Chapter 382 Volume VI – 15: The Duels

*(A/N: Well… I thought that only three chapters daily might be a little too small considering the time I was away. So I decided to upload not one but two chapters for three days, then one chapter for another three days, and then the usual schedule of one chapter every two days. But the second chapters may come a little bit later, not at the same time as the first chapters, just so you know.)*

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It didn’t take us long to decide on the matches. It was quite simple… there were three of us and we would take turns to go out into the arena. And then, one by one, we would fight the enemies that we would face.

It was as simple as that.

The number of people we had to face was almost thirty. And we had to plan accordingly, actually…

But who cared?

Well… most people would have cared, probably.

But we didn’t need that.

We had only one plan, and that was the order of battle. The person in front would fight until they were tired, and then it would be the turn of the person behind them.

And so… Lucia was the first to step into the arena on my side.

She stepped forward with her sword drawn, her blood-red eyes gleaming slightly. Her opponent was a third year, someone on Jack’s side. He was high in the rankings… in the top twenty of the third years, if I remember correctly.

Before the duel began, I observed Lucia’s slender body. Honestly… she didn’t seem to have changed much, except for her hair, at least. But… something was different at the same time. A little bit different from the person she used to be.

And that’s why I actually decided to do something like this, to get two other people besides myself to fight on my side, I mean.

I wanted to see what exactly had changed. How much she had changed… and what she could do or be able to do compared to before.

That’s exactly why I took the long way around, when I could have gone into the arena myself and done everything quickly.

It was at this moment that a bell echoed in the arena. A screen appeared between the duelists, and on the screen a number… three.

Then two.

And one.

Finally, a “go” sign.

The third-year student moved quickly as if he wanted to finish everything in one move. He didn’t even seem to take Lucia very seriously… his eyes were on us contrary to her opponent… as if to tell us, ‘watch, it’s your turn.’

But the biggest mistake he made was to think that his opponent was an ordinary person.

Raising her sword slightly, Lucia tightened her grip and met her opponent’s attack head-on. Her blood-red eyes suddenly flashed with fury as her surroundings rippled slightly as if they were heating up.

I saw the eyes of her opponent, the third-year, widen and turn away from us, but by then… it was too late.

Lucia’s flame-covered fist sailed past her opponent’s sword and landed directly on his face. It was such a solid punch that it was enough to create a slight wave of pressure… and the third-year was thrown straight back.

But he was not in the top twenty of the third years for nothing. He moved quickly to regain his balance before collapsing to the ground, ignoring the not-so-serious-looking burn on his face, looking for Lucia… only to find her suddenly in front of him.

Lucia grabbed him by the collar, pulled him slightly toward her, and then threw him even further. Then she turned her sword slightly so that she could use it like a baseball bat and swung it at his face.

The third-year was thrown out of the dueling arena just like that, disqualified. When he hit the wall just below the stands, his unconscious face was exposed and clearly visible to everyone.

I heard the gasps from the stands, I saw the serious looks Jack and Cassandra were giving Lucia and I couldn’t help widening my smile.

This… this was definitely not what I was expecting.

Lucia had definitely changed, I didn’t even need to see more than that.

D+ or C- grade, that should be her general level at least. The way she controls her mana, the way her body moves and so on… everything about her seems to exceed or border on D grade.

Whatever she went through in the dungeon, she’s above the highest level she can be at this age that I remember from the game.

And she kept proving it with her actions.

She defeated her second opponent without breaking a sweat. Her third opponent gave her a bit of a challenge, but with her flames and sword technique, she overpowered him too. She almost burned the fourth, also the first female she fought, in a way she would never forget.

Her performance was so good that Jack and Cassandra’s attitudes changed completely. And not just theirs, but the stands as well.

Her fifth… sixth… then seventh opponent.

Finally, she faced her eighth opponent. And this one was… a fourth year. So, like her, she was either in the upper levels of the D+ grade or had already reached the C grade.

For the first time in this duel, Lucia took her stance in particular. Her flames swirled around her body, both defensively and offensively. She had taken her other opponents seriously, but she really focused on this one this time.

And it was good that she did.

Her opponent was strong. Even among the fourth years. She used her fists. And she strengthened her attacks by supporting them with her mastery of the wind.

Their duel started quite intense. Lucia dodged one wind-magic-bearing punch after another, hardly getting a chance to attack. But this was not always the case. She quickly exploited a small opening. Her sword swept delicately but swiftly through the winds that enveloped her opponent’s fists… slicing through them and moving toward her target.

