'Warriors are scary....' Arin thought as he felt the attacks heading towards him.
This time, he suddenly made an abrupt stop as he turned back to face the attacks.
He stretched out his right hand, and in an instant, a Water Wall formed in front of him.
Multiple booming sounds were heard as the force of the attacks destroyed the Water Wall.
The impact of the attacks colliding with the Water Wall was enough to push Arin away, but the good thing was that it pushed him towards the direction he was running to.
Arin spun mid-air and landed swiftly, and without wasting time, he continued his dash.
He could still hear the boy shouting behind him, but he continued running.
In the arena, the students were all shouting because multiple things were happening at the same time.
The students of Blackstone Academy were cheering due to the fact that the girl who was the student representing their Academy had finally returned to the same spot with her flag.
The students of some other Academies were cheering for the representative of their Academy that had almost reached the starting point with their flag, while some were cheering because their representative just collected their flag and were already returning.
Though, some were complaining because their representatives were yet to see a flag.
But the reason for most of the noise was due to a single thing.
"Wait! Didn't the announcer say that the participants were all in different forests? So how come two students are in the same forest and are even fighting for a flag?" A boy exclaimed as he pointed at the part of the screen that showed Arin who was running away from the warrior who was closing in on him already.
"Oh... That's true? What is going on?" Another boy said.
Soon, almost everyone in the arena was talking about it, and some were already pointing fingers at the announcer.
But what else could they do? Nothing!
"This is bullshit," Ron said, with a deep frown on his face. "Does this mean that we shouldn't believe everything we're told in this tournament?"
"I guess that's what it means," Alex said, his eyes fixated on the screen.
Tessa remained quiet, though she was staring at the screen with worry-filled eyes.
"Be careful... Arin..."
"Tch..." Arin clicked his tongue for the nth time today as he continued running with the flag.
"I knew something was off..." He muttered. "So that bullshit about the participants being in different forests was all a lie."
Meanwhile, the boy had already realized that his Wind's Response technique wasn't affecting Arin anymore.
Suddenly, he stopped running and gripped his hammer tighter.
His brows furrowed as he muttered, "Warrior Art, First Arc: Release!"
Instantly, the Mana inside his body flared, and his muscles began bulging.
His legs trembled again, this time, faster than before.
Just like before, he blasted off the ground, but there was a big difference this time.
He was much faster than before, and he seemed like a blur as he raced towards Arin.
As Arin was running, he suddenly felt something approaching from behind.
The footsteps were approaching at a rapid rate, and in an instant, the boy had already reached him.
He leaped up, and with a roar, he descended with his hammer.
Arin was quick enough to jump forward slightly just as the hammer descended.
The ground was instantly destroyed from the impact of the hammer hitting the ground. The shockwave was so much that it sent Arin flying.
Arin landed and rolled on the ground, but before he could even stand up...
The boy was already in the air above him, descending once again with his hammer.
In that moment, Arin quickly activated his Water Bubble Spell.
The hammer slammed against the Water Bubble, instantly destroying it, but thankfully, Arin had anticipated this, and originally summoned two Water Bubbles, so the second Water Bubble was able to hold on.
'Just what Rank is this guy?' Arin wondered.
Quickly, he deactivated the Second Water Bubble which was cracked.
Because the boy's hammer was still resting on the Water Bubble and the boy himself was still mid-air, holding the hammer, he fell down, and Arin used that chance to get up and leap back.
The boy was already getting up, but before he could fully stand, he was met with numerous Water Spikes and Water Balls.
With a flick of Arin's fingers, the attacks rushed towards the boy.
"Warrior Art, Second Arc: Fortress!"
In that same moment, the attacks reached the boy, but surprisingly, none of them were able to penetrate his skin.
Though, Arin wasn't present to witness this, because immediately he launched the attacks, he had already continued running.
But to his surprise, he suddenly heard the boy's footsteps behind him again.
The boy leaped up and descended with his hammer, but Arin moved to the left.
The hammer crashed into the tree, splitting it in two with a loud snap.
In that instant, Arin shot forward, running in a zigzag pattern, barely dodging the boy's hammer strikes. Each attack came down hard, the ground shaking as the hammer missed him by inches. Arin's heart pounded, his breath sharp as he pushed himself harder, knowing one wrong move could be fatal.
Trees kept falling one after the other as the race continued. Arin occasionally used the Water Wall Spell to block most of the attacks that he couldn't dodge as he continued heading forward.
He could even hear the voice of the announcer screaming and hyping the students and also the sound of the students shouting his name, cheering him on.
Where the sound was coming from was still a mystery.
Finally, Arin could see the place where the weapons lay, and intentionally, he increased his speed.
At the same time, he could feel both the boy and the hammer descending towards him again.
With a small grunt, Arin lunged forward and plunged the pole inside the ground just beside the weapons.
In that same second, he twisted his body, and instantly summoned three Water Bubbles.
The first two Water Bubbles were destroyed, but the third one only ended up with cracks.