Chapter 20: A Chance To Grow Stronger [2]

Zad charged towards Arthur with his left hand out in front of him and the sword in the right. As the gap slowly decreased between the two, Arthur thought to himself.

"His hand... could it be he's planning on using magic against me? That wouldn't be likely, this boy didn't have a single clue about different types of magic before, or could it be that he's just never studied those..."

Even though Arthur was in a bad situation, he didn't even flinch once. Zad grew close and shouted out.

"Fireball!"

Arthur's suspicion was on the dot, and the fireball quickly formed hovering over Zad's hand aimed at Arthur's head. It wasn't big enough to pose much risk but also wasn't small enough to not pose a threat. Arthur changed his stance as the fireball neared him and cut right through it.

In that short amount of time, Zad managed to get close enough to Arthur so he could launch a surprise attack. He swung his sword horizontally at Arthur, aiming for his torso. Just when Zad thought he had gained the upper hand in this battle, he heard the two swords clash. His sword wouldn't move any further as much as he tried, Arthur blocked it with ease.

"It's nice that you came at me with the intent to kill, but you'll never get me with a weak attack like that. I'm not even using five per cent of my full strength, and you're still unable to overpower me."

"Only five per cent!?!?"

Zad stopped trying to force his sword against his opponent and jumped back distancing himself slightly from Arthur, but he was too slow Arthur appeared behind him and said

"If you don't block this attack, you'll die for sure young one."

Zad gasped and turned around. That's when he saw Arthur raising his sword into the sky, ready to strike down. Zad braced for the attack. He put his sword above him, supporting it with both hands ready to block. Arthur looked somewhat disappointed after getting high hopes for Zad whispering to himself.

"That was the wrong move."

He struck the sword down with great force. It was so powerful that Zad's feet began to dig into the ground from the immense pressure, the more he tried to endure it the more his muscles cried out in pain, shaking, ready to give up at any given point. If Zad let go now, he would surely die.

Suddenly, Arthur diverted his attention behind him. A pebble came flying at him at lightning speed infused with electricity. He raised his other hand and stopped it with wind magic once it reached him. Arthur grabbed the pebble and inspected it. While Arthur's attention was somewhere else, Zad moved to the side and ran back, allowing the sword strike down cutting a tree behind him in half.

Zad was having trouble holding up his sword after that attack. His energy had been drained from blocking that one strike. They both looked behind Arthur as a familiar-looking silhouette appeared.

"I was planning on staying out of this since I'm tired, but it looks like you don't know how to hold back, do you, Arthur?"

The strange figure walked out of the shadows, and it turned out to be Ken. Zad shouted out in joy, happy to see Ken arrive.

"Ken! thanks for helping me out there."

Ken smiled at Zad and then changed his expression when facing Arthur.

"So, Arthur, what was that about, are you trying to kill him?"

Arthur was stunned that Ken would think he would do something like that, but at the same time realised, he may have gone too far.

"I apologise for worrying you, but I was merely testing the boy's limits. I must know though how were you able to get inside of this place?"

"Oh, you must be talking about that annoying barrier that you set up. Well, I originally tailed you guys from the village, and when entering the woods somewhere around there, I lost track of both of you. I tried sensing the area for your mana and ending up finding the barrier. It took me some time to get through it without causing any problems, so I wasn't able to witness most of the battle."

Arthur had no words to explain how great of an accomplishment it is to get through a barrier like that.

"Does this kid have no limits? Everything he does manages to amaze me even more. That lightning mode of his can probably even fight equally with me at 15% of my full strength at least maybe even more..."

Arthur looked at Zad, who was breathing heavily after what had just transpired and turned his attention back to Ken.

"I want you to fight me right now."

"What, right now... don't you think it's quite late for that."

Arthur replied to Ken with a request.

"I'd like you to use that lightning infused form against me, even if it's just for a few minutes."

Ken put his hand on the back of his neck and said

"Uh, no can do."

"Are you refusing me?"

"No! It's nothing like that. I'm only able to use that ability once a day, overusing it makes it too dangerous for my body. Look I didn't come here to fight anyway, after that one from earlier I'm still tired."

Arthur started to laugh a little when he heard Ken say that.

"You're tired? I'm sure you of all people should know that an adventurer should always be ready for a battle!"

"I guess you got me there, then how about me and Zad take you on together?"

"Hmm, I doubt he'd be much of a help, I mean look at the state he's in after that attack, there's no way he can continue you shouldn't push him any further."

Everywhere Zad would go people would pity him for being weak, as much as it might have been true he was aware of that fact. Zad wasn't going to sit by and allow people to do it anymore, not even Arthur. As much as his arms were shaking, he got into his stance holding his sword with both his hands.

"No, you're wrong, Arthur! I can keep going, let's defeat him together Ken!"

Ken was amazed to see Zad's resolve and smiled.

"Well you heard the kid, I hope you're ready for round two."

Ken grabbed both the daggers from his waist and put both his hands out in front of him crossed.

"Are you ready, Zad!"

"Of course I am boss!"

"I thought I already told you to stop calling me that!"