Cornflower Witch

Chapter 55 Heated Competition
"Click——"

The two swords clashed for the first time, breaking each other's wooden swords in two. Rough wood chips flew everywhere. Without a suitable weapon, the two had to rely on their fists to attack. Unfortunately, such a fight was not very aesthetically pleasing and was stopped by the instructor.

"Stop. Now switch to an unsharpened iron sword," he announced again.

Soon, the excited students took the thick-edged iron swords and handed them to the two of them.

Grasping their iron swords, the two swung them a few times to adjust to the change and then returned to the battlefield.

This time, without the instructors announcing it, they rushed towards each other.

"Zi-"

In their first clash, their iron swords slashed against each other, leaving deep spark marks. Then they separated and crossed swords again.

Their steps were steady and powerful, and their swordsmanship was extremely skilled. Since they were taught by the same instructor and used the same set of swordsmanship, there was no obvious difference between them.

"Dang——dang——"

The iron swords clashed and vibrated repeatedly, with a few sparks flying from their edges. If you looked closely at the two swords, you would see that there were already some tiny nicks on them.

The two exchanged blows, with Thorin occasionally darting around before suddenly unleashing a burst of power. Each time, the intense force made it difficult for Mick to defend, forcing him to defend with all his might. Sometimes, Mick even had to retreat several steps to mitigate the enormous impact.

However, from Thorin's perspective, it was a different story. He had unleashed all his abilities and skills, and despite his immense strength and speed advantage, he still couldn't defeat Mike, let alone injure him. This situation put Thorin under immense pressure.

After entering the first tier, he could now use his 'Power Burst' ten times, whereas he could only use it twice a day before. Yet, his opponent withstood the continuous attacks.
first……

the second time……

the third time……

The more Thorin fought, the more alarmed he became. His strength was not much different from Mick's when they entered the academy, and he even had a significant advantage. Moreover, Mick's foundation in secret history and other knowledge was particularly weak, so he did not take him seriously.

Only a month and a half had passed since their last encounter in the assessment competition, but unexpectedly, the gap between the two had not only been leveled, but Mick had even surpassed them.

How can this be?

Although he was of commoner origin, Thorin's father was an experienced warrior. He was also proud and arrogant, believing that among the trainees, apart from Iona who surpassed him due to her family background, no one else was as good as him. Even Baron only had a slight advantage because of the legacy of his noble father.

As the battle progressed, Thorin's mindset gradually became unbalanced. He lost the composure and confidence he had at the beginning and began to anxiously search for Mick's weaknesses, believing that the guy's swordsmanship foundation was poor and must have some imperfections.

To give Mick no chance to catch his breath, Thorin began to unleash bursts of power continuously, putting Mick in a precarious situation.

Both men used iron swords, which, even without being sharpened, were still lethal due to their strength and the hardness of their material. This made the fight much more dangerous than the previous battles fought with wooden weapons.

The battle reached a stalemate, with the onlookers holding their breath and the instructors also paying close attention.

On the other side of the battlefield, Komia clenched her fist to cheer for Mick, then turned her head away.

"Tia, do you think Mick can win?"

The black-haired girl gazed at the two on the stage, a faint glint in her eyes. After a few seconds, she spoke softly, "They will win, but they may get injured."

"clang--"

With another burst of power, the fragile iron sword shattered into large fragments, slicing through Mick's eye and adding a touch of ferocity to his already fierce face.

After being repeatedly suppressed by Thorin, he could no longer suppress his frustration and began to fight with all his might. With the combined strength of the two, the iron sword could not withstand the strain.

Seeing that Mick dared to retaliate, Thorin's anger erupted. Driven by anxiety and restlessness, his attacks became reckless, deviating from ordinary training sparring and leaning towards actual combat. The instructor watched, his hand slowly reaching for the hilt of his sword, but he didn't immediately intervene, instead quietly observing the unfolding situation.

It's rare to have such a thrilling competition, so why rush to stop it? Just like a pride of lions, it's always necessary to determine the strongest one. Forcibly suppressing it is pointless.

"hiss--"

The blade sliced ​​through Mick's training leather armor, tearing a long gash and even drawing blood.

Despite being injured, Mick didn't stop for a moment. Instead, he seized the brief opening when his opponent hit him and kicked Thorin in the hip, making the opponent groan.

The two then clashed again, and the contest of swordsmanship and strength reached a fever pitch, at which point the subtle difference in their abilities began to emerge.

Perhaps, Mikkelsen's swordsmanship is indeed better than Thorin's now. In the intense exchange of wounds, Mikkelsen suffered fewer and shallower injuries, while Thorin began to show signs of fatigue.

Using abilities comes at a price. He was simultaneously activating his breathing technique and power burst, which put a higher strain on him than on Mick. Moreover, his breathing technique only had two stages, unlike Mick's three-stage breathing technique which was long and coordinated. After a few minutes of fighting, this difference began to become apparent.

Subsequently, Thorin's stamina rapidly declined, and his strength gradually became unable to suppress Mick. He was gradually overtaken in all other aspects until finally being knocked away by Mick's heavy blow, which sent his weapon flying and him tumbling off the fighting platform.

"Hu-hu-"

Mick planted his sword on the ground, taking deep breaths. His forehead and back were covered in sweat, and his leather armor was torn and tattered, revealing his strong muscles. Some sticky blood slowly dripped down, mixing with the sweat.

It was tiring, painful, but also exhilarating.

His past hard work and dedication paid off, and the pent-up frustration was released, leaving him feeling refreshed and wanting nothing more than to shout.

Applause erupted from all directions as everyone looked at Mick on the stage and clapped with immense admiration.

Both sides gave it their all in this competition, which also showed the students present the real gap between them and the two on stage. Their complete mastery of skills and the honing of strength and speed were something that no amateur could compare to.

Thorin did lose, but he was not ashamed, and the other trainees did not think they had performed better than Thorin.

"Good, very good, you two." The instructor walked over, helped Thorin up from the ground, and praised him loudly.

"At least you've got some warrior spirit now, hehe." He helped Thorin onto the stage, his iron-like arms encircling the two of them, and then he laughed loudly.

After all, they were all trained by him, how could he not be proud?

"That's all for today's training. You two come with me, I'll apply your medicine and we'll also review some areas for improvement from the competition just now."

"Yes, instructor." The two gradually recovered from their excited state and returned to normal.

“Those two are really in the limelight now.” Komia rested her chin on her hand and turned to look at the girl beside her.

"Tiya, if you go on stage, won't you scare everyone?"

"How could that be? I haven't advanced yet." The girl brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear and shook her head with a smile.

However, she was still very gratified and happy to see the progress her classmates had made.

After all, her hard work has finally paid off.

She needs to step up her efforts; and Mrs. Fran should be back by now.

(End of this chapter)