I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 373: Sparring with the Tempest King

Returning to where Rosalia was with the statue Argentum made in tow, Helios sat down on the chair he had been sitting on all this time as he cast the same magic circle under Argentum’s feet that allowed him to recover his energy more quickly. Nevertheless, as he cast the magic circle on Argentum, he could not help but feel a hint of disgust and anger towards him.

Of course, as someone who considered Argentum as his fan, he could not be more proud since he was strong enough to clear his trials. Though, as an inheritance owner and as an incredibly narcissistic being, the fact that someone could clear his trials so easily, the difficult ones at that, made him ponder whether or not he should increase the difficulty of the final trial to the highest it could go.

Naturally, Rosalia had an idea as to what Helios was thinking, given how a slight frown was plastered on his face as he looked at Argentum from time to time. Wanting to know if her hunch was correct, she then asked Helios, “Let me guess. You’re going to increase the difficulty of Argentum’s final trial as much as possible, huh.”

Surprisingly, Helios nodded with determination in response to that question as he voiced out a bit of what he was truly feeling at the moment. “Indeed. This divine being cannot bear to see someone clear through my trials in such a brutish manner any longer. Argentum should be taken a peg or two, allowing him to see the true beauty of my trials, as well as the true beauty of…”

Just as Helios was about to finish his statement, a sudden idea popped up in his mind as he talked about his trials. Not long after, a wide grin could be seen on his face as he muttered to himself, “Why haven’t I thought of that in the first place? No, wait. I should say that I haven’t considered of doing that in the first place.”

At this moment, he looked at Rosalia and asked, “Rosalia, do you think sparring against a trial taker is going overboard?”

“Well, as long as you restrict your power, no. Why?” Rosalia soon responded, instantly getting the feeling that Helios was about to do something that went against what an inheritance owner normally did.

With a light chuckle, Helios responded, “Well, call me a pioneer in the world of inheritances, then. This divine being right here is thinking of fighting against Argentum right there at full power.”

“As expected,” Rosalia muttered after listening to Helios’s words, letting out a sigh of slight disappointment soon after. A few seconds later, she stared at Argentum, who was currently replenishing the energy he had consumed during the second trial with a solemn aura surrounding him.

Although the power he had shown in the first trial was definitely enough to wipe out 10,000 clones in one go, Rosalia did not think that Argentum had the ability to spar against Helios, whose power was bolstered thanks to him being an inheritance owner. Though, just as she was thinking of persuading Helios to not do that, she remembered that Argentum was a partial owner of a few inheritances, namely Eleanor, Felix, and Melzarin’s inheritances. With that in mind, she eventually decided that she would help Argentum out in the off chance Helios went crazy with his power.

And so, a few minutes had passed with a tense atmosphere surrounding the arena. Well, to be more exact, it was only Rosalia who was feeling tense. Argentum felt nothing different whatsoever while Helios felt immense self-confidence in what he was about to do.

At the very moment Argentum opened his eyes and stood up, the magic circle that concentrated the density of energy in the surroundings hastily disappeared, surprising Argentum since the magic circle did not disappear that quickly while he was replenishing his energy before the second trial. Nevertheless, he thought that it was just Helios dismantling the magic circle as quickly as possible since he might have taken a long time to replenish his energy this time around.

As Argentum stood there at the center of the arena, looking at where Helios and Rosalia were sitting, he could not help but notice with his enhanced senses that Helios was sporting a slight grin on his face while looking at him. Although it looked like a normal grin from another person’s point of view, to Argentum, he could not help but feel like there was a hint of a sneer in it, as well as overwhelming arrogance, self-confidence, and pride.

At that moment, he looked at Rosalia, only to see her looking back at him. Noticing the somewhat tense expression on her face, Argentum instantly knew that this last trial was not going to be as simple as he thought.

“For you to have passed through the Myriad Helios Formation, I commend you for your great show of power. For you to create such a beautiful Tempest Helios Statue bearing great likeness of me, I commend you for your great control over the Wind element,” Helios started to say out of nowhere, prompting both Rosalia and Argentum to pay attention to his words.

“Since you’ve shown great results on both trials, how about you combine those two together and show this divine being right here the full extent of your abilities?” As he said these next words, a hint of anger and hatred could be felt from the tone of his voice as he soon disappeared from his chair like a brief gust of wind.

Whoosh!

Not long after, Helios appeared once more inside the arena. Though, this time, he had appeared just a few meters away from where Argentum was standing. Feeling a hint of malicious intent from the gaze Helios was giving him, Argentum could not help but scratch his head as he thought to himself, ‘I’m just doing what I’m supposed to be doing when going through the trials of an inheritance. Why does it feel like he hates me just because of that?’

If only Argentum knew how correct he was when he thought of that.

Nevertheless, he placed this thought at the back of his head as he felt that this final trial was going to be much more difficult than the first two trials he had gone through. Of course, the main reason being he had to fight against Helios himself.

Taking in a deep breath to calm his nerves, Helios looked at Argentum, removing his hostile gaze as he said to him, “This third trial has no name. Unfortunately, I am not a fan of such things, so I shall name this on the spot.”

“Hmm…how about ‘Sparring with the Tempest King’? That sounds good,” Helios muttered to himself not long after, somewhat satisfied with the name he had made up on the spot.

