Chapter 337: How Strong

"We can’t kill him," Godfrey replied, turning to face Isaac. "What’s going to be your reason? In the eyes of others, he is reconstructing the cohort. There were some losses, painful ones, but that’s it."

Isaac looked away.

"He’s not a friend though," Isolde replied.

"He’s not. You can’t kill Saul even if you want to. He’s strong and, from what Lucy has said, he has three summons."

"Four. Dax is also his summon," Lucy corrected.

Godfrey nodded. "Four. His black knights are definitely peak-level Progenitors or Titled gods, the same for his first summon, which might be his strongest. Let’s just say he has three Titled gods. Even amongst their tier, they’re powerful."

"So we should leave him then?" Isolde asked.

"I believe we should do what he’s doing. Take advantage of the dungeons and grow stronger before the Ruination hits. Once that happens, even us Titled gods will be targets." Godfrey looked at all of them.

"I see," Snow replied.

Just then, Rick showed up. "It’s time. We can’t spar during the hot afternoon," he whispered to Godfrey.

After informing Godfrey, he left.

Godfrey rose to his feet. He would like to test himself against Rick. Sparring with an existence of that magnitude was bound to help him get stronger.

"What’s going on?" Snow raised an eyebrow.

"They’re about to spar," Isolde responded.

"Godfrey wants to spar the butler?" Isaac was dubious.

They couldn’t stay. All of them went to the gym. It was large, almost a separate building from the main mansion. Isolde and the others stood on the mezzanine, watching Godfrey in a white top and black pants face off against Rick, who wore white and white.

Both of them wore fingerless gloves and stood on a large platform. Around the platform were gym equipment pieces in their different sections.

Rick’s black hair fell over his forehead. He had a shadow beard cut and calm brown eyes. Everything about Rick was normal. His physique, his height, was just barely 6 feet.

All in all, he was a normal man. Completely ordinary. In this state, Rick still had extraordinary physical capabilities, but it was nothing compared to his Dragon Servant form that made use of mana.

Standing nearly twenty feet away was Godfrey. He wore suppressors since Rick was supposed to match his strength. After they ascertained that Godfrey could lift a thousand kilos with one arm and possessed remarkable speed and reflexes, Rick gauged it and would fight him based on those capabilities.

’He might be over a thousand years old, but I have Mastery. The skills of my knights might not be in ancient martial arts, but it can help.’

"A servant of a dragon king. A powerful being even amongst Ancient gods. If that’s who this butler is, then I’m not sure who the winner of this spar will be," Snow analyzed.

Isaac rubbed his chin. As he did, Neila appeared beside him. Everyone turned to her.

Lucy and Isolde were quite surprised to see the spider god.

Neila leaned against the railing. "The dragon servant will win the spar. This isn’t even debatable. You’re comparing a human who isn’t even twenty and is being suppressed of his powers to a being that had defended a dragon king’s domain from countless powerful thieves and raiders. This isn’t even a competition, even with the dragon servant’s eyes closed."

"There’s nothing wrong with that. My father couldn’t win against Rick. Godfrey is facing a powerful ancient being, losing isn’t shameful or degrading. This spar is meant to refine his skills," Isolde retorted without looking at Neila.

Neila glanced at her from the corner of her left eye.

"He’s the shadow king. He won’t lose that easily. I’m sure Godfrey is going to shock Rick," Isaac smiled, while Neila rolled her eyes, then crossed her arms.

This human was being suppressed. Were all his friends delusional?

Lucy wasn’t even bothered with who would win and who would lose, as she was simply happy that her friends were all together after a long time.

At that moment, Rick dashed toward Godfrey, leaped, and drove his knee into his face, but Godfrey blocked the blow by crossing his arms defensively.

Unfortunately, he didn’t expect Rick’s fist. The knee strike brought down his defenses. He also thought that was it, but Rick’s fist came from above. There wasn’t a break between both moves.

He planned to execute both at the same time. His fist struck Godfrey’s left eye.

Godfrey drew one leg back and pinned it to the floor to stop himself from being sent backwards by that blow.

"He’s bleeding!" Isaac gasped as blood trickled down from the torn skin above Godfrey’s left eye.

Isolde pursed her lips. Getting wounded during spars wasn’t uncommon, especially when it came to Rick. This was how she built up pain tolerance. Although it wasn’t enough for her to handle Sylphiette freezing and shattering her legs.

She just wanted this spar to end fast. Isolde didn’t know when she closed her eyes. She didn’t want to watch her husband get pummeled.

"Are you upset?" Rick asked as he closed in once more. His movement was as swift as it was unique. He swayed from left to right, his body lowered and his fist lifted to his face.

A boxing move.

Godfrey prepared for him. His eye and body tracked Rick’s movement, perfectly catching the feint and adjusting to the main blow, which was coming from the other side.

’Got you!’ Godfrey said inwardly, but Rick suddenly propelled himself upward, hitting Godfrey’s arm out of the way and slamming his chin!

None of them understood how Rick could move like that. It was completely inhuman. To be able to switch so fast, it took more than skill, but dedicated training of the body not to break under such stressful and abrupt changes of movement.

Because normally... this was impossible.

Every move could be a fake. Rick wasn’t predictable.

Seeing Godfrey stagger back, his head tilted skyward, Rick opened his arms. "Is that all? I might as well start a training lesson if this is all you’ve got."

"He’s taunting him. Godfrey will want to hit back after those blows, and these taunts will make him want to hit back even more, increasing his chances of making a mistake."

Snow said. Isolde grimaced but refused to look.

Godfrey wasn’t Rick’s first victim. She bit her lower lip, forcing herself to stay quiet and not stop this spar.

On the platform, Godfrey touched his lips and sighed. Would he have to use the full strength of Mastery? He had gotten more knights since he first gained Mastery, making it much stronger. His body was much stronger than a normal human, but... how strong?

If he wanted to keep up with Rick, he would have to go all out. Every ounce of strength this body had without mana must be unleashed.