Thump! Thump! Thump!
Consecutive, loud beating sounds reverberated within Ery's body, as he could distinctly feel his body brimming and burning with seemingly unrivalled strength.
Thanks to this, he managed to deal with the speedster Mahareth easily enough. His muscle movents and casting speed were in such synergy that he successfully trapped and captured his really fast opponent with the right settings and timing, before appearing exactly behind the other party and delivering a full-powered kick to its leg.
CRACK!!
A loud sound of bones breaking was heard through the air, as Mahareth stumbled and eventually fell to the ground. He imdiately decided to voice his surrender, when he realized he could no longer feel the leg that was hit by Ery's kick. After all, he would be a literal sitting duck when his speciality was neutralized.
Ery retreated when Mahareth gestured to the referee. His eyes shifted to the latter's broken leg. Ery tries not to feel too worked up about it and says to himself that it doesn't matter as the academy had prepared the best dical team in case of ergencies like this.
Still, Ery couldn't forget what he caught a glimpse of - the terrified expression on Maharent's face. It strangely affected him in an unknown way, but he quickly tried to calm down. He still had more opponents to fight.
As expected, the next two opponents were much harder than their predecessor.
The rank 74th Dayasta and rank 73rd Cenari were both solid weapon experts. The two of them each had their own distinct style that separeted them from the rest.
Dayasta's two-handed double edge axe hid a powerful force that created a strong gust of wind with each swing. The man also had a wild ferocity aura similar to Orycon. However, the two were not comparable, as he lacked the agility and flair the latter had.
As a result, he could only watch his ax continuously hit the empty air, because Ery had decided to evade direct confrontation with him. Ery was simply too fast for him. In the end, he fell down to the ground with nurous slashing wounds on his body.
However, the man seed to have decided not to give up so easily, as he stood up with difficulty and continued his attacks with reckless abandon. Due to that, Ery received a few of his strikes, before silence returned to the arena that was dyed red with Dayasta's blood.
The third opponent Ery had to fight in his climb to the next tier, Cenari, was even harder to fight against. His fighting style was very similar to his, but instead of swords, he wielded sabers, and instead of [Blink], the dual wielding acolyte utilized the [Phasing] spell as his ans of mobility.
If that wasn't similar enough, the man also had an impressive battle art that was comparable to Ery's [Weeping Phantom].
In the end, the battle between the two of them beca a two-sided cat and mouse fight, where both of them simultaneously tried their best to hit and dodge attacks the other party threw.
After a hundred fruitless clashes and relentless use of mobility spells, Cenari was finally the one to drop first due to his stamina. Again, Ery proved to everyone that he had a much better physical condition and deeper spirit pool than his peers.
This marked the end of the eighth bout Ery has gone through today. So, he made his way to the rest area and started to recuperate his body once again. He really started to appreciate the 10-minute break the rules dictated.
Realizing his natural self regeneration was no longer sufficient to recover his condition fast enough, Ery quickly sat in lotus position and cast [Nature's Blessing] on himself to fill his nearly depleted spirit pool.
At the sa ti, the announcent of his victory ca to mind.
[Your Privilege rank increased to 73]
A few minutes later, Ery opened his eyes and saw the senior staff approaching him and once again asked him if he wanted to continue.
"Yes, I am ready."
[Rank 70 - Vegoth Sage (65)]
The next opponent Ery had to face looked quite different than usual. The man nad Vegoth Sage has rather unique braided-style hair and wore many jewelries, too many in fact.
When the referee announced the match had started, his opponent started mumbling words he couldn't fathom. Fortunately, or unfortunately, his questions were soon answered, as Ery started to see glowing marks appear on the arena floor.
One… two… three pentagrams.
Right after, different kinds of arms ca out from them. A fleshless bone arm, a muscular arm covered in green scales, a long arm with feathers on it. They all belonged to a skeleton with full armor, a humanoid lizard and a winged creature.
A Summoner!
Knowing the key to the battle, which was to defeat the conjurer, Ery imdiately put the majority of his attention onto Vegoth. He quickly cast [Blink] and appeared beside the latter, sending a horizontal slash. However, Vegoth seed to be ready for his attack, as he imdiately blocked it.
Ery was about to initiate his next attack, when he realized the three summons were very close to him. Realizing the trade wouldn't be worth it - as he would be surrounded, while Vegoth only received a wound, Ery quickly backed off with [Blink].
The battle went on, as Ery tried different approaches, but the sa thing basically happened and he finally realized what Vegoth was trying to do.
All this ti, he planned to only stall him long enough for his three summons to surround him. In fact, it was almost as if he depended on Ery to do exactly that. Apparently, he understood this was the only way for him to win the match.
The situation quickly beca a four against one battle, where Ery was besieged from different directions. He was also at a big disadvantage, because each of Vegoth's summons was able to stop his attacks.
As if that wasn't annoying enough, whenever Ery defeated and killed one of the summons, Vegoth would imdiately start his chant and then the summon would reappear - as if nothing had happened.
Fighting the three summons controlled by Vegoth reminded Ery of the ti he fought the Orc Warchief, but this ti there were three of them at once. Not only did they possess at least 150 battle power, each summon fought in a different style, which was really troubleso to deal with. The skeleton showcased a short range defensive specialty with its sword and shield, middle range spearmanship for the lizard, and the unpredictable attack coming from above by the winged creature.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
Ery fought ferociously, as [Weeping Phantom] and [Chain Strike] worked in tandem, countering all attacks the three summons threw at the sa ti. But as ti went on, he found himself gradually becoming overwheld.
This was to be expected though, while Ery's skillset was extrely suitable to fight against dozens of weaker opponents, the three summons he was fighting against were not even easy to deal with individually.
Knowing his raw 168 battle power and spirit force at its maximum were not enough, the thought of using his [Fey Transformation] crossed in Ery's mind. However, his hunch was telling him sothing out of his control would happen if he did that, which was the reason he hesitated.
In his hesitation, the lizard managed to take advantage of the gap and land its spear on Ery's right shoulder, piercing it and sending blood splattering in the air.
"Argh!" Ery cried, as the sharp pain brought him back from reverie.
The spectators were caught off guard by the unexpected developnt, so were actually cheering, especially one particular acolyte in golden robe.
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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,
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