Seed of Titan-Chapter 72: One Hit, One Kill

"H-how..." Natalia mumbled as she eyed the broken knife that was touching her neck. She then realized that a long black substance was hanging from the knife’s handle. Her eyes followed this thing and she finally saw that it was connected to Muzie’s hand.

"My win," Muzie flatly said. She then retracted her black thread-like substance along with the broken knife.

"That’s why I told you that this wasn’t necessary," Enda said as he walked to Natalia. "Muzie here is a fraud. She always says that her forte is CQC but she actually has a deadly ranged skill like that."

Natalia didn’t reply. She was still shocked at her near-instant loss.

"That’s why levels are important. If Muzie were at level one, she wouldn’t have gotten that skill yet. And don’t forget the one-year worth of combat lessons she had. There’s a reason she’s the golden child of the Combat Faculty professors," Enda reassured, patting Natalia’s shoulder.

"But I honestly don’t know how they could cope with her absurd indifference. When I first met Muzie, I thought our lively professors would get irked by her sooner or later—funny how it turned out. Anyway, don’t mind the loss. You can challenge her again after you get stronger, Nat."

Natalia nodded silently and turned to Drai who was standing beside her.

"Let’s go to the café. I really need some hot chocolate."

Drai was actually planning to train some more, but he quickly agreed.

As Drai and Natalia were about to say goodbye to the two seniors, a group of people suddenly entered the area.

"Yo!" Rofalo loudly greeted before jogging toward Enda and company.

"Hey there," Enda greeted back whereas Muzie merely raised her hand.

Behind the two, Drai and Natalia smiled and nodded.

"I didn’t know you guys were using the cellar. But where’s the rest of your party?" Rofalo asked.

"We sort of had an impromptu training, that’s why we’re not listed on the cellar schedule. I passed by these two earlier and offered them to spar, hence why we’re here," Enda explained.

"Ho... Drai doesn’t look tired though, unlike Natalia," Rofalo commented.

"Well... Let’s just say that sparring isn’t really a viable training for him now," Enda said, scratching his head helplessly.

When he sparred against Drai earlier, Enda immediately felt that Drai had somehow become much stronger in a short time, so much that Enda’s attacks didn’t seem to inflict any damage at all. And he wasn’t that petty to resort to using actual weapons just for a spar.

"Hmm... Why don’t you spar with my guys, Drai? I’ve heard a lot of stories about you but never got a chance to witness it. And my guys could use some variety in their training."

Drai looked at Natalia and saw that she nodded. Natalia was actually quite curious of the other party’s power level as their parties never trained together. In fact, the members barely knew each other aside from those belonging to the same faculty.

Natalia even had a suspicion that their lack of inter-party bonding had something to do with the experimental methods that the higher-ups were pushing.

"Sure, why not?" Drai finally said to Rofalo.

"You hear that, guys? Six on one against the infamous Drai! Are you up for it?" Rofalo asked the members behind him.

"Come on, Rofalo. How can we bully him like that?" Klaus said. He was the party leader of Swift Squad, the other first-year venture party. He was a burly dude from the Faculty of Nature with a spirited bearing that sort of resembled Bismar.

"Klaus is right. Even if it’s Drai, fighting the six of us at the same time is just asking for a beating," Chika added. She was another student from the Faculty of Nature, a tall girl with a long braided ponytail.

"The person in question has already agreed to this, why are you guys the ones worrying about it?" Gavon remarked, looking annoyed.

"Yeah. Let’s just finish him quickly and get on with our training," another burly guy remarked while twirling his mace menacingly. Drai sensed a similar aura to Jian from him.

A small lady at the side was fidgeting awkwardly, reminding Drai of Flo during their first meeting. And standing beside her was a fat dude with brown hair who was silently making an apologetic smile and gesture toward Drai.

"Sorry for their rudeness. They’ve been itching to go on their first venture ever since you guys had yours, so they’re quite restless. And they’re quite the rowdy bunch too," Rofalo said to Drai and Natalia.

"Don’t worry, it’s fine. Anyway, are we doing this? If not, I’m heading out with Natalia," Drai replied.

