Chapter 241: Welcome to

Chapter 241: Welcome to

The inspectorPike Pinesteel, victor of the third Conquerors Tourney, apparentlycharged at Ainash, wielding the glowing daggers thatd just appeared in his hands. She instantly readopted her fighting stance, waiting for him to get within range.

But before he even got halfway to her, he planted his foot on the ground and spun around, using the extreme force to thwip one of the knives at her. It moved at lightning speed, to the point where even I, who had two casts of Expedite running on myself to enhance my senses, could barely follow it. In fact, it seemed to move even faster than even his muscular body could throw. An Enchantment was at work, most likely.

Within a millisecond, it had crossed the several dozen paces necessary to reach Ainash, threatening to stick itself straight through her nose. She ducked down barely in time, and the blade soared cleanly through the air above her. Then, from her lowered position, she dashed forward, eager to close the distance between her and her adversary.

Pike charged forward too, ready to meet her with one dagger left in his hand. Ainash threw her whip out once he was close enough, and he leapt high into the air to dodge, holding out his dagger to drive the blade into her as he landed. In response, she rolled forward to avoid his counterattack, spinning around and using the momentum to propel her whip into him just as he hit the ground.

But he simply ignored her attack, running straight at her as the thorns of the whip stabbed into his side, dagger ready to tear into her. Seemed like he was willing to take a Health sacrifice here and there in order to land an actual hit on such an elusive target. nove(l)bi(n.)com

Still mid-attack, Ainash didnt have the freedom of movement she needed to dodge his head-on charge. So instead, with her whip still stuck into him, she closed her eyes, focusing for a moment, and suddenly the whip burst into a bright flame, much more than was provided by the smoldering embers before. Pike stumbled slightly at the sudden damagenot for long, but long enough for Ainash to find her footing and sidestep his attack as he passed by her.

She turned to look at him, clearly ready for another onslaught of attacks, but he didnt move. Instead, he stared at her. His dagger was out and ready, but he didnt initiate, this time. Instead, he slowly, cautiously backed away. Maybe hed ended up taking too much damage before, and was trying to play it a little safer now?

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught something flying at Ainash from behind. I barely even had time to register what it was before it flew straight across her face, slicing all the way across her head and cheek. It was Pikes knife, the one hed thrown at the start of the fight. He held out his hand and caught it as it returned, as though it had a mind of its own. Thankfully, Ainash had enough Health that a cut like that wouldnt draw blood yet, but it still surprised her. And as she caught her bearings, he sprinted at her, once again dual-wielding his weapons.

She leapt back just in time, drawing her whip back and preparing to counterattack, but he was on her too quickly, throwing his arm out to slice at her stomach. She kicked her leg up, colliding with his forearm just before he could hit her and throwing his strike off-course. Then, with her leg still raised, she planted it on his chest, leapt up with her other foot, and then propelled herself off of him into the air, swinging her whip with the newfound range.

He stepped back to avoid the strike, then threw his knife at her again as she landed. She easily avoided it this time, simply ducking low the moment her feet touched the ground. But the moment it passed her, the knife changed direction midair, coming right back at her head. Glancing back, she saw the threat coming at her, and dove to the side to dodge it, the knife passing by her harmlessly.

However, Pike didnt catch the knife like he did before. This time, he turned his body to let it pass by him, and it changed direction again. Not going fast enough to fly all the way to Ainash, but instead, as he shifted the position of the dagger in his hand, the dagger in the air shifted position as well, curving around his body as though it were orbiting him.

He charged at Ainash, twisting his body and his hand so that the dagger flew in circles around him, and she backed away, clearly unsure how to approach her enemys new fighting style. As he came closer, he spun around quickly, the faster turn translating to a quicker knife flying with a wider orbit around his body, coming from the side to stab into her skull. She ducked, but then he rushed in from ahead, slicing forward with the dagger still in his hand.

Ainash tried to kick back from her ducking position into a backwards roll, but suddenly, Pike was holding yet another weapon in his once-empty hand, having grabbed another of the metal bars from his belt. This time it was a long spear with an icy head, letting cool mist off into the air. He threw it forward without hesitation, and it caught Ainash in the gut the moment she tried getting to her feet. Still having a decent barrier of Health, she wasnt left with the spear impaling her, but the force of the projectile knocked her back to the ground, splashing into the sand. And, as Pike picked his spear up from where itd fallen, I noticed leftover frost covering the place the spear had hit, similar to what Ray of Frost did to those it hit. I had a suspicion she was left with a Dexterity penalty after the hit.

Once again spinning around and using the momentum to propel his orbiting dagger, he threw the blade into Ainash as she tried to kick away from him. This time, I could see the slightest mark left on her chest where it hit.

Hey! Erani shouted, stepping forward. Dont

Two of the guards moved to block her from going any closer.

No interference, maam, one of them said in a stern voice.

But

Not interrupt! I heard Ainashs voice come through, sounding strained. Seemed like she was so focused on the battle that she couldnt even selectively message just one of us.

Wait, I realized. That hammer and net were a deadlier combo than I thought. With a powerful force Enchantment on his hammer, the weapon would obviously deal more damage, but most of the additional force it applied would just be translated into harmless movement, throwing his opponent away. But if his opponent was trapped beneath something that didnt let them move and he hit them with that, no movement allowed to translate the force into, it would all become additional damage. It wouldnt be like the net usually worked, with it trapping someone while you stabbed away at them until they eventually dieditd only take a single hit to kill.

He reached his hammer back, ready to smash it into Ainashs skull, and Erani seemed to realize the same thing I did.

Dont you fucking dare! I shouted, mentally reaching to throw all of my curses onto the man.

At the same time, Erani reached out with her hand. Stop it now!

He froze mid-swing, looking over at us. Ah, whoops. Think I got a little too into the fight, my bad.

Drop your weapon, I said, walking forward.

One of the guards stepped up to stop me. Dont threaten

Ill kill you too, dude, I said to the guard. Stay out of it.

Hey, hey, no worries, Pike said, raising his hands and dropping the hammer to the ground.

He glanced over at the net and it seemed to lose all the weight it had suddenly gained, Ainash throwing it off of herself and looking wildly around, breathing heavily.

Letting out a sigh, Pike rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. Phew. Your monster put up a solid fight. Havent had to go through so many of my weapon sets like that in a while.

He reached down to lend a hand to Ainash, who was still lying on her back.

She didnt take it, looking at him with fear in her eyes and staying on the ground, unmoving.

Instead, Erani bent down and gave her a hug. I could see her clothes smolder slightly, as Ainash still hadnt turned down the temperature of the flames on her body. You did wonderful, baby.

So. I looked at Pike. Does she pass?

Hm? He looked back at me. Oh, yeah, for sure. Ive let in much weaker monsters to compete. Though, a lot of them were pretty much just let in as beaters. Yknow, pad out the rounds, give some of the real competitors a few entertaining rounds for the crowds sake. But this ones actually got potential, Id say, if lucks on her side.

Erani helped a still-stunned Ainash to her feet. I frowned. She really looked messed up from the fightnot just physically, but mentally.

You okay, kiddo? I asked. You did really well, dont let a single loss get you down. He was stronger to begin with, so you were fighting with a disadvantage.

She didnt respond.

So, Pike said, looking at her, thanks for the fight. Welcome to the Barinruth Empire. Welcome to Precipice. And welcome to the Conqueror's Tourney.