Chương 48: Chapter Forty-Eight: Spars

A few gasps sound out from the bench at the decisive finishing blow, and Angus turns to me with his mouth agape.

"Wow! You were right, man. I guess I underestimated Sandra!" I nod at him with a smile while I observe the two making their way back from the field. The kick wasn't enough to knock Vince out, which is telling of his superior BDY stat. It has originally been enough to knock him to the ground, but since it was only a bout between allies, there was no need to continue the fight past that point.

The man's expression is surprisingly relaxed despite the crushing defeat, and I watch as he and Sandra exchange handshakes before returning to the rest of the group to go over any feedback from the fight. The others praise the two's performance during the spar, but I am not as happy as the rest of them. Were they holding back? It would seem so based on the calm demeanor they both share now that the fight is over.

Sandra only has a thin sheen of sweat on her brow from the entire encounter, and she smirks while listening to everyone's praise. As Vince goes to take over the conversation to focus on the technical side of things, I keep my eyes on the winner of the spar. The older woman nods alongside her opponent's points regarding the fight, yet I can tell she is only half-listening as she pulls out the ponytail holding her shoulder length silver hair in place.

The thick locks fall against her neck while the woman puts the band in her mouth for a moment to fix her hair. Taking in the sight, I passively wonder what the woman's background was before The Pillar. Her athletic figure and confident stance make me think she could have been some type of professional fighter back on Earth. Her fighting style, however, does not remind me of any familiar martial arts that I have seen on TV.

When fighting with Vince, she never slipped into any kind of particular stance, but rather her body naturally tensed and readied itself like a flick being switched. Also, I notice that her overall figure and clothing choice rely on flexibility and ease of movement, as the woman has on a pair of leggings underneath the beige shorts offered by the barracks' lockers. It's not lost on me that the woman is ridiculously pretty as well.

She has a slight scar that trails across the side of her neck, but other than that, it would seem her previous fighting experience has done nothing to affect her natural looks and grace. A security guard maybe? Perhaps independent contractor? It's hard to get a read on the woman, and her skill with the icy sword from early makes me even more curious.

After fixing the hair once again, she takes out the band from between her lips and ties the ponytail back into place, letting only a few strands fall into her face upon completion. As her arms finally fall back to her sides, I notice her glance at me, and my eyes quickly dart back toward Vince. Attempting to make it look like I was paying attention, I offer a few pieces of criticism that align with what I heard him saying earlier. The woman's senses are lethal, and her fighting ability is more so.

I'm unsure of her skills outside of <Frost>, but something tells me she is the strongest in this entire group. I don't think she is the traitor I'm looking for, but I will make sure to be careful around Sandra.

"Alright, next two up. Angus and Henry, head over to the field and I will tell you when to begin." The soldier's orders are doled out, and the younger boy and older man step out onto the turf. From my spot on the bench, I can't tell which one of them looks more nervous. Angus's hands fiddle around with each other, and the skinny teen does a poor job of hiding his anticipation as he trips on a non-existent bump on the ground.

The thirty-something year old man isn't doing much better, as his slouch and stiff gait show anything but confidence. I haven't had much experience talking with Henry, so my impression of the man is thin at best. He usually stays quiet in most conversations, but I have noticed him being particularly friendly with Benny when the younger boy strikes up a discussion with the man.

Remembering my first time meeting the man, I recall him moving to protect Benny for a moment before my gaze had caused him to freeze in place. If my guesses about the man are correct, then I assume he is nothing more than an indecisive, introverted guy. The dark and scraggly beard along with his overgrown and unkempt hair further drive my hypothesis home. From what I have seen so far, Henry seems like he is pretty out of his depths in DIC difficulty.

The fact almost no one wanted to take him during the selection process is even more evidence of this, yet I don't dismiss the man entirely just yet. Henry and Sara are the only two people I have yet to see use their skills. Garf had said Henry had potential as a mobile tank or vanguard support, so I am interested to see if his skills are like Vince's at all. Secondarily, if he has some sort of cutting ability or the like, then I can peg him as one of the leading suspects in my investigation.

Eventually, the two combatants face each other in the center of the field, and after a moment, Vince signals them to begin. Unlike the previous fight, the two do not charge at each other, but rather the opposite. Angus spreads his legs into a half-hearted stance before beginning to wave his hands in the air while blue and purple lines trail his fingertips. Leaning forward with interest, I watch as the younger boy's face scrunches in concentration while archaic drawings of mana form in the air.

Henry's expression is filled with confusion and worry, yet he takes the initiative and starts jogging in the general direction of where Angus continues to cast with abandon. If it were me, I would surely be rushing the curly-headed teen to stop whatever spell Angus is cooking up, yet it seems like Henry's cowardice stops him from fully committing. It's hard to see from my location, but it looks like the older man's skin is shimmering somewhat with a dull blue light. You could be reading stolen content.

Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Cursing myself for not having any sort of proper skill to detect mana usage, I try to cycle through a few filters with <Polarize> in an effort to identify what kind of skill Henry is using. Unfortunately, my skill is of no use currently because of my lack of practice, so I am forced to watch the rest of the fight with the naked eye. Henry gets closer and closer to the teen caught up in his own world, yet Angus does not react and continues to draw.

Finally, it seems that the man has gained enough confidence to press the attack, and his foot steps fall quicker as Henry rushes his opponent. As if on queue, Angus shifts his focus back onto the fight, and begins throwing out his hands in obvious calls to action. The purple and blue mana he had filled the air with shakes at his gesture, and before Henry can reach the ethereal drawings, arrow-like projectiles begin shooting toward his location.

