novelraw Chapter 66 : Chapter 66
Chapter 66 : Chapter 66
Chapter 66 : Wild Card
“Perfect, Blanid!”
Divinity shouted from the other side of the training ground.
Blanid didn't respond to her praise and continued to move nimbly with the jump boots, dodging the opponent.
Eventually, she faced Barry charging head-on, and at that moment, Blanid leaped over him, spinning her body to land on the other side.
Now only the energy attacks remained.
Sal swung his sword, sending a wave of white light toward Blanid, who was already sprinting toward the finish line.
She blocked most of it with her shield, but the impact of the attack nearly made her lose her balance.
However, Blanid quickly regained her center and started running at full speed again.
The subsequent two attacks missed completely as Blanid threw herself across the finish line.
Applause erupted from both teams.
Divinity tapped on her tablet and laughed.
“You're third, after Barry and me! Really well done!”
She looked around to see the next order.
With the first match just a few days away, Divinity had suggested a focused attack style training.
Each participant had to run from one end of the training ground to the other while engaging eight people.
Shields, pistol gauntlets, and jump boots were provided, but the goal was not to take down the opponent but to focus on evasion.
For Sal, it was an interesting training method that also allowed practice for long-range attacks.
Blanid lay on the ground, leisurely taking off her gauntlets and arm guards with a smile.
Her breathing was rough, but she seemed greatly satisfied with her own performance.
“What rank is Jack?”
Her eyes sparkled.
Sal didn't know Blanid had such a competitive personality.
Divinity checked the tablet one more time.
“Currently second from the bottom. Last place is Anthony.”
Sal looked at Anthony, who was standing awkwardly in the center of the training ground.
“Wait a minute, Divinity.”
Sal said, pointing at Anthony.
Divinity laughed looking at the sword in Sal's hand.
“Even knowing the ending, this scene is the best among the futures I've seen.”
Barry looked back and forth between the two and asked.
“What am I missing right now?”
Contrary to everyone's expectations, Blanid, who was still catching her breath on the floor, answered.
“Anthony's ability is Supercharge. Since Sal's sword gets stronger the more Essence you infuse… maybe he wants to swap and experiment what happens?”
Divinity smiled at Barry and nodded.
“It's going to be quite a sight. Really.”
Barry tried to go toward Anthony with an expectant face, but Divinity reached out and grabbed him.
“But you'd better watch from here. It's going to become a mess soon.”
As Sal approached Anthony, Anthony frowned and turned away.
“Did Divinity tell me to run again?”
Sal shook his head, and Anthony let out a sigh of relief, dropping his shoulders.
“My formations and stuff are getting better too… but this is just… not in my nature. You know what I mean?”
His honest expression showed just how burdensome this situation was for him.
Training together for the past few weeks, Anthony had consistently put in effort, but his skills didn't improve as quickly as the others.
When Sal handed him the sword, Anthony didn't move and looked at him as if he were a crazy person.
“No, I won't take it. For us to win, you have to hold this sword. I don't want to ruin things by holding this uselessly.”
Sal laughed and thrust the sword closer.
“For ‘us’ to win, you say. You're our team. And we want to see how this sword changes when you use your Supercharge skill. Divinity also said it was a decent choice, and I trust her word.”
Anthony reluctantly took the sword and almost dropped it.
“Wow! It's heavier than it looks….”
Eventually correcting his posture, he gave an awkward smile.
“How do I use it?”
As Sal explained the sword's main functions one by one, Anthony's eyes grew wider and wider as he listened.
When the explanation was over, he tried to return the sword immediately, but Sal didn't allow it.
“Just activate your ability and try using it. Once you get used to it a bit, we'll experiment together with shields and pistol gauntlets.”
Anthony's face turned pale.
“Wait, does that mean… we're going to spar like in actual combat?”
Sal waved his hand and said.
“Something like that. But we'll do it after you get used to it. Before activating it, please wait until I get some distance. And don't be too surprised even if tentacles start wrapping around your arm. It's one of the sword's effects.”
Anthony looked down and laughed softly.
The small octopus decoration caught his eye.
“Got it. But don't expect too much. I might mess it up again.”
When Sal returned to the group, Divinity handed him an arm guard with a meaningful look.
Sal took it without a word, wrapped it around his arm, and activated it.
Instantly, a dazzling blue shield unfolded in front of his arm, and he raised the shield high.
“Start when you're ready, Anthony!”
Hearing Sal's shout, Anthony gave him a thumbs up.
Divinity and Barry each unfolded their shields, and Blanid, Jack, and the other team members gathered behind them, watching the situation over their shoulders.
The start was truly anticlimactic.
When he activated the ability, Anthony panicked at the tentacles wrapping around his wrist, apologized quietly, and tried again.
Sal knew the process of the sword turning silver and then black, so he hoped Anthony would reach somewhere near there too.
That was the way to raise the entire team's potential.
However, reality was completely different from Sal's expectation.
“Damn it!”
Anthony shouted.
The tentacles wrapped around his entire upper body and fused like crimson armor.
The pure white blade shone dazzlingly, and the light was so strong that Anthony had to cover his eyes with his hand.
Sal activated his own eyes to see how the sword in Anthony's hand had changed, but it was hard to see clearly due to the distance.
As Anthony frowned and carefully swung his arm, a thunderous sound soon echoed through the training ground.
Sal was so surprised his jaw dropped.
A projectile shot out as fast as lightning, then suddenly stopped in mid-air.
