Chapter 9

Vigor Kinsteel's POV:

His stance, looking relaxed but devoid of any openings. His silvery rapier's flat and thin blade surface reflected with the light like a large needle. Regardless of its shape which seemed to be more fragile than normal swords, I acknowledged that the rapier's deadly power comes from deadly thrusts with high accuracy and speed rather than swings.

His pressure, being loose from his core like an unchained beast, flooded over the arena and drowned many observers in fear. But for me, this was but a familiar experience of facing an individual with a more advanced core level as I had sparred with Bairon hundreds of times during the last 2 years.

I kept reminding myself that this was only an examination, not a fight to death. But how could I not hold myself back from excitement dwelling over my entire figure. Finally, a worthy opponent for me to test my abilities free of restrictions.

"Brace yourself, I don't want to see this match end up in disappointment."

He sprang forward, leaving a trail of dust behind him as he closed the gap between us by just seconds.

Not letting him to approach me that easily, I raised my staff on my left hand with a swift gesture, the earth mana followed my commands as numerous sharp rock spikes stabbed out from the arena's ground violently at where Kaspian's going.

With a quick reaction, Kaspian dodged my incoming spells but I did not stop there and let him be. I continued to raise a dozen more rock spikes upward to him in all directions, front, left, right and behind.

Not wasting any time, he cleaved down my rock spikes like cutting butter with his rapier's blade imbued by wind magic. His motions were flawless and fast, his face on the other hand lit up in visible surprise, probably at the fact that I was both augmenter and conjurer. But while he was busy dealing with the spike field, I prepared my upcoming spells to strike him down.

"O great primal flames, please lend your strength to destroy my enemies."

I raised my staff pointing upward as ambient fire mana on air followed suit my incantation, gathering together like a swarm of bees on their nest. However, a spell which had a scale like this one wouldn't just form instantly.

'I needed to buy some time for the formation process to complete.'

I thought as I stomped the ground with a tremendous force, cracking it and causing its stone debrises to splash all over the place. Now, I have a lot of "bullets" to maintain my distance with Kaspian. The moment Kaspian got rid of those spikes, I enhanced my legs with mana and kicked the falling rock debrises mid air and also the ones on the ground directly at the bespectacled guild leader.

Kaspian once again dodged my earthen projectiles with ease just like how he did with my spike field. None of his movements were redundant, nor did he show any signs of slowing down by my attacks.

Unable to use my left hand as I had to hold my magic staff in place as a conductor for my destructive fire spell creation progress, I quickly willed fire mana from my body to the swordspear and sent a flying horizontal crescent arc slash of yellowish flame aiming at his neck, which was called "Scorching Slit."

The spell was at a wind tearing speed, considerably faster than any of the earlier engaging spells

Kaspian slicing the last flying stone boulder that I kicked without much effort. The only thing I damaged was his uniform, which was filthy with dirt and crumbs sticking on it.

As just only a brief moment before Scorching Slit could land on his frame, Kaspian's rapier lightened with a green hue of wind element. He leaped back a step to get up speed, his sword wielding arm folded back with his muscles hardened like steel wires.

In one fluid motion, he thrusted his rapier like a coiled spring, using the momentum of his initial step which propelled him by a great speed.

After a blink of an eye, my flame crescent was shredded into halves. The Bladeheart swordsman, remained intact on his stance which resembled his iconic rapier thrust movement with his sword's tip now pointing at me.

I channeled earth mana from my body to my leg, preparing for another spell to buy time for me.

"I must apologize for underestimating you, I can now with no doubts understand why your family supported your aim for adventuring." Kaspian's expression suddenly changed. The calmness which matched with his voice was nowhere to be seen, instead, it was replaced by a certain degree of seriousness that wasn't there before.

But of course, his attitude toward me wasn't the only thing that changed here.

A baleful killing intent struck me as the guild leader increased his mana input on his entire figure as well as his slim weapon.

