The Knight crossed the hundred meters in half a second, and his mithril war hammer came down at a terrifying speed. Sofia blocked with the blessed shield, which shattered under the hit but absorbed all the damage. The bone construct would repair itself given time, but for now, whatever was left of it could only give Sofia the bonus for being there. That was both of his skills.

Sofia jumped back to avoid the follow-up strikes. The graveyard skeletons were starting to come out, but the Knight was fast. She narrowly dodged the first two hits by blocking the Knight’s path with the appearing sandstone gravestones, but the third struck her side, leaving a big dent in her Orichalcum armor.

Health : 8110 / 10995

The first skeleton emerged from the ground, grabbing the Knight’s ankles. The old man reflexively hit the skeleton to free himself but failed at killing it in a single hit. He looked shocked at the tenacity of the summon but quickly looked up to follow up with another strike toward Sofia, who was still in his range, if barely.

Then he died.

The wing bone Sofia held in her hand, changing form like a key to fit a lock, had taken the T shape of the frontal hole in the Knight's helmet. And it had shoved itself in there under her control as soon as she found an opportunity. Cutting the Knight’s head into three pieces. Can pierce walls, can also pierce people. It was worth training the accuracy against Zerei. He destroyed the blessed marrow shield in a single hit, very strong.

He’s not actually dead, right? I got no notification, so it should be good.

That lasted, what, three seconds?

First, win for me.

Sofia looked around, spotting the four speechless spectators observing the fight from an invisible platform above. She waved at them.

“How did you like my performance? You can clap, you know?”

Sofia could swear Sen rolled his eyes at her.

She was teleported to the platform along with a healed-up and heaving knight.

“Us next!” Alith declared, pointing at Astelia, and they both disappeared.

No one’s going to make any comment, uh? Tssk, can’t appreciate my art. Sofia thought, walking up to the Knight busy recovering from his ‘almost death’?

“Are you alright?”

He forced himself back to shape and extended an open hand, “I have had better days. Well fought.”

Sofia shook his hand, “Well fought.”

Meanwhile, Sen and Mornn were focused on the empty arena below. It’s about to start.

Alith and Astelia appeared opposite each other in the arena.

Astelia isn’t wearing her armor? The Vampire was still in her casual clothes, wielding two short Mithril spears. She threw one of them toward Alith who was running to close distance. The javelin missed, but when it got behind Alith, it turned around to chase after her. That’s [Celestial Pull]. I wonder what passive she chose, [Greater physical absorption] maybe? That would help against Alith’s Kamas. Alith hasn’t used a skill yet, but her passives are all terrible for combat, so she only really has one skill for the duel.

The javelin impaled Alith from behind. It pierced through her head with no resistance.

That’s not right. No Dopple armor? That has to be the [Lady double].

As expected, Alith reappeared half a second later, right behind Astelia. In a swift kama strike, Astelia was beheaded. Damn. A single strike? Hmm. She must not have taken [Moon Benediction] as her passive, so her stats should be back to a regular Oracle class’ ones since that’s what gave her so much Health.

Astelia’s lost blood burst up in flames because of her bloodline curse, and in a small explosion, her head snapped back to her neck. [Greater regeneration]! She was baiting Alith close by not having armor?! Astelia’s next move took everyone by surprise. Having just recovered her head, she violently stabbed herself in the chest with her javelin. Alith was still standing behind her and trying to attack again, but she had been thrown off by the explosion resulting from Astelia’s healing. As the point of the javelin showed up out of Astelia’s back, Alith was slammed head-first into it. Under the tremendous pulling power of [Celestial pull], she couldn’t free herself. Her face stopped a few centimeters from the tip of the weapon, held back by Dopple’s ethereal protection.

Sofia saw the waves of mana pulling Alith stronger and stronger toward the weapon as she tried her best to free herself, to no avail. The battle ended with Alith’s head stuck to Astelia’s back, impaled on the javelin.

That’s… A brutal way to fight coming from her… You did your best, Alith.

A few seconds later, both girls reappeared on the spectating platform. Astelia was out of breath, and Alith teetering, trying to find her balance, “Hey, that was… A lot less painful than my first death. Got me good, Astel.”

“You got me good also… I didn’t expect to lose a head so fast.”

Sen looked over the group, “That’s one win for Miss Sofia and one win for Miss Glacier so far. Anyone wants to take bets on the best performance of today?”

Are you really the organizer from the system, Sen?

“Hey, can you all stop looking at me like I killed your pet? Why are you so serious? You’re all going to get your level up. Relax a bit. Since no one wants to bet, choose your first opponent, Miss Star.”

Star?

Everyone looked at the Sun Saintess, who suddenly turned red.

“A- I’ll fight him!” She blurted out, flustered, pointing at the person closest to her.

“Alright,” Sen said as the two fighters vanished.

The Knight and Mornn soon appeared in the arena below. The Knight was still wearing his heavy armor. But the Saintess has no armor? What is this with everyone going in there unprotected?!

The Knight rushed forward with a heavy gait, two-handing his war-hammer. The arena shook under his steps. Mornn held a simple falchion made of some kind of black steel, and as she advanced, her whole body burst into an inferno. She was covered from head to toe in roaring, blazing flames, and her weapon also started to glow under this tremendous heat. The flames didn’t deter the Knight, and he soon gave the first strike with his hammer.

Mornn blocked the hammer with the palm of her left hand, and the weapon was pushed back by a violent explosion. The Saintess slashed with her sword at the wide-open Knight, but somehow, he still managed to block with his hammer. Uh?

The two of them exchanged several blows like this, failing to land a single solid hit. Sofia understood what was going on with the Knight’s hammer. He could somehow explosively move his body to ‘reset’ his stance to a neutral one with his hammer ready to block or strike in front of him, no matter what position he had been in. That allowed him to attack and block in quick succession despite the weight of his hammer, canceling all the momentum from his missed strikes. He also never took a single step back despite the explosions coming from Mornn’s barehanded parries, which must have been his passive skill at work.

In the end, it was Mornn’s flames that got the best of the Knight. His stance grew weaker as the clash lingered, and the Saintess’ glowing hot blade cut right through his armor, severing his left arm right before a loud bell sound announced the timeout end of the ten-second match.

Impressive. Despite being the most normal-looking class of the group, this old warrior’s skills aren’t to be underestimated. He lost twice in a row, but he would have probably crushed most people at our level.

Sen clapped as the two warriors reappeared on the spectating platform, “Good, good! I never get bored of a good old-fashioned melee duel! I decided that next is Miss Glacier against Miss Sofia. Get ready!”

Sofia’s surroundings changed from the spectating platform to the preparation room. Fu- Quick. What do I take?

I, uh… I need to reserve some of them for the later fights… This… Pareth is a bad matchup because of [Immovable object]. What should I… Oh, I know! That’s kind of dirty, but it could work.

[The skills : ‘Summon Blood’ and ‘Holy Wings of undeath’ have been selected]

[Every other class skill has been temporarily disabled]

Sofia and Astelia faced each other in the arena. Astelia was wearing full armor this time and had swapped the javelins for a mace and shield. Sofia deployed her wings and took off. She propelled herself toward the short Vampire.

With a curt move of Astelia’s hand, Sofia felt the weight of the Moon on her shoulders and crashed to the ground. She ate the sand, but in her mind, she rejoiced. That’s the best-case scenario: no [Repulsion] and no [Orbital blades]!

Astelia took the opportunity to close the distance by herself and attack, but before she could reach Sofia, she was surrounded by a thick dome of blood.

Mana : 15000 / 94000