BXBX NOVEL Chapter 158: Shadow Dancer
Upon reappearing behind Ava, the wound was already closed. In addition to this, the experienced Amarantha representative seemed to have predicted that he would do this.
Thus, his sneaky but slightly predictable strike ended up being cleanly blocked by Ava.
\'Tch, so it wouldn\'t be that easy huh? Come then, show me what you got.\' Ian thought as he jumped back from Ava, a confident smile plastered on his face.
The crowd was going crazy due to the insane high-speed exchanges between the two representatives.
One moment, the young woman was pressing the Colzen representative but then, the next moment, she ended up getting stabbed after getting tricked by an afterimage from the skilled young man.
Such quick high-level battle sequences were the main essence of a scout vs. scout battle, so such a match-up had always been a banger match.
\'Haaah…Look at Ian, hogging all the glory…I bet he would get around twenty to thirty thousand points just from this battle if he had the system…\'
Shye sighed in regret as he watched Ian and Ava\'s intense battle like a jealous side character.
He consoled himself by saying that he would get to fight soon.
Meanwhile, inside the luxurious office, Blas chuckled as he watched the ongoing battle in Large Arena 4.
He then turned his head to look at Alex and said:
"What do you think about Colzen?"
"Yes, Sir Blas is correct about Colzen. It seems that they are indeed a top 8 contender. However, if this is all they have, I don\'t think that they would be able to defeat the three kings so I shall rank them at around fourth or fifth strongest."
"Hohoh…Well then, let\'s continue watching them, shall we? It seems that the battle is coming to an end."
…
Warm scarlet blood flowed out of Ava\'s dreadful injuries.
Coming in with overflowing confidence, Ava thought that this young man would end up as another stepping stone for her career as an adventurer.
However, as time went by, the young man seemed to be getting better and better. Not only was he predicting her attack patterns but he was also punishing her for the slightest mistakes.
The three grievous wounds she suffered were strong evidence of this fact.
One stab wound on her lower abdomen, a fairly deep cut on her left forearm, and the most impairing of the three, a deep cut on her left leg.
In addition to this, her flesh was slightly burnt due to the flame element of Ian\'s dagger.
Desperation was slightly visible on Ava\'s gorgeous face as she clumsily dodged a deadly horizontal neck slash by ducking.
\'I can\'t let him attack or I\'ll be in deep trouble…\' Ava inwardly thought as she decided to be the aggressor.
It was hard due to her wounded leg but as long as she could still move, she had a chance. Thus, she decided to use the trump card that she was hiding.
After all, there would be no sense in hiding her skills if they failed to advance to the championship stages.
Ava\'s body started emitting black vapor as the irises of her eyes turned red, looking extremely sinister after her trump card skill, [Shadow Dance Lv.1 (Rare)] was fully activated.
Unexpectedly though, instead of feeling apprehension, Ian felt…his heartstrings tingle. In his eyes, the sinister-looking young woman looked extremely mesmerizing.
Fortunately, he managed to stop himself from daydreaming again as he shook his head and focused his attention on his opponent in front…of him…
\'Crap! She\'s fast!\'
*BANG*
"Puhahk" Ian spat out blood after being sent flying by a vicious kick to his ribcage.
\'Tch, that fuckin hurt…this is probably her last stand so I should stop holding back…\'
Ian immediately activated one of his life-saving skills, [Enhanced Reaction Time Lv.3], to keep up with Ava\'s current empowered state.
Sure enough, Ava didn\'t even let him land on the ground as she quickly capitalized on the fact that he was still flying through the air.
She quickly reappeared beside Ian and viciously stabbed her sword downwards. If nothing goes wrong for her, then her dagger would stab straight into his heart.
Unfortunately for her, Ian was simply too skilled.
After deciding to stop holding back, Ian fully showcased his dueling skills.
The crowd\'s mouths were agape as he cleanly dodged Ava\'s dagger in mid-air by using the initial force of Ava\'s kick to smoothly transition into a somersault before landing gracefully on the ground.
Ava was mesmerized by Ian\'s graceful maneuvers but she knew that she had no time to admire him since she was currently fighting on a timer.
If she couldn\'t defeat Ian before her skill\'s effects ran out, then she was done for.
Hence, Ava gritted her teeth and immediately continued hunting Ian like a wild beast.
She viciously slashed and stabbed her dagger toward Ian but no matter what she did, Ian managed to avoid getting hit by either leaning to the sides, jumping back, parrying, or blocking
He was simply as slippery as an eel.
As the clock continued ticking, Ava became more and more desperate, her gorgeous face changed into a pitiful expression as it seemed like she would cry any moment now.
Nevertheless, she continued relentlessly hounding him with ferocious attacks.
Finally, after a few more minutes of attacking with reckless abandon, Ava\'s body stopped emitting black vapor and the red irises of her eyes returned to normal.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as her unconscious body slowly fell forward.
"Oops…"
Ian swore to not do anything nice for the Amarantha representatives after all of the infuriating things they did but for some reason, he couldn\'t stop himself from doing so when it came to Ava.
Not only was she polite unlike her other teammates, but she seemed to be also very passionate about victory which was proven by the tears on her face upon realizing that she lost.
Thus, he quickly jumped in and caught her falling body, preventing her head from hitting the cold and hard arena floor.