Chapter 12 - The Clash

"Ey sonny. Its done." Ruz pulled out the humongous hammer from his forge. It was a towering hammer. "Why do you need this anyway?"

"Some creatures cannot be sliced. Pulverizing them might kill them."

"*nods* I can agree with that. And here's one dagger. By the way sonny, the hammer with the poison enchant sucks. Find me another one ey? I could make it better. And why did you want only one dagger?"

"For this." I grabbed the rapier from my inventory. "Having two rapiers interrupt with each other." I didn't spend all my time in history just learning who died. I got interested in sword fighting too. "Well, thanks for the help. We'll go the arena now."

"Take care ey?"

"Yeah. We will."

Me and Rize went to the Itz arena. It was packed with people. The deafening cheers of people was heard throughout the arena. There were also some... Nobles? But why? Maybe its to see if we really defeated the Serpent? Nevermind that. We saw the Bladedge party sitting in the corner.

"Welcome to Itz arena. First of all. We can reduce our numbers to two you know. For equal match up."

"I told you we don't need that. I just don't like people running around their mouths talking shit of me. It could ruin my reputation you know?"

"Don't get cocky newbie. You're just a looter. Secondly. Bets. What can you give us?"

"This 500 flesh of the Serpent's." The crowd was silent for a second. Then the cheers grew louder from the stands. They must've been scared of the flesh but since they knew its dead they just kept cheering.

"Ohh..? The obsidian plated party you met were pretty generous huh?" I could see his face sweating but he refused to believe it. "For the Bladedge team we will give you this shard of unstable metal."

I didn't know what it was but it seems pretty worth it. "I accept the bet."

The Bladedge team responded with, "I accept."

The Bladedge went to the other side of arena while me and Rize stayed here.

"Are you all ready for the match?!"

There was an announcer for this match? Well that was reasonable since there are what I think are nobles.

The cheers continued to grew louder by second.

"From Bladedge, their leader, Rafael! He is a great swordsman that came from the east! Following him, his brother Rael! It was said Rafael and Rael has such a great combination they are both swordsman! And meet Tas! He is a huge bulky warrior. The vanguard and the guardian of Bladedge! Now here's the two lovely mages of Bladedge, Lily and Lila! Lily is an attack type mage while Lila is a support type mage!" Every mention of the Bladedge member's name everyone of them cheered.

"And now meet... Hey psst." He asked me what our name was. I don't want to decide what our name will be right now. So...

"Just say our name."

"Here's Zieglind and Rize! Their birthplaces are unknown but they said that they defeated the Elder Serpent!"

Some people were silent but there were some cheers. Not as much as Bladedge's though.

"Here are the rules!!! You are not allowed to kill the opponent but injuring them is okay. A defeat is when someone can't fight anymore or surrendering. Do both parties agree"

"The Bladedge accepts."

"We agree."

"Then on the count of three the battle will commence!"

"Three..."

My heart was pounding on the upcoming clash.

"Two..."

I sense that the Bladedge party also feels the same way.

"One..."

I hope after all of this is over I could make them work under me.

"Fight!"

Me and the Melee warriors of the Bladedge instantly run to the middle of the arena.

"Rize, stop here. Just keep supporting me from the back."

"Got it. Archer's Enhancement!" Rize buffed her own bow.

The Bladedge team had a good teamwork. They let the tank charge in first then let the two mages stay while the two swordsman follow the tank.

"Abyssal Enhancement, all weapons in my inventory."

I jumped through the air without any weapon. Tas, their tank, raised his shield at me. Without knowing that he left himself open Rize shot him on his knee that made Tas kneel on one knee. I summoned my giant hammer from my inventory and smashed Tas' shield with it.

"Tas!"

The Bladedge party showed worry of their ally being injured.

"I'm fi....ne...." Tas' shield broke and the aftershock of my hammer hitting him injured his head that made him unconscious. Rize's arrow that hit his knee weakened his pose so that's why his defensive stance weakened.

