Chapter 216

Arnold was now standing amongst a crowd who were watching a sparring match that was taking place in the middle of the camp. Sabrina was next to him but she wasn't bringing up their earlier conversation.

The matchup was Hans (Spear User) versus Charkley (Tank). Of course, neither of them had their weapons or armor equipped. This would be unfair since they're testing their physical limits. This way they won't resort to lethal attacks that could injure each other.

Judging by how both of them were holding up their fists, it was going to be a regular boxing match.

Arnold glanced towards a certain group. Ignoring the girls who were waving at him, he could see a few of the guys whose eyes were blue and swollen. They noticed him too and scowled at him. He looked away with a smirk, causing them to fume and grit their teeth.

Turning his attention back to the sparring match, he looked at Hans. He was more muscular than Arnold, and was closer to Hofir in height and physique. The two had been rivals in the game. Rightfully so since they're both warriors by heart even though one chose to wield a spear while the other uses his claws and fangs to fight.

Hans was like Arnold: a warrior dissatisfied with only using his fists. Sebastian disapproved of Arnold using weapons even after the plethora of martial arts that he taught Arnold. This would be an insult to his master but Sebastian came to an understand that it was unavoidable. Arnold was capable of using a weapon art that he perfected on his own and he had a Soul Weapon, while Sebastian doesn't. This makes Arnold a hybrid. Hans was no different. He inherited his family's martial arts and received the [Fire Bloom Blessing] from the Goddess Heatia, a minor god among the Pantheon of Gods in the Divine Realm.

Unlike regular red aura, the Ayried clan was blessed with a rosy pink color when unleashing their full power. It's the result of Star-Grade Artifact [Fire Lily's] influence throughout their entire family history.

Their aura changes into that color as they gradually power up. However, unlike their regular red aura, the rosy pink aura has a higher consumption rate per second, which means that they burn out faster when using their full power. They have to sacrifice consumption rate for more power, which was a fair sacrifice.

But that doesn't mean the Ayried Clan enjoyed this. There was no way to circumvent this so the Ayried clan—from the time of the empire's founding—decided to seek martial arts that they could use as their final attack when in battle at full power. Unlike Water Edge, their martial art was a direct derivation of a pure martial art, sort of like healing magic was to arcane magic. This made them one of the most powerful clans in strength alone and why the patriarch of the House was so feared and admired alike.

Of course, Stella surpasses him by leaps and bounds due to her potential's high ceiling.

Arnold had only ever seen Stella use her martial arts during the second war against the demons. It was truly a spectacle to behold—angels made of pure lava that shot straight at her enemies when she swings her sword, the power of the sun in her hands when she lifts Fire Lily to the sky, an inexhaustible flame that uses the target's own lifeforce to burn their body and soul.

It was a terrifying power to wield but also a necessary one to defeat the demons and Offspring.

Unlike her relatives, Stella will be capable of using her rosy pink aura even at smaller quantities. This is only if she manages to get "Fire Lily" to become hers, which will then automatically make her the one next in line to rule the Ayried House.

This was very far into the story since she's probably not yet capable of using either her special aura or the Star-Grade family heirloom. Arnold thought there was a low possibility of her actually becoming that strong this early into the story.

In the case of Hans: Arnold could imagine how angry Drakan Ayried was when he found out that his son was more interested in using a spear without relying on his family's martial arts. The same martial arts that even Stella could use.

Hans doesn't outgrow this habit of using only his spear and raw aura to fight later in the main game. In fact, he became the strongest knight of the empire if one were to exclude the members of the Hero Party, and went on to start his own House after failing to gain Fire Lily's recognition.

His goal was to inherit Fire Lily's power and not the sword itself but this proved to be impossible in the end. Stella had already surpassed him at that point and wielded Fire Lily as all the previous Heads have in the past.

…

Even though Hans (and pretty much everyone else) frequently teased Charkley for his weight, he was showing him the respect any opponent deserves while facing him in the ring. Charkley was still a tank which extraordinary defense that no one in the academy could hope to match.

Hans might not be able to win against him as easily as the others. That's unless he uses his aura, of course. Going by what Sabrina said earlier, they don't use aura to keep the matchup fair.

Due to this, anyone would think that Hans is at a disadvantage since Charkley is the one with better defense and a stronger body on his side.

Arnold checked Hans' physical strength and defense, and compared it to Charkley's. A miniature status screen appeared next to each of them.

---Name: Hans von Ayried

STR: 50

DEF: 43

Name: Charkley von Rickhurd

STR: 37

DEF: 187

--

'Hmm, Charkley's defense is a bit higher than mine. If he was on my level than it would be more than double. Not bad for a common class tank.'

Arnold's warrior class was focused more on agility and raw power than anything else. It would be strange if his DEF stat was higher than that of a tank class. The developers would be the laughingstock if they couldn't even balance stats between classes.

'Charkley's attack power is pretty low. How will he even win this? He could just forfeit since the situation is hopeless and there's no prize at the end. Also, no one forced him to fight.'

