Chapter 257

I steeled myself and then used Presence Block again. I thought I could hear Daniela click her tongue.

Daniela’s ‘Presence Detection’ was very high-level. This was no surprise since she had practically been using it nonstop. And yet, I was able to hide from her. It was partly because of this magic mist.

The magic took the shape of mist as a way of commanding the area we were in. In other words, I had control over it. Magic was about imagination. So the mist was hiding me. The power of magic could cause optical refractions etcetera. It was hard to explain.

“Huh…!”

Daniela was using magic. I suspected that she would use wind magic in an attempt to blow the mist away. Of course, I had a way of dealing with that. The dark blue magic that emitted from my greatsword grew darker, and then it swallowed up the wind magic. As the mist connected the mana, all of it that surrounded us was under my command.

Once Daniela understood that she couldn’t use magic, she switched to attacking with her bow. An arrow struck the ground where I had been standing a moment ago, but now she didn’t have wind to aid her. It was just a normal arrow. And I was moving with Legs of the God Wolf, so she couldn’t hit me. Not only that, but my feet weren’t actually touching the ground, so there were no footsteps either. She couldn’t see or hear me.

As soon as the area was filled with mist, the chances of Daniela winning became nonexistent.

Well, I had crushed the possibility of her winning by ‘score,’ but she could still win if she defeated me before the time ran out. After all, I wasn’t just going to sit in one place. We made a promise, after all… I was going to defeat her with everything I had.

And so I sent ice energy into the mist. It was easy, as the ice dragon armor helped me, but I was also at a point where I had to be careful about how much magic I was using. It was incredibly rare for me to use so much, and I was starting to feel the pain.

The temperature dropped all at once, but it had no effect on me. This was also due to the ice dragon armor. And the wind dragon equipment and Legs of the God Wolf allowed me to use the power of the wind smoothly. As the wind rose quickly, I could act quickly. There was also an AGI boost on top of it all. Still, it made me wonder what I’d be capable of if I had a real aptitude for wind magic…

But, never mind that now. I had to deal with Daniela. I could tell that she was waiting for a chance to use magic. The magic energy was building up inside of her. While I controlled the energy around us, I couldn’t reach inside of her. Well, maybe at night time.

I aimed at Daniela and unleashed an Ice Arrow. As there was so much moisture in the air, it was very easy to create. I just had to freeze the mist in the right shape. It shot towards her, silently. However, it missed. She cut it down with her rapier.

“In that case…”

I created arrows from the mist surrounding her and fired them. She shouldn’t be able to dodge them at that range.

“Hmmph!”

However, she survived the attack with her sword and martial arts. I had never seen her kick an arrow out of the air before… She must have learned to do it recently. Yes, it was dumb to assume I was the only one here learning new tricks.

In any case, this meant that ranged attacks weren’t going to cut it. So, what then? I would have to hide in the mist and sneak up on her. And so I pulled my hood down and went into stealth mode. Yes, it wouldn’t make a difference, but it made me feel more concealed.

I would hit and fall back. This was a matter of speed.

“…!”

“!?”

The first hit. I hacked down at Daniela’s back with the greatsword. She ducked just in the nick of time, but I didn’t move to a counterattack. It was important to stick to the basics. That was the trick to winning. And so I vanished into the mist again and attacked from a different direction. Daniela was quick to respond with her sword, however, it was difficult to block a broadsword with such a thin blade. She could soften the blow a little by allowing herself to fly back. It was a good decision, but she could only fall back so far. After all, the entire stage was covered in mist.

Another hit. And another. While she was barely keeping up, she blocked, dodged, and managed an occasional counter-attack. Her movements were so precise that it was shocking to think that her left leg was injured. She was that much of a threat.

“Kk…!”

While our swords rang against each other, I would unleash arrows from different directions. More and more small wounds appeared on her body.

“So, this is how you are going to play!”

“I’m going to do whatever I have to.”

Perhaps some would call me cowardly. I couldn’t say for sure that I wouldn’t be annoyed if I was facing an opponent who fought like this. Still, it was only because Daniela was that dangerous. She was strong. This was the only thing I could do to prevent her from shooting at me with her arrows.

As we continued to trade blows, I started lowering the temperature in order to slow her movements. Not the most honorable thing, yes. But a jack of all trade and master of none will do what he must.

“Very well, then… I will do the same.”

The same? Does she really think she can turn the tables now…

And then it hit me.

Daniela’s best skill. Fresh Green Eye. Damn it!

“Hahh…!”

She was going to call the wind spirits and blow the mist away!

“Spirits…lend me your power!”

“No…!”

Jade-colored energy began to explosively increase. It was all the wind spirits… I tried to suppress it with the energy around me. Every nerve in my body seemed to be used in order to transmit the power. The ice dragon armor was pushed to its limit.

“Ggg…uhh…!”

Tragically, there was no iceberg or river here. All we had was clear air and wind. There were no ice spirits or water spirits, and so I could not beat the power of the wind spirits. And just like that, the blue colored magic was overwritten.

“Damn it…damn…! I was so close…!”

“It is over! ‘Blast Hurricane. Full Burst’!!”

Daniela usually performed her magic without chanting. It quickly took shape.

“Ahh…”

The green tornado appeared on the stage. It started off small, however, it quickly expanded to the point where it could swallow up the stage. I didn’t want to think about how many spirits had come to help her. It was clearly above skill level 10, and with such force, it easily sucked up the mist and then swallowed me before I could run.

(Ah, it was just like a comic book…)

It wasn’t every day that a tornado shot you into the air. I had no sense of direction anymore. Such were my thoughts as I was violently thrown around and shredded by wind blades.

Even activating Legs of the God Wolf didn’t help me. That’s how dense the wind and Daniela’s power was.

And so I could not resist. I flew in the air and then plummeted to the ground.

“Uuhhh…”

I must have blacked out for a second, the pain in my back was so bad. When I opened my eyes, Daniela was looking down at me.

“How do you feel?”

She was pointing her rapier down at me and had a victorious grin on her face.

“Ah…well…I don’t know…”

“You do not know?”

She tilted her head and the smile was replaced by her usual expression. I couldn’t help but laugh at the sudden shift. It was cute.

“Hehe. It’s weird. I feel really good.”

“You freak…”

She looked put-off, but it was the truth. Perhaps it was weird to feel good about losing. But I had challenged her with everything and lost. It was a good way to lose.

My current best and hers. Neither of us could have done more than we had. As proof of it, I couldn’t even get up. Daniela looked like she would fall at any minute. The fight couldn’t continue.

So there was only one way to end it.

“I surrender. Surrender.”

I did feel a little bad about the people watching. After all, I had obscured a huge chunk of the fight with my mist, and then it had all ended with a tornado. They had no idea what was happening.

Still, it was our fight. And we got what we wanted from it. It was the perfect stage for our little egoistic fight. I was sure they’d forgive us.

It was with such thoughts in my head, that cheers and shouts poured down on us like rain.