Chapter 149 (2/2)
The crowd erupted into laughter and jeers as they e
Even while only using ten percent ofany use of elemental spells, Herrick was a joke But I couldn’t say that out loud, of course
“Looks like I got lucky,” I said helplessly up on the stage while scratching iant ass, but I guess it can’t be helped” A tall wohtly behind her head jureenhorn”
“Please go easy on ly
My opponent ell over six feet, just a few inches taller than me, but her thin and toned frame made her look even taller than she actually was With a dark coht black hair, she looked like a panther ready to pounce
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“I’ with a staff so I’d appreciate it if you used a weapon as well,” she said as a wooden staff appeared out of the di she had just used and the rich colors of her clothes, it was obvious that she was a noble but that fact seemed trivial to her
“Don’t kill the kid, Nyphia!” her friend cried out in genuine concern
I chuckled tiht now but I can—”
“Soive the boy a sword his size,” Nymphia snapped impatiently as she stretched her neck
An unfamiliar soldier threw me his short sword still in it’s sheath alh as I carefully slid the blade out of its scabbard and covered it in es
Unlike Herrick, uard down as she dropped to a low stance She held her wooden staff out with it’s tip aiht intomarked by Nyphia,” soh, I took a stance as well I was hoping to use this casual event to get a sense for soirl seemed to have other plans “Are you ready?”
The dark-skinned augmenter let out an irritated scoff, as if I’d somehow offended her “Are you ready?”
She pounced onas soon as I nodded in reply Her body ree while she pulled her staff in close to her body, ready to strike me
Just frohter Nyphia was Her control over mana was excellent—on a different tier than Herrick—but she lacked real experience Her moves were fast but also obvious Her intent all but leaked out of her body with each attack she atteuards or other professionals too scared to hurt her, which didn’t help her short tee, swipe, thrust, and swing she threw at ed—but just barely On the outside, it looked like I was getting pushed back as I desperately tried to keep up To Nyphia, her teh after each failed attempt to land a solid hit
As e of the platform ere on, I used the momentum from Nyphia’s over-emotional thrust to send her out of bounds to end the match but she kept her balance with the help of her staff
Leaping back to the center, she shook her head “Not this tie around the arena!”
“This is just a friendly coreed “No, this is practice for the war that’s right in front of our noses And in war, there are no ‘out-of-bounds’”—she whipped her head over her shoulder—“Ae”
Her friend, or lackey, stood up and raised an earthen gate around the arena with a short chant and a wave of her wand, locking er
I looked around and while solances of concern, none of theret this whole idea of ‘blending in’ and was tempted to just blow apart the arena and walk out but I held myself back With the possibility of an Alacryan shi+p, or several, veering down to this shore, I didn’t want to take any chances
With experience from my past life, I’d come to realize that people become complacent when in the presence of a powerful ally They come to expect to be spoonfed victory from the comforts of the backline when sost theht have it backwards here—who knows, ive theht harder, but I was skeptical of that
“Youin character “Please teach an once ed weapon, took only a matter of seconds to draw to a conclusion But withhters did little to correct their flaws and instead, focused on er Even I had succumbed to that mistake when I first came to this world; that is, until that was beaten out of me by the asuras back in Epheotus
Nyphia dashed towardthe other end of her staff in a quick, ascending swipe
I dodged close enough to s fro her staff up with my free hand This threw her off balance; I finished by slidingforward
With the strength ofwith the addedbackward The crowd of soldiers that had becoe had been conjured let out cries of du at ht scarlet with eer, Nyphia was unable to form the proper words to express herself when afrom the crowd “Mind if I join in on the fun?”
“You’re not joining anything! I just trip—” the dark-skinned noble’s words got caught in her throat as she realized whose voice it was “M-Madam Astera!”
Nyphia lowered her head as she spoke “Forgive me for my rudeness!”
The woman that my opponent referred to as Madaarded me with a respectful nod when I had first arrived here The chef hopped up over the cage with a nimbleness that ave a quick bow, re to keep in character “May I have the pleasure of knoho I’ with?”
Madam Astera bobbed a quick curtsy with her apron “Just a simple cook”