Chapter 154: How to Deal with a Mage (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 154: How to Deal with a Mage (2)
What on earth is this?
The question flashed through his mind.
Magical flames.
Even with a body shrouded in Aura, the heat should have been unbearable. Yet, Roman Dmitry charged straight through the inferno, completely engulfed in flames.
There was no time to find an answer.
He had to dodge.
"Blink."
Flash.
Spatial teleportation magic.
Felix vanished.
He reappeared ten paces away. But before he could even adjust to his new surroundings, Felix witnessed a horrifying sight. Roman Dmitry. The man who should have been attacking his afterimage had instantly pivoted, as if he had anticipated the exact trajectory, and was already charging straight at him.
Three paces.
He was right in front of him.
Felix gritted his teeth and unleashed his mana.
"Hold."
The spell clamped around Roman's ankles.
It should have bought him at least ten seconds. But the moment Felix took a step back, Roman shattered the binding mana in a single instant.
What a lunatic.
It was a continuous sequence of events that utterly defied common sense.
He endured the flames of a 4th Circle fire magic with his bare body, immediately tracked the spatial teleportation of Blink, and broke a Hold spell in under three seconds. He was a monster. He had accomplished the impossible by any ordinary standard. Felix didn't know how Roman was pulling this off, but one thing was certain: he could not afford to underestimate this opponent.
Roman's previous confidence in victory—he had good reason for it.
Roman Dmitry knew exactly how to deal with a mage. But Felix had absolutely no intention of collapsing like this.
‘You told me to do my best. Fine, I'll show you what a thousand gold is worth.’
Whoosh!
His eyes flushed crimson.
The secret technique of the Phoenix Magic Tower: Burning.
Although he couldn't manifest it perfectly, he could manage a half-baked imitation.
"Inferno."
Roar!
The flames erupted.
A powerful blaze spread in all directions, each individual ember moving menacingly according to Felix's will. They seemed to possess a life of their own. Dozens—no, hundreds of fireballs surged toward Roman from every angle. It was a level of control that transcended ordinary fire magic, leaving Roman with absolutely no path of retreat.
However.
Boom!
Whoosh!
Roman dodged the attacks a hairsbreadth before they hit him.
He didn't even use large movements.
With a slight tilt of his head, the flames grazed past his face. When he stepped aside, the fire exploded simultaneously in the exact spot he had just occupied. Without slowing his charge for even a fraction of a second, Roman Dmitry broke through from the front. Felix was completely overwhelmed. Roman dodged every single spell as if he had anticipated exactly how and where the attacks would strike.
It made no sense.
There were hundreds of flames.
It was only natural for at least one of them to scorch his skin, so how on earth was he moving like this?
‘Damn it.’
Before he knew it, his opponent was right in front of him.
There was nowhere to run. He tried to open the distance with Blink once again.
"Blink."
Flash.
He folded space.
A movement that could not be physically tracked.
The moment his body vanished, leaving behind an afterimage, and reappeared twenty paces away, Felix witnessed a despairing reality.
Thud!
"Urgh?!"
A heavy blow sank deep into his abdomen.
His eyes bulged.
Roman had instantly tracked the Blink and slammed his fist right into Felix's stomach.
Thud.
He fell to his knees.
His mind spun.
As Felix hung his head, thick drool dripping from his mouth, Roman Dmitry's calm voice drifted down from above.
"That is all for today's sparring. I will see you again at this time tomorrow."
* * *
Once a day.
That was the condition of their deal.
Having finished the first day's sparring, Felix stared blankly up at the sky.
‘...How on earth is this possible?’
Roman Dmitry.
Everything he had shown defied common sense from start to finish.
The Rune Flare he had used after cornering his opponent should have been a decisive, powerful blow, yet Roman Dmitry had charged straight through the blast. That was only the beginning. Not a single thing had gone the way Felix planned. The more they fought, the more he felt like he was sinking into a bottomless swamp.
And finally, his evasive maneuvers against the fire magic were simply overwhelming.
Even though Felix had maximized his control over the flames through the effects of Burning, he still couldn't lay a finger on his opponent.
‘Roman Dmitry definitely knew how my magic would manifest. If he didn't, he wouldn't have been able to track my Blink twice. According to academic knowledge, no such miraculous technique to predict magic exists in this world. That means it is purely Roman Dmitry's own innate physical ability.’
His heart pounded.
At first, he had taken this lightly.
Sparring with magic wasn't that difficult; he thought he would just stay in Dmitry and collect a decent wage. He hadn't anticipated a trial like today's in the slightest. Even if Roman Dmitry was as great a swordsman as the rumors claimed, Felix had been confident he wouldn't fall behind in terms of pure skill.
However, he had been utterly crushed.
Without even being able to mount a proper offense, Felix had been reduced to kneeling on the dirt, spitting out thick saliva.
It was humiliating.
He had shown a pathetic sight he'd be embarrassed for anyone else to see. But more than that, thoughts of Roman Dmitry dominated his mind.
‘If we fight again, can I win?’
He let his imagination run wild.
Roman Dmitry appeared before him in his mind's eye. He cast magic at the rapidly approaching man, but Roman's beast-like agility refused to let a single attack land. The discipline of magic was truly complex. No matter how powerful the spell, it was meaningless if it didn't hit. That was exactly why Felix knew how to corner an opponent.
Yet, all of those methods had crumbled before an evasive ability that seemed to see right through magic itself.
He couldn't counter a method whose principles he didn't even understand. Even in his own imagination, he couldn't think of a single way to defeat Roman.
In the end...
‘At this rate, I can never win.’
Certain defeat.
Even in his mind, he knelt helplessly.
Yet, he pondered endlessly.
People called Felix a tenacious bastard.
