I didn’t hesitate. There was nothing wrong with increasing my stats enough to stand against Vulcan and his unfair power. There was nothing wrong with using unfairness against unfairness. Now that I had an absurd amount of mana, I could use Ero Boost even more times.

’10 times should be enough,’ I thought with a devilish smile on my face.

When I felt my body being energized by my skill, I looked at my stats, amplified by the buff.

[

Name: Richard Forster

Class: Valkyrie Tamer

Level: 32

Valkyries: 6/6

Health: 310/360 points

Mana: 119/175 points

Strength: 88 points

Defense: 60 points

Magic: 80 points

Agility: 70 points

Status Points: 0 points

]

And compared them with Vulcan’s stats.

[

Name: Vulcan

Class: Mage

Level: 55

Health: 600 points

Mana: 450 points

Strength: 55 points

Defense: 40 points

Magic: 75 points

Agility: 30 points

]

My only concern was the status effect of Ero Boost, but in that situation, I thought it would be a small penalty considering what was at stake.

Maybe I had exaggerated a little, looking at the disparity between our stats now. With the exception of Magic, there was a huge difference between all of our other stats.

Vulcan tried to understand what I had done to myself. The change couldn’t be seen without an Appraisal skill, but he raised his arms, positioning his fists close to his chin.

’Let’s play a bit, Mr. Vulcan,’ I thought, running towards my opponent.

In a short moment, I got close to Vulcan, his normal eye widening at my speed, which was more than twice his. A smirk appeared on my face, irritating him instantly.

"How did you get so close so fast, you brat?!" he asked at the same time as he tried to hit me with his fist charged with Dragon Skin.

’I’ve already used it several times, but Ero Boost really is amazing!’ I thought, amazed by how slow Vulcan seemed now that we had a 40-point difference in Agility.

Words couldn’t describe the excitement I felt. After using Ero Boost and considerably increasing my stats, my body felt lighter when I moved, but at the same time, I felt like the strongest man in the world. It was as if I were capable of doing anything I wanted. And the desire to test such power came naturally with it.

As Vulcan had said before we fought, it would be very boring if I ended the fight with a single blow, so I wanted to test what the difference in our attributes could cause. It wasn’t a very serious experiment; it was more like playing around.

I raised the palm of my hand to receive Vulcan’s punch. The difference between his Strength and my Defense wasn’t very big, so his punch was strong enough to push the rest of my body back.

Despite my body flying through the air, I managed to do a flip in midair. I was still inside the ring, and I had barely taken any damage from the blow, aside from my hand, which was burning.

"Ouch!" I looked at the palm of my hand that had received Vulcan’s punch. Parts of it were red and very sensitive thanks to the heat of Dragon Skin. Fortunately, it wasn’t my dominant hand, so I could still use the sword.

"Got you!" Vulcan closed the distance between us, and now he was in the perfect range to attack me with his powerful jab. He must have thought my guard was down, but even so, he was too slow for me now.

Almost instantly, I ran around Vulcan, stopping right behind him. Vulcan’s punch didn’t hit me, neither physically nor with the heat of his scales.

Vulcan jumped away from me, seeming afraid of being attacked from behind. I was dumbfounded seeing a guy like him practically running away from me.

"Why that smile on your face?" he asked me, clearly irritated.

"Nothing," I said in a playful manner, "but it seems your audience isn’t as excited as before."

Only at that moment did Vulcan seem to realize something. The crowd that had been cheering for him nonstop was silent. The audience was now dumbfounded, silenced by my incredible movements.

He turned back to me, still somewhat grumpy. "So you still had this card up your sleeve, huh?"

Vulcan ran his hands through his hair and took a deep breath. Then he stared at me, his eyes now filled with determination, his arms bursting into flames almost at the same time.

His combat stance told me that he was going to face me head-on, and that he wanted me to do the same.

I gave a small sigh. ’I wanted to enjoy this buff of mine a little more, but I don’t think I have an option here.’

I took a stance with my injured hand forward and my sword in my right hand, ready to thrust at Vulcan. We stared at each other in our respective poses for a while. One movement from either of us would trigger the other’s offensive. The audience was silent, their eyes glued to our fight. Everyone present felt that this would be the moment that decided the winner.

As if we could read each other’s minds, we attacked at the same time. Vulcan aimed his magic-strengthened punch at me, and I attacked him with my sword. We moved so fast that, in no time, we passed by each other.

"Ugh!" I dropped my sword when I felt heat on my left arm.

The part where he hit me had burned the sleeve of my clothes, leaving the mark of his fingers on my skin. And worst of all, it hurt like hell.

"Yeaaaaaaah!!" his audience shouted when they saw that I had been hit by Vulcan’s blow.

I myself was impressed. Even though he was slower than me, he still managed to hit me, even if it was near my shoulder. But it didn’t matter—

"Bleeeh!" Vulcan vomited blood a little after I felt the effects of his blow.

On the side of his torso, a cut from my sword opened up on his body, spraying blood across the ring. The audience fell silent instantly when their leader collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

No matter how well he had fought in that last part, facing the difference in our powers, in the end, the victory in that fight was mine.

"The winner is Richard!" Falco announced the result of the fight.

[ Congratulations! You cleared the mission! You and Diane receive a 5-level bonus and 20 Status Points each to use whenever you like! ]

The system told me as soon as Falco declared my victory, but no one applauded. The only person cheering for me was running towards me.

"Rick!" Diane looked a little nervous as she looked at my wound when she got close to me.

"Don’t worry, Diane. I’ll be fine."

I still had plenty of mana, so I used it to heal the wound he had made on my arm and on my left hand.

"I’m glad you’re okay, and that you won," Diane said, avoiding my gaze. "Well, let’s go to the tent before Ero Boost wears off."

"Just a moment. There is still something that I have to do."

I walked to where Vulcan was. Diane wasn’t the only one who had left the tent. Tanya had also watched the fight, and now she and Falco were helping carry Vulcan out of the ring.

"What do you want?" she asked me when I approached. For some reason, Diane’s sister didn’t like me. At least the feeling was mutual.

"Let me see his wound. I’ll heal him."

"W-What?" She looked surprised by what I said.

"Are you deaf? I intend to heal his wounds," I answered Tanya sharply. "The sooner he’s in good condition, the better for me, because he still owes me my prize for this fight."

Although I had escaped defeat, and from being handed over to the Night Apostles, I hadn’t forgotten the reason I was there in the first place. My help was just a guarantee that I would have my answer before leaving this camp.

Tanya was still staring at me with suspicion, but Falco gave me permission to heal his leader. My Heal healed Vulcan’s wound with the same ease with which I had slashed him. I didn’t stay there to watch over Vulcan. He would certainly be fine and wake up soon. I had more important things to do.

"Please, don’t let anyone approach the tent," I asked Falco.

He nodded. "I’ll keep my boss’s word until he wakes up. Don’t worry about that. Tanya and I will stand guard."

We didn’t wait long and went straight to the tent. Diane took off her clothes until she was naked. I was lying on an improvised but comfortable bed while she removed my pants.

"What should I do, Rick?" Diane asked me.

"The effect still hasn’t ended. I have to wait for the system to indicate what you should do," I explained to her.

As I said that, Diane finally removed my pants. My member was free, rising in all its majesty.

"W-What the hell are you doing?" Tanya shouted from near the entrance of the tent, and at that moment, the effect of Ero Boost conveniently wore off.