Looking at his opponent, Quinn was wondering just how strong he might be. It was his first time fighting a person with a full set of Beast Gear. It also meant that he most likely got quite a Stat boost from the combined Stat boosts from each of the individual pieces.
"Actually, there is one other person you've fought who wore Beast Gear," the blonde-haired man replied. "But you kind of ate him."
Quinn felt a jolt run through him. He knew exactly who the blonde-haired man was talking about. He was referring to how he had killed that 'Ian' man while he was in his Crazed Bloodsucker form.
'Thanks for reminding me about that right before a fight,' Quinn thought, annoyed.
The announcer's voice began to boom through the arena.
"3…2…1…FIGHT!"
Like before, the "signal bell" was then heard, indicating the start of the match.
However, Quinn decided that this time, he wasn't going to charge in from the get-go. He moved forward until there was less than five meters between himself and his opponent. He then swung his arm down, releasing a Blood Swipe to test his opponent.
His opponent then stomped his foot on the ground. A solid wall of Earth rose from the floor, blocking the attack.
'An Earth Ability User, huh?' Quinn thought. 'Not surprising. It is the most prolific Ability among the Military.'
While Quinn's Blood Skills worked in the VR Game, one of his Skills that didn't was his Inspect Skill. Thus, he was unable to know the Ability of his opponents until they actually used it.
The Blood Swipe smashed into the wall. If Quinn had fought this person before his little "venture" to the Red Portal Planet, that trick might have worked. But now that the Skill had Leveled Up, it was powerful enough to chip away at the wall. The Earth User then stomped on the ground several more times, reinforcing the Earth Wall with additional layers, thickening it.Eventually, the Blood Swipe reached its limit, and the red aura dispersed.
While Quinn was thinking about how to make his next attack, and more importantly, how to make it go through, Quinn suddenly felt himself being pushed forward from behind. He also felt a slight pain in his back. Like the kind you'd get from being bitten by a mosquitoor stung by a bee.
His eyes went wide, and he glanced back behind him.
There, he saw a small spear-shaped Earth Spike protruding out of the ground behind him.
Seeing it, Quinn narrowed his eyes.
'Well, this feels familiar,' Quinn thought in annoyance, thinking back to that stupid tail that the Scordana could just make appear and disappear at will.
Above Quinn, his "Health Bar" decreased by a tiny sliver, meaning that he had essentially lost around 5% of his in-game "Health", if Quinn had to guess.
Quinn smiled. Despite the Earth Spear having pierced his body, the Intermediate-Tier Chestpiece had taken most of the attack.
'Thanks for the chestpiece, Tsukuru,' Quinn thought. If he hadn't been wearing the Intermediate-Tier Chestpiece, that attack would have done significantly MORE damage.
Suddenly, even more spear-shaped Earth Spikes began to shoot out of the ground in front of Quinn.
Quinn jumped back, dodging the spears.
'Looks like this match might be harder than I thought,' Quinn thought to himself. Unlike with the last two people Quinn had fought, this one was more SKILLED. He reminded him of Vorden, and even more, Tsukuru, in a way. Using a high level of skill and creativity to make up for a relatively low Ability Level.
Quinn then activated the Skill on his boots.
A System message appeared in front of him.
[Skill Wind Walk has been activated. Agility has increased by 10% for the next 30 seconds.]
Although the boots only gave him an extra 2 points in Agility, it was enough to increase his speed to the point that he could avoid the spears that were coming out of the ground.
"Wow," one of the spectators replied. "He's quite fast, isn't he?"
A girl in the crowd narrowed her eyes.
"I think it's those boots, actually," she replied. "They look plain, but they might be Intermediate-Tier or even Advanced-Tier."
Although Quinn could finish the match by just continually throwing out a barrage of Blood Swipes, he didn't want to win that way. Right now, this was the perfect chance for some real-world experience. And in a battle in the real world, he would have to be careful when using his Blood Swipes.
"What an annoying little fly!" The Earth User shouted. He then lifted both his hands out in front of him.
