Chapter 397:Fight that didn’t last.
The dragon looked at the wound on his arm, then he laughed.
"Good, I this is just the beginning."
He rushed again.
This time, Atheline didn’t move backward. Lightning gathered around the around as the dragon’s body suddenly ignited. Dark red flames covered his arms.
Atheline released.
The arrow collided with the flames and lightning erupted. The dragon surprisingly pushed through it.
Atheline’s eyes narrowed, he was fast.
The dragon reached him. Atheline immediately dropped his bow and drew his sword. Yheir weapons collided.
CLANG!
The impact echoed through the arena. The dragon attacked again but Atheline blocked every single time. The dragon was powerful, every blow carried enough force to shatter stone,but Atheline was faster.
He stepped inside the dragon’s guard and struck his chest. The dragon staggered, atheline followed with a burst of Wind Aether.
The dragon was launched backward. The crowd exploded into cheers at that. The dragon landed on one knee, then he stood.
"You’re stronger than you look."
Atheline smiled.
"I get that often."
The dragon roared.
His body began changing; scales spread across his skin,his arms lengthened,and wings erupted from his back.
Within seconds, the humanoid dragon had transformed into his true form. A massive red dragon stood inside the arena.
The crowd went wild.
Atheline looked upward.
"That’s more like it."
The dragon opened his mouth where fire gathered. Atheline immediately moved as a torrent of flames swept across the arena. He used Wind to propel himself upward. The flames passed beneath him.
He drew his bow in midair and three arrows appeared between his fingers; one carried Lightning, one carried Ice,and one carried Fire.
He released all three.
The dragon tried to evade but couldn’t. The Lightning arrow struck its wing, and ice spread across the membrane.
The dragon lost balance.
The Fire arrow hit its shoulder. A final arrow struck directly between its eyes. The dragon stumbled from the impact.
Atheline landed.
Before the dragon could recover, Atheline disappeared. A burst of Wind propelled him forward.
His sword flashed.
He struck the dragon’s chest with the flat of the blade, the impact sending the enormous creature crashing onto its back. Dust exploded across the arena.
Silence fell in the whole Arena.
The dragon tried to stand but his legs trembled. He managed to raise his head.
Atheline stood several meters away, sword lowered. The dragon stared at him, then he laughed.
"I surrender."
For a heartbeat, nobody reacted, then the entire arena erupted.
Atheline had won.
The announcer shouted.
"THE SECOND PARTICIPANT ADVANCES!"
The crowd roared.
Atheline sheathed his sword. Across the arena, Lilith stood with her arms folded.
She was smiling.
Atheline walked toward her.
"See?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"See what?"
"I told you it would be fun."
"I never said it wouldn’t be." She looked toward the arena. "You did make it look effortless."
"It wasn’t."
"It certainly looked that way."
Atheline smiled.
Then his eyes moved toward the mountain beyond the arena. Somewhere inside that enormous island was a Sacred Ruin.
And if he kept winning, he would soon have permission to enter it. Considering their recent experiences with ruins, he probably should have been more cautious; instead, he found himself becoming increasingly curious.
A Sacred Ruin belonging to the dragons.
Whatever waited inside could potentially be connected to everything they had been discovering. And Atheline had absolutely no intention of letting the opportunity pass.
.
.
.
The announcement of Atheline’s victory had barely finished echoing through the arena before the crowd began demanding the next match.
Atheline stood near the edge of the battlefield, calmly watching the defeated dragon leave. The enormous creature had already returned to his humanoid form, and although there was a trace of frustration on his face, he wasn’t bitter. If anything, he looked amused by the entire experience.
Lilith approached Atheline.
"You really enjoyed that."
Atheline glanced at her.
"Perhaps."
"You didn’t even use half of what you can do."
"I didn’t need to, I’m here to enjoy life. I feel like we don’t really fight that much this days so this is a way to energise my core."
She gave him a knowing look.
"That wasn’t my point."
Atheline smiled.
The announcer stepped back into the center of the arena.
"That concludes the second match!"
The audience cheered.
"However, our next challenger has already stepped forward!"
A young-looking dragon entered the arena.
Unlike the previous fighter, he didn’t look particularly muscular. His horns were shorter, his scales were dark green, and his wings were considerably smaller.
