Before Nox could take in what was happening around him, the trial's conductor disappeared right before his very eyes.
Instinctively, he brought the arcane dagger in front of his body, intercepting Xangril's fist aimed right at his chest.
Two black, featherless wings now sprouted out Xangril's back, tearing apart the shirt he had been wearing. The wings resembled more of that of a bat compared to that of a bird.
Pieces of the torn shirt loosely hung on his wing. His upper body, now naked, was mind-bogglingly dazzling. His abs and muscles were trained beyond belief, much more than anyone on Earth could even imagine.
As soon as his fist came in contact with the dagger, Menace was sent flying back. Crashing into the barrier, he fell to the ground almost lifelessly. Still, he was able to land on his feet at the last moment.
"Nice," commented the conductor, "You forced arcane into the tips of your toes, launching yourself backwards moments before my fists could touch you."
The arcane dagger was vaporised the instant Xangril punched it. Although Menace had intentionally jumped back to avoid the deadly punch, in his haste, he couldn't control the amount of arcane he had used to do so.
Spitting blood on the ground, he took a deep breath, composing his mind.
Behind Xangril, the shadow soldiers were engaged in a fierce battle with the worms.
Red bit into the monster's flesh, relishing the taste of victory. But the battle was far from over. The four goblins had taken advantage of the insect's restricted movements to run up its back while slashing its thick pink flesh all along the way.
The worm shrieked in pain as it wiggled its entire body, trying to shake away the beings on it.
Suddenly, one of the sword goblins lost footing and tumbled down the monster's back. He plummeted towards the ground, his fate uncertain.
But the other sword goblin was quick to act. He buried his weapon in the monster's skin and used it as a hook, catching his comrade mid-air and flinging him back up to safety.
The other worm monster was in the midst of a ferocious battle with Shane, Kenichi, and Yong. The creature let out a deafening shriek that echoed throughout the colosseum before its tail suddenly emerged from the ground behind the trio, slamming down on them.
Quick reflexes saved the assassin and spear goblin from being crushed by the massive red and muddy tail, but Yong was not as fortunate. The tail crushed him, and he lay motionless on the ground.
Shane stepped back, preparing to make a daring move. With a sudden burst of energy, he leapt into the air, spear in hand, and launched it at the monster, plunging it deep into the monster's throat.
Kenichi, meanwhile, following Shane's attack, crouched down and used his powerful legs to launch himself into the air.
Landing gracefully on the spear, he propelled himself even higher, heading straight for the worm's head. With grace and precision, like a dancer in mid-air, he landed on top of the monster's forehead as daggers slowly appeared in his hands.
"I had initially planned to fight you with just my fists, but on noticing that you too utilised summoning spells like me, I was tempted to summon them…" Xangril said, sliding one of his hands into his pocket and beckoning Nox to come attack him with the other.
From within his inventory, Nox slid out a rusted iron sword, far inferior to the one he had been using before.
[Iron Sword (E)]
Although Nox lacked real battle experience and never truly imagined his sword to break before the battle was over, he had the common sense to keep a few low-grade blades in his inventory at all times since he had the money as well as the space for it.
Coating the weapon with arcane, he instantly realised the difference between the arcane-conductivity of a C-rank and an E-rank weapon but decided to not dwell on it for too long.
He slowly walked towards the Trial's supervisor before instantaneously disappearing, leaving behind a cloud of dust.
Using every single movement skill he had, along with pumping large amounts of arcane into his feet, he exponentially increased his speed for a short time, allowing him to almost teleport behind the enemy.
"Not shabby," the winged man mumbled, instantaneously turning around and gripping the sword aimed at his neck, before pulling it closer along with its wielder.
He launched his other fist at the masked man's jaw but was parried by Nox's forearm.
Letting go of the weapon, Nox attempted to punch down at the man's solar plexus. However, the experienced Xangril raised his left knee before pushing down the man's wrist with his left elbow and sandwiching it between his strong elbow and the sturdy thighs.
Pulling back his right hand, which had been parried, Xangril quickly formed it into a fist before launching it at Nox's abdomen.
Sidestepping, the masked man barely avoided it. Still, he was present-minded enough to take advantage of this opportunity to completely twist his wrist trapped by the enemy in order to grip his forearm before clutching the man's other wrist, which he had managed to avoid and pull him closer.
