Second World-Novel

Jack was surprised but not flustered. He evaded the punch, but Leavemealone's other fist shot out with unnatural speed. Jack's reflex still managed to put up a hand to block the punch. But since his hand was not considered a valid parrying instrument, he received damage.

'That was Ranger's Swift Stab. Once a Rogue turned to Battle Monk, all his previous standard offensive skills were adjusted to allow them to be executed using fists,' Jack heard Peniel informing him in his mind.

'Then it should be called Swift Punch then,' Jack thought.

Leavemealone continued to punch out. Since Jack did not understand the reason for the aggression, he decided to just continue to dodge first. He used the Eight Diagram Illusory Steps.

Leavemealone stopped after his fists hit empty air a few times. He stepped back and said, "That is profound footwork, but not complete."

He then took a low stance. It was apparent that he was not stopping.

"Wait! Aren't you going to explain first why you are fighting me?" Jack uttered.

Leavemealone answered Jack's question with another punch. Jack tried to block it but it turned out to be a feint. Leavemealone disappeared from Jack's view. He had ducked low and made a leg sweep, trying to negate Jack's footwork.

Although Jack couldn't see, he felt the sweep coming. He jumped up, evading the sweep. But Leavemealone's body suddenly turned upside down, balancing his body on his hands while his legs came up and struck Jack's chest. Jack was thrown away from the kick while receiving damages.

Jack managed to balance himself and landed on his feet.

"Damn it, dude! You want to tussle? Then let's tussle!" Storm Breaker and Whirlwind Falchion appeared on his two hands.

Jack swung his sword. Sword of Light shot out. Leavemealone dodged it easily. Jack used Charge, Leavemealone jumped to the side and punched out. Jack canceled the Charge and use Flash Step and disappeared to his opponent's back. Jack used Flame Charge, but instead of hitting his opponent's back, it struck a glowing fist. Leavemealone's Ki-infused Fist had finished cooldown.

Leavemealone managed to hit the Flame Strike with his own attack, but he was still damaged and thrown backward.

"You can also sense mana?" Jack uttered with surprise.

Leavemealone was also alarmed. He had used a non-standard Battle Monk's skill to block, Iron Punch, it delivered 350% damage at level 1. His fist was also protected by the Ki-infused Fist skill and a rare-grade Fist weapon. To still receive damage, Jack's attack would need to be three times more. This meant Jack's skill damage and attribute were much higher than him.

Leavemealone kept his calm appearance. Instead of answering Jack's question, he returned to attack. His fist turned to a blur as he executed Infinite Lightning Punches. Jack unleashed the burst attack of his Formless Flowing Sword style in retaliation. Sword lights and fist images collided with each other at unreal speed.

The two fairies were floating by the side watching the exchange. They had been chatting while the two men started their bouts.

"You are tasked by the Goddess as well?" Peniel asked.

"A God," Carnelia answered. "It seems that the circumstances of our task are the same. Hey, I sense something different about you."

Carnelia eyed Peniel intently, she then uttered, "Why is your HP so low?"

Her eyes soon went wide in realization. "Wait! Don't tell me. You are a Familiar? How can you allow a lowly human to make you his familiar?"

"Hmph! None of your business," Peniel harrumphed.

"Wait, isn't Call Familiar an Archmage spell? He is clearly a Blade Dancer. How do you become his familiar?"

Peniel gave Carnelia a smirk. "I'm not telling you. If your boy is strong enough to cause trouble to mine, then maybe you will find out."

"Hmph! Mine will surely win! There is no doubt about it!"

"Dream on!"

The two fairies ended up bickering and then continued to cheer their respective partners. Jack was speechless hearing the cheers. Since when did that Peniel ever cheer on him so passionately?

Jack managed to steal an opening and landed a kick at his opponent. Leavemealone didn't receive damage but he tumbled from Jack's strength. He backflipped in an instant to stand back up.

"Let's go over there," Jack pointed at Sangrod Empire's border that was covered by dark clouds. "It is not fair for you to fight with a handicap. We can have a fair duel over there."

"You overestimate yourself," Leavemealone uttered and rushed back at Jack.

"Man, you are really stubborn."

When Jack was about to slash his sword, Leavemealone's body split up. In his eyes, Jack saw multiple Leavemealone.

