Chapter 39: Spear
[20 seconds remaining.]
[Loading data.]
[Loading spear mastery.]
[Loading Holy Spear abilities.]
[Loading Holy Spear usage.]
"Argh!" Mika groaned in agony.
The pain he felt was heavier than any attacks he received from Belian.
While still holding the spear in one hand, he grabbed his head roughly with the other hand.
It felt like his head was about to burst as information kept flooding his mind.
He shook his head wildly, bent his body forward and behind, and staggered.
From an outsider's perspective it seemed like Mika lost his mind and went crazy.
Even Belian lost his composure for a second wondering if he was alright.
However, he quickly regained his focus and concentrated on himself.
He retracted both of his arms, which were covered in flames.
In his hands, he created small fireballs.
There, flames were constantly gathered.
The size of those balls did not change, but one could tell that the potency behind one of those balls was destructive.
Then, Mika finally started to calm down as the headache slowly disappeared.
He gasped for air desperately and sweat, which merged with his blood, dripped down from his forehead.
[10 seconds remaining.]
"That's enough... I just need one throw..." Mika said exhausted.
With the last of his strength, he tried to stabilize his entire body for the last attack.
He, too, retracted his arm.
[9.]
Belian put his arms forward and combined the fireballs in his hands to one.
"A spear throw, huh?"
[8.]
Then, he quickly changed his plan.
Holding the fireball with his left hand forward, he used his right hand and thrust it right into the ball.
And as if it had a dough-like texture, he stretched the fireball and formed a straight line with it.
He inflamed it even more making it hard to see what he tried to do.
[7.]
[What an interesting fellow.]
"?"
Only after the flames calmed down, Mika saw how Belian made a spear out of flames.
[6.]
He retracted his arm with the flame spear in his hand.
[5.]
Mika focused every single drop of his energy on this throw.
Ignoring all the pain for a second, he proceeded to launch the spear at Belian.
[4.]
But at the same time, Belian had also thrown his spear at Mika.
Thus, the two spears passed by each other with a narrow gap.
The two boys barely dodged the spears directed at them by jumping to the side.
Therefore, the spears hit the walls.
[3.]
"Enlarge!" Mika commanded viciously.
Following that, Mika's spear abruptly grew bigger.
However, he did not have enough strength left, thus the spear would not reach the size it had just like in the jungle back then.
Still, it was enough to catch Belian off guard.
Belian was not the only one caught by surprise as Belian's flame spear caused a great explosion.
[2.]
Mika was not able to dodge the explosion completely and was caught in it.
He was sent flying but still managed to land on his feet barely.
The area around him was shrouded in smoke as he coughed multiple times.
[1.]
His legs were shaking.
He had no energy left anymore.
If the circumstances allowed it, then he would rather just lie down on the spot.
But it was not the time yet to let one's guard down.
Mika tried to figure out what it looked like in front of him.
The smoke did not block his vision so much anymore.
However, he only saw his enlarged spear stuck in the wall.
"Did he vanish...?"
[You have successfully cleared the quest.]
"Let's spar again in the future." someone suddenly called out to him.
"?!"
Mika turned around and saw Belian standing behind him.
His white uniform was covered in dirt and a little bit of blood dripped from his mouth.
But most importantly, he held two ignited fingers up against Mika's forehead.
"I see..."
Mika smiled exhausted.
"This is my loss..." he muttered.
His remaining strength and consciousness left his body.
Before his body slumped down, Belian caught him and supported him by lending him a shoulder.
Shortly after that, Ophelia came and healed the two with potions.
"Can you do me a favor now, Belian?"
The whole time she was nursing them, Ophelia did not utter a word.
"Of course."
"Then, could you please keep what you just saw a secret?"
"I understand. You have my word."
Belian realized that she meant Mika's power.
Furthermore, he had the feeling that it was better for now to not ask any further questions concerning Mika.
"I will leave first." Belian said in his usual tone.
"Sure."
