Chương 179: Chapter 176 - Julius Petrae

My heartbeat increased as soon as the young noble said my name. As he continued talking about my Awakening, I realized I might not even survive today, much less worry about future problems. By now, I was almost certain this brat was Julius, and from the stories I had heard about him, I was sure he held a grudge against me.

"Young Master Julius, do you know Sergeant Edward?" the mayor asked, confirming my suspicion. In response, Julius just waved his hand without even turning around. I saw the mayor clench his fist, but Julius kept staring at me, making me even more nervous. I silently prayed that Captain Tellus would arrive soon and stop his psychotic nephew from doing whatever he was planning.

"Sergeant Edward, I am on this mission to understand the common soldiers of our Royal Army, and what better way to understand them than by sparring with one?" Julius said. As if considering something, he rubbed his chin. Then, giving me that strange smirk again, he said, "Say, Sergeant, why don't we have a sparring match? After all, we are the same age."

I bowed my head slightly and replied, "Young Master, even if we are the same age, I am sure I am neither qualified nor capable enough to give you a true experience of fighting a Royal Army soldier. I am certain you will find many more experienced and qualified soldiers in Velkar Town." I knew sparring between the two of us was inevitable. Julius did not look like the kind of man who would leave his target alone, but I still had to try. Sparring with him would not benefit me in any way.

If I won, it would only enrage the brat further. If I lost, I was not even sure he would allow me to surrender without severely injuring or killing me.

"You are right. I do not expect you to have the ability to fight me, but this will be an opportunity for me to evaluate the young soldiers of our army," Julius said as if he were doing me a favor. Like this bastard gave a fuck about the young soldiers of the army. Without giving me any time to argue, Julius turned to the mayor and announced, "Mayor, can you have a training yard prepared for our spar?"

"Yes, Young Master. A training yard should already be ready. Come, I will show you." The mayor stood up promptly and started making his way out of the front hall toward the training yard. Julius went with him, and the rest of his followers and guards followed behind them, leaving my squad and me standing inside the hall. I was half tempted to run away, but I knew that would not help me. The brat would only consider it an insult, and even the mayor might take offense.

Besides, it was not like I could avoid coming back here forever. Peter pushed my shoulder with a solemn expression.

"We should follow them," he whispered as if he were sending me to my own funeral. And he was not alone. Even Barry and the others had become serious. We arrived at the training yard. Julius was already standing in the center, wearing metallic gloves covered in runes, with a small blade protruding from above the knuckles of each hand. I already had my spear in hand, and thankfully, I was carrying my shield on my back.

I usually kept both weapons with me because they were too expensive to leave behind, and both had been given to me by nobles. I did not feel comfortable leaving them somewhere unfamiliar. Taking a deep breath, I pulled the shield from my back and made my way into the training yard. If the person facing me had not been Julius, I would have been excited about this sparring match. Ever since I learned Mana Shield and Mana Arc, I had wanted to test myself against a real mage.

If not for Lela's presence that day and Leif still recovering, I would have dragged him into a sparring session as soon as I saw him. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Julius looked at me excitedly. His eyes lingered on my shield for a few seconds before he said, "Are you ready, Sergeant?" I just nodded. As soon as I did, Julius moved. He extended his right hand with his palm facing me.

Then he rotated it downward, tracing half a circle before closing his hand into a fist. The moment he did, three dagger-like shards rose from the ground, catching me by surprise. Seeing my expression, Julius gave me his trademark smirk. Then he punched forward, sending the shards flying toward me. I poured mana into my shield and blocked them. The impact alone proved my theory right. The motherfucker wanted to kill me. If I had been carrying any ordinary shield, that single attack would have rendered it useless.

Worse, all three shards had been aimed at my vitals: one at my eye, one at my throat, and one at my heart. Before I could respond, I sensed three more shards approaching, this time aimed at the unprotected section of my lower torso. More earth mana was also gathering around Julius, this time in a much higher concentration. Without wasting any time, I lowered my shield and poured more mana into it, expanding its size. My shield blocked the shards, but by then, Julius was already close to me.

