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Overwhelming
The two corpses lay unmoving on the ground, and the a little away from them, the two bishops were also almost at the verge of death.
I hesitated over whether I should kill the bishops as well or not but, I figured I might as well let them live as witnesses for later.
I imagine the cardinal dragged them here with him forcefully anyway so I imagine they’ll instantly blabber all the info they have when pressed later.
After tying them up with my [Sticky strings], and then using [Hardening] to completely constrain them, we decided to head further inside.
“Damn, that was a lot easier than I thought huh! I was totally expecting a royal knights vice commander to be a lot stronger but, honestly, that was kind of a letdown!”
“That’s just a proof of how strong we have gotten. Well, Snow’s also got a natural advantage against living things as well though. Close quarters fighters honestly can’t win against it.”
“Yeah, even I don’t have the confidence of winning against Snow honestly! Getting hit by that cold damage even if you block the attack almost feels like cheating!”
“Ralf, you guarded against the vice commander’s attacks as well right? How was it?”
“Like I said, disappointing! And I mean that! I felt this when taking on the [Under Eye] base as well to be honest, so maybe I really have gotten pretty strong like you said Chris!”
“I mean, I have been saying that for quite some time now for a reason. It’s because I constantly have mock fights with you that I can say for certain.”
No seriously, Ralf was ridiculously strong.
When he’s focused only on blocking, he can guard against my attacks even with all my skills active. And even when I use the combo of [Black Mist], [Sticky String manipulation] and [Hardening], he still finds a way to defend against it with ease.
He had even figured out exactly what kind of range my [Effect Spread] had so I couldn’t even get him with my poison.
A lot of people have praised Ralf before as well but, when it comes to pure defending, he really is a one of a kind genius. I truly believe that.
“I just don’t really feel that way though! Even in our mock battles, I only win like 30% of the time. Chris beats me with ease mostly so you sound more like you’re bragging if anything!”
“Well, I am simply that strong as well, that’s all. If anything, being able to win against 30% of the time is in fact something you should be able to brag about.”
“Chris you……..man, your self-confidence really is unmatched huh! I always end up overthinking things so I can never be as convincing as you.”
If I didn’t have this level of self confidence, I’d never be able to challenge Klaus.
After chatting with Ralf as we continued moving forward, I turned towards Esta to talk.
“Esta, how did the battle feel? I thought that [Twist Air Raid] had quite the satisfying result but, what were your impressions?”
“It was nice to finally be able to release a high level magic in a real battle. And the feedback definitely felt really good as well.”
“Unlike Ralf, you are pretty confident in yourself huh. Even with me as tank, you did succeed I overwhelming them in a 1v3 magic battle after all.”
“Indeed. All three of them were veteran magic users as well, especially the Cardinal, he was really a extremely skilled magician in my opinion. I’m glad I was able to test myself against such good opponents. Although I certainly had a bunch of advantages to my side though.”
“Also, just to be clear, it’s not like I lost any confidence okay!? I’m just not as overwhelmingly self-confident like you are Chris, that’s all! I’m fully ready to take on that Drake guy!”
Hearing Ralf revise his statements made my chuckle a bit, as we continued walking further inside [Foro Neem] with a reinvigorated morale.
If there was a point of worry, that would be the fact that the strength of the former humans revived by Elphas did indeed continue to get higher and higher as I expected.
I was confident that we wouldn’t lose against any of them but, they were just strong enough that I didn’t want to waste any energy fighting them on the way either. So it’d be vital to reduce the number of battles we get into from here onwards.
Also, the maze like pathways had become a lot wider and open now, so it was getting hard to completely avoid them.
It was also proof that we were getting close to the arena but, I still couldn’t sense Klaus and his party so we still had ways to go.
While carefully continuing to detect enemies alongside Snow, as we moved further, chasing after the backs of Klaus and his party, the design of the area also slowly began to change from the prison like structure to be more like the main floor again.
Since the battle with the cardinal and the vice commander, we had gotten into a couple more battles with the undead and after about 30mins had passed with us moving forward, our surroundings finally began to look like a proper arena now.
Until now, it seemed like the living quarters for the competitors would continue on forever and ever but, now we were able to see a bunch of waiting rooms and armouries here and there as well.
And then there was also a place that was clearly designed as a dumping ground for the bodies of those that lost in the arena.
“I know it hasn’t been used in ages and yet, why does it seems so ‘fresh’ still? I was kinda looking forward to seeing this arena before coming here but, damn this place feels like a horror show!”
Seeing the processing area for the dead, Ralf muttered that but……
My attention had already moved to something else, because I sensed something similar to Klaus a little further ahead from us.
It wasn’t my skills that detected him, yet, I felt him, I knew he was close by.
“Why did you stop? Did you sense something?”
“Yeah. Klaus is near. He’s at the end of this pathway.”
“……..finally huh. Snow seemed to have sensed something as well it seems.”
It’s fur was standing on its ends like before, and it seems Snow had detected Klaus and his party as well.
I thought it’d take a while longer before we ran into them but it looks like we’ll be able to face them without needing to spend too much stamina on the way after all in the end.
I hadn’t been feeling nervous until now but, the moment I sensed Klaus, my entire body got goosebumps.
But it was not from fear, it was the trembling that came from sheer excitement and anticipation.
It feels like it took ages for me to get to this point, and yet it also feels like only a moment had passed.
I smacked my arms to stop my shivers, and reinvigorated myself before proceeding forward again.
After moving forward, I was able to properly sense Klaus and his party as well but……..
Judging by the reactions, it seems like they had split up in two groups.
“Ralf, Esta, stop again for a moment? The presences had split up in two directions, to the left and straight forward.”
“What? Does that mean they are moving separately?”
“I think so. From the left path, I can sense Elphas and a bunch of mana readings as well. And straight up ahead, I can sense Klaus and Drake.”
“I was sure they’d stick with each other! So what now? Should we go and get rid of Elphas first?”
Ralf made that suggestion but, I was not sure either.
Was the right answer to take the numerical advantage? Or should we also split up in two groups and take them both on at the same time?
“………Chris-san, can you let me handle Elphas? That was the plan from the start so I’ll take the left route and defeat Elphas first.”
Soon after Ralf’s question, Esta quickly gave her opinion on the matter.
I hesitated for a moment but, she’s right, we did decided early on that Elphas would be Esta’s to handle.
Then I should trust her with it.
“Very well. I leave Elphas to you Esta. I’m sure he has a bunch of undeads with him as well so take Snow with you. Let Snow handle the undeads, and in a 1v1 magic duel against Elphas, I’m confident you can win.”
“Understood.——-when we meet again, let us meet with smiles.”
“Yeah, don’t you dare lose.”
“Yes. Allow me to show the so called elite, the spirit of us ‘weeds’ who crawled up from the bottom!”
She hit her chest with pride, and then Esta moved on to the left path alongside Snow.
Me and Ralf were the only ones left, so we continued forwards towards the arena where Klaus and Drake await.