'That is Illusive Form! A rare non-standard elite skill for classes that branched out from Rogue,' Jack heard Peniel's voice in his mind.

The skill made Leavemealone appear as if numerous. His movements were creating trail images, making Jack have difficulty seeing his real body. He also swayed at high speed, fully exploiting the skill's perk.

Jack had a problem landing a clean hit, while Leavemealone stole several openings and landed a few punches.

'Calm down! Sense his mana!' Jack exclaimed to himself, but Leavemealone's swaying was too erratic that it even clouded his mana. Jack wondered was that movement some kind of martial art?

Decided to brute-force his way out, Jack used Whirlwind Slash. Leavemealone felt the danger from this skill and hurriedly jumped back. But the slash had come, so he punched out in an attempt to cancel the damage. When the fist and sword collided, Leavemealone was pushed away and still suffered little damage.

Now that his opponent lost balance, Jack was not courteous anymore. He used his Formless Flowing Sword style and continued to barrage Leavemealone with slashes after slashes. Jack's speed and strength were greater, causing his opponent to have difficulty recuperating. In a passive state, Leavemealone continued to lose HP.

A glowing runestone suddenly appeared beside Leavemealone.

'Runestone of Combat!' Jack heard Peniel's voice in his mind.

Before he had the chance to ask what was the Runestone of Combat, he felt his opponent getting faster. His punch also carried stronger force. The sudden change caused Jack's sword style to be interrupted. Leavemealone managed to pull himself away. When Jack wanted to chase over, he was stunned by the sudden appearances of numerous large balls of fire.

'Why do those look familiar?' Jack thought.

"That's Fire God Barrage!" Jack heard Peniel's shout. "It's an assault from a Divine Treasure!"

Hearing the confirmation, Jack didn't hesitate. The balls of fire were already floating in the air. Jack jumped back and summoned twenty balls of lightning.

"Lightning God Barrage?" It was Carnelia who was shocked now.

"Where have you gotten the divine treasure?" She asked Peniel.

"I should ask you the same thing!" Peniel responded.

Leavemealone also had the same surprise but he didn't stop his attack. The fireballs shot out at Jack, Jack released his lightning balls at the same time. Forty balls of fire and lightning crashed into each other. The resulting shockwave threw both Jack and Leavemealone away.

Jack had aimed each of his twenty lightning balls to fly in the direction that intercepted Leavemealone's fireballs. Because of his talent, Hundred Synchronous Thoughts, he had no problem controlling the trajectory of each separate ball.

Repeated explosions ensued where the forty balls had collided. The area was covered by firestorms and electricity crackles. The rocky landscape at the area of impact was reduced to a series of craters.

When the dust finally cleared, Jack and Leavemealone watched one another from a distance in bewilderment.

Leavemealone was the first to recover. He readied himself and rushed back again. Jack must admit the guy's tenacity was admirable. He intend to meet his opponent's spirit in kind, but something caught his attention.

"Stop!" Jack called out.

Leavemealone didn't stop.

Jack was annoyed. The fellow's tenacity was perhaps a bit too much. Jack replaced his Whirlwind Falchion with Rapid Dazing Staff. A spell formation was formed rapidly.

Leavemealone was surprised by the change of weaponry, but was even more startled when he felt the cold mana accumulating. He hurriedly jumped back and narrowly evaded a ring of ice energy that radiated out from Jack.

"I said stop! Some people are coming here," Jack exclaimed.

Leavemealone who was confused by Jack casting a spell, finally halt his attack.

"He can cast spells?" Carnelia uttered.

"He has two classes," Peniel answered.

"How is that possible?"

Peniel simply shrugged. "I also don't know. He got it before I met him. He said it was from an alien entity item."

Jack had requested they stop because he had seen ten blue dots coming their way. Leavemealone followed Jack's gaze and soon saw ten figures appearing. The two stood their ground as they waited for these ten to approach.

When the ten was near, Jack saw the lead was wearing God-Eye monocle. Jack used Inspect. The name of the lead was Rawprocessor, a level 37 Archmage. There were two more elite classes, a Paladin and an Assasin. The remaining seven were still advanced classes, a Healer, two Knights, two archers, and two warriors.

All of them were of the Vampire race and were from the World Maker guild.