Arnold noticed that Charkley was glancing at the crowd. He then found the person he was looking for and eagerly waved at her then flexed his "muscles".

Arnold looked at that person—Sabrina—who was waving back at him with a wry smile.

'He's just trying to impress Sabrina?'

Arnold knew that Sabrina had a lot of guys lusting for her so this wasn't all that surprising. Charkley was one of her most relentless fanboys. He wasn't even shy about it unlike the other fanboys that Arnold knew of.

Rare flowers, expensive sweets, jewelry, gift cards, expensive perfumes imported from other nations—he had tried them all to impress Sabrina but said person was too hesitant to accept all those things. In the end, she would always accept them with awkward smiles since he had insisted that she takes them.

Were it anyone else then that person would've told him to piss off since he had been rejected many times. Sabrina was too kind for her own good.

The two of them end up together in the story later on but Charkley dies in the second Demon-Human War. He was just an average tank—someone without special talents or skills. His ambitions were never fully explained and the issue surrounding his death was still a mystery. Some say he was trying to block a demon portal (with his shield) that had spat out hordes of demons that destroyed several villages and even a town. Charkley was apparently ripped to shreds when he tried to block the portal with his own body.

If this was how he actually died then many who called him a hero would've been right.

Sabrina told Evelyn in a cutscene after the war that she was proud to have called him her husband and father of her children.

Sabrina noticed Arnold staring at her and smiled brightly. He looked away with the same poker face which made her pout.

The battle started at that moment, with Charkley charging first with his arms raised, making it seem like he wanted to grapple Hans.

Noticing that, Hans took his distance. While Charkley wouldn't be able to chokehold him to the point of unconsciousness, breaking free will be a challenge. Charkley was known for his grapple abilities that had let him hold down monsters while his teammates chip away at the monsters until they die.

Martial arts didn't just amount to kicks and punches, well, this wasn't the case for earth as well. Grappling was also a martial art that people with high defense could use to their advantage in a fight.

The point of struggling is breaking free but grappling martial arts increases grip strength to a tremendous degree, using its own user HP as fuel to buff stats. If he received the right number of buffs on the level of Angelica's Oracle buffs then Charkley could theoretically be invincible for a few seconds if he was at the level cap with a 1000 defense stat.

It was a shame the stupid idiot didn't work harder in the game to reach this level of power. Even without anyone capable of using Angelica's Oracle-Tier buffs, he would still be able to survive a few hits from a demon lord. That was enough for the Hero to deliver a killing blow.

Arnold looked over at Arthur who was speaking to Anais about something.

'Maybe Arthur will start his own little wannabe hero party and include Charkley as their tank.'

Alitus's defense stat numbered in the 500s at the beginning of the story and he's already level 70 at this point.

Arnold couldn't see that fatty reaching that level of power. The main story extends well past the academy timeline but even if it stretched 20 years longer than the canon timeline, he couldn't see a common tank reaching Alitus' level.

Charkley's purpose was to defend also and not to kill. He would find it hard to actually kill monsters if he's the chosen tank in a party. This could lead to conflict amongst his allies if he tried killing monsters that they expected him to hold back while they attack.

Hans stepped to the side—the right side to be exact—just as Charkley was about to grab him. Charkley's right hand suddenly shot towards Hans under his left arm in a smooth motion.

"Crap!" Hans grabbed Charkley's right arm with the intention to throw him to the side, which could knock him off-balance and use his weight against him.

Charkley bounced off the ground using his stomach and kicked the air after a magic circle appeared at his feet, releasing a gust of wind.

"What the!? When did you become this nimble!?" Hans then ducked lower than waist-height just as Charkley was about to grab him.

Charkley curled up in mid-air and spread his arms, releasing a gust of wind from his body, sending him flying backwards right back at Hans.

'He learned wind magic to help him maneuver around the battlefield without breaking his momentum. Smart.'

Of course, Arnold was studying what he was doing and not merely spectating anymore. He'd never made use of wind magic like that before and since it was a simple spell, he should be able to cast it easily a few times.

Anrold checked Charkley's MP.

· 123

'Tch, it's even higher than mine. Well, I haven't taken magic seriously so it's not that surprising.'

Arnold now knew he was going to get a subclass in the future so he didn't care to increase the mana in his body anymore, instead choosing to rely on magic items that he'll find in the future. Lufulur's equipment was still waiting for him out there in the Deeper Ground relic tomb.

'He's using [Gust of Leap], a First-Rank spell. I might be able to use it if a battle takes place in mid-air or I'm using the air to my advantage when facing a slow enemy or an enemy that can fly.'

It uses 5 MP per use so he would need to use it sparingly. This wouldn't be an issue for him unless he fights a monster that can fly.

'I never would've thought I'd consider using garbage tier spells in a fight again. Is my perspective of magic all wrong because I'm used to casting spells higher than Tenth-Rank?'

It was like having more money than the average person and thinking they could somehow afford something he could afford. Money is still useful no matter the amount just like magic spells are useful no matter the tier.

He had forgotten this simple life lesson.

