Chapter 599: Duel
"So you are with them, huh…"
For now, there was no aggression in the air. Makay simply put out a statement, that didn't really make much sense for me, but most likely was of profound meaning for him. Surrounded by nothing but an aura of calmness and disappointment, he continued to swing his hands above the edge of the enormous crater, with his head heavily dropping down.
"I have no idea what them do you have on mind, and I don't like the fact that you are so quick to associate me with someone. Right now, I would say that I'm all on my own with the exception of the people that I care about."
Rather than allowing this strange misunderstanding to fester my already fragile relationship with Makay, I preferred to clarify it before it could cause any real harm. Taking into account what prompted the local lord and fellow eartherner to classify me as one of "them", it became obvious that his way of attempting to figure out a way back home wasn't the only one that was taken into consideration.
But even those words of mine failed to have any effect. Still motionless in his position, Makay was fighting with something in his thoughts, as if he was trying to figure out the best course of action by himself, something that was bound to be difficult for someone who was so used to relying on the system to guide him forward.
"If you think that you can achieve anything just by yourself…"
Makay's face cleared out as if he finally came to a decision. His eyes were no longer shrouded by the clouds of doubt and uncertainty but were glowing with some kind of strange passion instead.
"Then you need to prove to me that you are capable of doing so!'
Standing up with those words on his mouth, Makay didn't instantly jump on me but instead walked a few steps away in the opposite direction! Once the distance between us was to his satisfaction, the Lord turned around and looked directly into my eyes.
"As long as you can defend against three attacks of mine, I will acknowledge your right to pick your own, private road. If you fail to protect yourself, it will prove that you are too weak to go on your own. If that were to be the case, then I will have to… I won't have any other choice but to insist on you joining my faction!"
Makay's words couldn't be called a proposition, but statements instead. With his entire body giving off the vibes of going into the fight, I could tell that if I ignored this threat, I could lose everything in this moment.
Even though this kind of thinking sounded as exaggeration if I were to fall under the influence of some organisation… Then that would be no different from using System's decorations from the very beginning!
If my life were to be directed in any way that the God-created system would like to point, then any of my possible future attempts of carving my own future would instantly turn futile!
After all, if people like Makay were willing to give out their future by ascending and joining the ranks of God's armies only for their colleagues to have a shot at understanding the process of ascendance just a bit more, then they were welcomed to do so! But never in hell, I would agree to share this kind of fate!
"Give me a moment."
Since this was supposed to be a challenge rather than a life-or-death duel, I assumed that Makay wouldn't have any problems with me preparing for the fight a bit. After all, he was present in his entire gear, with a menacingly looking sword awaiting in its scabbard right on Makay's hip!
Taking a quick look around, I realised that with the creation of the crater over which we would have our duel, a lot of the treasures hidden underground got uncovered. Pieces of different ores were scattered all over the nearby plain, or rather, what remained of it after the fight of the great powers that I witnessed a few moments ago.
Quickly grabbing the more interesting clunks of dirty ore, I conjured my smithing sphere before throwing all my spoils into it. Once the volume of the gathered materials was just right for the weapon that I had in mind, I quickly barred the various metals out of all their impurities before inspecting their respective properties shown by a window beside my smithing sphere.
"That should do it…"
Muttering to myself, I arranged the general blueprint in my mind, before melting all the ores down into a liquid form and shaping them according to my idea. A soft, flexible metal for the core, a mix of two others wrapped around it, with one providing toughness required to repel the enemy attack and the other possessing the best magic conduciveness that I have ever seen in my life, I quickly added a round shape on top before filling it to the point of overflowing with a net of metal threads arranged in a crystalline structure, enriched with some microscopic gems around its centre.
"What kind of weapon that even is? Did you mistook cultivation with magic?"
Watching how I pulled the finished product seemingly out of the thin air, Makay couldn't help but sneer. Just from this reaction, I could tell how little did people like him know about the properties of the world that surrounded them. If only they learned about how much one could create from something that seemed to be commonly accessible…
"I don't think you have any right to criticise my choice before taking its brunt on yourself first."
Swinging my new silvery staff around to get a good grip of its weight, I found the spot where the centre of its mass was. Pushing the smithing sphere over this point, I quickly changed its shape to make it fit better in my hand.
"Are you ready?"
Most likely noticing that my preparations were all but done, Makay stepped on his other foot, menacingly placing his hand on the handle of his sword.
"I'm re…"
Just as I was about to finish the word of my response, the little, magical construct that I inserted into the hidden second crystalline core at the bottom of the staff, erupted in flames!
Using all my strength to hold on to the staff, I made use of the sudden appearance of the momentum, to turn my staff into something akin to a small rocket, instantly closing the distance to Makay!
"Wha…"
Barely able to slide his sword out of its scabbard before I appeared just a few feet above him, Makay pushed his agility to its limit to guard against my downward swing!
"CHANGE!"
As stupid as shouting out the orders or spells in the midst of the battle was, it was just a small part of the trap that I was setting. Following my words, the direction from where the flames of continuous explosions were going from my staff changed from its bottom to the side of the bottom crystal facing away from the lord!
With the force of explosion only adding to the pressure with which I was trying to break Makay's guard, I clicked my tongue. In fact, I never had to shout any word to create such a small modification to the output of my weapon, as just thought alone was enough to achieve that!
But with how obvious I made it for Makay to think otherwise, once my feet finally touched the ground, I instantly changed the direction of the flames to the opposite ones!
All at once, the erupting flames moved over the blade of Makay's sword, scorching his face as my hands followed the reversed pull of the staff, making a full circle only to smash the lord right in his balls!
