Chapter 924: The Abyss vs. The Azure (2)
Chapter 924: The Abyss vs. The Azure (2)
Whoosh!
With [Flash of the Azure Dragon] active, it went without saying that Noel had a difficult time keeping track of Valyr, even with the disparity that existed between their strength.
However, the old man was still able to track the young man down, adorning a faint smile after realizing Valyr was just heading straight at him.
“[Abyssal Serpent Style]…”
“[Bastion of the Boundless Abyss]!”
Getting the feeling that the young man’s attacks would begin to deviate from merely utilizing spearmanship, Noel immediately activated one of his stronger defensive skills, casting a barrier around himself as he reminded himself not to use any of his stat-boosting skills against Valyr.
‘After all, I’m just assessing how strong Valyr is,’ thought the old man to himself. ‘There’s no reason to turn this into a fight to the death.’
Though, just as those thoughts lingered in his mind, the young man’s next few moves caused him to begin doubting those same thoughts.
“[Four Paths Azure Magic Arts]…”
“[Dominion of the Azure Turtle]!”
Whoosh!
With Valyr as the center, a massive field of energy soon expanded before Noel’s very eyes, engulfing him as his imminent surroundings took on a tinge of the dark blue Azure Energy had.
Feeling the domain take its effect on him as it slightly reduced his strength, Noel slightly frowned as he watched the young man raise his hands to the sky the moment the domain was formed.
“[Truth Weaver Scripture: Tetrad].”
“[Intent of Shadow Energy].”
“[Four Paths Azure Magic Arts]…”
“[Azure Phoenix’s Lament]!”
Whoosh!
Without giving any telltale signs, the young man shot out a considerable amount of Azure Energy into the sky, causing it to expand and transform into a massive azure cloud.
Under the effects of [Dominion of the Azure Turtle], the azure cloud gained an imposing aura to it, imbuing the same feeling into all the azure phoenixes that began to rain from it soon after.
Screeech!!!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Within seconds, Noel immediately felt his barrier began to crumple under the relentless onslaught of the azure phoenixes.
“Guess I’ll have to change my tactics,” murmured the old man to himself, imbuing the barrier with a bit of his Abyssal Energy to give himself some more time to think.
At the same time, he watched the azure phoenixes collide against the barrier, seeing that the defensive skill still worked in reflecting the attack back to its origin, the cloud.
However, rather than have the entire attack be reflected back to the barrier, part of the azure phoenix still lingered on its surface, slowly corroding the barrier through its azure flames.
Understanding that he’d just be a sitting duck if he were to let the azure phoenixes gradually destroy his barrier, Noel took the initiative to dispel the barrier as he immediately dashed straight to where Valyr was.
Whoosh!
Though he had not activated any movement skill whatsoever, his stats were more than enough to close the gap between the two of them in less than a breath’s time, prompting Valyr to respond.
“[Four Paths Azure Magic Arts]…”
“[Four Paths Azure Bolt]!”
Imbuing the bolt of Azure Energy with the element of Wind, Valyr sent out a couple of them to make Noel deviate from his original path, making sure to keep a fair distance from the man at the same time.
Of course, a few bolts were far from enough to deter the man from continuing, instead making Noel double down on his approach as he made use of his Abyssal Energy.
“[Abyssal Serpent Slither Arts].”
“[Lightless Warp].”
Fwoosh!
Before Valyr could react, the man had appeared before him, swinging down his spear imbued to the brim with Abyssal Energy.
“[Abyssal Serpent Style]…”
“[Boundless Abyss Engulfment]!”
Whoosh!
Keeping an eye on the spear’s trajectory, Valyr immediately ducked before turning into a blur of Azure Energy, distancing himself from Noel before distancing himself some more.
“[Azure Dragon Movement Arts]…”
“[Blink of the Azure Dragon]!”
With that, the two continued sparring some more, prompting Valyr to unleash some of the techniques he’d yet to make use in an actual fight, like [Descent of the Azure Phoenix].
Of course, with Noel having only made one of his moves known to Valyr before the spar, many of the moves he unleashed had caught the young man off guard.
Though, with a knack for combat and strong spatial awareness, the young man was able to avoid most of them, having to rely on a couple of defensive skills for the ones he couldn’t.
In the end, the two stood a few meters away from each other, looking at each other with exhaustion written all over their faces.
As for the training ground, it had now been dyed a mix of black and dark blue, its evenness now a mere thing of the past.
Catching his breath, Noel gripped on his spear as he looked at Valyr. “So… want to continue?”
“I’ll pass.” Hearing the question, Valyr immediately chose to stop the spar. “It’s just a spar, not a fight to the death.”
Taking in a few deep breaths, he then asked the old man with a faint smile. “Anyways, what’s your verdict, Elder Noel?”
“With the moves you’ve shown so far, you’ll greatly contribute if you were to be put in to the frontlines.” Inwardly letting out a sigh of relief, Noel affixed his spear to his back as he responded to Valyr’s question.
“Of course, with your main class being that of a blacksmith, you’d also be able to contribute greatly from the rear.”
“In any case, I’m guessing you haven’t made use of all the moves you have in your skill list yet, no?” asked Noel, to which Valyr let out some laughter before nodding.
“I could say the same to you as well,” said the young man, sitting down after getting confirmation that their fight was over.
Wryly smiling in response to the young man’s words, Noel made his way to where Valyr was
before sitting near him.
Looking at the young man for a bit, the old man eventually thought of a question he had
before meeting him, faintly mustering up the courage to ask it. “Say… do you think you could
contact the divine being that gave you Azure Energy?”
Raising his eyebrow in response, Valyr mulled over it for a bit before giving a slightly unsure
nod. “I could try. Why?”
“Oh, nothing much.” Noel let out a faint chuckle at the question.
“I just wanted to ask if she could take me in as her student.”
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