The Art of Evasion

Faced with the three, Ralguth, unfazed, dodged their attacks, before knocking them out one after the other.

The first was hit with a spin kick, the second was thrown across the training yard and into a wall and the third barely grazed Ralguth before his jaw met with Ralguth's fist.

The last three staggered back, now completely unsure of their chances.

As for Carack, turned to Xaren, holding up two fingers in front of his face. "Two minutes! I win!" he laughed triumphantly.

Xaren groaned and muttered under his breath.

"I'm never betting with you again."

His grumbling made Carack laugh even louder, and the sound caught the attention of others nearby, including Ralguth, who, noticing their lack of focus, turned toward them.

"What are you two laughing at?" Ralguth demanded with a frown.

Hearing him, Xaren glanced at Carack before looking back at Ralguth with an incredulous look.

'Can't this guy see it's ONLY Carack laughing and not me?'

Carack caught Xaren's unspoken question and laughed even harder before replying to Ralguth.

"Don't worry about us, just keep beating them up. Let me make more money."

Xaren frowned, shaking his head. "I'm not placing any more bets with you."

"Come on, moneybag—I mean, Xaren."

Carack quickly corrected himself, but there was no way Xaren didn't catch onto that. His brow twitched as he turned to Carack with a glare.

"Did you just call me moneybag?"

Naturally, Carack feigned innocence.

"No, it was definitely your imagination."

Xaren's veins throbbed at Carack's shamelessness. Meanwhile, Ralguth, visibly annoyed by their indifference, barked at them.

"You two, how dare you ignore me?!"

His loud voice drew Xaren's attention back to him.

"Ignore you? We didn't ignore you. He answered you when you asked."

Xaren spoke while gesturing to Carack, who added with a mischievous smile, "Also, are you done fighting them? If you aren't, hurry up so I can place another bet."

Xaren shot him a look, clicking his tongue.

"Like I said, I'm not placing any bets with you again. Not even in your dreams"

Carack whined, not ready to let go of his latest scheme.

"Come on, dude, you have a chance to win! Just go all in. Give me all your silver coins."

Xaren simply rolled his eyes and said, "You sound like a stereotypical demon right now, Carack."

Carack blinked in confusion, not getting the point. "What are you talking about, Xaren? I am a demon."

Xaren let out an exasperated sigh, shaking his head, not bothering to explain.

Once again, Ralguth's anger flared. The two of them, chatting and laughing while ignoring him, had clearly gotten under his skin.

What Ralguth failed to understand was simple: they simply didn't care about him.

He wasn't in charge, nor was he the one they were following. Until they were assigned a real leader, Ralguth's game of "king of the hill" meant little to Xaren and Carack.

They would follow whoever the superior officers decided was in charge, whenever they did.

With that thought in mind, Xaren turned to Carack, his tone light but curious.

"Well, while this guy is playing king of the hill, and the superior officers are definitely going to split us into squads and choose someone else as leader, do you think Ilya's going to get selected as our leader again?"

Carack hummed thoughtfully. "Hmm, Captain Ilya, huh? Actually, it would be nice if she gets picked again. Also, to have Kravok and the others in our group once more... A pity."

Xaren's eyes flickered with a touch of regret. "Yeah, a pity."

It had been two months since the battle of Hamqua, and Kravok—despite becoming a low-rank demon—had been sent to a different batch for wing training.

Afterwards, he'd been assigned to a different company, and they hadn't seen him since.

As the two of them reminisced, Ralguth's patience finally snapped, his anger boiling over.

"You two think you can just talk and ignore me like I don't even exist? What do you think I am, some kind of joke?"

Without waiting for a response, he raised his hand and two concentric magic circles manifested.

With no chant, he cast the Tier 2 Fire Magic Spell, Grand Fireball, sending the mass of flames shooting towards Xaren and Carack, aimed to scorch them both.

Both of them sensed the magic, their instincts kicking in as they jumped out of their seats just in time. The fireball whizzed past, searing their chairs and leaving scorch marks behind.

Carack, his expression now devoid of humour, looked at Ralguth with disbelief.

"Dude, what the hell?!" he exclaimed, his usual smirk wiped from his face.

Unlike the others he'd used unarmed physical attacks on, Ralguth just used magic. What's more, he was attacked unprovoked.

Even Carack, with all his nonchalance, would be pissed off.

Xaren, on the other hand, couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of Ralguth using fire magic Carack, a fire demon.

But his chuckle was not well-received. Ralguth, seething with fury, interpreted it as mockery. His hands clenched into fists, and his voice cracked with rage as he screamed.

"I'll put you both in your place!"

With a roar, he charged at them, fully intending to prove his superiority.

Carack, realizing what was about to happen, quickly grabbed Xaren.

