Chương 94: Settling the Score

The two of them stood in a desolate street. Rubble and faint traces of blood lined the ground. However, those traces of blood were diminishing at a speed visible to the naked eye. Red dots flowed out from the blood and corpses. They filled the sky, dyeing everything an eerie blood-red. The faint sound of goblins howling and human roars sounded in the distance. It was almost like the apocalypse. Any average human standing in such a place would feel nothing but fear and despair.

However, neither Kyle nor Garrick paid attention to their surroundings.

"Let's do this, Garrick," Kyle said with a grin. His body was trembling with excitement.

"What's wrong with you, Brat? Did the pressure drive you insane?" Garrick asked with raised eyebrows. Kyle didn't respond. He slowly lowered his stance before bursting towards Garrick at super high speed.

'Since his strength is greater than mine, then I'll use my speed!'

"He's fast!" Garrick's eyes widened. Kyle appeared to his left and slashed. The blade tore the air as it screamed towards Garrick's exposed neck at near-supersonic speed. Garrick, anticipating that Kyle would target his weaker left side, took a step back and twisted his body, blocking Kyle's strike with his sword.

"Clang!" Feeling his hands growing numb, Kyle's expression didn't change. He circulated mana through his limbs before taking a step back using [Phantom Step]. He stopped 10 meters away from Garrick, cautiously looking at him.

"Your intentions are too obvious, kid," Garrick said with a grin.

"Is that so?" Kyle stared intently at Garrick, looking for any opening. Mana flowed to his legs as he constantly used [Phantom Step]; over a dozen afterimages filled the battlefield. He constantly used feints to test Garrick's reaction, but each one of his responses was impeccable. Although he couldn't keep up with Kyle's speed, reacting to it was not difficult. Garrick constantly adjusted his position as Kyle moved around, keeping his eyes on Kyle's sword.

"Although you're fast, I only need to anticipate the moment of the strike, kid," Garrick said. Kyle didn't respond. He constantly tracked Garrick's movements and position, trying to look for an opening. After a few rounds of testing, Kyle finally made his move. He appeared less than a meter behind Garrick and swung his sword.

"Not so fast!" Garrick immediately shifted his stance and blocked with the flat of his blade, swinging his leg towards Kyle's stomach at the same time. However, it was an afterimage. By the time Kyle's sword touched his, the afterimage had already started dissipating. Kyle stood to his left, swinging his sword towards Garrick's unprotected lower body before he could stabilize his stance. Seeing that Kyle was about to sever his legs, Garrick didn't panic. He bent his knee slightly, then jumped up.

His powerful leg muscles gave him enough strength to jump over Kyle's sword just before it could touch him. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. At the same time, a ring on his right hand glowed, followed by the appearance of a spell scroll, which he pushed towards Kyle. Kyle's eyes glowed blue as he pushed mana into them, activating [Clairvoyant Eyes] with all his might. Time seemed to slow down. In his sight, the spell scroll slowly lit up.

Through the phantom image that appeared a centimeter in front of it, he quickly understood the purpose of the spell scroll.

"Die." Garrick's eyes slowly narrowed, and a bloodthirsty smile appeared on his face. [Flame Wave]"Boom!" A fire explosion rang through the streets. Flames enveloped over a dozen square meters, quickly spreading along the wooden stakes that fell from broken houses into the buildings themselves. A figure burst out of the fire and jumped dozens of meters away, quickly patting the flames that stuck to his clothes, extinguishing them. It was Kyle.

His skin was slightly burned, his face was filled with soot, and most of his clothes were disheveled.

"That was close." Kyle stroked his slightly curled hair, heaving a sigh of relief upon feeling that it wasn't burnt off. If he hadn't used [Clairvoyant Eyes] to learn the spell scroll effects in advance, then activated the [Arcane Armor] spell on his necklace in time, he would definitely have been seriously injured at least.

"[Flame Wave] Huh? It's probably a third-circle spell," Kyle muttered. [Arcane Armor] barely held on for a second before breaking, but that was enough. Kyle looked at the flames ahead with a serious expression. They slowly dwindled with time. It shouldn't take long for them to fully die down.

"However, that wouldn't be the case for the fire attached to wood." Kyle looked at the burning houses around them with furrowed brows. Mirevale was already facing a disaster of great magnitude. There was no need for another intense fire to ravage it.

"That was surprising." A hoarse voice sounded from the fire, pulling Kyle's attention. Garrick slowly walked out of the intense fire, his body surrounded by a faint energy shield.

"To think that a guy like you has a magic item. A wild kid from some village, my ass. These subordinates of mine were so unreliable. If they hadn't died already, I would have killed them myself." Garrick said, stepping out of the fire. He was completely unharmed. The other ring on his finger was slowly dimming. The energy shield surrounding him dimmed as well.

'A space ring and a defensive magic item? No, that magic item might have more functions. I need to be cautious.' Kyle thought as he drank a health potion. Thankfully, the small leather bag that he carried didn't catch fire. The glass materials containing the potion were also very durable. As long as he didn't smash them with all his might, regular collisions wouldn't damage them.

The moment he drank the health potion, Kyle felt a soothing energy spreading from his stomach to his body, eventually converging on his burnt skin, slowly healing it. Kyle moved his arms slightly. He verified that the stinging sensation wouldn't disrupt his fighting rhythm, then clenched the hilt of his blade and stared at Garrick. Kyle keenly noticed that Garrick's face was filled with sweat and that his breathing was ragged.

'So he isn't in top form too.' Kyle raised his eyebrow.

"I need to finish this fight quickly." Kyle's gaze drifted to the red barrier and the red dots converging towards it from inside and outside the town.

"You? Finishing the fight quickly?" Garrick scoffed. He clenched his sword and looked at Kyle with murderous intent. Kyle didn't say anything further. He rushed towards Garrick at top speed, striking him before moving to another place and swinging his sword. His afterimages surrounded Garrick as he struck from all angles. Even though he was injured by the counterforce, causing the webbing between his fingers to tear, Kyle didn't stop.

'One mistake, one delayed reaction. As long as he falters for even a fraction of a second, I can win!' Even though his mana was quickly dwindling and his calves were throbbing with pain, Kyle didn't stop. Garrick's face was filled with sweat as he struggled to keep up with Kyle's speed. He barely managed to block a strike, but a second one from a completely different direction headed straight towards his neck. Garrick stumbled backward, barely managing to deflect the swing with his metal vambraces.

"Bastard! If I weren't injured! If I didn't use most of my trump cards to escape! How could a wet-behind-the-ears brat like you push me to such an extent!" Garrick roared. Kyle didn't respond, or rather, he couldn't respond. He panted; sweat flowed down his body. He couldn't stop the consecutive rapid strikes. He couldn't lose momentum now! Garrick was pushed back; the surrounding flames licked his body, searing his skin, but he couldn't care less. He was entirely focused on blocking Kyle's strikes.

Due to his inattention, he didn't notice that he had been pushed back to a pile of rubble. Finally, as he took another step back, his heel collided with the solid rubble, causing him to stumble.

'Now!' Kyle's eyes flashed like lightning. He didn't waste this opportunity, flashing right in front of Garrick and swinging his sword.