Having sparred with Cailin for a week, Felix had some idea about what to expect. Sure, there was a 30 Level difference between her and Yusax, and possibly a difference in Tiers, but it was only a quantitative difference in Stats.

Well, Felix was in for a surprise. Cailin had stronger Stats than him at the same level, but it wasn’t absurdly higher than his own, their level being almost similar. What truly set her ahead of Felix was her skill, especially with Mana.

Felix’s raw Mana Manipulation was much greater than her, and that wasn’t a theory, as he had exchanged with her on the subject and it ended up being a one way teaching lesson.

However, there were certain aspects of Mana Manipulation that she got better than him, and that was infusing her body with Mana. Although her Stats weren’t that much higher, she was able to increase her strength by imbuing her body with Mana.

Felix had taken notes from her on the subject, and that was how he had come up with his protection against Spells, by forming a thin layer of Mana beneath his skin.

He wasn’t able to strengthen his body with Mana yet, but it should come along sooner or later.

Yusax was quite different though. He was decently skilled, but nowhere near Cailin’s level. However, what he didn’t have in technique, he more than compensated in raw Stats.

If Felix had to estimate, Yusax’s physical Stats, that is Vitality, Strength, and Agility, were around 200 each. As for his magical Stats, they felt like they were around Felix’s own, so 100.

On paper, Felix not only did not stand a chance, he shouldn’t even last more than a couple of blows. Yet, Felix did not hesitate to immediately go for the attack.

Yusax looked at him with utter disdain, but that did not stop the demon from attacking. To Felix, Yusax suddenly disappeared, moving so fast he wasn’t even able to follow him. However, while his eyes couldn’t see him, he could feel Mana.

A Rune appeared right in front of Felix, hitting him in the chest as he was forcefully stopped mid-leap, the sudden shock knocking the wind out of him.

However, it was just enough to make Yusax’s attack miss as he clawed at the empty air right in front of Felix.

Yusax was about to go for a second attack, but suddenly the whole cavern shook, forcing him to stop his attack. But Felix, who had been stopped mid-air, was unaffected as he used the opportunity and swung his spear towards Yusax’s face.

The demon’s reaction time and speed was impressive enough not to get skewered, but Felix did manage to cut open his cheek, before retreating by taking several steps back in the air.

Landing back on the ground, although Felix was curious about Drakon, he did not allow himself to look away from Yusax as a Runic Circle appeared next to him.

"You dare draw the blood of this Lord?! Pathetic insect, die for me!"

He finally seemed to take things seriously as his right claw started glowing with an ominous dark light, before it suddenly expanded as it appeared right in front of Felix.

Felix exhaled a long breath as the Runic Circle on his right finished assembling, while a single Rune appeared above him, giving a weak push that allowed him to duck fast enough to dodge the attack.

‘First Circle: Cold Breeze’

As the name implied, a breeze of cold air was launched towards Yusax, washing over his body. The breeze wasn’t strong, but it was continuous. Yusax didn’t look damaged, but it did slow him down somewhat as Felix actually managed to get a glimpse of him moving as the demon came for him directly.

This allowed Felix to react fast enough as he threw himself forward, his spear aiming for Yusax’s right hand.

Yusax, who clearly didn’t expect Felix to move his way, didn’t have time to properly arm his blow as Skera hit him right as he started moving his hand, cutting into it.

Completely ignoring the pain though, the demon went for a bite, aiming to tear a chunk of Felix’s skull. Felix managed to save himself from certain death, but he wasn’t fast enough to completely dodge as Yusax managed to get his ear.

Groaning from the pain of having lost his ear, Felix kicked Yusax in the lower abdomen, not really doing much damage because of the difference in strength, but that did allow him to draw some distance as he landed several meters away.

Only for Yusax to appear right behind him, a shit eating grin on his bloody face as his claw went for Felix’s neck. Felix did not defend though, and instead twirled his spear around, going for a backward stab.

Yusax grinned savagely as he could already see the puny human’s neck getting ripped open when he suddenly felt danger coming from the side.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

From the corner of his vision he saw a massive sword coming for his head, and while confident in his defense, blows to the head were never good news, so he deviated the path of his claw to protect himself, instead of attacking.

The massive sword clashed against the demon’s claw, and the demon successfully defended himself. However, right at the moment Felix’s spear reached the demon’s unprotected belly, and pierced through the skin.

The demon was clearly a tough opponent as Skera did not go very deep, but the impact of the attack and the pain was enough to force Yusax to buckle ever so slightly, allowing Drakon’s sword to pass by his claw and slam into his shoulder.

The sword clearly had more power behind it than the spear as it properly slashed into the shoulder, and although it didn’t sever the arm, black blood splashed around as Yusax released a scream, fully intent on killing the two humans.

But Felix and Drakon entered an expected synergy as their attacks synced together. Each standing on a side of the demon, their attacks followed one another seamlessly as they forced the demon several steps back, his arms bloody.

Seeing the synergy the two had entered, Yusax knew better than to be stubborn and tried to retreat, to break their tempo and use his superior Stats to overwhelm the two.

