Chapter 002: Escape and Fight

“Hahaha……”
The onlookers burst into laughter. Most commoners knew Du Fan’s approachability, and they were well aware that this holy priest often joked and cursed just like them. It was precisely because of this that Du Fan, as a noble, managed to blend in with the commoners. In short, he didn’t give off an air of superiority, which made him even more popular among them.
For ordinary people, a noble who was willing to laugh and chat with them was far better than one who only knew how to exploit and oppress them.
So when they heard Du Fan say that, all the commoners laughed. As for the nobles—which of them was easy to deal with? Although they didn’t particularly like Du Fan, tradition was of utmost importance among nobles. Though the nobles of the Gavin Empire had always been divided into various factions fighting among themselves, this time, faced with the outsider Elvis, they surprisingly united.
Thus, the sound of laughter was truly earth-shattering.
Elvis felt a surge of anger in his heart. His gaze at Du Fan seemed to be brimming with flames.
With murderous intent and fury intertwined, Elvis lost his usual composure. With a roar, he rushed at Du Fan.
Seeing this, Du Fan smiled faintly and said, “What, have I touched a sore spot, so you want to kill me to silence me?”
Elvis said nothing, but sped up even further.
But how could Du Fan foolishly wait for him?
Seeing him speed up, Du Fan calmly took out a magic scroll from his space ring and threw it on the ground. It was a wind-based magic scroll called “Acceleration,” whose only purpose was to increase a person’s speed.
With this magic’s boost, Du Fan moved as swiftly as the wind. His movements created an illusion as he dashed toward the church entrance.
The temple knights who had been blocking the entrance exchanged glances and instinctively lowered their long spears. Only after Du Fan passed did they raise their spears again.
At the same time, cries of panic came from among the commoners.
“Oh no! I fell!”
“Good heavens! My weapon is out of control!”
“Someone save me! My combat energy has gone wild!”

As these words were spoken, long swords, machetes, spears, arrows, combat energy, and even several small fireballs all rushed at Elvis. Although many of these weapons lacked significant attack power and much of the combat energy was only at a few levels, there were simply so many of them! With so many people attacking at once, not to mention a sixth-level fighter, even someone like Joshua or Bruce, who was barely on the path to the Saintly realm, would likely have to retreat far away—let alone Elvis.

Elvis was terrified by this sudden onslaught. Fortunately, he had some skill of his own. He roared loudly and rushed backward, the sudden release of his combat energy nearly making him spit blood.

Only after all those seemingly weak attacks missed did he dash toward the door. But because of this move, he fell behind Du Fan by dozens of meters, able only to see Du Fan’s retreating figure from afar.

Filled with hatred, Elvis’s combat energy burned fiercely as he shot forward like an arrow leaving the bowstring.

Perhaps no one expected that the life-or-death duel, which was supposed to take place in the church, would suddenly change location. Yet neither Archbishop Anthony nor Bruce from Roland Academy said anything, nor did they waste words.

An unknown smile appeared on Anthony’s face. He clapped his hands and murmured in a tone that was hard to tell whether it was joy or anger, “Good tactics, good tactics. This Du Fan—I really can’t figure him out anymore. If I’m guessing correctly, that old brat Bruce is about to suffer a huge loss. Never mind, I’ll just wait to see how it ends.”

At the same time, a hint of unease appeared on Bruce’s usually calm face. He frowned and gave a gesture behind him.

A moment later, Aldas slowly stepped forward. In the face of his beauty, even surpassing that of women, it seemed everyone paled in comparison.

Aldas came up behind Bruce and bowed, saying, “Teacher.”

Bruce frowned and asked, “Aldas, do you think Elvis has a good chance of winning this time?”

“I don’t know,” Aldas shook his head. “That Du Fan—when I first met him, I couldn’t figure him out. He seems to be right in front of you, yet it feels like he’s hidden in mist. As I said before, our Belinger family should handle this matter on our own. Teacher, you’d better call Elvis back.”

“Why go through so much trouble between teacher and student? You are the pride of our Roland Academy—your matters are my matters as well.” Bruce smiled faintly. “Don’t worry; we’ll handle everything that comes next.”
Oldas frowned and eventually said nothing more.
Bruce gave Oldas a slight smile before waving at Kris. “Kris, go take a look. If Elvis loses, you know what to do, right?”
Kris nodded gently and slowly merged into the air, disappearing altogether.
…
Two elusive figures shot out like lightning toward the outside of the church.
Du Fan glanced back at Elvis from ahead and smirked.
With the dark night and the familiar capital city around them, plus most people in the capital siding with him, what could Elvis, an outsider, do even if he was highly skilled?
Favorable timing, location, and support—all were on his side. If Elvis still had a chance to win the duel, that would be truly miraculous.
Although fleeing now might seem a bit despicable, in a situation where victory was certain, sticking around and fighting head-on would be nothing but seeking death.
After all, even after giving it his all, Du Fan hadn’t managed to hurt a single hair on Elvis’s body. The gap between level six and level three couldn’t be bridged just by sheer determination.
Countless streets and buildings flashed by behind him. As he ran, Du Fan pulled out his wand and cast several spells on himself to maintain his high speed.
Dozens of meters behind him, Elvis still lived up to his reputation as a level-six powerhouse. Even though Du Fan had done his utmost, Elvis was gradually closing the distance. It wouldn’t be long before the two clashed.
Frowning, Du Fan darted into a densely built urban area, circling around. Everything around him rushed backward at lightning speed, but even so, it wasn’t enough to widen the gap between them.
“Chenchen, how far is he from me now?” Du Fan asked himself as he kept running.

Chenchen’s head poked out from Du Fan’s collar. The wind made her blink repeatedly, but she still replied, “That guy isn’t far from you. At your current speed, he’ll catch up with you in less than half an hour. And I can sense his anger and murderous intent growing stronger. If he really catches you, you’ll surely die without even a proper burial. Also, I can faintly sense that there seems to be another person following behind him. As for who that person is helping, I don’t know.”

“Another person? Does that mean I don’t have a chance to lure him to an empty place and use Word Magic?” Du Fan frowned. Not being able to use his most reliable weapon freely annoyed him greatly.

After thinking for a moment, he snorted coldly and said, “Never mind. It’s not as if only Word Magic can take care of Elvis. I, Master Du Fan, have plenty of other tricks. Let’s head back home, to my basement. It doesn’t matter if that place is exposed now. Besides, if he dares to follow me, I’ll make sure he doesn’t get out alive.”

Thinking of the traps Du Fan had set up in the basement, Chenchen felt a chill run down her spine. She meowed once and quickly pulled her head back.

Du Fan spun in mid-air and shot toward the duke’s mansion. With this move, the distance between the two narrowed significantly. Even from afar, they could hear Elvis’s furious shouts, “Du Fan, you bastard! If you’ve got guts, don’t run!”

“Tch! You’re the idiot!” Du Fan retorted. “If you’ve got guts, stop chasing! You worthless wretch who relies on his mother’s support to get into Roland Academy!”

Elvis was so angry his chest hurt. He said nothing more and just gritted his teeth and chased after him.

Seeing his fierce determination, Du Fan quickly cast a few more “Swiftness Spells” on himself and dashed into the duke’s mansion like lightning.

The guards at the duke’s mansion saw it was him and quickly bowed slightly. Du Fan guessed they must have heard news that he was engaged in another duel, so he shouted from afar, “Don’t stop the person following me. Let him in… I’ve prepared a bunch of great things for him!”