"Klaus!"
Klaus was sitting on the ape's shoulder as if he were sitting on dry land, not caring how dangerous it might be.
And that's normal. While those guys were minding their own business, Klaus made sure of the ape's death. But the mission was not over.
He was to dominate the mountain, so killing his former dominator did not mean that he now dominated it. It simply meant that the mountain was now being disputed and would soon have a new dominator.
The dispute was between him and Tom.
So Klaus smiled as Tom turned, stood up, and jumped towards where Tom was, landing a few feet away from him.
"You bastard... How the hell are you still alive?" Tom asked, in shock, bringing his hand back.
Klaus grinned. "What? You can make plans, but no one can figure out your true colors? Don't be surprised, little one. The world is wider than you see."
"...I see. It's not for nothing that you received an Endless Bath. You're good."
Klaus shrugged and walked a little towards him. "Maybe I'm a little sly, but don't worry about it. This is my first time seeing a person with a specialized ring, so I'd like to see what that means. Come, use it against me. I'm very curious."
Tom looked at him with a silly face. "Are you stupid?" he said.
Klaus didn't stop walking towards him. "Why do you say that? It's just a little curiosity that needs to be satiated." He smiled.
Tom stared at him and looked at the ground. He subsequently looked at Klaus again and scoffed.
"No, don't mind me, you want to see what a person on my level is, don't you? Fine, come, come closer, I'll show you very well."
Klaus stared at him as he walked. After three steps, he stopped just as one of his feet was about to touch the ground.
"You know, I really know that if I take this step, I might die. But do you know why I'll take it?"
Tom frowned. For a moment, he thought Klaus really had no idea what a Specialized Ring was, but now he seemed to know.
So why the hell is he getting closer?
'Could he be more powerful than me? 'No, there's no way...'
Tom didn't know how to answer Klaus' question, so he did it himself.
"Neither money, nor power, nor fame. None of those things move me. Not even magic could move me. The only thing that has always moved me is that infinite curiosity inside me. Nothing and no one can stop me when I'm interested in something." Klaus smiled broadly, making Tom uncomfortable.
He took a deep breath.
"I think you're just crazy."
Gently, Klaus started to lower his leg to take that step he shouldn't be taking.
"Hahaha, yeah, I think so too."
His foot then touched the ground.
The place where he stepped was right at the limit of Tom's attack range, which had a Specialized Ring in the most deadly Specialization Branch for Sorcerers.
Tom's eyes flashed then, and his body shot out. "AND YOUR MADNESS WILL LEAD YOU TO DEATH!" he snarled.
His hand, which was still transformed into a sharp and powerful sword, moved at great speed towards Klaus' neck, seeking to cut him in an instant.
*CLANK*
The sound of two clashing metals echoed in the surroundings. Klaus' knife was in his hand, and he successfully shielded himself.
"Haha, it already did that once." Klaus smiled, staring at the place where Tom should be.
But he soon frowned and looked a little further back.
'Long arms?' He thought, seeing that Tom's arm was able to reach from there to where he was. But he suddenly realized that it wasn't.
Klaus jumped back quickly and took a closer look. There was no difference at all. In fact, it looked like that attack had been made merely for speed, and that was it, but it wasn't quite true.
Klaus could see something else.
"Amazing. So, actually, your movement speed isn't fast, but your attack speed is. What's attacking me isn't you essentially; it's your ring."
Tom stared at him in shock. "How the hell..."
The alarms inside him suddenly went up. 'This bastard... How could he figure out my weakness in one move? No, how the hell did he defend himself against something like that when he didn't even know it?'
Klaus sneered.
'So that's it. You're powerful, but you can't even properly employ your power. You've been taking advantage of your weakness to use it as a strength, yet the moment someone notices it, that strength immediately becomes a weakness."
Tom took a deep breath and looked at Klaus' weapon. "A level 2 weapon... There's no way you're a Reared in the Mist."
"Right, you all seem to know about it. It seems that we Reared in the Mist weren't meant to live."
"Hehe, a freaking Reared in the Mist doesn't deserve to be a Sorcerer. You guys are just little test subjects. Still, you have a level 2 weapon. You don't see that every day, so I'll fight you head-on."
Once again, Tom moved forward quickly, wanting to take him by surprise. His weakness is clear, but that doesn't matter. He is still faster and more powerful than Klaus, so he just needs to kill him, and that is it.
Klaus also understood the weakness issue, but the reality was that it wasn't that simple.
Being beaten by someone who practically outclassed him by a whole level, his muscles ached.
And if it weren't for the weapon Jasmine gave him, this would be harder to do.
He took a deep breath as this guy attacked him, but the attacks, though a bit clumsy, managed to hit him lightly, opening small wounds. Those wounds slowly opened up on contact with the huge surges of energy that continued to hit him.
This brought a big smile to Tom's face. "Hahahahaha looks like you really are nothing but a chatterbox, scum!" he shouted as he continued to attack him again and again.
Klaus was defending himself as best he could, but his mind was working on something else, as he muttered.
"If Adaptation consists of allowing my body to adapt and use the energy, I must assume that Understanding or Comprehension is just the use of the energy... After all, I adapted first, which made me slowly comprehend it. Subsequently comes using it, but it cannot be in realization, so it must be in the field of Understanding."
His mumbling made Tom angry. "Muttering before you die? Tsk, you can pray to all the gods but never save yourself from me." After this, Tom increased the amount and power of his attacks, which were hitting Klaus' knife, some on the skin, and very few deep.
Still, increasing the intensity of the attack also meant that Klaus had to focus on defending himself; otherwise, the attacks would far outstrip his muscle memory.
Suddenly, Klaus' unfocused eyes glowed.
"I've got it." He said aloud.