*Rumble!*

Kai and the others were startled by this sudden move as they took out their weapons and aimed it toward Rapakha. However, it turned out to be their misunderstanding. Because the sky had turned dark, Rapakha thought it would be nice to have a few giant pillars, so Ayaka could torch it.

When Rapakha saw their flustered expressions, he simply smiled, knowing that Kai had yet to undo the Sound Insulation Magic.

Kai glanced at his teammates, noticing they didn't have any more preparations to be done and opened the Sound Insulation Magic.

"We are done."

Ayaka then didn't wait for Kai to say it and headed toward the closest pillar. She scanned it first, wondering which part she could torch.

Rapakha noticed the confusion and said, "You can burn the whole pillar. I have imbued my magic power to that pillar, so it's burnable. Each fight will last thirty minutes, which is the time the flame needs to burn the pillar. Don't worry about the grass as well. The fire won't affect them."

Kai nodded and asked. "So, are we going to fight here? I don't know if you already realize it or not, but a few of my friends aren't ones that fight in a close quarter."

"It's fine. They can go wherever they want. I assure you there is no magical beast roaming around here, including the sea and the flying beast. If you want to use my stone statue to protect them, you can do it. I won't mind."

"…" Kai slightly clenched his fist and tried to act like he wasn't surprised. The others did the same, but as expected, their acts weren't as good as him, so Rapakha picked it up and grinned. "I see. You are planning to do that. Never mind. You can do it as I say. Even if you don't do that, I won't attack them since those who are in the arena are my targets."

Kai narrowed his eyes, wondering how much lie mixed inside it.

"Anyway, you will know it in the battle, so let's go." Rapakha wanted them to start when he saw Ayaka had lit up all the pillars.

It turned out that the pillars were really unique. They could brighten a huge area like flares that the military used to light up the dark.

In this case, they wouldn't have a problem in their sight with this darkness.

"Isabelle… I don't think there is a problem for you to shoot with this light, right?"

"Yes. Besides, I will be protected by the darkness, so I will do everything I can to help you." Isabelle nodded.

"Alright. Evan is better to hold some items that can shine, so we know your location and teleport someone injured."

"I will handle that." Evan stopped him, knowing what he needed to do.

"That is good then. If everyone is ready, let's start." Kai raised his hand and commanded.

The group then dispersed while Isabelle brought Evan to the hill with barely any light. After confirming they had arrived, Kai raised his sword, pointing at Rapakha.

"Good! Come!" Rapakha smirked.

The moment that word came out of his mouth, Kai, Michelle, Tasha, and Ayaka charged toward Rapakha.

However, what they got was nothing but traps installed on the ground. A few magic circles appeared on the ground the moment they stepped on it, and the ground raised.

"!!!" Four of them realized it was a bit too late, and the ground launched them to the sky… Albeit, they managed to react only after a few meters in the air.

Kai used his Sound Blast to kill the momentum and launch him back to the ground. Tasha teleported herself back to the ground. Michelle summoned her shadow again and pulled her back to the side instead of letting the ground throw her to the air, while Ayaka used her Fire Wing to fly and descend.

"Nice reaction." Rapakha smirked. "At first, I am going to bully you a bit if you fall into that trap. Besides, all of you looked too focused. I noticed it when I couldn't listen to your conversation or called all of you. That's why I knew there must be some magic that prevented sound from going out.

"Since that was the case, I planted a few traps on the way. Well, that is your homework for now. I know that you are discussing your plan, but each of you needs to watch each other back. From the looks of it, only Kai, Michelle, and Sofia are watching continuously. Hence, I am using your line of sight to create a few traps in that blind spot.

"You can round up, but your eyes still need to be sharp. Or you can turn around and talk while facing each other's back, so your field of vision becomes wider. Anyway, that is for you to fix. Continuer!"

The group never expected that Rapakha would actually give them an actual lecture instead of a real fight. No, it might be a real fight, but he just casually pointed out the mistakes they made.