Taken completely aback by the fact that Menace entirely dislocated his own wrist in order to grab onto his arm, Xangril was confused for a fraction of a second… which was all the time Nox needed to deal a crushing knee blow to his abdomen.
But he was far from being defeated.
Carefully utilising the space which Nox closed between them, he dealt a fast but less-potent kick at Nox's hip with the same leg with which he had trapped his wrist.
The masked man flinched in pain but soon regained himself. Realising that both his hands were now free, he initiated a flurry of blows aimed at the winged man, but each one of his punches was intercepted by the enemy's muscular forearms.
Almost in the blink of an eye, Xangril grabbed both of Nox's wrists with alternate hands before taking to the air. In just a few moments, he reached the maximum height, barely a few feet under the giant, translucent dome around the stadium.
"I wonder if you can fly?" he mocked, letting go of Menace's wrist.
But contrary to the image he had imagined in mind where the masked man crashed into the ground, Menace stood still in the air, unmoving from his position before Xangril had let go.
[The White Dragon's Shoes(A) has invoked the skill *Fly*]
[The user will be able to fly for one minute]
"Yes," Nox replied, shooting his palm upwards, gripping the winged man's throat, and pulling him down to eye level before swinging his other fist at the unsuspecting man's abdomen.
"You can fly as well-" the trial's examiner was interrupted by the repeated barrage of unblockable attacks coming at him.
Grabbing Menace's wrist, he tried to pull it away from his throat, but to no avail. Since it was his only advantage over his opponent, Nox had firmly planted his fingers into the enemy's neck.
"Interesting…" Xangril mumbled, channelling most of his arcane into his right leg, to the point where it was blatantly visible even with the naked eye.
Unwavered, Nox continued to deliver fatal blows, hoping to deal as much damage as possible before he was inevitably pushed away.
Banggg!!!!
The shadow soldiers sitting on the two corpses of the humongous worm-like monsters with uncountable slashes and piercing wounds all around were forcefully pulled back into their shadows. Even though some of them tried to return to the surface, they just couldn't.
Nox crashed against the mist wall, with the entirety of his left side covered in fleeting, dark arcane, which he had used to dampen the impact, which soon disappeared, along with any sliver of arcane energy in Nox.
A chilling sensation washed over him. Surprisingly, he didn't feel cold at all. Instead, it was as if his entire skin was engulfed in a searing blaze, as though he were stripped and placed upon the iciest of blocks.
It felt as if a single, long, extremely sharp needle was placed vertically at the centre of his forehead, not quite piercing it but pushing with enough force that even the calming winds of midsummer were enough to shove it into his brain.
He had encountered… Arcane Depletion.
Still, he was hovering in the air, unmoving from the spot where he had encountered the mist wall. This was because he had pushed his minimal amount of remaining arcane into his shoes before being completely stripped of it.
"I wonder what I should do with you in the remaining five seconds," Xangril smirked, pointing his open palm towards Menace, whose hands hung loosely from his shoulder and, along with his bent back, his head too faced the ground.
A white magic circle appeared in the air before the winged man's palms, with numerous designs and intangible words all over it.
"Air blades…" he murmured.
Almost within a single instant, a hundred swords and knives of all shapes and sizes made entirely of air formed a massive wall in front of the trial's supervisor, all pointed directly at the exhausted masked man.
Nox took a deep breath, going beyond his human lungs' capacity, before exhaling it all out.
It was inarguable that he was still clueless and a novice at managing his arcane efficiently. There was a long and arduous path he needed to travel in order to achieve his goal.
But he was willing to work for it.
Equipping both his hands with iron swords from his inventory, he bent his knees mid-air, pointing one sword at Xangril and the other towards the ground below in a dual-wielding stance.
Menace gritted his teeth with unwavering determination, for if he dared to release them, his vulnerable human form would involuntarily unleash a piercing cry of anguish, utterly incapable of enduring the relentless torment any longer.
A sly smile appeared on the face of the trial's examiner as he looked into the eyes of the masked man on the brink of death, still full of life.
[The three minutes have come to an end]
{Author's Note: I Plan to do a Q&A section one reaching chapter One Hundred! Please do leave your questions below, no matter what they may be.}