Chapter 150: Sparring Rabst

Rabst's speed took Zach a little by surprise. After all, it was the first time Zach actually saw how fast his Senior was. It had been too dark to see anything when Rabst took off after the underworlder in the tunnels, after all.But Zach wasn't in trouble. His barrier was always up, and he had reinforced it before the spar began, so when Rabst flew at him with his daggers pointed at his stomach, Zach didn't even flinch.

With a slightly jarring squeak, the tips of Rabst's daggers ground against Zach's rock-solid barrier before Rabst, in one smooth motion, circled around and tried the same attack from behind.

The result was the same, and Rabst stepped back and looked at Zach.

"You didn't exaggerate. Your barrier is impressive."

"Thank you."

"But…"

Rabst extended his hand until his dagger touched the barrier again.

"...It's not enough." Rabst applied some pressure and dragged his dagger along the barrier.

Zach's relaxed expression froze as a thin slit appeared behind the dagger. Naturally, he tried to repair it, but before he could, Rabst drew another line, making a cross. And before he could do anything about that, Rabst punched the center of the cross, shattering Zach's barrier like a window.

Rabst stepped through the fading remnants of the barrier like a broken glass wall falling to the ground. He looked at Zach with an expression like it couldn't be helped. He tightened his grip on the hilt of his dagger like he was clenching his fist.

His fist flew forward.

Zach tried to block the strike with his spear shaft, but Rabst's fist snaked around and struck his abdomen, blowing him back several strides.

Rabst frowned and looked at his knuckles. He looked up and saw a shimmering imprint of his fist on Zach's stomach. No, it wasn't on his stomach. It was on a thin, otherwise invisible barrier that lay just outside Zach's clothes.

Rabst looked at Zach for a moment before turning his eyes to his shoulder. He could see his skin. In the moment he was hit, Zach had managed to twist his spear and graze his uniform. It wasn't enough to draw blood.

But Zach had baited Rabst into getting close and attacking before landing a counter. If it had been a good counterattack, Zach could have won the fight there. Rabst wasn't prepared for it. It would have been difficult for him to defend against it since he was busy controlling his strength so that Zach wouldn't get injured too badly.

But a real foe would be too focused on finishing Zach to consider the possibility.

As far as Rabst had seen, Zach only used dome-like, solid barriers that were slightly golden in color but mostly translucent. And he was not skilled with a spear. It was a perfect setup to trick his opponent and finish the fight in one go.

"That won't work more than once."

"It only needs to work once." Zach grinned, even if his counterattack had failed. The fact that Rabst only noticed after feeling the draft against his skin was proof that it was a viable strategy against a strong opponent.

"Do you have any more tricks up your sleeve?" Rabst asked, earnestly curious.

"Who knows?" Zach shrugged, inviting Rabst to find out for himself.

A smile teased on Rabst's lips and he glanced to the side. Instinctively, Zach followed his gaze only to feel a missile approach him from the other direction.

Zach quickly turned around, right in time for a pair of hairy paws to almost slam into his face.

Since Rabst had wanted to find out what else he had up his sleeve, Zach had deployed a soft barrier. But the one who attacked it wasn't Rabst, but his Dire Rabbit instead. It did it with enough speed and force that the barrier stretched until it almost touched Zach's forehead.

Zach's eyes widened and a couple of pearls of sweat surfaced on his forehead.

He didn't want to think about what would have happened if he hadn't had his barrier up. There was some power in such a cutely savage body.

A moment later, the barrier bounced back into place, reflecting the rabbit's power into itself and sending it flying across the room. Rabst was almost as surprised as his rabbit and stood agape for a moment. Unfortunately, before he could see what his rabbit would do next, a sword flashed, and he had to jump back to avoid getting sliced across his chest.

Since Rabst's familiar had attacked Zach, it was only natural that Zach's familiar joined the fray as well.

The Dire Rabbit was impressive in terms of speed and power, but it wouldn't touch so much as a hair on Zach's head. Of that, Yanael was confident. She had trained Zach, after all. She knew as well as Zach how much of a beating his barriers could take.

The Rabbit didn't have enough mass behind its strikes to break through the barrier. Its speed would only backfire.

So, Yanael naturally focused on Rabst. She wanted to fight a person with weapons rather than a familiar. Rabst's technique was also a little interesting.

He wielded two daggers, but it didn't seem like an ordinary dual-wielding technique. She couldn't put her finger on it yet, but Yanael wanted to learn from it. The way Rabst fought was also interesting.

Even from a quick sparring exchange with Zach, Yanael had already figured out Rabst's mentality.

He didn't fight.

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Rabst analyzed his opponent's weaknesses, structure, defense, and movement. He didn't aim for an exchange of martial ability or to win through superior techniques.

Since it was a spar meant to test Zach and maybe teach him some humility, Rabst hadn't gone all out. Far from it.

But his two first attacks lulled Zach into a false sense of confidence, which let him easily close the distance. Zach didn't even try to stop him from attacking him after he broke through the first barrier.

He was confident his skin-tight barrier could withstand Rabst's blow.

But Rabst hadn't used all of his strength since it was a spar.

Could Zach have withstood Rabst's full strength?

Yanel was going to find out.