Niki squinted his eyes to protect them from the powerful wind. The Skyward Falcon’s speed was unprecedented. He wanted to fly directly toward the Wind ss’s monolith, but he knew he wouldn’t make it in time.


    As he dived through the clouds that covered their monolith, he saw the Water ss making their advancement after they defeated the scouts Julian had left behind.


    “Does our contract involve helping me fight?” Niki grabbed the Falcon’s feathers tighter.


    “A single elemental gem is insufficient and I doubt the academy would allow it.” The Falconughed. “Move your ass, boy. I want to see how you fight too.” The Falcon’s words made Niki sigh.


    “What’s that?” A student spotted him from the wind ss. Niki jumped from the Falcon’s body as he came closer to the ground.


    “I request that you wait here.” Niki took out his gun after hended. “For my ss needs some time to make it back here.”


    “How did you tame that monster?” One of the students shouted as he looked with fear at the Falcon’s departing back. The Falcon left the battle and hovered above in the sky.


    “Through my strong will. If you take a single step forward, the monster will shred you to pieces!” Niki said with a triumphant expression, scaring all of the Wind ss students.


    “That’s a lie. I won’t interfere no matter what happens.” The Falcon said, foiling Niki’s bluff.


    “…” Niki exchanged nces with the Wind ss. They red at him after his bluff was called out. “He’s simply baiting you into attacking me!” He tried again but the Wind ss’s students were already taking out their weapons.


    The three oddballs at the back were studying Niki with interest. He cursed his luck and aimed his gun at them. Without saying anything, he fired three shots that were instantly in front of the three nsmen.


    Wearing simr green bandanas on their foreheads, the three students were simr odd with a unique appearance for each. One of them stepped up, who was as round as a sphere and pped his belly.


    Wind elementals exploded from his body after the p and created a barrier. The barrier deflected the bullets sessfully and Niki’s attack was rendered useless.


    ‘As tenacious as ever,’ Niki felt a headacheing. He knew these three quite well from his past life. They were from the same n that cultivated the Wind elemental mana. ‘Theyplement each other a bit too well and they are equally as strong.’


    Another person stepped out of the three and nocked an arrow on her bow. She aimed it at Niki and fired the arrow, but it was created from Wind mana. The arrow turned into a whirlwind that threatened to topple Niki off his feet.


    ‘Finally.’ Niki smiled as he closed his eyes. He used a bit of his mana through a technique he learned under ‘her’mand. It was to fight without seeing, but feeling the elementals in the air.


    Niki nned on taking it one step further today and using the wind to his advantage. ‘Let it rain!’


    Niki jumped forward with his gun in hand. He fired several shots in session that were in no way aimed at the students. The target of his missed shots looked at Niki as if he was an idiot.


    “The bullets are flying all over the ce, is he blind?” Asked the fatty with a green bandana. “I think you need to take him out, Veron.” He looked to the short youth in the middle. Veron was also one of the nsmen, wearing a simr bandana in addition to green earrings.


    “There’s something weird,” Veron said as he looked at the bullet. “The bullets have yet to strike a single object, the wind is trapping them.”


    “Kara’s wind is that strong.” The fat nsmen said with a smirk. “I bet that’s the reason this guy lost his aim.” Veron nodded but still seemed doubtful. Suddenly, his eyes went round as he reached out to the fatty.


    “Duck!”


    He warned but it was toote. Fatty screamed in pain as a bullet lodged itself into his back. It appeared out of nowhere like a ghost, but it was by no means thest.


    “Cling!”


    A clinking sound resounded as Veron’s arm trembled after deflecting a bullet that appeared out of nowhere. The bullets kept raining on them from every angle that the wind blew.


    “Who is it?!” Kara turned her body to look for the attacker, but there was no one behind them except for the ever-stretching forest.


    “It’s him!” Veron gritted his teeth as he pointed his sword at Niki. “He’s using the wind currents you made to direct his bullets. Even though their power decreased, their angle is unpredictable anymore!”


    “That is…” Kara turned with shock at Niki, who kept firing one magazine after another. The bullets started raining on every student in the Wind ss and chaos and confusion spread. “Is he even human?”


    “We need to take him down!”


    Veron shouted and green mana coated his sword. He dashed forward and endured the iing bullets tounch his attack on Niki who kept firing.


    It was a fact that gunmen were weaker in close-rangebat, so Veron’s judgment was sound. The only problem is that Niki was always one step ahead of them.


    Despite his bullets, Veron managed to get close to Niki. With all of his years of experience, Niki knew that he couldn’t match up to this swordsman.


    The sword descended like the wind itself, threatening to rip Niki into two. At thest second, a dagger appeared in Niki’s hand and redirected the sword.


    Niki blocked the attack at an angle, allowing the sword to slide off his dagger and miss. As Veron’s body leaned into Niki’s left side, Niki shoved the gun into his face.


    Without hesitation, Niki fired. The bullet left his pistol’s muzzle and went on to strike Veron’s forehead, but it stopped. The elemental wind has gathered in front of Veron’s forehead to stop the bullet.


    “You are good.” Veron smiled. “But this is the end.” Veron let go of his sword and struck with his open palm. Wind from every direction gathered in his hand to form an unstoppable force that sent Niki flying away.


    Rolling on the ground, Niki coughed the dirt that got into his mouth and tried to stand up. However, it took him several tries to manage to stand up straight. The attack was far more powerful than he had anticipated.


    “Step down, it’s your loss.” Veron picked up his sword. “I don’t mind giving you a permanent injury if that’s what it takes.”


    “My loss?” Niki smiled as he picked up his gun. “But my n has yet to bepleted.” His words made Veron frown. It was at that moment that a high-pitch scream came from the forest.


    His first volley of bullets didn’t miss as they expected, but Niki was aiming at the forest’s monsters. He saw that monster from above when he was flying and decided to make use of it.


    His bullets worked very little to harm that monster, but they were enough to irritate it. With a high-pitch scream like that of a vengeful ghost, the monster made its debut.