Practice (II)

Dairen summoned up his rows of powerful undead. There were over a hundred, and Snow was impressed at the amount that he had.

The rate that he was growing was amazingly fast. Even Mike grew exponentially, making Snow wonder if they were all broken people with their cheat-like status. Not many could grow as quickly as the Players. When they did, they were heralded as geniuses.

"Going all out?" Snow smirked. Licking her lips in excitement.

Many people were growing, watching the vast number of undead being formed as they circled around Snow in a tight circle.

"Absolutely."

"Then, so be it." Snow sprinted off, disappearing from his vision as her Holy Flames spitted out in a wave-like fashion, mowing down a right half of the weaker undead. Another third were burning with white and blue fire that they were decomposing fast.

People gaped at the strength of her magic and the monsters' rate that were being chopped down so quickly.

Snow ran in straight like an arrow into Dairen. Her armor appeared around her body, allowing her to contact Dairen's dagger with her fist. The impact between the two let out a powerful force of dark and light energy that made anyone too close to it fall onto their knees.

Dairen's energy caused ill-like symptoms, while Snow's energy was healing and trying to overpower Dairen's at the same time. The clashing energy was the cause of many upturned stomachs.

Snow did a low kick, using it as a feint. Her punches followed after with a quick one-two combo.

Dairen dodged and side-stepped to get out of her close-range attack that was a tornado of fists.

Snow didn't allow him to escape. Her hand reached out to grab him on his shoulder. In a blink of an eye she had thrown him over her shoulder.

Dairen fell onto the ground with a heavy thud. Air escaped out of his breath, making him see stars. Snow's claw hand sped downwards. One of Dairen's skeleton soldiers dashed in, blocking her attack with a sword. Her hand repelled, throwing her back for a split moment. Which created a bit of distance between Darien and her.

The surrounding undead with weapons came forward, pulling her away from Dairen, who groaned. He shook his head, realizing that he would have tapped out if his minions didn't stop him from her attack. His eyes furrowed, knowing full well that he had to fight even stronger and better than what he had just shown.

Snow felt a tingle from behind, an arrow pierced through, sliding against her armored shoulder. She turned around. Her sword magically appeared in her hand, and she threw it. It slashed through the archer skeleton with a dizzying effect of light without any remorse and taking a few more.

"Is this the best you got?" Snow goaded him, a bit disappointed that he was going a bit too leisurely. Even though she knew this was sparing, she wanted to test the extent of his ability. The growing curiosity had her pushing herself to the point where she was even surprised how fluidly she danced around the ground.

"It was just the appetizer." Dairen pulled out his bow made out of steel and crystals. Weary and tense, Snow felt something odd about his bow.

Snow ran after her blade, grabbing it from the handle. She slid and changed her direction straight towards Dairen. Dashing forward, she pulled away from the skeletons that tried to hold her back and was blown away.

Dairen raised his bow, knocking one at a time. He pulled back, targeting her with pinpoint accuracy he let go. A black bolt of darkness slithered out in a lightning flash.

Snow was astounded by the power behind the force of the arrow. Her sword raised up, blocking it from impaling her in the chest. Her hand went backward, causing her to stumble. She reorient herself, taking a side step to the right. The balance of her sword corrected her fall, allowing her to push off from the ground.

Another arrow flew not too far behind the first and then the second, becoming a flurry of attacks that Snow had a bit of a hard time deflecting. She gritted her teeth, dodging as many as she could.

She was often close to getting injured as the arrow barely missed her by a few inches. Leaving behind a few cuts on open skin, but many were slightly shifted away with her sword. This difficult ability seemed inhumane, but such high-level skill was what kept her on her feet.

"Well then, let's try this again." Snow called upon a powerful force of magical energy, creating hundreds of swords of light spinning around her. Her hand moved, letting the blade move forward.