Lightly coughing to attract the attention of both Rosalia and Argentum, Helios then announced, “This third trial is called Sparring with the Tempest King. In this trial, Argentum must land one move on me before I could land ten moves on him. Of course, this divine being knows the vast difference between Argentum’s combat power and my combat power, so I shall not go all out when it comes to fighting.”

“On the other hand, when it comes to defending or dodging attacks, I would not show any mercy,” he continued, his tone solemn.

Listening to the mechanics of the third trial, Argentum could not help but go into a panic, wondering how he would be able to land a hit on Helios. Naturally, with Helios being incredibly proficient with the Wind element, that meant that he was quick on his feet, as well as his hands. In other words, as long as he wanted to, he could disappear in front of Argentum’s field of vision at the very next second and appear right after that.

‘If only I had the ability to bind him down…’ he soon thought to himself, thinking that it was the best way to land a hit on Helios. Though, as he thought about this, he could not help but mutter, “Wait a second…”

After that, a light yet confident smile appeared on Argentum’s face, prompting Rosalia to wonder what was going inside Argentum’s mind at the moment for him to sport such a confident smile.

As for Helios, he felt that the smile was mocking him, taunting him that he wouldn’t be able to land ten attacks on Argentum before the other side could land one on him. Unsurprisingly, the anger and hatred he felt towards Argentum only increased at that thought, trying to make himself look calm on the outside as he waited for Argentum to prepare.

After some time, Argentum took a few steps back away from Helios, slightly increasing the distance between the two of them before lightly nodding, telling Helios that they could start the last trial. Of course, Helios interpreted this action differently, thinking that Argentum was taking a few steps back because he was scared of being pummeled by him.

With that in mind, Helios could not help but smile inwardly as he shouted soon after, “The third trial…begins!”

Woooo!

Surprisingly, the crowd of beings made out of wind let out raucous cheers in response to that announcement, all of them supporting Helios. Then again, that was more or less a given, given how Helios controlled all of these beings while fighting against Argentum.

Without hesitation, Helios utilized his proficiency over the Wind element as he disappeared in front of Argentum’s field of vision, only to reappear a few seconds later. He continued to repeat this as he said to Argentum, “Hahaha! Let’s see how you’d be able to land a hit on me now, Argentu—”

“[Jotunheim Domain].”

Whoosh!

Just as Helios was about to finish taunting Argentum, his words were interrupted by the sudden feeling of not being able to teleport around the arena. Instead, a feeling of being stuck in place surrounded Helios as he felt that he could not move his feet anymore. With that, he looked down at his feet, only to notice that his feet were enveloped in multiple light yellow vines that seemed to latch onto him as if it was their life’s purpose.

Naturally, a feeling of danger soon washed over him as he noticed how Argentum was hastily making his way to where he was standing with a smile on his face. Of course, he tried to use his superb control over the Wind element to get away from Argentum, but the vines seemed to be restricting his ability to do so.

Seeing that there was no hope for him to escape, he decided to close his eyes and prepare for the worst, thinking of holding a grudge towards Argentum if he went all out with his attack. Unfortunately for him, not all things would go as he thought it would.

Puff!

As Helios felt a light breeze wash over his body, he soon heard Argentum let out a sigh of relief before saying, “Well, I attacked you. I cleared this trial.”

“Eh?” Naturally, Helios did not know what had happened, opening his eyes only to see Argentum looking at him with a light smile. At this moment, the light yellow vines binding him in place were no longer there, allowing him to move as freely as he wanted.

Nevertheless, he did not even take a step back as he asked Argentum, wanting to clear his doubts, “You…attacked me?”

“You want me to attack you again?” Argentum asked in response before sending out another light gust of wind towards Helios. “There, I attacked you again.”

“This…this isn’t even an attack at all…” Helios could not help but mutter as the anger he felt towards Argentum had changed. He did not feel anger towards Argentum as a whole anymore. Instead, he felt anger towards Argentum holding back at him…even though he thought of holding against him if he went all out.

“Are you holding back because you want to humiliate me? The great Tempest King Helios Gustav?” Helios asked.

“Why would I humiliate you?” Argentum said in response, returning to his previous fawning self as he continued, “Is there any point in humiliating the great Tempest King? In fact, I held back on my attack in fear of damaging your appearance, Tempest King. If I were to sully even an inch of your skin, don’t you think I would be better off dead?”

“This…” As he listened to Argentum’s on-the-spot explanation, the anger he felt towards him instantly faded away, instead feeling care and concern from the other side towards him. His previous thoughts of wanting to take him down a peg or two had disappeared like a faint gust of wind. Well…Argentum did clear his three trials, so…

In any case, Helios returned to his previous self, feeling immense happiness that his fan would be concerned towards his appearance, even being afraid of sullying it. With that, a smile could be seen on his face as he looked at Argentum with a gaze of slight care, saying with a bit of laughter, “To think that you would even be worried of sullying this divine being’s appearance. As expected of my greatest fan!  Ehem. Let bygones be bygones for you, Argentum, have completed the three trials that I, the great Tempest King, have made you go through.”

“With that, I shall uphold my end of the deal for I am magnanimous and kind. I shall help you out in the development of your town, as well as give you the right to request one thing from me, whatever it may be.”

“Much appreciated, great Tempest King,” Argentum said in response, making sure that his tone was that of flattery.

As for Rosalia, who looked at the anticlimactic fight from afar, she could not help but scratch her head as she said to herself, “To think that Argentum was better than me at flattering Helios.”

“Huh. Who knew.”