Hm, what should I do? She can probably sense where I am, with her Area Detect Skill...once I got to my hiding spot, I used Elemental Earth to create a pit for myself, to get underneath the range of her Skill.

However, if she’d already activated it before I got to this spot, then she knows where I am, even if she can’t sense me. If she comes over here and attacks me while I’m in this pit, I’ll be a sitting duck.

I’ve got Super Hearing active, but I’m not hearing anything...her incredible ability at sneaking around unnoticed is probably due to a Skill, I’m not even hearing any breathing.

Hm, let me think...it could be the Stealth Skill, as I recall, it makes the user’s footsteps and breathing completely silent, and even suppresses outward emotions, like bloodlust, making the user effectively undetectable so long as they stay out of sight.

Which means that Super Hearing isn’t going to help me here, and without being able to track her movements, I can’t prepare myself in advance for if and when she launches an attack. Should I stay down here, or should I go on the offensive?

Really wish I had a detection Skill right now...oh, well, complaining about isn’t gonna change anything. Alright, just waiting here isn’t going to accomplish anything, I have to-...

Suddenly, a dense, black mist burst out above me, obscuring my vision. I quickly swung my whip up and spun it around above me, right before a lightning Spell burst out through the black mist and hit my spinning whip, which blocked the attack.

I then quickly flew straight up into the air by activating Jet Soles, bursts of flames from the bottom of my feet shooting me straight up into the air rapidly, before I slowed down the flames and hovered as I reached the top of the barrier surrounding the area, spotting Rosary down below, just a few meters away from the pit I’d dug myself.

"Initiate Skill: Bind!" She exclaimed, before six golden energy chains burst out from her hands and shot up towards me.

I swiftly flew out of the way, before taking aim at her as the chains chased after me, and as I locked on to her...Elemental Lava: Ultra Lava Spear!

She sprang back in alarm as I fired out the massive, narrow lava projectile down at her, the air around it shimmering violently as it zoomed down towards her rapidly, crashing down onto the spot where she’d been standing and splattering out.

Her chains dissipated when she jumped away to evade my attack...I then swiftly spun around and shot down towards her at top speed, subtly using a bit of wind to boost my speed further, slashing at her with the dagger end of my Soul Weapon as I closed in on her.

She quickly spun across and raised her hands defensively, my blade hitting the claws of her Soul Weapon and sliding across them as I shot past her, before I halted with a sharp burst of flames from my feet to cancel out my momentum and then swung my arm back without turning around, cracking my whip straight back at her.

I then landed since flying with that technique for so long used up a fair bit of Mana, glancing back just in time to see Rosary narrowly evading the swing of my whip, before I swiftly began to burst out earth spikes right under her.

My Distance Casting has a range of twelve meters now, and she was within that range...she only had a split second to react thanks to the Magic Circle that appeared below her feet, springing back in alarm and grimacing as one of the spikes grazed her calf.

That’s a pretty shallow cut, but it should still hurt a fair bit, and as far as I know, she can’t fly, which means that she’ll be landing right onto a bed of sharp sp-...

"Initiate Skill: Bind!" She exclaimed, shooting out her chains towards a large, nearby rock, and as they struck and wrapped around it, she yanked hard to pull herself away from the spikes...okay, that was pretty impressive.

I swiftly shot forward at top speed towards her as she zipped through the air towards the rock, aiming to get her within the range of my Distance Casting. As her feet began to land on the rock she’d pulled herself towards, I leapt as far forward as I could, just about getting her within my range...

Elemental Flame: Mega Fire Spear Barrage!

Five Magic Circles appeared around her, before forming flaming spears by each of them. As I fired them and they rapidly converged in towards her, she leapt off the side of the rock the instant her feet touched it, a few burns appearing on her legs as she avoided any direct hits.

"You’ve gotten a lot stronger," She remarked as she landed, cracking her neck before adding, "Alright, then...playtime’s over, time to get serious."

