Dance with the Nightingale-Chapter 124 - 119: Team Play I

Even though the next day had arrived, what I had to do remained the same. So, without even having breakfast, as that was also unnecessary at this point, I quickly healed the last few patients in the hospital, only to notice that the people who required healing already lining up.

Letting out a dry laugh, I climbed down the stairs and arrived at the front of the compound, rolling the sleeves of my shapeshifted armor.

And by the time noon arrived, I let out a sigh, quite close to finishing line of people. And while, I wasn’t exhausted or anything, I was bored, and very rightly so.

If a person was a tramp with a broken leg, I casted [Vitae Restorare], and even if a person simply had cold, yes some of them had caught cold after being soaked in yesterday’s rain and had come for treatment today, I casted [Vitae Restorare].

It was so repetitive that I was fed up.

So, after thanking the subordinates of Roan, who had promptly erected a booth for the healing session, I told them to inform him that this marks the end of the healing I’ll be doing for the people of Loana, unless someone is really dying, I would restrict my healing to the attack party.

After all, I couldn’t waste my time after this, and something that was too readily accessible wasn’t valued anymore.

So, for the first time after arriving in Loana, I crashed in my bed in the inn that my party had booked.

My thoughts being – Boobies. I want boobies, soft, warm boobies, I wanna snuggle up in them!

I vented for a while, laying on my bed upside down doing nothing.

Atleast, until Syrus knocked on the door, before opening it and entering with a tray in his hand.

"You haven’t eaten since yesterday.", he stated, settling the tray filled with dishes on the side table.

As much as I wanted to remind him, that I didn’t need to eat for sustenance now, I didn’t and just sat back up. The aroma of the lamb chops that he brought tickled my nose and somehow, I found myself reaching out for them.

It was only after taking a few bites, that I had the mood to ask, "So, how was your scouting? Were the bandits already wiped out as I suspected?"

"Yes, they were already wiped out, their bases and loot was still there but the bandits themselves have vanished."

"Hm."

"There were no signs of resistance anywhere nor were there any signs that disclosed that the bandits ran away or even tried to."

"So, what do you think?"

"Maybe some powerful archmage or monster kidnapped them or obliterated them at the same time, in an instant."

"Hm, yea, that’s pretty good guess.", I said while munching down on my food. "You must be tired as well, go have some rest."

"I will."

"Oh, by the way, where are the other two?"

"They went explore the town and the flea market. Allen was really excited to see all sorts of mercenaries gathering."

"Oh, yeah? That’s good, he’ll be fighting with them so it’s good that mingles with them."

"Will he really be fighting? He’s just a 10 years old kid."

"And he has the power of a dragon within him."

"Yes, but you saw how that power affects him."

"You don’t have to worry, Syrus. I have my methods to handle its side effects, so leave it me.", I said, reassuring the warrior.

"Only if you’re sure in this method of yours."

"I’m damn sure."

"Okay… leader. I’ll take your word for it.", he finally relented, retreating into the hall leaving me alone in the bed to contemplate, along with my food, of course.

***

Late afternoon, I headed for the training grounds. Only to find Serina’s team along with a crowd of onlookers already present there.

Thankfully, Ruhr, Haze and Liora were also present. Cana and Allen for some reason, were also standing amidst the crowd.

’Hm…’

Stretching my body, I slowly made my way through the crowd, channeling my mana and relaxing my muscles as I warmed up.

Walking up to my group, I didn’t present an elaborate strategy as they expected instead, I hit them up with simple positions.

"So, are you all warmed up?" I asked before assigning them their positions. "Haze you’ll be our assassin, just look for opportunities and act as you like, Liora you’re responsible for crowd control, I know you’ll be very restricted with a druid on their team, but I’m sure y’know how to circumvent that. And finally, Ruhr, you’ll be Liora’s iron shield, do what you can to protect her and call out to me if it gets too much."

"No problem, but are you sure we’ll win with such a loose strategy?", Ruhr replied and Haze followed up, "Yes, like I told your subordinate yesterday, Serina is very strong for a C rank. And her attribute is one of the most versatile ones I’ve seen."

"Hmm, you guys don’t have to worry about that, I’ll handle it, just do your part and we’ll win. Let me rephrase that, no matter how sticky things get for me, don’t try to help me, just do your part. Only if you do that we will win.", I said.

Sensing Haze’s unease lingering, Liora added, "Now gentlemen, Young Master must have something in his mind if he’s that confident, no? He was the winner of ’Strongest of the Younger Generation’, so let’s trust that and play along for now. After all, we have nothing to lose."

With a slow nod, Haze seemed to accepted the Liora’s words.

"So, off we go!", I declared stepping into the training grounds’ sparring arena, from our end.

The sparring arena was big for a normal person, but considering a magic user’s speed and spell’s range, it was quite small. Smaller than even a football field having dimension, 100 by 50 meters. Clearly, it wasn’t designed to sport team matches of magic users of this caliber.

Stepping towards the center of the arena, I eyed the crowd casually, noticing that it seemed to be full of mercenaries themselves, all belonging to different bands, who came to cheer their respective leader.

"Boss! Don’t be the first to get knocked out! Hahaha!"

Or maybe some just wanted their leaders seen beaten up.

On the other side of the field, Serina and the rest, the rest being – the two Lycans, Zera and Garren, and the obviously the Druid, Elowen, also stepped in, walking towards the center.

