30: Stream-lined throw

"How did you do that?" Miles raised his Katana swiftly. It gave an icy glint to anyone who looked at it.

Caleb took a fighting stance and said with a small smile, playing with his lips.

"You might have a weapon, but I have a secret weapon. Still, isn't it unfair to use your Katana against a kid?"

Seeing Caleb's attempt at provocation didn't anger Miles. He looked at the debris and the damage on the ground.

"A kid? You're a monster. If that kick had landed on me, no matter what part of my body, it would have been enough to incapacitate me. Really, how did you do it?"

"Too much talk..." Caleb shrugged.

How was he supposed to explain it? That it was just his physical strength? Would they even believe him? It's better to let them come up with answers on their own while he was pretending that he didn't about it. He just needs to say what he can do, but not why he can do it. Sometimes, guidance is more effective than direct convincing.

"Now, it's time for me to switch offensive." As he said this, Caleb raised the stone with sharp edges that he picked up from the ground while everyone was distracted by what he did. "I hope it works."

With a deep breath and full concentration, Caleb directed the flow of his taboo energy and channeled it towards the stone in his hand. As he did so, small cracks started to appear on the stone. Others might not see it, but Caleb could see the stone light up in a violet glow. 'My control of the energy isn't precise enough.'

If one day he can channel his taboo energy towards the weapon without damaging them, then it would be a sign of decent mastery. For now, he was on the zero level of proficiency.

"What? What do you want to do with a damned stone? Do you actually want to fight me with that? Hahahaha!" Miles burst out laughing and his snot almost came out of his nose.

"Disgusting," Rina from the sidelines commented.

Dunn nodded in agreement.

"That bastard is really like that. Still, what does Johan want to do with a stone? Do any of you guys have any idea?"

"A stone can be lethal enough once thrown with immense force. You know about that, right? A piece of rock as small as a human finger might even become as strong as bullets, provided that a Destiny throws it." Jin said with a faint smile.

Fushigiro nodded.

"Indeed. Let's see what he wants to do."

...

Looking at Miles, who wasn't done laughing, a grin subtly appeared on Caleb's face. 'Bastard, laugh as much as you want.'

If there was something he was most confident of. It was his throwing skill! In his past life, most of his kills didn't come from a gun, a fist, or even a knife. It was from throwing. His most proud talent that he developed to the maximum...

How did he kill Mir? Didn't he throw an ice pick to penetrate his left eye? He wouldn't have managed to do that without his skill.

He only discovered it in his first life when he joined a baseball club in his high school. The time that the coach positioned him for the role of pitcher!

Just like an instinct, all the muscles in his biceps, his shoulders, and his back contracted simultaneously, as if in one system. Caleb calls this throwing technique, the stream-lined throwing technique. Only someone who did thousands of throws daily has the means to develop such a technique. The apex of mind-muscle connection and right form!

He had developed a lot of throwing techniques in the past. He even turned some pitching techniques from baseball and modified them instead for the sole purpose of killing.

Now, he doesn't need to use the complicated ones, with his current physical strength, augmented stone, and stream-lined throwing technique, Caleb gathered all the force he could muster with the help of coordination provided by the mind-muscle connection between the three muscle groups: biceps, back, and shoulders.

'I hope this won't kill him.'

Just like that, Caleb took a step and aimed the stone in his hand toward Miles. Caleb hesitated for a while. He doesn't really have resentment towards the opposite party. He would feel bad if the bastard accidentally died. "Dodge bastard!"

Suddenly, Miles stopped laughing. He didn't know why Caleb warned him, but all the hairs on his skin stood up. He, who fought various deadly monsters had developed an instinct for danger. His instinct had been tempered after constant life and death battles, and it had saved him one step from death every time it warned him.

Before the stone could even escape Caleb's hand, Miles contracted all the muscles in his lower body as if his life depended on it... As a result, veins all around his body became visible.

Miles jumped without a second thought. His previous expression was gone, replaced by horror. He didn't know why a mere stone would trigger his instinct, but he knew that it must be something terrible.

WHOASSHH!

Behind his back, he only heard the sound of an object cutting through the air. The stone, which has a fairly high density, hit the ground where Miles was previously at. The ground they were standing at had a mixed composition of Alluvial Soil and Silt.

Instead of producing an explosion, the stone penetrated the ground, its depth unknown. It didn't produce a loud sound, as if the stone just pierced a piece of butter.

"What a horrible penetrative property. If that hit me, I'll be damned." Miles wiped out the sweat on his forehead while breathing raggedly. He felt his heart pound crazily as if he was suffering a heart arrhythmia. Feeling cold over his body, he glanced at his hands, trembling in trepidation. He glared at the perpetrator and bellowed. "Kid, are you trying to kill me!?"

Caleb walked to the ground where he threw the stone and looked at the finger-size hole with unknown depth. Curious, he put his finger inside to measure its depth, however, his entire index finger went through all day without encountering resistance. 'Just how deep did it go through!?'

With a deep breath, Caleb felt that the attack had drained his taboo energy capacity. His biceps, back, and shoulder also felt sore, as if the move had taken a toll on the three muscle groups.