Clyde immediately noticed the challenge in the blonde man's voice. He had not imagined that such a good opportunity would come now.
Clyde felt that fighting training with someone who could both fight using magic attacks was a good thing for him. But he didn't want to suddenly walk up to them and say that he wanted to try fighting.
For Clyde, it was a hard thing to do. He hadn't even talked to them much and suddenly asked them to fight. It would instead raise a spark of hostility that would trouble him.
However, now some people are openly challenging him. If that's the case then Clyde feels there's no reason to refuse.
"Yeah, I'm quite confident," Clyde said confidently. "So what?"
"Actually, I don't want to do this because you just came. And you might still be injured. But when you show off your power it looks like you're already fine," the man replied. "So I want to challenge you in a fight."
"Alright." Clyde nodded curtly. "What are the rules?"
"We'll fight until one of us can't move."
Clyde narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure? That means I have to hurt you pretty bad."
"Tch!" the blonde man snorted. "You say it like you're sure you can beat me."
"Don't worry. In this place you can recover from any wounds after drinking the Life Elixir," a man who was a spectator said from Clyde's side. He can see from his eyes that he can't wait to see this fight.
Even though Clyde didn't know what Life Elixir was, he supposed that it was something that could really work to heal fatal wounds. So he immediately agreed because with that he would not kill the blonde man.
"Alright. Let's do it," Clyde said.
The blonde man grinned contentedly. "Good. My name is Nikos, by the way."
"Clyde."
The spectators drew away from them and prepared to watch the fight from a safe distance.
"Who do you think will last longer?" one spectator asked.
"I don't know. Nikos is a strong mage. But you've seen for yourself how strong the new guy is even though he's only been here for a month," his friend he was talking to answered.
The same questions and speculations were heard from other groups. They whispered to each other about the outcome of this fight.
It's been a long time since there is a battle that feels this challenging in this fortress.
Even though Nikos is known to be annoying, he has proven to be quite strong. Even Samuel acknowledged his power.
And Clyde as a new person also fought with Samuel yesterday and ended in a draw because of a broken sword.
Even though Samuel had not fought with all his might, he had already used Mana so it could be said that Samuel had exerted more power than usual.
The fight begins.
Nikos channeled his Mana into his staff so that the tip of the staff glowed red. Clyde only watched from afar and didn't rush to attack him, even though he could because Nikos' preparation took too long for him.
Because this is a battle with magic, he tries to act like a magic user, that is fighting from a distance.
A moment later two fire elementals with a meter tall height appeared beside Nikos.
'So he also uses fire.'
Clyde thought it would be better. Because then he could realize the power of his fire.
"Go!" Nikos shouted. Then the two fire elementals shot toward Clyde.
Clyde thought that was a good strategy. By deploying the two elementals, Nikos can keep his distance from the enemy and deliver attacks at the same time.
Clyde didn't have that type of attack variation. He could only let out fire from his burning hands. So he will use it.
*WOSSHH!*
The flames on Clyde's hands grew bigger like a fire that had just been doused with gasoline. Then Clyde stretched his burning hands forward and let out a torrent of fire.
"We will see a fight between fire users."
"I don't know how this fight is going to go."
"The attribute they use are the same. So we'll just have to see whose is the strongest."
The spectators made various comments with their eyes fixed on the fight. Now Nikos' fire elementals and Clyde's torrent of fire clashed.
*ZWOOOOSSSHHH!!!*
A wave of heat spread as their attacks clashed. The grass near the center of the clash drooped and withered instantly.
Nikos covered his face with his hands because of the heat wave. Then he opened it to find Clyde's whereabouts. It turned out that Clyde was still standing in his place with a calm expression.
"Heh! Not bad!" said Nikos. "But I haven't serious."
Nikos concentrated, this time he poured more Mana than ever into his staff. The point of the staff gave off a fiery orange glow like before.
After that, he pointed his palm at Clyde. Nikos started to chant a spell in a language that was only familiar to him.
Clyde waited quietly where he stood. Like before, Nikos did take too long to cast his magic. Are all magic casters like that? Clyde wondered.
Then they have an obvious weakness. Which can be exploited by their enemy. They obviously couldn't fight alone.
Suddenly under Clyde's feet appeared a reddish magic circle. Knowing that this position was quite dangerous, Clyde immediately jumped to the side.
However, he couldn't get out of this magic circle. It was as if there was an invisible wall surrounding him.
"It's Nikos's deadly attack. Why is he using it now?!" a woman who had already seen the destructive power of the attack screamed in distress.
But Nikos doesn't seem to care and just wants to show his strength to Clyde, the arrogant newcomer. So he continued his cast accompanied by a sly grin on his mouth.
A moment later flames came out from under Clyde's feet and soared up to form a pillar of fire that seemed to pierce the sky.
*BWOOOSSHHH!!!!*
Clyde is trapped inside it. All the spectators stared with wide eyes and the same thought. What if Nikos killed the person Samuel had just saved?
~~~
