Celestial Era: The Rise of the Full-Time Enhancer

The middle-aged man, who was assigned to facilitate this match, did not mind being shouted at as he stood at the center of the stage.

"Stand behind the line…" He said to the two as they needed about 15 meters of distance from each other.

After he confirmed that the two were already in position, he continued…

"There is no time limit in this match. If you left the stage, it's considered a surrender and I'll end the match. If you were put unconscious or I think that you're about to die, I'll stop the match and it will be your defeat… You're allowed to use any weapons of your choice but any external assistance once the match started will result in disqualification and be considered a loss. Do you get it?" The man asked the two on the stage.

"Yes!"

With this reply, he immediately announced the start of the match!

Vincent only pulled out his Soul-Forged Ironbark Cane while Karsten held what seem like a new weapon… It's something that Vincent was quite familiar with but definitely not something he would normally see here!

"Is that a rifle?!"

Vincent blurted out after seeing the metallic hunting rifle held by Karsten.

This man seems to be using an interspatial ring similar to Vincent's and could bring out his weapon so swiftly!

He thought at first that Karsten brought out a sword since this is the information he got about him. However, as soon as his Mana Sense and Item Sense abilities scanned the weapon he was holding, he was able to make a picture of it in his mind.

'I thought you were a swordsman!' Vincent wanted to add. It's not surprising that Vincent thought of this since, as a matter of fact, Karsten even included his Pseudo-Legendary Sword in the wager!

From what he said to Yulia, he treasures this sword since he won this weapon after defeating the Sword Demon of the Martial Arts Alliance…

However, now that they are here, Karsten appears to be the opposite! He was supposedly a sword and mana practitioner who specializes in close combat. But with the rifle in his hand, that's definitely not the case!

"Oh? You know what this thing is called? Haha! Then you should know that you won't be able to win against me!" Karsten laughed as he didn't mind whether Vincent knows his artifact or not.

What's important is that this weapon could easily put a hole even in a Grand Magus' Mana Shield!

They would need at least 3 to 5 layers of Mana Shield to completely stop the bullet from his rifle!

Karsten then pointed the gun at Vincent… Since they weren't too far from each other, it was not difficult to aim it at his body…

Click!

As soon as he pulled the trigger, a loud explosion was heard surprising not just Millie and Ceri but also the facilitator of the match. He didn't seem to expect that the weird 'staff' that Karsten was holding would create an explosion.

Clank!

Karsten was excited to see Vincent scream in pain! All the people he shot with this artifact during his practice, would scream and even die at some times…

Of course, this is what he was expecting to happen as well so the dull sound of the bullet hitting some sort of steel caught him off guard.

Even the sound of breaking Mana Shield wasn't like this…

He looked carefully at Vincent and realized that he indeed hit Vincent's body… He could still see the hole in the robe he was wearing but it seems that something had stopped his bullet!

"You're wearing armor? No way! Even an Epic Armor can be pierced by my Core Bullets!"

Karsten was surprised. He couldn't understand how his bullet was stopped since he knows how powerful it is. If the gun was aimed at him instead, he would have no way to stop it at all!

Nevertheless, he was still an experienced magician so after being flustered for a moment, he immediately took action as he reloaded the gun while moving.

Unfortunately, this weapon seems like a flintlock rifle so it takes quite some time to reload. Karsten has to run away using his movement technique to avoid Vincent's attack.

Of course, Vincent has no intention of prolonging this battle as he has a lot of things to do.

Vincent triggered his robe's Chaos Night to see how Karsten had prepared himself.

Whom~

His attack seemed to be blocked by an invisible energy.

As expected, Karsten learned about his techniques and prepared an artifact to defend against his mind or consciousness attacks.

"Haha! Your tricks won't work on me! Just wait on your spot and I'll shoot you again!" Karsten was no longer flustered as he feels confident in this battle. If Vincent's mind attacks won't work, he has nothing to be afraid of!

During the past two weeks, he had gathered many Beast Cores to be used as his bullets and he had also obtained treasures to protect him against Vincent's tricky attacks.

"Well done… I won't be using those attacks then…" Vincent replied as he used one of his favorite control skills.

Ensnare!

Ensnare!

Ensnare!

Vincent had to cast it three times to catch the hastily moving Karsten! If he would make a guess, Karsten was using an improved version of the Earth Shifting Technique with the way he moves.

Although this movement technique is very agile or difficult to predict, it is still a lot slower than Fire Dash. Perhaps, even if it was mastered to the advanced state, it can still be slower than intermediate-state Water Treading Steps.

Thanks to this flaw, the Cane's Ensnare Skill only has to be spammed three times and he already captured the arrogant man.

"You!"

Karsten didn't expect that Vincent could summon these iron vines continuously! It was completely different from the reports he had read.

"Break!!" Karsten shouted in panic as he exploded with an intense fluctuation of mana. His defensive artifact activated as the iron vines exploded into many pieces…

However, it was enough time for Vincent to use another weapon skill…

Soul Manifestation!

A huge image of an old man appeared behind Vincent… It flew towards Karsten making him flustered for a moment. It feels like a ghost was attacking him!

Although he heard about this weird technique, seeing it in person gave him quite a scare!

Luckily, he already reloaded his gun and shot it at the old ghost!

Bang!

It contained mysterious energy as it distorted the manifested soul that Vincent summoned. It was about to dissipate!

However, before he could celebrate, he saw the wooden cane getting closer to his face…