[ Duel — Ainen vs Brila ]

Ainen was confused.

"Who are you all? You had the same symbol on your robes."

Brila flung her spiral ash-blond hair behind her as she chuckled. "Don't worry. You will join that organization soon."

She pointed her staff at Ainen. A purple snake manifested with glittering scales, its glowing emerald eyes lifelike as it hissed.

The snake vanished and appeared right around Ainen, binding him.

"Come on, you didn't even put up any defense?" Brila frowned, her voice reeking of disappointment. "Are you for real?"

Ainen blinked. "I don't understand."

'It's not even able to break my skin-tight barrier from my Magic Core's effect—Abysscrust Duality…can't she see that?'

Lord Black wryly chuckled. 'The difference between you two is too big.'

Brila approched Ainen. "Are you feeling weak? Are the scratches spreading?"

'Huh?' Ainen tilted his head. 'Is this snake some kind of debuff type?'

'Looks like her class skill,' Lord Black said.

She stopped a meter away from Ainen and smiled. "It will increase in intensity if I wish so. People literally beg me to kill them once they are hit by this skill."

"Sounds scary." Ainen blinked, his eyes flickering as he checked her stats with his Mystic Chef's Eyes.

[Brila]

Level: 200

Liferank: Adept.

—Magic Core: Viper Fiend (Epic)

Class: Serpent Shaman (S)

Innate Talent:

—> Poison Pouch

Stats:

—> Vitality: Ⅲ 200 Ⅲ + 55% + 20 = 330

—> Strength: Ⅲ 200 Ⅲ + 55% + 20 = 330

—> Stamina: Ⅲ 200 Ⅲ + 55% + 20 = 330

—> Agility: Ⅲ 200 Ⅲ + 55% + 20 = 330

—> Cognition: Ⅲ 200 Ⅲ + 55% + 20 = 330

—> Arcane: Ⅲ 200 Ⅲ + 55% + 50 = 360

—> Mana: Ⅲ 200 Ⅲ + 55% + 50 = 360

Skills:

—> Mist Manipulation (A)

—> Bog Trap (B)

—> …

'Not bad. She got an ongoing buff as well, and it seems her gear increases her Arcane and Mana. She is stronger than Dylan and Viena.'

'The other two weren't bad as well.' Lord Black's voice had a hint of suspicion. 'It's strange. Did someone raid the Labyrinth? If so, the people outside must be dead.'

'What?!' Ainen was shocked. If that was the case, the first thought he had was that he was glad he brought Ron and Syl with him instead of keeping them in Lilian and Yelvina's care.

'Are you saying that King-rank Yelvina died?!'

'She might be strong, but there are plenty of people stronger than her. In my eyes, she might as well be an ant. The difference in power per rank increases drastically the further you go up. The difference between the King and the Emperor is the biggest. I don't know what is above the Emperor, but surely, it's even bigger.'

'I might have to get information from these people.'

"You sure are tough." Brila leaned her head forward, looking into Ainen's eyes. "You are not in pain."

"You're too close," Ainen muttered as a fiery sheen flickered in his eyes.

The snake binding him burned into ash as he leisurely took a step back.

Brila was dumbfounded, but only briefly before she instantly dashed back, creating a distance between them, her eyes filled with caution. 'What just happened?'

"Looks like you're tougher than I thought." Brina narrowed her eyes. "Fine, let's do it the hard way."

Suddenly, the entire battle ring was filled with thick mist.

Ainen's visibility reduced while the hissing sound increased as if a bunch of snakes were nearby.

Suddenly, five snakes attacked Ainen like a glittering purple spear, shining like a diamond.

But just as they arrived a meter from Ainen, a perfectly circular, faint orange barrier flickered into existence.

The snakes were blocked, but didn't die like the previous serpent.

However, Ainen's eyes flickered again as a streak of heat penetrated into the snakes, burning them swiftly.

"Are you sure about using such a thick mist here? Do you know what happens when water and its branching elements like mist, ice, and snow meet something much hotter than their boiling point?" Ainen asked.

"What are you talking about? It's no use buying time. You cannot detect me in this mist, and your vision is zero. Defend however long you can."

"Looks like you don't know." Ainen wryly smiled. "Well, let's experiment, shall we?"

'…' Lord Black understood the basic principle of the elements and their interactions to a certain extent, so he could imagine. 'This is going to get ugly depending on Ainen…'

Ainen pointed his index finger upward after bringing his hand to the same level as his chest. A tiny flame flickered above his finger.

Five more snakes arrived to attack again, but couldn't get past his barrier.

Ainen ignored the attacks and focused on the flame as he condensed it, poured more fire energy by transforming Mana, compressed it, poured more fire energy, condensed it, poured more fire energy, compressed it...

And he reached his limit of controlling the maximum output of his magic. It meant how much Mana he could control at once, be it normal Mana or transformed.

His normal Mana Control limit was 1150 to 1100 right now. But if he transformed into flames, he could infuse up to 2300 to 2400 Mana worth skill or spell at once due to his control of Fire being higher.

This was his current maximum capacity for a single move.

Ainen was still converging the heat and didn't spread it out from that monstrosity, a condensed flame ball that was the size of an egg.

He put this egg of flame outside his barrier.

Brial saw it and shot a snake at it, but the snake turned into ash right after touching it.

'What?'

'Hmm, since I got wind, I should release superheated wind instead of just heat…' Ainen just started doing it, and Lord Black noticed.

'NO AINEN!' Lord Black's horrified screech sounded in Ainen's mind, but it was too late.

In the next second, the very atmosphere trembled. The condensed flame egg ruptured, not in an explosion, but in a cataclysmic release of superheated wind whose temperature easily reached 5000+ Celsius.

The thick mist shroud that Brila spread…its particles didn't just vanish—they were ripped apart, turning into a raging superheated steam, like a storm of molten air, carrying a hiss as if thousands of ghosts screamed together.

Brila felt hot for a second. Just one second.

And then she was gone. Incineration and decomposition alongside her mage gear set, weapon, and everything of hers.

On the other hand, Ainen may have had high resistance to elements, due to having +800 Omni Elemental Resistance, and yet his defenses shattered and his Tier-3 Epic armor hit zero in durability rapidly while deforming.

The battle-ring turned extremely hot and hellish. Not as hot as that first wave that instantly destroyed Ainen's gears and erased Brila, but this region was still hot enough to injure Adept-rank Adventurers. Lower-ranked Adventurers would be hanging at death's door in seconds, as none of their defenses, be it barriers or buffs, would last in this.

Ainen did his best as he conjured flames around him to resist the deathly region that formed on this battle ring by his own experiment.

But in the next second, he vanished as he had won the duel. The notification didn't even register in his mind because he was that close to death.

'How reckless...' Lord Black ruefully smiled. 'If not for your Magic Core's stat bonus, you would have been dead.'

Ainen appeared back on the island, completely haggard. His deformed armor pieces fell as he stood with a blank expression. His senses were overwhelmed briefly, and his hearing was disabled for now while his vision slowly cleared.

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Ainen nodded blankly.

"Huh? Where's Brila?"

'My hearing is returning.' Ainen thought as he was recovering.

"What the fuck happened that there's not even a body of her? Did you store it in your Inventory?"

Ainen looked at the duo and blinked. "She's gone…with the wind. Hot wind."

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