Whoosh!
As the 11th wave began, Valyr quickly noticed that how his opponents were arranged this time around vastly differed from the first to tenth waves. If the opponents he fought against back in the previous waves were arranged in a manner that all of them came to him in one direction, the opponents in this wave were now arranged in a fashion that encircled him, which meant that he also had to take into consideration the higher possibility of being attacked while attacking.
…as if Valyr had a hard time doing that.
Swoosh!
Before his opponents could form a tight circle around him, which would leave him with no avenue of escape, Valyr utilized his vastly superior AGI to make his way past the gaps between the opponents, exiting the encirclement as he mowed down each and every one of them without difficulty, just like the first 10 waves that came before this.
As he continued to land hit after hit on his opponents that swiftly toppled one of them down, he could not help but let out a light chuckle, recalling the time he had helped the village defend against the monster tide. When he compared what he fought against during the monster tide to what he was fighting right now, the chuckle he let out eventually turned into laughter, which continued until he had finished the 12th wave.
By the time Valyr had successfully cleared the 15th wave, both Arcenne and Gabriel went silent before looking at each other with shock written all over their faces. In Gabriel's case, the fact that Valyr still had the mental acuity to fight against 15 opponents at once left him at a loss for words. Out of all the people he had come across so far who took the combat proficiency test, Valyr was not the first one at the beginning of Rank 1 to take it.
However, when it came to reaching the Veteran stage and going beyond, he was definitely the first.
As for Arcenne, even though she expected the man before him to reach the Veteran stage without much problems and clear a couple more waves after that, the fact that Valyr seemed to clear the 15th wave without much problem and still had the energy to keep moving forward at Rank 1 truly bewildered her. In fact, it was to the point that she could not help but wonder what she had been doing while she was at the same stage of power as him.
Nevertheless, aside from the great surprise they felt from Valyr's feat, they also became expectant and somewhat excited to find out as to whether Valyr would be able to reach the 20th wave and be given the title of Combat Elite. After all, even though the two of them knew Combat Elites at Rank 1 existed in the world, they had never met one in person…
Until Valyr, that is.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Maintaining the momentum he had kept up so far in the previous waves, Valyr zoomed through the 16th to 19th waves without much difficulty. Though, at this time, his opponents were now utilizing strategies that would be used in small-scale battles, prompting Valyr to use [Strong Pierce] every once in a while to give himself some leeway.
By the time the 20th wave came around, his opponents were now split into four smaller groups of five, landing coordinated attacks on Valyr, which forced him to activate [Astute Mind] and [Astute Eyes] to briefly gain an edge on his opponents in terms of strategy. With the help of a couple activations of [Strong Pierce] and a single [Descending Fang], he was fortunately able to find a way to defeat all of his opponents, succeeding in clearing the 20th wave.
Witnessing firsthand a Rank 1 class holder clear the 20th wave, both Arcenne and Gabriel could not help but cheer out in joy, only to stop themselves soon after as they remembered that the test still wasn't over. Though, with how their clenched fists were still trembling from the excitement of witnessing the appearance of a Rank 1 Combat Elite in front of their very eyes, it was apparent that their excitement wasn't abated at the very least.
Naturally, Valyr was also jubilant of the fact that he had cleared the 20th wave since that meant that he would now obtain the [Combat Elite] title rather than the [Combat Veteran] title from the 10th wave. In fact, he felt like now was a good time to concede and take a rest after all the mental and physical strain he had put himself into during these past 20 waves. Yet, for some reason…
There was a part of him that wanted to know how far he could go.
Whoosh!
Taking in a deep breath to acclimate his mind to the fact that he was about to push it to its very limit, the 21st wave arrived before him, which utilized some of the strategies the previous wave had used while fighting against him. Thankfully, he was able to notice this early on, allowing him to clear the 21st wave, albeit with a bit of difficulty.
The next four waves that came after that introduced more and more strategies that came from the 20th wave, with the 25th wave containing the same amount of strategies he found in the 20th wave, yet had 5 more beings attacking him. At this point, although Valyr had been successful in clearing this wave, exhaustion finally settled in his body.
Nevertheless, he still continued to push himself through the wave after that, recalling the feeling he had when he pushed his body to the brink while fighting against Arcenne, hoping to reach the Adept stage. Channeling in that feeling, he proceed to mow through the next few waves, though the exhaustion he felt both physically and mentally after it was now far worse than before.
Watching Valyr proceed through the next seven waves after the 20th wave, both Arcenne and Gabriel were left at a loss for words. In their eyes, there was not much of a reason for Valyr to push his body anymore, considering that the requirement to reach the Expert stage was to clear the 40th wave. Yet here he was, exactly doing just that.
As to whether he was doing that for the sake of wanting to find out limits or whether he truly believed that he had the ability to reach the Expert stage, the two of them did not know. All they knew was that exhaustion was finally affecting Valyr, and it wouldn't be long until he would concede.
And it indeed wasn't.
Thud!
Barely eking out a victory at the 29th wave, Valyr intensely shook his head as he panted out of exhaustion, dropping his spear to the floor before falling on his back to the ground. Seeing this, Gabriel swiftly manipulated all of the mana he had infused into the ground and recalled it, stopping the 30th wave from beginning just as the opponents were forming.
After that, he went closer to the man, wanting to check if Valyr was fine. Not too long after, Arcenne did the same thing, standing up from her seat before moving closer to Valyr.
"Are you fine?" Gabriel asked Valyr as the latter continued to gasp for air, feeling the effects of his body being sapped dry of energy once more. Though he strained out a light nod to respond to the question, Valyr knew for a fact that he was truly spent.
Then again, even though his body was as tired as it could possibly be, there was a sense of fulfillment in his body as a bit of energy appeared out of who knows where. Sometime later, Valyr mustered out a question that left both Arcenne and Gabriel slightly confused.
"How…"
"How did I do?"