Dairen gulped, realizing the danger that her ability possessed. His Minions ran towards him, creating a circle around him. They clattered their teeth, their eyes turned fiery green, protecting Dairen. The rain of light swords came hurtling downwards, each of his undead either slashed and made an impact to stop the torrent of blades. Others were blown up, leaving nothing aside.

A thick shield of dark energy swirled around Dairen. Helping him take on the heat of Snow's barrage of attack. Many of the swords dissipated and dissolved from impact, and only a very few were able to create small cracks on his shield.

Snow frowned, realizing that her attack wasn't able to break through. Her sword raised, magic swirled around it tightly, making it look like a lightstick. She jumped up from the ground, her sword raised up over her head. With a vicious slam, her sword made an impact.

Static electricity of light and darkness fought vigorously. The pressure increased, the barrier spider cracked. Magic fluctuates between the two. Snow poured more and more to get through until finally, she sword cut through.

Dairen was ready for her, he fired off three more powerful dark arrows. Each smashing into her blade one after another, not even a second behind.

Snow didn't have time to retaliate, her sword taking the brunt of the attack. Each one caused her whole hands to tremble by the force the two gave.

But even then, she held off.

Her sword cut through and rested inches away from Dairen's neck.

Dairen raised up his hand in defeat.

Snow pulled away, she nodded to his effort to keep her away. She was impressed at the amount of skills and power that he had displayed. He wasn't the weak Player that she had met anymore, but someone to watch out for.

She was optimistic that there would be only a handful of people who could directly deal with his magical attack, especially his arrows that were doused with dark energy that could shred a man's body.

"You have grown." Snow put away her sword, leaving a bit of blood streaking down Dairen's neck.

"Yes, I have, but I'm still quite a bit behind when sparring with you," said Dairen. He was a bit disappointed that he couldn't get a good hit off of her. Most of them were small cuts, which Snow didn't heal and left alone.

"There is always tomorrow to grow some more."

Dairen agreed.

The people who were watching all cheered in excitement. They couldn't help but silently watch, half of them holding their breath from excitement from the crazy sparring that they have pulled off. They crowded amongst the two, patting and slapping Dairen's shoulders. Many wouldn't dare do the same to Snow. Instead, they congratulated her for the win in a more respectful manner.

Eventually, they were let go. Allowing them to step out from the midst of the crowd. Mike and Angie, who were watching on the sidelines, were eagerly waiting for them.

Angie rushed over first. "Saintess!" She stopped and saw her idol with small cuts. With a glare, she stared down Dairen, who didn't give her much attention. "Let me heal you." She raised up her hands, glowing with light energy.

Snow was about to stop her, but let it slide by how adamant Angie wanted to make this happen. She was focused intensely that Snow didn't think about breaking her concentration.

"Nice fight, you guys." Mike congratulated the two. He was giddy with their performance. "I would like to have a spar with you one day," he asked Snow.

Snow nodded, not really minding as she too wanted to know how strong a Hero indeed was. Just like Dairen, his growth was astoundingly faster than Dairen. On the other hand, the strength and skill of his sword was superb.

Mike was a one in a hundred thousand rare genius when it came to such skill.

Not only that, Snow knew that the magic power from his God's blessing wasn't as strong compared to other Gods or the God of Light and Darkness. It still took quite a lot of skill to draw out the hidden potential that he had. Snow had an underlying suspicion that the God of Light and Darkness was interested heavily in Mike. For what reason, he didn't want to work with a different God. The power and blessing that they would be given was ten times stronger than a minor god.

"You're all healed, Saintess." Angie let out a sigh as she smiled at her effort to keep her skin scar-free.

"Thank you."

"Anyways, there are a couple of things we have brought back, Snow," Mike spoke up. "I suggest you take a look at it."

"Is there a problem?"

"Well, depends on what you mean." Mike half-chuckled with a growing concern. "Either way, this could lead us to the dungeon core."

Ears perking up, Snow said, "I'll follow behind."

Mike took the cue, walking past the two as all of them followed closely behind.