"Are you sure about this?" There was no way for such an attentive girl as Irea to fail to notice the main intention that pushed the archmage for such a rash decision. While her eyes were still filled with amazement after Layn's consecutive breakthroughs, there was also a hint of worry in them.
"Don't worry. I already judged the general strength of everyone in the group. While I do expect a few surprises," moving his head towards his opponent, Layn lightly lowered it to show respect when his eyes met with Sitra's intense stare, "overall, it won't be a difficult fight."
Layn wasn't bragging there.
The main reason behind his scare of the ancient cultivators laid in the fact that he couldn't see through their abilities. Starting with their superior physical endurance and speed, they held the worst kind of advantage over the generally immobile mage.
But this status no longer applied to Layn.
With his body now greatly reformed thanks to Irea's help, he could tell that his speed wouldn't pale in comparison to what he saw during the fight of the group of ancients with the monster. And even if one of their two-star experts, a hunter at that, could reach ever greater speeds, it didn't matter at all.
Because as long as Layn could find a single moment to cast a spell, the entire fight would be decided.
"Okay then. Karter, he is ready." Nodding her head in acknowledgement of Layns decision, even if she didn't really believe his haughty claims, the girl still opted to believe him. Moving one step aside, Irea hesitated for a second, before moving back, grabbing both of Layn's hands and enclosing them with her palms.
"May the fortune assist you." Lowering her head over the small ball made off their hands, Irea gave Layn her blessings before running out of the designated duel area.
"Sir Sitra, I will be in your care." Moving his face towards his opponent, Layn spoke out slowly, in order to give the other party time to decipher his words from the movement of his lips.
Given how the man was completely mute and deaf, after moving his hands for a moment, he pointed his finger at Karter nearby.
"He is telling that he won't go easy on you. Be ready." Stepping forward, Karter stood right between the two of us. Rather than announcing the start of the fight by voice, he did it by slowly lowering his extended arm.
"Fight!" Sweeping his hand all the way, Karter shouted. At the same time, Sitra rushed forward, with a knife already glistering in his hand.
'A commendable dedication.' Noticing the attack, Layn smiled. 'Sadly, it's completely futile.'
With the reaction speed of the archmage spiking after he made use of the ancient cultivation, he didn't even need to jump out of the hunter's way to buy more time. As soon as the hunter leaned his body forward, Layn was already in the middle of setting up a barrier.
A barrier that fully formed before the hunter could move past half of the distance separating them.
Hit.
Sitra's knife struck right at Layn's head. There was no hesitation behind his moves, nor did he try to pull back his attack. But rather than penetrating Layn's skull, the blade slid off the barrier, exposing Sitra's waist to Layns' fists.
"Rush." Uttering just a single word, Layn invoked the visualisation bound to it. His fists moved at a rate faster than he could consciously control.
"Aim." Another short whisper escaped from the archmage's lips. At the same time, his fist slightly changed its trajectory.
"Hit." With his own barrier extending as his fist rushed right toward's Sitra's waist, the hunter's attempt to cut at the incoming arm once again proved to be futile.
On the other hand, Layn decided to drop the first spell before the attack connected. With the fight assist of the simple, close-quarter buffs he developed back in his time in a hero party, he didn't need any experience in fighting at close range at all.
After all, leaving this task to a perfectly unperturbed magical reactions would obviously have a greater effect than frantically swinging his arms on his own!
"Ugh!'
The attack finally connected. Even though Layn was using his left hand, he still decided to drop his hastening spell. In the end, this was a friendly spar. And shattered liver wasn't an easy injury for Layn to heal.
Nevertheless, with the right side of his waist struck right below his lowest rib, Sitra's face suddenly flushed as he kneeled down on the ground, before falling to the side.
"Is that considered my win?"
Due to the fact that Layn used just the right amount of his skills and power to triumph in the duel, the rest of the group didn't seem to be convinced.
'I bet they are thinking it was a lucky shot…' Noticing the uneasy stares of his compatriots, Layn sighed heavily before extending his arm to the side.
"I used just the bare minimum of my strength to achieve this victory. If I wanted…" With a tiny amount of mana in Layn's aura suddenly condensing at the surface of his palm, his mind instantly filled with a single word.
'Shatter'
Located barely a few steps away, a huge boulder decorated the mundane plains. But as soon as Layn raised his hand towards it, the stone suddenly exploded outwards, covering the entire area with deadly pellets of broken granite.
"WHAT?!" Given how Layn didn't even utter a single word while casting his spell, even his colleagues could be confused about the method he facilitated. But for the ancients beside him, the confusion had to be way greater.
"Could it be…" Instantly rushing to Layn's side, Irea unceremoniously grabbed his hand before immersing herself in her thoughts. "No, you are not two stars yet. How come you can use techniques?!"
Looking down at Irea's face, Layn could only scratch his head with an uneasy smile for a response. What he just did wasn't some kind of technique, but a simple memory-play relying on ingraining the construction of an entire spell within the meaning hiding behind a word.
In other words, he had no idea what those 'techniques' were in the first place!
"It seems that you have finally given up and running, you bastard." Before Irea's curiosity could be sated, a new voice entered the fray. And from how it was oozing with hate, it clearly wasn't someone from their group.
"Wait, are you this… hmm… Karen guy?" Turning his head to the newly arriving group, Layn smiled. Using the name that found its sacred spot at the top of silly jokes of the future, the archmage even attempted to insult the man, only to be met with a confused look of hate.
"Bark all you want. But no matter what you say, this is the place where you will meet your end!"