Chapter 92 The Lazy Shot

"Shewww!"

A sword aura left the blade and met with another eerie black sword in the middle of the stage, sending a huge shockwave across the whole arena.

Max moved constantly, sending attacks towards his opponent. Similar to his opponent, Max also wanted to test what the guy was capable of before getting serious and preparing for the short-range battle, finishing the fight with his ultimate move, the Reversal technique. He believed that was the only attack capable of ending the fight, while his other Inborn Skills would do little damage to the guy.

The guy was as elegant as he had looked when he entered the arena; he hadn't even moved an inch since the beginning, simply countering Max's attacks nonchalantly.

'I don't think I could go any further in the battle with this current attack pattern,' Max thought.

Unless he disturbed his opponent's calmness, he wasn't going to take the battle any further, since he didn't have any destructive power, well, unless he brought out his otherworldly artifact. That would definitely finish the battle in a second.

Max could definitely use the artifact without any worry in this world; it was not like he would get questioned here, unlike in his own world, where people would target him and ask about the artifact. However, there was still a chance he would get noticed and removed from the tournament due to excessive power, being accused of cheating. He had already heard that Reversal technique was considered cheating since it was a forbidden technique. Naturally, bringing out the otherworldly artifact would put this Trial process in jeopardy.

Looking at how high and mighty his opponent had been from the start, the guy had likely been taught how to fight since childhood. Hence, cheap provocations would do very little to disturb him or cause him to make a mistake. At the same time, Max could not throw himself into close combat without knowing the full strength of his opponent, yet he lacked the destructive power to shake the guy from his spot. He was in a tight spot here; he had already given his word to those two Pirelli guys that he would win the fight, and he had even bet all his wealth on it. Blindly doing something now would put everything in awry.

He had already spent a lot of Mana on continuous attacks and could not continue any further; doing so would put him at a disadvantage. So Max quickly put away his sword and took out his [Mana String Bow]. He had never used this bow since getting it, and he hadn't had much time to test its effects, but considering the current situation, Max felt this could be the time to use it, as he had been told great things about the bow by his seniors.

Max drew some Mana and infused it into the bow as the Mana string materialized. Fixing his eyes on the guy he was going to use this bow to defeat, Max quickly pulled the bowstring back as a gray Mana arrow materialized. Aiming directly at the guy's head, Max released the arrow.

The gray Mana arrow sliced through the air, creating a vacuum on the trial and instantly spanning the distance between them. The guy, who had nonchalantly waited while Max was switching his weapon, didn't even react when the arrow was a meter away. With the same calmness on his face, he swung his sword, slicing the arrow in two. The Mana arrow failed to find its target and was destroyed with a single casual swing.

Max quickly shot one more arrow at the same target and moved around the arena as he shot another one from a different direction before the first arrow could reach its target. Max wanted to disturb his opponent's calmness by pressing him from different directions. However, every arrow was easily tackled, and this new weapon, along with the tactic of firing multiple shots, didn't work as intended.

As Max battled on the stage, the crowd in the stands started to lose interest as they felt the fight had started to move towards a one-sided victory. Every attack from one fighter was countered by the other without much effort, and most of those present in the crowd were professional gamblers who had seen tons of fights like this, with only a few resulting in the opposite outcome, which they didn't seem to be witnessing today.

"As I said, Kempen people inherently have low battle strength. Just because he won the first fight with some luck doesn't mean the kid could win against a stronger opponent, not to mention in the Zero-Leveled division," Richard said as his eyes followed Max, who was running around and shooting arrows.

"It will be a big loss for you when the fight ends. And the kid will definitely pull off the fight; at that time, you will regret not betting on him," Simon said as he watched the fight intently.

"Hahah, don't envy my win in this fight when you lose your money on it," Richard countered.

"You dream on. I am going to become the richest person on Pirelli when I leave this country," Simon said confidently.

Hearing this, Richard turned his head away from the fight and looked at his friend. The statement about becoming the richest person caught him off guard.

"How much did you bet on this fight?" Richard asked.

"Everything!" Simon said.

"Are you crazy? Why would you do that? Didn't we decide we would check the kid's strength with a stronger opponent?" Richard asked in astonishment. Even though Max had won his first fight, they hadn't directly decided they would bet on him every single time; instead, they had decided they would bet on him only against a weaker opponent where Max had a clear chance of winning, just like how he had won his first battle. Even then, Simon had decided to bet some money on Max, which Richard had clearly opposed. Now, hearing that he had placed a bet of everything on Max, Richard was clearly shocked by the stupidity of his friend.

Max had no chance of winning this fight because his opponent was from [Krant Country] as well as from the prominent called [Wuest]. They had done a full background check on Max's opponent and his battle reputation, finally deciding they would bet on him, not on Max. Simon had insisted on betting a small amount on Max, but Richard hadn't thought he would bet everything. If he lost everything on this fight, which Richard believed was going to happen, he would be left with nothing, unable even to travel back home.

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"I will not lend you any money," Richard said, directing his concentration towards the fight, where Max was still struggling. That made him shake his head as he thought about his friend's stupidity: how was this kid going to win against an opponent like this with such a weak attack? He would eventually get tired by draining all the Mana and lose automatically. Although they were not renowned gamblers and had never won big in their lives, they still had enough knowledge and experience to predict the outcome. But that knowledge was useless if they didn't put it to use, choosing instead to bet blindly.

Just as Richard was contemplating his friend's decision, a sudden change occurred on the stage. Max, who had been running around and firing Mana Arrows at his opponent, suddenly fired five arrows in quick succession that closely followed their target. Once he fired this multitude of arrows, he quickly moved around and sent another five from a different direction, targeting different parts of his opponent. Similarly, he moved again and fired, slowly shortening the distance.

