Chapter 58: Faction Recruitment P2
*BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BAM!
Sounds of combat rang out continuously as Lyrica ducked and dived through the attacks.
Rolling slightly, she slid on her feet and orientated herself.
*Dang!
She blocked a strike from someone else's sword.
[Han LVL 20 - Swordsman.]
Seeing that it was another level 20, Lyrica sighed slightly.
Shifting her sword, she redirected his blade to hit the guard of her sword.
Twisting the sword, she smashed Han's chin with the tip of her sword.
If the sword was a real sword, it would have been a fatal blow.
With that single attack, the armband registered the attack to be fatal and sent Han flying to the back of the current layer.
'So hitting any of the fatal area's counts as a 1 hit kill.' Lyrica thought.
She was about to continue her run when a sword light slashed towards her.
Reactive Guard.
Activating one of her skills, her arms moved to counter the skill easily.
Looking over at the person who sent the slash, Lyrica realised them to be a level 24 Sword Veteran.
Crouching low on the ground, she charged towards him.
Sword lights continuously shot towards her.
Sidestepping the few that she could, she struck down the lights she couldn't dodge.
Pivoting on her foot Lyrica narrowed her eyes and increased her momentum.
*BAM!
The two swords collided harshly.
Crouching down, Lyrica swept her leg outwards, tripping up the level 24.
Slashing at the nape of his neck, Lyrica was once again able to go for a 1 hit kill.
Quickly wiping her sweat, she looked around and saw the level 50's already occupying the top layer.
Frowning slightly, Lyrica understood that she wasn't able to earn a red ribbon with her current power. She was just a level 22 Elven Bladedancer. The levels were too far apart.
'Then I'll reach as far as I can!' She thought.
Putting power into her legs, Lyrica dashed forwards with her sword, ready to be drawn.
*PA PA!
Quickly slashing twice, she managed to 1 hit kill 2 adventurer's that weren't looking at her.
Using their body as a stepping stone, she jumped forwards.
Focusing her intent on the closest adventurer near her landing spot, she twisted her body and threw her sword.
*Bam!
The sword hit the adventurer's skull and 1 hit killed him.
Catching her sword when it bounced back, she twisted her body and kicked backwards. The kick landed on the guard of someone's blade forcing it upwards and away from her.
Continuing with her momentum, she dragged the sword upwards.
Frowning slightly at the fact that she didn't 1 hit kill him, she reached out and grabbed the person's head.
Pulling him towards her, she stabbed at his chest and eliminated him.
"Karg!" Lyrica cried out in pain as she felt a sword strike at her back.
Quickly rolling forwards, she lessened the impact on her back.
This allowed her to live barely as someone breathing on her could probably tip the damage taken over the limit.
The assailant was a level 30 Sword Veteran who had a silver glow on his weapon.
'Sword Enhancement. An aura skill which slightly increases the speed of each sword strike. On top of that, both the strength and Agility of the user would be increased as well.' Lyrica thought.
Flipping her sword in mid-air, she round-house kicked the pommel and sent it flying towards the Sword Veteran.
Quickly blocking the sword, he was surprised at the fact that Lyrica was already within close quarters combat range.
In on swift set of movements, Lyrica managed to disarm him and chop him on the neck. This caused him to stumble backwards giving Lyrica enough time to grab her sword again.
However, due to the fact that his status was much higher than her's, he was able to recover just in time to block her strike.
Pulling the sword towards him, he aimed to knee her in the stomach.
Lyrica jumped upwards and dodged his knee. Placing her hand on his knee as a support, she kicked him in the forehead. Taking this moment to land softly, Lyrica pivoted her body and slammed the level 30 into the ground. Quickly slashing him on the neck, she eliminated him.
Panting lightly, she dashed towards the layer for the top 500's.
There were a few footholds that protruded from the side of the walls to help participants get to the next level.
Narrowing her eyes, she saw people constantly getting on to the next level and people getting pushed off again.
Pausing for a moment to regain her stamina, she ran up to the footholds.
She was just about to jump when a sword slammed into the side of her torso.
Gritting her teeth from the pain, Lyrica glared at the person who had eliminated her.
[Julia LVL 35 - Dual Blade Warrior]
Her attacker had brown hair tied into a ponytail, an average face and a modest build. Seeing her uniform, Lyrica understood that she was a senior a year higher than her.
Making sure she remembered her face, Lyrica was going to make sure she had her revenge.
Landing at the bottom of the layer once more, Lyrica adjusted her grip on the blade. She wasn't going to mess around anymore and decided to use both berserk skills in her arsenal.
[Thousand Blade Aura + Willow Blade Aura]
Thousand Blade Aura was a skill that increases the attack and speed of the user. However, the Willow Blade Aura was more of a misdirection technique. It gave the feeling of blurriness and overlay into your movement to confuse the enemy.
Much like the leaves of a willow tree, your image constantly shifts around.
As the two auras activated, there seemed to be several images of Lyrica overlapping with each other.
Dashing forward, she left a slight trail of afterimages, confusing some of the participants.
Seeing 2 adventurers fight in front of her, Lyrica twirled the blade and held it in a reverse grip.
