Chapter 55: Teaching the Tong

’…huh…what’s this…?’ Riven watched Gavrex. ’…he’s not going to give up and continue fighting?…he’s nursing death!…’

But Gavrex indeed knew what he was doing, because when the sword of light was coming down, the platform suddenly came alive.

The ice shuddered, rippling like a wave. Veins bulged from his head and sweat ran down his face. Gavrex shouted and hunched his back as if he was trying to lift something.

Riven’s eyes nearly didn’t keep up with what happened next.

The ice on the platform folded over, closing like a petal with Gavrex in the middle, covering him up in a bundle of ice shield.

Crack!

Then the sword from Tong reached the shield and cut into it, only to be stopped halfway. Tong’s sword trembled as if it had touched something very hard that he couldn’t cut through. He relaxed his stance and began to fall like a falling leaf. The light faded from his sword.

Then he reached the ground and simply stared at the shield of ice that was covering Gavrex.

The whole thing, from shield to attack, didn’t take five seconds.

“What!” Riven shouted, as well as the students. They had seen a lot of fighting from those two but never at this scale. Even Tong used a lot of power with the sword that he created.

Riven turned to Kivara. “I didn’t expect him to lose.”

She shook her head. “He did not.”

Riven was about to argue but then he saw the shield melt away, the ice turning into mist. And in the middle of it all was Gavrex. His face was carved in absolute shock, but from what Riven could see, the man was fine. He seemed to only be in shock.

“What’s that thing covering him?” Riven asked.

A thin blue translucent light was covering Gavrex, spread through every inch of his body. But the middle carried a bright line from the center of his head to the ground.

“That is the shield that was put in place to protect against accidents. That’s why we fight on the platform. No fatal wound would be allowed with that shield. But that red line is what would have happened if Tong’s attack went through.”

Riven shuddered and Tong rose higher in his mind. His eyes shone as he stared at him. Kivara shook her head. “Don’t even think about fighting him. His punch will shatter your head. But you might last a little if you use your Grave Knight and that warrior you are hiding from me.

“The gap between the ranks is real, Riven.”

“I can bridge it with powerful summons,” Riven said. It was something he had been thinking about. With a powerful summon, shouldn’t he be able to punch above his weight? And when he starts to evolve them…

Kivara looked at him curiously. “Maybe if you can indeed control an extremely powerful one, then you might give the weakest rank three a hard time. But isn’t the rank of undead you can make tied to your rank?”

Riven grunted. He didn’t feel like telling her about the evolve thing that the book mentioned. ’…imagine if I can evolve Spartacus to fight a rank three…’

Kivara looked away from him and said, “Tong is one of the most powerful in the lower practitioners of the Green Clouds Sect. Remember, you might be a genius when it comes to Sigil, but that’s not the only way to be named a genius. Some have very weak Sigils and are still hailed as one.

“Know the depth of the earth and the height of the heavens first,” Kivara warned.

Riven took it to heart solemnly. After all, he knew how strong Kivara was.

On the platform, Gavrex was finally free of the shield. He was obviously shaken, shocked to the core as he saw his life flash before his eyes, but still, he was in high spirits as he shouted at Tong, declaring a new challenge in another month.

Tong only huffed. “You’ll fail again.”

Students crowded around Tong, hailing and praising him. The girls even gave him shy looks that had more than two meanings, while some of the boys shot him envious and jealous looks.

Just then a voice rang out.

“This boy said that Tong isn’t that bad!”

The words were a hammer, like a sharp blade that forcefully rammed its way into the gathering. All the students turned at once to the source of the voice.

At first, they sneered, but then they heard who shouted and flinched. Riven was just as surprised. It was Kivara that shouted!

And she didn’t stop there. “He said you’re just so-so but you’ll manage.”

“Wait…what are you doing, Kivara!” Riven hissed as he felt eyes like hot coals against his body. All the students were now looking at Riven.

At first, Tong had begun smiling when he heard Kivara’s voice, but his face soured when he understood what she was saying. Still, he managed a smile. “Kivara. You are back,” he said, but his eyes were drilling into Riven.

Instead of saying anything, Kivara’s hand snapped out and gripped Riven’s robe by the neck, and before he knew what she was doing, she had already jumped, leaping high over the stands towards the platform.

It was so sudden and unexpected that Riven shouted out, and he reacted instinctively. He clung to Kivara, wrapping his limbs around her as if he was holding onto a lifeline.

That simple thing he did was as if he had lifted a sword and declared that he would fight all the students as one. They sucked in sharp breaths and as one, they looked towards Tong.

Everyone knew that Tong had a crush on Kivara. In fact, he made it known himself to keep everyone away from her. After all, he was the second strongest on the mountain.

In his mind, he just had to work hard and be the strongest, surpassing Kivara, and then make her fall for him. No one dared to go after her since he had declared his interest. But right now, he was looking at someone wrapping her into a hug.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep