Chapter 481
Many peeked at Sofy to catch a glimpse of her collarbone faintly glistening under the sunlight, but they quickly stopped when Sofy glared at them while playing with her whip.
The wind around Russo became hotter by the second, and his body was starting to look wavy, as if it was a mirage caused by heat.
Russo smirked, and the wind of the Wind Armor swirled around his body and limbs rapidly. When the heat materialized by Fire Armour became hot enough, a spark ignited, and a flame surrounded Russo’s body like a cloak.
However, the flame cloak didn’t remain an ordinary fire. The wind fed the fire and caused it to intensify. Soon, Russo became a man of fire along with his two blades.
[What the! Russo has combined both elements into one!]
[Russo is not only blunt and wind magic resistant, but he is also fire resistant now. Additionally, I suspect cold spells like ice and the rare water element will have their effectiveness reduced. Not to mention how Russo has now become a nightmare for a close combat fighter like you.]
[No wonder Russo is a captain. Only those who are stronger than him by a large margin can beat him. Wind and fire mages also do not stand a chance against him.]
-Getting him on our side is a must.-
.....
-I am glad I can have the chance to persuade Russo to join us. He will allow me to rest my mind about the mansion’s safety.-
[I agree one hundred percent. His presence will make us enjoy peace of mind.]
‘I want to douse myself with water, but I don’t want to get sick and give Iris more medicine to make. I also don’t want to make my girls sick too. I got to wing it without burning my uniform.’
Vincent concluded it was both beneficial and disadvantageous to become wet after being active for some time.
Vincent threw a punch, and Russo blocked it. Vincent frowned and took a few steps back.
“Did you see that? The noble is afraid of our captain.”
“The noble will lose because he was at a stalemate with our captain. He can not beat the Raging Flame Armor..”
“Yeah. Our captain is a brawler’s nightmare, haha.”
“I wonder how that feisty elf slave is feeling right now. I bet she is trembling when her owner is about to suffer a hot defeat.
‘I want to whip their mouths shut...’ Sofy tightened her grip on the whip and tried to calm her irritability. ‘I must keep calm and watch the expressions they will make when my chosen one wins.’
‘A weak person can’t make Sakura happy after all.’ Thought Sofy with a smirk.
Russo went on the offensive while using all his elemental spells at the same time. He wanted to make himself as powerful as he could become to gauge how strong Vincent actually was.
‘Miss. Blocked. Blocked. Miss. Miss. Miss.’ Russo lost count of the number of failed attacks. ‘When will I be able to land a hit? Was our gap this vast?’
[Vincent. Is there a problem? Why are you on the defensive when you can clearly be stronger?]
-Yeah. I should stop being in danger.-
[Danger?]
Kazumi became curious as to what danger Vincent was referring to. As a person who has the body of a wisp and doesn’t have clothes, the thought of the uniform catching on fire didn’t pass her mind.
“I didn’t expect you were going to make me go serious for real.” Vincent announced before revealing, “You are dangerous to my costly uniform. My wives might come here and cause havoc if they see a singe on the uniform.”
Sofy giggled upon hearing this. She knew how strong Ester, Iris, and Sakura were. Not to mention the one who would gladly start a commotion without thinking of the consequences, the impatient Lupa.
However, the soldiers took it differently. They believed Vincent was trying to boast and act cocky, as all nobles do.
Furthermore, those who recognized Vincent’s uniform as the first year also ridiculed him for secretly taking dozens of agility potions before arriving at the north gate barracks.
After Vincent announced his fear of his uniform getting burnt, it could only mean one thing when it involves a noble in the eyes of the soldiers. He must be wearing enchanted clothing underneath for him to be afraid.
The soldiers quickly concluded and mocked Vincent for cheating. That was the only way a first-year academy student could contend with their captain.
In the eyes of the soldiers, Vincent is a noble who is trying to make the prestigious and easiest barracks become sponsored to look bad and weak.
Vincent jumped back. “Time for you to learn how I was going easy on you.” He said while stretching his neck and cracking his knuckles.
Russo smirked, but it didn’t remain on his face for long.
