“Shadow Serpent Style…”

“Strike of the Venomous Night!”

Summoning a bit of Shadow Energy from the small black mass near his heart, Valyr adeptly maneuvered the energy towards the spear he held, merging it with a bit of his mana as a dark haze swiftly covered the spear tip.

Then, thrusting out with all his strength, Valyr sent the dark haze towards Hal, allowing the combination of mana and Shadow Energy to mingle with one another before causing a shockwave to appear in its place only a few seconds later.

Bang!

“Kuh!” With how there wasn’t enough time for him to employ his evasive skill, Hal decided to rely on his blade to defend against the attack, brandishing his sword in the direction of Valyr’s attack before infusing it with as much mana as he could.

Whoosh!

Fortunately for Hal, with how much mana he had infused into his blade, almost all of the force from the resulting shockwave transferred onto the sword he wielded, making his hands tremble as the remaining force from the attack pushed him back a couple of meters.

“Haah…” After he had regained his footing, Hal let out a low sigh as he stabbed his ground to the sword for the meantime, briefly gazing at his hands that continued to tremble. Then, after taking in a deep breath, he used both hands to slap himself on the face before picking up the sword once more.

“I must admit that I’ve become overconfident in my abilities.” Slowly making his way towards Valyr, Hal eyed the boar that still roamed around the crater, keeping its position in mind as he continued to move closer. “After all, rarely would I come across an opponent that would prompt me to use everything in my arsenal.”

“With that, I must thank you for waking me up from my complacency.” Stopping in his tracks all of a sudden, he then bent his knees, gathering all of the strength he could muster towards his legs before dashing forward.

Gaining an idea of what Hal was trying to achieve, Valyr placed the spear behind his back as he ordered the boar he had summoned to move closer to him. However, just as he had manipulated the earth to erect a thick wall in front of him…

Hal had made his move.

“Lesser Nirvana…”

“Enlightenment.”

…

“And here I thought the gap in strength between me and Valyr was somewhat negligible.” Watching the high-octane fight between Valyr and Hal unfold, Faulus could not help but let out a long sigh as he thought about the foolish thoughts he came up with while fighting against Valyr. “Who knew he’d be hiding such a ridiculous amount of strength like that?”

“I’m quite surprised as well.” Deciding to stay all of them sat earlier, Loreina nodded in agreement, recalling the faint feeling she had while watching Faulus and Valyr fight for the first time. “Though I did get the feeling he was hiding a great portion of his strength while fighting against you.”

“Are you telling me that I’m weak, then?” Feeling somewhat offended by Loreina’s words, Faulus looked back at the young woman with a slight frown, only to let out a sigh soon after as the woman’s expression remained unchanged.

“Alright, fine. I’ll put in more effort into training my combat abilities before we enter the inheritance.” Sighing once more, Faulus returned his attention back to the crater, with Loreina letting out a soft giggle in response to the former’s words.

“So, who do you think is gonna win?” Returning her attention back to the crater as well, Loreina soon went ahead and dropped Faulus a question, causing the latter to furrow his eyebrows for a bit.

“To be honest, I thought it would be Hal at first, but I don’t know anymore.” Scratching the back of his head, Faulus eventually shook his head as he looked at her. “With how the current fight is turning out, I’d say Ylvar might have a greater chance at winning.”

“Yeah… I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” In response, Loreina gave Faulus a wry smile as her eyes remained glued to the crater.

Slightly confused as to why she would say that, Faulus was about to ask her reasoning when the young woman pointed towards the crater, prompting him to take a look and see what was going on.

“Ah…” Shifting his head back to the crater, it did not take long for Faulus to find the evidence backing up Loreina’s claim, staring with slightly widened eyes as Hal’s body began to glisten a faint yellow.

“Well then…”

“Guess Ylvar’s going to be facing a bit of trouble for some time.”

…

“Oh?” Watching the earth wall he had erected be destroyed with a couple slashes, Valyr swiftly moved back as he raised his eyebrow in interest, noticing that Hal’s aura had become stronger within a short span of time. Accompanied by the fact that the man’s body now began to glisten a faint yellow, it did not take long for Valyr to put two and two together, briefly chuckling as he grinned.

“I’ll be fighting you seriously from now on.” Infusing part of his mana into the blade and into his hand, Hal sent out a large blade of energy towards Valyr, only to be followed up with a series of bolts that also glistened a faint yellow.

“Crimson Blade Torrent!” Finding Hal’s words somewhat amusing, Valyr retaliated against the attack with a barrage of blades made out of crimson flames, making use of both quality and quantity to turn his opponent’s attack into a waste of resources.

“So, if I’m interpreting this correctly, you haven’t been fighting me seriously so far?” Then, seeing as Hal remained idle after defending against his attack, Valyr decided to taunt the man into action, a technique he had used against Faulus during their fight earlier.

“Greater Lupus Summoning.” However, rather than respond to Valyr’s question with a series of words, Hal instead used his actions as an answer, spending a considerable chunk of his mana to summon a small group of wolves in front of him. Then, after consuming a mana potion he had stored in his spatial bracelet, he commanded all of the wolves to attack Valyr as he followed closely behind them.

“Now we’re getting somewhere.” Deciding to top off his mana reserves as well, Valyr hastily consumed a mana potion stored inside his spatial bracelet as he increased the distance separating him and Hal, giving himself time to think about his next move.

Then again, it didn’t take long for him to come up with an idea, considering what he was up against.

“Rage of the Nascent Wyvern!”

“Intermediate Fire Magic Style: Blazing Vigor!”𝒪𝗏𝑙xt.𝐂𝞸𝑚

“Intermediate Shamanic Summoning Arts!”