Destroyer of Ice and Fire

Chapter 329: Ferguillo's New Secret

"Is it just me, or is Ayrin training even harder than before? Just what did Charlotte say to him?"

"Just what motivation did Charlotte give Ayrin?"

"Could it be that he is planning to open his fourth arcane gate before we leave Fallen Shadow Valley?"

Wilde, Ivan, and some others conversed between themselves as they stood in the doorway of a larger building in Witch Hat Town.

As time passed, Fallen Shadow Valley had only become quieter. It had already been several days since the last enemy sighting in the area outside of the Abyss of Evil.

As most of the buildings within Witch Hat Town were rather spacious and sturdy, the teams stationed here had begun using them as areas to train.

At the current moment, the sounds of violent collisions and explosions continuously rang out from within the building which Wilde, Ivan, and the others were standing around.

"Detestable!"

"House Baratheon is too detestable!"

Within the building, Ayrin currently stood facing an over four-meter-tall zombie. The horrifying to look at zombie was pitch black and had a rather square figure.

A massive explosion rang out as Ayrin and the zombie collided and sent each other sliding backwards. Afterwards, they immediately rushed towards each other once more.

"Homing Thunderball!"

"Chaotic Wind Movement Skill!"

"Crown of Ice and Snow!"

"World of Water!"

"Activate: Fist of the War God!"

Ayrin's body flickered around the giant zombie as he constantly bombarded it with skills and thunderous punches.

The zombie was much stronger than Ayrin in terms of both arcane energy and physical strength.

To be precise, it had the strength of a five gate arcane master and the arcane energy of a mid-level four gate arcane master.

However, its method of attack was much simpler than Ayrin. It could only punch, kick, and spit out the occasional stream of black gas.

Every time the zombie was about to land a direct blow on Ayrin, it would be struck by a thunderball or restrained by water, delaying, or even completely stopping its action and preventing it from landing a fatal blow.

As the fierce battle went on, it began to seem like the black zombie's strength was gradually waning.

"In just two days, he was able to go from being completely beaten up by the zombie to being able to toy with it!"

Wilde, Ivan, and the other onlookers all felt increasingly speechless as the fight went on.

Two days ago, when Ayrin had first taken out the Zombie Lord Gem and summoned out the Zombie Lord with his arcane energy, he had been mercilessly beaten up. At that time, he hadn't posed the slightest threat towards it.

Yet now, after just two days of mastering new skills, he was able to already able to defeat it.

"He's finally started developing his own style of fighting," Ferguillo thought to himself as he calmly observed Ayrin.

Ayrin hadn't actually become stronger these last two days. It was impossible for one to raise the quality of their arcane particles in such a short period of time. However, Ayrin's usage of skills and his overall combat capabilities had been thoroughly honed.

As a battlemaster, Ayrin had improved greatly from when he first began and relied on only his instincts and intuition to fight.

From Ayrin's performance, Ferguillo was certain that Ayrin had managed to find a unique style of fighting which would allow him to compete with existences stronger than him, whether it be arcane energy or pure strength, such as the Zombie Lord.

First, Ayrin would use Dragon Scale Absorption and similar skills to absorb his opponent's first hit. Afterwards, he would use a barrage of skills to limit his opponent's ability to follow up and deliver a fatal blow. This cycle continued until the opponent, faced with so many different skills and combinations, eventually showed a gap in their offensive, allowing Ayrin to sneak in a blow.

In but a single instant, the roles would be reversed.

Ayrin's style was one which combined the strengths of a kaleidoscope master with his own extraordinary endurance!

"Bastard, you finally can't endure any longer!"

"Kneel for me!"

In Ayrin's mind, the zombie before him was an enemy from House Baratheon. At this moment, World of Water was invoked once more as the Zombie Lord was enveloped with water, immobilizing it. As the effect of World of Water dissipated and streams of water fell to the ground, Ayrin's figure flickered and disappeared. An instant later, he appeared behind the Zombie Lord's head, his robes flapping in midair around him.