Vincent sprang forward, leaving a small cloud of dust and bits of dirt falling on the soldiers.
His clenched fists opened, and his combat stance changed from a brawler to that of a wild beast with claws. His legs now covered more ground with every stride causing Russo to miscalculate the time it takes Vincent to approach him.
Vincent swung his left hand’s curled claw-like fingers at the armor of raging fire. But his hand was pushed away by the spiraling current of flames. The right arm swung swiftly at the same area, and the fire extinguished for a brief second.
“What the!?” Questioned Russo. He felt his mana acting strange and chaotically fluctuating in the same location Vincent hit twice.
Russo began to worry when his mana momentarily stopped being responsive. Furthermore, Vincent’s different and aggressive fighting style made him worry.
In Russo’s eyes, Vincent was fighting without being concerned about getting hurt, fighting without fear as if he had faced many dangerous encounters.
‘Why do I feel intimidated? Is this the reason teacher Koss trained Vincent? Was Ben telling the truth about Vincent bringing a change in this century?’ Russo pondered as he remained on the defensive.
Russo jumped back, and his retreat caused an uproar. The soldiers couldn’t comprehend why Russo made the distance between him and Vincent.
Vincent moved forward and extended both hands swiftly. He grabbed two swords with spiraling pillars of flame with difficulty. His grip couldn’t hold on for very long, but fortunately, one second was enough.
“Shatter. ” Vincent uttered.
A mighty force discharged from both of Vincent’s gauntlets and entered into the mana circulation of the Raging Flame Armor.
A chaotic lightning-like root penetrated into the mana flow and shattered the harmony between the wind and fire elements. Additionally, the refined mutated mana absorbed and disrupted Russo from regaining control immediately.
The spell around the swords diminished, and the swords had no protection against the power remaining from Shatter. Both swords started to crack from the penetrating force disrupting the molecule structure of the blades.
The metal swords only took one second to become brittle like old dried wood and break down from the slightest movement.
Five seconds passed from the time Vincent said he wasn’t going to take it easy anymore. These five seconds felt like minutes in the eyes of all the soldiers spectating the match.
The soldiers couldn’t believe an ordinary weapon protected by the Raging Flame Armor could be destroyed so quickly.
A few soldiers felt so desperately confused and curious that they went to ask Sofy. But her silent response wasn’t a satisfactory one.
Sofy revealed a delighted smile as if she was excited by their expressions of bewilderment. ‘This expression on humans is the best.’ Was on her mind.
Russo jumped back and threw the hilts on the ground. He never expected to have both his swords broken in a fight.
When Vincent chose gauntlets as a weapon, Russo asked if Vincent was going to fight with armor on. Everyone fights with a sword and a sword breaking in one fight is a one-in-a-million chance.
Russo was cornered, and he understood his chances of winning were lowered. He became sad only to experience sparring with a serious Vincent for a few seconds.
Now it wasn’t about losing or winning anymore. Russo was enjoying the spar, and he wanted to continue. The desire to improve and continue brought forth a spell awakening.
Russo grinned when fate gave him a chance he desired to have. *Clap* When he clapped once, the Raging Flame Armor covering his arms extinguished.
The air became arid and dust accumulated around his arms. As the thickness of the dry rock-like arms increased, the stability started to crumble.
First, it began from the shoulders, then the biceps, then the elbows, and finally the forearms. Only the hands and fingers retained a thick earth-like glove.
The Raging Flame Armor covered Russo’s arms again, but with one difference. The hands and fingers now had bright glowing cracks as if inside the earth gloves were something tremendously hot.
“Our captain has awakened his third element, and he has already combined it!” One of the soldiers shouted with joy.
“Great. But don’t forget to surrender soon.” Vincent reminded Russo while acting as if it would not help much.
Russo clenched his fists and ran to throw a strike. Vincent sidestepped the first two times and understood how Russo suffered from the problem everyone suffers when they gain new power.
Vincent caught Russo’s fists in the next combo.
“Good match Russo, but you need time to adjust with the earth element and learn to fight barehanded. I have other arrangements to make today, so I will end our spar now. ” He said while absorbing Russo’s mana.