The leader of the mercenary group was easily able to discern what Damian was intending by trying to anger him, however despite knowing that, he still only sent a single mercenary to face him.
"What are you doing? Don't give them a chance to get away or win" exclaimed the two royal academy students that hired the mercenaries.
"Silence brats. Do you really think us Royal Mercenaries are that weak?" refuted the mercenary group leader.
"Kids these days are much stronger than us, it must be that the new generation is taking over, but these kids still don't have a chance against us. We sent the weakest of us to face him and the kid barely beat him, so let's just watch them struggle before we kill them" said the mercenary group leader, seemingly very relaxed and confident in the capability of his subordinate.
"Me and Clay are two of the prodigies of this generation and we will change the world, so you are right about the new generation taking over, but you are stupid to think that your subordinate can take us down" stated Damian, not scared by the mercenaries in the slightest and unable to give in.
[Clay, who I never expected would come to my aid, has greatly boosted my confidence in victory, but it still isn't enough. I need to stall for time and hope that things turn out in our favour, and I also don't want to have to rely on that hidden power within me. In the meantime I can hone my fighting skills] thought Damian to himself as a mercenary walked over to him.
He had a spear attached to his back and seemed to be a rank 7 External Cultivator and apart from the leader of the mercenary group, all of them seemed to be external cultivators that were trained in a different weapon.
The mercenary group leader had also cultivated externally and had the strongest and most intimidating aura and presence out of all the mercenaries.
It was certainly over the top to hire so many powerful mercenaries for a single youth, however, Damian couldn't help but praise how careful and resourceful the nobles were.
There was a dangerous aura emanating from the mercenary walking towards him and it surpassed that of the previous mercenary that Damian had faced.
This mercenary also seemed much calmer and more relaxed than the previous mercenary, who was very easily enraged and had a very aggressive aura.
He had a scholarly appearance and if it weren't for the fact that he was with the mercenary group and had a spear attached to his back, Damian wouldn't have recognised him to be a skilled fighter or cultivator.
The mercenary seemed too frail, weak and ordinary for that to be the case, but despite the full appearance and expression of the mercenary, his hands had veins bulging out of them and his eyes made Damian feel great danger.
Wielding a spear required great grip, arm and wrist strength and it was evident by looking at his arms and hands, while there also weren't any scars on the mercenaries arms, which was surprising for an experienced cultivator.
Wounds and injuries were unavoidable for most, and yet the mercenary before him had no signs of any injuries in his entire life, which just went to intimidate and alert Damian even more.
"Be careful Damian, he is much more dangerous than he seems" warned him Clay.
The spear gave the mercenary the ability to keep his distance from Damian and Damian would need to use ranged attacks or get close enough to the mercenary to be able to strike him and not be hit by his spear.
Flame Burst
Damian launched himself towards the spear wielder with a Fire Sabre in each hand and he was planning to make the attack the mercenary as much as he could while he was still underestimating him and yet to draw his spear.
He held his two blades crossed against his chest, then slashed outwards, aiming to inflict a deep and fatal wound to the mercenary, however it was easily avoided by the mercenary.
"You made a grave mistake by believing that I am incapable without my spear. My weapon spear is merely an extension of myself, and you are not currently capable of forcing me to use my weapon" the mercenary stated nonchalantly.
He was tall and had a slender body, but it was clearly also very strong and sturdy despite the frail outward appearance, and although he didn't have the largest muscles, his muscles were very tight and trained for great explosive power and speed.
Exactly what one would expect from a skilled and dangerous spear wielder as Damian began slashing towards the Spear Wielder with his two blades.
No matter how hard he tried to land an attack, the mercenary would simply avoid it by making small movements and he was very flexible and had incredible reflexes.
To be able to reach such a high level mastery of evading attacks and to be able to do so with such ease impressed Damian greatly.
It also made him worry about facing the other mercenaries, who seemed to be on the same level as the one he was currently facing, along with the leader who seemed even stronger than that.
However there was no backing down and Damian was focusing as hard as he could to not only face his opponent, but also learn from their movements and the way they fought.
The mercenaries movements were elegant as his footwork was impeccable, making it seem as if he was dancing around and Damian's slashes would narrowly miss the body of the mercenary, but Damian could tell that the mercenary was still holding back.
He had such great control, speed and technique that he made it look easy and Clay, who was watching from behind Damian was also amazed and recognised the footwork from one that he had seen someone within the Royal Academy use.