82 Chapter 30: Rapier

With every step I took I could feel just how much I've pushed myself...

Fighting the first 3 guys was one thing but this victor guy, he was definitely something else, hopefully he doesn't encounter those three, but even if he does, they should be able to hold him off

"*Thud* Ouch" I said as I hit my face on the tree in front of me

I keep getting distracted... as if the vines, trees and roots weren't enough of a reminder...

"Forget that, I'm nearly there..." I muttered

After all this time I'm finally close to one of them, who's it gonna be? Serena? Ariel or eleanor?

With each step I got closer and closer until finally

"That's..."

In between in front of me, stood eleanor. I was behind one of the bushes so she couldn't see me.

"El-"

Before I could finish I felt a spell being activated

Where?!

Just when I was about to react and pinpoint the spell, I heard someone say "Boom."

Oh cra-

*Boom*

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*Boom*

"Ah!" Unintenionally let out Serena as she sprung up and felt goosebumps travel through her whole body

"What was that..." Muttered Serena as she climbed up the trees

From the highest point she surveyed the Area,

The instant she did, she noticed that there was a large amount of black smoke coming off an area

"Smoke..? An explosion?" She said

[John can't use explosion magic, and I'm a bit tired after all the fights, so... ]

[But still... Why do I feel like I should check it out...]

"Even if it was him, John can handle himself, there's no point in worrying about it." Said Serena as she stretched out her legs

She sat down on one of the branches of the tree

"But rather, this is a nice view..."

The pure green colour of the trees merged together and gave it healthy feel, the bright yellow sand on the outside shined as it reflected the sunlight, truly a good view

"The smoke is ruining the view... How long will that last?"

[You can't set fire to the forest because the trees are resistant to fire. I tested it and nothing happened, the flames didn't spread and disappeared shortly after.]

Serena, stared straight at the smoke, forcing her eyes to see even further than they were able to

"No luck... I can't see anything... And on second thought, I'll go... I'll have to teach a lesson to whoever did that about preserving nature!" Said Serena with a smile as she stood up

*Crack*

"Eh?"

The sound of something cracking was made and shortly after the branch which she stood on, broke

Serena and the branch fell straight down

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A guy huh...

"Why does my magic always make so much smoke... What's worst is that it takes so much magic power..." He muttered

Another unique magic user...

"But man, I wonder if I got her... Simple spells weren't working so setting up the trap, was the best option, Since she right into it, all I need to do is go collect her badge."

Deprehendre

"Wait... If she fell right into it..."

There...

"Then doesn't that mean..."

Glacies lanceam Translation: Ice lance

"She's dead!"

Right as he said that, I propelled straight at him from the inside of smoke, I could clearly see his location thanks to deprehendre

"!"

*Crackle* *Crackle* *Crackle*

… They all missed, no... He dodged them. Did he feel it coming...?

"Oi... Whoever's hididng in the smoke you can come out now, I know you both weren't knocked out by the explosion"

He's smarter than he acts...

The smoke started to disperse, and shortly after, it had disappeared completely. Thanks to that, he could see us clearly just like we could see him.

A tall spiky red haired guy, who seemed to be on his 16s, he was teenager, no doubt.

"Ice..?" He muttered as he stared at the ice sphere I had formed

Shortly after he said that, it broke down

Inside was me and Eleanor, we both had our guards up

I'm surprised my ice sphere managed to tank that explosion. Although it's mainly thanks to the continuous supply of magic I gave it to harden it and make it denser...

"You protected yourselves from my explosion with ice..?"

We ignored his question and stayed quiet

Explosion magic... And it looks like he can set up traps, ah, I hate this matchup.

"Pfft, haha, this is interesting, you're just like-

Before he could finish, ice spikes were sent straight at where he stood from behind the trees but missed. He managed to dodge it at the last second by leaping to the side, for a mage he was pretty athletic and good at dodging.

The ice spikes pierced the ground and began to freeze it, ice spread from the ground to where he had leapt to and rose up in the form of literal spikes

But again, he dodged it by jumping up on to one of the tree branches

He faced the direction where the attacks came from and a nervous smile was formed on his face

*tap* *tap* *Tap*

The sound of footsteps could be heard coming from the direction that the attack came from.

Shortly after, a girl appeared, She wore a white robe and was slightly shorter than the guy but still tall, she had long cyan hair which was slightly braided near the top. She gave off an intimidating yet elegant air around her

"John, thank you." Said Eleanor with a slightly saddened smile

Why is does she look sad...? Thankfully I made it in time, and managed to form an ice sphere before Eleanor was harmed

"No worries, but don't drop your guard yet, we don't know if she'll attack us."

That must be the other person I felt nearby... When I used deprehendre to find his location I ended up finding someone else approaching us at high speeds

"Tch, You sure are persistent aren't you. You'd be a lot cuter if you weren't" Said the guy on the tree

Without saying anything, the girl leapt at him, with a weapon in her hand

"A rapier..?"

She was fast, in a single leap she reached the tree branch which he stood on. Even I'd have difficulties avoiding a sudden attack like that, and yet he...

*Boom*

The sound of a small explosion resounded when they came into contact with each other

A small amount of smoke was formed and dispersed shortly after she leapt back

The guy was gone

The girl simply stared at me and eleanor

I nervously smiled back and so did eleanor

The girl nodded at us and faced the direction where they exchanged blows, there was a bit of blood on the branch

Right when she was about to leave I stopped her and said

"If you're still chasing him, don't follow that blood trail, he set up a fake in the smoke to mislead you and headed that way." I said as I pointed forward

Everything I said was true, I saw where he went with deprehendre and the blood trail was leading to a different direction.

The reason why I told her was because I know how hard it is to chase and track someone down. Although it's not really that hard for me since i have deprehendre.

She stared at me as if trying to see if I was lying before nodding and heading in the direction, I pointed

Right before she left, she stopped

"Thank you" She said before going

And just like that, she was gone.

"That was... unexpected..." Said Eleanor

"Yeah that's right..."

Ah... Crap, this is going to be awkward... Is she still mad at me...? It's only us two...

"She... Seemed strong..." Said Eleanor

"Yeah, she is... And so is the guy..."

Right before she leapt at him, he finished had finished a chant, I didn't even notice that he had started chanting.

The moment she leapt at him, she thrust her rapier at his badge, but missed because he used his shoulder to take the hit, which made her pierce his shoulder. In that moment, he swung his arm with a small glowing orb positioned slightly above his palm at her

Yet she dodged it by pulling out her rapier and leaping back. After that, he threw the orb and it exploded mid-air causing the smoke, and the brings us on to now...

It was fast, but the dungeon monsters were faster

"Yeah, he made the right choice to sacrafice his shoulder... And if she hadn't jumped back in time, things wouldn't have been good for her either, They were evenly matched, but I can tell that she's stronger..." Said Eleanor

"Yea-"

Wait... what?

"John? What's wrong?" Eleanor asked

"Eleanor, you have pretty good senses" I replied

"I do? Hmm" Asked Eleanor as she tilted her head with a confused expression

*Rustle*

Right when I was about to reply I heard someone approaching us, beside us

"Eleanor, ready your guard" I Said

Eleanor hastily grabbed her staff and got into fighting position

"Who could it possibly, be this time..." I muttered

From between the trees came a very familiar girl

"Alright, Which one of you guys caused that explosion!" Said Serena as she came out

With a confused expression she stared at us

"Eh? John?!" Shouted Serena