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nWhile the tall man had sent Valyr flying once more into the distance, the other person that accompanied him looked at Tristan before him with cold sweat dripping down his forehead, recalling the goal of stalling for time given to him. Though, as he thought about the goal, he could not help but think about the attacks he had received from the man before him so far. ‘I swear I’ll ask those **ers from the guild for a bonus even if it’s the last thing I’ll ever do.’

n‘Who knew the target would have a Rank 2 class holder with him?!’

nWhoosh!

nDashing towards his opponent, Tristan had an angered expression on his face as he sent out a punch, with the shadowy figure barely dodging the attack by a hair. Retaliating, the figure sent out a barrage of strikes, most of which were received by Tristan.

nHowever, rather than grimace in pain from the strikes, Tristan flashed a cruel grin at the man, landing a kick straight on the figure’s stomach as the latter was sent flying for a few meters. While the shadowy figure was sent flying, Tristan could not help but look at the fight happening not far away from him, a hint of worry in his eyes.

nSeeing that his opponent got up and was in the midst of charging at him, he could not help but inwardly let out a sigh. “I hope you find a way out of this.”

nWith that, he refocused his attention back on his opponent, ducking under the jab the figure had sent before landing a hook on his opponent’s face.

nAs the shadowy figure received the hook head-on, he could not help but think that it would be a while before he could leave this fight.

n…

nThud!

nLanding on the ground, Valyr cried out a bit in pain as he stood up once more. At first, rage and indignance at what was happening to him filled his entire body. However, now that the waves of pain he felt from being sent flying had finally settled in, he could not help but look at the whole situation with a hint of confusion.

nAfter all, it was all too sudden.

nLetting out a light hiss as he gritted his teeth from the pain, Valyr was forced to move to the side as his opponent dashed past him, the latter’s stance aiming to land a headbutt. Noticing that his attack hadn’t landed, the tall man stood up and turned around, quickly closing the gap between the two of them before landing a flurry of hits.

nIn retaliation, Valyr held up his spear and tried to block the attacks as best as he could. However, with each hit, he felt as if his entire body quaked from the strength contained behind each hit. With that in mind, he could not help but find the current situation even more absurd than it already was.

n“Who sent you two to ambush us?” Valyr asked, hoping that the person he was fighting against would answer. Thankfully for him, the man did answer… though the answer he received was not something he expected.

n“Someone who wants you dead,” the tall man replied, causing Valyr to go into a daze. Seeing the obvious opening in front of him, the tall man went ahead and landed a stomp on Valyr’s chest, sending the latter tumbling for a couple meters.

n‘If only I could tell him the Blacksmith Guild was behind this,’ the man thought to himself as he inwardly let out a sigh. ‘Unfortunately, they had me sign an oath before undertaking this mission.’

nWhile the tall man lamented the fact he could not tell their target the truth behind the current situation, Valyr could not help but stare at the man a couple meters away from him before turning his gaze to the shadowy figure Tristan was fighting against, taking everything in as he felt even more confusion. “Someone wants me dead? I’m pretty sure I haven’t offended anyone…”

n“Gah! This is too confusing!” Feeling as if the only way to get actual answers regarding the current situation was to defeat the man before him, Valyr’s expression turned solemn, brandishing his spear before dashing forward at his full speed.

nChanneling the confusion he currently felt into rage, he aimed his spear at the tall man, to which the latter responded by extending one of his arms out, seemingly aiming to catch the spear with just one hand. Seeing this, Valyr’s eyes narrowed as he activated one of his skills, instantly increasing his speed as a jet of blood shot out of the dull end of the spear.

n“Blood Drive!”

nThud!

nTo the tall man’s surprise, Valyr’s spear made contact with his chest rather than his hands. Seeing this, Valyr gained a bit of confidence as he felt a hint of vitality enter his body, retracting the spear before rotating, increasing the spear’s momentum.

n“Robust Arms!”

n“Descending Fang!”

nWhoosh!

nBang!