"Xaren," Carack said, eyes glinting with mischief. "I haven't counted the money I won from you yet. So, you fight him."

Before Xaren could react, Carack gave him a hard push, sending him directly toward the oncoming threat. Xaren stumbled slightly, now facing Ralguth's furious advance.

"Oi, dude, what the hell?!"

Xaren shot a glare at Carack, but the fire demon was already sprinting off, his pouch of coins clutched in his hand as he made his escape.

Ralguth, seeing his chance, swung a massive punch infused with magical power, aiming straight for Xaren's chest.

But just when Ralguth thought victory was certain, Xaren regained his balance in a flash, twisting his body to avoid the punch entirely.

He landed a few paces away, casually brushing himself off as he turned to face Ralguth.

"Okay, dude, hold on," Xaren said, voice unbothered. "I have zero desire to fight you. So, I don't know, you can go back to fighting them and becoming leader with them. Keep the spot. I don't really care about it."

The last thing Xaren wanted now was to get tangled in some petty and pointless squabble that would make him look bad in front of his superior officer.

But those words, far from diffusing the situation, did the opposite. To Ralguth, who had been trying so hard to assert his dominance and claim leadership, Xaren's indifference was the worst kind of insult.

It made his leadership feel utterly worthless, as though it didn't matter at all. And that sent Ralguth's fury into overdrive.

Fuelled by his wounded pride, Ralguth screamed and launched himself at Xaren again, fists raised, ready for round two.

Seeing Ralguth even angrier, Xaren raised an eyebrow.

"Dude, I said I don't want your position as leader. I'm not trying to challenge you for it. So why are you still attacking me?"

"Shut up!"

Ralguth, seething with anger, unleashed a furious barrage of punches and strikes.

But Xaren effortlessly dodged every attack, reaffirming that his earlier assessment of a 'fight' with Ralguth was not born from overconfidence.

Ralguth was a humanoid demon like Xaren, but he was at least a head taller and more muscular.

But despite the speed and power behind his blows, Xaren danced around them, never giving him the chance to land a hit.

Every punch that came at him missed by inches. He ducked, sidestepped, and leapt with ease, his movements smooth and calculating.

However, Xaren got fed up and decided to make Ralguth pay—in the same way he'd done to two unfortunate giants, though far less intense.

His magic power stirred and he subtly manipulated the stones on the ground, using gravity magic to send them flying toward Ralguth's head with such speed that the demon couldn't even see them coming.

'Hmm, I can use this guy for control and precision training.'

It was, perhaps, a mercy for Ralguth that he couldn't read Xaren's thoughts at that moment.

Ralguth was momentarily stunned as the stones collided with his skull, each hit leaving him more disoriented.

One of them hit him right on his nose and he staggered back, rubbing his head.

"What the hell?!" Ralguth growled. "You're the one doing this!"

Xaren raised his hands in mock surrender, a wide, innocent smile on his face.

"Who, me? What am I doing?" he asked, playing it up as if he were completely clueless.

Then, in a split second, Xaren sent a stone rocketing toward Ralguth's groin. The stone missed by a hair and instead struck his lap with a dull thud.

Xaren's expression shifted, and he muttered under his breath, "Ah, I missed."

Immediately, he slapped a hand to his mouth, as if he'd just said something he shouldn't have.

Of course, his voice had been loud enough for Ralguth to hear, and the demon's eyebrows twitched in frustration.

It was abundantly clear that Xaren was making fun of him, and it pushed him past the breaking point.

In a fit of anger, Ralguth attacked with a new ferocity, and with the aid of an active skill, his blows came faster and harder.

But Xaren continued to dodge, never once even considering parrying the punches or kicks. He simply weaved around them, ducking under one swing, jumping over another, twisting his body to avoid every hit.

Ralguth's face twisted with rage as he tried desperately to land a single blow, but no matter how hard he swung, Xaren was always one step ahead.

Eventually, Xaren found himself with his back pressed against the door of the weapons building.

He acted surprised, his expression one of genuine confusion.

"Well, that was unexpected," he muttered, as if he'd just been cornered for the first time.

Of course, there was no way Xaren didn't notice there was a building behind him from the shadow it cast on the ground.

Seeing Xaren backpedal, Ralguth grinned, his eyes flashing with malicious glee.

"Let's see where you're going to dodge now!" he shouted, his voice booming with confidence.

With that, he infused even more magic into his punch, his fist glowing with a dangerous intensity.

Though he didn't sense its activation as he wasn't to the required level for that, Xaren could tell that Ralguth was using a skill.

He also knew he wouldn't get away unscathed if the punch connected.

Naturally, Xaren lightened his body with gravity magic and leapt out of the way to dodge Ralguth's faster, stronger punch.

But just as he did, the door of the weapons building swung open inward.