"Crown of Ice and Snow!"

A resounding crack rang out as a massive crown of ice and snow viciously smashed into the back of the Zombie Lord's head.

A loud roar rang out from within the massive Zombie Lord's body as it crashed towards the ground and rapidly scattered into particles of pitch-black smoke which flew towards the Zombie Lord Gem in Moss' hand.

"I won!" Ayrin exuberantly howled as if he had discovered a new world.

A strange glint flashed through Ferguillo's eyes which were observing Ayrin.

It seemed as if Ayrin's performance and ultimate victory had struck a chord within Ferguillo and caused him to experience a sudden enlightenment.

At this moment, his entire aura had transformed relative to before.

"Ferguillo…"

Others might not have noticed the changes, but Ayrin, who had just finished his fierce battle and was still in an agitated state and extremely sensitive did.

Ayrin immediately turned his head and caught a glimpse of the strange light flashing through Ferguillo's eyes.

"Ferguillo's Mind Reading must have become even stronger."

"If I fight against him, I will definitely be able to improve further!"

Like back when they were in the athlete's village, Ayrin looked Ferguillo in the eye and shouted, "Ferguillo, let us have a match!"

"Alright!" Ferguillo calmly replied.

"He won't be able to casually defeat Boss too will he?" Wilde thought to himself as a wave of nervousness crashed over him.

"Mind Reading?"

Ayrin's eyes were full of excitement as they looked straight into Ferguillo's.

He watched as strange flames began to burn within the eyes of the approaching Ferguillo.

Whoosh!

Ayrin's eyes abruptly widened.

This was not the Mind Reading which he was accustomed to. As he looked into Ferguillo's eyes which had begun to glowing pink, he felt an invisible storm surge out and sweep over him.

Ayrin felt his body stiffen.

"What is this skill?!" Ayrin inwardly shouted in shock as he willed his body to move, but as if he had been turned to stone, he couldn't move whatsoever.

"Just what kind of mental attack is this? It's strong to the point that it can petrify my body!"

Ayrin quickly regained his cool as he began desperately fighting against this feeling of petrification.

His body shook uncontrollably as he used his strong will to slowly regain control of his body.

"The Spirit Obstruction Gem is indeed a necessity. Otherwise, I will need to be able to use a skill which defends against mental attacks on impulse… Without the Spirit Obstruction Gem, it would be very difficult to defeat him. There is absolutely no warning before he uses this skill. It could come at any time during a battle."

Ayrin realized that victory and defeat had already been decided. Ferguillo could have easily attacked and struck him down just now.

"What are the two of you doing? Why are you two looking at each other so intensely? Is there something wrong with you two?" Stingham's shocked voice abruptly rang through the building as he arrived in the doorway and saw the scene within.

To him, it seemed like Ayrin and Ferguillo were just stiffly standing there without any movement and staring deep into each other's eyes as if in love.

The others present agreed. The scene looked like one of forbidden love. They had not realized that the battle had already occurred and ended.

At this time, Ayrin was already thinking about how he could counter Ferguillo's skill. Deep down in his heart, he knew that he would have to spend quite some time thinking.

"What a powerful skill. Ferguillo. Did you master it just now?" Ayrin couldn't help but ask as his body finally returned to normal.

Ferguillo casually nodded in response.

"However, this skill is only so strong when the opponent is unsuspecting. Only if you keep it hidden will it have the greatest effect," Ayrin added.

"It's alright. Aren't we friends?" Ferguillo replied.

"That's right." A bright smile emerged on Ayrin's face.

"Are you two going to keep acting like this? Ayrin, I'm beginning to wonder if you like men or women now." Stingham said as he felt increasingly annoyed by Ayrin and Ferguillo's behavior. "These last few days, I have seen quite a few guys hitting on Charlotte. It's almost driven her to tears. Yet you are still here acting like this. Tsk tsk."

"What?!"

Ayrin's figure flickered as he appeared beside Stingham and he shouted, "Where?!"