Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

She had already shown most of her skills in previous fights and she was prepared to face several counters now. She knew that using the same tactics would work twice in this place. Like her opponent, Dowloon had studied Caleb's previous fights and knew he would be prepared for the things she had already shown.

What she had not done so far, was enhance herself. The fairy didn't need to buy drugs. She was a master of poisons, naturally, she also knew a thing or two about medicines. Although melee combat wasn't her forte, using it from the start had the element of surprise she needed to shake up his concentration. Breaking the membrane with her dagger, she spun around, aiming her other hand at him.

“Silver Rain”, she mumbled and a torrent of silver needles exploded from her sleeve, turning the knight into a porcupine. Each needle was laced with her poison energy, invading his body. On a normal person, the energy would have acted like terrible poison and wreaked havoc in their body.

Not so much on these people. Although she couldn't rely on the poisonous effect, it had other uses. Since the poison was countered, she concentrated on invading her opponent with her energy. As long as she kept up with-

The moment her feet were back on the ground, her back bent back like a spring, barely avoiding the lance aiming for her heart. She could still feel the slight burn of a cut across her cheek and ear. Fluidly, she turned the evasion into an attack and kicked the knight in his armored stomach. Using him as a ledge she pushed herself off and made a flick backward on her feet, facing him again.

None of her needles, not even her kick, had dealt any damage to her opponent, however, she could feel her power flowing into his body.

“If this is how you want to play, let's reverse the roles,” the knight suddenly said with a charismatic smile and dropped a vial. The glass contained broke on the arena floor and the liquid spilled, suddenly turning into a thick smoke that blocked her vision. Was he serious?

Unfortunately for him, it didn't work. Her power was already inside his body, she was easily able to locate him even without being able to see him. She stepped forward to charge at him when her foot hit something that rolled away. A black, roughly apple-sized - O.0

Shocked, she rushed back as fast and far as she could before the hand grenade detonated sending shrapnel across the arena. How was this reversing roles?! -Chink!

“Kya!” her scream echoed across the stadium. A terrible pain, as if her lower leg was cut off was coursing through her body. Looking at the ground, a metal contraption of spikes eagerly bit down on her leg, drawing blood. She had stepped on a trap! The knight had not just thrown the hand grenade inside the fog.

Teary-eyed and slightly ashamed to have screamed at the sudden pain, she bent over to pry apart the jaws of the trap, only to be surprised by another small, black thing rolling at her feet. In great hurry, she ripped apart the flimsy trap and ran away.

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After a moment, there was no explosion this time. Instead, She felt spikes pierce the bottom of her feet. Caltrops, the arena floor was littered in caltrops. The worst kind, with barbs on their tips. When did this man start fighting like a fiend? Where did he even get caldrops that could pierce the soles of her earth-grade shoes?

Under pain, her resentment for Caleb grew and she used it to combat the pain of removing the caldrops from her feet. As she did it, she noticed that her opponent gave her an awful lot of time... What was he planning? She used a salve on her feet and waited with bated breath. Although the arena seemed to be covered in traps that were hard to see in the fog, her opponent had stopped attacking after the initial grenade and the second thing that didn't explode...

She had a suspicion. Could it be that Caleb, although he deployed the fog, couldn't see in it either? The grenade was thrown right after it was deployed and the second thing only came after she revealed her position with a scream.

If it was like this, then as long as she didn't reveal her position, her opponent would be helpless. Dowloon on the other hand was able to know where Caleb was, and he had not moved from his initial position. Was he listening for a sign of her, like a spider in a net?

If it was like this, then she was able to win this. Suddenly, she felt a disturbance in the energy. Caleb had not changed position, but he moved. Shortly after she heard the sound of something falling on the arena again.

Her heart jumped when she saw the black thing not too far away from her, just close enough to barely see it. This time, she didn't run. Even without properly seeing it, it didn't seem like the explosive. She shuffled closer, silently evading stepping onto any more traps or caldrops.

A stone?! What had fallen on the arena wasn't a grenade, but a dark stone roughly the shape and size of one. Then, was the previous one also a stone? Not only had she let out an embarrassing cry, she even fled in panic from a stone. Her face burned a little.

She would make him pay for that.

...

“Caleb is really going all out, but can he actually call himself a knight at this point?” Lydia joked about the situation in the arena. The Dragon Knight was more like a trapper or assassin at this point, using all kinds of elaborate tricks.

Although it wasn't forbidden, Caleb was really excessive in using consumables. Seth didn't condemn him, he found it actually quite interesting that someone thought of using such relatively simple means in this kind of high-level battle.

The only problem with this strategy was, that it wasn't very sustainable. The capital investments for this kind of effect were immense and didn't last long, while it would lose effectivity as the enemy grew stronger or more skillful.

This was why Seth preferred items with permanent effects, over temporary effects and consumables., as they didn't need any further maintenance or cost. He also knew himself too well, he would just keep forgetting or get confused if there was too much to keep in mind. As they were talking things in the arena had taken a boring turn.

Being barely able to see the combatants thanks to the golem cameras, the audience was quite calm, almost bored, as neither of them moved, playing mind games with each other. This situation persisted for a bunch of excruciating minutes when things in the arena began to change again.

Nobody knew when exactly it happened, but the bright Mithril plates covering the arena floor seemed to have turned darker in the blurry fog and it kept doing so. The lowering of the golem down to the floor revealed the shocking truth, the arena floor was being covered in vicious-looking bugs!

The only place not covered in bugs was a small radius surrounding Caleb, as if they were avoiding him. or rather, his vision, as the dragon knight seemed unaware of the darkness hiding in his own fog.

Moments later, the knight's screams resounded. The black mass covering the arena began to move engulfing Caleb in a tsunami of flesh-eating bugs. The scene was displayed on all screens, recorded by several golem eyes that had surrounded Caleb in anticipation of this scene.

Biting and ripping at what little skin was exposed from his armor, the little critters seemed to become even more ravenous. Caleb slowly vanished in the mass of insects, only his panicky screams were heard. But these soon turned to an angry roar and the pile exploded. The fog and bugs were swept away, revealing the knight beneath.

The eyes in Minas Mar's booth suddenly flew to Seth, who pursed his lips in disapproval. It was clear what they wanted to say. Caleb suddenly looked like him. The Wyvern Knight was covered in flames, wearing them like armor. This had to be the effect of another scroll. Would Caleb also get the “Burning Savage” title?

Wearing his mount as armor, covered in fire, Caleb was at his current strongest form. Would the two finally start fighting for real?

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