"What happened?"
"It’s Sand Scorpions! Rogrid secretly invoked Sand Scorpions after using Crashing Flow and arranged a defensive perimeter around himself!"
"Indeed, look, there are some other sand scorpions there!"
"He can still stand after being hit by Sand Scorpions!"
In the sea of astonished shouts, most Holy Dawn students in the stands saw, after Ayrin’s pained cry and his leap upward, blood splash out from the bottom of his feet. Not far away in front of him, several sand scorpions were quickly moving in his direction.
These sand scorpions were assembled from sand and gravel under the effect of arcane power. They were entirely the same color as the ground when still, looking entirely like slightly swelling piles of sand, simply impossible to notice!
"This guy… He can still stay standing." Inside the contestants’ resting area, Kybaver’s heart suddenly tightened in his chest. Ayrin was joking just earlier about giving these sand scorpions a try and see how it felt like; he didn’t think Ayrin would truly be stung by these sand scorpions.
"It hurts! It hurts!"
Ayrin almost went crazy from pain. In the periphery of his vision, he saw that these two sand scorpions that stung him were missing a section of their tails. He watched them scatter into sand dust, but he could imagine these missing tail segments dispersing inside his soles. Right now, he wasn’t merely hurting from the pricking wound at the bottom of his feet. Instead, it felt as if several dozen, a hundred thin needles were stuck all over into his feet. He felt acute pain everywhere.
"So this is how it actually feels like?"
What made many people in the stands want to laugh yet unable to laugh out loud was that, not daring to put his feet on the ground because of the pain, Ayrin actually pressed his hands on the ground after hopping up, and stood upside down. He pushed nonstop on his hands and retreated more than a dozen feet away in a flash, avoiding the rest of the sand scorpions.
These sand scorpions slowly halted after chasing him for a few meters, then their bodies scattered into piles of sand dust.
"You’re indeed better at fighting than I imagined. However, in a battle like this, you have to pay attention at all time to whether your opponent gives off signs of operating arcane particles. Otherwise you’ll very likely end up just like this in the future, struck by your opponent’s covert arcane skills."
Rogrid’s voice rang in the field. He pressed his hands on his chest, slowly struggling to stand up.
"Rogrid can still fight!"
"Ayrin can’t even stand on his feet. What can he do, he’s going to lose!"
Many of Ayrin’s fervent supporters couldn’t resist standing up from their seats. "What!" What made them instantly at a total loss for words was, Ayrin actually landed his feet on the ground. He continuously trembled all over from the pain, but he clenched his fists and slowly stood upright.
"There’s no way I’d admit defeat right now!"
"What does a little pain matter!"
"My feet are still there, so I can still run!"
Ayrin was hurting so much his consciousness was starting to become fuzzy, but he still lifted his head, and started to sprint!
"Sand Scorpions!"
Rogrid’s eyes filled with the light of admiration and zeal. His fingers moved slightly. Some arcane particles fell without a trace to the ground at his feet. Sand scorpions seemed to hatch from the hard soil ,one after another, splitting away from the ground then quickly crawling around him.
This was an arcane skill that combined both offense and defense into one. In theory, as long as he kept someone who couldn’t condense arcane particles like Ayrin at bay, Ayrin would simply have no way of snatching victory in this fight.
The ‘Logic Fingers’ just then made Rogrid clearly realize that it was definitely impossible for Ayrin to come out with any kind of formidable arcane skill.
"What!"
His eyes suddenly shrank right at this moment.
Facing his "Sand Scorpions," Ayrin not only didn’t stop his steps, he instead accelerated until his speed reached its limit, becoming a blur of wind he simply couldn’t clearly distinguish!
"Pa!" Ayrin ruthlessly stepped on a sand scorpion, then charged in front of him like a flash of lightning.
At this moment, after invoking his arcane skill just earlier, Rogrid only had the time to lift his right hand and use a single arm as a barrier in the way of Ayrin’s punch!
"Bang!"
The muffled sonic boom of a strike immediately rang up. Ayrin’s punch even crushed Rogrid’s arm against his chest, crushed it so hard Rogrid couldn’t even breathe. A formidable impact lifted his feet from the ground, then sent him flying backward!
"Hiss…"
Almost every spectator gasped. They could almost feel their own feet fiercely cramping at this precise moment.
Kybaver’s mind went blank. He couldn’t unravel the feelings inside his heart.
Ayrin actually stepped on the sand scorpion without any hesitation and launched such a violent attack!
Everyone saw Ayrin’s harsh stomp crush the sand scorpion into a small pile of sand.
But at the same time, everyone was also keenly aware that the sand scorpion’s tail must certainly have cruelly pierced Ayrin’s sole right at that moment.
Ayrin’s way of fighting wasn’t any different from heavily stepping on an iron needle, then jumping up and hitting Rogrid.