But the moment he stepped onto the battlefield, the atmosphere changed. Atheline immediately sensed his Aether.
"Interesting."
Lilith looked at him.
"Is he strong?"
"Stronger than the first one."
The dragon across the arena raised his hand.
"Name’s Riven."
Atheline nodded.
"Atheline."
Riven looked at the bow hanging at Atheline’s side.
"You’re the one who defeated Garrek?"
"Yes."
Riven grinned.
"Then don’t underestimate me because I’m smaller."
"I wasn’t planning to."
The bell sounded and Riven disappeared right after. Atheline’s eyes followed him although he couldn’t hide his delight.
Wind manipulator.
The dragon had enhanced his body with Wind Aether, and his speed was considerably greater than the previous opponent’s.
He appeared behind Atheline.
A fist came toward the back of his head but Atheline tilted his head. The fist passed beside him. He turned and caught Riven’s wrist.
Riven’s eyes widened.
Atheline pulled him and the dragon stumbled forward. He struck him in the stomach with the flat of his palm. A controlled burst of Wind Aether followed.
Riven flew backward but he twisted in the air and landed on his feet.
The crowd cheered.
Riven immediately attacked again. This time, he surrounded himself with wind blades. Dozens of invisible currents tore through the arena.
Atheline simply stood still, his perception expanding. He could feel every disturbance in the air.
Then he moved just a step or two with each passing blade,predicting their trajectory. Every blade missed.
Riven stared in shock.
Atheline appeared directly in front of him. His sword stopped against Riven’s neck.
Silence filled the Arena.
The dragon lowered his hands.
"I surrender."
The crowd erupted.
The announcer laughed.
"Another victory for our mysterious guest!"
Atheline returned to the edge of the arena. Lilith shook her head.
"You made him surrender before he could even show everything."
"He was fast."
"Not fast enough."
"No. But he was a wind user, it’s been a while since I fought one of those."
She smiled.
The following matches were considerably more interesting. A pair of young dragons fought next. One specialized in fire while the other used earth.
The fire dragon immediately transformed, filling the arena with flames. The earth dragon responded by raising enormous stone walls. The two attacks collided repeatedly until the fire dragon finally broke through.
The crowd cheered as the earth dragon was forced outside the boundary.
Another match followed.
This time, two humanoid dragons fought with weapons. One carried a massive hammer while the other used twin curved blades.
The hammer wielder relied on overwhelming strength, while his opponent moved constantly around him. For several minutes, neither could gain an advantage.
Eventually, the swordsman baited a heavy swing, stepped underneath it, and struck the hammer wielder’s leg and the larger dragon fell.
The crowd erupted again.
Atheline watched every battle carefully. Although he was overwhelmingly stronger than the people participating, he wasn’t ignoring the fights.
There were techniques he hadn’t seen before; different approaches to using Aether, ways of reinforcing the body and ways of combining physical strength with elemental abilities.
It was interesting.
Eventually, his name was called again. His next opponent was a female dragon with pale blue scales. She entered the ring carrying a spear.
"I’ve watched your matches."
Atheline nodded.
"Then you know what you’re getting into."
"Unfortunately."
She smiled.
"But I’m still going to try."
The battle began.
She was considerably more skilled than his previous opponents. Her spear moved with precision, and she used Ice Aether to extend its range. Ice formed along the weapon with every thrust.
Atheline blocked the first strike then the consecutive. She suddenly changed direction and swept the spear toward his legs.
He jumped. Ice exploded from the ground in hopes of destroying his sense of balance. He landed on the spear shaft.
The dragon looked up in confusion when she couldn’t pull it from under him. Before she could react, Atheline kicked the weapon from her hands. Without waiting for her to recover, he placed his sword against her shoulder.
She sighed.
"Again?"
Atheline smiled.
"Again."
She laughed.
"I surrender. You’re going to cause a stir in this Arena. Things had started to get stale."
The crowd cheered.
By the time the semifinals arrived, the audience had completely turned in Atheline’s favor. They had begun coming to see what the strange elf would do next.
The semifinal opponent was the strongest fighter he had faced. A gigantic black-scaled dragon named Varkas. The moment Varkas entered the arena, the crowd became noticeably quieter.