The Nameless Extra: I Proofread This World

Ardyn Renhart was not just a combatant. He was a pedigree made flesh. Every movement bore the polish of someone raised to believe that victory was the natural conclusion of his presence.

What the audience now witnessed was, at least on paper, a match that already had its ending decided.

And yet, Ruvian smiled confidently.

It was a small thing, barely a twitch at the corner of his mouth.

But inside, his resolve tightened.

Ruvian’s eyes drifted to Noelle first, and in the half-second of eye contact they shared, he caught the soft, almost imperceptible nod she gave.

He shifted his attention to Griffer next, who answered with a faint roll of his shoulders, the shifting of his weight from one foot to the other betraying the tension winding through him.

All three of them shared the same hope: none of them wanted to be the first to hit the ground.

Their stance barely resembled a formation, a broken triangle at best, stitched together by shared necessity.

’Alright. Here we go.’

"Begin!" Delila shouted.

Then, Ardyn began to move. He simply stepped forward, and with that, the entire floor seemed to tilt around him. His face held no emotion, just the polite mask most duelists wore.

He was serious... frighteningly serious about toying with them.

His broadsword dragged lightly from his hand. The blade caught the light with a hungry gleam.

Ruvian’s eyes didn’t leave him. His focus trailed Ardyn’s every movement, even the non-movements.

Ruvian didn’t plan to dodge it, because it was his job to know when it would hit. Mana spiralled in his ribs, humming inside the cavity of his Spellcore, coiling in readiness.

He took a deep breath.

’Just like how you had practiced yesterday with Irene. And just like how you’re close to mastering it...’

Ruvian gripped his wand.

Then, without a word, Ardyn stopped moving altogether. He stood still, broadsword relaxed at his side, and looked straight at them, deciding where to make the first cut.

Ruvian had taken notes that Ardyn was quick using his [Character Sheets] skill. That much was obvious too even without using it.

His speed was the average speed of Class A. But even then, his agility wasn’t the reason Ruvian kept both feet grounded.

It was his strength.

"Is that really all of it? Because what I see... is an opening." Arden spoke.

In the next instance, without warning, Arden’s broadsword surged into motion, carving through the air in a blur of silver and force.

Ardyn’s entire body launched with it, a vicious strike that moved with all of his weight.

The arc of the blade was wide and merciless, aimed squarely at the center of their loose triangle, which was the space between their formation.

’He’s fast...’

But Ruvian had already seen it coming.

He had known from the moment Ardyn stepped onto the platform that there would be no warming up.

So, he did what he always did in situations like this: he planned a counter before the move even existed.

His wand was already in hand, raised in a motion that seemed slow only because everything else was happening so quickly, and chanted an incantation of a spell that was taught by Silvena.

"From the boundless sky where you roam without shape, return to the grasp of my voice. Condense and stand as a shield before me."

"[Wind Barrier]."

The air snapped outward in a spherical, thin membrane of pressured wind forming just in time to intercept the descending blade.

The steel collided with the wind.

However, instead of absorbing the blade’s full force, Ruvian twisted the wind and redirected the momentum to deflect the attack.

For the past 2 days, Ruvian had been perfecting this one particular spell rather than the offensive spell.

He believed that defensive spell was much more important since he was still weak and lacked mana capacity.

Furthermore, although he had learned [Magic Barrier], he realised that his magic shield spell wasn’t as strong as he expected.

That’s why he decided to learn another defensive spell.

Just to be safe.

The blade skidded off, deflected just enough to spare him.

’Nice, that barely worked!’

He stepped back in the aftermath with caution. The two of his teammates were already moving, reacting in their own ways.

Noelle immediately disappeared.

"[Shadow Phase]." she cast.

One breath she was beside them, and the next, she blurred into motion, her boots barely brushing the stone floor as her form melted from sight, cloaked in the unnatural shadow-ability.

To the untrained eye, she might have simply vanished, but Ruvian tracked the faint distortions in the air and the ghost of her movement curving around Ardyn’s periphery.

In less than two seconds, she had repositioned behind Ardyn, crouched low, the daggers in her hands glinting as they carved toward the narrow gap beneath Ardyn’s left shoulder.

And then, within the same fleeting moment before Noelle could strike true and vanish again, Griffer let out a guttural roar of his incantation.

"[Earth Wall]!"

The ground below him responded with violent obedience. A rough stone wall surged upward at his heels, giving him the leverage he wanted.

Griffer used it to leap and gained momentum from the fall. His spear spun in a low, predatory arc, carving through the air.

But Ruvian’s mind winced before his body did.

’You fool! Why would you give him time?!’

The sudden rise of terrain slowed the rhythm, interrupted the fluid tempo of the pincer.

If they had landed that hit together, if Noelle’s attack had clipped the tendon and Griffer’s spear followed through the gap, it might have ended the fight here and now.

But the timing was off...

By half a heartbeat!

Noelle’s daggers struck first, too soon, metal catching metal with a high, skipping screech as they raked across Ardyn’s shoulder plate.

Ardyn had read her attack and dodged it effortlessly.

The hit lacked the angle, lacked the depth—all it did was sting!

However, Ardyn didn’t flinch, he turned quickly by dipping his weight, and the retaliatory backhand came fluid and cruel.

A plated fist slamming into Noelle’s ribs hard enough to knock the breath from her lungs.

She gritted her teeth and let the momentum carry her, tumbling backward across the platform, daggers skittering beside her as she slid toward the edge.

The strike wasn’t fatal but it was enough to take her out of rotation.

Griffer was still in the air while that happened.

With no way to stop and too little control to redirect. His spear came down like a hammer, aimed with all the fury he could muster, but Ardyn had already rotated his body.

He stepped to the side, his broadsword rose with a single smooth sweep. The steel met the shaft with a crack that rang across the platform, sparks flying like angry insects.

Griffer’s trajectory failed him. He crashed down behind Ardyn in a graceless roll, and painfully, landing his shoulder first.

The entire sequence had unfolded in under three seconds.

Ruvian’s gaze snapped left, catching the blur of Noelle coughing blood. Then right, saw Griffer trying to rise.

Ruvian tried to sort out his thoughts.

’One flanked. One grounded. Ha... great."

’I should have expected that it’s not that easy for them to follow the plan without any rehearsal.’

"Tch." Ardyn clicked his tongue..

He turned to face them fully. His mouth curved in a grin... it wasn’t a genuine one, and he tilted his head slightly as if to add mockery to the sound.

"I thought you three had a plan. Perhaps, I misjudged it. Or are you just taking turns being brave? Come on, do better."

Noelle wished to answer, but she didn’t have the breath for it yet. She was already halfway upright again, one knee planted on the ground and both daggers trembling faintly in her grip.

’Noelle is having a hard time staying up. Damn it... She must have taken a heavy hit from that attack.’

’Not a good sign.’

Griffer, beside Noella, grunted as he rose fully, jaw clenched. He spat onto the floor with all the flair of a man pretending to still have the upper hand, then leveled his spear again.

Ruvian said nothing, but his thoughts ticked on, faster than his pulse, measuring, assessing, judging the rhythm of the match.

They hadn’t synchronized while Ardyn, on the other hand, had seen enough.

Ruvian adjusted his grip on the wand, as if that tiny motion might coax some miracle out of it. In the end, Ruvian couldn’t help but dejectedly sighed.

’No choice then... I need to buy them some time to recover.’

"Hey, goldie boy. Aren’t you a lively one?"

Instantly, Arden snapped his head toward him.

And his face darkened.

"What... did you just call me?"

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[Chapter 74: Eyes of the Crowd]