No one outruns the wind.

This saying was quite common between adventurers, it was a piece of advice and a warning. Don’t try to outrun against a person with elemental wind, you’ll only be eating their dust.

That’s why when Nikolai tried going after the monolith, Veron chased after him and caught up easily. As he was running, Nikolai felt the wind whistle behind. He threw himself forward and rolled on the ground, avoiding the wind blade easily.

“I guess your sharpshooting skills are your only trump card.” Veron aimed his blade at Nikolai, who had to admit that Veron’s words were right.

His stats were lacking and his mana was element-less. He had no inherited skills or any martial arts that would give him an edge over others. The only things that he had were his sharpshooting skills and his knowledge.

“Knowledge reigns supreme.” Nikolai smiled as his muscles bulged. He jumped from the ground as a dagger appeared in his hand. With one swift motion, he stabbed toward Veron.

“Gou!” Veron shouted and a wall of wind appeared to protect him. The three oddballs’ strength didn’t lay in their elemental wind, but their teamwork.

Nikolai’s dagger bounced off the wind wall and Kara’s elemental wind arrived to lock him in place, surrounding leaving no escape for him from behind.

“Teamwork reigns supreme,” Veron said with a smile. “Knowledge does very little when you are weak and alone.”

“I used to think the same way,” Nikolai nodded. “But I think teammates hold you down.” He smiled. “For example,” Nikolai sprinted toward Gou and appeared in front of him in an instant. He swung his dagger as Gou shrieked and fell backward.

His elemental wind broke apart and Nikolai slipped from the gap Gou left. He knew from before that the only reason Gou used a shield was that he was afraid of confrontations and fighting.

Nikolai ran away as Veron rushed to help Gou stand up. He glanced at three who would rather check on their friend than chase after him, even though Gou wasn’t injured in any way.

‘This is weakness.’ Nikolai turned away from the three and ran in the direction of the Fire Class’s monolith, which should be unguarded by now. ‘Fighting while caring about the wellbeing of others will only drag you down.’

Teammates can support you or protect you, but they’re also a weakness. This was what the Elven Princess taught him, and she was right.

Nikolai used his limit-breaking technique to sprint forward, putting great strain on his muscles. He saw the peak of the fire monolith after a few minutes.

“BASTARD!”

A roar came from behind him and Nikolai turned to see Julian, enveloped with bubbling mana. His eyes have turned red from the anger he felt as fumes of red mana left his mouth and nostrils.

‘This guy really tried to steal my loot and got mad that he didn’t succeed?’ Nikolai couldn’t begin to understand the magnitude of narcissism someone needed to behave this way. ‘How do the Mackay Family raise their children?’ A sigh escaped his mouth.

Even though the Fire Monolith was only a distance away, Julian seemed to care so little about the Class Battle anymore. His eyes only saw Nikolai and revenge for what he did.

Nikolai had to stop running because that would give an opening for Julian to attack. He turned around and inserted another magazine into his gun, which was also his last.

“The Fire Monolith is over there!” Nikolai pointed to the distance. “If we work together, then we can… He’s already rushing forward.” Nikolai sighed and stopped trying to persuade him. What did he expect from someone who tormented him only because Valkyrie showed interest in him?

Maybe it was the thought of Nikolai being his equal that ticked him off, but Nikolai wasn’t his therapist and wouldn’t try to understand why he did the things he did.

He aimed his gun and bullets left the muzzle one after the other. The advantage bullets had over weapons was that it was hard to evade them without the agility of an F-ranker, but that was for normal bullets anyway.

His mana drained as he infused it into the bullets. His 6 Points of mana were drained fully and would need some time to recover. However, the first attack was all that mattered since the condensed mana shattered Julian’s defense and pierced his abdomen.

With a rageful howl, Julian kept rushing forward. His frame turned larger as he turned more bestial by the second. He jumped as he got closer to Nikolai and punched.

With a jump and a roll, Nikolai managed to evade only because he saw it coming. He rolled down the hill before standing up and running away.

He thought that he would do more damage than this, but it seems things were different from his past life. Julian felt more threatened by Luke’s death and the interest Valkyrie placed on Nikolai.

As he ran toward the fire monolith, Nikolai used the forest to try obstructing Julian. However, trees broke and soil was upturned as Julian chased after him.

Nikolai knew it won’t be long before Julian’s mana runs out, as they were still below the F-rank. However, he would need to survive until then.

He turned around and shot three bullets using the branches as a blind spot. The bullets went through the branch and struck Julian in the forehead, making his head jerk as he fell to the ground.

This would buy Nikolai more time to run toward the monolith. As he got closer to it, he saw three figures waiting for him over there. Veron, Gou, and Kara used the time he wasted with Julian to run over here. With their wind to help, it was an easy feat.

‘Enemies in front of me and enemies behind me.’ Nikolai’s mind raced. ‘It’s time to make the two collide.’

He ran faster until his feet barely touched the ground. He didn’t stop even with the three clansmen in front of him. With Julian behind him, Nikolai planned on making use of his rage.