The spectators, who had been bored, suddenly became energetic after seeing a change in the fight and started paying attention to it.

"What is this kid doing?" Richard said after seeing Max moving closer. "Doesn't he know there is no chance of winning?"

He saw that Max's new attacks were easily countered by his opponent. Moreover, the opponent didn't even use excessive effort to do so, simply swinging his sword to destroy the incoming attacks. Thus, Richard was confused as to where Max's confidence came from in shortening the distance for close-range combat, which would definitely end the fight.

However, when he thought about who Max was, he quickly relaxed. Max was from Kempen, and people born on that land were considered below average in strength. Coupled with Max being a kid, he was bound to make immature decisions since he had very little knowledge about battle.

They had been in the betting business for their entire lives, so they could clearly see that it was very hard to win a battle against a strong opponent with small tricks. Richard's reluctance to bet on Max directly stemmed from how he had won his first battle. He had used a trick to attack the opponent when the opponent was not paying attention. But that one-trick pony wouldn't work every time, since news of a kid from Kempen using tricks to win against the Roden fighter had spread. Clearly, Max's opponent knew about it, and now Max shortening the distance in the hope of using that trick again wouldn't work.

Meanwhile, Max quickly rushed to his right and used the [Celestial Arrow] and [Rapid Reload] skills to send five arrows in a second, quickly moving towards the left. His opponent still stood in the same place and used the same amount of strength to destroy Max's attacks. He showed no reaction to Max's move of shortening the distance, simply standing silently as his eyes followed Max.

As soon as Max moved in one direction, he shot a quick arrow, took a few steps forward, and shifted to another direction. His Mana was rapidly depleted by half by the time he finally reached the center of the stage. His plan was to disturb his opponent's concentration and cause mistakes, thinking that sending a volley of attacks would definitely do the trick or so he thought, but his opponent was far too calm for his tricks.

With his plan already halfway through, he couldn't back down now. He had to push forward and finish this.

Max steadied himself and fired an arrow, this time, just a single arrow, for which he used a greater amount of Mana. He released the arrow and quickly ran toward his opponent. Though his opponent's sword constantly sliced through the incoming attacks, his eyes never moved away from Max. However, Max didn't care about that; he had no other plan, so he had to see this through. Max now stood only a few meters away from his opponent. He drew the bowstring, infused it with enormous Mana, and shot. The arrow fired with ferocious speed and reached its target in a second.

Without moving from his position, Max fired another arrow, targeting a different part of his opponent body. The arrow shot directly at his feet. Before it could reach its target, Max shot another one, aiming at the opponent's head, and another at his midsection. His opponent moved his sword with enormous speed to stop the multiple arrows coming from multiple directions.

Max took one more step and shot an arrow directly at the guy's chest. Taking another step, he finally reached the attacking range of his opponent. Max drew the bowstring, infused it with a considerable amount of Mana, and created an enormous, condensed, gray-looking arrow. Max didn't fire the arrow immediately; he took a second, aimed for his opponent's face, and fired.

The arrow shot forward with blinding speed towards his opponent's face. However, his opponent was as calm as ever as usual, and along with that calmness, Max could now see a small smile on his face. When the arrow was about to land on his face, his sword moved with Blazing speed and sliced through the arrow, destroying it before it could even reach. With the same motion, the sword made a horizontal slash towards Max.

Max stood there without doing anything, making no attempt to fire another arrow. He just silently stood as if he already knew he had lost the fight. All the people spectating the fight knew it was over, since the slash was halfway towards landing on Max's body and cutting him in two.

Max waited as the sword moved further toward him. When it was about to land, something green engulfed his whole body, and he moved rapidly. He positioned the bow toward the direction of his opponent's feet, and without any big movement, he drew the bowstring and shot an arrow. The [Rapid Reload] skill greatly boosted his speed, and the arrow looked small and weak.

The opponent's slash directly landed on Max's elbow, and the [Guardian Aura] protected him from being dissected in two, but his body was sent sliding sideways by the force of the slash.

When Max stabilized his body, the weak-looking arrow landed on the opponent's foot. Max put away the Mana String Bow, let remaining Mana spread through his body, and moved towards his opponent with enormous speed as his right hand gathered the Reversal attack. Max reached the distance in a second and attacked.

Everyone in the stands stood up in shock, gasps echoing everywhere, while Richard was on his toes. Witnessing something that was supposed not to happen right before his eyes, his only question was why Max's opponent was not making any move, even though he had tons of time between his last attack and Max's attack. It didn't make any sense why the guy was simply standing as if an invisible rope bound him in place.

In fact, Max's opponent was indeed bound by some invisible thread, which had been created by Max's last lazy attack that had landed on his opponent's foot. Though that last attack was very normal and nothing special, it didn't even made any damage to his opponent, it was one of his Inborn Skills that he had never used earlier, marking the first time he had ever activated it.

[Binding Arrow] Skill Proficiency: 2%

Description: Fires a special arrow that binds the target upon impact, restricting their movement for a short duration.

That short duration of restriction was just enough for Max to finish off his opponent. When Max's attack was about to land on his opponent, the skill restriction wore off since it had very low skill proficiency and the attack wasn't strong. But before his opponent could make a move or try to flee, the attack had already landed on his shoulder.

The guy’s eyes widened at these sudden events, shocked at how Max had tricked him and how he was about to get hit. He tried to move away as his heart panicked, but it was all futile, as he had underestimated his opponent.