For a moment, Emery honestly thought that his eyes and memory were working together to play a trick on him. After all, the fact that a young noble from a prestigious faction was seen in a pirate base, of all places, looking for mercenary jobs, was simply baffling.
However, from what he had seen so far, there was absolutely no doubt about it. The young robed magus was definitely him. Armand Nephilim, The man he had fought in the finals of the Magus Game of his second year and a few times after.
On the other hand, the sight of Armand simultaneously dealing with five magus that they were unable to even reach an area around him seemed to have left an impressive impression on the magus from the Raven faction.
"All right, that's enough of a demonstration. You are hired!"
However, Hellast wasn't planning on just hiring one person. Thus, he once again observed the five magus he had selected earlier while recalling their performance against Armand just now.
It was then that Armand suddenly spoke, disrupting his thoughts.
"What are you musing about? You don't need them, I alone am enough."
Needless to say, those words inflicted deeper invisible wounds on the five who had lost so terribly. Feeling the unbearable humiliation under the spectacle of so many people, they all decided to leave the hall, leaving the Raven faction magus speechless.
Now that the other candidates had left, there was only one remaining option.
Unfazed, Armand stared at Hellast and directly asked, "How much will you pay for my services?"
As Hellast was still processing his thoughts, Emery took the chance and stepped in. As he nonchalantly walked to the center, all eyes immediately turned to him.
"I want the job as well. Will I get higher pay if I can defeat him?"
Emery believed that with the two-week timetable given to this job, it was very likely that the Raven faction planned to stir up trouble with Terra again. If he could successfully get himself hired for this, not only would he be able to find out the details of their plan, but he would also be in a position to stop them.
Before he could even think of doing such, he had to face the young noble who was currently giving him a murderous glare.
"Huh! You will regret this, let me see what you got!"
Still with a nonchalant attitude, Emery stopped his steps and faced the young noble. Staring at the latter, he took out a Tier 3 sword from the few artifacts he had looted from Kotook's before and responded,
"I am ready!"
Just like the battle just now, the first thing Armand did was send a spirit attack toward Emery. Unfortunately for him, such an attack barely caused a slight tingle in the latter's mind.
The realization that his spirit attack was ineffective quickly made Armand's expression change. Immediately after, he released his flying daggers; a total of 16 blades flew in formation and intended to bombard Emery with relentless waves of attacks.
However, instead of defending or dodging the incoming attacks, Emery swiftly dashed forward without hesitation. And with his one powerful swing of his sword, he blew away the daggers in front of him, creating an unhindered straight path toward Armand which allowed him to swiftly enter his close combat area.
A simple trick to deal with a mid-range fighter like Armand.
"You!!" shouted Armand with panic as he cast a defensive spell and hastily jumped a few steps back, creating more distance between the two.
"Huh, I will show you what real strength is like!!"
A faint glow began to surround Armand's body as he pulled out 16 more daggers, creating an even tight defense. This time, all of them emitted a faint glow from the enhancement spell he cast on them.
All 32 daggers flew toward Emery in formation. Contrary to the seemingly reckless attitude of the young noble, his attacks were impeccably coordinated. They simultaneously acted in offense and defense, which brought great awe from the audience.
It was indeed an impressive display, however Emery was a little taken back on why Armand didn't use his Nephilim special ability instead. Did he try to hide his identity as well, or was there another reason?
Fortunately for Armand, Emery had no intention of showing his true strength to keep his identity hidden, so he didn't plan on using his transformation at all.
Because of this, Emery was forced to gradually take steps back as he was bombarded by the flying daggers.
Still, his expression didn't change. Despite the swift and powerful attacks, he focused on his sword skill to defend and continued to dodge and parry. After all, what he needed to do at the moment was not to overpower his opponent, but simply impress the Raven faction magus enough to get hired.
Armand, on the other hand, became visibly more annoyed and consequently decided to take some of his defensive daggers to attack. The constant barrage quickly overpowered Emery's Tier 3 sword, causing the blade to break into pieces.
However, just when Armand was ready to deal the final blow for victory, Emery cast a spell first.
[Blind]
A bright light suddenly flashed and blinded Armand and the other spectators. It was only for a moment, but its best timing was enough for Emery to create an opening and dash in into close combat range using [Bloodhound Steps].
'Whaat!!! You!!"
Before Armand could react, Emery already pulled out his [Moon Dagger] and used his fastest dagger skill [Quick Attack] at Armand's chest.
BAMMM!!!
Amazingly, the talented noble of the Nephilim was able to cast a powerful defensive spell once again to parry Emery's attack and force him to take a step back.
It was at this moment that a voice interrupted the fight.
"That's enough," commanded Magus Hellast.
Although Emery was still unable to wound Armand, Such an act was just right to achieve his objective. He still took this as a win and promptly stopped. His opponent, however, was clearly unwilling to end the duel on such a note.
"Urghh!! Don't stop me!!"
Just as the young noble was about to charge with his daggers, a figure instantly stepped in between the two. The older man of the Raven faction group, a full-moon magus, said in an undisputable tone,
"Both of you are hired."
The job offered a whooping amount of 1,500,000 spirit stones for each of them, and that was enough to calm Armand down. Emery was also satisfied with the result, albeit for a different result.
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