When the mana wave hit the ground, Aleen moved.

His surroundings seemed to move slowly under the effects of Dynamic sight. Aleen could see clearly how the attack hit the ground, creating a crater and sending many pieces of stone flying away.

His mind quickly calculated the feasibility of his plan working. What he was about to do was very risky, but for some reason, Aleen was confident in doing it.

‘If that red-dressed runner can do it, I can do it too!’ Feeling a strange sense of competitivity, Aleen jumped.

His body flashed under the effects of Lightning Movement. Aleen forgot his fear and stepped in a flying stone before jumping again.

Then, he stepped in another stone.

His extremely fast movements allowed him to use the flying stones as footholds. Aleen flashed repeatedly in the air, calculating the best route towards Malconi.

Then, he finally reached him.

“Impossible!” Malconi opened his eyes wide in surprise, but Aleen's sword was already before him. In an instant, Aleen's sword cut through Malconi’s body, creating an enormous gash that separated his waist into two.

But in the next instant, Aleen's expression turned surprised.

It was because his sword did not feel resistance when cutting Malconi’s body.

And Malconi’s body, that had been cut into two, reformed behind Aleen again.

Then, Malconi raised his sword and swung it down.

“!!!”

Aleen’s expression changed. He quickly moved away, evading the attack narrowly before returning to the ground.

In a second, both of them had been extremely close to death.

Aleen and Malconi looked at each other. Aleen was panting softly and suffering a slight headache. The concentration he needed to use the flying stones as footholds and reach Malconi burdened his mind.

Malconi, on the other hand, was pale. If not because he activated his skill in the last second, he would have died under Aleen’s sword.

“… I underestimated you.” Malconi smiled. “Using the stones as footholds to reach me? That is crazy.”

Aleen chuckled. “What about you? Even now, I don’t know how your skill works. I truly thought that my last attack was going to kill you.”

“Hahaha. Actually, you injured me with that attack. But it was just a very slight injury.”

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Aleen frowned. To be honest, he still was unable to understand how Malconi evaded his attack. It was as though his body faded away, only to suddenly reappear behind him.

Aleen was sure that it was the effect of a skill. However, Malconi also had shown the ability to fly and fire mana waves from his sword.

Then, what was his skill?

If he was still a level-two, does it mean that Malconi’s skill allows him to fly, attack and evade attacks at the same time?

Aleen always thought that his skill was overpowered, but it was the first time he saw a skill even more overpowered than his.

“Crazy…” Aleen muttered to himself and looked at Malconi with a pondering expression.

“Hey Aleen, why don’t you give up? From what I can see, your attacks won't have an effect on me.” Malconi put on a serious expression and spoke.

Aleen chuckled. “What? Are you going to ignore the two daemons I killed?”

Malconi wrinkled his brows and then sighed. “You are right. To be honest, I would have liked to form a team with you. Unfortunately, you killed two people of my race, so I have to kill you.”

Aleen looked at him and shrugged. “It looks like I can’t give up after all.”

“… Such a shame.” Malconi sighed in pity. “I’ll give you an honorable dead then, worthy of a warrior as great as you.”

Instantly, Malconi’s expression turned ice-cold again.

Then, all the mana in the surroundings rushed towards him. An enormous whirlpool of mana formed with Malconi as the center, then, the whirlpool surrounded his sword, giving it a beautiful transparent glow.

Malconi raised his sword up. The whirlpool of mana continued absorbing mana crazily. After a few seconds, even the clouds had begun to become affected.

Aleen put on a serious expression. He knew that the next attack would not be so easy to stop.

“It’s my strongest attack, Aleen. I know that your speed is incredibly fast, but if the attack is big enough, then you won't be able to escape no matter how fast you move!”

Then, without waiting for Aleen to answer, Malconi swung his sword down.

“Fall, ‘Destruction Storm!’”

The next second, the enormous wave of mana fell to the ground.

A strange silence filled the place. The wind stopped blowing, and the mana in the air froze completely.

An instant later–

*Boooooooom!*

–Everything was swallowed in an astonishing explosion.

Mana raged in the surroundings, burning and disintegrating everything in its reach.

The ground trembled, and the storm clouds were scattered. A cloud of dust formed and expanded quickly, covering everything nearby.

Looking at the scene of destruction created by his attack, Malconi sighed. “A shame, he was a worthy opponent.”

Then, he turned around to leave.

But before he could fly away–

*Shiiing!*

–A bolt of lightning cut towards him.

Malconi’s body froze in surprise. Before he could react, the bolt of lightning was already before him.

Then, it pierced his neck.

Aleen appeared behind him.

He was covered in scratches and small injuries, but everything else was alright.

Malconi looked at the hole in his neck. He was unable to understand how Aleen survived his attack and still was able to counterattack after that.

Aleen looked at Malconi and furrowed his brows. Just like last time, he felt that his sword pierced nothing.

And as he expected, Malconi’s body faded away only to reform again a few meters behind.

Both of them looked at each other with surprise and doubt. None of them could understand how the other survived.

However, neither Aleen nor Malconi were going to give up so easily.

Mana surged around them. They stared at each other, raising their swords and preparing to attack again.

But suddenly–

*Slash!* A blinding wave of sword energy surged towards Malconi.

Malconi was startled. He quickly scattered his body to evade the attack and reappeared a few meters away. He then looked in the direction of the sword energy.

There, a handsome man was holding a greatsword and smiling radiantly.

“Malconi, who did give you the courage to attack a human?!”

He was Clane Greia, a human Irregular.