Grag'bog swung his axe down on Hazel. She stepped to the side in a flash, letting the weapon strike the ground she had stood on mere moments ago. Dirt and stone pelted both of them from the attack. Hazel was unharmed due to her Telekinetic field that acted as a shield, as much as her mobility technique. The chief was also completely fine, likely due to his impressive durability.

Realizing his attack missed, Grag'bog shifted his weapon to the side, trying to hit the witch without having to pull back and prepare another swing. But much like before, with her unnatural speed for a magic user, Hazel leaped back, easily dodging the axe as it swung at nothing.

A moment later, she flexed her finger. The orc chief's eyes widened, likely sensing danger, and he hastily brought his weapon to defend himself. Just then, a couple of Hazel's strengthened stones were flung at him like bullets. He managed to successfully block and deflect the attacks, sending the stones hurtling into the earth, embedding them into the dirt with ease.

"Those attacks won't work on me, witch!" The chief roared before charging at Hazel like a bull seeing red.

She smiled. "We'll see about that."

Her fingers flexed again, this time more naturally, as she moved back to evade the chief's attack. As she dodged, a couple more strengthened stones appeared, flying fast and low to avoid getting detected by Grag'bog. The stones struck his ankles, momentarily stunning him. The chief fell on one knee while expelling a pained shout.

Hazel didn't relent and called upon more of her strengthened stones, sending them toward the chief with malicious intent. He saw the stones bolting for him like deadly projectiles before rolling away. The stones missed their target and instead went straight for the crowd around them. Several orcs panicked and braced for the worst, but Hazel saved them by flinging her wrist, redirecting the strengthened stones up in the air instead.

Then, bringing her hand down, the stones followed her will and descended like tiny meteors, heading straight for the chief. Grag'bog looked up, just in time to see the rapidly descending stones. He blitzed around and dodged the stones, watching them pelt the ground instead of him. Just when the last stone missed its target, he turned his sights back on Hazel and charged right at her.

She could've easily just stopped him in his tracks with Telekinesis. Hell, she could've used other methods to put an end to this fight, from using her Evil Eyes on her or hurling mana bolts or curse spears at him. But Hazel didn't want to end it that way. Not just because it would go against the rules of the challenge due to how powerful she was, but also the simple fact that, surprisingly enough, she was enjoying this fight.

Instead of letting the chief get to her, she went to him. They closed the distance in seconds and were close to colliding into one another. Grag'bog aimed his axe at her head while Hazel summoned more strengthened stones to aid her.

The stones zipped through the air before colliding into the chief's body, hitting his arms, legs, and back. He let out another yell before shifting his glare at Hazel and raising his axe over his head. She prepared herself for another assault but was taken aback when the axe began to emit a bright red light. Suddenly, sparks bolted out of the blade and struck the ground around them.

She realized the danger that the axe possessed and immediately put more distance between them. However, that didn't stop the chief as he swung his axe down, hitting the ground with a thunderous boom. Red lightning tore through the ground while making its way over to Hazel, as if targeting her.

In a last-ditch effort, she summoned all of her strengthened stones and hurled them at the lightning. A powerful shockwave erupted from the ground where the two collided, sending both her and Grag'bog flying backward.

Hazel managed to reposition herself with the help of Telekinesis, getting back on her feet. Meanwhile, Grag'bog tumbled along the dirt ground for a moment until managing to reorient himself and skid across the surface on his feet.

She frantically scanned the arena, trying to locate her strengthened stone. However, instead of finding ten, there were only six accounted for, leaving four of them still missing. She clicked her tongue irritably, still searching for the other stones. Sadly, the chief wasn't generous enough to let her do that unattended.

"You look distracted!" He boomed while kicking off the ground toward her.

She turned her focus on the chief, watching him barrel toward her like a rocket. With the help of Telekinesis still enveloped around her, she stepped to the side to avoid his charge attack. The chief predicted this, however, and shifted his body, swinging his weapon right at her torso while they were still close enough.

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Panic filled her upon seeing death in the face. She knew she couldn't move away in time and tried to do something else. She focused all of her telekinetic energy into the area where the axe was aiming at her, which was her stomach. As this occurred, the sensation that reminded her of being enveloped in water suddenly left her, and all she could feel was some kind of force being glued to her gut.

The axe struck her, but instead of being cleaved in two, she was pushed to the side by the force of the weapon. Her body tumbled along the ground, scraping against any piece of rock that was stuck to the ground. She pulled her hand out and dug her fingers in the dirt, slowing her momentum and keeping her from tumbling like a moron.

