Confused and surprised, Eisen looked over at the Demon-Orc Halfling next to him. "Brody, what do you mean we're going to have a duel? When was that decided?" The old man asked, and Brody simply grinned back at him.
"Just now, you geezer. Come on, it'll be fun!" Brody laughed loudly, but Eisen just chuckled and shook his head. "I doubt that, honestly. It's going to be over after a few seconds, after all." Eisen answered, but Brody shook his head.
"Don't be like that! Just come!" By jerking his head in the direction of the area that was cleared up in the center of the crowd, Brody told Eisen to just shut up and get to it. So, with a loud sigh, the old man agreed and nodded his head.
"Fine, but at least go easy on me." Eisen told him, before Brody nodded and smirked. "Of course. I'll let you pick the weapon I use, I won't use my energies or any status-increasing abilities, and you can use any benefits you want. That should at the very least be more than enough to make up for the level difference." Brody answered before calling over a Priest to the God of Combat to watch over the duel.
"Oh, and to make up the obvious skill-difference… If you want me to use any weapon, then if you can get me to lose grip of the weapon, we'll count it as your win. Otherwise, it's the regular duel rules. Sound good?" Brody asked, and Eisen slowly nodded his head before taking a look at the different weapons that the Demon-Orc brought over, before coming to a conclusion.
"Alright, use the monkey-stick." Eisen answered as he picked up the long wooden staff and then threw it over to Brody, who looked back surprised. "Wait, seriously? The Monkey-Stick is a pretty high-tier weapon, at the very least it gives me a good few advantages over you." He answered, but Eisen simply smirked.
"That's fine. I'll just use my tools, if that's fine with you?"
"Of course, use anything you want." Brody smirked, before Eisen nodded and activated his demonic transformation, before taking his carving needle and creating a small enchantment on his palm and then turned back to Brody, who was curiously trying to figure out what Eisen was trying to do. But considering that even Xenia didn't recognize any part of the enchantment, not even the runes that Eisen used, it was obvious that Brody wouldn't have been able to figure it out.
"Alright, let's get started then." Eisen finally said before the Priest nodded and initiated everything to start the Duel, before a notification popped up in front of Eisen.
[You are about to start a Duel with someone over 40 Levels above your own. Are you sure you wish to continue?]
Of course, Eisen nodded his head and the notification disappeared, immediately being replaced by a different notification.
[You started a Duel with Brody. Loss and Win will be decided by the overseer]
Slowly, Brody grasped the monkey-stick tighter than before and pointed it at Eisen as the two of them locked eyes with each other, and Brody jumped forward toward the Demon-Titan, who activated any skills that might be useful for this fight, while a few people began to cheer for Eisen.
"Come on, beat his ass, Gramps!" Stahl yelled out, before Eisen inwardly chuckled and looked at the Demon before swiftly swinging his large hammer at the tip of the Monkey-Stick. That strength itself made Brody's grip slip a slight bit already, considering that Eisen had a good amount of increased stats and the hammer even strengthened the force as it was made with the Flame-Of-The-Earth Mythril. But Brody didn't worry about that and moved into a sideways-position, letting the staff slip all the way through to the hand that was further away from Eisen, before gripping it tightly again just at the end and swinging it around his back and grasped it with his other hand, and then used the light momentum he gained from that to press the monkey-stick against the ground and vaulted over Eisen's large body.
But the old man didn't just let that happen either and spread his large wings out and pushed them forward while jumping backward to move farther back so that Brody landed directly in front of him, swinging the stick down against Eisen's head.
Eisen tried to guard himself from that attack and thickened his rock-like skin at his underarms as he crossed them above his head, but the impact that he expected never came. Instead, using circular momentum, Brody pulled the monkey-stick backward and began to swing it around his arms to build up some speed before swinging it over against the side of Eisen's torso, which became open exactly due to old man guarding above his head.
And then, an onslaught of attack over attack followed, each not doing an immense amount of damage to Eisen, but all of it amounting to a good bit. But this was the perfect chance for Eisen to use the enchantment on his palm. When Brody came into Eisen's range again, the old man once more controlled his wings and covered Brody with them, trying to pull him in or at least obstruct him from immediately jumping away, before Eisen grasped the wooden monkey stick as tightly as he could, but Brody managed to slip through the opening in the wings and built up a little bit of a distance to Eisen. And to everyone's surprise, Eisen just did nothing next. He deactivated his demonic transformation and crossed his arms, and Brody began to chuckle.
"C'Mon, don't give up! It just got good!" Brody complained with a broad grin, but Eisen shook his head. "It was pretty fun, yes, but it's over now, sorry." The old man responded before Brody tilted his head to the side to think about what Eisen was saying, before Xenia could be heard in the background.
"Ah! So that's what you did! You branded it!" She exclaimed, pointing at the Monkey-stick, right where Eisen grasped it before. From that space outward, cracks began to form in the wood before spreading out all over it at an incredible pace, before the wooden monkey-stick simply shattered into a thousand splinters.
