Unlocked

A burning pain radiated from my abdomen as crimson blood flowed incessantly, my HP steadily ticking away.

Since outside items were forbidden for recovery during a duel, time was my greatest enemy; even though we both had sustained damage, my lower level meant my total HP pool was significantly smaller than his.

If this dragged on, I would inevitably be the one to fall, so I had to settle this quickly.

The only advantage I had right now was the sudden surge in my Agility stat from hitting Level 4.

Furthermore, my interface showed that the skill [Shift and Swap] had been unlocked; although the LV1 tag was a bit confusing, an extra skill meant an extra chance at victory, and all I could do now was understand its mechanics as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, my opponent wouldn’t give me a moment’s peace as the crimson serpent suddenly flashed forward, heatwaves churning through the air.

It was hot—extraordinarily so; the mere ambient heat was enough to make one feel suffocated, making it clear how terrifying this fire snake truly was—a direct hit would likely reduce even my bones to ash.

I didn’t dare hesitate, using a flash-step to dodge the serpent’s lunge.

The snake missed its target and struck the stage instead, and the seemingly indestructible stone slabs melted instantly, unable to withstand the heat for even a second.

Cold sweat poured down my back; if my speed hadn’t jumped significantly after leveling up, that would have been the end of me.

Robert wasn’t finished; the moment one strike missed, another was already underway as the crimson serpent flew toward me, even faster than before—it turned out that previous strike wasn’t even his full strength.

Too fast—it was far too fast to dodge!

My left hand quickly condensed a Shadow Spear and hurled it; spear met spear, but the expected crash never happened.

The Shadow Spear only managed to block the flaming serpent for a fraction of a second before being incinerated into mist—the sheer heat was horrifying.

Even though the Shadow Spear was merely a construct of mana, seeing it vanish so easily left me feeling a sense of powerlessness.

“Die!”

Looking even more frenzied than the flames, Robert’s distorted face resembled a hound from hell as he pressed his advantage, unleashing wave after wave of violent attacks.

“Downpour!”

Unlike innate skills like Shadow Spear, what I was using now was a standard spear technique of the Shadow Archdemon King.

Given that most of these spear techniques placed a massive burden on the body, I absolutely didn’t want to use them unless necessary.

Magic Combat Spear Art: Downpour.

This was a spear technique capable of thrusting dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of times in a single instant; at my current level, a thousand thrusts was impossible, but I could barely manage dozens.

The fire snake collided with the Downpour of spears; unlike before, because the Shadow Spears were reinforced with my full power, they weren’t instantly burned away.

The two forces clashed violently, releasing a massive shockwave that sent both of us flying backward simultaneously.

“Cough…”

I jammed my Shadow Spear into the ground to bleed off some of the momentum, but the shockwave still rattled my internal organs; a sweet taste rose in my throat, and I immediately coughed up a large spray of fresh blood.

On the other side, Robert also halted his retreat.

Several holes had been torn into his clothes and he was bleeding steadily where the aftershocks of the Downpour had grazed him, though unfortunately, none of the wounds were fatal.

In just one moment of clashing, both of us had been battered to varying degrees; the audience below was now pin-drop silent, seemingly stunned by our offensive.

“Ugh!”

Suddenly, a burst of sharp pain erupted from my muscles; forcing such an overloading move had immediately brought about its consequences, leaving me in a very precarious position.

While the aftershocks of the attack hadn’t fully dissipated, I put all my focus into analyzing the capabilities of [Shift and Swap LV1].

“…You make a fool of me over and over! I’ll kill you! I’m going to kill you!”

A crazed roar echoed from ahead; without a second thought, I condensed a Shadow Spear and threw it—I really didn’t have the luxury of entertaining his trash talk while multitasking.

With a clang, Robert violently batted away the high-speed spiraling Shadow Spear.

This was within my expectations; it was originally intended as a feint.

Using a high-speed charge to close the gap, I thrust my spear with lethal precision, aiming straight for his heart.

Utilizing speed for a surprise raid was my forte, and this strike was a cold-blooded killer!

To my surprise, Robert was actually able to respond calmly to such a sudden attack.

Just before the spear could reach him, he tilted his body and lunged forward, actively throwing himself toward the spear tip!

Because the attack hadn’t fully extended, its power and angle couldn’t reach their intended peak; Robert’s desperate gamble seemed reckless but was actually quite brilliant.

His left shoulder slammed directly into the spear tip, jamming the lethal blow, and more terrifyingly, I likely wouldn’t be able to dodge his counterattack!

