Even though I hadn't expected him to suddenly attack me, months of practice in the dungeons left my body reacting even as my mind was confused. I leaped out of the water, and with the wave of my hand I manipulated the water to create a screen to hide my movements. He slammed into the water with a splash.
"Ah… a Mage!" The guy said, laughing." It's too bad for you, I'm a Pugilist!"
Although he was attacking me, he had a playful demeanor about him. I didn't have the feeling he was being all that serious. Rather, it felt like he was looking down on me and confidant in his own abilities. He didn't seem to want to hurt me, but at no point did he feel like he couldn't get what he wanted out of me. The feeling really irritated me.
Pugilist was a job I'd like to learn. All of my sword knowledge came from the Hero job, so without a sword, my knowledge was basically zilch. One of the many things I wanted to do in the capital was research the requirements for other jobs. Chief among those jobs were some kind of martial arts or Pugilist. If I could battle with my hands, I wouldn't have to depend on the sword anymore. In all honesty, I didn't like fighting with a sword. It was sharp and scary. I was happy to leave that kind of work to Lydia.
"Too slow!" He cried, leaping through a wave of water and reaching out to grab me.
There was a feeling about his hand that caused my neck hair to rise, so I instinctively jumped back and dodged it. However, he kept moving forward, trying to grab me. None of my skills could be called acrobatic. In fact, if I didn't have the cheat skill of three jobs boosting my status at once, I'd have been overtaken within the first second. I created a water jet to knock him back, but it only caused him to flip away to avoid me.
It must be nice to be able to move like that. He was all acrobatic and smooth. I was just barely managing to clumsily avoid him. I had been fat my entire life, so being able to move so smoothly was something I just couldn't do! Wait… why do I keep complimenting this guy in my mind! He's clearly a pervert who is up to absolutely no good! I couldn't allow him to do what he wanted with the girls!
Rather, I had nothing I could fight him or deflect him back with. I recalled a dungeon ability called Electroshock! With the water all over him, I could easily stun the guy and knock him on his ass. It was the easiest way to bring him down given the circumstances. Jumping back and sending out several jets and another water screen, I reset my ability.
The mistake was apparent immediately. In the end, switching abilities in mid-fight really was impossible. As soon as I lost my two jobs, I became extremely sluggish. I barely had my dungeon menu up when he had already blown through my defenses and reached out and grabbed me. His hand shone for a second, and then I felt my muscles go stiff.
I had one eye closed, waiting for him to strike me or attack me in some way, but when he did nothing, I tried to open it, only to realize that I couldn't. In fact, my body couldn't move at all. The guy let out a laugh, dusting off his wet hands as if the battle was completely over.
"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"
I was completely paralyzed!