Chapter 176: Mirage of the Mitra Great Desert (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 176: Mirage of the Mitra Great Desert (4)
Fragments of lightning scattered across the air. Every time a shard struck the sandy ground, a thunderous explosion erupted. Though the power was roughly equivalent to a late 7-star or 8-star spell, Jin could not identify the specific name of the magic.
The second spell cast was identical. The lightning energy coiling around her staff transformed into a pure white spear, fired with terrifying speed.
Valeria Hister—Jin’s magic teacher and the sole successor of the Hister family.
Her magic defied convention. It was because she had attained true mastery. She enjoyed modifying every spell she acquired to suit her specific needs. In other words, every spell she cast manifested as a Valeria-style variant.
Crack!
The lightning spear, fired in a straight line, shattered Jin’s shield. Before the sharp, rupturing sound could even pierce his eardrums, a droplet of blood burst from his earlobe.
It had grazed him by a hair’s breadth. Even a warrior capable of the most extreme fast-sword techniques would struggle to unleash such a rapid strike.
Jin, hurriedly deploying a second shield, gritted his teeth.
She really intends to kill me.
In his previous life, he had sparred with her over five hundred times. In those five hundred-plus defeats—sparring matches where he had never won even once—Valeria had never truly tried to kill him.
“Good dodge, Disciple.”
Whoosh!
The lightning spear that had grazed Jin whipped around. The moment it shot toward his back again, another lightning spear surged from Valeria’s staff.
Then, they crossed paths.
As Jin rolled across the ground to avoid the two lightning spears, a third one formed. They were fired in a closing triangle. By the time Jin managed to chant his first spell, five such lightning spears were already hovering in the air.
The five spears gathered in a single line in front of Valeria.
Jin could no longer afford to be lost in sentiment. His eyes, sinking into a dark, focused gaze, turned toward Valeria as he entered a combat-ready stance.
“It seems you’ve finally found the will to take this seriously. This is your last chance. Pick up your sword.”
Valeria pointed her staff toward Bradamante, which was thrust into the sand.
Jin’s hand slowly moved toward Bradamante’s hilt. But just before touching it, he shook his head and pulled back.
“As I thought, I can’t do that.”
“Stubborn as always. You’re going to die, you know?”
“We won’t know that until the fight is over. Because I, too, Valeria... will do things your way.”
Valeria’s eyes narrowed as a smirk played on her lips.
“Your way, is it? I’ll be watching, Disciple.”
The five lightning spears spread out in a fan shape. Meanwhile, in Jin’s right hand, a 7-star Reverse Flow Explosion was emitting a sharp, screeching noise.
“It seems you’ve found a new teacher. Well, it would have been a waste of talent to let it rot just because I wasn’t around. But Kidad Hall? Was that really the best you could do after abandoning me?”
The only teacher, the only disciple. In their previous life, they had always called each other that. No Great Mage could become Jin’s teacher, and no genius could become Valeria’s disciple.
That was why Valeria deliberately chose cruel words that would affect Jin’s psyche. She was trying to break him, shaking his heart to create even more openings.
Valeria was that kind of person. Once she decided to kill, she never hesitated to use any means or methods. Offering him the canteen at first, and giving him the chance to grip his sword—those were merely the final bits of affection she showed her disciple.
Vvvvvvvvv!
The mana of the lightning spears was slowly being sucked into the rotating Reverse Flow Explosion.
It was difficult to directly absorb Valeria’s mana. To trigger a reverse flow through her solid mana release spread behind the lightning spears, Heaven Reversal was the only answer.
I have to buy time somehow until I’m ready to unleash Heaven Reversal.
Valeria would likely anticipate that much. And Jin was already thinking of the next move.
She can’t maintain five spears for long with her current mana. She’ll keep one or two until the end, and the rest are decoys.
He had to figure out which lightning spear she would maintain until the end to make his move.
Zip, swish! Slash—!
