A vein began to bulge in Lucy's forehead, and her aura changed. At the same time, most of her underlings approached to attack Sigma, but they didn't do it since they didn't receive the orders to do so.
"What is wrong? You all can come together if you want," Sigma said. "I don't need to become a part of a large group to have confidence in my skills. Your master told me that you only follows the strong, so I will show you all what true strength is… I feel weird saying this, though, and it feels like something inside me is dying."
"It must be because you are saying some embarrassing things…" Sabrina said and then sighed.
"I see… that old man sent you," Lucy said, and then she calmed down. "All right, we accept your challenge."
"No, he didn't send me… I follow the orders of no one," Sigma declared.
"Art, break his teeth for me, I don't like the sound of his voice, and that should solve the problem," Lucy said, and then she crossed her arms before a tall, muscular guy jumped in front of Sigma.
"Yes, ma'am," Art said.
Just like everyone else, Art was wearing some thick winter clothes that would let them fight the cold of the environment. Despite that, Sigma could tell that the guy would be a tough nut to crack… moreover, he saw his level, and he was seventy with focus on strength. Now Sigma could confirm his two punches theory.
"Once I defeat all of you, you will become my minions. Do you accept that?" Sigma asked.
Art's face turned red, but he still waited to attempt to crush Sigma's skull. Lucy studied Sigma for a short while before nodding to that and then smirking. She couldn't imagine where all of his confidence was coming from.
"Sure, if you defeat all of us," Lucy said and then smirked.
"You will become my minions and do whatever I want," Sigma said while copying Lucy's smirk.
"Why did you have to say that again…" Sabrina asked and then facepalmed.
"Start!" Lucy shouted.
Art dashed toward Sigma like a mad bull without hiding his fury behind his widened eyes. In a single moment, he crossed ten meters of distance and tried to punch Sigma's face, but he just jumped to the side while raising his right knee and then hitting Art's stomach.
Sigma had already confirmed that the guy was slower than him, so that didn't surprise him at all. Art grunted in pain and was paralyzed for a short while, but it had been enough for Sigma to land and then hit Art's right side with a roundhouse kick. He grunted in pain again, but he still charged toward him with his arms opened. At the same time, his aura changed, and it suddenly got red while the temperature around increased.
[The skill Fire Armor was added to the skill shop.]
Sigma knew that this skill was bad news, so he jumped away with all his might, and after spinning in the air several times, he landed twenty meters away from the enemy. Art looked at him in shock since it was clear that Sigma was at least twenty percent faster than him.
"Just running around won't prove my point… these kind of people won't obey me if they think that I am not much stronger than them," Sigma furrowed his eyebrows while wondering.
Using magic to help would do the trick, but Sigma didn't want to do that during the fights, he had other uses for his mana in that situation, and that wouldn't help him on his cause.
"Excuse me… is there still a way to solve this peacefully?" Ed asked and then realized that no one was paying attention to him. "I guess not…"
Art's aura changed a bit again, and Sigma could see a green aura. Soon, his system informed him that he could buy the Wind Armor, and he also could tell that it was a technique that focused on speed. If the enemy got stronger than him now, Sigma had to change his tactics.
Even before the enemy could charge at him fifty percent faster than before, Sigma still enhanced his right fist with his stamina and then tried to punch the enemy's stomach. Still, Art did the same thing, that it would be fun to crack Sigma's fists with his own. He could have dodged if he wanted… but his pride didn't allow him to do that.
Both fists collided, and then they cracked together… Sigma lost half of his health, while Art only lost one-fourth. Still, despite that and the difference in the level of the skills, Art was the one who broke into a cold sweat while looking at his broken and messed up fist. The pain made him want to scream like a little girl. Sigma was in no better shape, but his pride was way bigger than his pain. Besides… he achieves his goal.
[You learned the skill Powerful Strike.]
[Power Punch: increases the power of your melee attacks by one point per level and per second at the cost of the same amount of attack power added in stamina.]
Sigma smiled in satisfaction and then kicked Art in the stomach with all his might while he was defenseless. He fell on the ground with his face down and didn't move.
Sigma used Heal before the next battle, and people around him frowned as they saw his wound healing a bit. He could have cast more times, but he felt satisfied in recovering thirty percent of his health and decreasing by half his pain.
"Next," Sigma declared. "Hurry up, I don't have all day."