After finishing his praises for everyone in the arena, the commentator finally announced the start of the fight. Immediately after that, a bolt of lightning, a couple of fire waves, third stage, flew at me; all the others were finishing their mid-level magic. Without thinking for long, I used a wind dash and dodged all the attacks, heading towards the enemy.
A couple of seconds later, when only twenty meters remained to them, a whirlwind of wind blades appeared around me, slowly constricting to destroy me. Also, two storm waves, from two ends, began to advance on me. Using another wind dash, I literally flew out of the whirlwind of blades, directing a bolt of lightning at the fire mage, simultaneously completing a wind step to get away from this dangerous place faster.
However, my bolt of lightning met a wall of light; covered in cracks, it gradually crumbled, but the bolt of lightning dissipated earlier. The fire mages finished a couple of fire fists that crossed each other and headed for me. Fortunately, the magic beneath me weakened, and I managed to complete the wind step, dodging in the air from two blows and heading towards the ground. But the heat from this flame was simply enormous! One second of hesitation, and I wouldn't just have been touched; I could have been roasted!
Immediately after I landed, a huge amount of lightning gathered above me. It was too late to run, but what had I spent twenty million on? I instantly summoned my shield and poured a large amount of wind energy into it, strengthening the defense. A powerful thunderclap sounded, and immediately after it, a sound like a large metal gong rang out. The lightning strike descended on my shield, pressing me even closer to the ground.
Unfortunately for my opponents, my shield, if powered by me, could withstand a blow from almost a senior chieftain, what is mid-level first-stage magic to it. After all these powerful attacks, the opposing team was breathing heavily; they were mid-level mages who had recently broken through to this level. One or two mid-level spells per fight, that's their limit, and here some combined them with initial magic, and also strained themselves as much as possible to cast them, the poor things. Although I am also at their level, thanks to the old man's training, dodging their attacks, although not easy, was not difficult.
"Did we get him?" - Asked a girl, a water mage, catching her breath.
"To dodge so many mid-level spells, and even take a hit from my..." - Before the lightning mage could answer her, from the dust kicked up by his attack, a bolt of lightning flew out, aimed directly at him.
"Don't relax, he's not an ordinary opponent!" - Shouted the light mage, quickly releasing a prepared wall of light.
The light mage was the strongest of them; perhaps he was not far from the second stage. However, even he was exhausted by such an intensity of mid-level spells. It's a shame this won't save them. I shot out of the dust cloud like a bullet, immediately after releasing the bolt of lightning, using a wind dash for this. A second later, I was already behind the opponents; they didn't even have time to realize what had happened when, using a wind step, I already held a dagger to the throat of the light mage.
A couple of seconds later, the other five mages turned around and looked at us. I didn't linger long with the light mage, throwing him to the ground. He had the familiar expression of mixed shock and horror on his face. In every fight, and in some more than once, I hold a knife to the necks of my opponents like this, and each time, everyone has the same expression, even if they've seen it before.
As soon as I threw the mage, I headed for the fire mage who was closest to me. Although he was in a state of shock, he managed to create a star path and unleash a third-stage fire wave at me. Immediately after that, I flew up using a wind dash and was about to finish the mage when a bolt of lightning flew at me from the side. I had to use the prepared bolt of lightning, meant to neutralize the opponent, to counter this blow.
A thunderclap echoed throughout the arena; since I was in the air, I was thrown to the edge of the arena. However, the lightning mage, who dared to compete with me, got much more. Although the magic was partially neutralized, my bolt of lightning was three times stronger than usual, thanks to the small spiritual seed. He was thrown aside, his arm hung limply, and he himself was covered in burns from the lightning strike. He was immediately dragged off the arena and sent to the healing mage. The light mage also hurried to leave the arena.
As soon as I landed, I immediately used a wind step and headed for the water mage, who was now closest to me. Immediately after that, two waves of fire flew into the place where I had been a moment ago. Running up to the water mage, I swung my dagger hard and delivered a direct penetrating blow straight to the chest. But at the last moment, the water mage created a water shield in front of him. From the blow, he flew back a dozen meters, while I lost all momentum and stopped.
At that moment, a whirlwind of wind blades began to spin around me again, constricting ever tighter. Quickly jumping out of the whirlwind with a wind dash, I was blinded by a ball of light; apparently, there was a mage with a second element of light among them. Immediately, I felt fluctuations of some unknown energy behind me. It wasn't hard to guess what it was, considering my knowledge; it was initial shadow magic; someone had apparently hidden in my shadow.
I instantly directed a bolt of lightning in that direction, and with the remaining wind dash, I moved to another side. A moment later, I felt and heard my spell collide with a fire wave. After that, a scream was heard, and another mage was thrown aside; only four remained. Landing on the ground, I rubbed my eyes, restoring clarity of vision, and immediately noticed a storm wave rushing at me; the second water mage had hurried.
I already had a plan to deal with this spell, so I rushed headlong into the wave, simultaneously creating two wind blades and directing them towards my hands. Ten meters before colliding with the wave, I released the blades straight forward, cutting through the wave. However, the blades had enough power to continue their movement forward. The water mage was protected by her comrade at the last moment, the one I had just thrown aside, who had created a water shield in time. But to their misfortune, the wind blades were so strong that they shattered the shield and threw the water mage more than thirty meters away, leaving a couple of small cuts on her arms.
