex just grins because it goes better than he thought.
Alex deliberately slowed down to see if Azuma would protect his Guild Master. Dark Mages usually don't care about each other's lives, even if it's their leader. But it seems Grimoire Heart, or at least Azuma still has loyalty to his Guild Master.
Still, that doesn't mean Alex will hold back just because they show something praiseworthy. His punch is still moving at full power and it breaks Azuma's tree wall easily. It moves through the tree wall, hitting Azuma's crossed arms and sending him flying along with Hades who stands right behind him.
The tree wall still manages to lessen the punch's power, but even that weakened punch still manages to crack Azuma's arm bones. His arms would be broken if he didn't use that tree wall otherwise.
Hades is rolling on the ground, but he is only slightly injured, thanks to Azuma protecting him. But now Azuma won't be able to protect him again because Alex who suddenly appears above the fallen Azuma sends a punch at Azuma's face from above, knocking him out instantly.
Alex suddenly disappears again and when Hades realizes where he goes, Alex already stands in front of Ikaruga who falls unconscious on her knees after being punched in the solar plexus. Now only Hades left and Alex is looking at him with a sinister grin.
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Ch. 192. Careful and Careless