BXBX NOVEL Chapter 153: Fear
Finally, after a few seconds of observing each other\'s movements, the silence was broken as Gray ferociously lunged towards Shye.
Slashing his lightning falchion diagonally, Gray bravely stepped forward.
*CLANG*
The first clash of swords told everyone what they wanted to know: who was stronger.
Unfortunately, they didn\'t see any spicy developments as both warriors seemed to be fairly equal in strength, the only difference was, that one was more aggressive than the other.
\'Hmmph! Let\'s see if you can keep up with me\' Gray thought to himself as he bravely rushed towards Shye once again.
*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*
Gray hacked, slashed, and stabbed his falchion toward the Colzen representative, drowning Shye in a relentless onslaught of attacks.
The intensity of his moves was diverse, sometimes soft and adaptable, often hard and forceful.
Under Gray\'s ruthless assault, the so-called "legend" of Colzen Academy slowly fell into a disadvantage.
At least that\'s what\'s visible on the surface level. Unbeknownst to them, Shye was experimenting.
He was deliberately making the match last longer than it should to test out the effects of his semi-passive skill, [(Dark) Harrowing Aura Lv.1 (Semi-Passive)(Rare)].
Seeing that their representative, Gray, was "slowly winning" against Colzen\'s strongest representative, the Redwood crowd was going crazy, their cheers becoming louder with every fierce strike.
In contrast, the Colzen crowd was calm.
They knew better than to count their Senior Crowley out. Heck, he hadn\'t even shown his berserk fighting style so they knew that their senior wasn\'t serious yet.
Seconds flew by turning into minutes while minutes gradually turned into a whole hour.
\'Why?! Why can\'t I defeat him?!\' Gray inwardly thought, panic evident on his face, the rate of his heartbeat, unusually high.
By now, a total of 181 stacks of [Fear] has engraved itself in Gray\'s heart.
Although the stacks weren\'t permanent, they would only continue to go up as he continued to stay inside the skill\'s range.
Meanwhile, inside a luxurious office with vast windows, an elegant chandelier, and intricately designed walls, a person was sitting in a comfortable yet imposing chair.
The person was a middle-aged man with short maple hair, thick but sharp eyebrows, mesmerizing lips, and eyes akin to an eagle\'s.
Although already slightly past his prime, the man looked extremely dashing, charisma oozing out of his pores, making people want to follow him naturally.
"Oh? Such a young man already got his hands on a darkness element semi-passive skill? I wonder how he got it…" The middle-aged man muttered to himself as he rubbed his chin, looking extremely interested in watching a certain battle from afar.
The man then sharply glanced towards his subordinate and said:
"Increase the popularity of Colzen, spread rumors that they are on the same level as the top 16 academies."
"Will do, Sir Blas"
***
In Intermediate Arena 2, the battle was reaching its peak.
The crowd rooting for Colzen was going wild while those who wanted Redwood to win were currently silent.
This was due to the recent developments where the Colzen representative, who was on the losing end of the exchanges for an entire hour, seemed to suddenly turn into the predator hunting its prey.
Gray backpedaled desperately as the initially passive Shye now hunted him like a bloodthirsty beast.
In his eyes, Shye was slowly looking like some sort of sinister beast.
\'Shit! Shit! What\'s happening I\'m…scared? Of who?!\' Gray inwardly raged as he struggled to fend off Shye\'s attacks.
Finally, after a few more minutes, the stacks of fear exceeded 200.
"D-Demon! AAAAAAHHHHH!"
Everyone was stupefied as the initial aggressor, Gray, who went in with a quest for revenge, suddenly turned around and ran away from his opponent like a mentally ill man.
*SPURT*
Unfortunately for him, Shye had better attributes so running away was impossible.
After being hit cleanly in the back by a [Power Slash Lv.4]-empowered attack, a harrowing wound opened up, allowing everyone to slightly see Gray\'s white spine.
Blood spurted out from the wound in alarming volumes as Gray\'s body fell to the ground with a thud, no one knew whether he was dead or alive.
"GRAY!"
Aella shrieked in a horrified voice.
She wanted to rush to Gray\'s side but her bones were broken and she couldn\'t even stand up.
If there was one thing Shye learned from Ian, it was that people appreciated a classy act of saving one\'s opponent.
Thus, he unhesitatingly opened two bottles of greater health potion and made the unconscious and dying Gray drink them.
Then…As expected…
[Congratulations! You\'ve earned 12,490 points!]
The heavenly sound of the system\'s notification was followed by a mad explosion of cheers from the audience.
Naturally, the Colzen companion students were among those who were cheering the loudest as their undefeated war god, Shye Crowley, pulled out another win, continuing his miraculous legend of invincibility.
Seeing the current developments, a small group of people who were watching in the crowd started panicking.
"Shit…How is this Colzen so strong?! Why didn\'t we learn about this earlier?!"
The captain of the Odds Department of ELMBets, Roger, was frustrated.
He inwardly reprimanded himself for not doing his job properly of scouting the lower-ranked academies.
Over the years, no lower-ranked academy managed to topple the top 16 academies so his thinking was, that as long as he regularly checked on the strength of those in the top 32, they would never encounter a problem.
Which was true to some extent.
Unfortunately for him, Colzen was just too abnormal this year so he really fucked up by putting out an 80:1 odds for Colzen.
If Colzen Academy actually managed to pull off the impossible and achieve a top 8 finish, then their betting station would be bankrupt.
Roger started biting his nails in frustration and anxiety, trying to think of a solution.
Although no one was sure if Colzen could indeed make it in the top 8, having a few extra precautions wouldn\'t hurt.
As long as their betting station could survive this ordeal, then he would have another chance to do his job properly.
The gears in Roger\'s head shifted and turned for a few minutes before he managed to think of a solution.
"Haaah…I hope this solves it…" he thought to himself as he stood up and returned to his workplace, hoping that his plan would be approved by Elmer.