Chapter 18 - 19 : Like sA Frog In A Wells (1/2)

After half an hour of walking, they both arrived at the underground arena where the principal, Zephir, and Mary were waiting for them, actually, the principal didn't want the fight to be known to anyone, not even the council member, only Zephir was present because he was her most trusted subordinate.

The arena was quite big, a rectangle shape with some kind of runes in the edges, when Arthur saw the runes he guessed it must be some sort of magic to hold off the fight inside the arena and protect those who watch it.

Mary was very excited as she couldn't sleep yesterday night, she let her emotions got the better of her and even though it was the fault of the beastman nonetheless she held a grudge against Arthur, hell she didn't even care about what happened to Lucy. When she saw Arthur coming entering she couldn't help but snicker

”Finally here? i thought you would run with your tail between your legs but i guess you are at least courageous for coming, hmpf!” as she said that she jumped to the arena while waiting for him to come up too, to be honest she was confident in herself, of course she didn't dare underestimate him because she knew he was powerful but she believed herself to be stronger and the reason she couldn't injure him yesterady was because she didn't use her weapons or any skills and simply judged him to have a strong defense that's all.

Arthur didn't waste time replying to her and advanced slowly towards the arena but he could feel Lucy's hand hold his sleeve so he turned towards her and saw her worried face.

”Silly girl, no need to be that worried, do you not trust my abilities.”

Hearing his reassuring voice, Lucy let go of him after mumbling softly:

”Good luck.”

The principal was also curious and couldn't wait any longer, she knew Mary was strong but she didn't dare assume it would be an easy win for Mary for she knew Arthur was just too mysterious especially his magic, she even had suspicion about him teleporting because yesterday she couldn't even see him run to the stage to save Lucy, she gazed at him with suspicious eyes while he was making his way towards the arena.

Finally, Arthur and Mary were facing each other, they were separated 50meters or so, no one talked and they just gazed at each other, rage and anger filled Mary's eyes while Arthur's seemed relaxed.

He knew how strong he is and he more or less has guessedher strength, even if she used skills or weapons that wouldn't change the fact that he could easily win, with his Dark Magic and Ancient Fire he had absolute confidence.

The principal sensing that both of them are ready spoke with a serious tone

”Since you too are ready, there is just one rule, no killing! If your opponent gives up or falls unconscious then it is considered the win of the still standing person.”

”B-but big sister!! you said I could do whatever I want with him and I want to KILL HIM!”

Sonia smiled towards the nagging beastman and responded:

”You can request anything if you win...”

Mary hearing this didn't reply and just turned her head towards Arthur while taking the big axe from her back, she didn't just charge recklessly like yesterday, she will go all out on this man before her. She didn't even wait for him to take his weapon and just charged at him with incredible speed.

When he saw her come at him, Arthur just smiled but didn't attack her or even tried to defend, he first wanted to enjoy the fight and teach the difference between her and him. Just as she was going to strike him with her ax.

He used [faster than death] and teleported a couple of meters behind her. Obviously, his action astonished everyone present including the principal for teleportation is not that simple and even there is someone who can use it, it takes time to teleport and not instantly.

She previously had a guess he could teleport but not this fast, as for Mary, who missed her attack and noticed his disappearance, she sensed him behind her and indeed he was a couple of meters behind her, with a smug smile on his face.

”What's wrong? Can't hit me?”

Arthur mocked as if he was playing with her, though she was surprised by his teleportation she nonetheless rushed at him again but this time you can see flames appear on her axe and the air around her become much hotter.

She was going to use a skill and it seemed really powerful but like last time when she was going to hit him, he just teleported away again. It would be lying to say she wasn't angered, quite the opposite, in fact, Mary was boiling with rage, the fact that she had the chance to kill him but couldn't even touch him angered her to no end. After all, no matter how fast someone is they can't surpass teleportation unless they can stop time which pretty much impossible. Like this, Arthur continued to teleport away every single time he was going to be hit, and after 5 minutes the female beastman finally at him and shouted

”What do you keep running away with your cheap trick? Are you perhaps afraid of fighting me head on?”

