Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 103 - Deora's specialty

Previously:

The day of the practical exams is finally here and Kiel is inside a large arena created by the Replica Dungeon. Kiel and Nelaira manage to defeat their opponents. Rhur uses Razorblood petals to slice the neck of his opponent open. Kiel and Rhur decide to each take one opponent, however, they can't agree on which opponent to pick. They end up bickering, neither one wanting to fight Deora. Nelaira tricks Deora into attacking the Rroda brothers, and Deora ends up pursuing Kiel with a barrage of fireballs. Kiel runs away, dodging the fireballs.

* * *

In the VIP lodge, the examiners were calmly observing the proceedings and commenting on it.

Seeing Kiel retreat, the green haired man smiled approvingly. "Creating some distance between himself and Nelaira and Rhur is a clever thing to do. It would be quite chaotic and easy to get hit by a stray attack if he stayed near their battle. Rhur Rroda is not a team player. He probably wouldn't mind if he hit him with a stray attack."

"Hmm, prolonging the fight until Deora tires out isn't a bad plan. Deora is spending mana at an astonishing rate, he will inevitably run out of mana before the end of the exam." The only female of the four mused. "His strategical conserving of mana is quite fine as well. He is using just enough mana to avoid the fireballs and not a speck more. Such a fine mana conservation is quite admirable."

"He is quite adept at hiding his strength. Does he intend to lull Deora into a false sense of security and then catch him off guard with a sudden attack?" The green haired man cupped his chin in thought.

"That might work." The burly man gruffly said. "After all, Deora is a simpleton..."

The green haired man and the female shared a look. Indeed, everyone was thinking the same thing, but the burly man was the only one rude enough to voice it out loud.

The burly man didn't stop there, he suddenly threw his head back and roared with laughter. "Should we call Deora over to watch this fight? He is not supervising any of the exams right now, is he? I'd love to see his face when his Replica is beaten down!"

The green haired man smiled wryly. "This... would be a bit... inappropriate?"

The woman snorted coldly. "Feel free to call him over if you wish. But when he ends up blowing up the entire VIP booth, causing chaos to the exam, you're the one who is going to be held responsible."

The burly man stopped laughing, his face turning unsightly. "You think I can't restrain the pipsqueak?!"

The female smirked venomously. "Say, wasn't it you who got blown up into smithereens last time you made fun of him inside the Replica Dungeon?"

"You... that was one time! One time! He caught me off guard!" The burly man bellowed, his face red with rage.

The female's smirk only grew. "To be caught off guard by a youngster who isn't even a warlock. Disgraceful..."

The burly man abruptly got up from his seat, a vein pulsing on his forehead. He was about to start yelling out curses when an apathetic husky voice sounded out. "Quiet."

When the fourth, grumpy looking man finally spoke out that single word, the entire booth fell into silence.

* * *

Some time had passed in awkward silence before the green haired man spoke up again in hopes of dispelling the oppressing atmosphere: "We shouldn't bully Deora..."

The female smirked. "Right. That's Zerel's job."

The green haired man sighed. "We really shouldn't, he has it bad enough. I hear he hasn't received his contribution points for several months already."