MTLNOVEL Chapter 356: Spar
A/N: Apologies if the quality is a bit lacking in these two chapters, I'm on a trip so couldn't find too much time to write.
***
The two didn't waste even a moment as they sent a barrage of attacks Jane's way.
Neraxis, with his sword, and blood blades. And Evangeline, only with her sword.
However, despite their onslaught of attacks, Jane seemed to somehow just barely dodge them all.
At first, Neraxis attributed it to her having many more stats than the two of them, which gave her that edge. But as time went by and none of their attacks landed, they began to grow a bit skeptical.
[What the hell is she doing?] Evangeline scoffed in disbelief. [I'm sure my attacks are fast enough to kill her, but she's simply taking a step or two back. This bitch is overleveled.]
I know, right? Neraxis replied with a frown.
Having not many choices left, he decided to rely on blood manipulation.
<Ding!>
<Blood Manipulation has been activated!>
<You will lose 2% of your total HP per second!>
And following that, he summoned a bunch of swords that mimicked his own.
<50x Blood Constructs Summoned! Type: Utility—Blood Sword>
[HP -4,375! 4,375/8,750]
Once again, it took exactly 50% of his HP, but this time, Neraxis didn't pay it any mind.
Instead, he focused on each of the swords, feeling a deep connection to them.
Then, with a mere thought, he sent them all flying toward Jane.
They were incredibly fast, even for his standards. But once they approached Jane, that all changed.
She turned her head, twisted her body, and simply dodged the attacks.
Since the swords homed in on her, they flipped around and traveled toward her neck.
Yet unlike before, she finally reacted.
Jane raised a single hand and caught a blood sword.
Then, with a mere flick of her wrist, she swung the sword at an incredible speed, causing an arc similar to his Advanced Sword Slash to fly out.
Noticing the danger, Neraxis ducked.
Evangeline did the same.
[Okay... no. Something is definitely up with her,] Evangeline remarked flatly. [I can bet you two cookies she's hiding something.]
Neraxis sighed. She's always hiding something, Evangeline.
[Yeah. But look at this. What is this?] She pointed at Jane's smug face. [Do you think a saint who barely has any mana can do something like this? Hell no.]
Makes sense. Neraxis chuckled. Let's try a synergized attack. I'm going to use all my power to send a blood sword at her. You infuse that blood sword with whatever you want, just make it more powerful. Also... make it somehow hit her.
[I'm not a magical fairy, Neraxis,] Evangeline replied. [But sure, I can try my best. You should too.]
He nodded. Naturally.
With that, their little plan was ready. Or not so much.
Anyways...
Neraxis stood up and dashed toward Jane.
She didn't remain standing as she met him head-on and slashed downward with one of his blood swords.
He didn't panic. Instead, he made the sword dissolve down her forearm.
This was the closest he had been to damaging her; therefore, he used all that excess blood and made a little something.
<1x Blood Constructs Summoned! Type: Utility—Blood Grenade>
A small grenade formed and stuck to her skin. Obviously, Neraxis smirked at her and dashed away.
Then, in the very next moment, he detonated it.
—BOOOOOOOOOM
The explosion was surprisingly loud, especially since the grenade wasn't all that big. But even so, Neraxis didn't mind it as he appeared beside Evangeline.
"Scrapping the plan?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Nope, just tried an alternative first. How is she?"
"Alive and well," Evangeline replied with a sigh as the dust finally parted.
Jane didn't even have a scratch on her. Not even her hand, which should normally have been blown off.
Because of that, Neraxis came to one simple conclusion.
"You do know you'll be fighting the Sovereign of Pride with the exact same strength, right?" Neraxis asked. "Your level might mean a lot against us, but against him? It won't mean jack shit."
Jane tilted her head. "I'm surprised you two are so confident I'm high-leveled. Don't you think that I might just have some skills to back me up?"
"Point-blank explosions tend to hurt a bit. I'd know, since I had a few nukes dropped on me back in my prime," Evangeline said matter-of-factly.
Jane raised her arms and began walking toward them. "Let's put a pause in our match. You can't inspect me, right? But I can show you my level at the very least."
They tilted their heads in confusion as she finally arrived before them and held out her hands.
Neraxis's gaze darted between Evangeline and Jane until eventually, he decided to accept her hand.
And the moment he did, a surprising interface appeared in front of him.
Name: Jeanne d'Arc
Age: 185
Level: 25
Class: Priest (Common) [+]
—Stats:
HP: 500/500
MP: 58/100
Strength: 50
Agility: 50
Stamina: 50
Mana Capacity: 10
Free Stat Points: 0
"...?" Neraxis's brows furrowed in confusion.
"Okay... so it's starting to make much less sense now," Evangeline remarked. "You're level 25. Your stats are terrible. And we can't even see your skills."
"I can't show you my skills. It doesn't work like that," Jane replied. "But yes. My level is that low. And I only have four skills. One of them is revival, the other is healing, and the other two you can use your imagination to figure out."
"One of them is corpse explosion, isn't it?" Neraxis brought up. "So what's your last skill then?"
"Corpse explosion isn't a direct skill of mine. It's like a sub-branch of an already existing skill, you could say," Jane said flatly. "But... the point I'm trying to make is that I have a lot of trump cards."
She cleared her throat and continued. "If the Sovereign of Pride is really going to fight at my level, then I have the highest chance because of how weak he's going to be. I doubt he can copy my skills, after all."
Evangeline nodded, then turned to Neraxis.
"What do you think?"