Beating an Apprentice Mage

A series of questions popped inside Ramero's mind trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

Although he can't quite grasp what he was seeing right now as the moment is too fast for his mind to make sense, his body's survival instincts kick in. Ramero didn't try to understand what he was seeing and instantly yank his head back.

Swoosh!

Under his vision, centimeters away from his face is a grey sharp spike missing him.

Ramero now realizes that the sharp and pointy object was a spell done by Scorpion that summoned a grey spike, he gritted his teeth to look down and find his ankle was wrapped by a grey vine that pin him in place.

It was surprising to see Ramero able to dodge that attack, Scorpion has his eyes opened wide.

Not wanting to give any chance for Ramero to recover from his attack, Scorpion dashes forward with the dagger ready in his hand. Harnessing the perfect full stabbing motion, he intends to stab Ramero in the neck just like he did to the other assassins.

Although he doesn't see this, Ramero can feel a sense of coldness in his neck.

Even though he doesn't know that Scorpion is dashing in for the kill, Ramero flexed the muscles on his legs while simultaneously activating his Front Kick skill. In the next second, he can feel the same surge of power coursing inside his legs.

Without wasting any time, he stomped the ground, propelling himself upwards.

Scorpion was surprised to see that Ramero is not on his spot anymore and his attack was about to miss, the vine wrapping around Ramero's ankle snapped by the sudden burst of power which caught Scorpion off guard.

Realizing that Ramero escaped, Scorpion slowly looks above him.

But he was greeted by a foot that is heading right toward his face, he was not able to dodge the kick in time. Exploiting the chance he created, Ramero landed a nasty kick that slammed right onto Scorpion's head.

Bam!

A few teeth got knocked out of Scorpion's mouth due to that powerful kick.

More than that the mask covering his face is also blown away exposing a scorpion tattoo below his left eye and also the pained expression from receiving that hit, he quickly covers his mouth to ease the pain.

The inside of Scorpion's mouth becomes numb from that, and blood dripped down from his nose.

Not wanting to give up his advantage Ramero landed right in front of Scorpion and continues his attack by slashing the dagger in his hand aiming at Scorpion's neck. Fortunately for Scorpion, he manages to dodge that slash, or else his neck was going to be slashed open.

Ramero's advancement didn't end at that, he kept dashing in and attacking with his dagger.

Both of them showed their close-quarter combat skill and started exchanging blow after blow, their hand movements are very fast and looks like a blur. Scorpion doesn't have the upper hand due to the momentum of the fight.

It was Ramero who dashes to him, and the momentum follows alongside him.

'How is this possible, it's like I'm fighting a seasoned fighter. But that's not possible, he's crippled a week ago and his history doesn't dictate him to be good at fighting close-quarter combat!' Scorpion exclaimed inside his head.

When he decided to accept this mission, he was not expecting something like this.

In fact, the only reason he accepted this mission is that this should not be that hard, but turns out he was put up against a weird individual that grown from crippled to fearsome in a matter of a week!

Swish!

Scorpion dodged a spinning backhand perfectly, but a roundhouse kick soon follows.

Crack!

Chanting a spell lightly, Scorpion summons a grey wall to block the roundhouse kick that aims at his head. But surprisingly the grey wall cracked from receiving that kick, showing that Ramero's strength is above the norm.

Gritting his teeth, Scorpion roared and dashed in to launch his own flurry of attacks.

Although he was caught off guard in the first half of the fight, he now realized that he was being pushed back by a brat who is also not a Mage. Having the pride of a mage, he won't let this shame continue.

Scorpion chanted a spell before his fist got covered by grey energy before he sent a punch.

Bam!

Upon seeing the punch Ramero quickly raises his arms to block it but he soon regretted doing that, the punch was heavy and his arms turned blue from blocking that punch, 'It's strong... I can't receive another hit'

With that in mind, Ramero stopped himself before he saw Scorpion is about to punch again.

[Constitution of Sparta is activated! The host gained 2 constitution stat points!]

Ramero widened his eyes when he saw this message, he now realized that his theory turns out to be true. Inside a fight when his body is divulged under extreme stress, he's able to trigger the Constitution of Sparta skill and gains some stat points.

It puts a smile on his face, 'This skill is broken...'

Knowing that the punch has a heavy power that vastly surpassed Laughing Butcher's strength, Ramero dodged it by twisting his body. The punch went straight past him, wiping the devious smile from Scorpion's face.

The devious smile moved from Scorpions' face to Ramero's face due to this moment.

Ramero didn't give any mercy and punished that punch with a punch directly to Scorpion's face, and the power from that punch forcefully turned Scorpion's face to the side alongside his widened eyes.

It was right at this moment that Scorpion becomes frenzied and crazy.

Like a tiger he ate that punch and reaches out his hands to grab Ramero, this was out of Ramero's expectation as his wrists got grabbed by Scorpion. Following that, a grey wall burst from the ground heading towards his chin.

Although he wanted to dodge it, Scorpion held him in place.

Bam!

"Krrggh!!" Ramero grunted in pain feeling his jaw almost break, he got flung upwards due to the grey wall hitting his chin. It rattled his mind immensely as that is not a light hit, he can't even see the message from the system that appeared in front of him.

[Constitution of Sparta is activated! The host gained 3 constitution stat points!]

Ramero doesn't have the time for the pain seeing Scorpion is already above him.

Scorpion exposes his unhinged smile, his fist got covered by grey energy again, "Try dodging this!"

BAM!

