Chapter 107: Duel (3)
Chapter 107: Duel (3)
Pelop brought Frank as his champion.
Pelop likely wanted to catch me off guard, and Frank probably wanted to kill me while making it look like an accident, so they must have shaken hands on the deal.
Of course, I didn't mind either.
Hummm—
Look at that. Even the dagger in my left hand was humming in delight.
"Jackpot."
I wouldn't be the one dying today.
Ignoring Pelop, who was snickering as if he’d already won, I fixed my gaze on Frank Miller.
Average build, average face, average style.
The guy had a presence so faint it would be hard to replicate even if one tried. He gave a troubled smile.
"Haha… I’ve wanted to meet the famous junior everyone’s talking about… It’s a shame we have to meet like this."
"……."
"This is our first time meeting, isn't it? Why on earth do you think I was the one spreading rumors? I might have a quiet personality, but I don't just sit still when someone picks a fight first, you know?"
"……."
"Um… Junior? Could you say something? Do you think your senior is a pushover just because you’ve made a bit of a name for yourself?"
I had stayed silent because I didn't feel like talking to a dead man, but he kept grating on my nerves with that slimy smile.
After a moment of thought, I spoke slowly.
"I smell something."
"A smell? I don't notice anything… Ah, if you’re planning to provoke me by saying I have bad breath—"
"The stench of a filthy cultist."
"…A cultist this time? It seems you have quite the delusional streak, Junior."
Frank retorted as if it were absurd. However, I clearly saw his reaction was a split second late.
"There’s no point in talking to someone who’s mentally unstable. We’re here to duel anyway."
Frank, who had been trying to figure out how I’d singled him out just moments ago, was now trying to end the conversation himself.
It made sense. The followers of Boiling Silence had almost never been caught until now.
Even the unlucky few who did get caught usually managed to deceive others by pretending to be followers of a different deity.
Because of this, while people knew the Church of Boiling Silence existed, it was mostly known as a minor, insignificant evil god cult with very little information available.
The only reason they could turn such an impossible delusion into reality was because of their Authorities.
The Authorities of Boiling Silence were largely divided into three types.
The first was Stealth.
Depending on the user's level, it ranged from blurring one's presence to temporarily vanishing from the world.
It was a tricky power in many ways, but since it was an unnatural ability, it could be detected if one knew what to look for.
The second was Polymorph.
Changing one's appearance didn't directly affect combat… but since this wasn't a cognitive interference ability, it didn't get caught by standard detection magic.
The third and final one was Authority Copy.
Though its power was several levels lower and it was riddled with activation restrictions…
A follower of Boiling Silence could mimic the Authorities of other gods. Even if it was the Divine Art of a Good God.
Thanks to this, they could infiltrate the inner circles of the Church of the Good God, and even if they were unlucky enough to be caught, they could pretend to be a member of a different evil cult.
That was why I wanted to use this opportunity to officially reveal the danger of the Church of Boiling Silence if possible…
I just had to hope my earlier provocation worked.
Before I knew it, Pelop and the referee had stepped down, and the arena was covered by an intangible barrier to contain the aftermath of the battle.
Now that all the procedures were finished, only one thing remained.
I quietly drew up my mana.
Thump— Thump—
Mana spread through my entire body in sync with my heartbeat.
It was a circulation technique designed to manifest magic from any posture at any time.
On the other hand, Frank was pouring all his mana into a short wand.
The peculiar thing was that even though his maximum mana capacity shouldn't have been that impressive, he was pouring it out without restraint.
He had probably received a mana recovery potion from Pelop beforehand.
Not that I could talk, considering I’d downed several potions myself before coming here.
We stood in a silent standoff, glaring at each other.
Ding—
The moment the small bell signaled the start, he wove his magic.
"Consume. And explode. Fireball."
As expected of a third-year, his magic manipulation was skillful.
Since the Authority of Boiling Silence didn't possess destructive power on its own, its followers often honed their own skills separately from their Authorities.
That spell was likely one of those cases.
Staring straight at the flying ball of fire, I spoke the spell I had prepared.
"Accelerate. Haste."
My body, which had already felt lighter just by holding the dagger, became even more weightless.
Zip.
