Knowing taking damage from that spear means his instant death, Leon gets his shield from inventory while observing his opponent.

Equipping his shield, "Aren't you coming?" Leon says, looking directly into his eyes.

"You must be really a patient person," Leon says while cracking his neck. Suddenly, kicking up the sand under his feet into the air, Leon rushed towards his opponent while directing all of his strength to his legs.

"Too bad I am not!" Leon roars as he runs at inhuman speed. Gaining speed with every step he takes, it doesn't take Leon long to encounter him. Raising his sword to release a vertical slash, the sword and spear clashes with each other.

*CLANG!* generates a metallic sound that could be heard from all over the arena, while creating a little shock wave which pushes back the surrounding sand.

However, their weapons don't take too much time to meet with the other again. Attacking each other rapidly again, and again each clash leaves behind a sparkle. Even though the man's spear obviously weighs more than Leon's sword, he doesn't have any problems catching up with Leon.

Blocking the heavy spear that is trying to crush his head with his shield, Leon's left arm gets numb from the strength behind it. To not let that spear hit him again like that, Leon pushes him with the shield. Creating a distance, Leon does a circle around him to spot some weaknesses. Unfortunately, his enemy doesn't give Leon time and tries to stab Leon, closing the distance.

As Leon blocks his attacks with his shield to the point where he can't feel his left arm. Stops attacking for a few seconds as the man's spear's head blooms with a red light.

'Oh fuck, this is bad,' Leon thoughts while gulping.

Realizing this is not normal, reflexively "Activate [SHIELD MASTERY]," Leon says.

[-40 MP] [60/100]

[ACTIVATED, REMAINING TIME SECONDS]

Sending his powerful attack directly aiming at his head, Leon raises his shield to tank this blow.

*BOOM*

As soon as the spear's edge meets with shield, breaking the shield instantly, and leaving a shock wave which is stronger than before, sends Leon flying to the wall of the arena. The impact creates a dust cloud when Leon crashes to the wall.

[-120 HP] [60/180 HP]

...

...

[(SHIELD MASTERY) DEACTIVATED, REMAINING TIME SECONDS]

...

After one minute of silence, when the dust cloud clears, a hand grasps the arena wall to support himself to get up.

"F-fuck *COUGH*, first that knight and now you. You guys must be really liking sending people flying *COUGH*. You both nearly killed me!," Leon said while getting up from the wreckage that had been created from the impact.

Standing up, "But it's my turn now," Leon said while wiping out blood from the corner of his mouth.

Rushing again to the man, "Activate [PARALYZING STRIKES]" Leon commands.

[ACTIVATED, REMAINING TIME SECONDS]

Clashing their weapon with each other again, but this time, Leon didn't have his shield with him. And this puts Leon at a disadvantage. Leon focuses extra to evade his attacks. Luckily, managing to deal some slashes, Leon gets him slower with the help of [PARALYZING STRIKES].

In the center of the empty arena, two-man fights to death. Sometimes one pushes the other, and sometimes the other pushes the other. But even though their movements change, only one thing remains the same. And that is the sound of weapons cut across air and clash with each other.

As minutes passed, both sides got more and more tired. Yet, they didn't stop their attacks even for a second.

The worst part of fighting with a spear user is their wide attack range and powerful piercing blows. Witnessing this fact first hand, Leon tries to think of a solution to get close to him.

After some time...

'It will be really risky, but I have no other choice to win this fight,' Leon acknowledged in his mind.

Knowing he can't hold up much, Leon suddenly stops dodging man's stabbing strike, lets him pierce through his right lung. Spear's head can be seen from Leon's back while blood drips from the wound that is just newly opened.

[-55 HP] [5/180 HP]

When the man calculated that Leon had died. He tried to remove the spear, a hand grasped his arm.

Holding the man's arm and coughing blood, "You pierced my lung. You should have gone *COUGH* for the heart," Leon smiled when he suddenly shifted his sword to cut the man's throat. While blood splashes to Leon's face, Leon doesn't stop here and, to make sure he is dead, he stabs the sword into his heart.

While losing his consciousness, "Hahaha amateur," Leon laughs.

...

...

[TRIAL 10 HAS BEEN COMPLETED]

[YOU'VE GAINED 1400 EXP] [LEVEL: 7 (1360>2760/4000)]

Coming back to himself, Leon opens his eyes to see the panels.

"1400 EXP huh? I should level up after two trials," Leon guessed.

"It was a fantastic fight. Good thing that he died before me, or I would have to fight with him again. However, I rather fight with sword users, fighting against spear users is annoying," Leon complained.

"..."

Looking at the eternal whiteness, "Here is really boring. Should I go to the next trial?"

"Hmm... No, if even this man pushed me this hard, entering the next trial will be like attending my own funeral." Leon said, throwing this thought out of his head.

"Ugh, back to training I guess..." Leon said while getting his sword out of inventory. And started swinging it.

"1!".

"2!"..

"3!"...

"4!"....

"FUCK THIS PLACE, 5!" Leon shouted while cursing the hub.

-CHAPTER 10 END-