Whether it was because he couldn't be bothered to entertain Ackster's provocation or because he fell for it, Hansel thrust his spear again and stayed on the offensive with repeated jabs aimed at Ackster's torso, head, and legs.
Ackster just barely managed to stay away from the sharp, mana-amplified speartip by using Keen Senses, Strong Body, and Battlesight.
Willow, Tenrick, and the other adventurers cleared out of their path and began their own fights against the rest of the Crimson Edge and the adventurers on their side. But as long as no one bothered Ackster and Hansel, they couldn't care about what anyone else was doing.
Well, Hansel could if he wanted to. He just wanted to focus on piercing Ackster and turning him into Swiss cheese while relying on the other members of his group to have his back in case anyone decided to interfere. Unlike Ackster, Hansel was confident Tenrick and Willow wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight.
Ackster, on the other hand, didn't have much of a choice when it came to ignoring their surroundings. It took his all just to keep Hansel from skewering him. And anything his senses picked up on the outskirts of the tunnel that was his vision were more important things like Hansel's attack patterns and if there were any roots or stones that could trip him if he wasn't careful.
Hansel's thrusts, as simple as they looked, were growing increasingly difficult to dodge and avoid.
Since Hansel had reinforced the spear with mana, Ackster didn't consider blocking it, even with his gauntlets. Instead, his best bet to win the fight would be to drag Hansel into a space where his spear was too unwieldy or try and circumvent it somehow.
It was just that Hansel, considering he had enough leeway to see what Ackster was doing, controlled the fight and where Ackster could move. He couldn't pin down Ackster, which frustrated him immensely, but he could limit the directions he could dodge and eventually lead him to a dead end.
Ackster, although focused on the increasing opacity of the layer of mana around the spear, noticed that Hansel concentrated most of his thrusts to one side. And when he followed his jabs up with another attack, it was usually a vertical or diagonal slash on the same side. If Ackster wanted to dodge those, he only had one option.
Since it was his first real fight against a person with some kind of combat intelligence, it took Ackster several intense moments of narrowly avoiding the spear before he noticed the pattern.
However, even after noticing Hansel's intentions, there wasn't much Ackster could do since he was still doing his all to avoid getting chopped to pieces. Even then, he was still getting his face and training equipment nicked. And the spear cutting through his shirt and pants like butter was all the encouragement Ackster needed not to let it touch him, at least not any more than absolutely necessary.
Ackster and Hansel entered a repetitive exchange of Ackster narrowly dodging and Hansel narrowly missing. But with Hansel gradually pushing Ackster to a corner only he could see, the simple fight was drawing to an eventual end if Ackster didn't do something about it.
'If he can see where I'm going, but I can't, I just need to look at where he is looking.'
Ackster was already mostly occupied with watching Hansel's and his spear's movements. So, extending his vision and adding Hansel's eyes to what he was keeping track of would be challenging.
But Ackster could do it.
Even if he was pushing himself not to get pinned down by Hansel, he was getting more and more used to Hansel's movements. And he was doing it at a faster rate than Hansel's mana was deepening in color. And while he was using Strong Body, Keen Senses, and Battlesight as much as he needed to, he wasn't going all out.
At their current ranks, Keen Senses and Battlesight couldn't do much more. But Strong Body had yet to hit a clear wall in usability. Ackster also had a trump card up his sleeve that he could pull out if his situation turned dire.
Hansel also wasn't going all out just yet. If Ackster had to guess, it would have something to do with the gradually thickening color of his mana. Hansel probably had a skill that required build-up to unleash its full strength.
Though, if Hansel deserved his reputation, he probably had more than one skill in his repertoire. So, if Ackster weren't careful, he could be overwhelmed and killed by a sudden torrent of skills from Hansel. And if he were unlucky, Limit Breaker wouldn't be enough to resist.
But before that, Ackster would do his best to interfere in Hansel's plan while playing along.
He couldn't rush and press the attack against Hansel the same way he had done when killing monsters and beasts. Hansel was too good and strong, at least for the current Ackster, for that to succeed. The best outcome Ackster could hope for was mutual destruction.
That was unless he could turn the situation around somehow.
And, based on Hansel's poorly hidden smug expression and growing confidence shining in his eyes, the opportunity Ackster needed was coming up soon. He just had to prepare, be patient, and be ready.
He leaned, ducked, bobbed, and weaved to dodge Hansel's thrusts, jabs, slashes, and strikes. He occasionally let the spear graze him and his clothes to control the situation as much as possible. Since he got a bad feeling whenever Hansel's spear drew blood, he tried to keep the cuts as shallow as possible. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to keep them to only cutting his clothes.
But Ackster was still confident he would survive in the end. He didn't have a choice. He had already wasted a lot of time getting used to Hansel's movements. And since he knew it wouldn't be over, even if he beat Hansel, Ackster also knew he would have to succeed. If he didn't, he would lose out on one of the cards that could flip the endgame in his favor.
Ackster removed the option of losing here from his mind.