I braced myself as she then shot towards me rapidly, her mouth moving as she raised her hand and repeatedly fired out lightning Spells at me. I evaded her incoming attacks and countered with my own Spells at point-blank range using Distance Casting. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

She dodged my attacks and slashed at the ones she couldn’t avoid using her claws, her hands and forearms taking some damage, but for the most part, she was dissipating my attacks almost entirely.

I grimaced and shot forward as she began to close in, swinging my whip across at her right side. She batted it away with the back of her fingers, the claws of her Soul Weapon deflecting it.

She then leapt up as she closed in on me and I drove the knuckle spikes of my whip handle straight at her, evading my strike before driving her fist down towards the top of my head as she jumped up above me.

I quickly tilted my head across to avoid it, before grabbing her wrist before her claws could hit my shoulder. I began to start to fling her away, before letting go as she slashed her free hand at my wrist.

She then spun her body across and kicked off my chest to jump away, causing me to stumble back a couple of steps. As she backflipped off me and landed, she shot forward the instant her feet touched the ground, appearing right in front of me before I could fully regain my balance.

I stayed calm and swiftly flicked my wrist to crack my whip back this way, straight towards her back, while I simultaneously slashed at her with the dagger end of my weapon.

She’s within my reach, there’s no way she can evade both-...suddenly, she leapt up while turning her body across, until her right side was parallel to the ground, my dagger slicing across the side of her left arm and peeling off a few inches across the layer of her skin, while the whip narrowly missed hitting her right arm.

And then, in the blink of an eye, she simultaneously nicked the side of my neck with her claws and kicked off my torso again. This time, she backed away warily as she landed, while I took a few paces back as well.

That reaction...looks like she suspected that I have a resistance Skill. Probably from the time I killed the Basilisk and its paralyzing gaze didn’t affect me, she must have noticed that.

Also...what the hell was that!? Her speed and agility suddenly spiked drastically, but I don’t think it was a Skill...I didn’t see or hear her chanting, and of course, I didn’t see a Magic Circle forming around her.

I’m aware of three of her Skills, I know she’s got Bind and Area Detect, plus the Skill that lets her sneak around, which is most likely Stealth. I don’t know what her last two are, but I’m quite sure that she doesn’t have a physical boosting Skill.

The main reason being that she’d have definitely used it against the Basilisk. Which means that what I just saw is her natural, physical speed and agility. I suppose her reaction time could be thanks to a Skill, but I have a gut feeling that that isn’t the case here.

"I knew it, you’ve got a powerful resistance Skill, don’t you?" She remarked, after a brief, silent pause.

Well, since the spot she clawed me is bleeding, I can’t exactly deny it, at least not very convincingly.

"I suppose it doesn’t make much of a difference if you know about or not, so yeah, I’ll admit it. You’re right on the money," I replied with a smile.

"Hm...let’s call a brief timeout. I’d like to test out your resistance Skill," She requested with a look of intrigue.

Huh? Okay, first off, a timeout in the middle of a duel? And second, how exactly does she want to test it out?

"Uh...no? I mean, what do I have to gain from that?" I pointed out in bemusement.

"Well, I don’t know if you’re interested in this, but...you’ll learn what one of my Skills are, one that I’m fully confident that you have no idea of right now. And, if it does affect you, we’ll put the duel on hold until it wears off, since I’m the one who proposed this timeout," She offered in response.

Huh...I have to admit, that’s actually a pretty enticing offer. And I have nothing to lose, unless her Skill is something that has a really negative effect or something.

"Okay, I can’t deny that I’m pretty intrigued...alright, then, go for it," I decided, after mulling it over.

She then walked over towards me, getting closer and closer...okay, wow, she’s getting really close, she’s basically right up in my face...

"Now, then...Initiate Skill: Intoxicate," She whispered in an unexpectedly seductive voice, sending chills down my spine...right before she kissed me.

Wh-wha...!? Is she really-...aaaand, there’s her tongue. Yeah, agreeing to this might be this best decision I’ve ever made in my life...

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