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Following that warning, Sean turned to look behind him and his face grimaced from a mixture of surprise and anxiety. He was levitated in mid-air and the force in Arthur's voice was pushing him towards the ceiling of the arena. All that was fine and dandy except for the fact that there was an explosive rune that was stuck to that specific spot of the ceiling where he was hurtling towards.

The rune came from Frankie's earlier hidden weapons seal and when Sean blasted them away, some of them stuck right into the walls and ceiling.

Sean wondered where this particular rune came from and how was it such a coincidence that he was standing right under it. Then it hit him. The man's face twisted from anger. He had been conned. The shot of vocal materialization from earlier!

Arthur must have used that to move him into place and he did not even realize he had walked into the young man's trap!

Sean turned his head back. The tip of the spear from Arthur's power was inching forward. Sweat slid down Sean's face as he tried to channel his magic to increase the strength of the wind shield.

However, there was an air of futility about his action. The man was caught in an awful conundrum. If he continued to channel the wind shield before him to keep up the defense against Arthur's voice, he would eventually hit the explosive rune as the voice pushed him slowly upwards; if he moved the shield around to behind him, then the spear of voice would just directly puncture him.

It was a question that had no answer. No matter which he chose, there would be injury waiting for him.

Sean could feel his body being carried upwards. That feeling of knowing defeat was imminent was one that was particularly hard to swallow especially for one as prideful as Sean but there was nothing else the man could do but to glare at Arthur for his cunning.

The man's body brushed against the explosive rune and the rune shone with a fiery glow. Even with his face turning away from the rune, Sean could feel the temperature rising behind him. Instinctively, he tried to come up with a method of self-preservation but before his mind could connect the dots, all of his senses were swallowed up by a burning sensation.

It was as if fire seared every cell in his body and all he could do was to scream. The pain was intense but after it reached a certain point, nothing remained. He could not feel anything anymore and all that left was darkness.

When the rune exploded, the whole arena was gripped by silence other than the sound of the wind and fire, Arthur's voice and finally Sean's wails of mercy. Eventually, everything petered away and only the flickering of the fire remained.

A burning body fell down from the sky and collapsed onto the ground. The fire was still running through his body.

The adventurers quickly rushed forward to put out the fire. While people fussed over the man, a hoarse voice could be heard saying, "You..." That was all that was heard before silence fell once more.

Those who were not helping Sean all turned to look at Arthur. The young man merely said, "And that shall be the third lesson. Always be mindful of your surrounding. Threats are everywhere and sometimes they might not be what you're facing head on."

Arthur picked up this particular lesson when he was traversing through the three paintings. Be it 'Snow', 'The Cherry Blossom Tree' or 'The Moon', the environment actually posed the greatest threat to Arthur. In 'Snow', it was the falling snow that threatened to bury the young man into the ground; in 'The Cherry Blossom Tree', the sea of flowers and the rain of cherry blossoms posed the biggest threat; Finally, at 'The Moon', both Arthur and Lady Myra would have been swallowed up by the darkness if they did not leave when they did.

The adventurers did not know how to react. Here Arthur was, still talking about his lessons when he almost killed a man. It appeared to be quite callous in some people's eyes.

In any case, the result of the match was one that could not be challenged. Arthur was still standing in the arena while Sean was being hauled away for emergency rescue.

The scene felt oddly familiar. Hadn't it happened earlier with Sean and Frankie?!

Sean's group filtered out of the arena, following the departure of their leader who had lost. Some hid their faces and escaped with tails within their legs while others gave Arthur's group an evil-eye as they departed.

Arthur's friends surrounded the young man. Echoes of voice appeared around Arthur.

"Arthur, you've done it. You've managed to avenge Frankie!"

"Yea, you sure showed them!"

"Arthur, where did you learn all these new skills?"

"Is it related to your one month of disappearance?"

When the adventurers realized there was no answer from Arthur, they turned to look at the young man. Arthur's face was turned down a particular direction and there was a focused look on his face. However, it did not seem like he was listening to them.

They followed his direction and saw nothing. It was a spot in the middle of the arena, there was nothing of interest there. They frowned, they could not understand what was it that had arrested Arthur's attention so.

When they were about to approach Arthur about it, the young man turned his head back to address them. "Oh, that was nothing, I just got lucky."

At the same time, the adventurers felt something had been removed from the room but they could not tell what it was. Since they could not put their fingers on it, they brushed it off and focused on celebrating Arthur's victory.

Some branched off to check up on Frankie while the others remained to question Arthur on the new skills he just showed and to question him on his recent disappearance. Arthur answered them patiently.

While answering them, the young man kept turning his head to the direction of the lobby. One of the adventurers noticed this and asked, "Arthur, are you looking for Lady Morgan?"

Arthur answered, "Actually, yes, I am. I wish to hand in my quest but I notice that she has not been around."

"She has been summoned by the guild's higher-up and will not be back until tomorrow."