Chapter 176: Chapter 176 - Sparring With Grant
A moment of silence fell in the training room.
Then, Grant stepped forward, a massive grin on his face.
"Come on, Logan," he said, nudging his head to the training grounds. "You’ve been gone for so long, let me see if you’ve gotten better."
Logan glanced up, surprised. "I only just got off my shuttle..."
"Another reason to spar then," Grant said, already walking to the training grounds. "Loosening the muscles after such a long flight is a necessity."
Letting out a soft sigh, Logan smiled and stepped forward. "Alright then. Just be careful."
The others took a few steps back, folding their arms or leaning against nearby walls to watch the spectacle that was about to happen.
As he stepped into a decent-sized arena, a dense mana barrier powered up behind him, protecting the others from getting hurt from stray spells.
Grant stopped at the other end of the arena, his greatsword on his shoulder and a massive grin on his face.
’It’s been a while since I’ve sparred with someone,’ Logan thought, cracking his neck.
A small smile grew on his face as he took out his glaive from his space ring.
Both he and Grant had put on the special protection badges, though these ones were of a far higher grade than the ones he and Derek had worn in their duel.
As both of them stood ready, a countdown appeared on the screen above the training area.
"Five, four, three..." a mechanical voice blasted over the field. "Two, one... Start fight."
Grant moved first, lightning crackling under his feet while his greatsword grew larger rapidly with a bright yellow edge coating it.
’Interesting,’ Logan thought, narrowing his eyes.
As Grant’s feet kicked off the ground, his body shot forward like a bullet.
Logan’s eyes widened, amazed by his speed. Last time he had seen Grant’s lightning element, he could barely form spells with it, and now he was actively coating his feet and sword with it.
Despite his surprise, he reacted instantly, a large flaming skeletal structure forming on his back, lined with intricate feathers.
Within a second, Grant reached him and swung his massive greatsword towards Logan.
The greatsword had grown up to three times Grant’s entire body, his muscles bulged as it soared toward Logan.
Logan flapped his wings, shooting into the air, Grant’s greatsword swooshing right under his feet.
’Close,’ Grant thought, grinning. Without hesitation, cracks formed on the ground as he jumped up to follow after the airborne Logan.
"Got you," Logan’s voice echoed from above.
Grant’s eyes widened as a flaming lotus the size of a football generated in front of him.
He swung his sword to the side, using the air to push himself away, barely managing to avoid it.
But before he could feel relief, his eyes widened while his mouth fell open.
Another flaming lotus had formed above him.
Then another, this time beside him.
And another, below him.
"What!" Grant shouted, immediately generating a metal shield around his body.
Logan flew in the air far above him, smiling as he flicked his fingers.
Simultaneously, all the fire lotuses lit up.
They started expanding rapidly. Then, the room lit up in a bright light.
Boom!!!
The explosion rattled through the room as the flames started melting through Grant’s metal shield.
Inside, Grant started to sweat as he felt the temperature increase immensely.
"Fuck," he muttered, eyes flickering all around him.
The metal started to liquefy, dripping down at him like lava while the metal encasing crashed into the ground.
He raised both hands, pushing metal mana above him to generate an even smaller metal shield to protect himself from the dripping lava.
As he felt the fire mana grow less dense, Grant immediately created an opening and dashed out of his melting prison.
"Damn," he cursed as he ran. "SSS-ranks really are unfair."
He glanced at the sky, suddenly grinning again.
Logan immediately noticed dense lightning mana form above him. A thick yellow bolt shot towards him, making his eyes go wide.
Because of lightning’s immense speed, he couldn’t get out of the way in time.
’Outrunning it is impossible,’ he thought, holding both hands in front of him. ’Then I’ll just have to block it!’
A thick circular bone shield grew in the air in front of him.
As the lightning bolt crashed into it, Logan felt the force of the impact driving him down.
His eyes flickered towards Grant, who was already jumping up with a greatsword twice his body length.
Logan’s lips curved up. One of his fingers flicked up, and immediately, a thick spiral of fire burst through the ground, roasting the caught-off-guard Grant.
The force from the lightning bolt had long stopped too, leaving him to float comfortably in the air.
Grant’s body fell to the ground again, his blue shield activated to protect him.
"Fight over," a mechanical voice echoed through the room while the barrier slowly dissolved around him.
"Damn it," Grant said, jumping back on his feet with a large smile. "Flying’s unfair, man."
Logan slowly descended to the ground, his wings dissipating off his back as he touched down.
"Didn’t know we had a rulebook," he said, grinning.
Grant scoffed, shaking his head, though his smile betrayed his real emotions.
"Really thought I could beat you this time," he said, his voice growing lower for a second. "All that real combat and this is still the difference?"
Logan’s eyes widened slightly, understanding immediately settling in his mind. ’They’ve been fighting waves of creatures... and they think I haven’t.’
"You fought incredibly well," Logan said, taking a step closer. "You really had me in a pinch with your lightning element."
Grant wiped the sweat from his brows, a few red marks still on his body from the heat. "Man... you didn’t even use your second affinity."
The words silenced Logan and the others who had just walked over to them. Even Robert’s smile faded slightly as he stared at Logan.
That was the first time they understood how massive the gap truly was between them and Logan. A few sideways glances were cast at Livia, aware that she had a similar talent to Logan.
"This was a spar," Logan said, shrugging.
He felt the tension in the room. He could feel that the others weren’t angry or jealous or anything, just the realization of power made them all quiet for a moment.
"Besides, I’ve barely trained my undead element," Logan said. "None of those spells would’ve been able to catch you with that speed."
Technically, he wasn’t lying. He had trained his undead element a little less than his fire element. But the spells which he had trained were powerful but difficult to use in casual battles like these.
He couldn’t exactly raise the dead here, neither would the chains have been able to catch Grant as he ran. As for the Dark Knight... that technique was completely off-limits unless he really wanted to kill someone.
Ethan was the first to break the silence, his voice low but steady. "Even so... it’s insane. You didn’t even look serious out there."
"Talent really is unfair, huh," Robert said, laughing weakly.
Logan let out a soft sigh. He didn’t want his friends to lose their motivation, knowing that he would need their help eventually too in the future.
"I know all of you have been training really hard and have constantly been fighting," he said, pausing for a moment. "But so have I."
The group’s eyes widened.
"But those assassination attempts?" Livia spoke up, unable to mask the surprise in her voice.
"I wore a disguise," Logan stated simply. "And I’ve seen the water creature raids... I’ve fought in them too, just like all of you in Chile."
Grant blinked, his grin fading into surprise. "Seriously?"
Logan nodded. "Yeah. But keep that between us."
The others exchanged looks, but not one of them argued. Robert gave a slow nod, his tone calm. "Understood. No one here will speak a word."
Ethan let out a breath, his expression half awe, half relief. "So that’s why... you made it look so easy."
Logan didn’t respond, but the faint curve of his lips was enough of an answer.
Grant suddenly laughed, breaking the tension. "Damn it, no wonder I couldn’t touch you. There was no gap in experience at all."
As the others continued talking, Logan smiled but internally his thoughts were focused on something else. ’If Grant’s already grown this much, then the other S-ranks, and the hidden SSS-ranks, will be far worse.’
He flexed his hands slightly, maintaining his smile as he thought about the competition. ’I’m confident I can win it... especially if I use all my cards.’
’’You should be a little more careful Logan,’’ Livia said softly, snapping him out his thoguhts.
She suddenly stood right beside him, a soft smile underneath her veil while the others kept talking loudly.
’’Others will also notice your experience and wonder how you got it.’’