The salt-and-pepper haired man clearly does not anticipate the telegraphed attack, and throws his hands in front of him before disappearing completely. My eyes widen as I attempt to track where the man has gone, but in the time it takes for me to blink, he appears once again in a spot a few meters away from where he was just standing. My interest in Henry's skills reaches a new level, as I believe to have just seen the man teleport in real time.

Due to his sudden change in location, Angus's arrows sail through the air uselessly while the boy attempts to readjust his target. Henry's hesitation is evident, but it only takes another second before he is rushing the spell casting teen once again. Angus throws his hands around once again before shoving both of his palms toward Henry like an anime character. The arrows continue to try and hit Henry, yet the older man is able to escape the threat the projectiles pose as he blinks around over and over again.

I'm unsure of the limits of the man's teleportation skill, but he never moves farther than three meters in each use, and it seems to take him at least a few seconds to target where he wants to go before the skill activates. I'm unsure if either qualification is an inherent restraint by the skill itself, or rather Henry's lack of ability to utilize them correctly.

The game of tag between the two men continues much longer than needed, with Angus quickly running out of his prepared projectiles, and Henry just wasting mana trying to dodge the attacks instead of just moving in to finish the fight. Even with the ridiculous skill, Angus still manages to score small hits on the slouched guy due to his lacking reaction time. Unfortunately for the young mage, the man's skill that seems to affect his skin allows him to endure the attacks with little fanfare.

Eventually, it seems like the man realizes he can end the fight by pushing closer to Angus, so it doesn't take long before the two find themselves face to face. Angus looks to be scrambling to keep Henry away, yet it's no use because of the older man's ability to close the gap with his insane teleportation. In one last ditch effort, Angus grits his teeth to release the remaining mana he has hanging in the air directly at his opponent.

Since Henry's stats are focused on BDY rather than AGI, his only option to dodge the onslaught would be his movement skill. Unexpectedly though, the man throws out his hands in front of his face, and the attack hits him head on. Henry's skin-related skill shrugs off the majority of the damage caused by the weak projectiles, yet that doesn't stop the man from outwardly cringing in pain while freezing in place.

The opening provided by his reaction cause Angus to furiously draw more lines of mana into the air, but it is no use. Henry finally gets a hold of himself and moves forward to shove Angus to the ground, causing his drawings to fizzle out. Only a moment later, Vince calls for the end of the fight. As the messy-haired man holds a hand out for the teen to get up, the two shortly make their way back to the group with varying levels of embarrassment. I can't even blame them for that reaction either.

The fight was basically garbage. I leave the criticism to Vince and the others since they will likely have similar comments to mine. I'm sure their method of communication will be less blunt and asshole-ish like mine surely would be. While I was blown away with both of their interesting skill sets, I am overwhelmingly disappointed in how they both performed in the fight.

Angus obviously needs to pay more attention to his opponent, and realize that he needs to be able to create attacks on the fly rather than spending half the fight just waving his arms in the air. The little anime poses he did are another issue entirely, yet I don't feel like mentioning the problem to the others, as I fear I would cringe from embarrassment just from mentioning them. Henry's problem is entirely different, as the man clearly doesn't have a spine.

With various openings to work with, the guy should have been able to end the fight almost immediately. All it would have taken is the quick decision to rush Angus, as well as the acceptance of receiving a few scratches from the weak projectiles the boy produced. Instead of that, we were forced to watch a five minute bout where the man was just dodging around clumsily while wasting his overpowered teleportation skill that I am still furious I don't own.

I mean seriously, this guy gets teleportation and I get sunglasses. What kind of fucking world is this? Also, I am unsure what skills Angus has exactly, but the multi-colored mana in the air didn't look like it was a result of a sub-par skill. Based on his ability to make the drawings form into arrows, I assume the skill itself creates some sort of free-form spell casting rather than just some lame projectiles.

Having no idea how that would work as a singular skill, I am further angered by the fact that Angus was freely given some sort of starter skill on par with my <Mana Construct> for which I painstakingly worked for. Heathens. All of these people are heathens with their stupidly overpowered starting skills. No- they are worse than that. Not only do they have OP skills, but they also can't even have the decency to level them properly and make use of their potential.

It seems I will have to eclipse all of their talents with the pure hard work and dedication forced upon me by my lame ass sunglasses ability, and skill that allows me not to fucking die from my own body's radiation. My gripes over the unfairness of the world go on for longer than expected, and before I know it, the next partners are being called up to spar.

"Alright, Sebastian and Nikki, time to see what you got." My mind clears up as I realize that I am up next. A pat on my shoulder makes me turn around to find Angus smiling at me gently.

"Don't be scared, man. We can only get better from here, right?" He says with eyes that tell me he means every word. I really want to punch this brat. Shrugging off his hand, I rise from the bench while glancing at Wade, who looks like he can't wait for me to get my butt whooped in the upcoming spar. Looking around further, I feel like everyone is looking at me with some level pity other than Kathryn who just gives me a thumbs up. I guess they all assume I will be losing this due to the level and class differences.

Striding out to the field while scratching at my neck, Nikki tosses me a look while walking ahead of me. Before I can react, I see her hide a middle finger behind her shoulder which I assume is her way of telling me that she is looking forward to the fight. With a cheeky grin, she looks away before sauntering over to her spot in the middle of the turf field. Finding my place as well, I attempt to hide the muscles in my body tensing as I begin to fill them with enough mana to make my entire body cramp.

I had wanted to use this fight as a chance to check out Nikki's skills and see if her abilities could be useful for improving <Fixation> and my movement technique involving the experimental bursts I was using in the Northeast Wilds. It would seem that I have had a sudden change of heart though. I'm going to kick her ass.