The seven climbed regally onto the boat glaring around Behind Jacktat there was a large man with extremely thick arms a pudgy man a wispy looking fellow two women whose similar features marked them as family perhaps twins and a grim faced man who carried at least 6 spears on his back
Jacktat leveled his spear at Divveltian Now old man prepare to eat your fucking words I’ll make sure you fucking repay every cent that you owe Uncle Izzie
Ah you are confused I get it your rampaging teenage hormones Divveltian said breezily shooing Jacktat away But I won’t be bothering with you Perhaps you should fight one of the younger generation so it’s more fair
Randidly stepped forward summoning the huge obsidian spear that he now knew had belonged to Haelthing Glancing at it he admired how regal and imposing it was but he couldn’t wrap his mind around the image the story had given him of Haelthing in comparison with the spear Sure it was dark and dangerous looking but it was the danger of a mountain path sunk in shadow It was not an evil thing just a brutal one
Randidly’s reverie was interrupted by vicious laughter What ahahahahah Fine I’ll crush this bug and then drag you out old man You know what Let’s crush them all Gang up on them and make them all pay boys
The disciples spread slowly their smiles thin and evil With a lecherous grin the huge man and the pudgy one walked towards Helen The wispy guy and the man with 6 spears walked towards Teliph The male spear attendant supressed a dumb little smile as the two female twins slunk towards him
Don’t die quickly Jacktat hissed I want them to see every second of your pain and regret letting me break you Randidly of the emerald There is a modest bounty on your Tassle too in the right circles so I’ll enjoy this
But Randidly wasn’t really listening to his words though It would just distract him Instead he just focused on his breathing reaching inside himself and touching on the Aether that waited there Slowly as Randidly pressed with his will it began to slowly flow like the deepest part of a frozen stream in winter The movement was small but it would make upping the ante in battle easier
His heart rate increased
It was strange but Randidly was nervous He had fought many people in his 2 years in prison but that felt different somehow Isolated from the world And it was a wild and informal thing those brawls Done more for survival than anything else
Here however there were rites and rituals different ways of speaking This was a battle for honor and respect And as soon as Randidly thought that he smiled his nerves broken He fell into a fighting stance That was why this felt strange Even from Jacktat’s words although he wanted to crush Randidly there was never any hint of killing intent The purpose was to humiliate him and strip him of his Tassle
When the stakes were so low it was hard to get serious Like Divvit said this was a man who had been bought and long ago lost his edge But that was just in the way he acted and fought Skill Levels didn’t decay as far as Randidly knew so there would be within him still a hint of the man who seized the title of Artisan
Randidly was pleased by the surprise in the man’s face when Randidly attacked first activating Haste Empower and Mana Strengthening to leap forward and use Sweep smashing into Jacktat’s defense All around Randidly’s move seemed to serve as the signal to attack and his three spear attendant’s rushed forward in unison with him
Jacktat grunted lightly and took a step back but it seemed more from surprise than anything else His powerful thrust that he launched in reply proved that It smashed Randidly backwards and ripped a chunk of flesh off of his shoulder Randidly’s eyes narrowed He had been far too careless attacking him directly It was an old bad habit left over from his earliest fights when the system arrived
But he had spent two years learning how to fight in different ways and it was time to show the world how much he had changed And not just the world but himself too To prove that he had the strength to stand up against the powerful youth he would be forced to fight in the regional tournament That he had the strength to crush them
So as Jacktat rushed forward his blows heavy not Shal level of heavy but still clearly powerful Randidly began to use Spear Phantom’s Footwork and moved around the attacks getting in shots where he could This seemed to annoy Jacktat but he just growled and attacked more wildly
Which of course was exactly the wrong sort of thing to do Jacktat might be powerful but he was not as powerful as those Randidly had trained with and that was all he had power He had none of the grace and speed of Shal and none of the impossibly perfect attacks that Marco Polo used combinations based on years of experience
Randidly’s eyes began to glow as the Aether flowed more freely in his chest
He could do this He could defeat an Artisan
Chapter 179
Helen felt her eyes drifting closed as she fought even as the two men had their expressions change from lust to something much more serious Helen’s grin was wicked
Fucking perverts She said laughing inwardly as she swayed between their admittedly powerful but rough attacks Although they were both fine spear users they had no concept of teamwork between them so their overall utility was heavily inhibited by each other Their skills and methods were not complimentary at all Soon their serious gazes turned into annoyance as they were as much foiled by each other as Helen
The large man rushed towards her slashing diagonally towards her with her spear Helen pretty easily swayed under the blow and the pudgy man sprung forward executing a fearsome thrust
She pirouetted to the side the thrust ripping a small gash in her leather armor but the attack also made the large man who was rushing towards Helen’s exposed back hastily jump to the side to avoid the blow The two men glared at each other for a second then grudgingly turned back to Helen their eyes once more regaining a lustful tint as they traced Helen’s curves
Normally Helen would be infuriated by the flagrant disregard of her skill as a spear user and even now that was annoying but the dodging the flowing moves something was coming alive inside of Helen It was a cool icy electricity a lump of spinning stardust in her chest that seemed to be animating her whole body Tingling streams flowed outward and she felt strangely alive
Several small bits of information came together in her head The energy released by Randidly in the past The way her mother always recommended that Helen find a man who could complete dungeons and sleep with him immediately after he returned from a victorious dungeon It was pretty common knowledge that a man’s seed contained some fraction of the Aether that he had in his body and a woman could take from for herself with her body
Which at the time disgusted Helen Not that she had any interest in sex especially with the leatherworkers she had grown up around but it was repugnant to her that she would effectively trade her body for a night in exchange for a bit of Aether She already obtained some from her class what was the point in having more
But now with this wondrous energy coursing through her practically sculpting itself according to her will Helen’s heart rate was skyrocketing but at the same time her vision became strangely bright and pristine It was like the two men in front of her were slow moving monkeys trying to catch her
The huge man rushed forward smashing downward with a powerful blow Helen flowed around it her spear flicking out to hit him in the side sending him stumbling The pudgy man blanched seeing Helen approach like a swift death but he was still a spear user He raised his spear in a defensive posture and thrust forward to meet her advance
Helen breathed very deeply the stardust in her chest now exploding outward like a levy bursting and unleashing a flood She had to hold that breath because the strange feeling made it impossible for her to contract her lungs It was a strange stasis but to her surprise her senses continued to sharpen to a point every detail of the pudgy man appearing before her eyes