“Hey, that’s cheating!” Lucas couldn’t help but complain, seeing the two men stare back at him.

The pain in his rib had waned somewhat, indicating that it hadn’t fully broken it. It was still burning, but he couldn’t use his health potion now. He needed to save it in case something more serious happened later on. He had to remember Sultan had yet to show up.

“Sorry buddy, duty calls,” Adam replied, shrugging.

Before Lucas could reply, the mage Elliot waved his staff, and the ground beneath Lucas started to tremble. He took two steps back before a column of earth shot out from the floor, breaking the concrete in its path and coming at an incredible speed in his direction. All he could do was lean his torso back and shield himself with his arms before being sent flying backwards, slamming into the wall.

Earth magic, Lucas thought as he managed to rise. Fortunately, his last-second movement had eased the impact in his arms, but he realized he had to go all out if he wanted any chance of winning.

Before the charging Adam could reach him, Lucas’ death aura had already coated his entire body, including his blades. Playtime was over.

Lucas had become somewhat familiar with Adam’s movements and attack patterns during their last fight, so he decided to take an offensive stance right from the start. He ran towards Adam and on the last moment dropped to his knees, sliding right next to his leg. With a wide sweep of his arm, Lucas’ blade nearly cut off the man’s leg, but Adam was smart enough to move just when the glass was about to chop off the bone.

Suddenly, another pillar of earth shot toward Lucas from behind. With little time to spare, Lucas twisted his body and rolled out of the way. He rose quickly as the tremor ceased, looking at the results of his previous assault.

Adam’s left leg was corroding rapidly, and he was staring at it with a puzzled expression, barely able to stand on his injured limb. “What did you do?” he asked Lucas, anger making his face flush read.

Lucas didn’t reply. Instead, he moved again toward Adam, who wasn’t far. Pillars of earth erupted all around him on his way, but thanks to the slight tremors preceding their appearance, Lucas managed to dodge them all. When he reached Adam, however, he realized this was within Elliot’s expectations; the man was already beside his partner, and the pillars had only served to delay Lucas.

The moment Lucas was right in front of him, Elliot struck the ground with his staff, sending a powerful jet of water that knocked Lucas backward. Before he could make sense of what happened, something resembling wet clay started to encase his feet, aiming to immobilize him. Lucas quickly freed himself with his foot blades.

He had to admit, the mage was resourceful and far better at controlling his mana than Lucas was. So far, Lucas has only explored rudimentary fire magic in combat; But despite Elliot’s prowess, he was glad to see he couldn’t do anything about Adam’s increasingly rotting leg.

Lucas watched as the bulky man, with a grim expression, swung his saber and chopped off his own leg, grunting and falling to the ground. Lucas had to give it to him—Adam had guts. He had done something similar once and knew how much it hurt. However, he didn’t feel sympathy for the man; it was hard to feel that way when they were trying to kill him.

After a brief asessment of the situation, Lucas realized that his rib that had been hurting a while back, seemed to have healed enough for him not to feel any pain anymore. This was incredible news.

“What is this poison? I’ve never seen anything like it,” Elliot said, frowning at his partner’s now fully rotted leg on the ground. He seemed genuinely curious, but Lucas didn’t bother to answer him and started rushing towards the still-standing figure.

This time, his progress wasn’t hindered by any earth pillars, making Lucas cautious. It was clear Eliot had something to rely on if he wasn’t trying to stop him, even with Adam one leg short.

Even with those doubts in his mind, Lucas threw a punch toward Elliot’s face as soon as he was in front of him. But a wall of water intercepted his fists, the water was heavy like mud, slowing his punch dramatically. Elliot’s head had already moved to the side by the time Lucas’ blade pierced through.

In the next moment, before he could fully retract his hand, Lucas felt a sharp pain in his calf. Looking down, he saw a spike sticking out of the ground, piercing his flesh. As fast as he could, he freed his leg and retreated.

Blood gushed from the wound, but the injury wasn’t serious. How did I not see this one coming? Lucas thought. The previous times Elliot used earth magic, there had been a slight tremor as a warning. This time, there was no indication before it was too late.

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I was distracted, Lucas concluded shortly after. The punch and the strange phenomenon with the water had thrown him off, and he didn’t notice the hidden attack until it was too late. Thankfully, it seemed Elliot’s ability to cast two different spells at once was limited, preventing him from making a larger spike. Otherwise, Lucas might have been dead.

I can also do magic, Lucas thought as an idea popped into his head. He pointed his finger toward Elliot and started to fire while moving quickly towards him again.

As expected, an earth-made shield appeared in front of Elliot, blocking both of Lucas’ shots. That’s when Lucas switched targets, and two fire shots flew past Elliot, hitting the already injured Adam, who was trying to get up. Needless to say, Adam fell back down, belly first.

