CH194

“Have you gotten yourself some combat skills since I’ve seen you last Ben?” Abrus asked curiously.

“I mean, yes but they’re level zero so not much good against someone like you.”

“Come on, give it a go,” Writ told him encouragingly. “Take it from me, you don’t get many chances to fight against a being that powerful without having to worry about being hurt.”

He was planning on declining but felt some curious eyes on him, including Thera’s. They knew he was competent at his actual work and Thera had seen him use his traps to deal with a variety of animals, including a demon horde, they couldn’t help but wonder just how long he’d last.

“Fine, if you think it would be such a good idea then give me a minute. I at least need my equipment.”

“No problem,” The spirit told him, sounding uncomfortably excited as he did. “Thera, let’s have another round while we wait.”

He would have liked to watch, but instead he went to his room and grabbed everything he thought he’d need, namely his knife, his barrier bracelet, and his gun before he headed back out to find their fight had already finished.

“Alright, I think I have everything I need if you want to give it a go,” He said, standing away from the spirit with weapons in hand.

“Sounds good, how hard do you want me to go on you? I can take things a bit easier than I did for Thera and Glob if you want.”

“Just do whatever you want,” He told him, knowing it wouldn’t make much of a difference considering the sheer difference in strength and skill but regretting it as soon as he saw the grin stretch across the other being’s face.

“Alright, I’ll do exactly what I want. Writ, call to start, would you?”

“Very well, on go. Three! Two! One! GO!” The satyr called out, bringing a gust of wind with the words as the match ended.

Ben hadn’t even blinked, he simply hadn’t been able to react. By the time he was aware that anything happened the earth spirit was right in front of him, a finger gently pressed against his forehead as Abrus let out a laugh.

Teleportation? No, Abrus has the wrong affinity for that. So it was just speed then? But that’s ridiculous, how fast would he need to be able to move to manage that? So this is what Writ meant by an insurmountable mountain.

“Dad come on, you obviously went too hard!” Thera yelled out at him, annoyance sharp in her tone.

“Haha, sorry honey I just wanted to have some fun! Why don’t we give it a proper try Ben, I’ll only go about as hard as I did for Thera and Glob.”

“I think that’s alright, I got plenty out of that so I should go back to work,” He told the earth spirit as he started to walk off, stopping for one more thing. “But would you mind if I try again next time?”

The laughter slipped away as Abrus changed to a more curious tone. “I don’t mind, but you don’t mean the same way I just did, do you?”

“It’s just to help with my curiosity is all,” He lied as he waved them off to get back to his work area. He knew that he was going to lose, it was obvious. All of his hunts always depended on plenty of setup to be successful and dealt with mostly dumb animals. He’d had no time and was going against an ancient being who was a master of their magic, the thought that anything else could happen was outlandish. But the fact he hadn’t even been able to attempt to use any of his tools hurt his craftsman’s pride. He wanted to see if he could at least make things a little more interesting the next time.

Getting to his area he thought about just how he’d tackle going against someone like Abrus, deciding to redo the enchantments on his jacket as he did, replacing them with the higher-level skills he’d just gained access to.

The first question was how to deal with that speed. When a creature moved that fast there was basically no difference from teleportation, minus the fact that they would have to go through barriers the long way instead of skipping them entirely. Let alone weapons, his barrier bracelet would be worthless as well.

“If I want to go against someone that powerful, I need not only better items, I need to be able to activate them almost instantly.”

His bracelet might have been able to create a shield, but it showed its full effects when he threw it down to create a barrier around him. He hadn’t even updated it with the higher level of barrier magic yet either but it was obvious that it would be meaningless. He needed a barrier that would be able to do what he’d designed this one to do without the step of sliding it off his arm.

As for his knife, well as proud of it as he was, there was no escaping the fact that it had no hope either. It did well against the pixie dragon, but against an earth spirit, most of its enchantments would be meaningless. He supposed there was the chance it could do some damage if he managed to restrain him, but by that point he would have already won, it wasn’t like he was looking for a fight to the death or anything.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.