A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

Unwilling to be outdone by a mere challenger, who did not know the cruelness of the hidden dungeon beneath the sandy ground, Owen raised his own weapon in return and strode in the direction of the elf.

Unlike the shadowy enhancement cast by the Hunter, which only affected the mace on the inside and strengthened it to some degree, the red-yellow sand from the ground flew up in the air and attached itself to the broken edge of the sword in Owen‘s hand.

If the two competitors were not shielded by the arrays and inscriptions on the arena walls, they could have heard the announcer, who excitedly introduced the prisoner‘s skill to the audience and praised its might.

[Boulder Chain] was a little known spell that was known for its difficulty that did not match up to the effects it produced, but it was a high end third rank skill nevertheless.

Drawing power from the nearby materials associated with the earth element, the skill formed chains from the foreign material and empowered an item with durability and heaviness, two well known aspects of the earth.

While not quite visually impressive as the dark cloud coming at him, Owen‘s skill was at a higher rank and gave him an edge over the elf.

Nisha of course noticed the change in his approach and stared at his broken sword as yellow sand wrought around the blade and broke off some more chips of steel.

If she was not afraid of rendering the mace useless before they even crossed their respective weapons, the dragon would have stacked another fire element enhancement on her mace, but the fickle nature of flames made it unsuitable for a piece of equipment that already bore some damage.

The escaping dark element aura was the best proof, [Shadow Clad] was somewhere between the first and second rank in terms of quality as a skill, yet a certain amount of aura already escaped without any burden from battle.

If the girl really stacked both fire and dark element skills on the mace, it might shatter before the first blow in her hand instead.

But Nisha had to admit that the floating dark strands did help her build an imposing image that strengthened her momentum.

Owen did not make any additional preparations and directly faced the Hunter in the middle of the arena pit with nothing but a broken sword enhanced with a skill and his determination.

He raised the blade and swung at the petite figure in front of him like he was facing a ferocious demon, and not a figure almost half his size.

Not willing to be outdone, the elf raised her damaged shield to defend herself, temporarily stuffing it full of explosive fire aura to fend off the blow, and swung her mace sideways at Owen, retaliating with all the strength she could muster.

 

Just like that, Owen and Nisha clashed for the first time.

The prisoner swung his sword and was intercepted by the wooden shield strapped to the Hunter‘s arm, whereas the elf‘s mace swung towards his side and was intercepted with the metal spikes on the back of the gauntlet on his hand.

Two loud sounds rang out, one for metal hitting wood and one from metal clashing with metal.

Owen was a true early fourth rank warrior and his power was nothing to scoff at.

Although the sword in his hand was shorter than usual due to a portion of the blade breaking off, his swing still added another deep groove on the wooden shield on the elf‘s arm and nearly split it in half.

It was only because Nisha had the physique of a dragon and outperformed those at the same cultivation rank that she managed to ward off the blow and keep her shield intact, otherwise the gear would have broken apart just now.

The prisoner was a veteran of many fights and utilised all his strength to the greatest degree, generating strength from his legs, guiding it through his hips and shoulders before accumulating everything in his arms, mustering a strength that exceeded those of fourth rank monsters in the Dungeon that Nisha had met.

Because of her extraordinary strength, the dragon managed to fend off the blow, but Owen was just a common human and had not enjoyed a good education either.

All his skills and techniques were snatched back from the threat of death by fighting at the front line.

With the mace coming for his side, he clenched his fist in the gauntlet and used the back of the hand and his wrist to block the blunt weapon.

When the two items collided, Owen withdrew part of his strength and dissipated the most heavy impact first and allowed the weapon to come closer, before erupting with power again.

The remaining backlash ran along his limbs, the convict had to carefully dissipate part of the impact along every joint and bone.

He lowered his shoulders and bent his knees slightly and eventually discharged the leftover force through the bottom of his feet into the ground, expending the least amount of aura to neutralise the blow.

The last remaining force dissipated after the prisoner took half a step back.

 

Truthfully, Nisha could have ignored the backlash from the aura clash and continued with an offensive.

It would likely not be enough to make it a decisive factor in their fight or defeat the man outright, but it would give the elf a small advantage.

As long as that advantage remained, it would add up over time and eventually lead to the outcome leaning in her direction, unless Owen used a trump card to even the odds or an accident happened and the girl made a mistake.

However, would a victory like that really make the dragon happy and fulfilled when she finally found a chance to play to her limits?

As such, her adversary had enough time to catch himself and bring up his guard after unexpectedly having lost a little in their first exchange.

There was no anger, surprise or indignation due to having lost against a challenger almost half his height and likely much younger than himself either.

Owen‘s gaze always lingered on the elf‘s figure as he assessed the threat of the mace clad in dark aura and the weathered shield, due to his will being as firm as rock.

He vaguely had a moment of unease because his sixth sense alerted him that something was wrong, yet nothing of the sort happened.

The prisoner did not have formal combat training and only relied on his combat experience to piece together that he showed an opening somehow and should expect an attack.

Although the wrong feeling remained, he took the initiative to raise his chipped sword and took half a step forward to get into the Hunter‘s range and stab towards their shoulder.

Simultaneously he pulled back the glove, which had two of its metal spikes buried in the wood of his opponent‘s mace, which was no longer as firm as in the past after being damaged.

Nisha was indeed caught off guard by this move and lost her balance, no one had tried to snatch her weapon before.

She forgot to resist and was pulled forward along with the weapon and could only hastily turn to the side to avoid the sword.

Relying on brute force, she ripped the mace upwards and directly broke off one of the spikes when she yanked it back.

Due to losing her balance, it was too late to bring up her shield, so she did not go against the flow and advanced instead, turning to the side and bringing her body in line with her weapon.

Because the target had disappeared, Owen had to change the direction of his stab and his sword met the mace instead, which defended the Hunter from his attack.

 

Now it was Nisha‘s turn to stumble several steps backward as her footing was in a mess, although the hasty block successfully protected her from being injured.

Originally, the prisoner had the intention to follow up and stepped forward to continue slashing his sword to inflict some injuries.

Fortunately the dragon had an outstanding sense of balance and did not fall to the ground or lose her attention on the approaching warrior.

Stepping back quickly, she opened a small distance between them and warily eyed Owen, who clicked his tongue at the lost opportunity.

Neither of them were aware of the raging crowd, who cheered and cried outside the protective barrier.

It was a simple exchange for the two of them, who had a cultivation level of the fourth rank, but for those in the stands, the Hunter and the criminal in the sand pit moved at a fast pace and exchanged heavy blows that sent the gravel on the ground flying with each contact.

This was exactly the scene they wanted to see in the arena and they cheered for their favourites respectively.

For the average commoner, it was hard to see the exact situation, so they only had to watch to the best of their abilities and hope that the party they bet on triumphed in the end, even if they did not capture each exchange clearly.

With the first few exchanges over, Nisha and Owen currently stared each other down as they assessed the power of their opponent.

The mace in Nisha‘s hand originally had a corner cut off, with the metal thorn lodged in the body of the weapon, a crack ran from the ruined corner to the damaged portion in the middle.

Soon, the main body would crumble and break apart under the stress of combat at a level higher than the material of the weapon.

Similarly, the sword in the prisoner‘s hand lost a few more shards that got chipped off, the length of the weapon would soon be reduced to that of a dagger.

Aside from sizing each other up and looking for an opportunity, the two combatants also scanned for a suitable replacement near them.

This added excitement to the event, because both sides would be forced to change their gear sooner or later and show different techniques and skills, because not every weapon was suitable for the skills they cultivated and the techniques they practised.

 

Unwilling to have taken a loss in their last engagement, the Hunter approached Owen with the round shield raised in front of their chest and the mace ready to strike a blow at their side.

The captive did not directly engage in a frontal clash, he retreated with measured steps and kept his opponent in front of himself to prevent himself from being flanked and caught off guard.

Because Owen deliberately walked slower, the elf caught up to him quickly and attacked directly.

Neither the audience or the prisoner expected that the swing would not come from the weapon at the Hunter‘s side, which they constantly paid attention to, instead the shield snapped forward and smashed towards the man.

Owen had kept his metal glove close to his chest and his sword ready to react, he retreated slowly as well to give himself more time to react and chose the correct response, hence he managed to defend himself despite the unexpected direction of the assault.

He resolutely used his gauntlet and clenched his fingers to form a fist, meeting force with force as he smashed it towards the dilapidated shield.

If he really blocked the mace or the shield with his sword, it was quite likely that Owen would lose his weapon first and fall in a disadvantage while he was going to try and find a replacement among the weapons scattered in the pit.

“Cheap tricks!“

For the first time, the impassive face of the convict changed, he was somewhat unhappy that he made a mistake and had to react passively.

As he expected, when the punch offset the shield bash, more of the spine breakers on the back of the glove deformed and broke off, nearly rendering the gear useless.

Of course, the shield suffered a similar fate and nearly all of the upper half broke along the deep rifts in the material, turning the round into a half circle that barely stuck to the Hunters arm instead.

Because of the impact, Owen had no opportunity to retaliate and had to retreat once again, or he would be caught in the follow up attack of his opponent in a disadvantageous position.

Nisha was not bothered by the accusation and performed several [Advance] in a row to keep up with the prisoner, looking for an opening to take action.

It was very enlightening for the dragon to observe how her foe dealt with her attacks and dispersed the energy or performed tactics such as a slow retreat to limit her options.

As long as she could learn some of these things, they would give her rather static chain of attacks more fluidity and variation.