Earth's Greatest Magus

Those who sat on the top ten privileged class leaderboard were certainly not easy opponents at all.

This person named Taylor Haze was probably the fastest privileged acolyte Emery met so far, comparable to Zach in speed without the latter's using his bloodline transformation.

Tier 6 buff-type spells, coupled with mastery over the dagger to the point of possessing the Dagger Aura; the man was certainly a genius.

However, facing such an extraordinary opponent did not discourage Emery. In fact, it actually made him even more excited and looking forward to the fight.

His reason for retreating earlier was because he knew he wouldn't win with his current setup. Therefore, now that he knew some of Taylor's cards, Emery cast two spells in his repertoire that could help him.

A faint layer of blue-colored energy enveloped Emery's entire body as [Slipstream] took effect, increasing his speed; while [Jade Skin] did its job and covered Emery with a layer of jade, enhancing his defense.

"Let's go!" Emery said with such enthusiasm that it managed to irritate his opponent.

Both of them swiftly exchanged strikes once again, and just like before, the longer the clash went on the faster Taylor became. Emery's [Slipstream] was only able to give him ten extra seconds before he was once again overwhelmed by the other party, his body receiving cuts here and there.

However, thanks to the [Jade Skin], Emery's wounds weren't as deep as before. Hence, he could easily continue fighting while depending on his innate [Undecaying Flesh] for recovery. Still, the situation didn't look too optimistic for him.

Each cut and stab done by the dagger impressed Emery, making him understand more about the art of wielding a dual dagger. He finally realized that although the dagger's range was shorter than the sword, its smaller size made it easier to hide from the opponent's eyes, making predicting attacks a bit more difficult.

Emery marveled at how his opponent incorporated his incredible dexterity to change the trajectory of his attacks at a moment's notice. As for Aura which sharply increased the lethality of his opponent's attack, even at this point he still couldn't get it.

The fight went on for half an hour. Hundreds of cuts had been inflicted on his body, yet Emery still didn't stop. Rather, if one observed carefully, one would realize that his swordsmanship gradually got better and became more refined.

It was to the point that Emery even took out his [Moon Dagger] and started fighting with a dual sword and dagger combination that he hadn't used in a long time.

"It's no use! You will not defeat me!" said Taylor as he saw Emery bringing out a dagger. It seemed that action somehow provoked the former as Emery was immediately bombarded with attacks.

After receiving several more cuts on his body, Emery once again cast [Blink] and retreated.

Seeing that, Taylor scoffed. "Huh! Are you retreating now?!"

Shaking his head slightly, Emery replied, "No, of course not. I just want to say that you're right; I can't win."

It was clear that Emery's words caught the man off guard by how unexpected they were.

"..Are you admitting defeat?" asked Taylor, visibly confused.

Emery shook his head. "No, of course not. What I mean is I have fun, but…" He threw his gaze towards the spectators for a moment before returning to his opponent and saying, "It just thought it's not nice to keep them waiting"

It took a moment, but when Taylor finally understood what Emery meant, a look of anger appeared on his face. On the other hand, his opponent didn't seem bothered by what he just said as he prepared himself.

"I'll make you regret saying those words!" Taylor said, brandishing his dagger.

This time, Emery didn't start by taking up his sword stance. Instead, he cast a spell.

When Taylor shot towards him, Emery's figure was gone. Where he stood, four shadow figures bearing resemblance to him appeared. Seeing such a sight, his opponent let out a derisive snort.

"Illusion? Is it something new? Hah! It won't work on me!"

The four shadow figures dashed at the same time and attacked from multiple angles. Even though Taylor's dagger was faster, he was only able to deal with one shadow before the other three joined in. And if being ganged up wasn't annoying enough, the shadow was able to phase out of existence when attacked, and he couldn't predict which one was the real deal.

This was Emery's new spell, [Void Mist]. One that was born after combining [Dark Void], [Blink], and [Shadow Mist].  When cast, the spell would create identical clones to the caster that were very difficult to differentiate, able to blink away and hide in the void.

Spllaaatt!

Finally, after a few exchanges, Emery was able to make his first cut on Taylor's body. Knowing that he still had a chance for more, he quickly threw a roundhouse kick and sent the man sliding across the arena.

Taylor was naturally furious, and he once again attacked Emery. Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain. Instead of succeeding, he had instead suffered the same result he received just a moment ago.

His expression changed when he finally realized that Emery had been using him like a combat puppet for the past hour. The realization rattled the man so much that his anger flared violently, his calm expression no longer there.

However, his anger yielded nothing. Emery was still able to lay a hit on Taylor. In fact, this time the former managed to do it a little faster than before.

"I noticed that when you are not calm, your movements actually become slower…"

Taylor tried to find out which shadow figure was speaking, because it had to be the real one. Unfortunately, his attempt bore no fruit. Irked by what he had just heard, he snorted and retorted while his eyes wandered to the four figures before him.

"Huh! I didn't lose to you; I lost to this fucking spell!"

Emery heaved a sigh and said, "Alright then, I will use a different one."

As soon as Emery finished speaking, the arena floor cracked as dozens of jade-like roots crawled out from it. They permeated through the entire arena while several flesh-eating flowers emerged from their midst, surrounding Emery who had reverted to one.

With the combination of [Jade Root] and [Primal Flora], Emery simply took over the arena and restricted Taylor's mobility by limiting the space could take advantage of. Then, while his opponent was busy dealing with his summons to pay attention to him, he appeared behind him using [Blink] and placed his sword on the man's neck.

"Admit it, you lost"

Taylor lowered the dagger in his hand. Even though he was exasperated with how he lost, the young man still admitted defeat to the referee.

[Emery Ambrose wins!] 

The crowd cheered and applauded for Emery's beautiful win. Chatters and discussions spread among them.

"The savage acolyte is certainly on par with the top 5!"

"Yes he is"

Those words entered the ear of one particular young man who then stood up from his seat and walked into the arena. While his eyes were fixed on the winner of that previous fight, he said, 

"You will fight me next."

The man who stepped into the arena and stood in front of Emery was Rank 7 - Jai Strider.

However, contrary to expectations, Emery did not immediately accept the challenge. Instead, using the rest time he had, he approached Klea and asked for her opinion. "What do you think? Should I?"

He certainly found the data and information Klea gathered very useful, hence he would rather use the time he had to consider the challenge and not accept it right away as he usually did.

However, the answer that came out of Klea's mouth was something he didn't expect. 

With a cheeky smile, Klea said "I want to watch more! Beat that man for me!"