“Die!”

Robert gave a distorted grin as the crimson fire snake lunged rapidly toward my heart.

“No!”

I wasn’t sure if it was a hallucination, but I thought I heard Yuli’s voice scream out in that moment.

Before the spear even arrived, the searing heat singed several strands of my hair floating in the air.

Facing this life-taking blow, I was unexpectedly calm; I quickly let go of my grip on the spear and leaped backward with all my might.

I clearly wasn’t fast enough to dodge the attack completely; doing this was merely an attempt to put some distance between us and minimize the damage.

Yes, this was all I could do—the rest was up to fate.

“…”

A flash of blood followed as a heart-wrenching pain erupted from my abdomen; simultaneously, the scent of roasted meat wafted through the air.

Fate was kind to me after all; at the final moment, I managed to strain my body enough to avoid my vitals.

Robert’s fire snake only sliced through my side, conveniently charring some of the flesh in the process.

“You damn cockroach! Why won’t you just die!”

Robert pulled out the Shadow Spear and threw it to the ground, glaring at me through gritted teeth.

“If someone’s going to die, it’ll be you first!”

Even though my whole body hurt like hell, I didn’t want to lose to him in spirit.

Having lost a massive amount of blood, my HP had dropped to a dangerous level; the situation couldn’t get any worse, and the outcome would be decided by the next strike.

I concentrated all my mental focus until the world seemed to vanish, leaving only myself; the flow of mana became smoother than ever before, and when all that mana condensed into a single point, the attack was finally ready.

On the other side, Robert was like his spear—completely enveloped in flames.

The powerful mana fluctuations made the air feel as though it were solidifying.

It was hard to imagine a Level 6 adventurer could use such a high-intensity magical attack; this had to be Robert’s trump card.

But just as the flames began to take their final shape, Robert suddenly twitched, then collapsed to the ground.

A moment before he hit the dirt, his face was filled with utter disbelief.

The audience looked on with bewilderment at this bizarre turn of events; the scene was shrouded in a dead silence.

“I won, right?”

I offered a reminder to the dumbfounded referee, using my spear to prop up my trembling body.

“The winner is Liv!”

The referee made the announcement after checking Robert’s condition.

“Wonderful! My little beauty! I love you!”

“I’m going bankrupt…”

Below the stage, Ninina blew me another kiss before stretching her demonic hands toward the gold coins on the poor man’s table.

Beside her, Yuli let out a laugh, but the moment our eyes met, she immediately shot me a cold glare; it seemed the little girl was still angry.

“Liv, what happened just now? Why did Robert suddenly collapse? It wasn’t something you did, was it?”

As I struggled down from the stage after collecting my trophies, the rogue-like Font couldn’t wait to interrogate me.

Couldn’t you at least care about my injuries first?

“It’s a secret.”

While it wasn’t exactly a groundbreaking secret, I wasn’t nearly open-minded enough to go around telling people about my trump cards.

“Stingy.”

That final strike actually didn’t involve much technical skill.

I had simply used the spatial ability of [Shift and Swap] to teleport the tip of a Shadow Spear through his shadow, stabbing it into Robert’s back with lightning speed.

I had drawn inspiration for this move from the passive skill [Shadow Flurry] and combined it with the [Shift and Swap] ability as a spur-of-the-moment creation.

It wasn’t quite perfect yet, but its utility was incredibly high; the drawback was the terrifying mana consumption—my mana pool was now completely empty.

“Let me see the wound.”

Anger notwithstanding, Yuli was still quite considerate of her teammates as a captain; she cast a simple recovery spell on me from a distance.

“That’s gruesome!”

When she began treating the abdominal wound, Yuli sucked in a breath of cold air.

The two wounds were very large, and the edges were marred by burns; it really was a gruesome sight.

“Can it be fixed?”

“Who do you think I am? Hmph, a minor injury like this is nothing. I’ll make sure you’re restored to perfection!”

With that, Yuli directly cast a Greater Heal.

Perhaps due to the bonus from her Elven racial traits, the wounds that should have left scars really did heal just as she said—leaving the skin flawless and white, perhaps even looking better than it did originally.

“That’s amazing!” I couldn’t help but praise her.

“Hmph! Even if you praise me like that, I won’t be happy!”

Even so, that smug look on your face has already betrayed you.

Of course, I didn’t say that out loud; even though we hadn’t been together long, I had encountered girls with Yuli’s personality in my previous life.

Once you make them upset, it’s hard to imagine what kind of tragic ‘medical accident’ might happen the next moment…