Chapter 374: So that’s why they call you...

Chapter 374: So that’s why they call you...

Blue flames surround the young girl, not as an attack but in an effort to create an area around her that’s as hot as possible.

I can see Isabella staring at Tacita, seemingly in an attempt to read her emotions, something I don't think she’ll be able to do given the effects of Tacita’s field. But Tacita seems to appreciate the effort and smiles at the girl.

Isabella moves her hand and a dozen thin threads of fire lash out around her, like whips extending to assault Tacita.

The mute girl just takes a nimble step and dodges the first, tilting her head to avoid another, and leaping playfully over another. Her movements are smooth and playful while the environment around her burns and cuts to pieces. Thin blue threads of fire cut through stone, trees, and the ground leaving deep gouges in their wake.

The fire intensifies, and with it, so too does the heat around Isabella. The air flickers and the surface of the stones start to glow an angry orange color with the heat.

Even so, it's not enough. Tacita disappears, her immense speed removing her from sight, and when she appears again, she is standing in a different spot, dagger in hand, its blade covered in blood.

Slowly, Isabella reaches towards her neck finding a long scratch, a whisper of blood flowing from the wound.

Tacita waits until Isabella looks at her and gestures at her, the meaning clear, Forfeit.

Instead of that, Isabella wipes the blood into her clothes, rolls her sleeves up, and slaps her palms together. The veins in her arms become visible through her skin. Glowing with a blue luminescence that seeps through the muscles and skin. The effect slowly traveling up the length of her arms, past her elbows.

In response, the heat radiating from Isabella increases several times over. The blue flames crash into each other, violently lashing at the air as if they were caught in the winds of a storm.

The ground continues to absorb the heat until the girl finds herself standing in a pool of magma and fire, her shoes dissolving in the heat and the edges of her clothes beginning to catch fire. Yet the flames leave not a single burn on her body, not a single hair left out of place by that heat.

Dozens of threads of fire, like burning ropes, spin, burn, and thrash around as she faces off against Tacita.

And in that moment, the smile fades from the mute girl's face, replaced by a look of simple acknowledgment. The dagger in her hand visibly vibrates, falling under the effect of her skill.

Once again, Tacita disappears, and when she comes back into view, she finds herself having to dust off her clothes and put out the fire on her sleeve, and glancing down at the burn left on her forearm.

The dagger is gone, stabbed through Isabella’s eye who a split second later turns into shiny particles.

“I’m fine, Soph,” Isabella says the moment she appears outside. Even so, she lifts her arm and carefully touches her eye. Her hand is shaking and so is her voice. It’s obvious she felt a bit of pain before the system bailed her out.

Curious, I look over to Sophie who stays quiet, moving to be closer to her sister. Her expression right now tells me that things are going to be interesting if she ever gets to face off against Tacita.

Out of everyone from Hell difficulty who isn’t already in Beyond, Sophie is the one I think would be the best fit for the other weirdos in its ranks. The only thing holding her back is her little sister.

“Izzy, were those blue veins of yours a trait?” I ask her.

“Yes, it’s called Burning Blood.”

“Damn, sounds cool. Is it a boost to your fire-related abilities? Does it buff your heat generation? Or is it your storage capacity?” I try to guess.

“All of the above!”

“That’s even cooler than I thought. Give me.”

“No! But it’s still cool, right? Though I still want to have floating blue hair like Seneca’s.”

“Was that a trait your disciple had?”

She shakes her head and I notice she is getting calmer, “It was more like Vega’s horns.”

“Maybe you can work something out with Lily, she likes to play around with that kind of stuff.”

“Only for training,” Lily corrects.

Isabella says something to Lily and they start a conversation, no doubt hashing out details and I turn back to the screen. Though before doing so, I glance over at Sophie who still wears an expression of cold rage, even stronger now that Izzy’s been distracted.

On the screen, Savant faces Pumpkin, a melee attacker from WhiteWing.

The fight opens with Savant using his domain and the time starts ticking down. Without a good defense, Pumpkin will quickly find himself poisoned by mana radiation and I'm sure Savant is concentrating on making it worse for him.

As the gentle orange light shimmers around them, two men rush together in combat, Savant showing himself to be surprisingly at home with melee combat.

