System Change

Avery and Tyron squared off in the same area where Edgar and Derek had sparred. Much of the ground was destroyed-a good portion of what grass there was had been singed by the lighting that had radiated out from Edgar or had been loosed from his attacks. There was also a small portion of the ground covered in blood from some of the cuts Derek took that hadn’t immediately been cauterized or healed on the spot.

The two fighters stared intensely at one another, neither wanting to make the first move. Finally, Tyron grinned. “Come on, little man. I don’t have all day for this. I need to get back to my work.”

Avery flashed the giant of a man a smile, then kicked back off the ground, creating more distance between the two of them. “Let’s see how you defend this.” With a flick of his wrist, his bow appeared in his hand, followed by an arrow coated in a grayish aura.

“Are you sure you want to bet on the big one?” Edgar asked from beside Derek, obviously recovered enough not to need to focus on Meditation any longer.

Derek shrugged. “It’s only 1,500 gold. Plus, I think we’ll be in for a surprise. Nobody really seems to know all that much about Tyron’s fighting style. Just that he completes dungeons solo with no problem for materials. At least from what I’ve heard about him.”

“True enough,” Edgar said, then they both focused their attention back on the two others. Jasper was still around, just in case something went wrong.

Avery loosed his first aura infused arrow from a distance. The arrow raced rapidly toward Tyron. Tyron, however, didn’t move. Instead, his own aura exploded out. It was a dark metallic color, Derek didn’t recognize it. He looked questionably over at Edgar.

“Metal,” Edgar answered. “He is The Walking Forge…”

Derek nodded and said nothing.

Instantly, the aura covered the giant of a man before forming into a sort of flowing steel armor around him, leaving only a few parts on his face uncovered. He looked like a walking tank. No wonder he can solo dungeons by himself. With such defenses… Derek couldn’t help but think.

Just as the armor appeared, the first arrow arrived. With a resonating clang, the arrow struck the chest of Tyron before falling harmlessly to the ground. The area where the arrow hit stopped flowing for a moment, causing a disruption in the armor’s pattern before the flow continued. It was like a self-healing flowing armor.

Avery clicked his tongue and summoned multiple arrows, firing them one after another. Each flew from his bow with impeccable accuracy, hitting the same point on Tyron’s armor. With each collision from the arrows, the armor was disrupted further and further. Soon, the eighth arrow landed, and a hole finally opened up in the armor.

Tyron wasn’t a slouch, though. Before the next arrow arrived, his forearm moved in front of the hole, deflecting the next arrow and allowing his armor to heal once again.

“That’s got to cost an arm and a leg to maintain,” Derek thought out loud. He saw the power contained in those arrows, and while nowhere close to the energy in the lighting used by Edgar’s skill, it was fierce. Adding on the fact that multiple arrows of the same caliber landed within seconds of each other, and he knew it was a deadly skill. If it was even a skill to begin with. For all he knew, Avery was just channeling his aura into his arrows before firing them. Which would be sort of like his own Channel Void skill.

Yet, it took multiple arrows to create a chink in the armor that was then easily repaired after a few seconds. Derek wondered what kind of offense Tyron would have after displaying such defense. Luckily, he didn’t have to wait for long.

“I figured that would happen,” Avery said before putting his bow away and drawing his daggers.

The number two from the Crown then raised his foot off the ground and took a step forward. With that single step, he disappeared from Derek’s sight, putting even Edgar’s previous speed to shame. Instantly, he appeared behind Tyron and swiftly stuck out with his daggers. It was all a blur.

Occasionally, one of the strikes would disrupt the armor to create an opening, which Avery had no problem taking advantage of. When that happened, blood would fly from Tyron before the armor closed once again.

Avery was just too fast for the giant.

“Told you,” Edgar said from the side.

“It’s not over yet,” Derek muttered.

With those words, the metallic aura around Tyron began to rapidly heat up, taking on an orange glow. Then, a hammer appeared in his right hand. It was a typical smithing hammer. One that seemed just like the one in the set of smithing equipment he had gotten for Brandi.

The handle was made out of wood and the head had one rounded side and one flat. It looked almost like a ball-peen hammer from Earth that Derek had seen hundreds of times, whether on tv or in most garages. The hammer was small in comparison to the blacksmith’s body, but that soon changed.

The small blacksmith’s hammer grew near instantaneously into a giant hammer suitable for the man who wielded it. Then, a near transparent image of an anvil appeared behind the man.

Unsure of what was going on, Avery disappeared from beside the smith and reappeared a distance away. However, that didn’t seem to make a difference to Tyron as he swung his great hammer down and struck the ground in front of himself.