nAt the moment he had activated Robust Arms, the speed at which the spear rotated increased by a considerable degree, increasing the momentum the spear had when it landed on the tall man’s head. As a result, a faint explosion sound resounded from the collision, making Valyr think that his opponent would have taken grievous damage by now.𝗈𝗏𝒍xt.𝒸𝗈𝕞

nHowever, once he took a look at the tall man, a frown could not help but appear on his face.

nAside from a bit of bleeding on the man’s head, the man seemed mostly fine. In fact, he could not help but feel like the man was grinning at him, feeling as if the man was silently mocking him for his seemingly futile actions.

nGritting his teeth, Valyr retracted his spear and sent out another Strong Pierce, aiming towards one of the man’s vital spots. Unfortunately, before it could even land, the man stopped its momentum midway by clenching down tightly on the spear’s shaft.

nSeeing this, Valyr let go of the spear for now as he took out Red Blossom from his waist, thinking that he had inadvertently made the right choice for not giving the weapon back to the Blacksmith Guild. As the tall man had dropped his spear to the ground, Valyr brandished the dagger and plunged it behind the man’s back, using most of his body weight and momentum to do so.

nThough, just as the tall man thought that was all, Valyr went ahead and pressed the button on the end of the dagger, causing the part of it that was plunged into the man’s body to open. Unsurprisingly, the man could not help but let out a hiss of pain from the attack, finding the mechanism the weapon employed quite devilish.

nHowever, rather than retaliate against the attack, he instead let out a low chuckle, slowly turning around to face Valyr as he felt that he had exhausted the latter’s options in fighting. With that in mind, he reached for the dagger and yanked it out without hesitation, causing a bit of his blood to spill on the ground. Watching the scene unfold before him, Valyr could not help but think that the man was not only ruthless to him, but to himself as well.

nJust as Valyr thought he could recuperate for a bit after what the man had done, the man instead dashed at him, pinning him down on the ground as Valyr still felt the man grin at him. Then, without any shred of mercy, the man landed fist after fist on Valyr’s body, causing the latter to cry out in pain.

nBang! Bang! Bang!

nWith each consecutive fist, Valyr’s wails grew louder and louder. However, with the number of fists the man landed on his body, he eventually lost the will to cry out, feeling great indignance at the situation.

nAt some point, the man stopped pummeling him, thinking that he had done enough damage. “Consider that payback for the dagger you plunged behind my back.”

nListening to the man’s words, Valyr could not help but think about the current state of his body, feeling as if every bone in his body was broken to bits. He wanted to respond to the man’s words, yet with how injured he currently was, he could not bring himself to do so.

n“In any case, you’ve put a good fight against me, a Rank 4 class holder. That’s already an achievement in itself.” Hearing the man’s next statement, Valyr’s eyes widened in shock and fear, prompting him to mull over everything he had done so far to warrant someone with a Rank 4 class to make a move against him.

nAfter all, a Rank 4 class holder was over Level 55 at the very least! Such a gap was impossible to close, even for him!

nJust as he thought the shadowy figure before him was now going to deal the final blow, he heard words come out of the man’s mouth once more as he closed his eyes, causing it to open once more as he listened to it. “In any case, since you’ve shown me a good fight, I’ve decided to spare your life. I’ll just find a way to prove to that person who hired me that you’re dead.”

n“Wuh…” Though what Valyr really wanted to say was ‘why the sudden change of heart’, with how beaten up his body was, he could only utter out unintelligible sounds.

nAs if he understood what Valyr was trying to say, the man replied, “As I said, you’ve shown me a good fight, even with the disparity in our strengths. In fact, I’m quite curious as to who would be the victor if we ever cross paths again someday.”

n“Get stronger. I have a feeling we’ll meet again someday. Plus, it wouldn’t be interesting if you didn’t.” With that, the tall man left Valyr on the ground.

nAlthough he felt a mix of confusion, rage, and indignance at the current situation, wanting to find out more as to why he was ambushed, Valyr’s body eventually succumbed to the injuries even though he resisted against it through sheer willpower, falling unconscious as Tristan’s cries were the last thing he heard before everything turned black.

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