Chapter 223: Chapter 223:All-Out-War [2]
However, just as Liam reached Bertus, the electricity suddenly surged backward into Bertus before covering his entire figure.
Then, a surge of electricity erupted from Bertus's body, throwing Liam backward and leaving countless burn marks on his body.
Landing on his feet, Liam stared at Bertus, whose entire body was surrounded by a yellow color that seemed to sparkle.
"...infinite elemental reactions."
The rain and electricity made by Bertus constantly made elemental reactions at every moment... so if Liam even got close, he would be overwhelmed and be thrown back.
Electricity was unlike fire and other elements.
A fire spell would require a water spell or another similar spell to react; however, electricity was different.
Electricity was already in its pure form, just like fire's pure form was lava, so it was able to react with... nature itself.
Therefore, the electricity coursing out of Bertus's body was able to react to the natural rain above despite it not being a spell.
That also meant that Liam could not use elemental reactions as his spells couldn't use the natural rain, as they required another spell to react.
The constant outpour of water from the sky combined with the constant output of electricity from Bertus seemed... unstoppable.
As long as Bertus had mana, electricity would keep surging out and causing infinite elemental reactions with the rain.
The ground under Bertus seemed to quake and shake as the electricity surrounding Bertus's feet combined with the water droplets, creating multiple elemental reactions.
It was to the point where Bertus's physical body couldn't even see; only the current of electricity surrounding his body could be seen.
Even that was impossible to look at since every time the electricity made an elemental reaction with rain, a bright light would appear, blinding whoever was looking at Bertus.
Covering his eyes and looking away from Bertus, Liam smiled.
Bertus's strategy should have completely countered Liam, as with the elemental reactions, Liam was unable to get close to Bertus.
And as Liam was a sword user, his primary form of attack was close-combat.
As Bertus made a rapid dash towards Liam, electric sparks flew off his body, and bright lights blinding everyone in the vicinity appeared from the elemental reactions.
Looking away from Bertus to prevent being blinded, Liam sighed before muttering.
"well... I guess I have to thank that bastard."
Fortunately, Liam was already prepared for a situation like this... not because of Bertus but because of a very particular green parrot using person.
As Bertus's blitzing electric figure got closer and closer, Liam took a deep breath in before exhaling.
At that moment, the light-blue hue surrounding Liam's sword started moving, covering the hilt of his sword before flooding onto his hand.
The light-blue hue flowed through Liam's body before finally reaching his face.
Just as Bertus approached Liam, the hue suddenly shifted one last time upward, creating a mask that perfectly covered Liam's eyes.
Turning back around, Liam met Bertus directly, not bothered at all by the constant bright lights flashing from the elemental reactions.
Bertus, swinging his sword forward at Liam, allowed the electricity to flow off his sword, making it seem bigger than it actually was.
Liam, looking at the incoming sword slash, raised his own light-blue sword to parry the attack.
However, instead of aiming for the base of Bertus's electric sword, Liam aimed for the tip of the electric sword.
Liam did this as if he blocked the tip or the weakest part of the sword, he would be able to pull his sword away faster and disengage, preventing himself from being harmed by the electrical explosions occurring around Bertus.
Smiling upon seeing the movement of Liam's sword, Bertus watched as Liam's sword simply passed straight through the electricity.
Not feeling the pressure of his sword hitting another, Liam immediately felt something was wrong... but it was too late.
As Liam's sword passed the electric sword, Bertus immediately lowered his sword before thrusting it forward at Liam.
Liam was able to block the physical sword, but the same could not be said about the electricity.
At the very tip of Bertus's electric sword, a water drop fell, causing one single elemental reaction.
*BOOM*
Flying backward, Liam landed on the ground, rolling around in the mud with a hole in his shirt, revealing a black wound on his stomach.
Seeing Liam on the ground, Bertus did not hesitate.
Weren't princes and royal families supposed to have pride?
Why was he attacking when Liam was clearly defenseless on the ground?
There was no pride in battle.
It was kill or be killed.
Bertus knew that he was only winning right now because of the gear he obtained from the center and this was his battleground.
However, once Liam adjusted... things could be very different.
*SPLISH~SPLASH*
*SPLISH~SPLASH*
Lying down in the mud, feeling the raindrops hit his face with every fleeting second, Liam dropped his sword.
"...haven't I already been here once..?"
Recalling the memory of the carriage battle as he had been utterly defeated, Liam tried to lift himself up.
"Liam, your greatest power is your perseverance!"
"Liam, you never give up; that's why you're strong!"
"Even after a loss, you won't be disheartened; you'll just train harder!"
Shaking his head, a creepy grin appeared on Liam's face.
Working Harder?
Perseverance?
Not Giving Up?
Who cares about those things.
All this time, Liam had been fine with losing fights.
His mindset was that if he lost, it would be a good thing.
It meant that he had a reason to train and work harder to surpass that person.
No...he was just a loser.
That's all it was.
At some point, subconsciously, he had been alright, maybe even happy, with losing.
Whether it was losing at sparring with stronger opponents like his teachers or not getting the top grade on an exam, Liam had never cared.
For him, it was just another reason to work harder and become stronger.
A loser's mindset.