Although Emery felt his power had increased and would love to give a spin on his newfound strength by fighting those two acolytes head on, deep down he knew fighting two acolytes was too difficult for him. He was not even sure he could defeat one, let alone two, rank 7 acolytes. If he wanted to beat the odds and win, Emery had to use his wits.

The lightning acolyte gritted his teeth in impatience and snapped at Emery.

"You've been cornered! If you surrender now, at least you can save us some time!"

"Save time? If your time is really that valuable. You can just stop chasing me, then." Emery shrugged.

"Huh!! You're just a weakling rank 6 acolyte, and you dare act so arrogant? Bold of you to presume you have any place in this game! Just hurry up and die!"

"Let's see which one of us is more arrogant, then."

Emery did not waste his time and quickly casted the spell [Whip Splash – Tier 1 Water Element] using the water from the swirling lake. Tendrils of water rose up from the lake, forming a ropey, whip-like shape before rushing towards the direction of the two elite acolytes.

Splash!

Of course, both of them were able to dodge the attack easily. They barked a loud laugh and exclaimed in amusement. "Hahaha! What the fuck is he trying to do? That was one of the weakest spells I ever saw!"

Emery disregarded the attempt at taunting him and cast another spell.

Swirling water rose from the lake, before coalescing into two distinct shapes in the air. In an instant, the clear lake water turned into two long lances. They flew and cut the air with a buzzing sound, each heading towards the two.

The two acolytes were unfazed. Without moving as much as a step, they merely gestured and used their spirit aura to help them resist the attack.

Once again, the lightning acolyte became more annoyed. He rubbed the bridge of his nose before laughing even louder than before.

"Oh, my god… I take it back, you're not just arrogant and weak, you're an utter embarrassment to this game and the name of the academy! I can't believe someone like you was able to enter the top 50 test!"

"Hmm.. most likely he had a good team to cover for him, so it's definitely possible. Let's just get this annoyance over with."

The fire element acolyte muttered under his breath, while a fireball appeared in the air. Within seconds, the [Fireball – Tier 3 Fire Element spell] went from a tiny speck to a massive ball, radiating heat and even scorching parts of the grass they were standing on. The fire element acolyte pointed at Emery, and the fireball shot towards him.

As he had seen the fireball spell in action in his previous fight, Emery knew the most important thing was trying not to get hit directly by the fireball. He took one step back and got even closer to the edge of the lake before using his strongest water spell, [Crushing Wave]. A massive wave of water rose up from the lake and served as a wall between him and the fireball, but of course, it was not enough. Using the wave as a decoy, Emery decided to jump into the lake, while the two acolytes were still disoriented.

"Fuck, he ran again!"

"That idiot thought he was safe inside the water, because what, he is a water element acolyte? Your fire attack might not work there, but my lightning spell would be a different story… Haha, he really is just a stupid weakling, after all! Gerri, stand guard near the stream and the edge of the river. We can't let him escape."

"I see. Fine then, you can have this one."

Under the cover of the blue lake, Emery swam around and used his [Water Breathing] spell to help him stay under. Everything he did, including this, was of course a part of his plan. He decided to only use weaker water spells to hide his true ability and jumped into the water as an attempt to separate these two acolytes. In addition, Emery often spent his time reading books, and he knew the effect of lightning when exposed to water. However, he needed to take his chances. Even though his plan had flaws, his chances were much better than if he had to fight two elite acolytes head on at the same time.

From his hiding place under the water, Emery could clearly see the figure of the lightning acolyte. The figure raised his hand and casted [Chain Lightning] towards the surface of the lake. As he expected, the spell hit the lake and prickled his skin. Each strike of the lightning felt like dozens of hot knives stabbing into his body.

"Die, die, die!" Nate, the lightning acolyte, kept casting his spells towards the surface of the lake. With a cruel smirk, he said to no one in particular. "Haha! Let's see how long you can resist this!"

In contrast to Nate, Emery looked calm. His skin glowed a little before starting to turn harder into a layer of dark stone. Upon casting the spell [Granite Skin], he felt the effects of the lightning lessen a little.

After he watched the battle between the lightning element acolyte and an earth acolyte who used [Stone Skin], Emery was curious on how well his hardened skin could hold on against such a powerful lightning spell.

The result did not disappoint him, and the power of the lightning felt less like dozens of knives and more like tiny needles now. Although he wasn't sure if the lake water made the lightning less powerful or if his granite skin was so much stronger, thus able to hold on against such powerful lightning spells.