Despite how fast he already was, he could still use the wind magic spell that Charkley was using to jump around the battlefield quickly. If he combines this with Luxtivin's illusions then he could confuse his opponent to the point that they leave their backs exposed. Unless it's someone like Gederick who could grab him even while he was moving at extremely high speeds.

It was cowardice to jump around like a monkey instead of engaging in close combat with his opponents, so he would only use this tactic when fighting tougher opponents, who are on or above his level.

Focusing his attention back on the sparring match, he could see Hans and Charkley pushing each other back using their hands. Hans was clearly the one with the superior strength so this would've been over quickly in normal cases, however, Charkley's hands was pushing Han's hands down in an awkward way, making a few of his fingers bent backward.

'I see. This reduces the amount of strength Hans can force out.'

His brain would force him to stop exerting too much strength since it's possible for his fingers to break. This gives Charkley the upper hand.

Hans had realized this judging by the frown on his face.

A smug grin was plastered on Charkley's face.

Either Hans pulls back to retreat or continues pushing forward. If the former then that will give Charkley the opportunity to attack and possibly win with one big attack. If he could lock Hans in this maneuver while being weaker than Hans, what else could he have up his sleeve.

If the latter then Hans will end up breaking his fingers and will be at a disadvantage in the fight.

"Haaaah!" Hans jumped at that moment while he was in a hand lock, twisting his body and going in for a kick to Charkley's face.

Charkley smirked and shouted: "Take this secret technique of the Rickhurd House!" he quickly let go of Hans while he was in mid-air and grabbed Hans' legs. Charkley pulled Hans forward and jumped, as if he was going to throw Hans after doing a flip in the air.

"Shit!" Hans was then smashed into the ground before his head was buried by Charley's fat body.

"Get off me!" Hans smashed the ground with his fists and tried to escape from under Charkley but he way too heavy.

'A spatial martial art that condenses his bones and body fat in exchange for the energy inside his body. I guess Fatso isn't useless in a fight without his shield, after all.'

He might not be Alitus but he was flexible on the battlefield and could adjust his combat and movements appropriate to the situation. Coming to the dungeon could be thanked for that. Charkley never would've grown this much if the seventh years didn't come here for their final exam. Things were different in the game since the dungeon appeared much later in the main story, about a few years after this whole class graduated.

It was probably not just Charkley who grew up during these past three months that they've been here.

Arnold looked at Anais, Arthur, Shirley, Evelyn, Sabrina, Hans and all the other seventh year students. He could tell at a glance that all of them grew. He was slightly disappointed at Shirley's low level given her potential but it was nothing a few months of just monster hunting couldn't fix. Of course, this is only outside the dungeon.

Arnold's attention turned back to Hans who was suddenly releasing his aura.

"I said… GET OFF!" Hans' roar sent a powerful shockwave throughout the surroundings, also sending Charkley flying with tremendous force.

Hans jumped and pulled back his fist. "How do you like this, Fatso!?"

His punch landed cleanly on Charkley's face. His head was knocked back as his blood flew.

Charkley's head suddenly bounced back like rubber and hit Hans right in the face.

"Guh!?" Hans was the first to be sent flying to the ground, his back hitting the ground.

Charkley's body swelled up like a balloon and the air pressure around him became several times heavier.

'He's using his family's martial art to increase his weight…' Arnold could tell at a glance that it wasn't spatial manipulation to make himself heavier of some kind. Well, it was spatial manipulation in a way if you could call making your body mass heavier controlling space and gravity.

Fatso dropped down like a meteor. There was even a comical whistle-like sound which was probably just him ripping a fast while in mid-air.

He crashed to the ground.

A powerful tremor followed after and a dust cloud surrounded the area. A wind pressure blew all the dust.

"Ggh! H-Hey, wait!" Charkley had missed, or more like Hans had quickly got out of the way right before getting crushed. As such he was left wild open and struggled to get up for (literally) being too heavy.

Hans' devilish smirk made Charkley go pale and sweat bullets.

What happened next was anyone's guess.

…

'A shame he lost. Well, I already saw this coming but it's surprising how long he lasted,' Arnold thought while looking at Charkley who was lying face down on the ground after receiving Hans' barrage of aura-powered attacks.

Hans wiped the sweat from his brow with a "Phew" and smiled broadly.

"Hey, wasn't that cheating?" one of the students asked.

"Yeah, he was the one who said we shouldn't use aura to fight, only protect our bodies."

"Damn bastard thought we wouldn't be able to tell he enhanced his strength with aura."

Hans avoided everyone's glares and shouted with a triumphant grin:

"Alright! Who's next!? Step right up and test your strength against me!"

Someone amongst the crowd raised his hand—it was Hofir.

Everyone's eyes turned towards him as he approached Hans.

"Didn't you say that you won't be participating anymore?" Hans looked at him in confusion.

"I'm not going to fight you." Hofir said in a deep voice as if he was holding in his anger.

Ignoring the confused Hans, he pointed at Arnold.

"I want to fight him."