With just one step, the surrounding scenery blurred past.
The fireball, having lost its target, exploded uselessly against the floor.
"W-Wind Cutter!"
Flustered, he immediately fired off the next spell he was preparing.
Perhaps because he cast it in a hurry, the form was slightly distorted, and both the power and the mana contained within were a bit weak.
However, it was true that it was aimed accurately at me, and its speed was difficult to dodge even with my accelerated body.
"Invisible blade. Wind Cutter."
I swung my staff, unleashing an intangible blade.
Screeeech… Boom!
The two Wind Cutters collided in mid-air. However, Frank’s unstable Wind Cutter shattered, and my spell flew forward, shrouded in the lingering resonance of mana.
"Shi…eld!"
He cast a defensive spell, skipping the incantation entirely. Perhaps he had compensated for the lack of a chant with raw mana, as his face turned pale in an instant.
Pang!
My Wind Cutter struck Frank’s shield.
Since its power had already been weakened, it only left a slight scratch… but the purpose of this spell had been something else from the start.
"You…!"
I had cast the same spell faster, more precisely, and more powerfully.
The contrast in our skills was stark.
Frank gnashed his teeth, and the audience gasped in shock.
But it was too early to be surprised. This was the first time I was revealing my skills in such a crowded place, so I might as well do it properly.
Taking advantage of the speed from Haste, I charged toward Frank.
"You are the burning flame, the fierce rage."
A slightly longer incantation than usual. Simultaneously, a red line began to draw a circle at the tip of my staff.
Patterns that looked like ciphers—somewhere between language and drawings—filled the inside of the circle.
I was finally using the magic circle I learned from Carla.
To anyone watching, it was clear I was aiming for one big hit. Since I was also closing the distance at high speed, Frank’s magic skills wouldn't be enough to perfectly block both.
But he wasn't about to just take it, so in the end, he only had one choice.
He had to use the Authority of an evil god, even though it had already been seen through and could hardly be used as a trump card.
"Urgh… Wind Cutter!"
He shouted the activation word, venting mana excessively just as he had when he forced the shield earlier.
But this time, instead of firing a Wind Cutter back at him, I threw my body to the side.
I had seen him make a motion as if biting down on something while pretending to grit his teeth.
Crunch!
A familiar chewing sound echoed from behind me.
He must have hidden Void Feast—the Authority of Confused Unity—behind the Wind Cutter.
He likely aimed for the fact that both were transparent and difficult to see with the naked eye.
"How…?"
While he froze, realizing that even if the onlookers hadn't noticed, I certainly had.
I sprang up and continued the next part of the incantation.
"Yet, you are also the spear of the swirling storm."
It was a rather grand incantation. But for the best strike I could currently deliver, it was practically essential.
Beside the red magic circle already floating above my staff, a line glowing green began to leave an afterimage in the air.
"Double casting?!"
Not just Frank, but the entire audience erupted in a murmur.
But they were wrong. I wasn't using two spells simultaneously. This was a single spell in itself.
The existing red magic circle I was holding and the newly completed green magic circle slowly overlapped.
Terrified by the sight, Frank began to fire off magic and Authorities like a madman.
"Wind Cutter! Wind Cutter! Wind Cutterrrr…!"
But I was someone who had dodged most of Edmerec’s onslaught.
Falling to Frank, whose power and proficiency were far inferior, was out of the question.
Moreover, I was currently under the effect of Haste, which I couldn't use back then.
The moment his gaze fixed, the timing of his jaw twitching, the distance between Frank and me. And even the wand being swung for the Wind Cutter.
I saw it all with my eyes and dodged, and dodged again.
No matter how much of a mediocre veteran I was, this much wasn't even that difficult.
"H-How…."
In the end, with a look of despair, he prepared a shield to somehow block it rather than trying to stop my magic.
And just as the two magic circles finally became one.
Click. Click.
I heard the sound of something interlocking and turning in my head.
Strange patterns that were red yet simultaneously glowed green.
The complexly intertwined meanings followed one after another until they finally reached a single phenomenon.
Whoosh.
A swirling spear of flame.
A new magic, never seen before, created through elemental combination.
I gave it a name.
"Tempest Burn."
And then, my vision was engulfed in flames.