Ever since Emery upgraded his dark core, he felt all his dark element-related spells became far stronger than before. A part of Emery wished he could stall for time and remain like this all day, however, he couldn't. This game had a clear time limit, and in order to pass, he had to move at some point. The only thing Emery could do was hope the elite acolyte was more impatient than him.

For now, Emery decided to stall by sitting at the bottom of the lake, while concentrating on maintaining his [Granite Skin] spell.

As Emery guessed, the acolyte finally snapped, his impatience and annoyance finally getting to him.

"Fuck, did he die already? Why is he not coming out yet?

Nate looked around the lake, trying to find a sign as to where his prey currently was, but to no avail. [Granite Skin] had made Emery look similar to a simple rock at the bottom of the lake. In the end, after a few minutes of enraged searching, Nate shouted to his friend. "Gerri! Make sure he doesn't get past you, I'll dive in and kill him myself."

The acolyte dove into the water with a splash. Emery finally got the chance he was waiting for. He stopped concentrating on his spell and swam forward. When they saw each other. Not surprisingly, the lighting acolyte was still able to cast lightning spells without hurting himself despite the fact that both of them were in the water. Nate raised his hand and casted more [Chain Lightning] spells towards Emery, while he was trying to swim closer. The closer Emery swam, the stronger the prickling on his skin felt. Without the protection from his granite skin, Emery was sure he would have already died twice at this point.

Emery decided to cast more of his offensive water spells while underwater. He casted another [Steam Lance] and created a lance that dashed towards his opponent while creating a strong current. However, the lance dissipated into nothing at the touch of the sparks near Nate's body.

It was clear, Emery needed to close the distance if he wanted to win. But, his opponent's spells hurt even at this distance. The elite acolyte most likely won't sit still and let Emery approach without resistance. In fact, Nate maintained a medium distance and kept casting lightning spells.

Emery decided to take the challenge head on and swam closer still, while dodging the fast-moving and unpredictable chain lightning as best as he could. The lightning stopped being a tiny prickling and grew into a burning pain all over his body, but Emery steeled his resolve and kept on swimming closer. Just a little bit more, if he decided to give up, his efforts would be all for naught.

Then, finally, there was the chance Emery had been waiting for. The lightning acolyte swam up. He most likely ran out of air and needed to breathe.

Emery wasn't going to waste this chance, he quickly used the [Blink] spell and instantly appeared behind Nate, catching the elite acolyte off-guard. Emery then jumped into his opponent's back and used the strength of all his limbs to hold down the struggling acolyte. Emery planned to hold him down and make him drown. To make sure his plan succeeded, Emery casted [Dark Root Binding], causing thick black roots to appear and tie both of them down.

The elite acolyte panicked and used all of his strength to struggle and break free. But the situation had changed, the hunter had now become the prey. Emery's victory was imminent. But of course, the elite acolyte wouldn't just sit still and let it happen. An explosion of pure lightning energy radiated from his body and hit Emery directly. Its power indicated the spell must be a powerful tier 4 spells.

At that moment, Emery felt the true power of a tier 7 acolyte. The explosion let out sparks of electricity all hitting him directly all over his body. The pain was immense. Emery had never felt such pain in his life, and if he listened to his reflexes, he would have let his arm go.

But no, never. Emery had sacrificed a lot to get his chance, and he would not waste it no matter what.

Emery concentrated on his core and channeled his spirit energy towards the nerve points of his body to strengthen himself. A series of notifications appeared in his mind.

[Immortal Gate: Stage 2]

[Battle power increased by 4]

"Aaargh!" Emery screamed, feeling his muscles tighten and skin strengthen at a rapid pace. The excruciating pain from the lightning subsided a little and his hold on his opponent became stronger, together with his resolve to never let go. But, this battle wasn't over yet. Sensing the end was imminent, the lightning acolyte finally decided to pour all his power into one last strike. It was either all or nothing.

"No! Never!"

Emery held the struggling acolyte even tighter, his resolve to not let go had been renewed. He was ready to use the power of his fey transformation, but before he could, he felt the power coursing to his nerves increase. The change felt like someone broke a dam covering a massive river, and all the power poured inside him and multiplied his strength.

[You have achieved a breakthrough your battle art skill]

[Immortal Gate: stage 3]

[Battle power increased by 8]

That was the last bit of strength Emery needed to strangle the elite acolyte. Within five seconds, Nate, the arrogant acolyte, struggled one last time and finally stopped moving. His eyes wide open before dying, his last thought was of disbelief after losing to a nobody.

[Congratulations, you have defeated an elite acolyte]

[You received 5000 points]