Not given any time to breathe Ramero got punched in the abdomen which send him crashing onto the ground, a small crater was produced from his body hitting the ground. The sound of the punch also reverberated, scaring the birds in the trees.

A mouthful of blood was forced to gush out of his mouth due to the impact.

[Constitution of Sparta is activated! The host gained 5 constitution stat points!]

'I can easily deal with his fighting style but the spells he used that enhanced his physique is a problem, he can move faster than me and hit harder than me' Ramero thought with a frown, he now realizes that Mages are way more troublesome.

Descending from the sky, Scorpion delivers a powerful overhead kick.

Ramero didn't stay to receive that attack, he roll back and jumps away from the trajectory of the attack. Soon a couple of rocks hits his body, the overhead kick landed on the ground with a loud stomping sound.

Upon the overhead kick, the people on the road seem to catch that loud sound.

Now Ramero needs to end the fight quickly or else the others would find him in this situation, questions are definitely going to be thrown at him and he doesn't want that. If there's a question then there's an answer.

The Regulator wouldn't stop until he gets the answer he wanted.

Ramero doesn't know the answer as he doesn't want to have anything to do with the family associated with the previous Ramero, and he sure as hell doesn't want to find out or else he would be dragged deeper into their problems.

"I'm going to kill you boy, I'm going to sever your head with my bare hands!" Scorpion threatens.

Straightening his back, Ramero cracks his shoulders and neck knowing that this battle needs to end in the next clash, 'It's all or nothing, the others are coming here. I'm going to end this in the next clash' he thought determinedly.

After firming his mind, Ramero dashes first with the intention to kill.

Scorpion also responds the same as he too dashes at Ramero with grey energy covering his entire body, a spell that amplifies his physical prowess. It takes only a couple of long strides for them to reach each other.

Everything started to slow down as they got closer to each other.

Darting his eyes left and right, Ramero keeps his focus not only on Scorpion but also on the ground. Just then he saw the same grey vine protruding out of the ground, heading towards his body.

Not only that, but he can also see a crack in the ground a meter in front of him.

Ramero's eyes flashes fiercely as his focus went back to the roaring Scorpion that lunges in for the kill, the vine came to him first which intend to wrap around his body. But knowing the spell, he doesn't need to fear it anymore.

Using his hand, he grabbed the vine and wrap it around his wrist quickly.

Scorpion came second with his dagger raised to the sky, but Ramero moved even quicker and dodge the slash with a step to the right and simultaneously wrap the vine in his hand around Scorpion's neck.

"Hrghhk!" Scorpion feels the tightness around his neck.

But before he could do anything Ramero already pulled him into the grey wall that burst from the ground. Instead of hitting Ramero, the grey wall hits Scorpion right on the chest and knocked the wind out of his lungs.

Due to that hit, Scorpion got flung into the air with a pained expression.

Like an eel that doesn't want to let its prey go, Ramero gathers the strength in his legs to jump into the air. Easily he reached above Scorpion, he jabbed the dagger in his hand right on Scorpion's neck before he activate his Front Kick skill and kicks Scorpion back to the ground.

Boom!

Scorpion got slammed into the ground alongside the blood from his neck splattered everywhere.

[2,500 Exp has been rewarded to the host for beating a Mage Apprentice!]

[Level up!]

[Congratulation on completing the Side Quest - Second Assassination Attempt! The host has obtained 10,000 Exp and 10,000 Points!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Remaining debt: 31,290]

Alongside the dinging sounds ringing inside his ears and also messages from the system that stated the end of the side quest, Ramero landed beside Scorpion that is unmoving on the ground. 'It's done, I got quite a bit from this side quest' he thought while nodding inwardly.

Ramero managed to reach level 13 due to this incident, it ends up good at least.

In spite of getting dragged into a problem that he doesn't want any part of, at the very least the side quest boosts his strength a bit before the performance at the cost of a few bruises here and there from fighting Scorpion.

But that doesn't change the fact that he's quite angry at this Wynnarica Family.

'Those bastards keep sending me assassins, give it a rest already I don't want anything to do with you' Ramero thought with a frown, he was starting to get pissed at them. But he doesn't have time to lament as he heard footsteps approaching.

Due to the fight, the guards and Gladiators must've heard the commotion.

Ramero wanted to get back but his eyes widened when he feels an ominous sensation tickling his nape, he turns to look over his shoulder before he saw Scorpion is about to stab him. "Damn you!" he roared angrily.

In that nick of time, Ramero doesn't have any time to react as the dagger is already close to him.

Out of nowhere, a huge figure appeared behind Scorpion swiftly before swinging a big bastard sword horizontally. In a blink of an eye, Scorpion's body was cut in half as blood sprayed everywhere.

Blinking a couple of times, Ramero realizes that it was Silver Fists that saved him.

"Are you okay?" he asked shortly.

Ramero nodded his head before wiping the blood that got smeared on his face, "Yeah, I'm alright." he replied. But both of them don't have time to chat as the others are approaching, they quickly maneuver around and went back to the road.

Upon reaching back they were about to sneak to their positions but a guard caught them.

"Hey! Where were the two of you from?! Why aren't you chopping down trees to repair the bridge?!" the guard shouted, he takes out a lash from his belt as he walks towards Ramero and Silver Fists.

Due to that, they were roughly told to get back to chopping trees again.

While they were chopping trees Silver Fists is looking at Ramero from the side, there's a curiosity inside his eyes. But it's rather obvious as to what is inside his head, the assassins that aimed for Ramero are definitely the source of this curiosity.