A crisp clang rang out, and giant molten sparks flooded out in every direction. Derek could feel the heat coming from the attack, as could Jasper and Edgar. In fact, Derek chose not to chance it. Edgar could handle himself whether he was fully recovered or not, but Jasper was only a support. He wasn’t sure what kind of defense the healer had.

Derek summoned his Absolute Nullify wall once again so they wouldn’t be affected by the attack, which turned out to be the correct decision as sparks and molten lava covered the area, soon reaching the trio even with as far from the battle as they were. The flowing lava had lost some momentum already, and was completely halted by Derek’s skill, causing Jasper to let out a sigh in relief.

In front of them, the spar continued. Avery had somehow gotten even faster. He was now completely covered in the same aura he had used to cover his daggers and arrows. Derek would catch a glimpse of the man, then he would disappear just as fast as he appeared. Whatever skill he was using seemed to need some kind of contact with something in order to be used, causing him to appear occasionally.

Unfortunately for Tyron, he didn’t seem to have many other attacks up his sleeves, and Avery was too fast o be hit by any of his moves since he could even withstand the battlefield wide area of effect.

The battle soon came to an abrupt end when Avery appeared once again, this time on Tyron’s shoulders, and both of his daggers entered the eye slots of Tyron’s moving armor. Of course, with Avery’s precision, he stopped his attack just before they actually penetrated the smith’s eyes.

Tyron raised his left hand. “You win,” he announced to Avery. Then his armor disappeared, along with the rest of his aura.

When the aura left, so too did the sparks and lava that had permeated the battlefield, leaving the entire area a barren wasteland.

Avery hopped off the man’s shoulders, swiftly patting out the fire on his charred behind before it could do any more damage to his clothing. Apparently, touch Tyron’s armor while it was heated up wasn’t the best idea.

Derek flicked his wrist and one of the lesser Void Beast meals he still had on him appeared in his hand before he handed it over to Edgar. It was worth well over 1500 gold, but he wasn’t taking much of a loss. Besides, he didn’t actually have 1500 gold on him at the moment, and he didn’t feel like messing with the card he received from the bank while in a dungeon… if it could even be used in a dungeon.

“Seriously?” Edgar asked, but had already grabbed the meal from Derek before he even had a chance to respond.

Derek snorted and shrugged as he watched the two fighters make their way back over to them.

“That was fun,” Avery said. “We should do it again, sometime.”

“Hmm…” Tyron scoffed. “You’re lucky I’m more of a crafter than a fighter.”

“That,” Derek pointed out. “Is what you call being more of a crafter than a fighter?”

Tyron shrugged. “Most of my skillset is skewed toward crafting. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“What about all the solo dungeons you clear?” Derek asked.

“I choose them carefully, of course.”

That seemed to make a lot of sense to Derek. If the man had the Solo Diver Award, it wouldn’t be a stretch that he also had the Repetitive Dungeoneer Award. In fact, it would make even more sense for the blacksmith to have such an Award. The dungeons he runs may give materials as rewards, and the Repetitive Dungeoneer Award would allow him to have chances to receive the rewards multiple times. Hell, He may even have the Award at a higher rank than Derek’s own.

“That was fun and all,” Jasper cut in. “But can we get back now?”

Derek really didn’t have anything to add. He had gotten to see everyone’s fighting style, and was even more impressed than he thought he would be. Especially by Avery. He was very calm the entire fight, even with the surprise skills that Tyron showed.

Speaking of the smith, he would be a fantastic addition to any fight with multiple enemies. Not only was he able to change the battleground for his own benefit, the sparks constantly shot out and the lava continued to flow. It would be devastating to big groups.

When they arrived back at camp, Derek wasn’t surprised to see everyone waiting around outside of his Time Prison. The quick little announcement he made before he went back to spar, was more than enough to scare them out. He inwardly laughed as their eyes fell over his small group. At least I know that the range on the skill is at least as far as the distance from here to the sparring ground. He thought.

Still, Derek could see the boredom radiating from the group. It hadn’t even been that long, but this group of elites had come to the dungeon expecting constant fighting. At least, he knew he sure did. But now, they were to sit on their hands and wait for the other group to get back before they had a chance to do something. It may only be a few days now, but if the dungeon lasted for months like expected, it could get rough. Not everyone had been trapped in the void and cultivated their patience as much as him.

All of this gave him an idea. He looked over at Edgar, Avery, and Tyron. Avery and Tyron were both well respected, and Edgar was the leader of the raid. He smiled.

“Do you trust me?”

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