MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 745 Four Pillars: The Next Three

Whoosh!

Having activated the ultimate skill multiple times at this point, Valyr remained unperturbed as the concept of time slowed down around the two.

Of course, the same couldn't be said for his opponent, who looked at the young man with wide eyes as he wondered what was going on.

Though, just as Mikael thought that only time had been stopped, it did not take long for the momentum he had built up to disappear by the time the concept returned.

Saving himself from planting his face into the ground, Mikael took note of the fact that the world surrounding the two of them had become muted in color.

Getting an ominous feeling from the surroundings, the man eventually looked at Valyr with a solemn expression.

"Your doing?" he asked.

Valyr faintly smiled as he began to arm his pistol. "Who else?"

After that, silence surrounded the two of them as the ever-growing darkness underneath Mikael eventually burst.

However, just as the man was in the midst of being covered by a cocoon of Shadow Energy, Mikael had conjured something that made Valyr's eyes widen in surprise.

Swoosh!

At the very moment the cocoon had closed itself, a layer of compacted earth surrounded the cocoon, causing Valyr to stop his preparations for a bit.

"Geomancer?" muttered the young man in slight curiosity, moving away from Mikael the moment he was done arming the pistol.

Bang!

'-11,376'

It did not take long for the cocoon to do its thing, sending out a lethal dosage of Shadow Energy into Mikael.

Though, with the force contained in that explosion, the layer of compacted earth surrounding Mikael should have already exploded.

Yet, it hadn't.

"Well, that's gotta hurt."

Expecting his opponent to be stunned, Valyr's eyes widened in surprise after hearing a muffled voice come from inside the layer of compacted earth.

Not long after, the layer of compacted earth gradually disappeared, revealing Mikael who looked to be more or less unscathed.

"[Reckless Shot]!" Seeing that his opponent had not been stunned by the ultimate skill, Valyr did not hesitate to fire the pistol at the man, hoping to make use of True Shadow Corruption.

However…

"Hmph."

Swoosh!

In response to rapid bullet the young man had shot, Mikael Silva conjured a few plates of metal before him.

Unsurprisingly, the bullet and the plates of metal soon collided, with the momentum behind the bullet remaining ferocious even after piercing through a few plates.

Though, as if there was no end to them, more and more plates appeared between the bullet and Mikael, eventually exhausting all of the bullet's momentum.

"You're gonna have to do better than that if you want to defeat me." 

Dispelling all of the metal plates he had conjured, Mikael looked at Valyr with a faint hint of disdain.

"Or do you really think a fight like this would be as simple as landing insidious attacks?"

"Of course not."

Inwardly letting out a sigh at his plan's failure, Valyr quickly stowed away everything he had brought back into his spatial bracelet.

After that, he retrieved the spear from his back as he began to circulate his Shadow Energy and mana throughout his body.

"Then again, it would've nice if it was."

At the moment he said those words, the young man then unleashed the usual set of boosting skills on himself, causing his aura to flare with greater intensity.

Then, pushing his empowered agility to its limits, he dashed towards where Mikael stood before slashing out with his spear.

"[Arcane Shadow Serpent Combat Style]."

"[Cataclysm of the Dark Arcanum]!"

…

Though Valyr's hopes of ending the fight quickly against Mikael were quashed by the man's immunity to being stunned, that did not deter the young man at all.

After all, he had a great arsenal of combat skills under his belt, all of which had a level of flexibility greater than the pistol.

With that, he fought against Mikael in close-range combat, gradually finding out more and more things as to what made the man before him special.

Of course, with the defenses he had conjured so far against his attacks, Valyr only needed a simple [Superior Analysis] to find out the specialty of his opponent.

Amauris had insane light magic, while Mariella could control gravity and force.

On the other hand, the man before him had the ability to conjure matter he thought of out of thin air.

Accompanied by the fact that a great portion of his stats had more than exceeded the thousand-point mark, Mikael was undoubtedly a tough nut to crack.

Then again, the same could be said for Valyr.

With the help of his True Wyvern Armor, many of Mikael's offensives had been rendered mostly useless from the sheer amount of defense the armor set gave Valyr.

