Swisshh!

With a sword in one hand and a dagger in the next, Emery dashed in great speed towards Maeve. However, his attack was quickly blocked by multiple plant roots that could somehow follow his movements.

Maeve cast a plant spell [Entangle] to block Emery's advances.

Slash! Slash!

There were several roots, but none were fast enough nor strong enough, allowing Emery to slash through them with ease. But, with just one second of him being distracted, Maeve had moved away and sunk into the darkness of the woods.

"Hahahaha! Very good, very good! Catch me, dear sweet Emery!"

Emery had participated in a few more fights now thanks to the Magus Academy tournament and he believed that the witch wouldn't be as good as him in close combat. However, the one he was fighting today was a very cunning opponent. Honed through living in the shadows for more than a hundred years, that alone was enough to make her a formidable opponent.

Both Emery and Maeve possessed an affinity for Darkness and Plant spells. There was no reason for Emery to be afraid of being dragged into the woods.

But he won't be so stupid as to underestimate the witch. The last time they fought two years ago she was ranked 6, the same as he was right now. If only he had no restriction on him, probably Emery would be more confident.

He chased the witch into the woods while checking on his status.

[Emery Ambrose]

[Battle Power: 65 (50)]

[Spirit Force: 217 (142)]

[Acolyte Rank 7]

[Immortal Gate: Stage 4]

Unfortunately, he was not at maximum power. He had been using multiple [Spatial Gate] to rush to this place and with the added strain of using [Immortal Gate] for quite a while now, his power had decreased even further.

As for his spirit force, the many short training sessions he did in Khaos space last month had given him a 7 points increase in his spirit force. It was a good increase, but not enough to let him break through the limit and attain the next rank. Though the system said he was a rank 7 acolyte, the restriction made him stay in rank 6 and rendered him unable to use his rank 4 spells.

He could only hope the witch didn't improve much since their last battle.

Knowing this might become a difficult fight, Emery decided to keep hidden as many of his cards as possible. For example, his [Blink] spell could turn the tides of battle at the last moment. Hence, he merely relied on his high battle power to chase her.

Within seconds, the witch was within sight. He dashed forward, jumped and executed a downward slash towards the witch, only to see her immediately grab the bark of the closest tree and suddenly disappear.

Clack!

The tip of Emery's sword slashed the tree bark instead.

Right after she disappeared, she cackled, while Emery quickly pulled his sword and turned around.

To his surprise, he saw the witch walk out from another tree.

"Hahaha, you are fast! Very fast! Where did you get all that power? Will you tell poor granny here about your secret?" She taunted.

Emery had read about the spell Maeve used before in the Magus Academy library. It was a spell called [Tree Stride], and it would allow the caster to teleport from one tree to the nearest tree. The problem was, that spell was a tier 4 spell, which confirmed Emery's suspicion that right now, the witch had reached at least rank 7.

So, this was why she lured him into the woods.

This was going to be a difficult fight, after all.

Emery took his stance and was ready to chase after her one more time. But this time, shadows in the form of a blade came charging towards him, forcing him to dodge by jumping.

This fight had turned into a game of cat and mouse. While Emery chased her, Maeve would stride over to the trees and attack him from afar, while staying safe from harm. Emery wished he could use his [Shadow Root] or [Blink] to quickly catch her, but he needed to wait. The opportunity hadn't come yet.

His body started to feel a bit sluggish, Emery knew he couldn't keep using stage 4 immortal gate any longer. It's draining too much stamina, so he decided to stop and drop his battle art back to stage 3.

[Immortal Gate: Stage 3]

[Battle power decreased by 8]

[Current battle power: 57 (42)]

This number should be enough for this game of cat and mouse. If the witch could sense his strength, this could be a good chance to trick the witch.

"Hahaha! Are you tired already, boy?"

His guess was proven correct. From the start, he had suspected there was a high chance Maeve understood how to read his spirit, therefore, she would know when his strength dropped. If he had to admit it, the shallow breathing wasn't an act, either.

Unexpectedly, his opportunity came faster than he thought and the witch was careless. As she moved into another tree, she couldn't see Emery for all but a second.

A second was enough for him.

Emery quickly cast [Blink] and appeared behind her.

The witch was shocked and quickly turned and try to dodge

Without wasting the opportunity, Emery used the dagger battle art [Hidden Blade] to stab her back.

Clack!

Emery can see the witch's skin change color just a moment before the dagger pierced arrived. She was using the tier 3 spell [Oakflesh] to harden her skin, but fortunately, the tier 3 dagger and his strength were still able to pierce through and draw a small amount of blood.

But, it was not enough. The witch was still able to move and the more time he wasted, the closer the witch would be to another tree. The witch ran and was about to touch the nearest tree to cast her tree stride speel once more. That exact moment, Emery quickly swung his sword using his strongest [Heroic Slash], the only battle art that seemed to be strong enough to cut through the oakflesh spell.

Splat!

Blood splattered and stained Emery's face, while the witch's arm flew into the air and landed on the grass.

"Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggghhhhh!"

The witch fell and slumped onto the ground, holding the stump of her severed arm with her other arm. She screams in agony cursing towards Emery.

Emery glared at her, while pointing his sword towards her.

"You lost!"

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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,