Although she said that, she couldn't help but feel a bit fearful of this man, he could teleport away with ease and he doesn't seem to be the least tired after 5 minutes of teleportation so she guessed that prolonging the fight would only make her tired, that's why she called out to him and told him to stop running, otherwise it would be a fight of who would be exhausted first and obviously, she would as he didn't move and only teleported.

Hearing this, Arthur just shrugged it off but he judged it was time to stop this play and finish this 'fight', though the principal said no killing that didn't mean he can't injure her so he decided to do so, after all, he hated her who just hated him killing some savage beastman and the excuse of her wanting his life is just because he killed her kin brutally even though he deserved it.

Mary was in a dilemma as what to do, but she finally came back to her sense and backed away, she held her axe firmly and suddenly, her body seemed to grow a little, her muscles looked more robust and her fur changed red, she appeared more savage, her eyes were burning with fury and she emitted a bit of pressure around her.

Actually what happened now was a special skill all beastman had it was [berserker mode], every beastman with high enough level would acquire this skill automatically, this particular skill would double the stats of the person using it for a couple of minutes but it has some side effects, after the effect wears off the user would have his stats halved for an hour, so it was only used by beastmen in case of emergencies only, the cooldown for it was supposedly 10 days so it can't be used every day.

Arthur noticed the change in Mary but he merely frowned that's all, he did read about the [berserker mode] skill but never saw it with his own eyes and truthfully he wanted to have that skill as welll so he hoped someday he would be able to possess a high leveled beastmen to get the skill.

The female beastman didn't waste any second and charged at her opponent with insane speed and when Arthur saw her coming he too was surprised but nonetheless he wasn't worried, apparently her speed was almost his if not slightly weaker, so in place of teleporting away he stayed there and awaited for her to struck him, she lifted her axe and used the same skill with the fire attribute then she struck down at Arthur with earth-shaking strength and in response for that Arthur just crossed his arms to defend.

”BOOM”

the impact sound was very loud and a small crater was formed under Arthur's legs and he was pushed back a little, he couldn't help but be astonished, her strength was more than his when she is in her [berserker mode], he could feel a little numbness in his arms but his health didn't decrease, this attack of hers made him want the [berserker mode] skill even more and he was excited for the day he would acquire it.

When Mary saw Arthur not willing to teleport away, she was delighted for she knew he couldn't handle her next attack and expected to injure if not kill him with that attack of hers, after all, she was in her [berserker mode] and only a handful of people can withstand her when she is in her current state and when she saw that her attack didn't even injure him and he was only pushed back a little she didn't dare belive her eyes, hell even his arms were in good shape, Mary remembred he moment when her axe landed on his arms, she felt like she had struck a mountain and not mere arms, 'th-this defense in unearthly...'

Zephir who was standing next to the principal, had also watched the whole fight and was in disbelief for he didn't expect this 'man' to be able to teleport non-stop and the more the fight continued the more surprised he became, he knew that this individual was by no means weak, he was even toying with Mary a member of the council, even though she was not fromt he strongest ones, her strength was decent and to be able to just play with her like that is not doable by just anyone.

Truthfully he just thought the fight would continue forever because Arthur just teleported to dodge every attack from Mary, but when he finally didn't, Zephir thought it was the end of 'him' despite having enough defense to resist Mary's punch, it was a world's difference between a punch and an attack buffed with a skill and adding that the Berserker mode, which further boosted the attack.

Nonetheless, such thoughts never crossed Arthur's mind as he just crossed his arms and successfully defended her attack while only being pushed a couple of meters so Zephir couldn't help but wonder 'why a mysterious figure like this would come here? What are his motives?' simply coming here to be a student is meaningless to him when he is this strong so Zephir turned his head towards Lucy who wasn't far away and became dazed as if he was thinking about something..

After receiving her head on attack, Arthur just teleported away and thought it was time to finish this nonsense, she is indeed strong and her strength is admirable, and he knew if hefought her in close-combat he would surely lose or just prolong the fight but he had magic and strong one at that so why doesn't he use it? but if he did, he didn't know what the consequences would be, because dark magic or the ancient flames are extremely strong and something like the ancient flames can annihilate humans completely so he looked at the beastman and spoke