"No way... Tas was the highest level out of us! He's level 30!" Lila worriedly spoke.

"Lila! Heal Tas! Get him out of here!" Rafael, their leader knew that Tas was done.

Level 30? I'm only level 11. How am I this strong? "System what bonus does this hammer give me?"

[+500 strength -10% speed]

Damn... I'm weak but Ruz has good creations. The speed is getting compensated by my skill sprint. So its just -5%. I can only swing this hammer one time. It took a toll on me. This was heavy as hell. I retrieved my hammer back to my inventory and got the Rapier and Dagger.

"You'll pay for that!" Rafael angrily told me.

Their party got aggressive and charged at us with all their might.

"Arrow Rainfall!" A bunch of arrows suddenly appeared on Bladedge's team.

"Guardian!" Casted by Lila. It spawned a huge shield above the arrows.

"Sorry Zieg. $&#(/¢" Rize softly spoke.

"Don't worry about it. Just keep supporting me!" I didn't heard what she said in the last part but I think she'll be fine. I stopped by the middle and waited for them one by one.

Rafael and Rael charged at me with their swords. They lunged at me which I dodged by the nick of hair. I thrusted my rapier grazing Rael's face. Rafael tried to follow up by slicing my face but I blocked it with my off-hand dagger. I retrieved the dagger to my inventory and raised my hand in the air to pull out the greatsword in my inventory. Using the momentum of my hand falling from the air I easily smashed the ground between us three that made those two fall back.

"Lily and Lila back us up here! Buff us up imme-" He was cut off in his speech. I didn't notice it either but Rize used her skill Shroud to get around us three and knocked out Lily and Lila.

"Brother, we have to use our skill Rage!" Rael told Rafael about his plan.

"Yeah. I know. Let's use it." A hot steam emerged from Rafael and Rael. Without any skills I realized they got stronger no doubt.

I retrieved my greatsword and rapier back to my inventory and got my dual wielded curved swords.

Rafael used his skill, and got behind me really fast. Before he could unsheath his sword I chanted, "DARK ARMOR!" It hardened my body preventing myself from any damages but it threw me a long way. Before I could even get up Rael jumped in the air and attacked me with a vertical slash but I blocked it with my curved swords.

"Zieg!" Rize shot Rael in the back causing him agony.

I retrieved both my curved swords and swapped them for my rapier and dagger. And Rael was caught off guard with my exchange so I pierced him in his shoulder and pinned him to the ground. With my strength, I punched Rael so hard he was knocked unconscious. "Hey judges. He's unconscious. Heal him fast my weapon has poison."

The men grabbed Rael and rushed him to the clinic in this arena.

"Hey... Are you mocking us?"

"I'm not. My weapon has poison. Such a waste if he died."

"I can see you're telling the truth. Do you accept my preposition for a one on one duel?"

He raised his sword slashed the air to the right, raised his sword again flipped it to the side and flipped it again to the front. This was an indication of respect and honest duel between two warriors.

"Rize stay out of this."

"Yes, Sir Zieg." Rize lowered her bow.

I retrieved back my rapier and dagger to my inventory. I grabbed my greatsword. "This is my greatsword. Its name is... Devoratrix. This is what I'll use to defeat you. I accept your duel invitation."

We both walked to the middle of the arena. And got ready.

His foot was on the far side of his front foot. He was looking down on the ground and holding the hilt of his sword that is sheathed.

I immediately knew of that stance. It was a fast horizontal slice that no one would even notice they were dead.

I held my greatsword in a high guard stance. "Dark Armor."

Once he took a step forward we both unleashed our strength.

I swung my blade overhead lf his but Rafael was simply too fast.

His sword skill was simply beautiful. He drew his sword so fast I could say that he moved as fast as the light in that millisecond. But all of that was in vain. My armor made by Ruf the armorer and my Dark Armor combined... It broke Rafael's sword in half.

Knowing his defeat he knelt down and accepted my blade. I swapped the blade with its back side knocking off Rafael.