Roan Chalm who appeared from who knows where, also walked in, "Good morning, everyone. I’m sorry to inform you that Ms. Mayor had an urgent matter to deal with and won’t be available to witness this spar. I’ll oversee the match in her stead. I thank you for your cooperation.", he said in a practiced manner to both groups, before explaining the rules calmly.

"As everyone knows it’s a spar to decide the leader of the attack party, between Young Master Rayne Von Ellsworth and Serina Valebright. Let me stress, it’s a spar so any loss of life will not be tolerated and the one who inflicts it will be penalized heavily. Everything non-fatal is allowed in the match, though the one who inflicts a lasting wound will be responsible for the healing process."

Roan spoke smoothly, but inwardly, he wasn’t that calm. For, especially after yesterday’s explanation from Ms. Rose, he knew, if anything happened to the Young Master during this duel, then maybe this whole town would be razed to the ground.

Fighting through his nervousness, the middle-aged man spoke after a pause, "As soon as the barrier blinks green, the spar will start, so get in your formations."

And the teams did, my team getting in a 1-2-1 formation, with me at the forefront followed by Ruhr, who will protect Liora behind, and Haze who will rush forward at as soon as soon as he sees an opening. As for Serina’s team they got in a 2-1-1 formation with the Lycans at the head followed by Serina and Elowen.

As the teams got in formation, Roan started walking out of the arena, midway through, "Ah, Young Master, I forgot to inform you, the barrier will blink red twice before it blinks green. It is a little different from the conventional method so I had to inform you.", Roan stopped and explained nervously before making his way out.

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After retreating, he took out a black stylus from his pocket and tapped the air a few times. And as soon as he finished, I could feel a barrier enveloping the arena, then without a pause, the barrier blinked red, once, twice, and as Roan said, blinked green for the third time.

The match had started, with a bang to boot.

Needless to say, I was the bang.

With my near immortal body, I had literally no fear of any attacks of C ranks, or even B ranks, the only thing they could do was make me stronger. So, without waiting for anyone, I made the first move.

[Acceleration] x5

Lunging forward at an insane speed to deliver a powerful thrust straight at Senira.

BOOM!

My advance was followed by a sonic boom, which finally had people snap back to their senses, only for them to find my sword dangerously close to Serina’s neck, held back by two cyan colored mana panels that clenched it from both sides baring its advance.

Almost instantly, another panel appeared before the tip of my sword, halting its advance, followed by a myriad of panels that connected with the panels that were holding my sword. Together they formed a semicircular shield that protected Serina from the punch that I followed up with, infusing as much mana as I could in it.

Regrettably, I still wasn’t able to infuse all 45,000 of my mana in any of my move in an instant, I’ll have to train to learn that, but that 10,000 mana that I did was more than enough crack the cyan panels and send Serina flying back straight at Elowen.

While the druid was faced with human sized cannonball and had to see her safety first, Serina’s other two teammates weren’t so busy.

Though my abrupt advance and the subsequent shockwave of my punch had them reeling, they attacked the next moment.

Garren aiming for me from above while the other Lycan, Zera was charging up some move with her eyes fixed on me.

’Hm, so one is attacking me while the other is waiting for me to respond, doesn’t matter if I dodge or attack back, I’ll be struck from behind.’

I’d have to get creative if I was a normal magic user who had just spent a huge amount of mana just now and was momentarily weakened, but I really wasn’t.

Gathering more mana, which had already recovered the moment my punch landed, I sent it flooding through my legs, and jumped.

With just my body’s strength, even without [Attribute Infusion], I was far more powerful than a normal C rank not focused on strength.

So, instead of an intense clash midair, my armored leg flicked the spear along with his spearman a long way to the side of the arena.

Now, things are going to get muddy, I thought as I saw a blazing ball of orange and red in Zera’s hand.

Without hesitation, the female Lycan unleashed to incinerating beam right at my face. If it was only that, I could’ve easily dodged, but from the corner of my eye I saw a flicker of cyan coming at me, as well as sensed the life-force converging below me.

Serina and Elowen, both of them had made their moves as well.

Thankfully, so did my team.

Haze was already near Zera, while Liora had already fired spells towards Garren. Thankfully, no one interfered, even as a cyan cage completely trapped me, leaving a small hole for the blazing orange beam to passed unhindered.

Though, before the beam could hit me, I hit it. With my palm outstretched, a blazing orb materialized before my palm at an astonishing speed. It should’ve transformed into a very similar blazing beam to meet Zera’s, but before it could, her beam reached it causing a huge implosion. It was as if a miniature star had been born abashing everyone with its crimson glow.

Except me, I guess. The shockwaves sent me flying back with a great impact, but surprisingly, despite being closest to the explosion, I wasn’t harmed, much.

That’s because even though she didn’t intend to, Serina’s mana panels blocked most of the heat and impact of the explosion, and by the time she remembered to dissolve them, I was far away from the heating center. Which was also a blunder as it gave me a chance to retreat and regroup.

And by the time I did retreat and regroup, I saw Zera with a bloody wound on her side, Garren all batter by defending Liora’s spells, a towering bundle of vines burning in the middle of the arena and Ruhr in the back smashing a few of Serina’s panels.

After landing before the retreating Haze and slashing the few spells tailing him, I commended, "Nice work team. Keep doing that and we’ll win!"