Chapter 505: Dealing with the Lazy Carsen Brother Part 1

Joshua started stretching a bit when there was only five minutes left before his next match. He took the time while stretching to think of what he should expect for his next match. In all likelihood he was going to be going up against Devin which would make for an interesting fight. Joshua had fought alongside all of the Carsen brothers during their time working alongside each other in the alliance and even beforehand during the first phase. There were some clear differences between the three brothers when it came to both their personalities and fighting styles, even if they all had the same combat job.

When it came to Dave Carsen who seemed to be the leader of the three brothers because of his outgoing personality, Joshua didn't have much trouble reading him. Dave was a straightforward guy who knew how to lead others and how to handle himself in a fight. Of the three brothers Dave probably had the highest one on one combat capabilities under neutral circumstances. He even planned most of the skills that he learned around strengthening himself so that he could put his skill with an axe to the test.

Dillon was almost the exact opposite of his brother Dave. Dillon was the wild card of the three brothers and was almost completely random when it came to combat style. The only thing you knew about him going into a match was that he was a tank with an axe. Dillon was the type to fight in random patterns and use skills that you wouldn't expect out of nowhere just out of a sense of some sort of fun. Joshua had seen several of Dillon's fights in the battle arena before and all of his opponents would leave the fight confused at how a tank with an axe could fight in such a way.

Out of the three brothers Devin was probably the one that Joshua wanted to avoid the most in the tournament. Taking on Dave would be a challenge of strength and technique which Joshua knew he would win in the end with his aura and his size advantage. Facing Dillon would come down to fighting with an open mind that would be ready to deal with any of his random tricks that would try to catch you off guard. It would make for a hectic fight, but Joshua could still handle anything Dillon could throw at him. Devin was a bit different from his two brothers in a way that would annoy Joshua in any fight.

Devin unlike his brothers who focused completely on close combat and brute force in some way or form when fighting, was the type to focus on tactics that allowed him to get the upper hand in battle. He was still a single target tank for the most part just like his brothers, but he wasn't the type to charge in head first without a plan. Whenever the three worked together in a fight it would usually be Devin that had to come up with any strategies they used and he was often the brother that gave the most advice during alliance meetings of the main exploration group.

Dealing with a tank that liked to think things out in a similar fashion to Henry was going to be a pain in the ass and Joshua knew it. Even if Devin was rather lazy and laid back most of the time, when it came to fighting he'd always be calm and focused. It was going to be hard for Joshua to rattle him in a one on one situation, after all, Devin was a specialist in that area. There was also the fact that Joshua was fairly certain that Devin would have some sort of new trump card that he would have prepared for when he either went up against his brothers or other members of the alliance.

While Joshua was thinking these things over the countdown ended and he was teleported to the arena for the last match of the day. Joshua gave the crowd a wave the moment he entered before turning his attention to his opponent. It came as no surprise to Joshua that Devin was standing on the other side of the arena with his large axe held lazily across his right shoulder as he cracked his neck with his other hand. Devin may have seemed lackadaisical at the moment he entered the arena, but Joshua could see from his eyes that he was taking this seriously.

"Looks like you've been expecting this match as well." Joshua decided to say since the both of them could do nothing but wait around for the countdown to end. This was the first time in a while that Joshua was going up against someone else that didn't need to spend the countdown time setting up the battlefield beforehand.

"It's a pain in the ass that I've got to go up against someone like you, but it was obviously going to be the outcome. Marcus is good and all with the tricks he has up his sleeve but none of that would have amounted much against someone like you when he was on his own." Devin said with a shrug as he sat his axe down and started crouching on the ground and stretching his legs out.

"You're actually stretching, this has got to be the first time I've seen you take anything so seriously since we were breaking out of the town in the first phase. Guess I should be honored." Joshua said with a smile only getting an annoyed stare in response. "Jokes aside I'm looking forward to a good match. No matter which of us wins we're both representing the alliance. In the end as long as one of us wins this whole thing then it could only help all our guilds out in the long run."

"You say all that but I'm sure your still planning on winning this match." Devin said standing back up after stretching. There was only a minute left before the match would start and he was done preparing as they both held there weapons at the ready. "I'm just going to have to make sure it won't be easy for you, otherwise I'll never hear the end of it from those two."

"Good to hear, I wouldn't want it any other way." Joshua said with a smile just as the countdown came to an end. He didn't wait a second more before charging directly towards Devin who wasn't moving from his spot. Instead Devin raised his axe up into the air and slammed it down into the ground. The way the axe lit up let Joshua know that Devin was using a skill already. When his axe hit the ground a swell of energy erupted directly in front of him creating a large wall of energy that blocked off Joshua's charge and any of the momentum he would have built up from rushing across the arena. The skill was something that Joshua hadn't seen before and he instantly realized it was a skill in a similar vain to a shield wall.

One of the main reasons axe users weren't good at tanking against multiple targets was the fact that they didn't have any skills that could halt multiple enemies at once. Devin seemed to have found the perfect skill to get around that flaw. The wall of energy that burst out of the ground went several stories into the air to the point where it would have been able to hold off massive creatures if needed. The wall of energy didn't last as long as a shield wall skill that knights and heavy swordsman could use, but it would have been able to stop multiple enemies for a brief moment in time giving the rest of the group a chance to react.

In this situation the skill halted Joshua while at the same time completely blocking Devin from view. A few seconds of being given time to make a plan was more than enough for someone like Devin and Joshua was certain that it was something that had been planned out before the battle even started. With the energy gone Joshua immediately noticed that Devin had disappeared from the arena, but he didn't allow the sudden change to surprise him. He immediately started using his aura sense to try to find where Devin was and quickly dodged out of the way the moment he could sense something coming for him beneath the arena.

Joshua jumped out of the way just in time as another pillar of energy blasted out of the arena floor where he had been standing. In that moment Joshua knew that Devin was underneath the arena in some way and was attacking him from that position. It was clear that he had used the hole he had created from the initial wall of energy he had formed at the start of the fight. It was also clear that being underneath the arena wasn't considered out of bounds at the moment, apparently as long as you were within the area of the arena that wasn't destroyed then you were classified as in bounds by the arena system. Devin was clearly taking advantage of this.

Each time Joshua avoided another blast of energy coming from out of the ground there would be another one rushing his way no matter which direction he went. Devin was reading his movements and reacting quickly making this a contest of minds instead of one that relied completely on close combat. It was a smart idea, but Joshua wasn't planning on letting Devin control the pace of the match forever. Once Joshua had a feel for the timing of the incoming attacks he used his aura cloak to boost all of his stats dramatically making it much easier to avoid all of the incoming energy blast that were originally giving him a hard time.

Using his aura sense Joshua was able to pinpoint exactly where Devin was underground and at the moment he was in the center of the arena where he initially created the wall of energy. He hadn't moved from that spot and was using it so that he'd have an easier time attacking Joshua from any location. Once Joshua knew where his opponent was located he decided it was time for him to attack back. He charged his scale blade with an aura blast as he dodged around all of Devin's attacks while rushing towards the center of the arena. An aura blast on its own wouldn't have the effect that Joshua was looking for so he didn't stop there as he filled his blade with the power of an energy slash as well. The two attacks combined as his sword shined brightly and shook with all of the energy that it was currently storing.

Joshua dodged out of the way of one final blast of energy before leaping into the air and slamming his scale blade directly next to the large hole that Devin had created earlier. The force of the attack caused an enormous burst of energy that destroyed the center of the arena forming a massive crater that went deep into the ground. The rubble and smoke in the air took minutes to clear out, but Joshua could still sense Devin with his aura sense and knew full well that the match was not over.