novelraw Chapter 139: Facing Kaela Part I
Chapter 139: Facing Kaela Part I
The next morning arrived far faster than I would’ve liked. Today was the duel, and I was more prepared than ever. I’d used the three Rare-Grade Elixir Vouchers for elixirs that increased my Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina, and consumed them early this morning.
Walking toward the training hall, armed to the teeth, I noticed all my friends waiting at the entrance. Boris, in particular, had his arms crossed and a wide grin plastered on his face.
“Ready to clash with a ferocious wolf girl, lad?”
“More than ready,” I answered.
Michelle approached and said, “Be careful. We’ll be watching from afar, so no one will interfere with your duel like in the past.”
“Mm. Thanks.”
Tuilë bounced up next, practically vibrating. “So, what’s your review of the spear? You still haven’t told me anything since yesterday!”
“Very impressive. It’s the best weapon I’ve wielded so far, and I plan to keep using it for a long time.”
“Great to hear that.” She nodded, satisfied.
Lucian adjusted his robe and told me, “If you lose, I’ll pretend I don’t know you.”
“Ha, fair enough.”
Despite their jokes, I could feel they were genuinely hoping for me to win.
Kaela Ash. A wolf-blooded monster in humanoid skin—a natural-born predator who lived for battle. I would surely defeat her.
When we reached the dueling cubes, a sizable crowd of divine warriors had already gathered. Rumors always spread fast in Fantasia, and someone challenging a Daleth-rank therianthrope was exactly the kind of spectacle no one would willingly miss. Of course, the crowd wasn’t nearly as massive as the one during my fight with Graham—back then, Graham and his men had practically dragged people over and forced them to watch, not to mention that it was a duel to the death.
Kaela stood before a dueling cube, arms crossed, a slow, predatory grin stretching across her face. She looked as though she might leap at me the moment I came into view. Her subordinates lounged beside her, each one glaring at us with hostility.
Her ears perked the instant she spotted me, and her grin widened. “Human, I must admit that you have some guts for not running away. I was about to start dragging random humans in as replacements.”
Her subordinates snickered, one of them cracking his knuckles deliberately loud, while another casually pulled her bowstring taut with a smug, provoking smirk, as if daring anyone to speak up.
I ignored their taunts and approached the cube. “You wanted a duel. I’m here. So let’s skip the small talk and get this over with.”
“Good. I was getting bored.” Kaela strode into the dueling cube and jerked her chin at me. “Come inside, then.”
I stepped into the cube, and the mana barrier surged up around us. As it happened, I immediately activated Inspect Eye on Kaela, wanting to see just how much she’d grown since our last encounter.
Kaela Ash Lv. 13/80 (EXP 700/10,640)
HP: 100%
Rank: Daleth [4]
Patron God: Istellia (Goddess of Imagination)
Class: Beast Berserker
Total Attribute Points: 3,222
As expected, she had grown stronger since the last time. Had she not been too high-leveled for the early scenarios—gaining almost nothing from weak monsters—she would have advanced even more, and that would’ve been dangerously problematic for me.
“Don’t disappoint me, human. If you do, I’ll tear you into shreds.” She raised her clawed hand toward me, her golden eyes narrowed and glaring at me as if a predator sizing up its prey.
“I won’t,” I replied evenly. “Though… do you mind if we conceal our duel by activating the cube’s concealment function?”
The dueling cubes could completely block outside view if activated—a useful feature considering I would likely need to use my trump cards against her. Back in the Grand Colosseum, the distance and scale made it possible to hide my signature skill; here, I had no such luxury without concealment.
“Suit yourself,” Kaela said, tapping her foot in growing impatience. “Three minutes. That’s how long you get to impress me before I stop holding back.”
Three minutes? Even Graham hadn’t been that arrogant.
Kaela cracked her neck, ready to attack. Meanwhile, I drew my swords and raised my buckler. I wasn’t going to discard it just yet. I needed to gauge Kaela’s true power first before deciding how much of my kit to commit to counter her.
“Now then, human,” she growled, claws flexing, “show me the power of someone who killed the former strongest in Fantasia.”
As soon as she finished speaking, her body vanished from the spot—no, she was moving so fast that my eyes couldn’t track her at all. Alarm jolted through me, and I twisted sideways with a desperate Wind Rush. A split second later, a deafening boom shook the entire cube as Kaela’s foot pulverized the ground where I’d been standing a heartbeat earlier. The blast of force slammed into me like a physical wave, rattling my bones.
Just how high is her Dexterity stat?! Must be well over seven hundred!