When the Tower Master went missing, everyone said the Phoenix Magic Tower was finished because the lineage of Burning had been severed. But Felix clung to it tenaciously and succeeded in manifesting a portion of Burning. Of course, it was a meager achievement. However, reconstructing even a fraction of Burning—a system so complex and intricate that it was passed down exclusively through a single lineage—proved just how incredible Felix's tenacity truly was.
Three years.
A mere successor had risen to the position of Tower Master.
People still denied his authority by calling him an "acting" master, but Felix led the Phoenix Magic Tower forward regardless.
It was the same now.
Irritation flared within him.
Roman Dmitry's ability?
He acknowledged it.
From the moment he was overwhelmingly defeated, Felix knew Roman was even more incredible than the rumors suggested. But accepting defeat helplessly was a different matter entirely. Just as he had reconstructed a portion of Burning through thousands, tens of thousands of grueling experiments, Felix had absolutely no intention of spending the rest of his time here being beaten like a scarecrow.
‘I will definitely win the next duel.’
He lost himself in thought.
The sun set.
Until the day dawned once more, Felix did not take a single step from that spot.
* * *
The next day, the second sparring match took place.
Felix himself was no different from yesterday, but he had made a massive change in his strategy for dealing with Roman.
‘If the opponent can predict the movement of magic, then I just have to make prediction meaningless.’
Once again, Felix took the first move.
He did not refuse the handicap.
Drawing up his mana, Felix immediately put his plan into action.
"Stone Edge."
Rumble!
Crash!
He raised the earth.
Instead of using it as an offensive spell like usual, he deliberately set the coordinates right beneath his own feet. As a result, Felix shot upward, standing atop the rising pillar of rock. He had instantly seized the high ground. In response, Roman Dmitry leaped up in a single bound to attack him.
‘Just as expected.’
The high ground wasn't a particularly attractive advantage on its own.
He knew that unless he used Fly, a 6th Circle magic, he couldn't truly escape Roman's attack range.
Even so, there was a specific reason Felix had taken the high ground.
"Inferno."
Whoosh.
Roar!
He unleashed the flames.
He didn't target his opponent specifically.
The violently erupting flames attacked the surroundings indiscriminately, transcending the realm of what could be predicted or dodged. A rain of fire poured from the sky. How on earth could anyone dodge an attack that blanketed the entire area? No matter how great Roman Dmitry was, he wouldn't be able to easily charge through the flames this time.
‘The true strength of magic lies in the fact that you don't need to target the enemy precisely.’
Even if you aimed for a five-meter radius, those within a ten-meter radius would still be swept up in the blast. That was the destructive nature of magic.
Felix capitalized on that exact point.
Indiscriminate firepower.
Even if it was an inefficient method he usually disliked, he judged there was no better attack than this right now.
"Fire Wave."
Whoosh.
Roar!
The flames surged.
The sheer power, untargeted at Roman, burned the surroundings to ashes. Felix continuously channeled magic from his rapidly spinning Circles. He couldn't catch a proper glimpse of Roman Dmitry. The area beneath the rock was completely engulfed in flames, making it impossible to spot him, but Felix knew his monstrous opponent wouldn't fall so easily.
It was then.
Whoosh—!
Roman Dmitry burst through the flames.
Seeing Roman suspended in midair, engulfed in fire, Felix unleashed his prepared trump card.
"Fire Cannon."
Whoosh.
Roar!
A 5th Circle magic.
He wouldn't be able to dodge this time.
Fire Cannon was a swift and devastatingly powerful strike.
Since Roman was suspended in midair, Felix had laid the perfect trap to corner him.
Boom—!
Crash!
The magic exploded.
The flames of the Fire Cannon completely enveloped Roman's body.
At that moment, Felix saw it.
An invisible wall was blocking the flames.
Staring at a defensive effect that closely resembled a Shield spell, Felix could only widen his eyes in shock.
* * *
Aura Barrier.
It was a technique he had never heard of in his entire life.
What was certain was that his magic had been completely blocked by the barrier. Having exhausted all his strength, Felix had no way left to stop Roman.
Smack!
His head whipped to the side.
With a powerful impact, Felix crashed straight into the ground.
It hurt.
His face and mind screamed in pain, but his thoughts were consumed by a single question.
‘Was it a magic artifact? No. If he had borrowed the power of magic, there was no way I wouldn't have noticed the flow of mana. Above all, Roman Dmitry has no reason to go to such lengths to win. He definitely formed that Aura Barrier using only his own power.’
A hollow laugh escaped him.
Just what... was Roman's true identity?
He had racked his brain all night to defeat Roman, yet he hadn't been able to touch a single hair on his head.
He felt hollow.
A bitter sense of self-deprecation washed over him.
Just then, Roman approached and spoke.
"Lord Felix. The fact that I defeated you is not very important. I have something I wish to gain from our duels, and thus, a one-sided match like yesterday and today is not what I desire. So, do not hesitate to use any means necessary to defeat me. As long as it is within your magical capabilities, I will allow whatever method you choose."
Roman's words were humiliating.
A burning heat surged deep inside Felix, but Roman did not stop speaking.
"If your strength alone is not enough, you may call upon the mages of your tower. Even if it becomes a one-versus-many battle, you just need to defeat me by any means. We will duel once a day, a total of 180 times over six months. If you cannot corner me even once, I might regret choosing you, Lord Felix, out of all the mages."
Instantly, Felix's eyes flared with rage.
Though the pain had not yet subsided, he could not bear to listen to Roman's words any longer.
But then—
"Just once. If you can defeat me even a single time, I will pay you a reward of ten thousand gold."
Ten thousand gold.
At the extraordinary offer, Felix was left speechless.
It was clear.
Roman Dmitry... had never considered him an equal from the very beginning.