Chapter 706 (2/2)

Still, it wouldn’t be done in time for his match today. “Will you use this as an excuse if you lose?”

Randidly gave her a wry smile. “I won’t lose.”

Azriel mimed being shocked. “I was so filled with dread earlier that I didn’t want to ask, but have you truly mastered the ability to create cool breezes? Such a talent will be so useful to store meat in the summer. Undoubtedly you will be highly in demand.”

“Ha,” Randidly laughed. Then he shook his head. “Believe me, it will be fine. I may look like this, but the worst of it should be gone. Come on, let’s go to the tournament.”

Although he looked somewhat stiff to Azriel’s eyes, Randidly’s speed was quick as they left the Hall of Stance and went towards the grand Colosseum of Hastam. There would only be two fights today, and Randidly’s would be first. He and Helen would be kicking off the entire tournament.

While they walked, Azriel watched Randidly out of the corner of her eye. He forced them to stop briefly and Randidly bought a large bowl of steaming hot noodles that he downed as they walked towards the arena. Truly, he was improving at a visible rate. His skin looked pink and healthy. His eyes seemed to burn green, even in the daytime.

Suddenly, Randidly noticed Azriel’s gaze and he glanced over at her with his lips pursed. “What is it?”

“She’s strong, you know,” Azriel said. “I’ve sparred with Helen a lot over the past week. She truly means to defeat you. You cannot expect an easy match.”

“I wouldn’t want an easy match,” Randidly replied. He let out a long breath, and none of his breath was cold enough to mist up. “We have an understanding. Helen knows she has to come with everything she has, or I will crush her.”

“You underestimate her,” While speaking, Azriel shook her head.

Randidly grinned at her. “Maybe you are underestimating me.”

“I’ve made that mistake before. I won’t again.” Azriel said firmly. “But Helen is different than you. In your eyes, you see the great troubles of the world. Do not think I miss that your Skill has you wearing a crown. It is an inauspicious shape for Tellus, and yet you pay it no mind. It makes your intentions incredibly clear. But on the other hand… Helen’s eyes are locked on you. Your strengths and your flaws. I do not mean to say that she is the more dangerous out of the two of you, but…”

Azriel paused. “...her gaze has been on you for so long. The person who currently has the greatest chance of defeating Randidly Ghosthound is Helen.”

To her surprise, this just seemed to amuse Randidly. “Isn’t that your game? A move will only beat you once? And to hit a second time, I would need to evolve my plans and abilities mid-fight. If I can manage that, why is this preparation something you take so seriously?”

What could Azriel say to that? Randidly was correct, in a very narrow way. His abilities were strange and varied. It wasn’t an over exaggeration to say that the danger of fighting Randidly was to be forced to deal with all of the different avenues of attacks that he could throw at you. And because he had so many Skills, he could take advantage of even the slightest weakness.

But Azriel also knew that the reason why Randidly was occasionally able to overcome her expectations and strike at her was that she was always surprised when her projections turned out to be insufficient to cover Randidly. There was a definite point of surprise.

Meanwhile, Azriel knew that Helen had been forcefully pressing that out of herself in the past three months.

No, it likely started far before that. Perhaps for almost a year.

Helen fought on the front lines, where the slightest weakness meant death. Time and time again, she found herself in impossible situations where there was no hope. Only by hitting that bottom point did Helen encounter her own iron rod spine that served her through tragedy and disaster, time after time.

Surprise would not stop her. Impossible situations would not throw her. She had unshakable confidence and an admirable amount of flexibility. Her ferocity with the spear provided enough pressure that weaker spear users would falter before her. Helen was a soldier who had never once skipped her training.

Azriel might be a genius and Randidly might be a monster, but Helen was the soldier. She was a professional at facing down trouble.

And it is true that the soldier could not match up to the genius in most walks of life, the one place the soldier had an advantage was fulfilling her role: killing monsters.

But if Randidly didn’t believe, Azriel could say nothing more to warn him. He would need to find out for himself that what was truly scary about Helen... were the things she had learned from watching Randidly.