Many people could withstand the pain of an iron needle piercing them, but extremely few people possessed the courage to ruthlessly step on an iron nail like this. And, the most important thing was, he still had to overcome the pain and keep fighting after that!
"Bang!"
Rogrid heavily crashed on the ground. The sound of this landing was like a great invisible hammer, pounding on the hearts of every Holy Dawn student in the stands.
Ayrin’s body also flipped back and flew away. He hopped several steps in succession, then stood on the ground. His feet twitched constantly, and even his face was completely distorted by the pain.
"Who knows how many grains of sand drilled inside the soles of his feet… He must be hurting something fierce."
"He can stand even in such a state. Rogrid should just stay down."
Seeing Ayrin’s appearance, almost every freshman prayed in their heart for Rogrid not to stand up anymore, and just to let Ayrin take this match.
But what made them exclaim in disappointment altogether was, Rogrid once again slowly stood on his feet.
Rogrid gasped in pain, but the trace of a smile actually floated on his lips when he looked at the still standing Ayrin.
"You can still endure, you can still fight?" He panted, looking at Ayrin standing far away from him.
"It really hurts a lot!" Ayrin shouted at the top of his lungs. "But I’m not so easy to knock down!… I will defeat you down!"
"I will fight my hardest."
Rogrid let out an even louder laugh that mixed together with his pained breathing. "That’s why, you also have to have the determination to desperately fight until you reach your utter limit."
The entire Holy Dawn Arena once again fell into total silence as soon as these words left his mouth.
Almost every Holy Dawn student in the stands could feel a blaze also ignite in their chest.
"Come then!"
While all these students watched Rogrid with eyes filled with respect, Ayrin once again let out a great yell, once again sprinted!
"No matter how painful, I still have to beat you!"
"I can fight as long as there’s strength left in my body!"
…
"He’s coming!"
Ayrin’s figure suddenly vanished from Rogrid’s sight, then a wild gust of wind blew behind his back.
Rogrid merely shouted at himself in his mind, then fiercely turned around.
Arcane particles inside his body once again poured out frantically from his hands the moment he turned around.
"Crashing Flow!"
Ayrin’s silhouette was currently only two or three meters away from him, but at this instant, a wall of water burst out between Ayrin and himself.
"Ah!"
Ayrin mercilessly fired out a punch and smashed it on the wall of water, but it after penetrating half a meter inside, it couldn’t advance any further.
"Boom!"
The wall of water cruelly slapped his body the next second. He once again wildly flew backward.
There wasn’t any difference at all between being smashed by this arcane skill and being smashed by a hundred punches at the same time.
Ayrin’s willpower and spirit were already at the limit of their tolerance. Now, being struck by such an attack, he even passed out as he flew through the air, his breathing entirely cut off.
He heavily landed with a bang. His consciousness only returned when a fresh breath of air rushed inside his lungs.
"Rogrid’s also at his limit, his arcane particles are more less entirely consumed as well."
"He consumed his stamina very intensely in the earlier part of the fight, and Ayrin also landed two heavy blows on him like a raging bull. If it were someone else, they wouldn’t be able to stand up anymore."
"Ayrin can’t stand upright anymore, can he still climb up?"
Every spectator in the stands could feel their body go a little numb. They could all tell that the fight had already progressed to a step where it’d entirely become a contest of sheer willpower between the two of them.
"He’s much stronger than Rowan!"
"I can’t admit defeat! I have to join the school team! Chris is still watching me in the stands."
Ayrin’s vision was dark. He desperately struggled to stand up, but his body didn’t respond to his call, as if he were in the middle of a painful nightmare.
"This is…"
Inside the dark night glittered countless stars, pointing him towards a certain direction.
When he focused his consciousness on these glittering stars, the first arcane gate inside Ayrin’s head suddenly felt more distinct than in the past, and the arcane particles inside the first arcane gate were countless times more numerous than in the past!
Were these truly arcane particles or not?
There hadn’t been any change with these arcane particles in a long while, why were there so many of them all of a sudden?
Ayrin couldn’t understand, but these increasing arcane particles actually made him feel stronger, gave him even more courage. Fresh strength seemed to pour inside his body.
"Ah!"
With such a pained warcry, he rested his hands on the muddy ground, and once again slowly stood up!
When he stood up, when the fighting will to defeat his opponent became the only thought inside him, the arcane particles inside his body felt as if they were about to slide out along his hands.
"Fight!"
He once again started to run, charging in Rogrid’s direction.
"They must be at their limits."
"This attack should decide the winner between them once and for all!"
Sensing that his willpower and his stamina were at their limits, Rogrid forcibly maintained his body upright and let out a resolute smile. All arcane particles left in his body gushed out of him.
"Crashing Flow!"
Approaching him at a sprint, Ayrin also raised his his hand at this moment. A strange magic power seemed to radiate from his five fingers!
