Chapter 388: 388 - A New Friend

"Where did that come from?!" the other mage yelled, Noah looking at the direction of the spear.

"There!" He pointed at the warrior, running through a ruined house to take cover. Noah clicked his tongue, and recalled his plan. He never expected the warrior to do what he did, though he himself had done it before. 'But to think he could use [Charge] to propel the spear...' he thought, as he picked the spear from the ground and handed it to the mage. "You have a free hand, hold this," he ordered the remaining mage, who stared at him, confused.

"Mage!" the archer yelled behind them, shooting an arrow as he saw an enemy ahead. The mage even tried to counter by casting his blessing, but the arrows were faster, piercing through his head before he could use it, and dropping him to the ground.

[Enemy has been slain]

Noah and the archer looked at each other and nodded. They had lost the advantage, but managed to keep the battle even. They had taken out an archer and a mage, leaving behind only two people aside from the warrior. Noah thought they were lucky to have a very similar composition, but didn't mention it.

'Left!' Noah turned, as he sensed two presences with pyakugan in the house to his side. he signaled with his head, and pushed his sword out between him and the door, waiting. 'Now!' he exclaimed to himself, as he activated both the [Bastion] and the [Edge].

Inside the house, the rogue turned, surprised, his posture out of stance and his dagger pointing at a weird direction. Noah smirked at the sight, jumping forward and bashing him with the shield.

"Oi! Shad—" the mage rushed from the back as he heard the noise, but it was already too late.

"Argh!" as he got to see was the man groaning, with a spear planted onto his chest, before turning into light.

Noah looked at the mage in the back and saw his flow of mana increase, he looked back to see the mage from his teams just about to enter, and looked back forward to see a a fireball being created. After this many rounds, this was very unexpected, but Noah was very familiar with Blessed hiding their trump cards until the last second. Either way, his shield would stop the fire, and everything would be alright.

"Gha—Cough!" Noah suddenly heard a murky groan from behind, and looked back to see the mage from his team holding his chest, and staring silently outside the house.

[An ally has been slain]

[Double Kill]

Noah looked back to see the warrior head into the house, as he blocked the fire with his shield. 'Fuck it!' he thought to himself, as he felt hiding his immunity to fire was just plain annoying. 'So long as this finishes quickly, I can just say I have some resistance,' he thought, turning towards the warrior, the presence of the mage still unchanged, as fire bathed him. The warrior smiled at him, leaving Noah confused, pushing his shield in front of him.

"Wanna have some fun?" the warrior asked, before activating his blessing and charging towards Noah, who was just a few feet away.

'Damnit!' Noah thought, pushing his shield out and lowering his stance to fight him with pure strength. Since all his allies died, he could no longer use the shield blessing at all. And the charge hit. Noah blocked it, for a second, a stalemate. 'I can do it!' he thought, pushing his blade out and around, readying to slice at the warrior.

"Wha—" but suddenly, his footing was thrown off, as the sound of an explosion threw him backwards. The warrior had not been using his blessing at its fullest. 'Fuck!' Noah thought, as he slid through the ground, the warrior pushing him back at an increasing velocity. Noah slashed at him, managing a deep cut, and saw the warrior's eyes close, and turn into particles. 'Now all I have to do is—'he thought, planning on how he could kill the mage.

[Enemy has been slain]

But it was too late.

"Ghac!" Noah grunted, as he hit the wall with a massive momentum. His entire body hurt as the crackling of his blonesrang on his head like an alarm. And he looked down, to see a blade through his kidney. 'Fuck,' he thought, before closing his eyes, to a large red message on screen.

[DEFEAT]

And he looked back to the fight, to recall he felt the mage move slightly, but didn't pay attention... Not to the blade he left stuck on the wall, waiting for him.

"Shit..." he muttered, biting his lip in frustration. The game score 8x6. "I almost made it..." he muttered depressed, as he was thrown back into the man lobby, dejected.

"Hey, you!" immediately as he spawned in, however, a frantic voice called him over. Noah raised his head, to see a large and bulky man running towards him. "Yeah, you!" he yelled once again, before reaching Noah, and putting his hands on his knees, as if he were tired.