He had created a spear out of earth and aimed it directly at my face. I moved my head to the side, but the sharp tip still cut my cheek.

"Your shield is good, but it will not help you," Julius said with a smirk as he pulled his spear back. He attacked again, but for some reason, he aimed for my chest, which was already protected by my shield. Then I sensed three earth shards flying toward my back. I sighed and gathered mana in my spear. Keeping my shield in place, I swung the spear around behind my back and created a large Mana Arc. It turned the three shards into dust while my shield blocked Julius's spear. My Mana Arc caught him by surprise.

He looked at me, gritting his teeth. I stared back, trying not to show any emotion, but inside, I was pissed. His attitude alone was enough to make my blood boil. Now, on top of that, he was actually good at fighting. If he had just been some spoiled brat, I could have half-assed the spar and given him the win. Now, I would have to go all out and reveal all my cards just to survive. I placed my shield on my back again and prepared for his next attack.

While the shield was a great artifact, over the last few months, I had developed a fighting style that used it as little as possible and relied more on mana shields. That allowed me to react faster and gave me greater flexibility. Julius threw his earth spear at me. I deflected it with my own spear, he immediately created several more, almost surrounding me. Thankfully, because of my sensing skills, I detected them the moment they formed. Mana shields appeared in front of each spear, ready to intercept them.

Julius still sent the spears flying toward me. Every single one was stopped by my shields. Seeing that, a smile slipped onto my face for just a second. That was my biggest mistake. The anger Julius had been holding back suddenly erupted.

"Fucking peasant!" he shouted without caring about his position. He released a huge amount of mana, covering the entire field with it. Then he lunged at me, his arms covered in earth, and started punching like a maniac, reminding me of Varric's charges. I defended myself by dodging and blocking his attacks. But while I was focused on him, I sensed an earth spear approaching from the side. So that was why the bastard had flooded the entire field with his mana.

It made it much harder for me to sense the points where earth mana was gathering. Thankfully, I still had one trick I had not used against him. I created a mana shield near his foot, disrupting his stride. Then, in one swift rotation, I sent out a Mana Arc and destroyed the approaching spear. As soon as Julius regained his balance, he attacked again. With every passing second, the force behind his attacks increased. At the same time, he kept mixing flying daggers and spears into his assault.

Sometimes I blocked them with mana shields. Sometimes I dodged them. Other times, I used my spear to deflect them. But his attacks were so relentless that I did not get a chance to retaliate or even breathe. I was being pushed back. Right now, I was doing nothing but surviving. Then I realized why Julius's attacks kept growing stronger. With every attack, another layer of earth armor formed over his body.

Layers of compressed earth covered him from the neck down, growing thicker around his shoulders, arms, and chest. With every passing second, the armor became denser, making him look larger and less human. This was House Petrae's Epic-grade skill, the same skill that had helped the Count become a Grandmaster Mage. [Stoneheart Avatar]. Two more spears appeared, one behind me and another to my right.

I stopped both by creating mana shields, but this time, I lost some of my focus and failed to avoid Julius's incoming punch. At the last moment, I covered my chest with another mana shield, but the impact still sent me flying. Worse, Julius created a stone spear at the exact spot where I was about to land. The moment I struck the ground, the spear pierced my body. Fortunately or unfortunately, it missed my vitals and impaled my shoulder instead. As I lay on the ground, Julius walked over and looked down at me.

Then he began making more hand gestures, probably preparing to kill me. Author's Note: [Stoneheart Avatar] was first mentioned in Chapter 16, but its effects were not explained at the time. Now, we finally get to see how the skill works. Keep in mind that Julius is only a Tier-2 mage using it at a basic level. Its power in the hands of a Tier-6 Grandmaster Mage would be on an entirely different scale. Sorry, no face-slapping.

:) Edward is not powerful enough to defeat a noble who has been trained by elites almost since he started walking.