But as he tried taking a step back, he failed to see the Runic Circle that had appeared behind him, slightly elevating the floor of the cavern as Yusax tripped on it.

He quickly caught himself, but that allowed Felix and Drakon to go all out on their attack as they each went for his ribs. Seeing this, Yusax knew he was going to get hit, so he decided to stop the attack of the stronger of the two, and blocked the large sword with both arms.

He did manage to block, but the expected spear attack did not come. Instead, Yusax found two Runic Circles to have appeared above him.

‘First Circle: Shockwave’

‘First Circle: Flamethrower’

With the activation of the first Runic Spell, Yusax’s already fragile equilibrium was completely broken as his back slammed into the ground. Then, the second Spell activated, and Yusax was showered in fire.

The fire wasn’t deadly to him, but it did hurt, and it wasn’t stopping. He tried to get up, but Felix’s spear stabbed at his wrist, followed by Drakon’s sword slamming into his chest, Yusax not even seeing it coming because of the fire.

Yusax fully expected another attack to come from Felix, but instead another Runic Circle appeared in the air, another Flamethrower spell as the fire intensified. Yusax thought he would be able to get up, but Drakon slammed into him shoulder first, forcing him back to the ground.

For the following five seconds, Yusax was forced to stay on the ground as fire rained down on him. As the fire disappeared and Yusax regained his vision though, the two were unable to keep him down any longer as they were forced to retreat.

Getting back on his feet, Yusax’s entire front was burnt, while his wrists and ankles had suffered more than a few cuts. For the first time, Felix and Drakon had actually managed to harm Yusax.

Releasing a bestial roar, Yusax forced both Felix and Drakon back as they felt their insides shake, taking damage from the scream.

Yusax slashed the air in front of him with both claws, sending blades of winds at both Felix and Drakon. They both managed to block it, but Yusax appeared between the two, and made a double kick, hitting both of them in the ribs as they were sent flying into the walls of the cavern.

Holding his side in pain, Felix could feel several of his ribs had been broken, and his left arm felt numb from slamming into the wall. His strongest weapon though, his mind was unharmed. Instead, Felix even felt fired up, and looking at the wild grin on Drakon’s face, he was the same.

Yusax finally got serious.

Jumping from the wall, a Runic Circle appeared next to Felix as he swung his spear towards Yusax’s face, while Drakon’s sword came for his legs.

It was a bit of a tricky attack to deal with as the two weapons arrived from different directions, at different heights and with basically no delay between them.

Yet Yusax dealt with the attack in a surprising way. One foot kicked toward the sword, while a hand punched toward the spear.

Yusax sustained a minor injury on both limbs, but Felix struggled to keep his spear in his hands as he was thrown to the side with it, while Drakon was forced back.

Felix seemingly wide open, Yusax went for an attack, but he did not reach him in time.

‘First Circle: Wind Push’

A strong gust of wind hit Yusax, and while it did not harm him, it did force him to a stop, allowing Felix to land on his feet and to twirl around, his spear suddenly stabbing at Yusax.

Yusax got hit in the thigh, but in exchange he managed to punch Felix in the chest.

The mage felt his rib cage crack as he took severe damage, but not enough to kill him as he had managed to slightly go back with the blow, mitigating some of the force behind the blow.

The force of the attack adding to his movement, Felix flew back, and as he did, he noticed that Drakon was standing still. The two’s eyes crossed for a split second as one stood still, and the other flew through the air, and Felix made a split second decision.

Before Yusax could follow up with another attack, Felix threw his spear right in front of Yusax, towards his feet as he easily dodged by stepping back.

But now, Felix had his hands free as he somersaulted in mid air, landing feet first against the wall as both of his arms went for his Spatial Bag, and he took out two Uncommon short swords he had picked up from dead Blue Light members.

Not minding the pain, Felix grabbed the two weapons by their blades, and stabbed them into the rock behind him, handle first. Felix felt the sharp blades cut deep into his hands, but he did manage to plant the daggers deep enough into the rock so that only the blades stuck out.

Yusax, although confused by Felix’s actions, wasn’t going to let him do as he wished. As for Drakon, seeing he wasn’t moving anymore, Yusax figured he either was too injured and tired to move, or was preparing something.

But even if he was, Yusax’s biggest headache right now was Felix, so he would gladly take an injury to kill him.

As Felix’s feet got to the ground, Yusax was about to leap when a Runic Circle appeared in front of him. Still feeling the pain from the burns over the front of his body, Yusax’s body moved on its own as he stopped and took a step back.

And his wariness only increased as the Runic Circle remained in the air, not activating right away. In his experience, the longer a Spell took to activate, the stronger it would be. Moreover, Felix was smiling creepily, making him even warier.

Yusax looked around for the best way to get past the Spell, but before he could act on any of them Felix suddenly rushed in.

Yusax had no idea what the Spell was going to be, but seeing Felix was going for his spear, Yusax guessed it would impact his movement.

Yet, as Felix reached his spear, he simply grabbed it, and ran back to the two walls, where the two daggers still stuck out of the wall.

Yusax watched on with confusion for a couple of seconds, until the Runic Circle disappeared.

"That was a fake dumbass."