Chapter 122: Strongest Among Others

Oliver raised his dagger forward and looked at his final opponent. Across from him, Kai did the same as he unsheathed the Forgotten Blade.

The two stood silently as their eyes locked onto one another. Each of them was wary of the other.

This was the first time they had fought and both knew that their opponent still had many secrets hidden up their sleeve. Neither had revealed all of their cards during the tournament.

The atmosphere on the platform started to became tense.

Meanwhile, inside the auditorium, Isaak suddenly spoke.

“Focus, everyone. This is a battle between what are possibly the strongest students in your batch. Watch carefully how they fight and imprint it into your minds. One day, you may have to fight them too.”

The auditorium fell silent as no one wanted to miss what was about to happen.

Oliver was the first to break the silence.

“Floralia! Thorn Spears!”

Flora raised both her hands. Immediately, five giant tulips grew from the ground. Their heads turned toward Kai before releasing thorn spears one after another. Each spears shot forward at supersonic speed, tearing through the air.

Kai swung his blade and deflected one of them.

CLANG!

The spear was knocked away. But only one. The remaining spears were simply too fast. Even with his reflexes, Kai was unable to react to all of them in time.

Kai immediately ran to the side, moving in an anticlockwise circle as he evaded the incoming spears one after another.

Meanwhile, Oliver ran in the opposite direction, making a similar circular movement around the platform. Both of them continued moving while watching each other’s actions.

Then, the distance between them rapidly closed and the first clash finally occurred.

CLANG!

PING!

Their weapons collided and rapid exchange followed immediately after.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Sparks flew as dagger and blade met repeatedly in quick succession. Both Oliver and Kai attacked and defended at incredible speed, neither willing to give the other an opening.

To the ordinary students watching from the auditorium, the battle was almost impossible to follow.

Their arms moved so quickly that it looked as though both of them possessed multiple arms at once. Only the sharp sounds of metal colliding revealed just how many strikes were being exchanged every second.

Both of them stepped back at the same time. Kai then charged his sword with black energy and a dark aura immediately enveloped the Forgotten Blade. Without hesitation, he dashed forward and swung his blade horizontally.

Oliver responded with Assault Slash.

CLANG!

The two attacks collided head-on. However, Kai’s strike was overwhelmingly powerful. The force behind the blade made Oliver unable to properly counter it. He was pushed backward several steps while his feet scraping across the platform.

‘Damn it! My dagger is too weak against his blade.’

Oliver had already thought about this problem several times before. As his opponents became stronger, the weakness of his dagger became more obvious.

His dagger had served him well so far, but it was gradually becoming inadequate against powerful enemies.

Still, Oliver could not complain too much about it. After all, it was only a Common-rank weapon. The fact that it had carried him this far was already impressive enough.

Suddenly, Kai dashed straight at him with his black energy-coated blade. Oliver was stunned for a moment, but he quickly composed himself and raised his dagger to block.

CLANG!

However, he still had no answer to the black energy and the impact sent his dagger flying from his hand. Kai immediately took the opportunity and thrust his blade toward Oliver’s stomach.

Surprisingly, Oliver did not look shocked at all. A millisecond later, Flora suddenly appeared beside him, teleported by the effect of the Bloomvine Bracelet causing Kai’s eyes widened in surprise.

He had been paying too much attention to Oliver and had momentarily forgotten about Flora. The moment she appeared, Flora cast Crystal Magnolia, and a crystal-like flower instantly bloomed in front of Oliver and reflected Kai’s attack.

PING!

Kai’s blade was forced away. Then, from beside him, Oliver suddenly appeared using Quickstep.

“Terra Spike!”

Kai was ready to jump away, however, vines suddenly wrapped around one of his legs, preventing him from moving. His eyes immediately looked downward.

BOOM!!!

A violent explosion of dust and dirt erupted as multiple Terra Spikes burst from the ground beneath Kai. The entire area was engulfed in debris, temporarily obscuring everyone’s vision.

“Did we do it?” Oliver said as he picked up his dagger from the ground.

Suddenly, from beyond the cloud of dust, Oliver’s eyes widened in shock as a large figure emerged. As the dust gradually settled, a gigantic tortoise monster revealed itself.

It stood around four meters tall and possessed two fierce snakes as its tails. Its body was covered in yellow and black scales, giving it an intimidating appearance.

Oliver immediately activated his eyes.

Rank S

“A Rank S monster again…” Oliver muttered.

He had already scanned Kai’s monsters before, including Rank S Corvus flying above. Even now, he was still amazed.

How could someone like Kai possess monsters of such quality? Not only did he have Corvus, but now he had also revealed another Rank S monster.

And unlike many noble heirs who inherited wealth, resources, and connections, Kai did not come from a noble family. Yet somehow, he had managed to obtain monsters that many commoners could only dream of having.

Kai, who was standing atop Tenebros immediately ordered it to attack. The two snake heads were extremely ferocious. Their attacks were both fast and unpredictable, and their necks could extend far beyond what Oliver had expected.

Each time Oliver and Flora evaded, the snake heads slammed into the platform and large holes were left behind from the impacts. The sheer power of the attacks made it clear that getting hit even once would be disastrous.

For nearly a minute, the battlefield became a relentless chase. Oliver and Flora focused on evasion while looking for an opening.

Meanwhile, Thorn Spears repeatedly struck Tenebroscale. However, the attacks had little effect because the monster’s shell was simply too durable. Most of the spears either shattered on impact or left only minor scratches behind.

While Oliver was busy evading another attack, Kai raised his hand toward the sky.

“Corvus.”

The three-eyed crow immediately descended and landed on his shoulder while Kai’s eyes remained fixed on Oliver.

He had tested him enough. Now, he planned to end this battle once and for all and prove that he was the strongest student in his generation.