Even spamming multiple attacks in a row did not help the man out in gaining an edge, faintly reminding Valyr of his fight against Amauris.

'I wonder if he'll admit defeat if I started flying?' thought the young man to himself, letting out a faint chuckle in the process.

Though the idea was tantalizing, Valyr felt like his opponent would have ways to stop the fight from becoming a battle of attrition.

Then again, the young man wasn't a fan of battles that taxed the body, especially with the debuff his spear still applied on him whilst he was in combat.

With that, he went all out the moment he had caught Mikael off guard, activating [Arcane Tide of the Dark Night] multiple times in a row to close off the man's escape path.

Then, to make sure that the attacks would land on the man, he then followed it up with a [Breath of the True Wyvern] from above Mikael.

Unsurprisingly, such attacks empowered with boosting skills was more than enough to end the fight, causing the man to transform into motes of golden light before the two could even speak.

However, as the man was in the midst of fading, Valyr noticed that the man gazed at him with respect, only to faintly smile in satisfaction as he thoroughly disappeared.

Smiling back as he stared at where Mikael last stood, the young man made the most of his time waiting for the next opponent by replenishing his mana reserves.

Of course, with the plan of utilizing [Consummatum Est] and his pistol ending up in failure against Mikael, Valyr also thought about reworking a few things about it while waiting for the fifth opponent to appear.

Nevertheless, a ray of golden light eventually appeared before the young man, showing him the opponent he would have to fight against.

Looking at his opponent's appearance, Valyr faintly scratched the back of his head as he thought about how two of his opponents so far had worn clothing that reminded him of martial organizations.

And now, there was another one.

However, unlike the clean robes Mariella and Mikael were wearing, the man before him wore a set of sleeveless robes, showcasing the bulky muscles he had on his forearms.

Adding on the faint traces of dust and dirt on the man's clothes, Valyr felt like the man before him was an honorable warrior of sorts, fighting against his opponents without relying on backhanded techniques.

"The name is Matthias Kamai," said the burly man, breaking the silence that surrounded the two of them.

"For our fight, I'd like to keep it simple."

At those words, Valyr thought about his fight with Mariella and Mikael, recalling how anything went during their fight.

Though, it seemed that he had misunderstood the man's intentions.

"Three moves," said Matthias. "Whoever fails to defend against their opponent's moves loses."

Hearing that, Valyr asked if there was any limitation to the attacks the two had to throw at each other.

In response, Matthias shook his head, telling Valyr that any attack was fine.

With that, the two of them distanced themselves from one another, giving both of themselves a bit of time to prepare for what was basically a showcase of their strongest attacks.

Yet what Matthias did not notice was the mischievous glint in the young man's eyes.

By the time their match began, Matthias gave courtesy to Valyr, allowing the young man to land his three moves on his opponent first.

Nodding in response, the young man activated [Superior Analysis] to get a better idea of what he was up against.

After confirming that his opponent was more monstrous than the previous one, Valyr then took out his arquebus, allowing it to charge for as long as possible.

Activating all of his boosting skills after that, he then shot it towards Matthias, only for the latter to dodge it with ease.

Looking on with a solemn expression, he then fired another fully charged shot from the arquebus, to which Matthias dodged once more.

Though, once his third and final move came about, the young man had done something his opponent did not expect.

"[Full Burst]!"

Bang!

With great speeds, the bullet whizzed through the air, swiftly arriving towards Matthias.

Seeing that his opponent had shot out a weird projectile at him once again, the man expected to dodge it with ease once more before proceeding with his triad of attacks.

However, at the very last moment, his opponent radiated an imposing aura that caused him to freeze up.

And it was there that the battle ended.

'-131,173'

Wiping his hand over his forehead, Matthias stared wide-eyed at Valyr as his palm was dyed a bloody red.

However, before he could even utter out a word at the young man, telling him that using such a skill like that was against the rules he had set…

The man could only turn into fragments of golden light as the monotonous voice resounded once more.

'You have defeated the fifth opponent of the Trial of Nine Stars. Four opponents remain.'

'You have 15 minutes to rest before the next opponent appears.'