And there I was, confronting two abductors. I had taken on a new moniker for the time being.
"Go play hero somewhere else you little runt!"
One of the very few things that was sure to get on my nerves was when someone made a joke of my small stature, it was a certified way to get me angry.
And normally, I was an individual who was slow to rage unless in a situation where I had my buttons pushed.
With confidence, I chose the spell ⎾Fire Ball⏌ and extended my right arm forward, releasing a flurry of magicubes that were converted to mana.
Thanks to the incredible precision of Scentia's target assist feature, I was able to project three flaming balls of fire that accurately struck my target.
The spell was cast with perfect accuracy.
With my spell easily dispatching them I approached the boy they'd taken from behind.
"Are you okay?" was my first question. But he'd only nod in response to my inquiry.
The people that walked into the store room next were Yugta, Dvena and Berla who were all members of the nefarious Black Pendant Guild I came across some months ago.
They'd heard the ruckus from inside and were forced to come out.
"Woah! What happened here!?" Yugta exclaimed seeing two of their comrades on the ground, effectively bested.
"Be careful you guys.." one of the abductors on the ground coughed while mentioning this, "He may be small, but he's strong.." they knew not to take me for granted simply because of my physique.
'Wait, aren't these the guys from back then? I remember her, she's that naturally endowed female I ensnared with my energy webs..' she was a beautiful young lady, but quite older than me, I shouldn't think of her in such a frivolous manner.
It was good to know that my disguise had been successful in obscuring my identity.
Unbeknownst to me, however, the mask I wore was a common accessory of courtesans who sought to attract customers during the day without revealing their faces.
Dvena was visibly provoked, "You disgusting pervert!" something I'd never been called in my life. I was too much of a gentleman to have been called such, even if I occasionally stared at women, that was natural.
She immediately charged for me unsheathing her sword.
Her combat attire was quite revealing, especially in the cleavage area. Once a caster class was now a knight class. Such talent was rare.
With a powerful leap forward, her blade descended toward my left shoulder but from my point of view she was relatively slow.
To evade I casually moved to the right whilst watching her sword strike the ground.
She made three more quick attempts to strike me and each time I was with enough speed to easily appraise her movements.
Again and again she struggled to hit me stroking her blade left, right, diagonally, horizontally and even vertically. Yet, she was incapable of striking me down.
Each time, her blade would hit the air with force and create a sibilant whooshing sound.
'Why are they so bouncy!'
I was fascinated by the manner in which her bazookas moved, they bounced left and right. They underwent a reverberation each time she attempted to hit me.
I had to avert my eyes by any means necessary, I couldn't let myself harbor such impure thoughts.
Sure, I was occupied by her but I wasn't so dumb that I didn't know their applied strategy.
The moment Dvena jumped upwards, Berla immediately cast ⎾Thunder Bolt⏌only after she'd said the chant which I hadn't heard.
It was a distraction designed to enable a support mage cast her attacking spell. This was basic method used to approach combat and in my opinion it was overused.
I then cast ⎾Ultra Wall Formation⏌, and immediately I did this a blue force bubble-like shield engulfed me and instantly neutralized the electricity.
The power was too lethargic to make a dent.
'So the busty lady focused on using close range, to buy the caster some time to finish her chants... it makes sense now why parties must have these two kinds of classes.'
I studied big on combat strategies in magic brawls, so this was not new to me.
The moment I dispersed the shield a thick fog surrounded me, most likely from the same caster.
Dvena attacked with a stab to the neck from behind, but I tilted the targeted spot to the left in order to evade it with ease.
As overly cautious as I may be in battle, they weren't putting up much of a challenge.
The endowed woman moved aback, she tightened her sword's grip "Stop crawling around and let me stab you, pervert!"
'Fiddlesticks! She caught me staring at her torpedoes..' I didn't even know why I looked at them, I had no intention to. They were just so exposed that it was hard not to observe their relative motion.
