"Let's have a match, Rhodes!"
Natsu was straightforward; as soon as he arrived, he skipped any normal greetings and went straight to the point.
Rhodes said helplessly, "At least wait until the rain stops?"
Natsu retorted, "Hasn't it already stopped?"
"Huh?"
Rhodes looked out the door. Sunlight pierced through the gaps between the dark clouds, casting down beams like strands of golden thread from the sky.
Soon, more and more light shone through. The dark clouds dispersed rapidly, and the sky became a clear blue.
"..." Rhodes was astonished. "Are you Takami Honoka?"
"Who's that? Is she strong?"
"In a way, yes." Rhodes stopped making excuses. "Alright then, let's do it."
Natsu jumped ahead into the backyard, stepping twice into the mud. Suddenly, Rhodes didn't feel like going anymore.
After thinking for a moment, he decided to seek help. "Laki?"
"Leave it to me." Laki activated her magic: "Wood-Make: Pure Love—Spotless!"
A circular wooden platform with a diameter of ten meters appeared in the backyard, resembling an arena.
Several people beside Laki started teasing the names she gave her spells, but Laki was quite pleased with herself.
Natsu jumped onto it and stomped his feet. Happily, he said, "Oh! This is nice. Let's decide that stepping out of bounds means you lose!"
"How about we say falling down counts as losing?" Rhodes would rather pretend to fall than get covered in mud.
Natsu had no objections. The onlookers were already in place, and even the Guild Master had started taking bets—Rhodes didn't even know when the old man had shown up.
"Alright then, Natsu vs. Rhodes, begin!"
Rhodes grasped his pendant. "I am the one who bridges the path between two realms...
...
Canyon Swift Crab!"
Like Erza, Natsu had the martial virtue of not attacking during the opponent's chant, but Rhodes felt awkward—he really needed to shorten his incantation as soon as possible.
By the time the Canyon Swift Crab appeared, Natsu could no longer hold back. He clashed his fists together, flames igniting on them. With a swift dash forward, his posture resembled a fire dragon swinging its front claws in a forward strike:
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
This punch wasn't aimed at Rhodes but at the crab.
The scorching flaming fist enlarged in 'Rhodes's vision,' making him instinctively raise his hand to shield his face, but he quickly realized that it was the crab's field of vision.
In a hurry, he didn't know what command to give, and the crab had already begun to act on instinct, raising a small claw.
Natsu's fist collided with the green crab claw, scorching flames leaping toward the crab's eyes.
The tremendous force caused the crab's six legs to pierce through the wooden platform beneath, sliding back more than two meters.
Splinters mixed with the underlying mud flew everywhere, and Rhodes was knocked as well, half his body sprawled over the crab's back.
If not for some protrusions on the crab shell to hold onto, he might have been sent flying.
"Ugh..." Rhodes felt nauseous from the blow to his stomach. He felt that if he had taken that punch directly, he might have died.
The Guild Master saw Rhodes's reaction and decided to give this inexperienced kid some last-minute advice:
"Magic power isn't just something used to cast spells; it can also be used for defense. Even if you don't know defensive magic, it can still offer some protection, though less efficiently."
Rhodes nodded, understanding. So it's like using inner energy, though less cost-effective than using defensive magic.
"Canyon Swift Crab, charge!"
However, his command was a bit late. After being attacked, the crab had already started to flee instinctively.
It even left behind phantom images—probably a small speed-boosting skill that the crab had in the game.
This act of abandoning his teammate left Rhodes face-to-face with Natsu, only about three meters apart.
Upon hearing Rhodes's command, the crab turned around and charged back at full speed.
"So fast!" Natsu had originally planned to charge forward and deliver a friendly punch as he usually did in fights—the kind without flames on his fists.
But the crab's speed was unexpectedly fast. Facing it head-on was indeed different from watching from the sidelines yesterday.
"This is getting interesting!" Natsu instead laughed, spreading his arms to grasp the tips of the two large crab claws directly.
Screech...
Natsu was pushed back by the crab, his leather sandals scraping against the wooden planks, making an unpleasant sound.
However, after being pushed back less than a meter, Natsu stood firm, grinning at the crab:
"Gotcha!"
Flames burst from Natsu's entire body as he slammed his head directly into the crab's face: "Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"
"Zee-zee~~"
With a loud bang, the crab was flipped over by the headbutt, flames spreading over its entire body, emitting pitiful squeaking sounds.
Before it could struggle much, the crab's form gradually became transparent and finally disappeared completely.
"Oh no!" Natsu clutched his head with both hands, agitatedly rubbing his hair. "I overdid it!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Natsu clasped his hands together, darting over to Rhodes and apologizing frantically.
"I didn't mean to kill it! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
Rhodes, however, remained calm. "It's okay; it's not dead."
"Really?" Natsu, still in his apologetic posture, looked up at Rhodes.
"Really not dead. You can think of it as being forcibly sent back. It'll recover after some rest."
Rhodes could vaguely sense a body of water, where the crab was hiding just below the surface, its antennae poking above the water.
In game terms, it was like waiting to respawn.
However, with the crab's disappearance this time, Rhodes felt that this crab's existence might be different from that of Poro.
"So that's how it is!" Natsu suddenly jumped back a considerable distance. "Then let's go again! Bring out all your monsters! Hahaha!"
Is this guy single-minded or what...? His mood swings are too fast.
But it does fit the hot-blooded shonen protagonist archetype.
Rhodes gained a bit more understanding of Natsu's character, but as for continuing to summon...
He looked over at Worm the Poro on the sidelines.
Worm 'unintentionally' hid behind Happy.
Rhodes sighed; as expected, he couldn't count on him.
He clenched his fist and faced Natsu. "Let's do this!"
He had agreed to fight Natsu to gain some combat experience. If he surrendered out of fear of getting beaten up, it would be meaningless.
Natsu also raised his fist, showing Rhodes a bright smile.
But when recalling it later, Rhodes always felt that Natsu's smile looked like that of a demon.
Damn it, he hit too hard!
"Hiss... it hurts, it hurts..."
Mira carefully used tweezers to hold a cotton ball, applying medicine to Rhodes's swollen cheek.
Sitting on a chair, Rhodes gripped the backrest with both hands, grimacing in pain. He couldn't even care about the initial concern of the close distance.
"Bear with it a bit more; it'll be done soon." Mira changed the cotton ball, dipping it into the medicine again. "Didn't the Guild Master teach you some defensive techniques?"
"They work, but I can't learn them instantly, and... ouch... who knew he'd go straight for the face!"
Mira chuckled, "Natsu usually fights like that... Alright, turn around... By the way, are you going to continue this kind of training in the future?"
Rhodes turned, pulling down his collar to reveal the bruises on his shoulder.
Recalling the painful experience just now, he nodded with a bitter face:
"The more it hurts, the more I need to find people to spar with. Getting beaten up in the guild is better than getting killed when I go out... Ouch..."