"When battling a Beasttamer, don't you think that it's best to not underestimate the master?"
Bello immediately sent his sword into an upward slash, grazing the graceful Pathbearer's arm. The black body suit kept the skin durable and prevented any major damage from happening!
It was manufactured in a way where it accumulates the damage taken and protects the user from fatal attacks. However, the suit has a damage mitigation limit where if it surpasses a certain threshold, the individual wearing the body suit would immediately be teleported out of the stadium.
Similar to a Health Point from a video game, the suit acts accordingly.
So, the participants have to be careful when taking damage from others.
Bello's slash was mitigated by the suit but in real combat, the graceful Pathbearer would've had their arms cut in half!
He jumped back and was pressured by the wolves once more!
Bello studied his stature closely.
'His movements have gotten much nimbler than before yet his defense suddenly turned feeble..'
One wolf attacked the Pathbearer and bit into his arm. Bello saw the black suit taking damage and it was not the same impregnable defense that he had before.
Suddenly!
The sunlight enveloped the graceful Pathbearer once more, he gestured into a praying motion and was then basked in radiance.
'I see!' Bello's eyes widened.
'He can enhance his attributes but only one at a time?! If I'm right then he would not be as fast as he was previously, but his defense is probably as impregnable as before!'
Bello smiled and charged his legs to prepare for an explosive leap!
He held his steel blade tightly. Seeing as the the wolves were still pressuring him into a defensive turn, Bello jumped forward to add onto the attack.
Usually, Beasttamers are weak, and puny Pathbearers whose strength only lies on their control of the beasts. Getting closer to them was not easy due to the fact that they have an entire arsenal protecting them and preventing the foe from approaching.
Beasttamers aren't really that fond of hand to hand combat, and usually stayed further back on the lines.
..However, Bello was different!
He was trained by the King and experience high level swordsmanship! Additionally, the King's Guidance made him grow considerably faster and stronger.
In a span of a mere month, Bello, who had no prior knowledge of Swordsmanship, had become an Above Average Swordsman!
And that's just with a month of training, who knew if he continued training for a couple of months, maybe years!
Even with Bello's untapped growth, his potential was considered by the King and Veritas to be high!
Thus, he rushed in towards the graceful Pathbearer and fought on the front lines himself!
He used his legs to propel himself forward and fly in the air, then upon getting closer to the graceful Pathbearer, he twisted his body forward and kicked the Pathbearer's abdomen.
Utilizing it as a stepping stone, Bello jumped from the graceful Pathbearer's tenacious abdomen and flipped his body towards the Pathbearer's back.
While in the air, Bello aimed for his neck and slashed in quick succession!
A metal clang! resounded in the clearing, Bello landed on his feet and wasted no time to control the wolves in order to attack the Pathbearer further!
He tried to counterattack but the wolves stopped him from moving, biting at his arms and making it move upward.
The wolf maneuvered in the air and staggered the graceful Pathbearer. Then, the second wolf attacked, tackling the Pathbearer and pushing it down the ground.
Bello saw this opportunity to rush forward and stab the graceful Pathbearer!
"Hmph!"
With a loud grunt, he swung his blade downwards and hit the Pathbearer in his core.
Bello felt the hardness of his skin but he struck once more to see if the suit's integrity would decrease!
The wolves held the graceful Pathbearer's arms and pinned him to the ground.
"Argh!"
With Bello's continuous blows, pain soon enveloped the Pathbearer's body!
Suddenly, radiance enveloped the two of them and the Pathbearer's durable body seemed to get softer for a second. Bello felt his slashes to connect but the Pathbearer immediately vanished in thin air.
'Speed once more!'
He looked around to scan his surroundings and search for the graceful Pathbearer.
The winds shifted to his right, as if someone had passed by quite quickly!
"A Beasttamer Swordsman? Interesting!"
Hearing the echoes of the graceful Pathbearer's voice, Bello made his wolves stay vigilant and close to him.
Also, he kept his additional two wolves near Rambert who had been fighting with the heat-inducing Pathbearer.
The winds shifted to his back, then to his right, and then in front of him..
