Chapter 171: So? What do you think?
They rented the arena for one hour. The first fight barely took five minutes, plus another five to calm Blue down after getting tossed out of the ring so quickly. They still had 50 minutes to spend there, to make the most use of it, they choose to fight one on one. That was also some training since most of the time, they were fighting as a group. Luckily, even the basic arenas had setups to split the ring. Runir and Blue were fighting each other, while Bonnie and Alex took the other half of the arena. That left Hera and Tom waiting for their turn.
"So, was the mock battle just a test? Or were you trying to make something else happen?" Hera asked.
"What could I possibly be trying to accomplish?" Tom replied with a smirk.
"I don't know. Maybe giving someone a boost of confidence while making sure others don't let the success go over their heads."
"If I had done such a thing, it would be incredibly devious, albeit a brilliant move," Tom said.
"That is true. It's a shame we don't have anyone that smart in our group," Hera teased.
"We might have one, as long as our noble scholar decides to join in."
Hera chuckled as the two watched the fights.
Blue and Runir were both trained in hand to hand combat. Seeing the two fight was much like seeing a martial arts movie, even if they were far from being masters at the craft. Runir's style focused on quick punches with low kicks. It reminded Hera of karate in some ways, but the footwork was closer to boxing. Blue's, on the other hand, didn't have any similarities with anything that Hera knew. According to her, it was a mixed art that took movements from several grappling styles mixed with a school of Chinese martial arts that focused on moving around the opponent.
Alex and Bonnie's fight was something completely different. Bonnie was changing the environment to counter Alex's speed while trying to dodge the ranged attacks. As impressive as the battle was, it didn't last long. Bonnie's strategy required Alex to move around and fall for the traps that were placed around the arena. That left her at a big disadvantage since Alex was training as a scout. Even if Bonnie managed to prepare an air bomb, it wouldn't be strong enough to blow the assassin away. She needed time to prepare a spell that big again. The elemental fists were unable to hit her target. Alex was too quick, even with the limited footing she had. In the end, Bonnie's barrier turned red while facing the barrage of wind blades coming from Alex.
"Way to go, Alex!" Hera cheered.
Alex was breathing heavily, "Thanks. Honestly, I couldn't keep that up for much longer."
"Really? It didn't show," Bonnie was rubbing her arms. The barrier might protect them from the pain of the impacts, but she still felt the pressure and weight behind them. The constant attacks were enough to make her arms numb.
"The problem was using the spells. I need to attack the air with all my strength to make the slashes fly faster. I think I should practice that some more," Alex replied between breaths.
Next up, it was Hera and Tom. The rest of the group was watching to the side, resting before their next bout. The fight wasn't something they all expected, but it would be interesting to see the difference between the levels. They got into the ring. To make things fair, it would still be set up with the division in the middle.
Tom stood still with his rapier in front of his face. Hera took a deep breath. She knew that there was a very slim chance of winning. She had one less weapon than usual, and most of her spells were a no go. Not to mention she was fighting someone who spent a year focusing on improving his combat skills. Looking at him, Hera couldn't see a single opening in his stance. Everywhere she looked seemed like a death trap. To make any advances, she would need to be creative. Bonnie used her spells to give her an edge, and Hera had to do something similar. The main issue was that Tom knew everything she could throw at him. All her spells and even the all in skill, he knew them all. The only thing he was unaware of was her dancing lights. Its range was five meters. She would need to take a few steps before triggering it.
She slowly moved closer to Tom, making sure he wouldn't strike her as she closed the distance. When he got in range, she activated two of her dancing lights behind the fighter and a third light on her hand as a distraction. Tom just raised one of his eyebrows while she approached. The two lights moved around, flanking Tom's head. Hera could've sworn that he smiled as the shining globules appeared. Taking another step, she tightened her grip on her axe before lunging forward. Instead of going for a wide arc, she attempted an upwards swing. Tom dodged to the side and stabbed Hera twice on her back. She turned around with a slash, but Tom stepped back, moving away from the attack. Hera swept Tom's leg, making him lose his balance and fall to the ground. She rolled around, trying to get on top of him, yet Tom was quicker. He moved to the side and jumped up, hitting Hera two more times, one on the back of the neck. She got up to her feet and looked for another way to attack, but as her eyes met with Tom's, he mumbled a few words. In response, her legs moved almost as a reflex heading towards him. She still had control over the top of her body, and as long as she moved in his direction, she could still direct her legs to move the way she wanted. Even with Hera's best effort, Tom was still able to dodge her attacks with ease. With a few strikes, he turned her barrier red. Signaling the end of the fight.
"Good try, Hera," Alex tried to be supportive.
"Yeah, it was a close one," Bonnie added.
"You guys are lying, but thanks," Hera dropped from the arena, still feeling frustrated. The spell he used, in the end, wasn't something she was expecting.
"Fret not, noble warrior. You had unique ideas, and if you had access to your entire repertoire of attacks, I would have much trouble facing you," Tom patted Hera's back.
"Yeah, sure you would. In the end, was that the forced duel thing?" Hera asked.
"Indeed, it was. Why? Do you still feel its effects?" Tom had a worried expression.
"Not really, it was just weird. I mean, it forced me to move, but I still had some control over my body. I don't like the idea of something being able to do more than that," Hera confessed.
Out of curiosity, the rest of the group asked to feel the effects. Blue and Alex didn't feel like the duel would affect too much if they were in combat, but Bonnie and Runir agreed that being the target of something like that could be devastating. The effect wasn't merely to keep attacking, but they were forced to move closer to Tom while under the forced duel.
Still having a lot of time to spend in the arena, the group went back to the duels. Ideally, they would fight each other at least once, but that would be only if the group's time and energy allowed. A battle against a person was much more tiring than facing a monster. The creatures inside the MAZE had specific patterns of attacks and somewhat predictable movements. Even if they were odd monsters, like the sprites or the pangolins.
They spent around 40 minutes to fight against everyone. It could have been much less, but they had breaks between matches to recover their stamina and mana for those who relied on spells. Tom was the undefeated champion. No one was able to beat him one on one, even though Blue got very close to it. Aside from that, Blue only lost to Alex, who moved too fast for her to catch. Bonnie was able to win against Runir and Hera, and, surprisingly, Alex lost her match against Runir when he managed to toss her outside the ring. Hera ended up being the only one without a win.
Having only 15 minutes left in the arena, they agreed to rest for a moment and have a rematch of their 4v2 battle. Hera spent that time asking Bonnie about her mana regeneration. They had mostly the same process to increase their recovery speed, but Bonnie had noticed something different. Each part of their bodies could absorb external mana at a different rate. She was still unsure where she had the best absorption since her control was still lacking, but it was something that Hera had yet to notice. Even while knowing that, she couldn't tell if the mana was better absorbed through her fingers or through her nose.
Before the two could get too deep into the conversation, they were stopped to discuss strategy. The two teams split off, each going to a corner of the room. They had little time to think of a plan, but Blue and Alex already had some ideas. To stop Bonnie's air bomb, someone would have to face it head-on. If the spell hit them sooner, they could be more prepared for the impact. Hera agreed to be the one that took the blow. Runir would stay in the back this time, focusing on buffs and barriers. Blue would still be going after Thomas, but this time she would need to be more careful since he was aware of her combat style.
With 10 minutes remaining, they jumped back into the ring, ready for the rematch.
Blue dashed towards Tom while Hera and Alex were right behind her. Bonnie didn't use the frost bombs on the side, but moving like this, Blue could protect the rest of the team. Tom responded by moving forward to meet them in the middle of the ring. With the first clash between the two vanguards. Hera and Alex jumped to the side, rushing towards Bonnie, but she wasn't just waiting around. Three ice fists, each the size of watermelons, were floating in front of her. With a movement from her hand, the spells flew towards the incoming assailants.
"Duck!" Hera yelled. She had talked to Bonnie about magic and knew that three spells that size were probably using over half of Bonnie's mana. They also spoke about how the fists type of spells would move in a straight line after being activated. Bonnie was trying to figure out a way to move them around but still couldn't do so.
Alex responded immediately, going lower to the ground. Blue wasn't as quick on the draw as her partners. Tom made sure to stay in her way even as the spell was flying towards his back.
"Tom!" Bonnie yelled when the giant ice fist was just a few centimeters away.
Tom moved to the side as if they had rehearsed, allowing the attack to strike Blue's chest. He followed up with a stab in her leg and was about to continue with a flurry when his movements became sluggish as if moving through water. Looking up, he saw Runir pointing his hand at him. A debuff had just taken effect.
Blue managed to recover her footing and went in for a throw, but Tom was already expecting it. Even with the reduced speed, he was able to pull back before his arm was grabbed. Blue stepped forward and elbowed the man in the stomach. In a typical situation, the recoil would be so bad that an attack like that wasn't worth it. But they had the barrier protecting them from pain. The impact put enough pressure on Tom's abdomen to make him lose his breath. Taking advantage of that, Blue went forward and placed him in an armlock.
During that, Hera and Alex moved to flank Bonnie. A few spells were tossed towards them, but the researcher seemed keener on dodging than fighting back. Hera took advantage of that and pressed on. Trying to reduce the area her target had to move around. As Hera got closer, an ice fist came flying from the ground, hitting her square in the jaw. Hera toppled to the side and fell off the ring.
Alex sent two wind slashes at Bonnie's feet, making her fall on the ground, and kicked her out of the arena, turning back to help Blue against Tom. The debuff was already making it hard for him to move around, and now with another person joining in the fight, it became much more troublesome.
Blue was still holding Tom's arm, but he was able to move her around just enough to hinder Alex's advances. Blue kept pulling him towards the edge of the ring while he pushed back, trying to stay in the center. Runir joined in the struggle, trying to push him off. The situation stopped being a fight and turned into a tug of war. The only reason why Tom was able to hold on for so long was that he kept moving his body in ways to avoid being pushed. Even someone at level 8 wasn't enough to win against three people at level 5. Runir body slammed the fighter, pushing him and Blue out of the ring. Only Alex was still standing in the octagon.
They laughed about the situation, and as they got ready to leave, Hera turned to Bonnie, "So, feeling more confident about joining?"
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