Alexander and the leader of the bandits clashed several times.
Both had their own strengths, but so far it had been impossible for either of them to land a decisive blow.
While Alexander was faster and stronger thanks to his more powerful magic items, the bandit's boss was more skilled and could control his earth magic far better than Alexander could use his shadow magic.
It was simply a difference in experience. One of them had been practicing their specialty for less than two weeks, and the other for more than two decades.
'How can I break through his defenses?'
Any time he got close, Alexander found his strikes being blocked by the man's magic.
One of the spells that the hammer he was welding in his left hand could conjure was a study circular shield of stone.
With a couple of hits from his umbral steel daggers, Alexander could slice apart the protective magic, but in the time it took him to do so, his opponent was always ready with a powerful attack that forced him back.
"Stop darting around you annoying insect."
As much as Alexander was frustrated with his inability to get a hit in, the bandit leader was as well.
He was able to lob large rocks and create spikes from out of the ground, but none of his attacks ever reached their target.
Alexander was quick, likely the fastest adversary the man had ever fought.
Normally, the boss of the bandits would have closed in on such a slippery foe and brought the battle to a close brawl, but he could not confidently do so this time.
After blocking Alexander's daggers with one of his hammers a single time, he realized that his opponent's weapons were bad news.
There was a deep scratch on the hammer from coming in contact with the sharp blade. If he had to defend himself by parrying, it would not take long for his own weapons to end up damaged and unable to be used as catalysts for the spells they were enchanted with.
"I didn't want to have to use this one, but you give me no choice."
Palpable amounts of magical energy rose up around the boss bandit and he slammed both of his hammers together.
A moment later, crystalline armor began to form around his body, and his already giant frame became even bulkier.
Seeing that his opponent had just enhanced both his offensive and defensive capabilities, Alexander took several steps back to put some more distance between him and his enemy.
Fortunately, this proved to be the correct decision. An instant later, the bandit leader swung both of his hammers and fired a volley of crystal spikes.
Alexnader was a bit caught off guard by this, not having expected this spell to give the caster a ranged type ability. It appeared to be solely for physical reinforcement after all.
By forcing himself to move at an incredible speed, Alexander avoided the deadly projectiles.
Yet, when he turned his attention back towards his foe, he found the man rushing towards him like a rockslide.
Unable to avoid the incoming attack with his footing currently being off balance from his hasty evasion, Alexander could only attempt to receive the charge.
Trusting in the sharpness of his daggers he aimed to stab into the man's stomach, but while he did reach flesh, his blades were stopped by the man's crystalline armor before hitting any vitals.
The next thing Alexander knew, he was slammed up against one of the chamber's walls.
Pain assaulted his entire body, and he heard some disconcerting snapping sounds.
"Die!" The Bandit's boss yelled.
The crystals surrounding his body slowly began to grow and pierce into Alexander. Trickles of blood flowed down his body from dozens of small wounds that were quickly growing larger.
Allowing his rage to overtake him, Alexander pushed out every bit of magic power that he could.
Right now, he did not need to worry about fine movements. What he needed was unstoppable strength.
"Get off me!"
With a shout of his own, Alexander kicked his adversary with everything he had.
A web of cracks formed through the man's crystalline armor from the impact, and he went flying across the room.
When he finally came to a stop, it was when he slammed into the opposite wall.
"Damn." Alexander grumbled as he fell to the floor.
He could tell that a couple of his ribs were broken, and the lacerations all over his body were bleeding profusely.
Without the physical enhancement from his magic ring, he would not even be able to stand right now. And even with it, his movements would hardly be as sharp as before.
At the very least, their last exchange had left his opponent in worse than the best shape as well.
Blood was dribbling out of the bandit leader's mouth, and just pulling himself up seemed to be momentously difficult.
He had suffered less external damage than Alexander, but his insides were a wreck.
Being hit by such a powerful force and then suddenly coming to an abrupt stop by slamming into a stone wall had shaken up his internal organs in a bad way.
Without needing a doctor's assessment, he knew that he had a concussion.
Still, he was not going to let a little dizziness and ringing in his head stop him. He had fought and lived through hundreds of battles. This little scuffle was not going to be the end of him.
"I don't think I've ever come across anyone with as much physical strength as you. You're a real monster. But you've got a very clear weakness."
Raising both his arms high, the bandit's boss swung down through the air and fired another barrage of crystal shards.
Despite his body's protests, Alexander forced himself to move quickly and avoid the crystals coming towards him.
Over and over again, they repeated this exchange. With each time causing Alexander to suffer more injuries.
His adversary's aim was quickly getting better, as the man became better accustomed to Alexander's speed.
First it was a single crystal spike leaving a deep scratch on Alexander, then two, and so on until one fully pierced his body.
'F*ck! At this rate I'm going to end up bleeding out. But I can't close the distance in my current condition'
Alexander could not move at full speed due to his injuries, and whenever he attempted to approach the bandits' boss, his foe showered him with a dense cluster of crystal spikes to push him back.
Right now, there was nothing that Alexander could do but keep dodging and hope that he was able to think of something else.
Except, when he felt that he was close to reaching his limit, the crystals that had grown around the leader of this band of bandits shattered.
A second later, the man collapsed to the floor, his breathing heavy. He then vomited up blood and stomach acid and looked on the verge of falling unconscious.
"He's out of magic power." Alexander muttered in surprise.
He had never personally experienced this phenomenon, but he had seen it several times before when training with his uncle and Malm's soldiers.
When one used up nearly all of their magic power, the body would be overcome with a terrible nauseousness, and eventually the person that had pushed themselves to their limits would pass out.
Even though Alexander had thought he was on the backfoot the entire time, his focus on evasion had actually been the correct choice.
His boundless magic power had won him this fight.