With this, Kai became even more eager to fight this person. Not only would he get a precious experience, but he would also know if his fighting style had flaws or not in the eyes of an experienced person like Rapakha.

"Proceed swiftly but with caution," Kai instructed and charged at him again with the same speed. However, he didn't forget to be vigilant against any traps that would appear at any moment.

Rapakha didn't do anything after this, confusing Kai and making him wonder if he had a trap in this place. And in the blink of an eye, Kai had arrived not far from him.

"Wall." Rapakha lifted his index finger a little bit, and the same exact wall as Nicholas's appeared. And when he saw the enhancement on the wall, he figured out that it would be the super elastic wall.

Kai involuntarily smiled as he slashed his Vibration Sword forward.

*Zap!*

The sword went in and cut the wall like it was butter, allowing Kai to slash the wall into two. Without this wall, Rapakha wouldn't be able to do anything… Or so he thought.

It was at this time Rapakha made his move by raising his hand. As the magic circle appeared, the smaller rocks on the ground flew toward his hand and attached themselves there as if it was a magnet, covering his hand and lower arm. After that, Rapakha threw that fist at Kai.

Kai furrowed his eyebrows and activated his exoskeleton. With the strength of one thousand, he struck this stone, trying to either cut it or smash it.

Unfortunately, Rapakha showed them what it meant to be hard and strong.

*Clang!*

Kai expected that the Vibration Sword could cut it, but he could only see it as a clashing sound with very hard rock to the point it was similar to the protectors' skin.

At the same time, Rapakha suddenly connected that stone arm into the ground and made it bigger to blow Kai away.

"!!!" As soon as he found out what he wanted to do, Kai immediately used his Sound Blast and leaped above him before throwing another slash to the back of his head.

Rapakha could easily destroy this strike, but he suddenly sensed another presence emerging from the darkness.

"Oh, you are pretty fast." Rapakha nodded at Michelle, who had gone faster and stronger than the one in the last battle, but she was surprised by Rapakha's nonchalant attitude.

She was about to strike him together with Kai to make him use his two hands, but another magic circle appeared next to Michelle.

"I know what you are planning, but I have another arm." Rapakha smiled as he grabbed Kai's sword and threw him away while summoning a giant stone arm and punched Michelle.

"Kh!" Michelle immediately protected herself with the sword and flew away due to the momentum from the hand. Kai was basically the same.

It was at this time, Isabelle and Tasha released their shots the same time.

Rapakha didn't hesitate and used his main hand that was free this whole time, covering it with rock and blasting the arrows and bullets with a single wave of his hand.

Seeing how their attacks failed, Ayaka decided to go in, so Rapakha didn't chase her teammates before they reorganized themselves.

Rapakha looked at her and swept her with the same hand, trying to blow her away.

Ayaka realized this and shifted her feet to gain more momentum than she had right now. In addition to the weight of her spear, Ayaka struck that hand, pushing it back.

"Ho?! Such a powerful attack." Rapakha slightly widened his eyes in amazement before he summoned the same arm that punched Michelle. "How about this one?"

Ayaka realized that she couldn't handle this, nor she could avoid it. That was why she spun the spear and struck the hand with the spear's butt. This movement allowed Ayaka to soften the impact with a larger contact area and used the momentum to push her away, creating the distance between the two.

"What good hand coordination, and the choice of your moves are great. It seems you have been taught by someone with good skills, but seeing how it's similar to how that guy moves, I guess it's the same person…" Rapakha smiled before raising his hand and created a hard wall to his left.

Ayaka was stunned. She never expected that Rapakha would be able to see through the style in just a glance. However, Ayaka had another trick up in her sleeve as a magic circle appeared on the ground, specifically the last place where she stepped to boost her momentum.

"Magic Bomb Release!"

Ayaka channeled a bit more magic power, and the magic circle exploded.