Sometimes, the stick is better than the carrot (2)Young mages surrounded those two Archmages.
They voluntarily came to watch this spectacular match.
“All of sudden, a match?”
“Helene?”
“Versus the little bo…. I mean, sir Ian?”
Young mages often acted like little children.
Who is the strongest among those 12 Archmages?
Who will be the next tower lord?
Most of them were wondering about it.
“But still, opposing Helene is bit too much….”
“Even other Archmages avoided fighting with her.”
Of course, most of them were expecting Helene’s win.
She was one of the top duelists.
With her violent temper and talent as a combat mage, she was a natural-born fighter.
“Well, I guess the audience is big enough.”
Helene squared her shoulder.
While watching Ian, she said.
“Anything you want to prepare? Do it now. Quickly.”
“Not that much, actually.”
Ian walked to the Parvon who was standing between crowd.
While he pa.s.sed his staff to him, he asked.
“Tell me straight whenever you hear any voice or sound from the staff.”
“Huh? What kind of sound….”
“You will notice whenever it comes out. Please inform me without hesitating.”
“Y, yes sir.”
Parvon received the staff, nodding his head. He was confronting his boss, an Archmage. He didn’t understand Ian’s request, but he had no choice. Support mages had no rights to tackle him. He had to believe and follow whatever Ian said.
“I thought you want to use it?”
“It is expensive.”
“Ha, mages don’t need to worry about money.”
“As you know, this is my first day.”
“Don’t worry, boy. You will soon get paid nicely for your private research.”
Even the research support allowance wouldn’t be enough to buy the staff. Of course, she had no idea that the crystal orb on the staff was actually the communication orb. Helene didn’t give a s.h.i.t about anything but fighting.
“Well, shall we begin?”
Helene was 10 years younger than when Ian saw her in his former life.
But still, her face wasn’t that much different.
‘I should bend her will completely.’
She was proud of herself.
She had deserved talent.
Not just her magical talent,
‘She would have great success even if she had become a knight.’
Although her muscle power had limitations as a female, her other features made her unique.
Agility, reaction time, good eye vision.
She was literally a perfect fighter.
‘Her combat style is very different to other mages.’
Thanks to her body, her fighting tactics were completely different to other mages. Unlike other mages, who build their own shields and fight pa.s.sively.
‘She dodges the opponent’s attack, then counter attacks.’
She preferred dodging, rather than guarding.
A combination of her inborn talent and the support of spells resulted in her being untouchable.
Furthermore, instead of focusing mana to shield spells, she used it for aggressive spells.
Especially, her favorite, fire magic.
‘A normal victory will make it worse.’
In his former life, Ian defeated Helene in various ways.
With an ordinary style of combat magic, with tactics that were one step more cunning, with stronger fire power.
‘Everytime she lost, she made excuses.’
Through her endless re-challenges, Ian finally realised.
He never should leave any ‘hope’ to Helene.
Such as,
Maybe I can try this way next time
Maybe I better complement this weakness
Ian had to destroy her hope completely, so that she would never dare to defeat him.
“Go first. I will give a privilege to my student.”
“Can you deal with it?”
“Ha!”
With Ian’s challenging reply, Helene laughed.
“Common, are you worrying about me? You better watch yourself.”
“Well then. I will accept your offer.”
“Yes yes. Please, come at me quickly.”
Helene was full of confidence.
But for how long she would keep her confidence?
“Hwoo….”
Ian closed his eyes gently.
This time, he didn’t draw mana in his body.
Rather, he drew it out of his body.
It was a symptom that was very similar to building shields.
“Humph! You know some tricks, huh?”
By watching Ian’s mana, Helene made sure about that Ian would cast his defense magic, soon.
“Whatever shields you are building,”
Helene also started to cast her magic.
A burst of flames appeared nearby her.
Every single of it had size of ‘Pyro blasts.’
“I will destroy it for you, boy.”
Whatever shields Ian would build, Helene was confident that she would easily destroy it.
Not only normal shields, but mana barriers and even absolute barriers.
She had destroyed it more than hundreds times.
“Hmm, it won’t be as easy as you think.”
“What?”
Ian answered mysteriously.
It wasn’t a shield that covered Ian, but ‘Chilling Energy.’
‘Ice block.’
Mana that was surrounding Ian, soon started to freeze.
*Crack, Crack… Craaacckkk!*
And ice quickly covered Ian.
It was shield magic as Helene briefly expected.
But it wasn’t exactly the shield magic that Helene had expected.
“…… Are you kidding me?”
It was a useless move.
It was different to the magic she had expected, but that was all.
“What the h.e.l.l are you doing?”
As she ridiculed, Helene removed her flames.
Other audiences reacted similarly.
What Ian just did wasn’t proper move for duel.
“All of other shields, but that…..?”
“He wouldn’t able to do anything.”
“He will lose when his mana is depleted.”
Natural reactions.
‘Ice block’ wasn’t just an ordinary shield.
It had nearly unbreakable hardness, but contained many disadvantages.
First, the caster fell ‘asleep’.
Which meant he wouldn’t be able to dispel his own magic.
It would continue until his mana was depleted.
It was literally, a type of ‘final life saving’ magic.
“h.e.l.lo. Mr. Page? Can you hear me?”
Helene approached to Ian, and said.
She knocked the block as she was knocking Ian’s door.
Ian’s eyes were closed as he was sleeping.
His lips were shut, his body stayed calm.
With no doubt, he used the Ice Block spell.
“I have no idea what he’s thinking.”
Her eyes were full of disappointment.
And her voice revealed even more disappointment.
“I was crazy b.i.t.c.h. What do I expect from this little brat….”
*Tap!*
Soon, something hit Helene’s back head.
Literally, it ‘tapped’ Helene.
Very gently.
“What the h.e.l.l?”
It was a small mana sphere.
It had to be casted by a mage.
It was casted without formulas, so it didn’t damaged Helene at all.
It’s impact was as same as snow ball.
One of mages must threw it to her.
‘Wait. Hold on a second.’
She shook her head with curiosity.
‘Who would dare to trick me?’
Dare to trick Helene?
Was there anyone who dared to throw a mana sphere at her?
Among those trashes of the Ivory Tower?
‘It can’t be.’
With instinct, Helene looked at Ian in the ice.
Soon, her face turned pale.
“Huh…..?”
Ian, in the ice, had to close his eyes.
Until the very last moment. She was so sure about that.
But.
‘Is he….. opening his eyes?’
Helene panicked.
Did he managed to open his eyes in the ice?
Furthermore, he managed to move his eyes?
It didn’t make sense at all.
He was supposed to sleep.
‘What on the earth…..’
Opening his eyes was already shocking enough.
However, something more surprising happened.
*Grrrrrrrrrrr………..*
A loud noise came from everywhere.
An uncomfortable sound came from the bottom of the Ivory Tower.
“W, what?”
“Where this sound came from?”
“I think it’s from the bottom….”
Young mages quickly looked around.
Everyone tried to find the source of the sound, and It wasn’t hard to find out.
They found it as soon as they looked down the rooftop.