"From this moment, I shall take this duel seriously." He brought the rapier closer toward him, the blade began glowing with a silvery hue.

'Oh hell no!!'

As I acknowledged very well what kind of attack he was going to use via the novel, I immediately stomped the ground once again, but this time, instead of breaking it, I manipulated the earth mana where Kaspian was standing to interrupt him.

'Like hell I'm gonna wait for him to charge up his attack like a fucking idiot.'

*CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK*

The platform under Kaspian's feet elevated right the moment he unleashed his wind bullet shot. The sudden uprising of the platform unbalanced Kaspian, made him tottering . As a result, he missed the shot that was supposed to be aimed at me. The whole examination hall flabbergasted at the scenery of a giant rust brown pillar "sprouted" in the middle of the field with their guild leader repositioning himself on it in complete shock.

Kaspian may have the high ground but that was exactly where I wanted him to be, to isolate him from dancing all over the place to evade my long range spells. Furthermore, I have the balls now.

Just in time as the stone pillar brought Kaspian high to the sky, four fiery yellow balls with the diameter of a monster truck's wheel formed over my head, shining a blinding light over the whole examination hall and waiting for my order to be unleashed and causing havoc upon this battle. Audience and examiners covered their sight due to these spells' brightness.

"Solar Flare.", I muttered the spell's name.

It was totally meaningless to say out loud the names of whatever things you are planning to hit your enemies with but…I wanted to experience how it feels like those anime characters when they fight.

*BOOOM!*

All four flesh burning orbs blasted off like missiles launching from their silos, contacting the pillar with an ear deafening explosion, making it collapse during the process. The impact of the explosion knocked off the previously tested candidates from their seats whilst the two examinees succeeded in holding themselves from being blown away. Hazy smoke emanated from the molten rocks and the strong burning smell covering every bit of this area, temporarily disabled individuals on the seats from seeing what was going on. The same thing could be said for myself, my limited vision because of the helm now got even more blurred.

""BOSS!""George and Chloe yelled in union as they tried to run to the field to check on their leader.

'Weird, I swear I just sensed him—

Sharp bullets ran through my frame which cut me from my inner thoughts, two at both of my thighs, one at my head. The armor did its job very well as the wind projectiles hit my thighs only managed to cause a vibrating jolt to my body as their damage was absorbed by the steel plates. The headshot on the other hand, forced me to have no choice but to dodge it by the courtesy of visionary augmentation.

'No, it wasn't a regular headshot. He specifically aimed for my eyes, one of the weak spots where the helm couldn't protect.'

And then there came another row of near-invisible bullets, shooting from all directions in the smoke. As expected from the guild leader, I truly thought four giant fire balls could somewhat cause him a big deal but the fact that he was still raining spells at me with terrifying speed and accuracy showed the complete contrary.

Planting mana on my legs, I activated the spell I once used to help me travel through the Grand mountains.

Concentrated fire mana in my leg detonated and sent me high on air and a pair of flying squirrel-like wings made from wind manifested on my body. I tried to reduce the density of the wind to an extent that no one could see its texture engulfed my body, not wanting to show off my Tri-elemental ability. I analyzed the current situation on the ground.

I felt a sudden change in the smoke, it seemed that its density was blown out by an intensive swirl of airstream. The source of it was none other than Kaspian himself.

"Gale's Vortex."

A large aggressive twister engulfed his body , serving as an armor protecting him. The smoke now cleared out of the arena, revealing the current stage of Kaspian.

"Boss! Oh thank the deities you're still.... fine...." George stopped at his words in disbelief and his mouth agape . Chloe covered her mouth with both hands.

This was probably the first time for them to witness their powerful leader in such a terrible shape. The section from his left shoulder had a big burn wound which ran all the way down to the hand. The color of fleshy red mixed with almost charred black. The skin's swollen and blistered texture. No doubt that his arm's condition was in a severe stage. His clothes now mostly tattered and burnt partly, his nicely combed hair became absurdly messy like everyone's hair when they just woke up in the morning. His sweating face distorted as he felt the pain. Despite having set up the spell with an attempt to block my fire balls, his defensive method was simply unmatched with that of mage tankers, which could possibly be able to stand against my spells much more effectively.