No notifications appeared, much to Lucas’ surprise, meaning Adam was still alive. Elliot looked livid as his wall descended, revealing his face.

Lucas expected a provocation, a promise to kill him—anything. But what came from Elliot wasn’t words but actions, and Lucas respected that, even if he preferred the latter. Spikes began to pop out from all sides, much larger than the first one, almost like spears rising from the ground to impale him, forcing Lucas to keep moving constantly.

His movement wasn’t random, however, and with every minor detour, he got closer and closer to his target. Once Lucas arrived, he didn’t stop. His fist was already flying, but the same thing happened—water blocked and slowed his punch, enough for Elliot to get out of the way.

The spike trick didn’t catch him off guard this time. Lucas made full use of his footwork to keep him in constant movement, throwing a barrage of attacks at Elliot. When his fist was blocked, he kicked; when that didn’t work, his knee came into action. After only a couple of minutes, both were visibly tired, but Lucas managed to pierce Elliot’s arm in his last attack, and the necrotic effect began to take hold.

Elliot looked at his arm, dejected. He had done all he could to avoid this outcome, but it still wasn’t enough. The person he considered an ant not too long ago was too capable, and now he saw how foolish he had been to underestimate him. But he wasn’t willing to give up just yet.

Lucas felt a large tremor all around him; his heart faltered for a second. Whatever it was, he wouldn’t be able to dodge it. Unless…

Lucas bent his legs the best he could. His muscles tensed, and in the next second, he jumped. His strength now was many times higher than that of a strong man back on Earth, and his muscles and power were perfectly spread throughout his body, thanks to the system. When he jumped, it was almost like he had done so on a trampoline.

Elliot’s expression was solemn as he watched all fifty spears miss Lucas, the highest one barely scratching his boots. Now was the perfect time for him to retreat, but could he? If he did, Sultan would come after him instead of Lucas, and that seemed much worse. Even after seeing all that Lucas could do, Elliot still didn’t believe he was a match for his boss. But if that was the case, why hadn’t Sultan shown up yet?

Does he want us to die? This dark thought took a hold of him, and he couldn’t shake the dread that followed. He had spent too much mana, and his last attack was his last hope. So when Lucas landed gracefully and started rushing toward him, he could barely react with a few water barriers before feeling the cold glass piercing his heart.

Gasping, Lucas withdrew his blades and half-kneeled on the ground. He rummaged through his ring, fetched a stamina potion, and drank it. He had a feeling his battle wasn’t over yet, and just as he thought that, another person started to descend the steps the other two had come from.

It was a tall, lean man of about forty, with a large scar on one side of his face. His smile made him look even more wicked, along with his slow clap.

Human — Lvl 16

“That’s quite the show you’ve put on for me,” he said, his voice carrying an air of authority. “I knew you had some skill from the first time you killed one of my men, but to think you could single-handedly take down two of my best men.” Sultan shook his head, looking at the bodies on the ground.

“You… you knew?” Lucas asked, surprised. He thought his previous assaults had gone unnoticed. Sure, their corpses were evidence that something was up, but there hadn’t been anyone to see him do it, and he hadn’t seen any cameras around.

“Of course I knew. Did you think I’d leave my stronghold without any sort of surveillance?”

Lucas had underestimated not only Sultan but also the technology of this world. Sure, it sometimes had a medieval theme, but it was still a world with a system. Advanced technology was bound to exist. The thought gave him chills. What if, instead of just watching, Sultan had done something to stop him when he first descended? If there were surveillance technology, other, more dangerous things might exist as well.

“Then why didn’t you do anything before I reached this point?” Lucas asked, genuinely curious.

“With the system, all of us have the same opportunities. Kings, princes—none of that actually matters,” Sultan said, and when he mentioned prince, the prince behind Lucas seemed to flinch with terror. “I believe in equal opportunities. You had your shot to dethrone me. It wasn’t easy, but still, you managed to reach me all by yourself. If I, too afraid to face you, did everything I could to stop you before, how would I live with myself?”

Lucas pondered Sultan’s words. They seemed far more reasonable than what he expected to hear from a terrorist, making him uneasy about what he needed to do.

“There’s no need to feel bad about it. Challenges are needed to grow. The one who leaves this place alive will be stronger for it, but I’ll tell you now: it will be me,” Sultan said with a laugh.

Their conversation was interrupted by a groan coming from the ground. “Help!” Adam, managed to say with a raspy voice, slightly moving his hand upwards.

Lucas saw Sultan look at Adam with disgust. He then drew out a strange sword and killed him outright. Afterward, he raised his head, looked at Lucas and said: “Now where were we?”