"The fight was awesome, thank you," the man extended his hand forward, and Noah grabbed it, finishing the handshake.

"Oh, thanks... You were also pretty amazing," Noah complimented the warrior, trying to keep the conversation short, as he wanted to log-out and sleep.

"That shield blessing of yours is amazing!" the warrior said, "Reminds me a lot of one I saw in the Nine Families Arena competition a couple days ago," he said, making Noah on edge. "Although that one was far more powerful and versatile," he said, making Noah breathe out a silent sigh of relief.

"Yeah, mine is kinda rough. I'm not that used to using it, and this has a pretty nasty restriction," Noah said, happy he had not been discovered that easily, else he would probably have to delete this account.

"Let me guess, it only works with someone behind you," the man said with a smirk, provoking Noah's curiosity.

"You are a pretty observative man, aren't you?" Noah asked, the man laughing heartily.

"Yeah, I like studying my enemies. I am a Peak D-Rank blessed, how about you?" the man asked, making Noah suddenly more interested in the conversation.

'Now that I think of it...' Noah got deep in his thoughts, the man's brows furrowing as he awaited the answer.

'Is he calculating what to tell me? Or maybe is he hiding his identity and will lie... What abou—' the warrior started thinking too as he stared at the thoughtful paladin.

"I actually forgot if I ever got around to updating my status. I'm a peak D-Rank Blessed too, but I have no idea what I officially am since I leave that for others to fix," Noah responded 'honestly', although underreporting his rank.

"Oh, I see..." having his thoughts interrupted out of nowhere, the warrior just responded with an empty line, before getting down to think on his words. 'Wait, if he says that others take care of updating his rank, he's probably part of one of the nine families, and has been having his Blessed Rank match his skill level... Interesting,' he thought, before addressing Noah. "I'm Robert, but my nick is Bullbert since my blessing is [Bull Charge]. You can call me Rob, it was a pleasure fighting you," he told Noah, introducing himself properly.

"Likewise. My nick is BobTheBastion, since my blessing is [Selfless Bastion]. You can call me just Bob, we have the same name..." Noah scratched his head, putting away both shield and sword. "Shall I add you to my friends?" Noah asked, pulling up the UI and typing in his nick.

"Sure, if you're down, we could play together now. I'll just have one more game before bed," he said, making Noah think twice about saying no.

"You know... maybe I can spare time for one more game," he said, smirking, as the warrior smiled, and a notification to join a Ranked battle appeared.

"Today is our lucky day!" the warrior yelled as the battle started. This time around, the pre-game lobby was silent, with all five blessed waiting patiently without asking any questions. Two vanguards, a rogue and two archers. As for why the warrior was so happy, the other team had two swordsmen, two rogues and a single mage.

Noah nodded, as the two of them ran ahead of the pack. Aside from the lucky draw, the map was also an open field. "Now!" Noah yelled, as he was a few meters away from the enemy vanguards," and the warrior hid behind his shield as the two advanced. A bolt of lightning flashed above their heads, aiming at where the warrior was just prior.

"Damn boy, can you predict the future?" the warrior asked while laughing, the two heading straight towards the enemy blessed with a mace.

"Don't look down on us!" the mace Blessed yelled, annoyed at their turtling.

"Oi, wait!" Noah smiled as he heard the other blessed try to stop him, but it was too late.

The massive mace sung against the side of Noah's shield, aiming to pull it out of the way, but, "How!?" the blessed yelled, as Noah activated [Bastion], and the mace was deflected away, throwing his entire body off balance.

"Your turn," Noah told the warrior, who jumped up with his blessing, above the shield, and thrust his spear downwards towards the unprotected blessed whose mace was thrown away together with his arm.

[First Blood]

[An enemy has been slain]

"Wanna bet we can do this all night long?!" the warrior told Noah, as the other blessed tried to attach him, only to have his sword clocked by the side of the axe.

"For as long as you want," Noah responded, opening his shield-stance to deliver a sharpened blow to the guy's ribs, piercing through the gap and into his heart.