At first, nobody really knew what was going on, before Brody began to laugh loudly, "Seriously? Well, it's your win, old man. Really didn't expect that to happen." Brody admitted, before he looked over at the priest, who slowly nodded his head.
[You have won the Duel against Brody. No rewards have been set]
"Wait, what the hell just happened?" Alnico asked confused as she looked at her grandfather, who simply smiled and extended his hand to her to show her his palm. "I carved a mirrored enchantment on my hand. With the heat from my element, I then branded the enchantment into the monkey-stick's wood and poured my mana inside of it to activate it." Eisen explained, and Xenia looked at the old man excitedly, while the others were still trying to figure out what exactly happened.
"But seriously, how did you know that would work?" Stahl asked with a frown, but to his surprise, Eisen shook his head. "I didn't. I thought it was worth a try, but if it didn't work out, I would have just done my best, although I probably would have lost." Eisen explained as he looked at Brody.
"Oh… But isn't that kind of cheating? I mean, that wasn't a straightforward fight…" The green-haired teen pointed out, and now Brody answered for Eisen.
"Kid, I know you love your grandfather and all, and he's an awesome dude, but he never could have beat me in a fight. Ignoring our stat and skill disposition, my body remembers different movements to his. He's a craftsman, I'm a fighter." He explained, and Stahl slowly nodded his head at the Demon-Orc's explanation.
"Also, a 'Straightforward' fight isn't really a thing. A fight is literally about taking advantage of your opponent's weakspots, no matter how. Even 'Dirty' fighting is still part of a proper fight, because it's a way to beat your opponent. Trust me, in a life-and-death fight, you'll die if you concentrate on fighting 'straightforward' or 'fair'." Brody then added with his arms crossed, before looking back at the pile of splinters behind him. "Although I wish you wouldn't have broken my weapon, Eisen…"
"Sorry, I'll make you a new one. I'm sure you noticed it in the fight as well, but it wasn't in a great condition anymore anyway." The old craftsman pointed out, before Brody nodded his head.
"Oh definitely. It was one of the first weapons I bought, because it let me be pretty nimble and helped me dodge a bit while givin' me some nice range. I'm more used to fightin' people, so it took a good minute to get used to especially the weirder monsters." He explained, before Jyuuk began to chuckle.
"Aka Brawling Tree?" The Beastperson asked, and Brody began to grind his teeth while nodding.
"Fuckin' Brawling Tree." He cursed, and Eisen smiled at them before squatting down and looking at the initiator for all of what just happened, Fafnir.
"So bud, let's take a look… Level 99 huh?" Eisen said with a grin, before letting the small living dungeon climb onto his arm. "Now we just need to wait, I guess." He muttered to himself, before standing back up and looking around, noticing that the whole crowd was slowly dissipating after the event while his group gathered around him.
"So, what's happening now? Are we just going to sit down together a bit and relax, or are we going to do some more crazy stuff?" Stahl asked, once more one of the first that opened their mouths, as usual, before Eisen shrugged in response to his grandson's question.
"Well, my plan was to go up to the meeting room again and get Fafnir to level up. And then, try and figure out some of this dungeon business." He answered, and Stahl sighed loudly.
"And once you do that, what're we gonna do?" He asked, and Jyuuk spoke for the old man. "I'm guessing your Grandfather is planning on letting you level up inside that dungeon then, so that you don't die instantly when we're on the islands."
"Basically. The monsters there should be at least around Rank 3, and right now you'll struggle with anything stronger than low level animals." Eisen pointed out, and the five new players looked at each other slightly embarrassedly, before the old man moved his fingers through his beard.
"Other than that, I'd say I'll work on some different weapons that everyone finally requested. I also want to fish a little bit, so making some fishing rods is for sure also amongst what I'm going to do next. Anyone that wants to join in, just tell me and I'll make a rod for you." Eisen explained before some of the others already voiced some interest in fishing with him, so he took note and chose to work on some when he had the time.
"And what should we do, Eisen?" Rouge then asked, since they weren't really given a real task yet, but Eisen knew what he wanted them to do.
"Make weapons or tools for these five. Your skills aren't rank 3 yet, so they're going to be able to use them." Eisen told them as he pointed at Vardia, Kyla, Zyra, Stahl and Alnico, before the three apprentices nodded their heads excitedly.
"Of course!" Koro exclaimed happily, before Eisen shook his head. "Not you, Koro. I already talked to her about it, but Xenia is going to teach you about proper useage of enchantments. And only under her direct supervison are you allowed to enchant things or use alchemy in any way. And with 'Direct supervision' I mean that she has to have her attention on you, got it?" The old man explained, before Koro looked at the High-Elf confused.
"Wait, so-" He began, but Eisen cut him off. "Yes, you're going to take another test just before we reach the islands. Until then, just see Xenia as a private tutor or something." Eisen suggested, and while Xenia was unhappy with that wording, she ended up just accepting it.
"Thank you so much!" Koro exclaimed with a bright smile, before Eisen just smiled at the young man.