“So slow!” she barked, appearing behind me.
Her claw slashed toward my spine. I spun sharply, raising my buckler to intercept. Metal shrieked under the impact as her strike carved a deep, ugly gouge across its surface. The sheer force behind it sent a brutal jolt up my arm, nearly wrenching my shoulder out of its socket.
Crap! Not only is she insanely fast, but her power is also beyond the chart! I was completely certain that if I hadn’t invested a ton of attribute points beforehand, I would’ve lost in that single exchange.
“Human, why are you so weak?” Kaela mocked, tilting her head. “If all you do is block, then the victor’s already decided.”
“Tch—{Mass Alteration}!” I snapped, activating the spell and forcing her weight upward, doubling it instantly.
She blinked in surprise for a second, but that was all. With a feral grin, Kaela powered straight through the invisible heaviness and lunged again, ripping into the air with a hammer-like punch. Not stopping there, I immediately cast {Gravity Field}, doubling her weight again—then unleashed Phantom Blade, intent on forcing a trade if I had to.
Three translucent blades shot forward, cutting through the air toward her. Kaela twisted her torso mid-charge, her movements still ludicrously fast despite being four times heavier. The first blade grazed her arm, carving a thin red line. The second, she swatted aside with the back of her hand. The third struck her shoulder—only for her to shrug it off as if the attack were nothing.
“Hah! That’s more like it!” she roared.
Her punch came down like a meteor. She moved so quickly that I couldn’t even react—too fast to dodge, too fast to raise my guard. But at the last instant, my buckler jerked upward on its own, slamming into her fist with perfect timing.
Boom!
The impact exploded against me, launching me backward and slamming me into the barrier hard enough to knock the wind from my lungs. But still, I was relatively unscathed, all thanks to the buckler’s special property—its one-time ability to block any attack below He rank. Without it, that single blow would’ve ended the duel.
“Is that all?” Kaela jeered, licking the blood off her arm with a feral, hungry expression. “I’ve barely used 30 percent of my power.”
I smirked, unequipped the buckler, and threw it to the ground while saying, “I don’t need this anymore.” After all, its one-time special property had already been spent, and with the metal dented beyond reliable use, there was no point keeping it equipped. Better to lighten myself. After that, I allocated fifty points straight into Dexterity.
Dexterity: 466 → 516
Just then, Kaela rushed at me again, brandishing her claws. I tightened my grip on my sword and cast {Gravity Launch}, propelling myself upward to cling to the ceiling and avoid her attack.
Kaela didn’t hesitate. She immediately crouched and kicked off the ground, the floor fracturing beneath her as she shot upward like a missile, aiming straight for my throat. As expected, she reacted instantly to vertical movement, but it was exactly what I wanted to happen.
The moment her claws reached for me, I propelled myself downward with the spell, dropping like a stone and slipping past her mid-air swipe by mere centimeters. Her pupils flicked down in surprise. Subsequently, I reversed {Mass Alteration} and {Gravity Field} on her, stripping the weight from her body until she was nearly weightless.
While she was falling helplessly, I used Phantom Slash, swinging my sword at her. In that weightless state, she wouldn’t be able to stabilize herself or evade. Two mirrored afterimages formed instantly behind the true strike, aligning into a sharp triangular formation—timed perfectly with her descent. The combined attack streaked toward her like converging comets, aimed straight for Kaela’s exposed midsection.
Her eyes widened, but even weightless, Kaela wasn’t completely defenseless. She twisted her torso with unnatural dexterity. Instead of attempting a full dodge, she curled her body mid-air and raised both forearms in a tight cross-guard.
The combined slashes slammed into her block, their force blasting her downward like a meteor. She crashed into the floor with enough momentum to carve a shallow crater across the tiles. Dust billowed upward in a thick cloud, but her silhouette didn’t stay down for long.
As the dust cleared, I realized she was completely unscathed. She brushed the debris off her fur without a hint of pain, her golden eyes burning brighter, hotter, almost feverish with excitement.
“You’re starting to get interesting, human,” she said, baring her fangs in a savage grin. “That actually stung.”
Her tail lashed once, clearly excited. She lowered her stance, claws extending fully, every muscle coiling like a predator ready to pounce.
“Fine then,” she growled, her aura flaring outward like a raging wildfire. “If you can hit me like that, then playtime is over. Let’s see how long you can survive… when I get serious.”
I swallowed hard. I realized that despite everything I had thrown at her so far, she hadn’t used a single skill. Not even one. If what she boasted earlier was true, then I was nothing more than prey she’d been toying with from the start.
This battle was going to be far from easy.