As I am enveloped by the light after the announcement, I feel a mix of nauseous and drowsiness as I find myself in some sort of a strange white place. But once it starts to dissolve, I notice that I'm not in the central district of <Initio> anymore. Rather, it's a flat rocky field with no signs of greenery and building around us with a barrier surrounding us and a crowd of players gathered outside it. As I look up, the sky is a strange mix of purple, red, and cyan with magenta clouds above me, and right in front of me is the player that I'm facing up against.
[Welcome to the [Duel Plane], participants. This is where you conduct several [Duels] and official PVP battles created by the admin.]
[Duel Plane], huh? I guess this is the developer's answer to avoid senseless violence in towns and cities in this game. Although, Kazu is so much of a stickler for worldbuilding, so I wonder how this strange space fits into the game's lore.
[You have 1 minute to prepare and double-check your skills for battle and 20 seconds to assume your positions. The first one to defeat their opponent or the highest [HP] after timeout wins. This [Duel] will use the [No-Potion] rule and the timer of 3 minutes. Also, experience gain to all [Masteries] will be disabled for this feature.]
I see. In other words, we have to fight without relying on potions to fight or increase our stats. The rules are okay, but I doubt that jerk will battle fair. In any case, I'm okay with my current equipment for now and as I check through my skill and [Mastery] menu, I'm hoping that my skillset should be enough to help me gain an advantage for this [Duel].
But as I focus on my [Mastery] and skill menu, I hear my opponent snickering behind his menu windows.
"Don't act like you have some powerful skills with you. I bet I will dodge every arrow you throw at me. Even if you hit me with them, you can't penetrate my powerful armor made from the toughest materials from the new dungeons nearby."
Yeah, yeah. I get it, show-off. It's not like I can use my bow and arrows for this fight too much. But he's right. If I want to survive this bout, I need a plan to penetrate that armor. I know everyone has a weakness and that includes his so-called powerful armor.
[30 seconds left.]
As I turn off my menu after deciding on my skillset, I notice in the crowd outside the battlefield that Kazu is there, leaning against the invisible wall with Star and Annie by his side. Of course, my brother's very concerned about me for making such a reckless challenge against that rude party leader. Still, there's no turning back now. All I can do is to flash a grin to him and give him a thumbs-up as a sign that I got this. I'm his older brother and I'm going to teach this jerk not to mess with Kazu while I'm around.
[Preparation phase has passed. Assume your positions, participants.]
Upon hearing that announcement, I slowly bend my left knee and kneel as I reach the hilt of my sword. If I want to get an advantage, I need to get a headstart. Besides, I see that my opponent pulls out a large sword from his back (which how in the world can he do that in here?!). Knowing how he acted towards me and Kazu earlier, I can guess his fighting style just by his equipment. But there's no time to analyze him. It's almost time.
[5... 4... 3... 2... 1...]
Once it reaches 1, I took a deep breath...
[Begin!]
With that declaration, the rude player slowly charges towards me and raises his sword above him. Then as he swings it downward, I grab my sword and use its blade to block it. While it's a smart move for me to use a defensive move for my first action of this [Duel], I began to notice a flaw in this as I feel the weight of the sword is starting to push me down.
"Hahahahahaha! Do you expect a puny blue sword like that is enough to go against my [Golem Slasher]? You must be out of your mind!"
To be honest, he does have a point. But in my defense, this is the first time I've used my [Sapphire Sword] in a real battle. And as the description says, it is still experimental and I do need to adjust this at the later date. Regardless, this is my only melee weapon for this [Duel]. Besides, I already have a [Mastery] to counter his sword's weight. Without any hesitation, I mentally activate [Minor Strength Enhancement], and using most of my strength along with the skill's effects, I slowly push my opponent's blade away from me until I finally break the lock.