But she didn’t quite get what she wanted. The fourth-year suddenly loosened her fingers and released her fists. Then she wrapped them around Lucia’s sword, the winds moving between her fingers, acting as a barrier between her skin and the hot flames covering the sword… and gripped it tightly.

Lucia’s back suddenly met a strong gust of wind, causing her to lose her balance. Her opponent’s lips curled slightly upward. As her left fist, separated from the sword, approached Lucia’s stomach, she seemed to think she had won… but Lucia was calm. Her blood-red eyes were still cold.

With that, an intense mana enveloped her body. She deliberately dropped her sword, faster than her opponent’s fist, and placed her hands on her chest. Then all the mana concentrated around her was quickly drawn into her hands.

Walls of flame suddenly surrounded the duo. They were aggressive and ferocious, rising to the very top of the arena, their heat evident even from a distance.

After a short time, the flames dissipated. The body of the fourth-year on the floor appeared first. Her body covered in burns, her t-shirt and blackened clothes almost burned completely by the extreme heat.

Then Lucia, kneeling in front of her. She was gasping for breath, clearly struggling a little. But it didn’t last long and as soon as she realized that everyone could see her. She stood up quickly, then picked up her sword and turned her eyes to Jack and Cassandra.

She wanted to see her next opponent. And… she was determined. In fact, her appearance and posture backed up that determination.

But…

“Enough, Lucia.”

determined. In fact, her appearance and posture backed up that determination.

She turned toward me from where she was, and when she saw me smiling, she nodded with a sigh. She sheathed her sword and walked over to me without a glance at her opponent on the ground.

“You were even better than I thought. I know you can face more, even defeat more… but this is enough. Thank you.”

I had seen what I wanted to see, I had more or less understood how strong she was, I didn’t need more.

And so, I turned slightly toward Adrian.

“It’s your turn.”

Adrian curled his lips upward. He took out his spear that he had stuck in the ground and simply spun it around before taking a simple stance. Then, he walked slowly to the center of the arena. He had a look on his face as if he had been waiting for this the entire time.

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Adrian naturally attracted even more attention than Lucia the moment he entered the arena. He was the strongest in the eyes of most people because… the number of people who saw me in action was almost non-existent here. There were a lot of people who thought that I only got first place because I was a war hero.

So Adrian was seen as the real ‘first rank’. And his coming forward caused a lot of people to hold their breath. Including Jack and Cassandra, of course.

But it was Adrian’s next words that really stirred the pot.

“Send two people.”

It wasn’t a request, not a plea. With the gentle smile still on his face and his emerald green eyes on his opponents… he was practically giving orders.

“Three is also fine.”

He was different from who he normally was. But… not in a bad way.

It was like he was… imitating me.

I couldn’t help but smile.

Jack and Cassandra were silent for a while after Adrian’s words. Still… they didn’t reject him. After what Lucia had done, they didn’t want to take any risks. And so Adrian was confronted by two people at once, both third-years.

When the duel began, one of them, a big man, with an axe held in both hands, rushed forward. The other, a girl, wielded a spear like Adrian.

Adrian didn’t do much. He didn’t even use his mana…. His feet moved as if dancing. His spear accompanied him mesmerizingly.

As his opponent’s axe threatened to slice him in half at a wide angle, his spear ended beside him. His body felt weightless, like a feather… but his spear?

When his spear made contact with the side of the axe, as if it actually weighed tons, it caused the student with the axe to lose all balance. The axe slipped out of his hand and flew to the other side.

But it didn’t matter. Because the girl with the spear used the gap created by his friend with the axe… There was nothing protecting Adrian.

It was as if this duel was over…

But it wasn’t.

Adrian turned around in a sudden movement as if time had slowed down. He was like a feather again, graceful… seemingly slow, but actually extremely fast. And his spear, despite its sheer force, was as light as he was.

With that, the girl with the spear suddenly found Adrian staring at her. She didn’t stop his attack, she kept going… but to no avail.

Adrian’s spear moved in such a minimal way that it was very easy to follow, yet very… difficult. But the effect of this minimal movement on the opponent’s weapon was unimaginable.

When the student closed and opened her eyes… her attack was completely manipulated, directed by Adrian. It was no longer him she was attacking… but his friend with the axe.

And before she had time to stop herself, her attack met her friend’s body.

That’s how Adrian’s first duel ended. With his use of pure spear techniques… without using any skills.

Not only the stands were stunned, but also Jack and Cassandra. But Adrian didn’t care, he looked toward them and spoke indifferently.

“Next? It might be better if there are three of you this time.”

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