"Now I see why you're so confident, you must be proud of your speed," Mace said as he looked at Rafe.
"Hehehe... not really. Speed is important for an assassin, but the more important skill for an assassin is to attack the enemy without them knowing," Rafe said as he drew the lightning knife in his right hand, a drop of blood dripping from the tip.
"Blood? Impossible," Mace said in surprise, his neck suddenly stinging.
"He managed to cut my neck? Since when?" Mace thought as he held his neck.
"I told them to help you fight me from the beginning, beating you isn't that hard if I want to," Rafe taunted with a smile.
"Damn it, I'm going to cut your neck right now!" shouted Mace as he mobilized half of his total mana to prepare his most powerful attack.
"Triple Slash Dragon Lightning!" said Mace as he grabbed his sword with both hands.
At that moment, a bolt of lightning began to envelop Mace's sword as a powerful burst of mana emanated from where Mace was standing. The second-year students could be heard cheering at the sight of Mace, ready to unleash his most powerful attack, but suddenly, the lightning and mana that enveloped Mace's body dissipated without a trace before he had a chance to slash his sword.
"Eh? What happened?" said Mace with a shocked look on his face.
"Hehehe... let's attack me, why stop? Are you afraid you'll miss?" taunted Rafe, making a gesture with his hand to challenge Mace.
"Damn it! Triple Slash Dragon Lightning!" shouted Mace as he deployed his mana again.
Another bolt of lightning enveloped the sword in his hand, and this time he immediately slashed at Rafe, but the bolt on his sword again shattered into pieces without doing anything. Only a wave of ordinary wind hit Rafe's body from Mace's sword strike.
Suddenly, Mace was confused, and the other students, including Mace's friends, were confused as well. Meanwhile, Miyura and her friends looked shocked because the situation was exactly the same as when they had faced the people affected by the facial illusion skill in the market.
"That situation," Miyura muttered.
"He obviously didn't want to stop it, but his attack stopped itself," Fia chimed in.
"This man is the same one you fought in the marketplace," said Lola, who was standing right behind Miyura.
"Master?" said Miyura, surprised to hear Lola's voice behind her.
"His mana control techniques are so exquisite that he can even maintain the solid form of his mana in the form of a knife for a long time. Since this requires very accurate and precise mana control, he is already like an experienced adventurer," Lola said.
"Is he that good, Master?" asked Van Ugo.
"Maybe in terms of mana he is far behind, but in terms of mana control he is the best. Besides, his speed earlier when he slashed Mace's neck was abnormal for an F-rank assassin," Lola explained while continuing to stare at Rafe.
"I underestimated him in the marketplace, who he really is. This is the first time I've seen someone with such great mana control, Professor Lilya Everish, who is famous for her mana control skills, is still inferior compared to him," Lola thought.
"Hehehe... if you've given up, just say so, don't even pretend to attack, but don't," Rafe taunted with a laugh.
"No! What exactly did you do to me, huh?" snapped Mace.
"Why are you blaming me? Aren't you the one who can't attack me? Maybe that's another one of your stupidities besides not being able to remember people's names," Rafe taunted.
"Damn it, then I'll attack you directly!" shouted Mace as he ran towards Rafe with his sword out.
"If you're going to attack, don't say it, then your opponent can easily dodge it," Rafe said as he twisted his body to the side so that Mace's slash only hit the ground.
The ground hit by Mace's sword slash instantly scattered into the air, and Mace swung his sword back horizontally toward Rafe's waist. But this time Mace's attack was blocked by Rafe, who clamped the sharp blade of his sword between the index finger and thumb of his left hand.
Mace tried to push the blade to strike Rafe's body, but the blade didn't move an inch. Rafe even yawned as if bored by Mace's actions, which suddenly annoyed Mace, who used all his strength to push the blade, but the blade did not move an inch from its current position.
"What is this? Isn't a swordmaster's physique far superior to an assassin's? How can he match my strength?" thought Mace. The veins on his forehead could be seen straining from the exertion of his strength.
"I'm getting bored Mace, if you're not going to order them to fight, I'm going to force them to," Rafe said with a serious look on his face.
Rafe extended his right hand towards Mace's six silent friends, the lightning knife in Rafe's hand changed shape into a bolt of lightning that enveloped his right hand. In an instant, the lightning in Rafe's right hand shot toward Mace's six friends.
"He's attacking us!" said Mace's friend holding the shield as he leapt forward.
"Fire shield!" said Mace's shield-wielding friend as he brought his shield forward.
At that moment, a thick flame appeared, enveloping the shield in his hand; the flames were so thick and bright that the ground around Mace's friend began to scatter due to the powerful defensive magic he had used. The sound of a powerful explosion was heard as the lightning bolt from Rafe's hand struck the fire shield Mace's friend was using.
"Tch, looks like he's challenging us too," Mace's wand wielding friend grumbled.
"A guardian, a wizard, a lancer, a swordsman, an archer, and a healer. You seem to underestimate an assassin not to recruit one in your party," Rafe said as he looked at Mace's six friends.
"You think I need an assassin?" yelled Mace as he swung his left leg kick at Rafe's head.
Rafe dodged Mace's kick and pulled Mace's sword down, suddenly Mace's body resting on one leg began to lose its balance, Rafe swept Mace's right leg with his left leg, Mace's body immediately floated down due to the loss of support. Rafe mercilessly greeted Mace's chin with the knee of his left leg.
The sound of impact was clearly heard along with the screams of Mace as he winced in pain, but it didn't stop there. Rafe grabbed the shirt on Mace's back and pulled him closer, this time it was Rafe's right knee that hit Mace's stomach hard. Mace screamed in pain again as blood spurted from his mouth, Mace instantly losing consciousness after receiving consecutive crushing blows.
Mace's hand slipped from his sword in pain, but Mace's six other friends were not silent. The Lancer and the Swordmaster immediately charged Rafe, swinging their respective weapons, while the Archer and the Wizard began to prepare their long-range attacks on Rafe.
"Air lance!" shouted the lancer as he thrust his spear at Rafe's neck.
"Die!" shouted the swordmaster as he slashed his sword, which was enveloped by the water element.
"Burning rain!" said the archer as he shot fire arrows into the air, slowly doubling one fire arrow until it became many. Dozens of fire arrows shot down like rain.
"Earthquake!" said the wizard as he slammed his wand into the ground.
"I'll heal Mace, hurry and get him out of here!" the healer shouted as he used his element of light, his wand seemed to start emitting a yellow gradient of light.
Continue...