"What th-"
Before he can finish his sentence, I activate another skill called [Super Jump] as I squat down. As the name implies, I release the strength from my legs to jump above him, allowing me to draw my bow and arrow. Then, with an accurate aim to his chest and a perfect range in mid-air, I fire an arrow at him, hoping it might damage him a bit. But to no surprise, it just breaks the moment it tries to make contact with his chest armor just as he laughs at my attempt.
"Do you expect a mere stick is enough to stop me? [Aftershock]!"
I see the leader raise his sword and with a big horizontal swing, he releases a large energy wave similar to the [Wind Blade] spell. I know that it looks bad, so I twist my body in mid-air to dodge the attack. But just I land on the ground, my opponent quickly charges in with a strike from his sword's hilt. This hits my chest as I find myself flew back a few meters away from him.
[CRITICAL HIT!]
Damn, that notice isn't lying. I can feel a rush of pain in my chest. It even reflects on my [HP] as it deducts a third of it. This guy's power is no joke. If I'm not careful with his next attack, I might lose this bout. At this point, I have to rely on my sword for now until I can find a weakness in this jerk. But despite this handicap, I do have another skill in hand in case of this situation.
"Spirit of Sylph, I ask for your aid. Grant me the power of the wind to outrun and defeat my opponents!"
"Don't even think about it! [Aftershock]!" My eyes widen as I see him release another wave coming towards me. Without wasting any more time, I finish the [Bluster Wind's] invocation before I use my buffed speed to run away from the blade. "You can run, kid. But you can't hide from my [Golem Smasher]!"
Seriously?! As I run, he continues using his [Aftershock] skill against me as he continues laughing madly. Geez, just how strong is this jerk? Not only does he has armor that deflects my arrows, but he has a ranged skill that he can fire through his sword. I guess there must also be a [Mastery] that focuses on the armored jerk's preferred weapon type, which makes it more complicated.
Gritting my teeth, I charge in and unleash a flurry of swipes and parries towards him. As my [Physical Enhancement] made it more manageable to his sword's weight, we spent a few seconds trading blows, parries, and dodges. Yet despite my speed advantage, he manages to match it up along with every hit and parry. Eventually, we found ourselves in another weapon lock where I'm facing his sword's weight once more as the jerk tries to push the blade closer to my face.
"Heh... How are you holding up, kid?!" The jerk spoke up right in front of me as I continue to struggle to push his sword back. "Accepting my challenge was a big mistake. With your [Masteries], you will never win against my set and equipment. And once I'm done with you, I'll make sure your shop won't see the light of day. And don't worry about that [Insignis] kid. We're going to take care of him with our special methods."
Special methods, my ass. Not only our business is on the line, but it includes Kazu, too. Not everyone is perfect and invincible. I know waiting for him to make a mistake might be a good move, but it may take a while and he's already kicking my ass. Besides, it's not like he's moving like a turtle considering his armor pieces...
Pieces...?
Of course! Why didn't I think of that before?!
But just before I can do anything about my eureka moment, I find myself being pushed down by the jerk's sudden strong strike above me, causing me to lose my sword a few feet away from me to the ground. Damn it, I almost lost my focus back there and now he's approaching me with an evil grin and his large sword behind him.
"WIND!"
Damn... It was a bit faint, but I can barely hear Kazu behind the barrier. I wish I can put up a brave face in front of him, but my small mistake has done nothing to ease his worries about me.
"I've admitted, you got some guts taking me on like a man, kiddie. But now it's over..."
Heh... it seems that way. I'm still on the ground with my sword far from my reach and there is no counter to his next attack as he raises his sword above me. At this rate, I'm essentially a sitting duck.
----
Wind's Masteries
[Archery] Level 18
[Woodcrafting] Level 7
[Swordsmanship] Level 16
[Cooking] Level 6
[Wind] Level 15
[Physical Enhancement] Level 15
[Hunting] Level 14
[Blacksmithing] Level 6
----
Kazu's Masteries
[Arcana] Level 19
[Thunder] Level 16
[Wind] Level 14
[Alchemy] Level 15
[Magecrafting] Level 10
[Magical Affinity] Level 17
[Scribe] Level 4