[You have accepted the challenge. Please select the weapon of your choice. You can also use verbal commands to design your weapon with the help of your Mana. The challenge will generate it for you.]
Almond began to design a badass heavy sword: 7 inches thick at the base, tapering gradually till its point, and its blade curved slightly.
Lily, on the other hand, opted for a long-curved dagger, slick and sharp for precision and agility.
Once the two had completed their designs, a notification prompted them to confirm their weapon designs.
They approved, and soon their creations materialized before them.
[Heavy Black Sword]
-Rank: Special
-Durability: —
-Attack: 100% of the user’s Strength.
Lily’s dagger featured some similar stats, as neither of these weapons possessed an extra attack or effect bonuses.
[Now that you have acquired your weapon, the avatar of Delfer Tol’ Zemen will manifest in a minute. Please prepare yourselves.]
After the notification, Almond turned to Lily, his tone serious. “Lily, this guy is a weapon master, and he is crazily good in overall combat. I’m sure that we won’t face much difficulty, but we can learn a lot from him. Let’s fight with that mindset.”
“Gotcha. But we will have to rely on our Mana techniques, right?”
“Without a doubt. We will need to use every one of them to contend against him evenly and also have a slight advantage that would let us defeat him. Beheading him will end the fight, but don’t take my words literally. We will have to give the best of ourselves to win—this is pure martial combat with weapons, no fancy skills.”
Lily nodded, her expression somber, “Understood.”
With that, both of them began consuming Mana and used the Mana techniques so that they could recover most of their lost mana once Delfer’s avatar appeared.
Strength Boost — 100 Mana, 1-minute duration.
Almond’s Strength Boost stood at Stage 2 level 10, tripling his Strength, bringing it to 450.
On the other hand, Lily’s Strength Boost had reached the same, but her Strength stood at 121 after assigning all the stat points she had gained so far and from the fruits she ate.
Lily’s current stats were as follows:
↳[Strength: 121 | Health: 113 | Stamina: 112]
↳[Mana: 112 | Focus: 115 | Perception: 115]
Almond’s Focus Field was at Stage 2 level 7, but it would offer little advantage since the combat area was small, and the function of Stage 2 Focus Field had no use here.
Nonetheless, his heightened perception and reaction speed within the Focus Field was higher than Lily, who had Stage 2 level 2 Focus Field.
But since Focus Field consumed Mana every second, they planned not to activate it right away.
Fortification — 100 Mana, 1-minute duration.
Almond’s Fortification was at Stage 2 level 9, boosting his overall physical toughness and magic resistance by 190%. It would form a transparent barrier sticking to his clothes, protecting him from a decent amount of damage.
Lily’s Fortification was at Stage 2 level 3, increasing her overall toughness and resistance by 130%.
Body Enfold—100 Mana per minute.
Almond’s Body Enfold was at Stage 2 level 7, which enhanced the overall stats and performance of his body by 170%.
Lily’s Body Enfold was at Stage 2 level 1, granting her overall stats and body performance an increase of 110%.
Weapon Enfold—100 Mana per minute.
Almond’s Weapon Enfold was at Stage 2, level 10, amplifying the damage done by his weapon by 200%.
Lily’s Weapon Enfold was at Stage 2 level 4, increasing the damage dealt from her Weapon by 140%.
But despite their preparations, the two were focused on synchronizing with their new weapons. They knew that it was crucial to master the connection before the countdown ended. They carefully scanned the weapon and memorized every detail of its structure. Only then could they properly activate Weapon Enfold on it.
Their synchronization completed with just five seconds left on the countdown.
The moment the challenge began and Delfer’s avatar materialized, both Almond and Lily stylized their Mana techniques, channeling their respective elements.
Almond’s Fortification, Body Enfold, and Weapon Enfold shimmered with golden haze lightning, consuming an additional 150 Mana per minute.
In addition to that, to amplify his power further, Almond used a skill—Voltron Edge (S): a skill that infused a melee-type weapon with crackling lightning energy, increasing the damage dealt by the weapon significantly and imbibing lightning-attribute to all attacks released through the weapon.
Lily mirrored his actions, channeling her Darkness element. However, unlike Almond, she didn’t have a skill like Voltron Edge to enhance her attacks further.
On the other hand, Delfer’s avatar stood before them, resembling a middle-aged man with an obscure face, clad in plain light clothing and holding a spear.
“Wait,” Almond said, stopping Lily as she was about to take the initiative.
[The challenge has started. Good luck.]
Delfer’s avatar bowed, clasping his fist before assuming a passive stance, his spear held steady as if inviting them to attack.
“So, we get to make the first move, huh?” Lily raised an eyebrow.
“Yep, but I doubt he will wait forever,” Almond smiled, his legs slightly stretched, his sword gripped firmly in his right hand while his left hand remained empty but not useless.
“You dive in later while I’ll make the first move. You have a dagger, so you are an assassin,” Almond glanced at her. “This is an opportunity for you to learn, so observe closely, look for an opening and strike when the opportunity presents itself.”
“Gotcha,” Lily nodded.
With that, Almond dashed forward like a gust of wind. His sword arched upward in a diagonal slash while letting his body flow as if he were going to use the momentum to spin after the slash.
Delfer’s spear moved, but he didn’t use it to block Almond’s attack. Instead, he took a step back to get out of Almond’s sword’s range while his spear lurched forward, menacingly aiming for Almond’s heart.
But Almond, intending to dance with his sword from the very beginning, had anticipated Delfer to dodge. His sword swung diagonally upward, and his body flowed along with it, spinning and dodging the spear while his left hand which was stretched straight and balled into a fist, went squarely to Delfer’s head, intending to punch him.
Lily’s eyes literally sparkled as she couldn’t help but get captivated by the seamless flow of attack from Almond.
To move along with a sword while coordinating was already tough, yet he was using a heavy sword to fuel momentum for his body and for his next move! It was indeed a marvelously beautiful experience to watch Almond fight with his sword.
But when Delfer managed to squarely block that unexpected fist with his empty arm which appeared vertically at his face, it soon made Lily realize that this challenge was indeed going to be tough.
Without hesitation, Delfer’s spear swung horizontally, intending to hit Almond’s waist. Almond, however, reacted instinctively after failing his fist attack and grabbed Delfer’s hand and used it as leverage to lift himself off the ground. With a sudden burst of strength, Almond flipped himself upside down, his body suspended right above Delfer.
Delfer glanced upward, his usually deadpan expression flickering with a faint smile stretching on his face.
*Zaaap!*
Golden electricity surged out of Almond, shocking Delfer. Yet, it failed to paralyze him—Delfer was immune to all debuffs except for pure physical disability inflicted on him by the challengers.
And all of that had happened in one full second.
In the blink of an eye, Delfer retaliated by moving his arm the next moment and throwing Almond away. While Almond landed on his feet, Delfer dashed forward, his spear thrusting like a striking snake at breakneck speed.
Almond reacted in time, his eyes glinting with focus as he met the attack with a powerful swing of his sword and speedily struck just below the spear’s blade.
*Crack!*
The spear snapped.
Seizing the moment, Lily’s eyes glinted as she darted forward like a shadow, her dagger slicing through the air, aiming to cut Delfer’s neck.
Almond moved in tandem, using Sword Bending Motion, intending to swiftly cut Delfer cleanly.
But Delfer was prepared. A dagger materialized in his left hand and a longsword in his right, both weapons deflecting Almond’s and Lily’s attack with chilling precision, before he kicked Lily away and redirected his focus on Almond.
‘Be careful. He hasn’t used his Weapon Arts yet. Always go with the mindset that your attack will fail against him.’
‘Understood.’