Chapter 242: Horde (1/2)

[Etherealized-Attack rune has been learned.]

The messages came in to reward his tired self. As Arthur looked at the time, he found that he had only three hours to sleep before he had to attend his classes.

From 5 PM to 4 AM, Arthur didn't do anything but study in the library. He found the materials he needed to learn the rune he faced a bottleneck at for the past weeks.

He closed the hologram screen in front of him and stood up to stretch. The fact that his stamina was high meant that he wasn't easily tired. So, even though he pulled an all-nighter, he didn't feel particularly tired.

Before his classes, Arthur headed to the west wing to train. Today, he had a martial arts class that would enable him to choose an Art to train. As he entered the training facility, Arthur heard loud slams from somewhere.

He looked around and found that one of the training rooms has been occupied. Arthur clicked his tongue and marveled at how dedicated these people were.

He went over toward the training rooms but a bright flash of light caught his attention from the occupied room. However, Arthur couldn't see what was inside because the glass has been blocked by the occupant.

'Should I sneak a peek?' Arthur questioned whether it was a good option to pry on others, but he mocked himself when he remembered that was the reason he was here.

His hand glowed dark as a shadow appeared in front of him, slipping into his shadow. Arthur looked around and entered the training room to find an arena with a command panel beside it. He closed his eyes as he shared the vision with his shadow.

The shadow slipped through the darkness and entered the room easily. Its eyes transmitted what it saw to Arthur, and that was of a girl training against a puppet.

Her white scarf enveloped her like a cloak as it shone brightly. Through the shadow's eyes, Arthur saw the scarf turn into armor with wings.

Rae stood there like a celestial fairy as she glared at the puppet in front of her. With a commanding tone, she issued an order.

”Rei-ranker, average.”

The puppet's eyes glowed as the mana it released grew more violent. With a step forward, the puppet took its stance as white fumes appeared from its mouth.

Arthur watched with wide eyes as Rae disappeared from her spot and clashed with the puppet. The battle was brutal, making Rae look like a crazed beast. Her eyes kept glowing red as if she was a being from the underworld.

The two clashed as punches were thrown. By the end of it, Rae was bruised all over her body and her scarf needed time to regenerate. Yet, she looked at the puppet as she yelled a single word.

”Again!”

Arthur watched on for a while before canceling his shadow. He stood in the empty training room and sighed. He had no idea why she was pushing herself that hard, maybe it was due to her loss to him.

Either way, he had nothing to do with it. He took off his jacket and threw it on the floor as he walked toward the arena. After tweaking a few settings, a plate slide from the arena for the puppet to rise.

”Rei-ranker, peak. Dagger.” Arthur pulled out his golden dagger from his subspace. The puppet materialized a dagger of its own as it launched itself toward Arthur.

The two collided in the middle and Arthur felt his wrist ache. He loosened his hold on the dagger allowing the puppet's attack to slide off as he kept going for its neck.

The dagger was inches away from the puppet's neck before another dagger appeared to block it. The puppet now had two daggers and used one of them to block Arthur's attack.

It then attacked with its other dagger but Arthur dodged in the nick of time. As he pulled back, the puppet was already on to him.

The rest of it was a high-speed fight, but Arthur kept being at a disadvantage because of the two daggers instead of one. It was time to use his new rune.

As he used the rune Etherealized-Attack, a copy of his dagger appeared beside it as Arthur was able to replicate his weapon. The weapon followed Arthur's will as it slashed toward the puppet, who blocked again with its sword.

Suddenly, Arthur had an epiphany about his fighting style. He was a runes wordsmith, someone who used runes instead of fighting. If he wanted to fight, it should be in a manner that gave him the ability to fight.

”Cancel!”