Before she could catch her breath after stopping, she looked up and watched Grag'bog get hot on her trail, closing in on her without a moment of hesitation. He was determined to end this fight before Hazel could collect herself and get back into the action.

Even though she was being pushed like this, she felt more excited than anything. As crazy as it sounded, she was enjoying this fight far more than she should. Especially when she was on a mission to get these Orcs to move away from the base. But as she continued her battle against the chief, something stirred within her. Something raw and primal, and she begins to question her mission.

Should she really just kick these guys out and keep them away from the Valiant Guild? Doing something like that, Hazel couldn't help but feel convinced that it would be a waste to do so.

Putting that thought aside for the moment, she prepared herself to jump out of the way of the chief's charge. However, just as she put some strength in her legs, a wave of fatigue washed over her all of a sudden. Her initial thought was that she ran out of mana, but this felt different.

The fatigue she felt was...unnatural. No, more than that. It felt almost...forced. Like something was causing her to feel fatigued.

Hazel couldn't focus too hard on this foreign sensation due to the chief's assault. Before he could actually hit her, she focused harder on her telekinesis until she was sheathed in the energy. The fatigue was slowly getting worse, but she ignored it as much as possible and hastily dove to the side.

She rolled along the ground before repositioning herself and faced the chief. The orc spun around to face her.

"What's wrong?" He questioned with a menacing smile. "You seem slower than before!"

She was a bit impressed that he noticed so quickly. It looked like he wasn't a chief for nothing.

Grag'bog lunged at her, bringing his axe down on her head. She jumped to the side, though with a slight delay due to the foreign fatigue. It got to where the axe nearly cut her down the middle by mere centimeters before she moved away.

The chief swung a few more times, clearly trying to cut down Hazel as fast as possible. However, she was dodging and weaving around his attacks. Each time she dodged, her movements lagged, causing a few close calls. If it wasn't for the fact that her telekinetic force that was enveloped around her also acted as a shield, the chief's axe would've left several cuts and slashes on her body. The sudden increase in danger was beginning to unnerve her.

It was one thing if she was pushing her luck, but when something else was inhibiting her movements, that was another matter entirely. Speaking of which, who or what was inflicting her with this strange fatigue?

Hazel scanned the crowd, taking note of the audience to see who stood out the most. Judging from the condition she was in, it seemed to be a status ailment, which meant that this fatigue was possibly magic-related. So, the source of this affliction was likely from a mage.

She looked at every single member of the crowd, appraising them as she went. After a couple of appraisals, she soon found the culprit. It was indeed a magic-based player, and it appeared to be an Orc.

[Gnar'grog, Class: Dark Mage, Level 25]

He was a dark mage, which meant he likely had more than two spells that caused some kind of status ailment, and what she was experiencing was certainly one. In his hand was a gnarled staff with a skull attached to it. Its eye sockets emanated a sickly green glow as Hazel noticed traces of its magic trailing all the way over to...her. She wasn't certain how, but somehow, she could sense the magic essence that the orc mage was emitting while casting the spell. That was when she knew that he was the culprit. The problem now was how she could deal with him and win the fight.

Hazel could've easily just stopped the fight and reported the Dark Mage bastard. But something kept her from doing this. Maybe it was the fact that she didn't one hundred percent trust the Orc's rules when it came to the Challenge Oaths. Even if she did call out the Orc currently using a spell to weaken her, which was a clear violation of the challenge, they could easily dismiss her and keep the fight going, only for her to possibly lose because of the status ailment she was suffering from.

Just then, the Orc chief roared, bringing Hazel out of her deep thoughts. She turned her sights back on her opponent, watching him barrel toward her with intentions to take her down in an instant.

Still under the effects of the status ailment, she blitzed around the chief when he got close. Just as he slammed his battle axe down and dug into the dirt, she just stood on. Once she was behind him, she waved her hands and called what remained of her strengthened stones, having them hurl at the chief.

A couple struck his body, but she noticed that the impact was a lot weaker than before. In fact, it looked like it harmlessly bounced off his body without inflicting any damage whatsoever. Was the status ailment affecting her precision? It made sense considering that she felt a lot more sluggish than before.

The orc chief quickly turned around to face Hazel. Seeing this, she braced for another attack, prepared to move out of the way when she got the chance. However, what happened next surprised her.

"Enough of this!" He shouted, slamming his weapon to the ground. "What in the world is going on with you?!"

Hazel stood there, bewildered by the chief's reaction. After taking a couple of moments to process his words, she simply said this. "H-huh?"

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