Though to watch, I figure that it’s probably a mix of things he saw back on Earth and the lessons he received on the 2nd and 4th floors. Even so, Savant combines these moves together really well and if he makes a mistake, he quickly realizes it and doesn’t repeat it a second time.

Even so, Pumpkin is faster and very flexible, he’s dual wielding daggers, each moving like it has its own mind. His skin is coated in something like scales that seem to add to his defense without restricting his movement. For a while, he even manages to push Savant back and gradually uses more of his mana as his movements become more and more aggressive.

“I agree,” Tess chimes in.

Finally, it’s Min-Jae’s turn to be summoned inside, and he finds himself facing off against someone from Hard difficulty. The huge muscular man with a hammer that is probably heavier than Min-Jae. Surprisingly, the man is calm after finding out who he’s been pitted against.

Unlike him, Min-Jae smiles brightly. He is looking around as if trying to find the “camera” that shows it all in the common area. Then he offers the man the first attack, promising to only defend once.

“That dumbass...” Maya sighs.

And as expected, the man seizes the opportunity. He lowers his stance and over one minute his body shines slightly, muscles not bulging quite as much, and the interesting amount of mana surrounding the hammer.

Even so, Min-Jae doesn’t seem to be worried and his left yellow eye shines.

The man from Hard difficulty attacks and at that moment the field around Min-Jae activates an immense pull of gravity slowing the man to a crawl after a few quick steps. But that doesn’t seem to be his intention and instead of just blindly charging, he throws his hammer.

Min-Jae reaches his hand in its direction, mana swirling around him as he uses either [Gravity Well] or [Telekinesis]. He doesn’t even put that much effort into it, not expecting much from someone from Hard difficulty.

But surprisingly, just once, the hammer flashes, disrupting for a second Min-Jae's grab and emptying the mana collected inside of it in the process.

Unable to react in time, the hammer smashes into Min-Jae's left side, breaking his bones and throwing him rolling on the ground.

From there, the boy lifts his head, groaning in pain, and the skills he was using deactivate. His eyes open up in panic as he sees how close his opponent is, just two steps away.

Min-Jae clenches his teeth and his left eye glows, the man’s chest caving in, compressed by immense gravity and turning him into shiny particles.

When our teammate reappears outside, no one says anything but I look at him with interest, curious to see what reaction Min-Jae will have.

He catches my gaze and turns away. Was that shame I saw in his expression? Anger? Annoyance?

A few more groups fight and I finally get summoned back inside. Only 4 members remain in each group. After this fight, it will be the group finals. My opponent this time is a guy from Hard difficulty.

“Fuck man, I thought I would climb higher,” he sighs. One of Samuel’s cronies. I think he’s an ex-marine or something like that.

I find it interesting. Wouldn’t people with that much experience, real combat experience be more fitting for Hell difficulty?

“Are you going to forfeit?” I ask.

“I mean, probably.”

“Would you mind if I try something?”

“Your special attack or what? Will it hurt?”

“I don’t know, but if you agree I will have a bit better opinion of you. I will also remember you agreeing to this.”

“What’s my name?”

“...”

“Yeah, I thought so. I’m Matthew, remember it. And go ahead. If it’s some kind of torture or other bullshit I will forfeit.”

“I might forget your name so talk to the Channeler or Sset. They are good at peopley stuff.”

“Man... okay, damn it, just do it.”

I nod and my [Mana Crown] forms over my head. My [Mana Domain] expands and I use black mana to strengthen my body, something I’m starting to grow quite proficient at, I can even manage to keep it going for up to ten seconds with barely any aftereffects.

Then, having my body strengthened with black mana to endure the strain, I start releasing my mana and filling my domain with it. Like a broken dam, it floods into it, filling the area with more and more of my mana. It floods from my reservoir and my body mana. There is no skill here, just me emptying my reserves.

I barely get started when the man stumbles, his face pale.

A few seconds later, he falls to his knees, seeming to be having trouble breathing.

“So that’s why they call you a goddamn mana maniac.” Even as he says so he clenches his teeth, trying to endure as much as possible.

I barely start releasing mana from my Mana Reservoir and even that seems to be too much and the man faints, soon turning into shiny particles.

Congratulations, you have won your 7th duel!