Immediately, I threw one of my daggers towards that water mage, and I myself headed for the last fire mage, who was preparing a fire fist. The water mage was predictably protected by a wall of light and was eliminated. The wind mage, who approached me from the side, intending to attack, tried to interfere with me. But alas, I was faster.
He had already raised his fist above my head, but he received a fist accelerated by a stream of wind in the stomach and flew to the opposite wall of the arena, crashing hard into it. The blow was so powerful that the mage began to spit blood! After that, he slowly slid into the trench separating the main arena and the wall, where the supporting mage and the healing mage walked. With the corner of my eye, I noticed that the healing mage was running back and forth, and streams of cold sweat were flowing down his forehead.
However, I was also quite exhausted, and my whole body was soaked, and streams of sweat were flowing down my face under the mask. This was the most intense fight in a long time; although I didn't use mid-level magic because I simply didn't have time, my legs were already numb from the constant enormous speed and overload. Fortunately for me, my opponents were also not in prime condition, and only two of them remained.
At this moment, my leg was grabbed by a vine; the water mage, who had been saved, had recovered and decided to stop me, putting me under a fire fist. How presumptuous. Using an air dash, I tore the vines and flew fifteen meters up; a moment later, a fire fist flew beneath me. I clearly felt its heat. Bending my back, I used the still-active wind dash and directed myself towards where my dagger lay. Doing a somersault in the air, I landed on my feet directly above the dagger, quickly grabbed it, and using a wind step, headed towards the fire mage again.
Vines burst from under the ground behind me, trying to grab me, but they were too slow, crashing into the ground inches from my feet. The fire mage made a last attempt to defend himself from me, releasing a fire wave, which I easily dodged, starting to circle around him from behind. Despair and fear were visible on the mage's face; he already understood that the whole team had lost, there was not the slightest chance of winning.
Running behind him, I released a bolt of lightning into the fire mage's back; at the last moment, a light barrier saved him. From the shock, the fire mage fell to his knees, tears flowing from his eyes, whether from joy at surviving or bitterness from defeat. The girl water mage, who was the only one left standing, stopped her clumsy vine attack and stared at me, almost crying, with trembling legs. The same fear, horror, shock, and disappointment were on her face. Without thinking, I released a lightning seal at her; I decided to spare her a little. A light barrier appeared directly in front of her, after which she fell to her knees and burst into tears.
"We were defeated by one mid-level mage... One... He's definitely a monster... Definitely..." - She muttered with a blank expression.
"Get up. He's a monster; did you see how fast he ran?" - The fire mage, who had just been eliminated, approached her, extending his hand. - "Did you see how powerfully he slammed Fei Yuya into the wall?"
"Yeah..." - She said, standing up, then looked at me angrily and said, "You're a monster, but know this, there are other monsters who will bring you down a peg! Legends circulate here about an old man who beats teams like ours without using magic; I think his name is Wu ShiyunMofa! Challenge him to a fight; I'll gladly watch him!" - She shouted at me in anger, tears flowing from her eyes; this defeat was hard for her, I even felt sorry for her. But if you signed up for an underground fight, be prepared to die; I even went easy on them.
"He's my teacher." - I said, remembering how the old man introduced himself when he registered me. After my words, the stands, which were excitedly discussing my fight, fell silent; even the commentator, who was about to announce the results, fell silent. Does the old man have such a fearsome reputation here? Whispers like "He's the disciple of that monster?" or "Now it's clear where he came from; he's the disciple of a monster" spread throughout the arena. A good nickname for the old man.
"What?" - Asked the girl water mage; her face stopped expressing anything; after a couple of minutes, a radiant smile appeared on it. - "We lost to the disciple of a monster who can break a water shield with his bare hands. Then it's not scary. Hahaha!" - After that, she turned and left.
"Ahem, ahem..." - The commentator cleared his throat. - "The results of the fight, A-asura-a wins! It took him just under four minutes to defeat seven mid-level mages! The judges awarded him seventy points for the victory! This was a qualifying match for bronze; after this victory, Asura is officially bronze rank, and his total score is six hundred and sixty!"
I didn't really listen to the commentator, heading away from the arena. I still needed to update my badge, collect my winnings, and meet my teacher. This fight was quite exhausting; all my clothes were soaked through with sweat, and my legs were trembling from the strain. My hands were also numb and shaking, reflexively clenching and unclenching the non-existent hilt of a dagger. And this was just seven mages at the very beginning of the mid-level. Could I withstand even one at the peak of the level? If he started relentlessly throwing mid-level magic of the third stage at me? I urgently need more strength, otherwise, when the guardians come, I might die.
Quickly collecting my new token, I met the old man; he scolded me as always for the fight being too long. You see, I should have taken less than three minutes to defeat them, but not four! After that, he took me to his dojo and ordered me to take some new bath. The water was simply icy, so all my muscles immediately seized up with a slight cramp. I thought I would jump out of the bath when the cramp passed, and only the intense cold remained. Aromatic candles were placed all over the bath, filling it with a pleasant scent. As always, starting to cultivate, I felt a huge surge of strength in my inner world; my cultivation began even faster than before; in just twenty minutes in the bath, I subdued the last star of space.