The mage, Berla was astonished as a consequence of my ability to cast spells without the need for chants, 'But wait, that second spell he cast, it's very similar to the Endlavian tier E spell - Space Wall..' but that wasn't all, 'How is he able to cast such powerful spells without using a mana amplification item..' she moved back until she bumped into the "boss."
"Sir! You're here!" Dvena uttered before sheathing her sword. The boss had arrived, or rather the one calling the shots.
'If I remember correctly, the leader of that guild was the old guy..' the man in front of him looked old but not as old as Fushu was. And he didn't release the same amount of bloodlust that man gave off.
That aside, this fellow looked like a lanky, young adult but he looked unkept and reeked of booze.
He had long undressed hair with rough bangs and coarse facial hair. This person was someone I didn't recognize of the five I'd fought back at the academy.
His footsteps were lazy, similar to that of a typical drunk. He held three swords one in each hand and in his mouth.
"You don't have to gang up on one kid, I'll make sure he learns his lesson.." he spoke like he'd vomit at any moment.
'Still... this guy looks pretty familiar. But he won't be a threat, his drunken state will hinder his success in this battle.' I was at least confident I could effectively circumvent his advances.
With a forward lean, the inebriated individual tightened his grip on his sword and with a single step, he approached me.
His speed was unlike any opponent I had previously encountered, as his movement was akin to a gravitational pull. It was as if he'd melted into the wind, moving with an effortless grace.
I was promptly notified by ⎾Wild Sense⏌ of the imminent threat.
Without hesitation, I nimbly leaped two meters backwards while simultaneously invoking ⎾Fire Storm⏌, resulting in five fiery orbs arcing outward and converging directly towards my adversary.
Although he moved with remarkable speed, he was able to effortlessly deflect all of the fiery attacks with his swords.
"That all you got snot nosed little kid!"
He proceeded to run towards me, and I knew I had to construct something sturdy enough to halt his progress.
With the power of ⎾Freeze Ray Generation⏌, I was able to generate a frigid gas that enveloped my hands, and from there, I projected brilliant blue beams towards the ground. This created a path of ice that extended towards the inebriated individual.
Instead of taking an aggressive approach, I decided to think on my feet and improvise.
Given his remarkable speed, I realized that the most effective strategy would be to utilize his velocity to my advantage.
The moment his feet touched the path of ice the individual recalled something 'The way this guy fights... the cryokinesis of the Cryo Manzardill.' he slid and fell on his back.
It was as easy as that.
During this time I'd already formed a four meter wide wall of ice. The entire room had become cold in mere seconds, sometimes I forget I possess abilities like these.
I heard him groan on the floor, but I was still unsure whom he was.
The wall that I'd just created through the manipulation of ice was abruptly sliced horizontally into two, with an impeccably clean cut.
The same drunk had returned, and he was swift enough to rise from the ground and launch a rapid attack. It was his sword, held firmly in his teeth, that sliced through my sturdy ice wall.
"When did he assume his battle position again?" how could he traverse that path of ice so quickly and engage me with such a quick counter? How much skilled could this drunk get?
'This guy..' I'd never seen a sword fighting style like this before.
Via his enhanced dexterity he spun the sword in his right hand. He regained a strong grip on the hilt and bolted a slash down for me.
My eyes turned a pale blue colour and in a short unspecified period of time I glided to my left.
Despite the fact that I dodged it, my mask was cut in half from the midsection. The mask hit the ground around the same time I hid my face to protect my identity.
"Damn it.." I spoke under my voice, with my right forearm placed before my face.
The man's swords dropped to the ground, the clanging sound of his three swords were alarming.
"It's you.." he said.
My hands dropped out of surprise, 'That's why he was so familiar..' I've met this guy before, but then, he looked more graceful and collected unlike now.
Now, he had the appearance of someone who had failed to accomplish his life goals.
Behind the filthy appearance and odour, I could recognize him, I didn't know his name but he'd made enough of an impact for me to remember him.
It was Lync, but what happened to him? Why did he look so wasted?