Chapter Sixty-Six: Struggle (Part 3)

Chaos had erupted on Oni’s side, while on Hughes’s end, he watched as two lights on the medal approached rapidly. He readied himself.

“They’re here, are they?” Hughes saw the two coming straight for him and let loose an arrow without hesitation.

“What’s that?” The two apprentices in the distance saw something whistling toward them. The arrow was so fast they couldn’t make out what it was. Though they sensed no magical fluctuations, they instinctively dodged.

With a thunderous crash, they glanced back to see whatever had flown at them now buried deep in a tree behind. Judging from the fletching, it was clearly an arrow.

“Lucky we didn’t try to block that!” Realizing the arrow’s power, both apprentices felt a wave of relief.

As they spoke, they spotted Hughes and the bow in his hands.

“Let’s go in directly, finish him off quickly and find Anke. His bow is useless up close.”

“Right!” After a brief exchange, the two apprentices launched their attack.

Hughes unleashed two bolts of lightning, drew his longsword, and charged at the pair.

Ever since advancing to third-level apprentice, Hughes’s casting speed had increased significantly.

Seeing Hughes charging, the two flashed with green light, their bodies quickly sheathed in armor of entwined vines.

The lightning struck them, failing to do much harm, though it did drive them back several steps and blast gaping holes in their vine armor.

“A lightning-affinity apprentice? I’ve never heard of one!” The pair were startled; lightning-aligned wizard apprentices were rare, and they hadn’t expected to encounter one.

Hughes’s sword didn’t connect, but electricity danced along the blade, gleaming in the dawn’s first light.

Their eyes met his. The two gave off an oppressive pressure, but Hughes showed not a hint of fear—instead, he felt his blood surge with exhilaration, relishing the prospect of a fierce, unrestrained battle.

Since his attributes had soared, Hughes had not truly tested himself in combat. Now was the time to gauge his strength.

“This apprentice is clearly one of the Academy’s top students, but how have I never heard of him?”

“Doesn’t matter, let’s just deal with him quickly,” the other, clad in black, said impatiently.

Hughes licked his lips, savoring the thrill of battle. Why hadn’t he noticed this combative side of himself before?

He wrapped his sword in both life energy and crackling lightning, preparing to strike again.

“Drawing your sword against the two of us? Overestimating yourself. No matter how strong you are, you can’t take on us both,” scoffed the man in black.

—

“Beep! Unnamed: Strength: 1.87, Agility: 2.14, Constitution: 3.08, Spirit: 6.6 (8.2), Status: Healthy.”

“Beep! Unnamed: Strength: 1.91, Agility: 2.21, Constitution: 3.18, Spirit: 6.87 (8.61), Status: Healthy.”

“There are two of them, but if I’m careful, my strength should be enough,” Hughes calculated inwardly.

A surge—life energy shaped like a crescent moon, laced with lightning, flashed instantly before the two.

The pure white arc of life force, edged with electricity, appeared razor-sharp.

“So fast!” Both men in black stared in shock at the lunar arc, marveling at its speed.

They reacted without hesitation, conjuring a stone wall over three meters tall to shield themselves.

With a resounding blast, the wall shattered, spraying rubble and filling the air with dust.

“Their affinities are plant and earth,” Hughes observed, noting how his attack was blocked by the abrupt stone wall and recalling their vine armor. He now understood their elemental ties.

Just as Hughes surmised, the two were brothers from the same clan, their highest affinities in plant and earth elements.

As the dust settled, the brothers stood battered but defiant in the distance.

They belonged to a wizarding family; on their estate, they had seen knights and life energy before, but never expected such force from Hughes.

Wizards regarded knightly training with disdain—no matter how powerful, a single spell could still kill a knight. Few wizard apprentices awakened life force as Hughes had.

Seeing the pair only somewhat disheveled, Hughes felt a pang of disappointment. He knew his strike, though blocked, wouldn’t do much, but he’d hoped for more than just a messy appearance.

“Damn it, this guy’s strength is way beyond what a third-level apprentice should handle. Since when did the Academy produce someone like this?” The man in black’s face darkened. They had thought to quickly take Hughes’s medal, but his power far exceeded their expectations.

“Use that thing,” he said after a moment, deciding to deploy his most precious safeguard.

“There’s only one left. We should save it for last,” his brother hesitated.

“For last? Can’t you see we might not win even together?” The first man yanked out a scroll and tore it.

Ripples like water spread from the shredded scroll, quickly blanketing the area for a hundred meters.

Hughes immediately felt the air thicken, as if an invisible weight pressed down on him.

—

“Beep! Hughes Bruch: Strength: 6.8, Agility: 5.55 (8.54), Constitution: 10.11 (increasing), Spirit: 8.22 (10.22), Mana: 8.22 (10.22), (Mana and Spirit synchronized), Status: Affected by Gravity.”

“Beep! Host’s speed reduced by 35% due to gravity effect!”

“A gravity scroll? They’re really not holding back.” Hughes had heard of such scrolls—they were costly. The two had truly gone all-in.

While effective against most wizard apprentices, this scroll was wasted on Hughes. His speed rivaled that of even wizards; even under the scroll’s effect, he was barely slowed.

One of the brothers pulled a handful of seeds from his pocket and scattered them. The seeds sprouted instantly where they landed, but instead of ordinary vines, black, spike-covered tendrils burst forth.

Within seconds, the black vines had grown as thick as a man’s leg, burrowing underground and surging toward Hughes under their master’s control.

One brother manipulated the vines; the other, dagger in hand, rushed straight at Hughes.

The ground around Hughes erupted with writhing vines, but he seemed utterly unaffected by the gravity spell as he watched the oncoming assailant.

“He must have some way to resist the scroll’s effect,” Hughes mused, cleaving at the vines beneath his feet. To his surprise, even his sword couldn’t slice through them completely. He had to admit their toughness.

He continued to feign clumsiness, dodging the vines, hoping to lure the man in black close.

Seeing Hughes hacking at the vines, the man in black’s lips curled with satisfaction.

Gravity scrolls and shadowthorn vines—together, an unbeatable combination. The brothers’ greatest strength lay in this synergy.

“You’re finished!” The man in black lunged, driving his dagger toward Hughes.

“No, you are!” Hughes, still seemingly tangled in the vines, suddenly grinned. With a leap, he sidestepped the tendrils with a speed that belied the gravity spell’s grip.

“How—? He clearly—” The man in black didn’t have time to think before pain exploded in his shoulder. Hughes’s sword had pierced the joint.

With a cry, the man dropped his dagger. Hughes withdrew his blade, its tip slick with blood.

“You—” Before the man could finish, Hughes stabbed his other arm, then his thigh.

The pain left the man unable to stand; he collapsed, howling and glaring at Hughes with venomous eyes.

From afar, the other brother, seeing his companion downed, gathered all the vines and sent them surging toward Hughes, even splitting one off to grab the fallen man, intent on rescuing him.