161: Fight against the gatekeepers!

Fight against the gatekeepers!

As he faced off against the two gatekeepers, a monotone voice resounded inside of his head. When he had been fighting just now, he had actually gained a new skill! The skill wasn't anything special, but Ark was still fairly happy that he managed to get it. The skill sword mastery was just like his spear mastery, it was basically a representation of his skill with a weapon, and the higher level it was, the more benefits he would get from it. It wasn't just about increasing his attack power, but also enhancing his knowledge and understanding of the weapon, as well as his familiarity with it.1

Although it was currently only beginner Lv.1 Ark was sure that this skill would be useful in the future. Fighting with a sword was fairly refreshing too, and it was a lot more convenient since he didn't want to reveal one of his biggest trump cards. Keeping his spear skill hidden in the future would be a good way to launch a surprise attack.

Since he knew that the fight was going to be a little difficult with his current strength, Ark decided to infuse some more mana into his cells, enhancing his physical capabilities to another level. Not wasting any more time, Ark rushed forward once more. Since he didn't want to fight them both at the same time, this time he slashed pre-emptively at the right gatekeeper, unlike his first attack, this one was imbued with a large amount of ice mana, and a devastating cold energy was sent flying at the opponent.

Even if the attack wouldn't harm the gatekeeper, Ark knew for sure that he wouldn't get interrupted again. Unlike the last time, Ark ran whilst keeping his body as close to the ground as possible. Naturally, the left gatekeeper thrust its spear at him again, quite like the last time. But unlike last time, he didn't dodge to either of the sides. Instead, he used wind magic to blast himself off the ground and into the air.

Since the attack was aimed very low, Ark thought that it would be fastest if he just jumped over the attack instead of dodging to the side before counterattacking. Whilst in the air, he still needed to use his sword to change the course of the spear a little, since he didn't want the gatekeeper to try and adjust its attack to hit him, even if it was just with the shaft of the spear. The spear pierced into the ground as if it was butter.

Since it pierced into the ground, Ark was free to attack however he wanted, with nothing to stop him. With a diagonal overhead slash, the sword in Ark's hand released an intense amount of ice fog that enveloped the gatekeeper. The ice fog slowed down the gatekeeper's movements to the point where it almost stood still. With no way to defend itself from the attack, the gatekeeper could only stand still and await its fate.

The gatekeeper was quickly slashed in half, but weirdly enough, blood didn't spray everywhere like you'd expect it to. Because of the cold fog, the blood froze as he cut the gatekeeper in half, and a thin layer of ice kept everything in place. Before he could land squarely on the ground, Ark sensed the right gatekeeper's spear heading straight for him again. This time, he didn't have the time to blast himself away with the help of wind since his body wouldn't get out of the way in time.

Instead, he conjured up a paltry ice shield in front of him, which the spear quickly obliterated. This bought Ark just enough time to twist his body forcefully and to raise his sword to deflect the attack. Even though he was able to avoid the attack in time, he injured himself in the process, and the force of the attack still travelled through his sword and into his body, albeit not all of it.

He flew backwards a few meters, but managed to land safely on the ground. The injury wasn't that severe, but it still hurt like hell. Since he had already gotten himself hurt, Ark decided that it was time to end this fight instead of just playing around and testing his limits. He infused a large amount of mana into his cells and from the others' point of view, it simply looked like he disappeared. Everyone that was strong enough could see that he was simply too fast for most eyes to see.

Ark instantly appeared behind the gatekeeper and swung his sword again. This time, the gatekeeper wasn't cut in half, before the sword could even touch it, it had already frozen solid. The slash simply shattered the ice into tiny little pieces. After he had killed both the gatekeepers, Ark could hear the monotone voice telling him that his sword mastery had levelled up to beginner Lv.2  

To everyone else, this battle was a bit too shocking. He had at first shown pretty exceptional strength, but all of a sudden, he had become exponentially more powerful, to the point where they could barely make out what happened. After killing both of the gatekeepers, Ark just waltzed back to the rest of the group, and then approached the young lady. "So, what do you want to do now? Do you want to continue?"

His rather nonchalant remarks toward a noble was a little bit frightening to the rest of the humans, as they all just assumed that he could talk like that due to his extraordinary status or something along those lines. They would've never assumed that he just didn't care for proper etiquette when it came to nobles. The young lady didn't really mind it, as she had never really cared much for the rules of nobles in the first place, she still had to follow them though, and there wasn't really much she could do about it unless she wanted to be punished.

She was a little thankful that he asked for her opinion, as she was supposed to be the leader of this exploration. Seeing as how everyone was pretty much in their best condition, she decided that it was for the best if they just kept pressing forward. After hearing her opinion, Ark just nodded, walked up to the large gate, and threw a punch. The gate stood no chance at all, and was instantly blasted into smithereens by Ark's fist. What greeted them was a ginormous amount of space that had been dug out by the goblins and their brethren.

This space was littered with shabby houses and shacks as far as the eye could see. The only source of light were the torches that were set up all around the place, on the walls, on the houses, and even in the middle of the "street", which was essentially just the space between the shacks. Hearing the gate being blown up, pretty much every monster in the entire settlement turned their heads to look at the gate.

Ark didn't waste any time, and he quickly released almost half of his mana. The mana was quickly converted into white flames, that started devouring everything they came into contact with, not only were the goblins that tried to resist it massacred, but every house and shack ignited until there was only ash left. The numerous wooden structures helped spread the fire even faster, and the entire place quickly descended into chaos.

When the people behind him witnessed the scene, they couldn't help but gulp. The wails and screeches of goblins and monsters being burned alive was quite frightening, it looked as if Ark had set the entire world ablaze. Considering how much mana he had just used, Ark decided to stay back for a while to recover his mana, he had done his part after all, it was time for everyone else to show their worth.

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