'...Shit!', I realized I went overboard.

"GET AN EMITTER HERE, RIGHT NOW!" George shouted loudly.

As I deactivated the gliding spell and used my magic staff to form floating rock pedestals to jump down safely, I began to think about my consequences.

'Nice job jackass, your family's tie with the Bladeheart is highly gonna be fucked up.' I sighed at my totally brainless course of action.

The moment I landed, Kaspian disappeared from my sight. In instinct, I created a round barrier of fortified earth with my magic staff, defending my entire body.

"Squalling Schiavona!"

As I heard Kaspian's yelling the spell, a freaking cyclone morphed into a shape of something akin to a drill, penetrated my protection line like nothing.

"SHIT!" ,I raised the swordspear, parrying the incoming rapier's pointy tip chanted with the dreadful whirlwind since the option for dodging was no longer available.

As a result, I was sent flying away by a great distance. And there I stood back, my eyes locked on my fearsome opponent, who was filled with visible bloodthirst.

Switching my strategy, I held my magic staff backward and plugged it with the ending tip of my swordspear's handle, making it a completed giant spear.

Channeling lightning affinity to transport the electric currents over my nervous system, quickening my reflexes significantly. Thunderclap Impulse, I have to admit, this is one of the most practical stuff that Arthur came up with. Utilizing lightning as a reaction's enhancement so you can catch up with the speed of opponents. In addition, its name was great.

Look how the table has turned, at first, I was advantageous in long range attacks thanks to my conjuring skills, then he changed the game back to metal on metal close combat, which indicated he was confident that he had the upper hand in this game.

"I think it's time-out now sir!" Chloe exclaimed , desperately wanting to stop the match.

Ignoring his subordinate's beseeching , Kaspian moved at full speed , sending his green glowing blade at me with double thrusts. I swung my spear diagonally up and down to deflect them. I still managed to keep my distance with my further reach. The continuous exchange lasted for around a minute until I caught him by surprise, stepped aside to the left and brought my spear tip upward, making Kaspian jump back. A red line ran on his chest with blood dripping from it.

Bairon's spear techniques benefited me in melee combat, especially against swordsmen.

Kaspian's sword turned into a cyclone orbiting violently. He confronted me for the second time while I pondered what would be his next tactic and held my spear tightly. Utilizing the spear's reach advantage, I actively attacked him with a thrust. As I thought that Kaspian was going to parry or leap away, he quickly ducked down and pointed his sword's tip to behind.

"Squalling Schiavona!" He shouted the spell again, and the load of mana infused to it had a much greater degree than the previous one.

Couldn't pull back the spear in time, I reinforced an earthen layer around my knee cap, another weak spot of armor but it was too late. Kaspian used cyclone enchantment on his sword as a launch boost for him to outspeed my reaction as he activated it in the rear direction. Flashing to my left leg, he gritted his teeth and swung his wounded left arm, now with a wind knife knuckle , cutting through my fragile earth plate.

Pain struck my head but I immediately neglected it. I momentarily swung my spear to meet his left arm, only to hit the air as his spell's effect propelled him a longer distance than I expected. I looked at my knee, the pants' leather was exposed, revealing it bleeding, but the cut wasn't too deep.

'Aether will do the trick later.'

The rapier glowed once again, but this time with an even brighter silvery green.

'All of those mana on the sword and yet he didn't add much on his body's augmentation…another long range spell!', I noticed immediately and raised more hardened earth walls as they merged together to form a giant pyramid covering me, leaving nothing but one gap hole with the size suitable for me to observe Kaspian and to throw my spear out of it. Inside, I scattered fire mana on the walls incase his attacks went through my first defense.

