Chapter 194: Wounded

After the match of the dark elves Miesta, the next match is Jayna with a veteran warrior called Erga. Erga has a bulk build wearing a few protective enchanted armors. His main weapon is a long greatsword.

Despite calling Jayna about relying on an artifact, Erga himself seems equipped with many enchanted items and possibly artifacts. According to some Sur villagers, Erga is a famous veteran that likes to collect items from their opponent.

After completing the procedure, both Jayna and Erga come towards the center of the arena. Erga seems to be smiling happily at Jayna as though he already won this match.

"Yo, little girl. Why don't you just surrender and give me the compensation? That way, we will not waste everyone's time." said Erga.

However, Jayna keeps silent and waits for the barrier to be fully erected. Looking at the silent Jayna at his taunt, Erga decides not to provoke her anymore.

In reality, if he is using this petty taunt towards Jayna one year before Angus's training, his insult will not only work but will effectively anger Jayna. 

After Angus's training, Jayna will become sort of a different person. A person that will think any calm yet also aggressive at the same time inside the battle.

Before long, the referee signals the match to start. Both of them immediately disappear from their spot and clash in the middle of the arena.

During the clash, Jayna's sword is covered with burning hot flames like usual, while Erga is using his enchanted greatsword. Despite it being a highly enchanted greatsword, it is already shown a sign of getting melted from Jayna's fire sword.

Seeing this, Erga immediately retreated back and created a distance from Jayna. But, Jayna didn't want to give him a chance and kept pushing forward. Once again, she brandished her burning fires sword in full power [Sword Art - Crimson Slash].

'Damn!! She is persistent.' thought Erga inwardly while activating his enchanted boots.

Suddenly, Erga's body appeared a few meters away from his original spot. In the meantime, Jayna's attack hit the stone platform. *Bam* The stone platform turns into hot molten stone.

'Just how hot is that fire sword to manage to melt the stone platform like nothing. It seems I need to avoid a close combat fight.' thought Erga while he put away his enchanted greatsword inside his space storage.

In return, he takes out a dazzling wooden bow with a lot of runes on it. At this time, Jayna ran towards Erga in an attempt to force him into a close combat battle. However, Erga also does not stay idle either. He pulls the bow string and a mana arrow coming from it.

At the same time, his gauntlet shines brightly and makes his hands move in a blur. *Swosh* *Swosh* *Swosh* Erga releases dozens of mana arrows towards Jayna in less than a second.

The mana arrow travels in the blink of an eye and arrives in front of Jayna. Using her trained combat instinct, she managed to dodge all of them while keeping approaching Erga. 

Although the mana arrow is fast, it still has the same speed as Angus's enchanted Firebolt. She could still avoid this kind of attack easily while moving forward.

In the meantime, with each mana arrow Erga releases, the enchanted bow starts to shine brightly. Later, Jayna notices the mana arrow is getting faster. She couldn't help but dodge them using her fire sword. *Ting* *Ting* *Ting*

Although their distance was only a few meters away, Jayna couldn't approach Erga further as the incoming fast arrow blocked her. Soon, Erga's bow shines brightly and shoots a massive mana arrow towards Jayna.

Unlike the previous mana arrow, this arrow is faster and stronger. In the blink of an eye, the arrow was already in front of Jayna. Jayna managed to avoid her vital part using her superb combat sense, but she still got hit in her shoulder. *Bam*

Because of the strong force, Jayna's body gets thrown quite far from the attack. The strong mana arrow managed to gouge her upper shoulder. Jayna feels unbearable pain from it. However, she still keeps focusing on the battle while trying to ignore the pain.

Suddenly, her fire mana flared up and started to regenerate her wounded right shoulder passively. At the same time, she realizes Erga is not shooting any more mana arrows while sweating all over his head.

Smoke coming from Erga's hand, along with a surprised expression on his face. Erga didn't expect Jayna to avoid his last shot with a wound in her shoulder.

Using this opportunity, She takes her sword with her left hand and charges towards Erga [Fiery Burst]. In the blink of an eye, Jayna managed to arrive in front of Erga. Without giving Erga a chance to activate his enchanted item, she brandished her fire sword.

