Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen: Burning

"Life and Death Arena!?"

All the demon hunters present were startled by Ye Qi's words. Being in this circle, they naturally understood what a Life and Death Arena meant. The loser wouldn't just lose; they would lose their life!

At that moment, all the demon hunters around began to reassess this rookie who had only recently arrived in the Taling District, as if they were meeting Ye Qi for the first time. However, most of them were excited at the prospect of a good show, with only the unscrupulous merchant showing a fleeting look of concern, though he said nothing.

Ye Qi had already made it clear that this was his business with Tade, and no one else should interfere. Therefore, even if the unscrupulous merchant was worried, he could only choose to trust Ye Qi and not intervene! If the unscrupulous merchant really tried to stop it, even out of good intentions, his friendship with Ye Qi would end there, and their relationship might even become strained—besides their own strength, the face of a demon hunter was of utmost importance!

Ye Qi had already spoken his words, and if the unscrupulous merchant intervened, it would be a slap in the face for Ye Qi. Therefore, even if the unscrupulous merchant was unwilling, he could only watch helplessly! He understood better than anyone else what face meant in the demon hunter circle—if he really intervened in Ye Qi's and Tade's Life and Death Arena, Ye Qi's career as a demon hunter would be over, and he might even become a laughingstock. Even if Tade was killed by him, it would be of no use!

"Ha ha ha, a Life and Death Arena?! You, a rookie, want to have a Life and Death Arena with me?" Tade laughed maniacally. At this moment, Tade no longer looked as miserable as he did when he was intimidated by the unscrupulous merchant. His ugly face showed a cruel smile as he said, "So be it, rookie!"

Standing opposite Tade, Ye Qi was momentarily stunned, his face showing a look of surprise. The surrounding demon hunters thought Ye Qi was afraid. The demon hunters who had just begun to change their opinion of Ye Qi because of his fearlessness immediately sneered at him. Tade, on the other hand, arrogantly raised a finger and made a throat-cutting gesture.

Ye Qi, who had been fully prepared, of course, would not be afraid at the last moment. The reason he was stunned was that the system had suddenly given a prompt when Tade agreed to the Life and Death Arena.

"D-Rank Task: The Struggle for Bat Wings. Defeat Tade, who has stolen the bat wings, in the Life and Death Arena."

What's going on? Tasks can be randomly triggered besides being accepted from task issuers?

Encountering this situation for the first time, Ye Qi couldn't help but want to investigate. However, the mocking voices in his ears and Tade's arrogant appearance reminded him that now was not the time. He turned and walked towards the empty space in the middle of the bar—although the Life and Death Arena implied a stage, when incidents occurred, there was no time to set up a stage; any open space would do.

"Hehe, rookie, I'll show you what a real demon hunter is! Don't worry, I'll make sure you die painlessly!" Tade followed Ye Qi into the open space, looking extremely arrogant.

Indeed, Tade had the right to be arrogant. Although he was not a high-level demon hunter or an apostle, Tade was a rare talent among ordinary demon hunters. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been recruited by the Deko family. In contrast, although Ye Qi had trained with John for several years, he had only truly entered the profession two months ago and had performed rather mediocrely. Therefore, Tade was naturally confident facing such an opponent. Not just Tade, but the surrounding demon hunters also thought so, as evidenced by the odds on the newly established betting table—1:50 odds clearly showed the majority's opinion. If the unscrupulous merchant hadn't bet 100 gold pence on Ye Qi's victory, the odds would have been even higher.

"Begin!"

With the unscrupulous merchant, acting as the referee, shouting, Tade immediately drew the dog leg knife from his waist and rushed towards Ye Qi, fiercely chopping down at him.

"Whoosh!"

The dog leg knife, whistling through the air, reached a certain level of speed and power. The surrounding demon hunters, even those who disapproved of Tade's usual behavior, couldn't help but call out in approval. The unscrupulous merchant, acting as the referee, twitched his eyelid and turned away, unable to bear the sight—having frequently interacted with Ye Qi, he knew exactly what level Ye Qi was at. Although Ye Qi had great physical potential, he definitely couldn't withstand that attack! Thinking of how his friend had entrusted his disciple to him, Old Ward felt deeply ashamed, and this shame quickly turned into anger towards Tade and the Deko family.

"Tade! Deko family! Good, very good!"

While the unscrupulous merchant was thinking about how to take revenge, he suddenly felt a wave of heat from behind. His long-formed combat instincts made him quickly lean back and roll on the ground.

While rolling, the unscrupulous merchant couldn't help but look in the direction of the heat. Instantly, he was stunned—seeing a cone of red flame, accompanied by layers of heat, spewing from Ye Qi's hand!

Is this flame control?!

The unscrupulous merchant, eyes wide open, forgot to roll and dodge, staring in disbelief at Ye Qi, who was spewing flames from his hand. The surrounding demon hunters were already dumbfounded the moment Ye Qi's hands spewed flames. As for Tade, who was right in the range of Ye Qi's Burning Hand, he was burned to death the moment the flames touched him, leaving only some charred remains.

The flame from the Burning Hand lasted for five seconds before ending. At the moment the Burning Hand ended, Ye Qi couldn't help but take a deep breath. Although the Burning Hand was powerful, it also consumed a significant amount of his energy.

Although warlocks were a hidden class and did not rely on spellbooks or mentors for learning, there were advantages and disadvantages—compared to mages who memorized spells through daily meditation and cast spells through incantations and gestures, warlocks undoubtedly saved a lot of time in memorizing and casting spells. However, each time they cast a spell, warlocks would consume some of their physical strength. Lower-level spells naturally didn't matter much, but as the spell level increased, each casting was a test of the warlock's body.

Ye Qi's constitution was 14, and according to the system's prompt, he could use eight zero-level spells and four first-level spells. This meant that Ye Qi could only cast the Burning Hand four times at full strength. Additionally, before the Life and Death Arena, Ye Qi had secretly cast a first-level spell, Mage Armor, on himself, which was of the same level as the Burning Hand. Therefore, although Ye Qi seemed to have won easily, he had already consumed a large portion of his energy, feeling waves of weakness within his body.

However, only Ye Qi knew this. The surrounding people, including the unscrupulous merchant, were all stunned by the sudden appearance of the Burning Hand. After a long while, a highly suppressed shout finally burst out.

"Apostle! He's an apostle!"