"Ronny, be careful of your next opponents from now on. Don't get spooked or hesitate. Battle with them like usual.
Remember, the opponents are apparitions generated by the dungeon. Not real rankers."
Lady Zee warned Ronny with a strange message. The latter raised his eyebrows when he heard that. But he nodded at the D-Ranker anyway.
Ronny had taken care of his first apparition before it could even showcase the kind of spells it had. And he was planning to do the same with his next opponent as well. And start conserving his mana from the third battle onwards.
Ronny's mana expenditure had almost doubled because of his fast-paced play. But he had saved on the stamina he was going to need if he wanted to fight four fights.
But the apparition that was supposed to be Ronny's next opponent started to transform as soon as it stepped into the battle ring. Everything from the apparition's facial features, stature, build, to its generic clothes changed. They all changed to make Ronny remember the first E-Rank hunter he had fought after finding a new lease on life.
'This is… Dom Walker!'
Ronny recognized the changed silhouette immediately after the changes were finished. He now understood why Lady Zee said what she said. He needed to defeat someone he knew from the past.
'Wait a minute. This means the dungeon can read my memories. The fuck. How?'
Ronny understood another thing from the detail that had unfolded in front of him. The dungeon couldn't arrange something like this without scanning the participants' mana signature alone.
Ronny hoped the dungeons or S-Rank entities couldn't do that just by sensing the ranker's mana sense. Otherwise, there was no point in trying to hide anything from the Sages.
Most likely, Ronny figured, it was the array mechanism of the dungeon scanning the participants' memories. But that didn't make things any less spooky for him than they already were.
Ronny had too many things to hide. He didn't want someone unexpected to show up. Dom was still okay because nobody in his squad had recognized him. But he would be in trouble if someone they all knew showed up like an apparition.
He then shook his hand before consoling himself:
There should be a variety of ways rankers can pull off the same miracle at S rank. I was only a D-Ranker in my past timeline. That restricted view is limiting my imagination, enabling me to label things around me as possible or impossible.'
Ronny reexamined his knowledge of high-ranking entities from his previous timeline and he found it to be lacking. But there was nothing he could do now.
Plus, there was no time to worry about who the next opponent would be. Ronny needed to take care of his current opponent first.
That being said, Ronny felt that the dungeon had messed up creating an opponent like Dom that was referenced from his memories. Because he didn't have any attachment with the guy. If he could take care of him that day while he was rankless, he could certainly do the same now that he was a ranker as well.
'Blitz Bolt
Blitz Steps
Stunning Speed
Sedated Perception'
This time, Ronny decided to get up close and personal and bring out his true potential as a close combat expert. The simple combo would cut down his mana consumption while enabling him to maintain his fast-paced battle style.
*******
Dom Walker's apparition looked just like him. But instead of the eyes, there were hollow sockets that were filled by the void. The lack of eyes in the eye sockets made Dom look a bit different from his previous self.
Eren's memory of Dom was not complete. It meant that he hadn't seen him use his spells or element when he had killed him. The guy had been drugged by the butcher, due to which he couldn't exert his mana for spell casting.
Ronny understood that the details missing in his memory would be filled randomly by the dungeon. Dom hoped the dungeon didn't possess omnipotent powers to figure out what Dom's real element was, even though he had died without leaving behind a body.
*******
Dom responded to Ronny's incoming assault by drawing out an Odachi from its sheath. He swung his weapon at his opponent and cut him in half.
Or so it looked like.
But what Dom had cut just a moment before turned out to be Ronny's afterimage. Thanks to the Sedated Perception and Stunning Speed, the guy could manoeuvre easily despite having a small room to do so.
Eren was seen standing behind Dom the next instant with his back to him. His two daggers were found behind him, in a position to pierce his opponent's back.
Just like Ronny's fast movement left a series of afterimages in its wake, it seemed that Dom's weapon mastery enabled him to pull off the same phenomenon. Because as the Odachi was seen taking care of Ronny's afterimage, it also appeared behind its wielder in a defensive position. It had successfully blocked Ronny's attack.
Ronny could imagine Adept Marla flaring her nose at him for trying to sneak up behind his enemy and still failing the task. A close combat expert would rarely use sneak attacks like rogues and assassins. That being said, when they did use them, it was akin to an assassin's sure shot kill. Or at least that's how it was supposed to play out.
Dom's ranking status made him technically more powerful than Ronny because he was on the verge of breaking into the D-Rank when he was killed. The apparition stayed true to Ronny's image of Dom and granted him the prowess of someone who was just a few steps away from breaking into the D-Rank.
Ronny didn't lose hope just because his weapon was blocked though. He decided to continue with his current spell combo.
Ronny removed his weapon from the stalemate and quickly created a distance between him and Dom. The latter was still slow to launch a successful counterattack this time.
A chirping sound was heard as Ronny executed his Bitz Bolt to full potential. He approached his opponent again, intending to make his attack count this time.
============
AN: A description I found on Wiki about Odachi.
The Odachi is a traditional Japanese sword. It was mainly used by the samurai class of feudal-era Japan.. The Chinese equivalent of this type of sword is the Miaodao, while its Western equivalent is Weihander or Claymore.