Beatdown

"You want me to fight you? Why?"

Skit was confused by Grant's desire for a fight. At Grant's strength, it was obvious to Skit who would win. So there was no need for them to even bother fighting.

"What do you mean why? How often do you get the opportunity to fight someone stronger than you without being forced to put your life on the line?

Plus the weather is absolute shit right now and there is nothing to do here while I wait.

How about this, if I win even once, you help me attract monsters within range of the dungeon so we can bank some extra mana to make modifications and for each round you win, I will do something for you. Whether that be more mana cores, doing a task for you, etc. You can decide later."

"Ohoho interesting. Although you should know we will be attracting monsters here anyways so we can try and speed up their promotion to Enlightened Tier.

How do you think I managed to increase the dungeon to the size it is now? The mana used for that is from me forcing monsters to fight and die here to increase the levels of the victor."

"Okay fine, you don't owe me anything if I win but I'll do a favor for you for each round you win.

You got nothing to lose in that case, right?"

"Very well, human, let us fight."

That was all Grant needed to hear because the moment that Skit finished speaking, he had already begun to charge towards him. While he was running towards Skit he withdrew his sword from his back and leapt into the air, preparing to bring the sword down on the cocky skeleton.

"I told you to call me by my name!!"

Before Grant could even get within a few feet of Skit though, he was stopped by some kind of invisible barrier before the barrier forced him backwards, careening through the air until he skipped across the ground a couple dozen feet away.

Grant had no idea what had happened but he decided not to think too much on it and instantly jumped to his feet before charging at Skit once again.

Unfortunately for Grant, even after a dozen attempts, he still had yet to even so much as force Skit to move from the spot he had been standing on since the beginning.

"Brute force may be how you've won your fights up to this point, but the stronger enemies become, the less that strategy will work.

You need to focus more on what tools you have at your disposal and how to best utilize them."

"Says the guy who hasn't even done anything except use some barrier to push me away!! How is that a strategy?!"

Skit just shook his head at the annoyance that was laced within Grant's words.

"So you're telling me I shouldn't use my skills because you don't think it's fair?

Do you think some monster or member of another race, will care about your feelings in a true fight? Hell, even a member of your race wouldn't go easy on you just because you're human like them right?

Don't act like a youngling. You asked for a fight and I will fight you with everything at my disposal.

Count your blessings that all I have done to this point is push you around with my barrier. I would have ended your life countless times already if we were enemies."

As frustrated as Grant was, he knew that what Skit said was true.

He was being selfish and naïve in his thinking, yet again. The world would not bend to his will simply because he wanted it too. He needed to force it to bend with strength, intelligence, and sheer force of will.

With a loud roar to motivate himself and shake aside all useless thoughts, Grant jumped to his feet once again and charged towards Skit.

Unlike the other times though, Grant didn't blindly charge forward, at first he was charging directly at Skit but before he reached the area where he would impact the barrier, he pivoted and tried to utilize his speed to get behind Skit. No matter how fast he was though, he could see the flames in Skit's eye sockets focused on the exact spot he was at, no matter where or how quickly he tried to move. Even when he tried circled around to Skit's back, his head just continued to turn, following him the entire time.

Grant was a little caught off guard, he thought that he would at least have to turn around to face him, but that didn't appear to be the case.

It appeared that speed wouldn't be the solution in this case. So he changed strategies once again and charged towards Skit. During the first dozen attempts to attack Skit head on, Grant realized that the barrier was always the same distance away from Skit when he would first impact it. Only after he had impacted it would the barrier move outwards.

As he approached the distance where the barrier should be, Grant brought his sword high above his head before bringing it crashing down in the area where he could slightly sense the barrier.

With a loud crash, the barrier became visible to the eye as it turned milky white, while cracks spread out in a spider nest pattern before it completely shattered and disappeared into thin air like stars twinkling in the night sky.

Grant didn't hesitate to force his way forward yet again, trying to get within melee range of Skit. Before he could even take a step however, he realized that he couldn't lift his feet. After looking down he saw his foot submerged in what appeared to be a pool of mud. Only after exerting his full strength into his leg was he finally able to pull his foot free.

"You really are weak, you know that? You may have the core stats and gear to contend with the idiotic monsters of the world. But if you meet an individual with any semblance of fighting experience, even if they have lesser stats, you will surely die."

Grant was becoming more and more furious listening to Skit degrade him.

Now that he was free from the mud, he resumed his charge towards the unruly skeleton. The entire time Grant had been fighting to break free from the pool of mud, Skit still had not moved, which meant that he was still inside the radius of where the barrier would be.

Skit just shook his head at Grant's reckless charge, he was truly disappointed in the unseemly display of the human before him.

Instead of trying to stop Grant in his tracks this time though, he actually let Grant get close enough where the knockoff sword could reach him.

Once Grant realized that he was close enough to attack Skit with his sword, he immediately released a barrage of sword swings in an attempt to do any semblance of damage he could.

Unfortunately for Grant though, no matter how much he swung his sword, and no matter what angle he tried to attack from, Skit would simply deflect the sword casually with his staff as if he was swatting away a fly.

Even with his Basic Swordsmanship passive skill now at Level 5, he was not nearly strong or fast enough to do more than exchange blows. And that was without Skit executing even one offensive swing. He remained purely on the defensive the entire time they were exchanging blows.

This exchange continued on for more than 10 minutes before Grant started to slow down due to the stamina expenditure from having to swing such a heavy sword around continuously.

After another 5 minutes passed, Grant was panting heavily and was barely able to continue swinging his sword around. Sure, he had a lot of stamina and could normally fight for a very long time, but having to swing his new sword around so recklessly was taking a massive toll on his body. He also had to absorb the impact of Skit's staff and his sword clashing every time which had long made his arms go numb. Every time there weapons impacted against each other it felt like he was striking an immovable object and the rebound of that impact was hard to handle.

Knowing the Grant wouldn't last much longer, Skit brought his staff over his shoulder and swiped it diagonally down towards Grant's neck in order to knock him unconscious and end this farce of a fight.

Grant saw the strike coming, and although he was tired, he should have been able to dodge it, but the staffed ended up striking him squarely on the base of his skull.

The moment that the staff made contact with the base of Grant's skull, he immediately crumpled to the ground.

Skit just stood over Grant for a few moments before he realized that he couldn't sense even a sliver of life coming from him any more.

Concerned that he had accidently killed Grant, he finally moved from where had had remained standing the entire time in a bid to check on him.

After he took a few steps however, he felt the Sword of the One True King resting against his neck bone and when realized what was going on, he looked down to see Grant looking at him with a massive grin on his face.

"I win"