When leaving the management office, Angor did not really believe that he just got what he needed so easily from Melantha. Also, Melantha set up a condition for him; he must not abstain from any match until he was allowed to surrender.
And Angor did not have any problem agreeing to it.
His exceptional case would not affect the fairness of the matches. However, he did wonder why Melantha agreed to help him when they hardly knew each other.
Angor could not think about any reason and so, in the end, he concluded that Melantha was only a certain individual who was willing to help him out of kindness.
He had forgotten that Sunders gained the records about his matches because the man had some kind of connection with Sky Tower. Melantha, as one of the managers in the tower, should certainly know about Angor’s true identity, and it was natural that she would help him when she knew Sunders was his professor.
Sunders was never the man to take students easily, which meant Angor must possess something special. Till now, Sunders had only accepted two students, both of whom successfully became wizards.
And Melantha expected just as much from Angor.
Earning a favor from a future wizard without affecting the fairness of the arena matches was totally acceptable. She would gladly do it even if Angor was unqualified for a wizard. No one would complain since the exception might have actually increased Angor’s risk.
Angor himself, however, was still too inexperienced to realize Melantha’s intention.
…
After getting his request approved by Melantha, the lottery handler in Level 5 did not reject him this time and quickly changed his resting time between matches to five minutes.
Angor began to progress in the tower a lot faster.
Due to his now congested schedule, he had to manage his mana very precisely. As a level-1 apprentice, his mana pool was not big. Every bit of mana had to be spent carefully in order not to get exhausted too fast. He could no longer cast spells at free will like what he did in the previous matches.
This meant keeping his 100% win rate had become harder.
He ran into more and more opponents who posed a great threat to him such as puppet users, spirit attack users, and someone who could actually damage people by using oral language… He always had to spend lots of mana, sometimes even using his rune bolts, when facing these people.
Now he finally understood why Melantha forbade him from giving up the matches in advance.
Stronger opponents cost him way more mana and effort, as well as time, which meant he needed to rest a lot before taking the next match. If he chose his opponents intentionally by giving up matches against such opponents right away, he would be able to climb even faster by avoiding certain opponents, which was unfair. Melantha already predicted something like this, so she set a rule to restrict Angor from doing so.
One week later, Angor reached the tenth level.
The audience stands in here were no longer vacant. Time to time, Angor could see small groups of people watching the matches. However, they usually watched the matches of famous fighters. He did not really have anyone around his own battles.
Until one day, his lottery placed him against someone called Starsoul. The audience stands already received a lot of people before the match. When Angor came up to the arena, about 30% of the seats were taken.
This was the first time he saw so many spectators ever since he left Level 1.
He did not believe all those people were here for him though, which could only mean that they came to watch Starsoul.
So… was Starsoul really good?
He got his answer soon enough when it was only two minutes into the fight.
Yes. Starsoul was strong. Very strong!
Angor could not quite put his finger on why Starsoul acted strong. However, he was sure that the man in front of him had the most terrible character among everyone he had gone against before.
Starsoul kept spitting on the floor and giving him twisted gazes during the match. This guy’s laughter sounded like the screaming of a thousand ghosts combined together. He looked like a melancholy handsome before the match, but after the match began, he immediately switched into some kind of frenzied mode.
Angor did not understand Starsoul’s strength because Starsoul’s means of attacks were completely new to him—the man manipulated the shadow of a faint female figure.
At first, he was completely puzzled by it. However, after several close inspections, Angor finally realized what that shadow as well as who Starsoul was.
The participant information he received from Dave contained the detailed description of Starsoul.
Angor did not recognize Starsoul until now because Dave’s data only showed someone with long hair which covered his shoulders. In the crystal ball, Starsoul looked just as “dispirited”, but his image appeared more like an artist.
The man in front of him, on the other hand, was a complete psychopath.
‘Starsoul’ Saka, Occult Soul Manipulator, a Level-2 apprentice, student of ‘Deadman’s Redemption’ Ness Byron. He was adept at controlling souls and always carried powerful souls around. He named the souls as “The Three Stars”.
Dave’s data only recorded two of the Three Stars, ‘Virgo’ Silvia and ‘Venus’ Herrington. According to the data, Saka was already strong enough to reach the top level, but the man had been staying at lower levels as if waiting for something.