The lightning spears began to rush in with slight intervals between them.
He dodged what he could and used the Reverse Flow Explosion to twist the trajectory of those that came in sharply. By creating a deviation of even a finger’s width with the suction of the Reverse Flow Explosion, the area he could move in expanded drastically.
Meanwhile, he prepared Heaven Reversal using simultaneous casting. Three minutes—if he could hold out for that long, he would be able to unleash Heaven Reversal at seventy percent power.
Of course, Valeria wasn’t just going to swing lightning spears.
The five lightning spears were, contrary to appearances, a single spell. And she was a user of simultaneous casting, just like Jin.
Thump!
As the Silver Pine Staff struck the sandy ground, a magic circle unfolded in an instant. It was a magic circle wide enough to reach the ground where Jin was jumping around to avoid the lightning spears.
An incantation chanted like a distant echo; as Valeria’s lips moved, the magic circle was instantly dyed red.
Flame Chains erupted from within. The chains of fire, looking like giant serpents, converged on the ground where Jin stood, threatening to swallow him whole.
Beyond the vision blurred by the fire, the lightning spears rushed in, and one of them grazed Jin’s wrist. If not for the Reverse Flow Explosion, his wrist would have been severed.
“Urgh!”
Huff. The heat pressing against his entire body took his breath away. It was impossible to avoid the Flame Chains tightening from all sides; a shield was merely a means to delay death by a few seconds.
In the midst of that, a single chain bit into Jin’s ankle. The moment the horrific pain of his ankle burning rose to the top of his head—
Fortunately, Jin had extinguished the Reverse Flow Explosion and was opening a summoning gate.
Fwoosh!
A deep blue flame cut through space like a blade. Screeeech! A strange light flickered in Valeria’s eyes as she saw the blue phoenix wailing and emerging from the summoning gate.
“Oh? So it’s Tess?”
Azure fire and intense heat mingled. As Tess trampled and broke the chain biting Jin’s ankle, Jin knelt on one knee and exhaled a ragged breath.
The white bone was visible on his ankle. There was no time to cast healing magic. The momentum of the Flame Chains had been broken, but the lightning spears still persistently stabbed at Jin and Tess.
One minute.
If he could hold out for just that much longer, Heaven Reversal would be complete. The opportunity would come only then. However, if he couldn't find the real lightning spear within that minute, even that would be a moot point.
[SCREECH!]
As Tess flapped its wings, a whirlwind of blue flames spread. However, it was a wind that fell far short of the true majesty of the Master of the Fire Realm, because Jin’s mana was insufficient.
Although the water Valeria gave him had restored his vitality to some extent, it hadn't filled all the mana he usually possessed. His body was battered from walking through the desert, and he had poured almost all his remaining mana into preparing Heaven Reversal. Only the minimum amount of mana required to summon Tess remained.
Stab...!
A lightning spear pierced Tess’s chest. It was the result of Valeria immediately switching targets upon realizing that Tess could not exert its full power.
Thud! Thud! While three lightning spears ravaged Tess in succession, Jin was sweating profusely as he completed the incantation for Heaven Reversal.
Tess, letting out a grotesque cry, shielded Jin.
It seemed to be saying, I’m sorry.
It was enough.
The moment the remaining two lightning spears were about to pierce Tess, the chanting of Heaven Reversal ended.
Tess turned into a handful of flames and disappeared back into the dimensional gate, and the shattered Flame Chains scattered onto the ground.
Clang...!
A massive sphere of Heaven Reversal rose into the pale sky. Soon, as the mana of the reverse flow spread, the lightning spears blurred and lost their direction.
A trail of fresh blood flowed from between Valeria’s lips. The energy of Heaven Reversal was overturning her mana.
At the same time, Jin also coughed up a mouthful of blood. Gag, hack! Jin, vomiting up dark clumps of blood as his waist buckled, quickly scanned his surroundings.
The initial symptoms of reverse flow had spread.
