Chapter 159: First fight as an arcane team

Translated by: Reiji

The exchange between Ferguillo and the Hawkmoon substitute immediately ignited the strained atmosphere.

“I'll handle Massay!” Audrey coldly hissed moments after Massay's shout.

Her pure-white hair fluttered back; her eyes suddenly turned white.

“Breath of the Icefire Dragon!”

The overwhelming power of a pale-white breath appeared in front of her in a strange mixture of ice and fire, charging in Massay's direction.

“Crazy woman, she directly used a taboo skill!”

Massay had originally looked as though he still wanted to issue some orders, but his expression suddenly changed when the fearsome breath soared in front of Audrey.

“Hell Chaos – Immortal!”

He joined his hands together and made more than a dozen hand seals in an instant, then compressed the arcane particles gushing out of him into strange shapes, like small cards fluttering around him.

Layer upon layer of yellow earth spurted under his feet, quickly enclosing him tight inside.

Audrey's attack was clearly aimed at Massay, yet the other five around Massay were also frightened when she launched her skill. All of them flashed away.

“Skunk Devil Summoning!” someone chanted in a clear voice just then.

With a “Puff,” a yellow fog of stench spread over this battlefield.

“...”

Charlotte almost passed out on the spot.

She wanted to ask just how much Ayrin loved this skill. The present situation was clearly a matter of life and death. Judging by what the Hawkmoon substitute showed as soon as he went into action, these substitutes from various teams had little fame, but had clearly been hiding their real strength all along. All of them were fearsome opponents.

Even Audrey had immediately used the strongest innate skill of her dragon bloodline, but Ayrin still used a skill like that at a time like this.

Everyone's face turned green. They chanted while afraid to breathe.

And the thing that made them most want to puke out blood was, not one of them dared to launch an extra skill to scatter this startling stench. Because, in a fight like this, the hint of something unexpected, or perhaps the casting of an extra skill, could leave an opening for the opponent. And then, the price you paid with was your life.

“Let me handle Shinro,” Ferguillo faintly said.

In this strained atmosphere, everyone else was very astonished he could still speak in such an environment.

They all saw at the periphery of their visions Ferguillo flashing to the side, straight in front of Shinro.

“Can his arcane skill even be used to keep the stink at bay?”

Seeing the feathers glinting with gem-like light seemingly staying entirely still around him, they couldn't help but give rise to such a thought.

“Fizzle!”

At this time, Audrey's icefire dragon breath crashed against the thick layers of yellow earth surrounding Massay, making the sound of a blaze crashing against water.

A crater immediately appeared where the icefire dragon breath struck. However, the strange yellow earth was growing at a frantic pace, using up the dragon breath's power.

A blue light appeared without a sound or trace behind Ferguillo as he faced Shinro.

But all of a sudden, this blue light quickly retreated and crashed with a bang into the wall behind.

A skeleton-shaped shadow wearing a royal crown flashed where the blue light had stopped, then disappeared. A black fire erupted in the air.

Ivan's figure appeared not far behind Ferguillo. He coldly said to Chirade, the one wearing a Sea Gale uniform and who'd crashed into the wall, “Chirade, your opponent is me.”

“What skill is this?”

At the same moment, Joyce was seeing something entirely different from the others.

The ground at his feet had entirely become dark bubbling energy. His surroundings were empty, without a trace of Ayrin or Audrey or anyone else. There no building in sight either.

His body slowly sank inside the black energy as though there was another strange world underneath.

...

Ayrin'd never experienced a chaotic battle where two arcane teams faced each other, so his subconsciousness had launched “Skunk Devil Summoning,” a skill he merely thought could disturb every enemy.

When he'd originally launched it, the greater part of his attention was focused on Shinro, because Holy Dawn Academy and Silver Trout Academy were in the same group and he'd seen Shinro's match with his own eyes. He'd also learned two skills especially to cope with Shinro. So he subconsciously thought he should be the one to handle Shinro.

“Ferguillo immediately went to face Shinro. H's definitely confident he can win.”

His eyes swept through the others when he saw Ferguillo directly going to Shinro.

“Ayrin, block that guy!” Charlotte yelled just then, despite the stench.

A tall boy wearing Three-Headed Dragon Academy's uniform was already hurling himself in their direction. The flames around him quickly condensed into a sinister dragon head.

The Hawkmoon substitute who'd previously traded blows with Ferguillo was now quickly leaving the fray. A dazzling lance appeared in the hand of the hunting goddess radiant with moonlight above his head.