"Pierce those who stand against me!" he roared as his rapier disappeared into a blur of countless thrusts.

"Skyfall Torrent!"

"You're not the only one who can play this game.", I muttered under my breath as I reverse gripped my spear , augmented my right hand's overall muscles with a tremendous amount of mana, whilst enhancing the spear tip with a yellowish flame and gathering fire and wind mana at my staff's head. As I brought the spear up to my ear, parallel with the ground, I aimed at Kaspian's head via the hole of the wall.

Thrusts of Kasian turned into small drills spinning rapidly, raining towards my pyramid. Each drill quickly punctured my earth layers as if they were made of paper. My great pyramid slowly collapsed piece by piece. I ignited the fire mana I planted on the walls earlier to form a flame barrier, burning all the projectiles that were about to hit me.

'Yikes, if he really wanted to go for it then…', I thought as I prepared to send my spear to meet his skull and suddenly:

"Release!" Kaspian screamed.

The torrent of air bullets suddenly dissipated, rendering his spell to a harmless draft of wind before they started to hit me. They successfully tore down my fire defense as well, showing how powerful Kaspian was as Guild's leader.

"Phew! Pardon me, I'm usually far more composed. Guess it's indeed been a long time since I got a good fight like this one, so I got a bit carried away." Kaspian's calm tone returned, his mind finally cooled down and stopped the battle just in time.

"I'm so sorry about your arm, are you okay?" I released my spell as well and asked genuinely.

I actually felt bad doing that to him.

"Oh, this? Hahaha, it's nothing. I had much worse back when I began my first dungeon raids." Kaspian casually ignored his wounds while an emitter of the guild ran hurriedly to him.

"...Are you really sure about tha–

"Now, your conjurer skills are executed flawlessly even though you're an augmenter. Your polearm skills are formidable and efficient in terms of both speed and power. Solid yellow, dual elemental of earth and fire. I believe it's reasonable to place you at a solid A rank."

"Fine by me, and truly, sorry for the arm again." I bowed my head to express my apology, hoping he wouldn't lose his arm and become Winter Soldier.

"Very well then, do you need to heal your wound?" Kaspian glared at my knee.

"I'm fine.", I simply answered as I began to leave, there was no time to waste.

After receiving my A-class silver-colored adventurer's card, I came around to take a look at the mission board. Instead of any dungeon, I picked a task which evolved in escorting a merchant's wagon all the way to Marlow City. The mission wasn't as valuable as dungeon dives since people believed it wasn't that risky at all. Hence, only low ranks, beginners accepted these kinds of tasks. However, it wasn't the prize that I sought in this mission

"Thank you for having agreed to protect my delivery. It's this old man's great pleasure to receive aid from such vigorous adventurers like you. I guarantee that the reward will be worth your hard work." The old merchant with a bald head expressed his appreciation towards me.

"It's not a big deal." I drank another sip of wine from my liquor flask.

We were sitting on the wagon as the horses galloped. The road was rough as it was close to the Grand mountains, making the journey quite uncomfortable.

I turned my gaze to the surrounding environment, on our left was a big forest that spread from Green Gate to our destination. My customer avoided taking the road there due to the fact that it's likely for us to get lost. On our right was the base of the Grand mountains. And on top of the crests of those mountains were some totally unsuspicious moving silhouettes of armed humans. I wondered what they could be?

"BOYS! TAKE THEM ALIVE!" a voice echoing on the crests. Then, a crowd of men in armors holding weapons appeared and approached our wagon.

The answer to my question was also the reason why I chose this escorting task.

"Good lords! Slave traders!" The merchant cried out in fear.

"Exactly." I jumped down from the wagon and raised a dome of rock, protecting it as well as its owner.

"He's a mage! We found a jackpot guys!" one of the slave traders yelled in joy.

I calmly pulled out my bow, arrow quiver and a bottle of moss-like green liquid - the same poison that my uncle used to anesthetize the mana beasts. The next step in my plan, begins.