Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Despite using items now, Caleb was still having a hard time against the hulking monster, pumped up with the power of sacrificing innocent lives. however, he was far from being as helpless against the cultivator as his previous opponents.

Heat Blade, one of the effects of the Dragon-Hheaded Blade, was a different version of covering the sword in flames. It heated the blade all the way to the point where it would not yet start losing strength or bend out of shape. With the super-heated blade, Caleb kept slashing at Dumm Ting.

The martial warrior's skin had proven to be as hard as armor in previous fights, especially in this shape. However, the sword left steaming, cauterized wounds wherever it hit, even when he blocked. They were not lethal, but the cultivator moaned in pain whenever the weapon touched him.

“Do you like my new sword? I got it especially for you~” Caleb chortled, despite the pressure he felt himself. “You know, I even went as far as to have a goblin shaman buff me before the fight. One of the spells was “Increased Pain”. All my attacks should cause double the pain it would usually. I didn't want you to get out of this easily.”

Dumm Ting grunted when he swatted the sword and earned another burn on his arm. He struck forward with a straight punch. Caleb raised his shield to block, but the fist suddenly opened, grabbing the shield. In a quick move, he wrestled the shield away from the knight's arm, smacked the owner in the face with it, and threw it away like a Frisbee.

“Don't get cocky with me,” the pressed out angrily and gave Caleb several jabs in the face and a kick to the ribs before the knight could recover his stance. Although the cultivator suffered, it wasn't like Caleb was in a good position himself.

Seth was still unsure what Caleb was trying to do. he probably still had something up, but he was drawing out the battle for no reason. The current time, before Dumm ting went berserk, was the most dangerous, it wasn't the time to hold back.

After a minute of silent back and forth, trading injuries with each other, Caleb took his distance from Dumm Ting. he wiped the blood from his battered nose.

“I guess you are right. I wanted to torment you, while you were still able to actually perceive it, but I can't risk losing this just to make you suffer,” Caleb said, obviously deciding to stop being cocky. Dumm ting grinned.

“So that was your plan? Then come on! Bring out your mount or whatever you still have left and I will show you what it means to be a tormentor;” the bulky foe said, a fire burning in his eyes. Seth would Argue that Ceres was probably the best teacher for that, after all, the elemental carried that title.

“We will see about that. Wyvern, come out!” Caleb called out. It was at this time, that Seth realized for the first time, that Caleb had actually named his Wyvern, Wyvern...

The creature that appeared behind the knight was a massive flying reptile that filled half the arena. Its intelligent eyes focused on Dumm Ting with killing intent. Appraising it now, Seth also found that his Wyvern had actually evolved in the few days since the race.

“Haha!” Dumm Ting laughed out loud and swung his fist. Unlike ever before, the evil energy that had flowed rampantly in his surroundings, suddenly swirled around his arms, extending his punch into a beam of energy that shattered the dodging Wyvern's shoulder, despite the resistance of the Wyvern Scales.

The Wyvern cried out in pain, as its hot blood dripped on the arena floor. Caleb, Seth, the audience, everyone was shocked, except for Master Mountain who watched the spectacle with a dark pondering look. The cultivator chuckled at everyone's face-

“It's all thanks to this tournament. With the experience in the previous fights, I have finally gotten the hang of controlling this power. I wanted to keep it secret until the finals, but in the end, I just can't resist trampling you like your little midget friend,” he said with a giant, crazed grin. Caleb ignored him, silently looking at Wvyern touching its wounded shoulder.

“What happened? Did you lose your tongue because I hurt your little pet? Here, let me do it some more!” Even more swirling power collected around his arm. As it shot off, it dug a long trench in the hard marble floor, however, it was dissipated by a mighty lance, splitting the attack.

“Good, then let's drop all pretenses. !”

A dense mist suddenly surrounded Caleb and Wyvern, covering half the arena. Massive winds started blowing as a tornado shaped and molded the mist. Dumm Ting cautiously took some distance as the surge tried to pull him into the tornado.

“Now that's some cartoon shit transformation, if I ever seen one...” Jonah exclaimed under his breath, breaking the silence in the room. When the mist receded, it revealed Caleb in a massive, disgustingly ostentatious, green, wyvern-themed armor that seemed to have fused to his body. The moment he appeared, he vanished.

The next moment, Dumm Ting's severed arm fell to the ground, severed by a super-sonic thrust of the lance in Caleb's hands. The transformed knight had charged straight past him, disintegrating his right shoulder with the thrust of his lance.

Dumm Ting looked at his shoulder in shock, the stump wriggling in disbelief. Another super-sonic thrust shot towards him, aiming for his head this time, however, the giant barely managed to evade this time. Caleb was not so fast that the cultivator could not react. Seth was pretty sure that Caleb had used a version of to pin his opponent in place the first time.

Having evaded the thrust, Dumm Ting turned, aiming a backhanded strike at the knight, using his remaining arm. Caleb ducked under it, swiping with his lance, aiming for the cultivator's face. The other stepped back, only suffering a small cut on the nose.

Caleb stabbed again, but this time.... the Lance was caught!

In shock, the knight stared at the right arm that had grabbed the lance and then at the severed arm on the ground. He had not noticed, but the audience had watched in shock. In the moments when Caleb tried to use the surprise to end Dumm Ting, the cultivator had actually regenerated his arm and terrifyingly high speed.

Even Master Mountain seemed surprised that someone on the level of Dumm Ting was able to regenerate a severed limb in the blink of an eye.

“He must have comprehended a special inheritance or mystical power,” Yu explained, facing the questioning eyes of the people surrounding him. “What's with these assholes comprehending weird stuff all the time?” Seth thought disgruntled.

Holding Caleb's lance, Dumm Ting kicked the knight in the stomach, however, he couldn't wrestle the lance away from him and it slipped from his hand. Propelled by the kick, he landed on the opposite side of the arena. Laboriously, the knight stood up, looking at Dumm Ting.

“Haha!What do you think? All your efforts were pointless.” In the arena, all wounds, all cuts, all burns Dumm Ting had sustained during the fight had vanished in front of Caleb's eyes. However, the adventurer looked less shocked than he was annoyed.

“Fine then. I wanted to be thrifty and you showed me that was wrong. You chose the hard way.”

Caleb cracked his neck and proceeded to pull a thick stack of scrolls from his inventory.

“You aren't fighting just me, you are fighting the power of the loan I took,” he exclaimed and twisted the whole stack of 15-20 scrolls, ripping them apart. A myriad of magical light effects surrounded Caleb, imbuing him and his weapon with the spells that were stored in the scrolls.

Seth looked over at Jane, this time he was slightly displeased. Just how much did she loan him? Was this Caleb fighting Dumm Ting, or Minas Mar crushing him with Caleb as a proxy?

These were not simple scrolls from their shop. They only sold the scrolls made for practice by their enchanters. The ones Caleb used were too high-grade. He had to have bought them at the auction house.

“I assure you it was a good deal,” Jane said apologetically.

“You will have to explain to me how good it was later.”