When it came to demonic beasts, there were different sets of specialties whether speed based, defensive based, or offensive based. Of course, their said element also played a role in how a demonic beast chose to fight. The ape type demonic beast that Lance was now facing, was one belonging to the defensive based specialty, and it used its fire elemental affinity to cover its body to further protect its skin and body.

This was the absolute worst matchup that Lance could have asked for, because he could only do so much damage with the basic sword in his possession and his light element techniques couldn't be attached to his sword to increase the amount of damage he could land on his opponent at this time.

So even though if he were to defeat this ape in front of him now, it would guarantee his survival long enough to absorb the mana from its demonic core, otherwise, it was surely death for him. From his first attempt to slay the beast, Lance realized that he couldn't escape without risking his life, so to him, it made more sense just to push forward.

Trying not to give the ape an even bigger advantage, Lance quickly pulled his sword by his waist and once the ape was close enough to him, he used his next technique. Using the momentum of his body and sword, Lance quickly thrusted his sword towards the demonic beast's body.

As expected, the ape was still able to knock into Lance using its flamed up body, causing him to be set ablaze momentarily by the flames that were now on his clothes. "Did that seriously only do that little amount of damage?" Lance thought as the ape turned back towards him preparing to launch another attack.

When he put all of his strength into the last attack, Lance thought that by using a thrust instead of a swing and concentrating more on a specific point on the demonic beast's body, that it would wound it. But what was strange, was that it barely left a scratch!

"No wonder those with better backgrounds could normally get stronger faster, I bet if I had a much higher quality weapon at my disposal, I would be able to slay a 1st rank demonic beast with a single attack." he thought as he recalled the fight so far between the two.

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Since the ape was of the defensive specialty, it was clear that it wouldn't be very fast, but only physically domineering. In Lance's case, since he had the speed advantage and even possibly the raw power advantage, it was clear that the problem right now was indeed the basic sword he used some of his wealth to purchase.

Now with Lance and the demonic beast understanding each other's strengths and weaknesses, it was silently understood that neither side wanted to prolong such a battle, and so the two would have this next bout as the final one. Lance didn't want to use his light element during this battle, but there was no longer a choice since he could truly perish if he did not.

And so, just as it did thus far, the ape charged towards Lance at its full speed with flames covering up its entire body. No longer finding the need to play with Lance, fireb.a.l.l.s also appeared above its body as well, like it wanted to make sure that if it was a tie once more, that its fireb.a.l.l.s would give it the win during this battle.

Seeing this, Lance could only hate himself for being pushed into such a sorry state by only a 1st rank demonic beast as a ball of light floated from his hand and flew towards the demonic beast. "Blinding light!" he shouted out as the small ball of light let out an explosion of sorts, completely lighting up the entire area him and the ape were in and at the same time blinding it as well!

Using the short amount of time he had given to himself, Lance used his fastest footwork technique to land right next to the demonic beast, before thrusting the sword into its head and instantly killing it.

It only took one breath of time for his sword technique to take the ape's life, but it took some time for the flames around its body to evaporate and even the fireb.a.l.l.s to disappear. It may have been his win, but Lance felt rather p.i.s.sed off. A win was indeed a win, but Lance wanted to just use his physical strength during this preliminary round.

This tournament was not just to potentially receive a new level of fame for him, but this was also to test himself. He was clearly lacking when compared to the top experts who were competing, but knowing that he couldn't defeat his first opponent without going all out made his stomach turn. Without wasting anymore time, Lance quickly looted the demonic beast's corpse before heading further into the forest.

Lance did not need to advance too far, because he just wanted to be on the cautious side since the battle would have possibly alerted nearby beasts regardless of it not lasting longer than it should have. Plus, he was still unable to fully control his Blinding light technique, and the light appeared higher up into the sky than he wanted.