Chapter 178 - Explosivity

Medical appointment screwed with my schedule, had no time to proofread this one at all, might be a bit dirty, sorry

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Sofia didn’t exactly know how Astelia would react to the blood, but she didn’t expect her to just freeze like a statue with a terrified expression. [Immovable object]? She’s going to be stuck like that for at least five seconds.

She walked up to Astelia and pressed her mithril dagger against the Vampire’s throat. Not actually applying pressure since it was pointless to try to harm her in this state anyway. And she looks too pitiful with her expression and soaked in blood…

In the end, Astelia didn’t cancel her skill and the match ended like that.

I kinda won? But I never actually hurt her so… A draw? Oh well.

When the two girls reappeared on the spectating platform, Astelia regained control of her body and she crumbled to the floor, gasping on all fours as if she had nearly drowned. That was the worst post-duel reaction yet and she didn’t even die.

Was it that bad? I’m sorry…

Everyone except Sen expressed their concern, so the Seraph explained, “Miss Glacier will be fine, do not worry. A sudden exposure to so much blood is a bit challenging to deal with, especially for a young Vampire, but she will be fine in an instant even without my help. This will help her handle that better in the future. Now, back to the main event, Miss Alith is up next.”

“I’ll go against the giant elf.”

“Come on! I'm not even twice your height!”

“That you’re anywhere near it is scary enough.”

The quipping was interrupted by the disappearance of the two culprits.

Who wins this? Alith is normally disadvantaged by having no passive, but considering what we saw in Mornn’s fight against the knight, she’ll be in an incredible spot with her blessing. As long as that Saintess keeps using fire.

As soon as she appeared in the arena, Mornn unleashed her active spell, turning the whole arena into a burning valley of death inside of a violent tornado of flames. Sofia felt the heat reach all the way up to the spectating platform. The sun’s version of [Lunar realm]. Wouldn’t like to fight in these conditions. But to Alith…

The short banshee was twirling through the flame vortex without a care in the world. Charging [AvoiDance]; she’s bringing out the big stuff. Mornn seemed a bit disappointed that her skill looked like it didn’t do much. She closed her eyes as Alith approached and summoned two Mithril sabers and twirled them once too, waiting for Alith to reach her.

Only a few meters separated the two fighters, Mornn opened her eyes and dashed forward, her sabers flashing in the light of the flames. Alith dodged to the side with a small elegant jump and swung her kamas, but Mornn was faster, parrying the blow with one saber and launching a counterattack with the other.

Alith spun away, narrowly avoiding the attack that would have cut her head but Mornn pressed on with a follow-up horizontal strike which Alith avoided by bending backward and kicked away the other weapon as she performed a backflip. Mornn pressed forward, like a relentless force of nature, she barely gave Alith any time to breathe with her precise and swift saber strokes, but her attacks were parried with effortless grace.

The battle continued, Alith and Mornn locked in a deadly dance of spinning blades, they circled each other, their weapons blurring as they clashed and parried. They grazed each other a few times, Mornn had a few shallow cuts that burst up in flames and Dopple absorbed the hits for Alith.

But [AvoiDance] gradually ramped up, giving Alith more and more speed, and Sofia spotted something else, Alith’s weapons sent small bursts of mana into the Sun Saintess’ body every time she touched her. Alith actually chose [Heir of fire] as her passive. Her damage is ramping up with every blow.

The flames grew hotter as the fight raged on. Alith’s skills stacked to the point that she landed a solid hit, cutting off Mornn’s left arm at the shoulder. But she got hit in response, surprised by the Saintess’ lost arm letting place to a blue fire version of itself in its place as the real arm fell on the arena’s sand. The fire limb was still holding the Mithril Saber, digging deep into Alith’s side.

The wound is closing, she took a health candy before the match started.

Both fighters took a step back before re-engaging. The clash of blades went on, Mornn lost her second arm which was also replaced by a functional fiery limb. But these fake limbs were ever so slightly weaker than the real thing. Mornn lost some ground until, at the very end of the timer, she also lost her head to a final Kama strike, a feral smile on her face.

Everyone was startled by Mornn’s outcry of joy as she appeared fully healed on the spectating platform, raising her hands in the air.

“Woooooooooh! Yeaaaah shorty! That’s what I’ve been waiting for! That’s what it’s all about!”

Not what you’d expect of someone who just lost their head. Or is it?

Sofia chuckled internally at the bad double-meaning pun of her own thoughts.

Sen had to personally step up to calm the Saintess who was gushing praise about sword fights, ready to fight again right away, and instead designed Astelia and the knight for the next fight. That’ll be the sixth fight out of ten, we’re already halfway through. I still have to fight the Saintess and Alith.

The ‘fight’ was a one sided massacre. Astelia’s chosen active skill was [Repulsion], the same skill that had absolutely destroyed her Templar skeletons to bits by smashing them into the walls. The fate of the poor old knight wasn’t dissimilar and there was nothing he could do to fight back. A single cast and it was over.

That was the shortest fight yet.

Sen was calling the shots for all the pairings now, and just like that Sofia was sent to the waiting room again.

I’m up against the firestorm this time. Really can’t underestimate her. I’ll be cheating a bit for this one.

My bolts are no longer active skills, right?

[The skills : ‘Eclipse Skeleton’ and ‘Venerable physique of the primeval void’ have been selected]

[Every other class skill has been temporarily disabled]

Really need the explosion protection against her.

As the countdown showed on the door, Sofia started channeling two bolts. One barehanded and one through the scepter.

Sofia and Mornn appeared in the arena, immediately followed by the sound of two consecutive explosions as the bolts reached their target in a fraction of a second. The Sun Saintess floated out of the blast looking a bit hurt but ready to fight.

These were only a third of the original’s power so… Also, levitation passive skill.

Sofia adjusted her plan but all she had to do was to start casting two more bolts while Pareth appeared to block the enemy. Mornn was surprised at the appearance of the giant Ogre skeleton, and Pareth’s blade almost reached her as she flew straight for Sofia. But for some reason, Pareth froze before he could hit her. A tenth of a second later he could move again, but that stutter was enough for the Sun Saintess to be far out of harm’s way.

She was stopped in her flight by Pareth’s [Chains of the four seals]. She broke one before Pareth’s blade came for her in a large arc. Once again, Pareth’s blade stopped right in front of her, losing all of its momentum. It still hit her, as she was still held by three luminous chains, but the blow was greatly weakened. With one hand free from the chains, Mornn’s saber broke two more in an instant. Meanwhile Pareth’s weapon had changed to a spear and was thrust at her. Its momentum stopped right before hitting her.

Sofia saw it this time, this skill released a mana wave that was similar to the petrification curse waves Zerei used when she was mutated. Everything the mana touched was frozen in place but the effect only lasted as long as the target was in direct contact with the wave. Once it had finished washing over them the effect stopped. And the wave itself faded after a few meters.

Pareth’s spear had stopped, but he dispelled the chains and used [Gravity well] to forcefully pull Mornn onto the tip of his weapon. Taking notes from Astelia’s gravity and spear trick I see. It failed however, as the force keeping the Saintess afloat in the air was enough to counteract the pull of Pareth’s skill.

Mornn had managed to pass Pareth and dived straight for Sofia.

It took Sofia a great deal of self control to not throw the newly formed bolts, but they would have been much too weak to do anything yet. They needed more time to charge.

Or so she thought.