"What did you just say?" Naturally, the well-dressed man, as well as the two other people that came with him did not take Valyr's words that well. With grim expressions on their faces, great amounts of killing intent exuded out of their bodies as they released the entirety of their auras not long after, focusing it all on Valyr.
In response, Valyr retaliated by releasing the entirety of his aura as well, making sure that none of the customers in the smithy would be harmed by what was happening. Nevertheless, the thought of the customers being in danger was swiftly thrown out once he noticed that his aura was equal to their auras… combined.
'[Analysis].' Looking at Wells for a bit, he sent him a message through the chat function to be ready to fight against the trio at any moment, prompting Wells to lightly nod at him in response. While doing so, he identified what kind of stats the trio had for his aura to be equal theirs, only for him to suppress the urge to laugh as much as possible.
'Two at Level 11 and one at Level 12… on top of that, the strongest class among them is a Rare class…' Now being privy to the strengths of the opposing side, Valyr decided to act a bit rougher than usual, raising yet another middle finger at the trio.
'Are they seriously just relying on the prestige of their emporium or whatever?'
"Do I really have to repeat myself?" Valyr looked at them with a frown, doubling down on the pressure of his aura. "I told you three to fuck off."
"Do you not know who you're messing with?" In response, the well-dressed man gritted his teeth in his fury, his hands itching to grab the dagger he had sheathed around his waist. "We're from the Hekaetos Forging Emporium, you know?"
"And you're inside the Crimson Forge." At this point, Valyr told Wells that he would take care of the situation on his own through the chat function, retrieving the spear that was strapped on his back all this time. "So, are you three going to get out of my sight on your own accord… or do I have to force you?"
"You asked for it!" Finally realizing that the man before them wouldn't have acquiesced to the forging duel request either way, the well-dressed man gave a signal to the two that came along with him to show Valyr who was boss, unsheathing the dagger around his waist as he lunged to stab Valyr in the chest.
In the meantime, the two people behind the man moved to Valyr's sides, aiming to catch him off guard while his attention was wholly focused on the well-dressed man. After all, the man before them was just a measly blacksmith. There was no way a man like him would know how to retaliate in this situation, right?
"[True Blood Drive]."
Bang!
Changing his grip to where the dull end of the spear was at the front, Valyr utilized the entirety of his strength to speedily stab the well-dressed man at the sternum, activating [True Blood Drive] at the very moment the two made contact.
Due to the speed at which the spear arrived in front of him, the man was unable to defend against the attack in time, being sent flying towards the building on the other side of the street, crashing against the wall with a loud bang.
Seeing how easily the well-dressed man was disposed of, the two men that came along with him stopped in their tracks, looking at the being in front of them with fear evident in their eyes. After all, whenever they did this in the past, their targets would just give up and accept the forging duel request, even though they didn't want to.
Yet, here was someone who would rather fight with them instead of giving in.
"Get lost." With the two still immobilized in fear, Valyr took advantage of the opportunity and swung his spear as if it were the bat, flinging one of the two remaining men towards the same building the well-dressed man crashed into, forming yet another crater on its wall.
Realizing that he was the only one among the three still standing, the remaining man looked at Valyr, who was looking back at him in silence, waiting to see what the man does next.
Surprisingly, rather than give up, the man charged towards Valyr and tried to attack him with his fists, eliciting a light smirk to appear on the latter's face. However…
Bang!
Just like the two that came before him, the last man was sent flying towards the building on the other side of the street, being sent there in the most unceremonious way possible.
Being kicked in his behind.
At that moment, all of the customers in Valyr's smithy, as well as passersby who came to see what was going on, were left silent with their mouths agape, not expecting someone to actually stand up to the Hekaetos Forging Emporium and actually emerge victorious.
On the other hand, the well-dressed man was filled to the brim with great fury, not expecting their target this time around to be so defiant that they would even fight back against them. Just as thoughts of retaliating against Valyr entered his mind, all of those thoughts swiftly disappeared once the man in person appeared before him with his spear in hand, gazing at him with a condescending expression.
Crippled with fear, it took a while for the well-dressed man to spew out a few words at Valyr, his voice quivering as he spoke. "You're gonna regret antagonizing the Hekaetos Forging Emporium! I swear to the heavens that I'll make sure your smithy is gone from the face of this city!"
Bang!
In response to that, Valyr's spear appeared between the man's legs, its tip piercing the ground only a few inches away from the man's most private spot. With a grim expression, he looked at the well-dressed man in the eyes before speaking. "Go ahead and try."
"If you can, that is."
Trying his best to not let his fear overwhelm his senses, the well-dressed man eventually left the vicinity with the two other men in tow, spewing out a few curses here and there, but mostly words that mentioned how Valyr was going to regret making the Hekaetos Forging Emporium his enemy. In response, Valyr scoffed at those words, watching as the trio's silhouettes gradually disappeared from his field of vision.
Turning around to head back to the smithy, he noticed that most, if not all of the people near the smithy were looking at him with shock and amazement in their eyes. However, those feelings paled in comparison to what Valyr thought was the most obvious feeling everyone exuded at that moment.
Awe.
Letting out a light chuckle at this realization, Valyr placed his spear behind his back and made his way into the smithy, beckoning the passersby that stopped to watch the fight to head into his smithy and see if there was anything they needed.
And with that, word of the Crimson Forge swiftly spread throughout the city within that day, with all of them mentioning how the people from the Hekaetos Forging Emporium finally got what they deserved after meeting with the Crimson Forge's owner.
In fact, word of the owner being an instructor at the city's combat training hall, as well as being a Combat Elite swiftly spread throughout the city, greatly bolstering Valyr's reputation, as well as the Crimson Forge's name even further.
Both Valyr and the Crimson Forge's reputation had superbly increased to the point that, on the following day, a few people Valyr hoped to meet in person had finally appeared within his smithy.
