“Fuck! Listen here, you white-haired bastard, you will never be able to…”

Swoosh. Zoom. Pierce.

Eren interrupted the ranker’s speech by filling his open mouth with Igni Biltz Bolts. He shot them up close and personally so that he wouldn’t be able to defend himself against them. When he left him to tackle the others, the ranker’s brain burst open from behind him as the Igni Bolt Blasts detonated inside his mouth.

Swoosh!

Karma bit back at Eren as his shoulder was pierced by wind-element mana from another ranker who was aiming at him. After gritting his teeth, the battlemage sent his mana circuits into hyperdrive to disperse the lodged arrow.

This was not the first attack that had landed on Eren. There were several others. Multiple wounds on his body were bleeding due to the invasion of foreign mana, which prevented him from healing them even with a healing potion.

Eren had killed more than a dozen rankers at this point. The Spiders had seen the fierceness with which Eren had attacked his opponents. Most of them couldn’t even last a few seconds before Eren managed to get rid of them forever.

Eren’s summoned creatures were also wreaking havoc on the battlefield. They had created a perimeter around him to prevent the Spiders from ganging up on him all at once. They attacked with the same intensity as he did as if his intent to destroy his opponents at all costs had been passed onto them.

Therefore, only those who had the skills to face Eren came forward to meet his charge. Even Bobby and the rest of the Awakened-rank Spiders were intimidated by the way Eren fought. They realized that his battle power would allow him to compete with them for a while. And his summoned creatures would be able to injure them if they fought him one-on-one.

Kiara looked at Eren with intrigue as well. She had seen Eren fight during the Bulal Blood incident. At that time, he was still finding his way through the whole thing. However, she could tell that Eren had refined his battle style to a certain extent while ensuring he took full advantage of his battlemage class.

‘Eren killed Bulal Blood by coincidence. At least that’s what we were told that day. Was it really just his luck?’

Kiara had a random thought to herself as she watched Eren fight. She decided to ask the battlemage this question after the battle was over. That is if he stays alive through the battle.

***

Eren’s weapon handling was exceptional as well. His mana-based martial arts were difficult to master for most Meta rankers. His weapon handling alone allowed him to dominate all close combat encounters, tearing through his enemies as a hot knife cuts through a block of butter.

Bear Armor!

Eren summoned the Hexer gear set when he realized that the Spiders had shifted to attacking him using their long-range attacks. They fought against Stardust guild opponents. They would then find a window to attack him from time to time. It could be said that they were all trying their luck to obtain the huge monetary sum Bobby had announced as a reward for killing Eren.

Clang!

Another metal-element flying slash was aimed at Eren. It was easily blocked by Bear Armor, however. The gear allowed Eren to concentrate on the opponent at hand. He needed this breathing room to fight an opponent who had managed to get close to him.

This ranker was a woman who looked to be in her mid-20s. She had long black hair and a beautiful face. She was as tall as Eren and her figure made her attractive and nimble. She was wearing fur-type armor that covered her torso. She was also wearing fur-type armguards and leg guards, giving her a wild air around her.

This female Meta ranker also had red tribal lines on various parts of her body. Red runic lines indicated that the female ranker was focused on enhancing her body stats.

This was a ranker who was focused on making her body do all the work instead of relying on spells. She had obvious disadvantages when it came to handling multiple opponents. Especially when they had long-range classes.

However, the female ranker excelled in close combat battles. And it was her moment to shine because she realized that Eren could only be dealt with by engaging with him up close.

This Spider was also a dual-weapon user like Eren. She held two Rank-1 runic swords in her hands. They were coated in red fire-element mana, giving them an added edge. She looked at Eren with a mischievous smile on her face before commenting.

“I see that you feel tired after spending so much energy. Why don’t I help you by putting you to sleep for good?”

Eren narrowed his eyes at this woman and took a long breath. He wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead and spat in contempt before responding to her.

“You are welcome to try.”

No further talk was necessary. Before casting their respective movement spells, both rankers shrouded themselves in their respective mana. They clashed in the middle and created a depression on the ground as a result of their opposing mana fluctuations clashing against each other.

A series of clashes were exchanged within a few moments as the two rankers fought. This was the first time in a long while Eren felt that a Meta ranker had posed him a challenge.

‘This… this will be fun! She has really pulled this thing off.’

The battlemage had a smile on his face as he looked at the female ranker with wolfish eyes. Eren’s expertise with weapons also seemed to tickle the female ranker’s warrior side. She let her weapon attacks do the talking.

Swoosh. Zoom. Chop.

Eren’s Bear Armor was not very useful in repelling them, especially when they were dealt with in close combat. Eren’s exposed skin not covered by armor was damaged by the sword slashes of the female ranker. They bled even more as the wounds were deeper than before.

However, the female ranker wasn’t spared as well. She had multiple wounds on her body. And most of them were more serious than what Eren had on his body. They were yet to decide a clear winner in their clash.

However, it looked like Eren was going to win the match if his attacks kept on accumulating on the female ranker’s body.

***

‘What the fuck is Jilly trying to do by chasing after that bastard? I had told her to take things easy and not overwork herself. If it was mana quartz she wanted, she could have told me straight away.’

Bobby thought to himself as he watched his Meta-ranked girl fight Eren. He had told her to stay at the back and finish opponents that came her way. His offer wasn’t meant to be taken seriously by her.

Bobby only wanted to create a rift between the Stardust guild members’ lineup by influencing Spiders to focus on Eren. This way, more than half of the Stardust guild members would be compelled to stay away from Eren. And the other half would inadvertently take the wait-and-see approach.

However, he realized that his strategy had backfired on him when he saw Eren’s summons. They allowed him to tackle multiple opponents at once. And the fact that other Stardust members maintained a safe distance from him also helped Eren, allowing him to secure a perimeter while avoiding friendly fire.

Bobby could not retract his order at this point, which had resulted in so many rankers dying at Eren’s hands. He could only see the events unfolding in front of him with neutral eyes.

However, his neutral stance was shaken when he saw Jilly entering Eren’s perimeter. Bobby felt that Jilly was trying to show off to him by standing against Eren, which he thought was foolish. She didn’t need to impress him any more than she already had.

Bobby saw that Jilly was injured by Eren’s attack in their heated exchange. In her generation, Jilly was the most fearsome Meta ranker he had ever seen. But the way she was at a disadvantage against Eren was a testament to Eren’s skills.

‘She… she won’t be able to last long. That bastard is a merciless maniac. He’ll kill her the first chance he gets. I… I have to do something.’

Bobby felt compelled to intervene and take Jilly away from her battle with Eren. However, he remembered that he had agreed to a non-interference pact with Kiara and her team.

Just when he thought that things were about to go out of hand, he heard a voice from behind him.

“You are only trying to save your girl and not attack any Stardust member. Go. Save her. I’ll watch your back.”

Bobby looked back to see the voice belonged to Lagartha. She had been deployed here along with the rest of the Awakened rankers from the House of Spiders.

“Yeah. I’ll just let Kiara know that I won’t be attacking any Stardust…”

Lagartha shook her head in denial and cut short his speech.

“Jilly would be dead by the time you legitimize your interference with the enemy. She needs your support now. Go. Or be prepared to lose her forever.”

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