Judging the distance with her eyes, she jumped and twisted her body.
The sword struck the first guys neck before following through by slashing the other person in half. While they weren't harmed for real, their arms bands threw them back at the start.
Lyrica landed on her right foot before charging forwards again. She was too cautious last time and wasted a lot of precious opportunities. Right now, she was going to do exactly what her class was for.
Charging through like an unstoppable sword!
Leaving a trail of light and flying bodies behind her, Lyrica charged towards the next layer with ruthless efficiency.
While her movements may not be perfect just yet, it was more than enough to deal with people lower level than her. Not to mention, she was taking advantage of the time they were stunned to finish them quickly.
This naturally attracted not only the attention of the participants, but also the attention of the faction executives that came to recruit more people.
Her swordplay attracted the attention of the executives of the Sword Pavilion. They were a faction best known for their sword arts. Not to mention, their faction leader was looking for a disciple to pass on her Sword Arts as well.
"We need this girl. Her potential with the sword is one of the best I've seen in the arena so far. While some may have better power and control, she is a diamond in rough. If we can nurture her potential and talent, she'll easily surpass everyone here in the competition." A woman said as the other executives agreed.
"Not only is her body very flexible, but her judgement is also pretty top tier as well."
"But how will we get her to come of our faction? If we noticed her, it means some of 'bigger' factions also noticed her."
"Hmm, shall we be blunt with her and tell her that she has the potential to be the successor to our faction leader?"
"But tell me honestly. What do you think you'll do? Succeed a low tier faction or join a large faction as a recruit?" The woman asked rhetorically.
They all fell silent as it was true. They weren't able to compare to some of the big factions out there in terms of giving out benefits. However, it wasn't as if they didn't have any options. Just that the option was the last resort to try to attract one of the best talents in this event.
"Let's not make a decision just yet. Message the faction leader and ask her if we should try use it to recruit this youngster."
"Agreed." They nodded as this was the proper steps to take. The item itself was simply too important for them to make a decision on the stop. They would need confirmation from the leader first.
However, opposite to their thoughts, the big guilds were barely paying attention to Lyrica since they were focused on the top layer of each arena. They wanted to get the best of the best after all.
Nan Tian who was situated at the top of the skyscraper smiled seeing the performance of Lyrica.
He could tell that there were more to her. Her movements were awkward around the edges, clearly showing the signs of someone who was using a different weapon to normal.
"Huan er, bring up the information on the Student, Lyrica Valenstaine." Nan Tian said as Huan er nodded.
She hacked into the school systems and found her information easily.
Yet, when she saw the information, she had to look back at Lyrica to double-check what the information she had was right.
In the information from the school, it clearly detailed about how Lyrica failed in every class she was in. Not only was she low levelled and bad at combat, but her personality was always meek.
Yet right now she was the complete opposite.
Her level shot up within the last few weeks and even classed up to D rank. Her combat standards were clearly above her peers as she could even defeat those of a higher level than her. Not only that, but she was about as energetic as she could be.
Seeing Huan er being doubtful of the information she obtained, Nan Tian became curious as to what she read.
"Is there a problem with her information?" He asked.
"I won't necessarily say it's wrong... But rather it's unbelievable." Huan er said as she passed him the tablet.
"It's unbelievable for someone like her to change so much on such short notice. Not only was her combat style improved by miles, but her personality did a complete 180. Comparing the both of them would make anyone guess that it's 2 completely different people with the same name."
"Hmm... Indeed. It is as you say." Nan Tian nodded since the change was a little drastic, even for someone like him.
'Her weapon of preference is a custom-made weapon that looks like two swords have been connected by the handle. Not only that, this change only happened after she met little snow. Heh, seems like little snow is nurturing up someone to be her companion.' Nan Tian thought as there were several clues hidden in the records. They all point to Shiro helping Lyrica with both her combat experience and status level.
'If I get Lyrica into the Sword God Branch, perhaps I can get little snow to join the sect as well. This will also give me the chance to explain the sect to little snow. Since she doesn't like having her freedom restrained, the sect should be perfect for her.' Nan Tian thought with a happy smile.
The sect he belonged to isn't well known to the common people. However, the high levelled factions have all heard of the sect. They were amongst some of the best factions in the world and the rules were a little less restricting. They're allowed to join another faction as long as they respond to the sect's call for help in times of need.
Naturally, there were a few rules in place to stop the spreading of the sect. It was a privilege to the talented and not every Tom Dick and Harry could join the sect after all.
'If she knew about this, it would be hard for little snow to find a proper reason to reject joining the sect. It didn't restrict her freedom and neither did it place a constant watch over her.' Nan Tian thought.
"Huan er, after this event, send the clips of Lyrica to the Sword God's Branch. I want to see if she can gain their approval and receive the invitation to join the sect."
"Ok." Huan er replied simply as she knew Nan Tian never joked around with anything to do with the sect. If he wanted Lyrica to join, that means he sees something in her that will benefit the sect.
Noting down what Nan Tian wanted to do, they refocused their attention back onto the event. Most of the placements were already decided except for a few that still had the potential to attack the next layer.
In the time they had talked, Lyrica was already closing in onto the next layer, top 500.