A Blue Wyvern.

As the white flash of transport magic brings my opponent into the ring, it spreads its long pale blue wings and jumps high into the air.

The ear-shattering screech provokes the crowd to yell louder to match its sound, and I get a good view of the 10-meter-long lizard creature doing circles over my head.

It looks very similar to Ember's younger form, only this monster doesn't have front legs. It just has long taloned feet, a white underbelly, and long out-stretched wings.

Its sharp eyes are locked on me from above, waiting for the perfect time to plummet down and strike.

The announcer's voice echoes through the ring as I use appraisal on the level 595 ranked-up creature above.

It has 3 skills and 1 ranked-up buff.

Active skills:

[Intimidation][Special Grade]

[Body Hardening][Legendary Grade]

[Combat Magic][Advanced Fire Summoning]

Buffs:

[Blue Wyvern's Inferno]

Another screech fills the ring, and it dives down at me, releasing a wave of its intimidation skill.

It sends shivers down my spine, just like the first time I felt this skill in the bloodhound dungeon months ago.

I activate my buffs in reply to boost my mental strength as much as possible, counteracting the psychic attack and throwing back a wave of intimidation myself. The invisible waves of energy collide and make a loud cracking sound like thunder, but the monster uses this opportunity to dive down and ignite its body with dark red flames.

Its skin shifts colors too as body hardening is activated, shimmering silver beneath its veil of flames. Its wings look like sharpened silver butcher knives falling from the sky. Its entire body is covered with a dense layer of mana shielding as well.

I make the split-second decision to grab my sword and brace for impact. Although I'd like to train my Qi, there's a time and place for testing. Right now I need to properly gauge my opponent's strength and guarantee the upper hand before I do any experiments.

My entire body ignites with flames, and I swing my blade upward at the monster's incoming attack.

On impact, both of us let immense balls of fire go from our advanced fire magic skills and for a moment the audience can't see a single thing.

The whole dome fills with dark flames and the echoing twang of mana blades colliding keeps everyone on edge.

I grit my teeth with pain and excitement, as the edge of the Blue Wyvern's wing stops the upward motion of my sword. At the same time, the Wyvern is shocked that my swing stopped it from crushing me completely.

With a wide stance, I stand my ground above the cracked layers of earth below my feet.

The monster swoops upward as I begin to activate lifesteal and plunderer. It can sense the energy leaving its body, but I hardly manage to take more than 2% of its overall health.

Another loud screech fills the air as the plumes of flames dissipate and both of us stare each other down.

"This is going to be a long one... Isn't it...?"

Another few waves of intimidation come down at me while the Wyvern circles in the air waiting for a perfect time to strike.

It's taking a lot of energy for me to keep my mental strength buffs activated. Thankfully, the recent upgrade to my berserker skill to legendary grade has brought its buff to 125% on both strength and mental strength, but just like the bloodlust upgrade, it uses up much more mana to activate it now.

Timing is everything.

The monster dives down a few more times in a similar fashion, trying to tire me out with long-range intimidation and use its claws and wings in an aerial attack, but each time we collide, it's a very even matchup.

Massive balls of fire fill the fight dome every time we make contact.

I begin using earth and ice to trap it in place, but its mana shielding and raw strength destroy these attempts in an instant each time. After this result, I stick to restoring my MP and stealing small amounts of its HP every time it attacks.

After 4 more collisions, the Blue Wyvern stays high up in the air on 90% HP, thinking of a smarter way to take me out. It realizes mindlessly diving in is a losing battle.

As I'm continuously hit with waves of intimidation with no end in sight, I try to come up with a plan of my own.

I could use my Red Hydra's Buff, but it may wear me out for the next round... I need it to be a failsafe for my fight against the Ghoul, so I can't use it here. Plus, using that power isn't why I'm in the ring again tonight.

Learning how to use Qi is.

If I land a solid fist on that monster's defenses, my theory is it would break through its tough shielding and hardening like it's not even there. However, one slip-up and I'm done for.

I think to myself for a moment, then smirk as a an interesting thought comes to mind.

A new strategy that will confuse the monster, and allow me to test out a unique technique. I'm unsure if it will work exactly how I'm envisioning it, but the logic seems sound.

"I won't know unless I try..."

Another intense wave of intimidation comes down on me from above as I grip my blade and prepare to airstep upward.

Once taking the mental attack straight up, I jump up to the sky. The Wyvern sees this as its opportunity to strike as well. While in the air, it can move with much more agility, and as far as it's concerned, I'm very low on mana.

That may be partially true, but the attack I'm trying to throw isn't relying on the power of my magic.

I let my legendary swordsmanship skill activate and the silky thread colored bright red appears in my vision. While taking airsteps upward, the crowd all around me disappears from my vision and the only thing on my mind is my sword, my body, and my enemy.

I slow my breathing and concentrate on the Qi in my body and how I'd normally throw a punch filled with a raging wave.

This time, however, I picture the black sword in my right hand as an extension of myself. With the mental clarity and 100% conviction of my swordsmanship skill, I feel the warm wave of Qi flow down my arm, through my wrist, into my fingertips, and fill my sword to its sharp edges.

Not a single drop escapes my blade. It's saturated up to the thin outer layer of the blood-bonded weapon, and I've never been so sure about an attack in my life.

We collide, and I see the layers of mana and steel-colored body hardening get pushed to the sides of my black sword covered in a dull white glow.

Even my own fire magic and mana shielding get pushed aside as the extension of my body, my sword, cuts through a portion of the Blue Wyvern's wing, then lands a deep gash across its entire torso.

Blood gushes out, and as my blade leaves its body I lose concentration out of pure excitement.

This causes all of the layers of manipulated and unnaturally twisted mana shielding to release their energy. Both the Wyvern and myself are thrown backward in a blast of fire and excess mana.

There are two loud thuds as we both hit opposite sides of the mana-shielded dome.

An angry screech comes from the Wyvern and a light chuckle comes from me.

"It works."

I take advantage of the impact touching the shielding dome and absorb enough MP to bring me back to full, however, my HP has dropped about 10% from that blast.

As the flames clear, the flapping of wings alert me to the creature up in the air again. Its wing is injured, and its front side is covered in blood. However, its sharp eyes are filled with conviction and its bombardment of Intimidation continues.

I stare up at the beast, replaying the feeling I just felt that attack over and over in my mind.

The next goal of this fight is not only to win, but to use that Qi-powered sword strike again and master it.