Chapter 189: The impossible task

Chapter 189: The impossible task

Student, salute, the Master ordered, demonstrating with a short, polite bow, and Sofia followed suit.

The challenge officially started. The Master stood about three meters away from Sofia, straight like a rod, arms behind his back, waiting.

Since the only item Sofia still had was her scepter, she would use it. I imagine a warrior getting there and having their weapon taken away for this challenge must be quite aheartbreak. Silently, she activated the bone armor and started to channel an Angels bolt.

I need to use it before I lose any health. Since I cannot heal, using a full power bolt would be disastrous

After a few seconds, Sofia waved her staff as if she were going to launch the attack. This was entirely useless as she could release it whenever, but why would the Master know that?

This was when Pareth appeared right behind the Master, already stabbing with his trident, which was the limit of the bone armor storage's range. Sofia let out the bolt simultaneously, aiming not at where the Master was but over his head at Pareths sternum. Due to the height differential, Pareth had to stab low, which meant that jumping was the optimal way to dodge.

The Master side-stepped Pareths surprise backstab with ease and hopped forward to get out of the bolts explosion radius. He landed right in front of Sofia, who chained the waving of her staff into a downward strike that only hit thin air.

It was like Sofia was the one to get hit by the trident as the Master poked her thrice in the back, his finger leaving round holes in the armor, relatively painlessly subtracting exactly one percent of her health each time.

Pareth, bolt, staff. Three attacks, three percent. Got it; attacking with a swarm of skeletons is likely a direct pass to the actual graveyard. I shouldnt be surprised he managed to feel Pareth behind his back, but hes so fast. How am I even supposed to hit him exactly?

I think I understand now why only eight people made it through.

All things considered, it is, in fact, a lot,

Pareth teleported to Sofia as the Master spoke, but his spear strike missed. The Master jumped this time, landing on the tip of the spear and poking Sofia, who was still nearby on the same occasion. He did not even interrupt his sentence, so be not discouraged, student. You still have up to ninety-six attempts.

Can I know what the fewest number of attempts was for someone to win?

Comparing yourself to others will only lead to pointless thoughts. Now focus, and try again.

Well, the issue is, I dont have so many things I can try. Or rather, I do, but not many have even the faintest hope of succeeding. His reaction and movement speed are too much. I dont know if I could even slow him down, let alone land a good hit.

Some kind of full-powered suicide bolt explosion could work, but theres no point in winning if Im dead.

Pareths weapon disappeared. The Master, having lost his footing, was now in free fall. The weapon of light switched reappeared in another form, a scythe of which the blade appeared already next to the Masters neck. Pareth pulled back his weapon.The initial posting of this chapter occurred via Ñøv€l-B!n.

The old elf Master, even with no support, managed to contract his body enough that he threw his head back to avoid the blade. The scythe flew a centimeter above his face, almost touching the tip of his nose. At the same time, a serrated spike extended from the back of Sofias armor, stabbing toward the Masters torso.

This didnt touch either, Sofia couldnt even tell how, but the elf actually stepped on the spike somehow while he was still falling and used it to push himself away, performing a sort of horizontal jump.

Youre forbidden from attacking. You can only use [Prayer of swiftness] on me and Pareth if you have it. Then focus on blocking the path of the Master. Be threatening but never actually swing your sword.

Sofia thought that this was good for a start. The Master did not move as the golden skeletons spread around the arena.

Rarely has a single student outnumbered me so much.

So its not the first time?

Sofia spread her wings and flew up as much as the spire would allow. She threw Pareth the blessed marrow shield.

Catch this and get into a ball, Pareth.

Pareth teleported up to her. He fell and picked up speed. As soon as he could, he teleported again. From the tests, Pareth should survive this even if the stone ground of the arena isnt ideal

Sofia flew in rounds, and when her skills were ready, Pareth dropped, hitting the arena ground like a meteor. Unsurprisingly, the Master dodged without much trouble, but there werent many directions he could go to avoid the impact considering the repartition of skeleton Paladins all around him, ready to strike. But Sofia could hardly follow his movements when he was grounded, so around this corner of the arena where the Master would go, she summoned a thin but large sheet of blood right above the height of the Masters head.

That not only hid her as she plunged down but also, due to the disturbance in the falling blood, made it really easy to track the elfs direction.

Anticipating where he would be, Sofia released both the Angels bolts she had been holding for long enough to lose a few percent of her health already.

Pareth also stood up and followed to strike.

When the explosions cleared up, it was clear that the Master had avoided it all. Jumping up all the way to where Sofia was, he poked her four times and fell back.

That was a lot of mana, and it still all failed I cant afford to keep trying to be fancy if it is never going to work. Lets try something else.

She channeled [Graveyard of the righteous] and [Spine of the Black Sun], instantly changing the sword to its whip form while she held her scepter with her left hand.

How much of a buffer do I keep? Fifty? Thirty? Ten?

Perhaps I wont need a buffer.

Since the only real way she could touch the Master was for him to mess up, she was going to go all out. The plan was to relentlessly attack from all directions until he missed something.

Up to eighty-two blows. Every skeleton ready?

Lets go.