Yet, five lightning spears still adorned the air.
She’s a monster, after all...
Among the 8-star mages in the world, no one would be able to do what Valeria was doing.
She was also in a state of extreme mana depletion after unleashing five lightning spears and fire magic in a short period. It was a situation where she could fall into a reverse flow herself if she lost focus for even a moment.
But Valeria even endured Heaven Reversal. She had been tightly managing her mana from the start, and was instead waiting for Heaven Reversal to be unleashed.
“Mana backflow... is something only those who are poor at handling mana experience...”
Ptui.
Valeria spat out bloody phlegm, and her complexion quickly regained its stability. Simultaneously, the blurred lightning spears regained their color and began to follow her control again.
“You probably have something hidden, don’t you? It can’t end this anticlimactically.”
Jin didn't answer and met Valeria’s eyes for a while.
Then, he slowly moved his steps toward Valeria.
“No, I’ve lost. There’s nothing more I can do.”
“Liar.”
“I just want to see you a little closer for the last time.”
Jin slowly, limping, barely moved his steps toward Valeria.
With every step he took, the blood flowing from his mouth, ankle, and ear soaked the heated sandy ground.
Step, step...
“Stop. If you come any closer, I’ll fire the spears. You definitely have something hidden.”
“I have never lied to you once.”
“...Did I expect too much?”
“Isn't this enough for a sixteen-year-old?”
“That thought was what was trapping you. You could have become much stronger. Now stop. If you come any closer, I’ll fire the spears.”
The distance between them was ten steps.
One step short.
While walking, Jin had identified which lightning spear Valeria would use until the end. The only reason he had unleashed Heaven Reversal was for that one purpose.
The lightning spear on the far left.
That was the only one that hadn't blurred even after Heaven Reversal was unleashed.
If I charge, all five will be fired, but only that one will remain until the end. Valeria’s mana must be running low by now, too.
Even if he dodged only two, it was half a success. Of the remaining three, he would block two, and the one that would remain until the end to target him again and again...
He had to catch it.
Would it be possible with this leg? With an ankle where the white bone was exposed...
There was no point in weighing such things. If he couldn't pull it off, there was only death.
The moment Jin’s trembling leg took another step.
“Look at this!”
Valeria’s eyes flared as she swung her staff. Jin threw his body toward the side where the lightning spears were flying—toward the spot where she was standing.
A short leap.
The first spear missed. The spear that passed Jin scattered into the air, its flame extinguishing.
The second spear struck exactly in the middle of his torso.
If not for the Black Light Armor, he would have been pierced. Thud! As the spear hit the armor, Jin coughed up blood, but Valeria bit her lip as if she hadn't expected it. The second spear also decomposed and vanished.
As Jin, barely regaining his balance, charged again, Valeria aimed the third spear more carefully.
“It seems you don’t have much mana left. Seeing as the lightning spears are flickering out.”
Valeria fired the spear without answering.
However, contrary to expectations, the third one fired was a real lightning spear. The fourth and fifth spears followed.
As the remaining three spears were fired simultaneously, Jin activated the Rune of Mul-ta. The real lightning spear flying toward his head was blocked, and the other spears were aiming for his thighs.
The distance between them was five steps; Jin collapsed just like that, leaving both his thighs exposed. As the lightning spears that pierced his thighs vanished, only the real spear Jin had initially predicted remained.
Before his head could hit the ground.
He pushed off the sandy ground with all his might using his hands. That alone was enough to close a distance of five steps.
“Hmph!”
Valeria pulled back her staff as she retreated. Following the movement of the staff’s tip, the real lightning spear was fired toward Jin’s back again.
Jin, who was suspended in the air after a somersault, had no way to avoid it.
Instead, he pulled out a dagger he had been hiding in his robe sleeve.
And with all his strength, he threw it toward Valeria’s neck. A single dagger, dyed black and enveloped in Spirit Energy.