Chapter 608 - Challenge

"The fight has ended. The winner is Emery Ambrose!" said Magus Rommy quickly, when he saw Lodos lay flat on the ground.

As Emery turned his head to where his friends were, he could see they were cheering for him. On the other hand, most of the acolytes seemed to be in a stupor and had just woken up with shocked expressions on their faces. Some of them even looked at each other stiffly, their gazes showing they were not expecting the outcome of the fight.

None of the other rank 9 acolytes in the class could confidently say they could escape from Lodos' tier 5 [Gravitational Pressure] spell, much less shatter it apart like what Emery had just done. Hence, the fact the latter was able to do just that despite his rank 8 cultivation was a huge suprise to all of them.

Emery approached the lying Lodos and stretched his hand over to help the man. Unfortunately, the latter's pride simply won't allow him to accept the gesture. 

Lodos struggled to get up and everyone could see how he was silently enduring the throbbing pain on his face. With an expression as if a heavy burden was weighing him down, he looked at Emery with a complicated gaze.

"I admit defeat."

Then, he turned around and walked back to where he had been standing before quietly.

Even though it was apparent the man was devastated by the result of the fight, Emery could faintly feel his spirit was burning even more ferociously than before. Realizing this, he couldn't help but let out another wry smile. Emery was sure this was not going to be the last time he fought the man.

At the same time, Emery felt several sharp gazes directed at him. Sweeping his gaze around to find out their origin, he saw Orycon, Aiko, Micah and other famous acolytes, who were considered to be the top elites, staring at him. They all looked at him as if they wanted to ravage him into nothingness.

Grand Magus Silas, who watched all of this happening, inwardly found the situation amusing. Coughing lightly to attract everyone's attention, he then spoke with a mocking gaze. "It seems I spoke too soon. Was this rank 8 acolyte too good or all of you rank 9 were just simply inadequate?!"

It was apparent to whom those words were aimed at and this made Emery bewildered by the grand magus' action.

The man literally added more fuel to the burning forest! And just as expected, reactions were born quickly . 

It was the blue-haired and proud Micah who stood up first and shouted, "Grand Magus! Let me give this trash a proper lesson!"

Alas, Orycon immediately shouted at him.

"Huh?! You? You have lost against me, you have no right!" He then looked toward Emery and said, "You will fight me instead!"

"No! Let me!" Interrupted Aiko, who had already brought out her daggers.

The situation suddenly turned chaotic, where three esteemed acolytes as well as several others were fighting each other to be allowed to fight Emery. It also didn't help as Gerri's mischievous nature acted up and he started teasing the strong elites with his remarks.

Emery, who saw all of these people, couldn't help but remember that all these people had already been defeated by him in the past. They probably had the same intentions as Lodos. That's why they were so passionate about challenging him.

Grand Magus Silas glanced at Emery with a small smile perched on his face and said, "What do you think, acolyte? Do you dare to fight again?"

Emery laughed dryly in his heart. He could only be amused by the antics of this grand magus. It looked like the other party found enjoyment in creating conflict and watching it unfold.

Still, the truth was Emery had been itching to find a proper fight to see what he had achieved for the last nine months. Hence he wore his confident look and said, "Yes, Grand Magus. I am willing."

The grand magus' smile widened at Emery's bold words and quickly chose another opponent for him.

First, Emery fought with the Jade Flash, Aiko. She had reached the same level as Lodos, successfully forming three of the nine pillars. However, instead of learning new skills like what Lodos did, she apparently chose to grind her superiority in speed even further.

She cast [Greater Windwalk] on herself, a tier 5 speed enhancer spell. Combined with her tier 4 water spell [Slipstream], which also improved her speed considerably, her speed wasn't only fast, but had also become hard to predict.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just her who improved. Thanks to Emery's improved [Spirit Reading], he could sense it. It took a bit of time for him to get used to his newfound 900 spirit force to feel the fabric of space that shook because of Aiko speed. 

After a few undodgeable attacks, finally Emery was able to predict her movement and with his powerful restraint spell [Shadow Binding Root], the Jade Flash quickly discovered her mobility was greatly impeded.

It took her only one misstep for Emery to land a decisive blow and defeat her.

The second opponent Emery fought was Micah, the young master of a prominent family who was a middle stage rank 9 acolyte with four pillars formed. But unexpectedly, Emery was surprised to sense that the other party was anxious when fighting him.

It seemed the blue-haired acolyte couldn't accept the possibility of more defeats, hence he only went with defense through the entire fight. He probably hoped Emery would waste his spirit force on attacking, only to no avail and be defeated.

Emery had to admit that Micah's famous spell [Frozen Crystal] was certainly much stronger, especially when faced against magic attacks. He could sense that even his strongest offensive spell [Dark Matter] would not be enough to break through his opponent's defense.

However, that did not mean Emery had no other way. He knew that in order to defeat Micah, he needed to use his advantage in battle power. Therefore, he used the [Immortal Gate - stage 5] and thanks to the existence of the [Beast Pendant], Emery wasn't hesitant to use his second stage [Fey Transformation].

The battle power he received from them was enough to blast the shield apart. However, it wasn't because of him that he won. Rather, it was Micah himself. Apparently, his fear of the wolf that beat him savagely at last year's game made him lose his calm and therefore he lost the battle.

"Emery Ambrose won!" said Magus Rommy for the third time today.

The others can't help but feel that Emery has won easily. In reality,  both fights were actually very tricky and Emery had quite a bit of difficulty fighting them. 

Grand Magus Silas looked even more amused because of the two fights. He then said, "One more!"

Emery took a deep breath, calming his mind and his gasping breath, as this time he needed to fight against the strongest one in the class, Orycon.