For now, there was no aggression in the air. Makay simply put out a statement, that didn't really make much sense for me, but most likely was of profound meaning for him. Surrounded by nothing but an aura of calmness and disappointment, he continued to swing his hands above the edge of the enormous crater, with his head heavily dropping down.
"I have no idea what them do you have on mind, and I don't like the fact that you are so quick to associate me with someone. Right now, I would say that I'm all on my own with the exception of the people that I care about."
Rather than allowing this strange misunderstanding to fester my already fragile relationship with Makay, I preferred to clarify it before it could cause any real harm. Taking into account what prompted the local lord and fellow eartherner to classify me as one of "them", it became obvious that his way of attempting to figure out a way back home wasn't the only one that was taken into consideration.
But even those words of mine failed to have any effect. Still motionless in his position, Makay was fighting with something in his thoughts, as if he was trying to figure out the best course of action by himself, something that was bound to be difficult for someone who was so used to relying on the system to guide him forward.
"If you think that you can achieve anything just by yourself…"
Makay's face cleared out as if he finally came to a decision. His eyes were no longer shrouded by the clouds of doubt and uncertainty but were glowing with some kind of strange passion instead.
"Then you need to prove to me that you are capable of doing so!'
Standing up with those words on his mouth, Makay didn't instantly jump on me but instead walked a few steps away in the opposite direction! Once the distance between us was to his satisfaction, the Lord turned around and looked directly into my eyes.
"As long as you can defend against three attacks of mine, I will acknowledge your right to pick your own, private road. If you fail to protect yourself, it will prove that you are too weak to go on your own. If that were to be the case, then I will have to… I won't have any other choice but to insist on you joining my faction!"
Makay's words couldn't be called a proposition, but statements instead. With his entire body giving off the vibes of going into the fight, I could tell that if I ignored this threat, I could lose everything in this moment.
Even though this kind of thinking sounded as exaggeration if I were to fall under the influence of some organisation… Then that would be no different from using System's decorations from the very beginning!
If my life were to be directed in any way that the God-created system would like to point, then any of my possible future attempts of carving my own future would instantly turn futile!
After all, if people like Makay were willing to give out their future by ascending and joining the ranks of God's armies only for their colleagues to have a shot at understanding the process of ascendance just a bit more, then they were welcomed to do so! But never in hell, I would agree to share this kind of fate!
"Give me a moment."
Since this was supposed to be a challenge rather than a life-or-death duel, I assumed that Makay wouldn't have any problems with me preparing for the fight a bit. After all, he was present in his entire gear, with a menacingly looking sword awaiting in its scabbard right on Makay's hip!
Taking a quick look around, I realised that with the creation of the crater over which we would have our duel, a lot of the treasures hidden underground got uncovered. Pieces of different ores were scattered all over the nearby plain, or rather, what remained of it after the fight of the great powers that I witnessed a few moments ago.
Quickly grabbing the more interesting clunks of dirty ore, I conjured my smithing sphere before throwing all my spoils into it. Once the volume of the gathered materials was just right for the weapon that I had in mind, I quickly barred the various metals out of all their impurities before inspecting their respective properties shown by a window beside my smithing sphere.
"That should do it…"
Muttering to myself, I arranged the general blueprint in my mind, before melting all the ores down into a liquid form and shaping them according to my idea. A soft, flexible metal for the core, a mix of two others wrapped around it, with one providing toughness required to repel the enemy attack and the other possessing the best magic conduciveness that I have ever seen in my life, I quickly added a round shape on top before filling it to the point of overflowing with a net of metal threads arranged in a crystalline structure, enriched with some microscopic gems around its centre.
"What kind of weapon that even is? Did you mistook cultivation with magic?"
Watching how I pulled the finished product seemingly out of the thin air, Makay couldn't help but sneer. Just from this reaction, I could tell how little did people like him know about the properties of the world that surrounded them. If only they learned about how much one could create from something that seemed to be commonly accessible…
"I don't think you have any right to criticise my choice before taking its brunt on yourself first."
Swinging my new silvery staff around to get a good grip of its weight, I found the spot where the centre of its mass was. Pushing the smithing sphere over this point, I quickly changed its shape to make it fit better in my hand.
"Are you ready?"
Most likely noticing that my preparations were all but done, Makay stepped on his other foot, menacingly placing his hand on the handle of his sword.
"I'm re…"
Just as I was about to finish the word of my response, the little, magical construct that I inserted into the hidden second crystalline core at the bottom of the staff, erupted in flames!
Using all my strength to hold on to the staff, I made use of the sudden appearance of the momentum, to turn my staff into something akin to a small rocket, instantly closing the distance to Makay!
"Wha…"
Barely able to slide his sword out of its scabbard before I appeared just a few feet above him, Makay pushed his agility to its limit to guard against my downward swing!
"CHANGE!"
As stupid as shouting out the orders or spells in the midst of the battle was, it was just a small part of the trap that I was setting. Following my words, the direction from where the flames of continuous explosions were going from my staff changed from its bottom to the side of the bottom crystal facing away from the lord!
With the force of explosion only adding to the pressure with which I was trying to break Makay's guard, I clicked my tongue. In fact, I never had to shout any word to create such a small modification to the output of my weapon, as just thought alone was enough to achieve that!
But with how obvious I made it for Makay to think otherwise, once my feet finally touched the ground, I instantly changed the direction of the flames to the opposite ones!
All at once, the erupting flames moved over the blade of Makay's sword, scorching his face as my hands followed the reversed pull of the staff, making a full circle only to smash the lord right in his balls!
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