Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 506: Igor the Skilled

Chapter 506: Igor the Skilled

A sword, a spear, and a bow and arrow. Igor carried every single mentioned weapon and not only were the weapons themselves of the highest quality but so was his skill with them. There was nothing Igor could not do. Nothing he could not transition between. From bow and arrow to fiery sword to his spear too.

Suffice it to say, Igor won his battle with little issue. Then the next. Then the next. One by one, they left and Dasha was eventually alone. Igor won four battles in a row.

An opportunity presented itself when Dasha realized how mucky and dirty the Natural Qi was in the Dark Tower. For Tu Na Breathing, it was perfect. He would never run out of mana. The other warriors did the same by eating monster meat.

"The Solution," the boy called out, having been directed every single warrior to their deaths. "Please come through. It is your turn."

Through the north corridor he went. It felt like walking through a portal. One second, he was in the safe area and the next screams breathed down his neck. For floors above fifty, there was only one arena. One battle at a time.

Everything was red. The light of the torches, the walls, everything. The old cobblestone was painted by its own purpose, from the blood through centuries of battle.

The crowds were filled to the brim with food and screaming men and women, demons and humans alike. Fifty thousand, he had already counted. The Solution stood calmly in the center of the bloodstained arena floor, his red tengu mask gleaming under the grim light.

Across from him stood his opponent. Igor.

An older man, but no less dangerous for it. His hair hung long at both ends, red streaked with black, and his frame was wiry with the hardened strength of a man who had survived too many battles to count. Across his back were a sword, a bow and quiver of arrows, and a long spear crackling faintly with lightning, and a couple of knives and pouches with smoke bombs and other accessories as well.

For formality’s sake, the horn blew. In reality, the fight began the second the Solution’s foot touched the arena.

Like in previous matches, he presumed Igor would distract with ranged attacks first—fire a few arrows, keep him busy, and then rush in close with swordplay where experience would dominate.

Igor moved differently.

In the same breath that Dasha raised his guard to prepare for the arrows, Igor hurled his spear. It ripped through the air like a thunderbolt, lightning crackling along its shaft, splitting the ground where Dasha had stood a moment earlier. A second spear was hurled, this one a manifestation of lightning rather than a host. The air itself screamed as the pure lightning spear embedded into the earth and spread.

Dasha had no choice but to take to the air, a ripple of black Qi trailing behind him. His heart rate never spiked. His mind stayed clear. But before he could counter—

Arrows.

A whole storm of them, raining down from above.

Mid-air, Dasha raised his gauntlets to block and block. ’The momentum, can’t allow it to slam me back down.’ Afterall, for some seconds, lightning was prevailing in the arena. With utmost efficiency, his Qi Sense tracked the arrows down and his fists broke them.

He landed. Four small black balls awaited.

Dasha’s Qi Sense flared, warning him—too late. He kicked one, crushed the other, and failed to reach the rest.

Smoke exploded outward, a thick, churning cloud that blurred the world into nothingness. His Qi Sense was distorted, muffled like a sound underwater.

’Anti-magic!?’

From the darkness behind him—

The hiss of flame.

Dasha twisted, but not fast enough.

Igor’s fiery sword slammed into his ribs, the impact sending him skidding across the arena floor. Pain blossomed in his side. He barely registered the follow-up. Igor was already there, relentless, a sword stroke at his mask. It smashed into the long red nose of the tengu mask. He took to the air again, this time not of his own volition.

Dasha flipped in the air twice and was back on his feet, hands clapping together. ’Thunder Clap.’

The black shockwave was small but concentrated, a precise burst of Qi that detonated like a punch straight into Igor’s face. Igor wished to press his advantage and Dasha cut him off just like that. The older man was tossed back. He lay on his back, seemingly defeated. Dasha did not immediately gun for him for the two reasons: one, his Qi Sense was still inactive; two, Igor was lying. Pretending to be injured. When Igor realized the dirty trick failed, he slowly got to his feet, a line of blood trailing from his nose.

"Ha!" Igor barked, swiping his bloody nose with the back of his hand. His voice was rough, seasoned with laughter. "This is the Dark Tower, boy. Don’t believe what you see."

In other words, expect what he displayed in previous matches not to be everything he had. ’Quite bold. I presumed he gave everything he had given his injuries.’

An injured knee, a dislocated left shoulder, and a burnt ear. One injury accumulated from battling four times in a row, another from blocking too many attacks with his sword, and the last from the first archer he battled. Smiling, almost wanting to laugh, Igor charged. Dasha met him head-on. Qi Sense or not, he figured his next line of actions.

Clang, clang, clang!

The fiery sword was countered repeatedly by Dasha’s gauntlets. ’I can see what he’s doing, he’s pressing on my left side where he struck me.’ Dasha leaned on his left side, pretending to be weaker on that side. Clang, clang, clang! Metal met metal. His flaming swords failed to reach him.

Igor was still pressing on that left side, still trying to find what leverage he could from the previous exchange, not knowing that Dasha’s Internal Healing already healed him. What he was doing now was just playing along.

Clap!

He caught it. Slamming his palms together, he caught the blade. Instantly, Igor kicked his side. It did nothing—

"Don’t underestimate your elders."

"...!"

Drip, drip. Dasha felt his flesh split open. He felt blood about to spill out. Through his gi, through his Qi, Igor’s measly kick got through to him.

How?