"The betting's open. Who do you think would win?"
Lyon asked while putting his hand forward in front of Dianna. He also looked at Arjun while doing that. Letting them know that he was in charge of handling the bets.
The rest of the squad members were equally excited. But they all wanted to bet on Altashia. Only Dianna was willing to bet on Eren. And upon her forced request, Arjun begrudgingly agreed to wager on Eren.
Since only two of them were willing to bet on Eren, they had to pay a higher amount than the rest of them. That was Lyon's way of doing business. He'd only invest a small amount of his money into this small-scale business. As a result, he'd get smaller profits. But his losses wouldn't weigh him down either.
Lyon also introduced other options on which his squad members could bet. For example, betting conditions like who would land the first hit? Or who would use support potions first? It could be said that this wasn't the dwarf's first rodeo.
Just when Lyon was done settling the betting business, he was prompted to grab his seat and keep quiet by Dianna. He obediently agreed to her stare and looked in his direction.
"It's about to go down, huh!"
Lyon rubbed his hands against each other and waited for the duel to end. No matter who won the duel, he knew he'd be in the profit because of the way he had set the bets.
"Dianna, why do you think Eren would win? Haven't you seen my duel with our captain? Do you think I'm weaker than Eren by that much margin?"
Eren and Altashia had drawn their weapons and had entered a mini staring contest when Arjun addressed Dianna with a curious look on his face. The latter smiled before responding honestly.
"Honestly, Arjun? I don't know how strong Eren is. But I know this much. Since he had chosen to challenge captain Altashia, he had his things figured out. Unlike you, Eren won't challenge the captain just for the challenge's sake."
Lyon agreed with Dianna's statement and added on.
"Arjun, you only challenge the captain knowing full well that you'd lose. It has become a way for you to gauge your progress, to see how you have improved since last time.
Eren... challenged the captain with the aim of winning. I can feel it. The guy has no intention of holding..."
Just when Lyon was about to finish his sentence, he felt a distinct mana pulse that went off in the battle ring. This pulse was also felt by the rest of his squad mates. He and everybody else stopped talking and extended their mana senses towards the battle ring.
Altashia had made the first move!
Swish!
The captain of her squad swung her massive scythe in Eren's direction and sent a flying slash toward him. She then disappeared from her position and appeared right behind Eren. but this time, she launched another bunch of flying slashes towards her right.
The spectators saw Eren's image blur before getting pierced by Altashia's slashes. But then they saw another bunch of slashes that their captain had sent in a completely different direction. Eren appeared on the other side of Altashia's flying attacks. This time, it looked like he wasn't willing to change his position in approaching his opponent.
"He… he is not trying to dodge. Is he mad?"
Arjun closed his book and gripped the railing that was in front of him before standing up from his seat. He criticized Eren for not trying to dodge Altashia's slashes. That's because her slashes had a unique peculiarity. They would carry her fire-element mana in a compressed form and react with her will and mana sense when landed upon the target. As a result, they would catch fire upon Altashia's command, no matter if they had dealt enough damage to their target or not.
Altashia's attacks dealt damage over time. So it was wise to dodge her attacks as much as possible. Arjun knew how agile Eren was. He knew he could dodge their captain's attacks if he wanted to even when it seemed like he had no chance of doing so.
But the next second, a cloud of red lightning bloomed in the middle of Eren and his incoming slashes. Instantly, a red lightning bull assumed his mana form before cladding itself with sparks of red lightning tongues.
The bull also charged at the incoming fiery slashes head-on while adjusting its two horns in alignment. A ball of lightning was formed between the two horns that the bull used to clash with the flying slashes.
Zoom!
There was no sound of clashing attacks at first. But then the ground on which the bull stood was ruptured and depressed while the bull cried in pain. Most of the flying attacks were handled by his inherent spell. But there were a few flying slashes that managed to land on his mana body. They immediately cut skin deep and wrapped the bull in a blazing fire.
This was within only a few moments after Eren and Alashia's duel had started. And the Queen of Scythe had already made her opponent's contract beast cry in pain. A few squad members lost their bets and had to pay Lyon as a result. He then took his cut and gave the money to those who had won this particular bet.
Eren seemed to have disappeared from his position. Then Arjun and others felt him appearing right over the bull's head. He used it as a platform to jump and approach Altashia with newfound vigor.
"He used his contract beast as a decoy. What a heartless fellow."
Lyon said, smirking. Dianna looked at him with a displeasing look at first. Then she sighed as if half agreeing with him.
"That's not it. At least that's not the whole picture. Eren has strengthened his contract beast by casting a defensive spell of his own on him. Look."
The bull that was covered in red lightning suddenly got covered in purple tongues of lightning as they formed a beasty cloak around his body. They got rid of the residual mana of Altashia's attack and wrapped his body in a protective layer completely.
The red bull now looked like it had a thin purple layer around its body. It roared and charged at Altashia while his master closed in on her from another direction.
AN: VEH crosses the milestone of 700K words with this chapter. ;)