Compared to these, Angor was more concerned about Saka’s mentor, ‘Deadman’s Redemption’ Ness Byron.
Hookdick’s mentor.
This was totally acceptable though, considering the fact that Hookdick’s talent was also Soul Manipulator.
…
The female shadow beside Saka was ‘Virgo’ Silvia, the soul of a powerful apprentice witch.
She used to be another participant in Sky Tower but was later killed by Saka and became his tool.
Angor was having a hard time keeping himself up in the match. His physical attacks were pointless against Silvia. Also, she could move through his ice walls with ease.
Saka, on the other hand, had a strange chain around his body which completely blocked Angor’s bolts.
Thankfully, Silvia’s attacks were not really powerful.
Angor was wondering though. According to Dave’s information, ‘Virgo’ Silvia could release powerful howls that shocked people’s souls, thus rendering them unconscious for a while.
Silvia had done it many times, but Angor did not feel anything at all. He thought Silvia was simply threatening him rather than using her rumored soul attack.
Just now, Silvia looked really furious about something.
It troubled Angor even more. None of his attacks affected Silvia, so why did she grow so angry all of a sudden?
Red color caused by great rage slowly appeared around Silvia’s cheeks. Her soul form began to shine with a faint red light.
The sudden change immediately reminded Angor of something else in Dave’s data. Apart from Soul Howling, Silvia could use another skill called Soul Absorption.
A master at this skill could directly pull someone’s soul away from its owner’s body. Silvia, however, could only inflict pain on someone’s soul at best.
Still, pain on the soul meant unbearable agony which could easily force someone to surrender.
Angor did not know what he should do. He never learned anything about soul defense. He could only keep shooting at Saka, hoping to do some damage.
He did not bring Toby today, or he would already have asked Toby to go for Saka.
Out of desperation, Angor took out a golden bolt with an armor-piercing rune on it. Surely this thing would break Saka’s chain apart?
Saka remained stationary when Silvia kept her attacks on Angor. The man only fixed his malevolent glare at Angor while spitting on the ground now and then like a maniac. When Silvia began to use Soul Absorption, his twisted face became worse.
Pong!
The armor-piercing bolt left Angor’s sleeve and broke the sound barrier.
The golden beam headed straight toward Saka’s chain.
As Angor expected, Saka’s chain was useful at deflecting his ordinary golden bolts, but not against the enchanted one.
When the chain broke down, Saka’s face went pale. What he had was not an actual chain, but a defensive tactic used by Soul Manipulators called Spirit Chain. The sturdiness of the chain depended on its user’s soul. If the chain got damaged, so would his soul.
Saka did not expect something like this to happen.
More importantly, the enchanted bolt did more than damaging his chain and soul. After penetrating his defense, the bolt kept going for his body.
In the end, the bolt disappeared into Saka’s shoulder and created a bleeding hole on it.
Angor was very good at aiming thanks to his archery training during his childhood. He had meant to shoot at Saka’s shoulder, instead of going for his opponent’s heart.
In the participant data, Dave said that Saka “accidentally” killed Silvia, and something like that never happened again in his Sky Tower battles. No matter how his opponents offended him, Saka would only order Silvia to shock their souls and leave them out cold on the ground.
This was the reason why Angor regarded Saka as one of the “rare, good wizards” in this world. The man looked crazy, sure. However, Angor did not really wish to kill him.
Angor believed that the shot was enough to force Saka to surrender.
The truth told him otherwise.
Silvia did not stop casting her Soul Absorption, and Saka did not look discouraged at all. Rather, his eyes glimmered with blood-red color while his already twisted face grew even scarier. Angor was positive he just saw a hint of excitement on Saka’s face.
Excitement?? While his shoulder was still losing blood like mad?
At this moment, Silvia’s skill looked prepared. Angor sighed in defeat as the woman’s soul released a red light beam.
A strange ripple was released from Silvia’s form.
Saka looked overexcited.
Angor thought he was going to lose it by receiving some kind of soul damage, so he was prepared to accept his first defeat.
However…
The ripples of Soul Absorption came, and he only sensed a sharp but brief tingle as if someone just poked him with a needle.
… And nothing else.
Silvia was no longer releasing light. Angor stood on the arena just fine.
When Angor noticed that everyone was looking at him with great shock—except for Saka, who had a look of doubt—he asked in his faked low voice, “That’s it? That was your Soul Absorption?”