"Oh, we’re doing this for sure," the mace dude stepped forward, looking at Drai fiercely. He was one of the students who believed that most rumors about Drai were highly exaggerated. He also quite disliked Jian for his contributions in spreading these rumors among the students of the Combat Faculty.

Rofalo shook his head helplessly. He mostly enjoyed supervising these first-years, but he also slightly envied Enda for having such a compliant party regardless of their recent incident.

"Okay then, take your positions. And don’t overdo it guys. We’re all family here," Rofalo instructed as he moved away.

Enda and Muzie quickly followed Rofalo, heading toward a corner.

"Go kick these shitheads’ asses. And make it quick, or it’ll be too late to grab my hot chocolate," Natalia said to Drai before joining the upper classmen.

She was quite triggered by the haughtiness of the mace dude and their overall remarks. If not for her recent spar, she would’ve probably asked to join the fight.

Drai scratched his head awkwardly. He was planning to take it easy and perhaps get some decent endurance training through their beatings. But he now had to make some effort fulfill Natalia’s request, especially knowing that she’s feeling down due to her earlier spar.

"I’m ready," Drai said as he looked at his six opponents.

"Wait!" Rofalo shouted from the corner. "James, switch your weapon with a training one!" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"It’s not like it has any blades on it, why bother? It will end quickly either way," James, the mace guy, objected.

"It’s still a lot more dangerous than a training weapon! Why the hell are you being so stubborn!?" Rofalo scolded, his temper rising. If his contracted beast were here, he would have told her to slap James into submission already.

"It’s okay. I don’t mind," Drai said. He too wanted to get this over with now that he’d been told to make it quick.

Rofalo looked at Enda and saw that he nodded, agreeing with Drai.

"Okay then, keep your mace. But like I said, don’t go too overboard!"

"Sure," James replied, but his expression suggested otherwise.

Swift Squad’s formation was pretty standard. James and Klaus were at the front since they were melee combatants. Chika and Irene, the timid girl, were a few yards behind the two. Meanwhile, Gavon and Wilk, the fat dude, were at the back.

’It’s similar to our usual formation,’ Drai thought upon looking at his opponents.

Seeing that everyone was in position, Rofalo cued, "Ready... Fight!"

James instantly dashed forward.

"Stop, James! We need to coordinate our attacks!" Klaus yelled upon seeing their frontliner rushing alone.

Yet, James didn’t heed the order. He was nearing his prey, and his mace was ready to smash.

’Hehe, this fucker’s frozen with fear. Who said he was crazy strong again? What nonsense.’

"Skull Basher!" James shouted as he swung his mace sideways.

As his mace vroomed toward Drai’s head, James let out a smirk, preparing to gloat about his easy victory. But it was at this moment that Drai finally made his move.

Drai pivoted left in place, parrying the attack with his right hand.

Boom!

The mace was instantly knocked away, slamming straight into the cellar wall and chipping it.

"Huh?"

James was stunned by this result but only for a split second, for Drai had carried the momentum of his pivoting into a spinning back fist which struck James’ face.

James was smashed away, rolling on the floor before stopping. Looking at his white eyes and foaming mouth, it was clear that he couldn’t go on.

"Shit!" Enda cussed as he ran toward James. He then kneeled and checked the poor guy’s condition. A second later, he opened his comm.

"Aldea! Come to the cellar quick! It’s an emergency!" Enda shouted. He then hung up the call and dragged James to the side with the help of Rofalo who just arrived.

"Oh, sorry..." Drai apologized, scratching his head awkwardly. He had actually held back his power, but due to his strength that was more than triple James’ constitution, along with the buff from his new titan skill, Drai still managed to inflict significantly more damage than he had expected.

"Ruthless," Muzie quietly commented, but there was a hint of approval in her tone.

Standing beside her, Natalia merely shook her head helplessly. She did tell Drai to make it quick, but it didn’t mean he had to kill the opponent in the process.

Meanwhile, the other members of Swift Squad just stood there, unmoving. Their gazes moved back and forth from Drai to James. All of them were coldly sweating, unwilling to continue with the spar lest they also fell victim to the merciless assailant.