When Anthony twisted the sword, the projectile reacted, changing direction and striking the training ground's protective wall directly.
The training ground vibrated slightly from the impact, and everyone looked at Anthony with their mouths open at the sight.
The most terrified among them was Anthony himself.
He was staring blankly at the wall he had smashed.
“I'm absolutely not attacking an Anthony holding that.”
Barry whispered low to the other team members, but Divinity laughed and charged straight toward Anthony.
“Prepare to attack!”
As Divinity shouted with a laugh, Anthony looked back at her as if she were crazy.
Seeing the conflict clearly on Anthony's face, Sal made a decision.
“If you don't hit, you're going to get hit!”
Perhaps thanks to the trauma of the past few weeks, that single sentence brought Anthony back to reality.
He lowered his body into a defensive stance and swung the sword toward Divinity.
The moment a powerful projectile flew toward her, Divinity quickly pushed off the ground with her jump boots and leaped up.
Anthony didn't change the direction of the first projectile and immediately fired a second projectile at her again.
The first projectile headed toward Sal and Barry, and the two looked at each other nervously.
“You fixed the shield properly, right?”
Simultaneously with Barry's question, the attack struck the barrier directly.
Sal burst into laughter at the explosive impact, and Barry was flung back and slammed into the wall.
Sal's uniform recognized the attack as a threat this time and blocked it perfectly.
Turning his head again, Divinity was moving nimbly in the air using the jump boots, pouring fire with the bullet gauntlets.
However, the sword deflected all those bullets accurately.
It was before he regained his reason, but Sal instinctively grabbed his gear, called his team members, and joined the battle.
Anthony was dazed at the sight of his arm seemingly moving on its own, and the sword was activating the Absolute Counter ability, reflecting attacks and displaying tremendous destructive power.
“How much longer can you hold out?”
At that shout, Anthony blocked Divinity's surprise shot from her bullet gauntlets without even looking and said.
“I think I can do it for another hour. Is that… bad?”
Instead of answering, Divinity laughed out loud and charged straight in, delivering a knee kick.
However, the sword moved Anthony's body in a different direction, and her kick was blocked by the crimson armor, having no effect.
At this time, Blanid and Jack joined with bullet gauntlets, and the pace of the battle became much more intense.
The Essence bullets they fired were all blocked by the sword and bounced off.
When they got close, Anthony shot projectiles at the ground, pushing everyone back.
The rest of Divinity's team had no means of attack or defense, so they just watched, and Barry was still sprawled in the corner.
He seemed to have fainted from the previous attack.
Although the sparring continued for only a few more minutes, most soon became incapacitated.
The bullets from the bullet gauntlets could be blocked to some extent with shields, but the attacks from the Supercharged sword could not be defended against.
After a few shocking attacks, Jack and Blanid forfeited voluntarily, and Sal also couldn't last long.
There was no way to penetrate that sword's defense.
Even Divinity's ability to see the future found it difficult to beat Anthony in a battle of attrition.
When Divinity raised her hand to end the match, Anthony immediately deactivated the sword.
Anthony looked down at the sword as if he couldn't believe it and kept shaking his head.
Then he approached Sal to return the sword.
“Where on earth did you get something like this? Who the hell is Mythos?”
Sal slowly got up, stretched his back, and loosened his body, anticipating severe muscle pain tomorrow.
Then he gestured for Anthony to just keep holding the sword.
“I did a lot of Appraisal work for the Reavers Guild, so they gave me a Rare rank sword for combat preparation. Mythos is someone who works with them, and I just added some improvements to it. A genius who doesn't even know his own worth.”
Sal laughed as he looked at the sword again.
It seemed he was feeling anew what kind of meaning that weapon held.
Anthony nodded and cherished the sword.
Divinity approached and said with a smile.
“Wasn't it amazing?”
Sal nodded and looked at Anthony.
“I'm not trying to pressure you, but your role will probably decide the match in the next battle.”
The color that had barely returned to his face almost disappeared again, but Anthony didn't lower his head.
Holding the sword firmly, he smiled.
“I'll try my best.”
Sal tapped his back.
“That's enough!”
While organizing the equipment, Barry woke up.
He glared at Anthony the whole time he was moving the luggage, and Anthony tried hard not to make eye contact.
Sal burst into laughter.
“Is your body a bit sensitive, Barry?”
Divinity also giggled at those words and left the training room together.
As they entered the path coming out of the tower, Sal looked at Divinity and asked.
“Can you tell us how prepared we are right now? Or are you still worried we might let our guard down?”
Divinity shook her head.
Glancing back to make sure no one else was around, she lowered her voice.
“I've been looking into the future continuously these days, but I can't trust it. The flow is strange. So I think we have to go with our gut for this tournament.”
Sal frowned and asked back.
“Can't trust it, what do you mean?”
Divinity looked at Sal with meaningful eyes, then checked behind her again.
“The vision I saw during the Doom Society meeting… that scene with Sinclair. It's scheduled to happen this weekend.”
Sal looked at her with a face engulfed in shock, but Divinity immediately brought a finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet.
“Headmaster Quest said he's handling that matter. I meet him every few days to share the situation, but there's no change. He said right now it's just one of the possibilities, and because I worry too much, it only looks like reality. That I'm extracting prophecies from fear, not high-probability futures.”
Sal looked at her with an expression of disbelief.
“If that's the real future and people don't believe you… shouldn't we do something at least?”
Divinity pointed to the team members following behind.
“We've done all the preparations we can. Now… we just have to hope I'm wrong.”