Instantly, two thick Earth Walls rose out of the ground on either the left or the right of Quinn. As Quinn moved, he noticed that the walls followed him, like sliding doors.
"Now, you can only go in one direction!" The Earth User replied.
With no other options, Quinn had no choice but to run straight ahead. But he had a plan.
"Daze!" Quinn replied, thinking about activating the Skill. Quinn's eyes began to glow slightly red. However, a moment later, they returned to normal.
A System message appeared in front of Quinn.
[Skill Daze has failed. Opponent is not stunned.]
"Ah, crap," Quinn muttered, as sweat began to run down his neck. Right now, Quinn's "Charm" Stat was quite low. It was only at the "5-point" value that all his Stats seemed to start at. And in order to use his Daze Skill on strong opponents he needed his Charm Stat to be high. Otherwise, the Skill was unlikely to work on them. The only reason it had worked on his last two opponents was that Quinn had been "lucky enough" to be put up against weak opponents. Them being a Level 1 and a Level 2, respectively.
It seemed that if Quinn wanted his new Daze Skill to be reliable, he would have to invest some Stat Points into his Charm Stat after all.
Just then, the Earth User punched the Earth Wall in front of him. Jagged fragments of the wall began shooting out of it like spikes.
Like before, the chestpiece took a significant portion of the damage, but Quinn still felt it piercing him. Additionally, each attack managed to force him back. It reminded him of when Vorden had hit him with that aluminum ball during their practice match in the training center on the Red Portal Planet.
But Quinn gritted his teeth andanchored himself in place.
Seeing that Quinn was still standing, the Earth User sent out another volley of Earth chunks.
"Flash Step!" Quinn replied, activating the Skill.
Quinn disappeared for a moment, then reappeared behind the Earth fragments. This caused them to miss and continue flying past him.
"I guess even with his strange red energy power, he just can't beat a High-Level," one of the people in the crowd replied.
"Well, did you see the other guy's strength?" another person in the crowd asked. "It must be because he's using a full set of Beast Gear. No way a normalLevel 4 Ability User could hit a solid wall like that and cause the stone fragments to shoot out that fast!"
Another person let out a sigh of disappointment.
"Guess it was all just hype in the end," he muttered.
However, one person in the stands thought differently.
'C'mon, Blood Evolver,' Nate thought. 'I could beat this guy in my sleep! I know that you're better than this!'
It was then that the voice of the blonde-haired man echoed in Quinn's head.
"You know, your lack of experience when it comes to fighting Ability Users is really starting to show," the man replied.
'Shut up, I know!' Quinn thought back angrily. 'Oh, screw this!'
Quinn had finally had enough. He started charging forward once again.
As he did, the Earth User simply created another Earth Wall. He then reeled back his arm and slammed it into the wall. Just like before, chunks of the wall came flying out like projectiles towards Quinn.
'Let's see what's stronger,' Quinn thought.
Matching each rock fragment, Quinn started throwing out a Blood Swipe for every rock fragment thrown at him.
Quinn's Blood Swipes were clearly stronger, as they easily destroyed the rocks and kept going.
Seeing this, the Earth User had no choice but to jump back and put up a series of Earth Walls between them. In the end, the Earth User had created a line of Earth Walls roughly three meters thick between them.
"Screw your Earth Wall!" Quinn yelled, and he started going through the motions of the Hammer Strike. He felt the strange energy slowly going up his feet and up into his torso.
Seeing the movements, Nate smiled.
"That's it!" Nate shouted, causing the others to turn to him. "That's the move he used against me!" However, Nate then frowned. "But,,, I don't think it's going to be enough. Why not add some more of that red energy to weaken the wall?" he asked. "Or break the walls on your side, which are thin, and then get behind him?"
Nate was worried. Although it was clear that Blood Evolver was strong, it was also clear that he was an amateur when it came to fighting.
"Take this!" Quinn shouted, and he thrust his arm forward. "Blood Hammer!"