'So this is how a real summoner fights.'
This was the butcher's first time seeing a summoner in action. He wanted to approach Tim and interrupt his casting, but he knew Langdon had the right to interfere if Tim was about to get harmed by him mid-casting. It was as if they both had the contracts ready and were waiting for each other to bring that up.
There all the butcher could do at this point was to wait and watch as the bright orange-colored pillars of flame took the shapes of giant python-sized serpents.
Hiss!
Eight serpent-like hissing sounds were released in the surroundings at the same time. The eight flame pillars changed into serpent bodies before starting sporting lustrous red-black scales.
Each of the serpents was 15 meters long. These serpents had mana bodies. Yet they felt very real as their mana bodies started having features of real-life serpents-- like patterns and dots.
If one could see what was happening outside the subspace inside the colosseum, they would find out that Tuan's fight with Tim and Langdon had obtained a prime slot in the aerial space that projected what was happening inside the subspace spectrally in real-time.
This was one of the showdowns a lot of people wanted to see. A capable fire-element ranker against an equally dedicated fire-element ranker. This was the battle they sought after– to see who was better in their use of the elements.
Tuan looked solemnly at the eight giant fire serpents that had come to life and were slithering around Tim as if he was their one true master. He realized that he was heavily outnumbered.
Hatchlings of the Flame!
Tuan cast his own animated spells and made six fire snakes around him. They had semi-transparent bodies made of fire-element mana. Tuan, in theory, should have been able to even outnumber his opponents on the playfield by using his animated spell. But he soon realized his mistake when he realized that there was no outnumbering a summoner.
'These animated spells are the real deal.'
Tuan thought as he stroked the head of one of the fire snakes that was slithering around him in defense. He then looked at his animated spell and realized how large the gap was in comparison.
While Tuan's spells indeed looked like snakes, they were far from being directly related to reality. His animated spells didn't have any prominent scales. His animated snakes also seemed less active than Tim's. As if they lacked something to make them as lively as the real deals.
The butcher couldn't help but praise the superiority of Tim's animated spells. He knew what the results were going to be if he sent his snakes to fight against those fully-matured-looking serpents that had draconic features on their faces.
Yet, he sent them to attack anyway.
Tim kept four serpents to himself for protection against any sneak attacks from Tuan. Then he sent two of his serpents to fight while the other two waited on standby.
Tuan didn't need any protection from his summons like Tim. He let all of his animated fire snakes approach one of the serpents before encircling it.
Hissss!
The serpent that had draconic features for its face looked at Tuan's fire snakes as if it was looking at something hideous and repelling. It executed a spell of its own and white flames came out of its mouth.
Bzzzzt!
Tuan watched in shock as white flames started affecting the bodies of his fire snakes. Those white flames looked more like the inherent spells of mana beasts than something Tim had bestowed upon them.
Screee!
The fire snakes screeched and hissed as their mana body kept on getting disintegrated and regenerated. Even though they could recover their mana bodies after being supplied with the mana they needed, the rate of destruction was much higher than what Tuan could enable them to keep up.
'Hmm. White flames. And there are eight serpents like these. I… I kinda understand why he was called the King of Fire Serpents.
Anyway, time to act on my crude yet simple plan. I can only hope it works.'
Tuan thought to himself as he stopped executing the flame spell and let the snakes disperse. He then looked at Tim who was also looking at him with amusement written all over his face.
"Not so bold on the battlefield, huh? I thought with the way you talked big, there would be at least some competition between us. But alas…"
Tim said with fake sympathy that nobody had asked him before continuing.
"Just say that you let go of your Flame Feathers title and surrender your wristband. As far as I am concerned, I will forgive you for all your misconduct. You'd have to ask Langdon for forgiveness separately."
Tim thought Tuan would retreat with his display of superiority. And usually, the real Tuan wouldn't have been able to defend himself against such a talented fire-element ranker.
But unfortunately for Tim and Langdon, he wasn't the real Tuan.
"Don't act cocky just because your class-specific spells are better than my ordinary spells. Saying something like that…"
The butcher was addressing Tim and Langdon when he suddenly halted before opening his eyes wide in shock and terror. He pointed his finger at the area behind Tim and Langdon before speaking up with an absolutely terrifying voice.
"The… the other rankers are here. We are surrounded."
As Tuan used his movement spell, he expressed panic with frantic expressions before running in a particular direction. Tim and Langdon both looked warily behind their backs. They subconsciously believed that they had a chance of being targeted by the other competitors. So when Tuan said something that triggered their belief, they had to look back.
Both Tim and Langdon were dumbfounded when they saw what was behind their back. Both of them were fuming with anger as they realized what had happened to them.
They had been deceived by Tuan into believing that other competitors were targeting them. This was a crude trap the butcher had set to get away from the battlefield. It still worked because his opponents were expecting an ambush from other rankers.
Tuan wasn't interested in being part of a losing fight. He knew Tim was a better fire-element ranker than him.
Tuan duped the two rankers and ran from them as if his life depended on it. Of course, Tim and Langdon followed him soon after. With a lot of curses and abuses in their mouths.
The duo of rankers thought that Tuan was trying to delay the inevitable. When in fact the butcher was leading them to where he had come from with Katalina in tow.