“These people have a single goal, to damage the building behind. They can implement whatever sinister plan they have as long as they damage the edifice!”

Ayrin understood instantly. The sturdy Three-Headed Dragon boy clearly wanted to pin down both him and Charlotte all by himself, while that Hawkmoon substitute wanted to disengage from the fight and take the opportunity to damage the building behind.

He hurled himself away from Charlotte like a conditioned reflex, the moment he realized it.

From Charlotte shout, he felt confident he didn't need to pay attention to the huge dragon head charging his way.

“Block me? Can you do it?”

A mocking glint flashed across the Hawkmoon substitute's eyes.

Above his head, the lance in the hunting goddess's hand shot forward. The entire goddess more than two meters tall started moving at the same time, about to crash into the huge circular edifice at the center.

It hadn't been a fair fight from the beginning, even though both sides were equal in numbers. The side that wanted to destroy occupied too great an advantage compared to the side trying to block them.

After the opponents spread apart on purpose and scattered the battle into a multitude of small-scale fights, it'd become even more difficult to prevent all of them from damaging the construct behind.

On top of that, the strength these unknown substitutes exhibited right now was at least at the level of a celebrity fighter in the national tournament!

“Saint Dragon Crystal – White Radiance!”

Audrey saw that Ayrin couldn't stop that Hawkmoon substitute in time. Obviously, she was still in control of the situation even in the sheer chaos. Light suddenly flashed bright between her eyebrows. A dot of light about as big as a silver coin common in Doraster appeared in front of the hunting goddess' lance, all of a sudden.

Radiant with moonlight, the lance seemed to strike a firefly. Yet, starting from the tip, it actually began to crumble bit by bit.

The instant Audrey's attention was distracted blocking this Hawkmoon substitute, the strange yellow earth around Massay started quickly swelling into something resembling a huge monster, swallowing whole Audrey's icefire dragon breath in one bite.

The cold mocking glint in the Hawkmoon substitute's eyes didn't change the slightest even after the lance and the hunting goddess crumbled.

But his expression definitely changed the next instant.

Ayrin's body turned into an incomparable scarlet color, quickly melting into blood.

A layer of red light suffused the ground at his feet as well. Blood also formed there.

“Boom!”

At the same time, a metal construct seemingly assembled from irregular, silvery steel appeared in front of Charlotte, crashing against the huge burning dragon head.

This avatar stretched out its hands, forcibly withstanding the dragon head made from corporeal fire, stopping a few meters in front of Charlotte.

However, the fearsome heat, like the lick of a fire melting chocolate, burned the surface of the metallic avatar and melted it nonstop. Drip, drip, silvery drops of metal fell continuously on the ground.

A scarlet bloody arm rose from the puddle of blood at the Hawkmoon substitute's feet, clutching at his legs.

The Hawkmoon substitute suddenly vanished from where he stood, appearing six or seven meters further away from the battlefield.

But just then, a silhouette also appeared behind him and struck him with a vicious punch.

“Oh no!”

The suddenly appearing figure was Ayrin, of course. However, Ayrin immediately felt something wrong the instant his punch landed.

His punch seemed to pass through a weak mist, rather than on solid flesh and blood.

The figure in front of him also vanished immediately.

The Hawkmoon substitute appeared at the place where he'd first launched his skill, where he'd seemingly transformed into a pool of blood.

The Hawkmoon substitute was also exposing total surprise.

He'd clearly thought that Ayrin's real body was hiding in that original puddle of blood. Right now, his arcane skill had fooled Ayrin and caused him to miss the mark, but his own counterattack had likewise fallen into empty air as well.

“It seems the situation's turned into a chaotic mess of individual confrontation.”

The Hawkmoon substitute quickly swept his eyes through the battlefield, then he smiled grimly at Ayrin. “That said, looking at the situation... Killing you guys first is also a very good choice. Remember, I'm called Lindon. Now you know the name of the one who's going to kill you.”

historical

“Very well. It's more interesting having a fight like this here both sides try to take down the opponents. Come at me, let us have a fair fight!” Ayrin said, looking at him.

But the next second, Ayrin was already rushing at the one wearing Three-Headed Dragon Academy's uniform.

“...”

He'd clearly said he wanted to have a fair duel with him one on one, but then immediately ran at someone else. Ayrin's actions made this Hawkmoon substitute called Lindon blink in a daze despite himself.