Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

BOOM…BOOM…BOOM..

It would be a lie if Simon said that he wasn't having blast right now. The amount of experience or rather the mystical energy flowing within him was so much that it allowed him to level up multiple times.

Using this chance Simon also conjured his Electro Magic in hope of increasing its mastery. Unlike the orcs high defence, these human bandits were much more weaker with different allocations in stats.

Although there would be some who could endure his attacks, none of them managed to dodge his electro attacks that were extremely fast. Not only that, his novice tier electro magic was also becoming faster and more lethal.

Feeling the changes, Simon was delighted, he finally knew which direction he should walk on to progress his Electro Magic. Unlike how he evolved his novice tier Fire magic to intermediate Flame magic by condensing and increasing the heat, electro magic relied more on swiftness and density of mana to evolve.

Excitement rose within his heart, when he felt these minute changes. Simon was just about spam a few more of his electro magic attacks, when something at an insane speed came charging towards him.

He hurriedly took a step back and was barely able to dodge the attack that swept by his face.

"Kuh, you can even dodge that huh? Seriously what kind of insane rare class did you get?" a rough voice that had little do with manners, rang out.

A brawny figure wearing mismatched armours came in front of him. He had a bald head and carried a huge hammer on his back. The person that rushed up to Simon was none other than the Brigand Master who finally decided to make his move.

After sparing a glance at the still and silent Adalinda, the brigand master focused his gaze on the young man in black robes and questioned.

"You are the guy who did a number on some of my bandit leaders right?".

Simon simply shrugged his shoulders at those words, he was now sure that the bandit leader he had killed a few days ago had indeed sent a message back.

"Don't play dumb, I know it was you. Did you think that you can get away after laying your hands on my subordinate?" the Brigand Master declared. He then took out his huge hammer and wielded it with one hand.

"Did you think that just having a rare class makes you much more stronger than us?" slamming the hammer onto the ground, the bandit commented.

A small fissure swiftly spread from the area of effect and rushed towards the spot where Simon was standing.

BOOM… like a geyser, flames erupted out from the fissure burning and scorching everything around. 

The young man nimbly dodged the attack, landed a few meters back and observed the hammer on the hands of the bandit.

CHIII… at this moment, the hammerhead had turned crimson with heat and smokes continuously came out of it. The effect earlier was the due of the hammer on his hands.

<br/> When Simon used [Analysis] on the hammer, his guess was immediately proven right. The hammer was a [C] tier weapon that bestowed quite a few skills along with mastery in Flame Magic. That was how the brigand master was able to use flame magic even though most of his stats were allocated on strength.

Comparing the Scorching Hammer, it was on the same level as the Twin Blades that was used by Laris.

Seeing that his attacks did nothing, the Brigand Master swung his hammer wildly. Muffled sounds of wind blasting apart could be heard every time the weapon was swung against the wind showcasing the immense strength of the wielder.

That was not all, after every successive swing, the friction from the air would heat up the hammer until its entire dull grey body became a flaring red.

"[Heavy Scorching Blast]" the brigand master roared out internally, with another fierce swing from his hammer, a huge column of heat that was shaped like the weapon itself, came attacking the young man at a breakneck speed.

Everything about the attack whether it was power, heat, momentum or speed was on a different level. Even Simon with his high agility, felt it was nigh impossible to dodge the attack without suffering any recoil.

WOOOSH… the attack containing a terrible momentum, approached near gouging the ground along with it. Just when it was a meter away from him, Simon took out something from the emerald ring on his hand and brandished it wildly.

Immediately, thunderous noises rang out around the area and a flash of blue appeared amidst the glaring red.

Simon's hands which were tightly holding on to the Twin Blades, clashed with the column of flame, his mana that was poured wildly into it, was able to generate a column of lightning that was not any weaker than the hammer's.

BOOOOOM…

The two attacks collided and immediately caused all of the sound around the campsite to drown out. the air around the collision of the two attacks was burst apart and a huge shockwave containing flames and lightning, spread around the surrounding.

Those unfortunate enough to be in the proximity of the two, were sent flying as they reeled in pain. The battle between these two parties was nothing like the ones occurring all around the campsite. If a weaker person got caught up in it, suffering heavy injuries would be the least of their worries.

After the power fluctuation from the two attacks died down, the two figures that were facing each other, came into everyone's view. All their focus were strained onto the two, confronting each other since this fight very as well be the fight that decides the victor of this battle.

"Tsk, you bastard it seems that you enjoy hiding your strength. Who knew that you still had a weapon like that. Not bad, after I kill you in the most gruesome way, I will keep those blades as a prize" the Brigand Master declared arrogantly, supporting the huge hammer on his shoulder.

He did not bother to suppress his voice hence everyone was able to hear his declaration loud and clear. The bandits especially, rejoiced after hearing those confident words from their master, their morale that was at its lowest, suddenly spiked.

Simon did not retort and calmly observed the blades that he had kept with him after defeating Laris. The Twin Blades although [C] tier, was honestly not that bad but it still lacked heavily when compared to his Crimson Blazing Flame Blade.

Nonetheless, it wasn't as gaudy and eyes-catching as his [A] tier weapon and thus could be used in situations such as this. Clearly, if he had brought out his weapon, it would have attracted lots of unwanted attention towards him and might even caused him some future troubles.

The [C] tier Twin Blades although not as precious as the [A] tier weapon, it was still a highly valuable weapon that could be afforded strong and reputable people.

Simon swung the twin blades a few times and tried to get familiar with it, the weapon was something that he had kept and refined to be used as his spare weapon. Thanks to him using [Ga??????] (previously [Gacha]) every single day, he was able to stock quite a bit of Amegdite Crystals that are used for refinement.

Using that, he was able to bring the refinement level of the twin Blades all the way up to tier five. Now the weapon, could be said much better and stronger than what it was previously.

Although refinement did not increase the tier of the weapon, it was still better than most [C] tier weapons out there and could even be compared to some low quality [B] tier weapons. To put it bluntly, after that exchange Simon was able to tell that his weapon was better than that Scorching hammer of his opponent.

Giving it a few more swings, Simon felt the shape and structure of the Lightning magic the weapon bestowed. The main reason for him taking out the Twin Blades was because he wanted to feel and experience more of the intermediate tier lightning magic to advance his electro magic. 

Additionally, since he couldn't use his laws in his human form, he could only rely on his spare at this moment. That is why he in his unilateral judgement of things, forgot that there was one additional person present on the battlefield who recognised this weapon.

After a moment of silence, both the party started moving at the same time. From their clash, one could see that both of them had a rich battle experience with how they avoided or deflected each other attacks and counterattacked at the slightest movement.

The fierce battle attracted quite a few gazes and even Cynthia's eyes were tightly locked into this clash. A crimson hammer and lightning laced blades made numerous blade arcs and blunt attacks that tore apart the surrounding air, land and forced all of the onlookers dozens of meters back.

those that were fighting in the distance, disengaged themselves and moved back. Nobody wanted to get entangled in a battle where they could die at any moment.

RUMBLE… BOOM… flames and lightning wreaked havoc and turned the whole area around the centre of the campsite a complete mess. 

"To think that person would be able to hold off against the Brigand Master for so long…"Osbin the bandit leader murmured something, his eyes continuously swept towards the battle between those two.

"Shouldn't we help him?" the other bandit leader Grime who has been fretting over it, asked.

"Don't be stupid if we head over there, we will only earn the master's ire. Besides, he is not fighting seriously and has not used all of his powers" Osbin who had fought with the man for the position of the Brigand Master quite a lot of time, knew how powerful he was.