Reincarnated as a Son of the Sword Saint and the Sage

504  Audience's Reactions

"The winner of this match goes to Erik the Phantom Fencer!"

The crowd erupted to cheer when the referee declared Erik the winner of the seventh match of the day. This moment would surely cement Erik's name in the minds of everyone in the coliseum. Meanwhile, from one of the gladiator's entrances to the coliseum, other warriors were watching the fight. Seeing Erik's dominating his opponent just now, all of them were equally both impressed and speechless by the unexpected things they just witnessed. One of them was the crown prince of the Dixon Empire, Prince Edward Dixon, who was putting on a serious face watching Erik exit the arena through the other entrance. Next to him were his friends, Celeste, Warren, and Francis, who were also taking Erik's performance seriously with him. "That Erik guy... Is it just me, or did he take the match so easily?"

"It's not just you, Celeste." Warren nodded his head. "I think the Phantom Fencer did not seem to exert all of his strength just now. I am afraid that he might be holding up the whole time."

"Yeah, executing an Afterimage is never an easy feat after all, let alone multiple of them. There is also his mysterious ability to make his body ghostlike."

"His opponent was definitely strong," Edward blurted. "But it was unfortunate that he matched up with someone a lot stronger."

"Do you think you could take him on, Your Imperial Highness?"

"I am not quite sure, Francis," the prince replied, and then he turned his body to them. "I want your honest and brutal opinion, anybody. How do I compare to him? Do you think I could win against him?"

With a serious face, Edward asked his friends a question. While they did not want to let him down, it was a serious matter right now, and they had to provide him the answers he wanted. "Well, most of the time, you stand no chance against him, Edward, no matter how much effort you would exert. But if you were in that thing, everything's gonna change. When we sparred while you were in that, I felt like I was fighting someone on the level of the Guildmaster, even though I never fought him, ha ha."

Warren responded first, and then Celeste followed. "Yeah, that's right. Your powerful exponential increases when we are using the artifacts Francis lent to you. I am certain you surpassed that guy in terms of pure strength wearing that. But he seems to have more battle experience and broader skills in his arsenal."

Currently, Edward was equipped with the artifacts the Francis handed out to him for the purpose of helping the prince with the competition. The artifacts were a set of full plate armor that was glistening with a pale lilac luster. Edward was also wielding the sword that his father provided to him. The armor provided massive stat boosts and buffs on the wearer, or Francis told him so. The effects of artifacts had been tested out earlier, and they were greatly satisfied with its performance. Edward was confident that we would make a great run in the tournament.

"Both of you may have advantages and disadvantages over one another," Francis frowned. "But does that really matter? There is a small chance for you to fight this Phantom Fencer, Your Imperial Highness."

"According to the chart, the only time we would fight will be at the finals, and he has to face many formidable fighters before me, especially the reigning champion. But it is very important to prepare for everything, Francis. Who knows what is going to happen?"

"Very well."

A few minutes later, the announcer called out the names of the next fighters, and the eighth match of the afternoon began. ◆◇◆◇◆◇

At the same time Erik won, the members of the party, Mighty Wolves, were watching him from the audience and clapped their hands for his terrific performance. "I could not catch what just happened, but this Erik is really an exceptionally good fighter. Seeing it personally, Kuffnam was not actually exaggerating at all." n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"I told you so, Risty." Kuffnam put on a smug face upon responding to the party's cleric's statement. "I know a good fighter when I see one."

"As a swordsman myself, I am impressed. I hate to admit it, but I, too, would have the same fate as the spearman. Look at him; how can you fight someone casually creating Afterimages like that?"

The party's swordsman, whose name was Frido, commented remarks to Erik. Other than him, the other members of the party were talking about the Phantom Fencer and shared the interest of making him their colleague. "How about you, Deven? Did you catch a thing in that part of the fight? Even I, as a ranger, cannot see how he did those things."

The archer and ranger of the Mighty Wolves, Greta, who was also Deven's lover, asked him what he could say about Erik's fight. Deven looked at Erik as he exited the arena before shifting his gaze to Greta's blue eyes. "Even though I am a rogue and have confidence in my perceptive speed, I could barely catch on to Erik's movements. But from what I have seen, Erik was actually moving so fast that he could make up to six Afterimages as well as easily dodging that ultra-fast technique of the spearman."

"Even you could not fully grasp his speed, huh? You said that he was about Level 400, which is lower than you, but his speed even surpassed yours. Also, can you explain how he seemed to become untouchable?"

"That's... I absolutely have no idea how he did it. However, for sure, I was certain that it was his true body that his opponent attacked, and he did not deploy any afterimages at that time. I only have Appraisal, so I could not see his full skill set. Maybe he has a unique skill or something."

"Do you still want to recruit him to the party? Even if there is no certainty you could win against him?"

"Having him in your team would be great, and many groups have been interested in him. But it is up to him whether he would join a group or not. I doubt that he would stay here after this."

Afterwards, the next match started.