In a moment, her sword was already near Erga's neck. However, a strong mana barrier suddenly envelopes Erga. *Bang* The mana barrier coming from his necklace managed to stop her burning sword for a moment before cracking.

Instantly, Erga uses his enchanted boot to get away from Jayna a few meters away. However, Jayna didn't want to give him any breather. She instantly follows him using [Fiery Burst].

Currently, Jayna is adept at using this movement skill, making her faster and more agile than before going inside the inner area. She immediately caught Erga and brandished her burning sword again.

But, Erga already expected this and used his enchanted boot to get away from her. Soon, a game between cat and mouse begins between Jayna and Erga. However, Erga didn't notice Jayna forcing him towards the Quicksand that Angus left behind in the previous fight.

Before Erga notices, he is already near the quicksand area. As he wanted to escape from his location, Jayna managed to predict his limited movement and block him in time with the help of [Analyze].

Because his speed is coming from the item, he couldn't stop or change his direction and was forced to meet with Jayna's sword. Once again, another mana barrier coming from one of his bracelets.

Still, it couldn't even hold a second before being destroyed by Jayna's concentrated attack [Sword Art - Crimson Slash]. *Bang* Jayna's sword managed to hit Erga's enchanted armor and create a crack on it but managed to save his life.

Like expecting this, Jayna brandished her fiery sword again towards Erga in an attempt to kill him. At this moment, Erga is still getting hurt internally from Jayna's previous attack. So, he could dodge towards Jayna's next attack.

Knowing his protective enchanted item is gone, Erga immediately shouts, "Surrender!! I surrender!!"

Then, Jayna's sword immediately stops right before Erga's neck. Erga feels relieved that Jayna managed to stop her sword in time. Still, the burning hot flame managed to scorch his skin a little bit.

Taking back her sword, Jayna begins to move out from the arena as the announcer declares her win.

"Nice, both of you managed to get into the semifinal." said Isvel towards Angus, who is sitting beside him.

Feeling the lack of response from his cousin, Isvel looked towards Angus beside him but only found he was already gone.

"Ehh.. Didn't our little cousin sit beside me?" asked Isvel.

"He already got out of here the moment Lady Jayna got hurt." replied Gilford from behind him.

"Ahh.. I see. It's good to be young. Hehehe…" said Isvel.

While the Sur clan are chatting with each other, Angus already arrives in front of Jayna.

"Jayna, are you alright?" asked Angus worriedly.

But, Jayna didn't answer and immediately embraced Angus.

"Angus, Am I weak?" asked Jayna.

Hearing this, Angus couldn't help but sigh.

"Let's take care of your shoulders first, okay?"  replied Angus before going towards one of the participant's waiting rooms.

On the way towards the room, both of them keep silent without saying anything. But, Angus kept embracing Jayna softly. He knows that right now, she is wounded not only physically but also mentally. Arriving inside the room, the expressionless Jayna immediately tears up.

"Angus, I-I…" said Jayna.

"Hush.. Jayna, you are not weak." said Angus shortly while wiping her tears.

"B-But.. I got hurt from a weakling that only relied on items. Didn't.. Didn't.. it means..." said Jayna in a low voice.

Before she could finish her sentence, Angus silenced her with a deep kiss.

After managing to calm her down a little bit, "Jayna, you are not weak. You could manage this far is the real proof of your strength. Besides, you should be proud to manage to beat that weakling that only relies on items." said Angus.

"Still, I got hurt." replied Jayna back.

"Yeah.. But it's because you are also limiting yourself, right?" said Angus.

Jayna only nodded at Angus's answer.

Seeing she still not truly convinced, "Jayna, what is the most important thing in a fight?" asked Angus.

"Emm.. Winning." said Jayna, who remembered Angus's teaching.

"Right. In a fight, all you need to do is win. No matter how long you train yourself, if you are not winning is futile. Now, tell me, did you win the fight before?"

"Yes" replied Jayna while nodding.

"Then, there is nothing to worry about. Now, let's take care of your wound." said Angus before suddenly ripping Jayna's cloth on the shoulder.

"KYAA…"