'Annoying!'
The Pathbearer was fast.. but Bello could see him move!
He gritted his teeth and gripped his blade tightly. Then, Bello got into a defensive stance, preparing for an attack!
'He's way too damn fast!'
Yet with great speed, durability and strength dwindled.
Bello formulated on how the Pathbearer was going to attack. If it were him, he would used speed to get closer to his foe and then use the radiance to obtain great strength and attack!
But in reality, it was not that easy..
He suspected that the graceful Pathbearer could not switch at will and needed time to bask in radiance.
At least a second or so..
The winds shifted near Bello, and he saw an imposing figure suddenly appear! The radiance enveloped the graceful Pathbearer, signifying a switch in blessings.
If it were any normal person, they would not be able to react quickly! Yet, Bello saw him coming from seconds away!
As soon as the Pathbearer reached Bello's front, he immediately slashed sideways, forming a crescent arc!
It hit the Pathbearer, fatally damaging his bodysuit!
The Pathbearer tried to mitigate the damage by guarding with his arms yet he was too late!
"Krhhk-"
With a loud bang, he was suddenly thrown onto a tree with great impact!
Bello wasted no time and rushed towards his stunned body! He ran like the winds and carried the steel blade to his side!
'It ends here!'
He leaped forward and aimed to deliver the finishing blow.
But!
The Pathbearer vanished as if he was suddenly removed from the space. Bello was dumbfounded for a while but then realized that his target was no longer in the clearing.
The graceful Pathbearer suffered enough damage to be counted as a loss! In simpler terms, his HP had run out!
Bello shifted his head towards Rambert's battle.
'He seems to be doing well.'
He sighed and commanded his two wolves to head over to assist Rambert.
'I didn't need my two other wolves after all..'
So.. within a couple of seconds, Bello and his partner, Rambert, had cleared their first obstacle.
With Rambert and the two wolves' combined strength, the head-inducing Pathbearer was immediately defeated, returning the temperature back to its chilly state.
Bello had not even dropped a single sweat. Well, except for the sweat from the heat.
The Pathbearers that they fought were simply not on the level of mastery as Veritas and the King.
Upon seeing such masters of swordplay, Bello compared everyone he fought to the two of them.
'I'm still far from their level..'
He walked towards Rambert, who was laying down and breathing deep as if he was fatigued from the battle.
"You alright?"
Bello reached his arms forward to help Rambert stand up.
"I'm clearly not alright!"
Rambert stayed on the ground
and scanned Bello's body.
"How are you not tired after that?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like.. you fought with two wolves and with your blade, if that were me.. I'd have fainted by now!"
"..."
Bello merely stared at him with a calm expression and then sent out his wolves to scout the surroundings.
"Can you still fight?"
"Upon resting for a while, yeah.." "Good, because there are two figures in the distance, hiding behind a log."
He saw 5 visions at once, belonging to four of his wolves and himself.
Upon seeing the wolves, the two of them ran in panic.
Two figures with black hair, one was tied in a ponytail, and the other was silky smooth.
Bello saw this and decided to give chase.
"Are you rested enough?"
"It's been 6 seconds!"
He looked down and stared at Rambert with calm eyes.
"These two seem weak so you need not exert much effort."
"That's reassuring I guess."
"Come on, stand up. Let's give chase-"
Suddenly, in one of Bello's visions he saw the black-haired boy suddenly change appearance to that of a white-haired individual with pure golden left eye and a crimson-red eye.
His eyes widened upon seeing the familiar figure.
"On second thought, we should go and run.."
Suddenly, that figure turned back into a scared and weakly black-haired boy.
"They're people that I can't defeat."
Rambert felt perturbed and thought, 'If this guy, who was one of the strongest people I know, stated that he saw someone he couldn't defeat then that individual would probably be crazier than him!'
He stood up and brushed his trousers, feeling the graveness of the situation.
Rambert stared at Bello's face, seeing a mixture of fear, despair and... excitement.
"Let's go."
Thus, the two of them ran towards the opposite direction and headed off deeper into the forest.