Thus, he entered the portal and landed in the hallway again.
There, the students, who watched the match until a certain point, were waiting in eagerness.
Whereas the black class students and Lily's unsettling gazes did not change after he appeared, his three classmates looked shocked.
"Are you for real?" Harik remarked with a perplexed smile.
"I must be dreaming..." Rachel said with her jaw dropping.
"..."
Sylvia widened her eyes, even though she expected this internally.
As if nothing was wrong, Belian passed by the crowd unbothered.
"H-hey, where are you going?" Harik tried to stop him.
"I'm going to take a shower." he replied bluntly after he turned around to face Harik.
"Jeez, at least tell us the result..." Rachel complained.
"I won."
He faced forward again and left the crowd behind.
The students did not react that much.
Everyone was expecting this result. They just wished for more insight.
Therefore, they waited for Ophelia and Mika to return.
But Harik and Rachel decided to go.
The two left pensively and with shame, as they stared sternly.
They remembered their fight against Belian.
Even combined, they were just capable of inflicting as much damage on him as Mika did today.
Thus, it was natural for them to feel shame.
In their eyes, a black-class student performed as well as three white-class students together.
Lily watched the backs of the white class students until she noticed something.
"Where is Sylvia...?" she muttered as she searched for her in the crowd.
Meanwhile, Mika regained his consciousness again in the arena.
"You awake now?"
"..."
He was lying on Ophelia's lap again as he slowly opened his eyes.
Seeing her unusual caring smile, he closed his eyes once more.
"I see."
Her smile vanished and with an intimidating look, she pinched his cheek.
"AH! I'm sorry!" Mika shouted desperately.
He began to carefully touch his head and then looked at his hands.
"The bleeding stopped? And I don't feel any pain..." he murmured surprised.
"Of course, I used a healing potion on you, you idiot." Ophelia explained.
"I see, thanks..." he said softly.
"No problem, I'm your teacher after all." she replied casually.
It was silent for a moment.
"I lost, huh?"
"Yes."
"Well, I guess that's how it is."
"Aren't you upset?"
At first, he was frustrated, however, he remembered that he accomplished his initial goal.
"Nope. In the end, I could call myself a winner as well."
"Huh? Did you hit your head too hard?"
"No, I didn't. But think back to our conversation about the system. Remember the rewards and punishments?"
"Yes, so what?"
"This time my quest was to hold on for three minutes."
"Is that so? What did you receive as a reward? Increased intelligence stats?"
"No."
He smiled despite feeling annoyed.
"I increased my magic rank."
"!"
Her eyes enlarged.
"This means..."
"Yes. I'm a B-rank lightning mage!" he declared contently with a thumbs-up.
Ophelia massaged her forehead with her fingers.
"To think that you could rank up like this..." she said impressed and in disbelief.
"Anyways, congratulations, I guess..." she added with a slight smirk.
The carefree and joyful atmosphere did not last long as both noticed the presence of someone else.
"Ehm, sorry... Am I perhaps interrupting you?"
It was Sylvia.
She looked at them awkwardly as Mika was still resting on Ophelia's lap.
"Hm? No, not really." Mika replied naively.
"Get off me now." Ophelia stated coldly.
After getting him off from her, she got up and cleared her throat embarrassed.
"Sorry to make you see me like this." she said with a slight blush.
"N-no, I should be sorry..."
Sylvia was also still slightly awkward.
"B-be that as it may, I wanted to talk with Mika."
"Sure, is it something urgent?"
It was a rhetorical question.
If it was not urgent, then she would have waited for him to exit the arena.
This could also mean that she did not want the students to overhear their conversation.
"Should I leave?" Ophelia asked out of consideration.
"No, you can stay here. It actually involves you, too."
From her tone, it seemed like it was a serious topic.
"Please be honest with me."
She started to express the concern she had for a while.
She waited for him to be alone or to be with Ophelia.
"The one, who defeated that demon in the Great Jungle, was you Mika, right?"
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone