I Was Exiled to Die, Now I’m the God of Sickness and Salvation

'I need to crush him to prove my point. I need to overwhelm him so much that even those bastards won't dare to pull up some bullshit to keep him here.'

One of his strongest spell combinations, a spell that usually sealed the deal with his enemies, had been neutralized.

And the person receiving the spell didn't even receive a cut from it.

It was as if the spell combination did nothing other than dry Dust's hair with a strong, hot gust.

With his goal, he needed to use the absolute strongest spell he could cast.

A spell that would even threaten tier 3 awakened if they didn't take him seriously.

He would need a minute to chant and cast the spell, so he quickly went into it.

The surge of mana was clear to everyone. Even the audience could feel an unsettling amount of mana starting to gather around Ben as he began chanting his spell.

Even if their mana sense was barely working, the radiant glow covering his arms would be enough to tell them that whatever came out of him next would be something big.

And of course, it was also crystal clear for Ash, who had been patiently waiting for his chance to strike.

This was the chance he had been waiting for.

Pushing down the urge to spam twitchstep several times to instantly close the distance between himself and Ben, Ash just ran with his passive strength enhancement ability as hard as he could.

He didn't even use the berserker thorn, just in case someone thought he was far too strong for a supposedly high tier 2 awakened.

As a result, his speed was irritatingly slow, even for Ash's standard and sea of patience.

It was barely as fast as a tier 1 awakened human with physical enhancement ability.

Ben also seemed to recognize and continued his spellcasting despite Ash coming closer and closer to him.

The colosseum was big, but it wasn't as big as a football stadium.

If Ben didn't do anything and insisted on casting his spell, then Ash would have arrived quicker than Ben could finish his strongest spell.

But Ben wasn't a fool.

When Ash was only a few meters away from him, he abruptly stopped his spellcasting.

The surge of mana began dispersing, and the radiant glow dimmed.

The spell was canceled, but it was all part of Ben's plan.

Dust might still be a few meters away, but it was practically point blank range for his wind blade spell.

A spell that condensed wind, turning it to be as sharp as a blade.

It had a short range since wind had the tendency to flow freely, but with so much of it condensed into a single blade, it moved faster than any moving creature on Earth.

And, of course, that was also including Dust, who was only faster than a tier 1 awakened mage.

It was all part of Ben's plan.

He saw what Dust was capable of, acknowledging that his defense was strong, stronger than his wind and flame.

But the man was slow, and he shouldn't have had the capability to send out long distance attacks since he risked running straight forward despite not knowing how long he would chant his spell.

Instead of being defeated by a huge, flashy spell that would make people hang their jaws, the guy who got in by nepotism would be defeated by a simple, weak spell, such as the wind blade.

It would be the perfect case where he would make his point known in the whole underground fighting arena.

'The champion of one of the three main gangs of the slums has been defeated by a weak wind blade.'

Just thinking of that sentence spreading around the slums, hearing it from the people's mouth made his grin from ear to ear.

However, what wasn't a part of his plan was what would happen next.

Ben raised his two hands, preparing to send two wind blades towards Dust to sever his limbs.

However, his hands suddenly stopped.

Something had stopped them in their tracks. They stayed on his sides, unable to move even an inch upward.

Ben looked downward and saw green vines, the same ones he saw growing on a large tree in the wild lands, latching onto his arms.

But the vines didn't stop coming.

Next, more vines appeared from behind him, snatching his feet and tightening around each other.

Robbing Ben of his balance as he toppled face first onto the ground.

Ben forced himself to roll around, barely succeeding as the vines only kept his limbs from moving, not incapacitating his whole body.

And what he found was Dust was there.

Standing behind him with vines growing out of his body.

The same vines that restricted his limbs.

'How did he get there!?'

He had seen with his own eyes how Dust just blatantly ran straight towards him.

He saw Dust's desperate face as he exerted every single muscle in his body to run faster.

He recognized the subtle joy in Dust's eyes as he was about to reach him.

But suddenly, his limbs were tied and he was lying on the ground.

'It doesn't make any sense!

How the hell did he get there!?'

Now that he saw Dust's face from up close, Ben finally recognized the look in Ash's eyes.

The same indifference, the sense of superiority colored deep inside the eyes, and the look as if he wasn't even seeing another human.

The same look his superiors gave him back in the city whenever he tried standing up for himself.

It was the exact same look that Dust had.

"YOU THINK YOU ALREADY WON? YOU THINK YOU ARE BETTER THAN ME!?"

Anger exploded in his chest. And so did the mana resting inside his body.

He might need his hands to be able to aim his chantless magic, but he didn't need them if he didn't have to aim.

Without a single word, the mana exploded as flame burst out of Ben's body.

Easily burning off the vines that were constricting his limbs.

He kicked the ground, instantly standing up once more.

"I GOT YOU NOW! YOU LOWLY DOG!"

His hands raised once more, this time, no vines stopped his hands from aiming and sending the wind blades towards Dust.