So what do I do? He must be immune to any magic attack. I don't know how he achieved this, but it was consistent with what was in front of my eyes. Attacks that did not use magic still worked, but these attacks were to a high degree neutralized by his powerful ice armor. You cannot beat high-level characters without magic-powered attacks!

Well... who said this? Really not possible? Let me try a trick to make him bleed.

As I tried to get near him, he teleported away to keep his distance; however, I followed him with a > against a stone column nearby and fastened up with a direct kick against his side. Much faster this time. I used no magic; it was just a solid kick that sent him flying against an NPC sales booth.

All NPCs have left the area, abandoning their sales booth to save their sore lives, but the poor blokes will have some trouble gathering their goods after the gnome finishes his flying hours with me crushing and dispersing their various fruits and boots.

Shit, a boots store!? Fuck! I haven't seen this one!

Before he managed to do anything, I kicked him again, sending him anew flying, and then hooked up with two oranges to the face.

This fucker must be ten levels below me. OK, maybe not ten but at least several. Where does his tremendous firepower come from?

I had to spell again > to get rid of the fucking ice spreading over my legs. It pains as much as frostbite would pain. At least, thanks to the pain, I do not forget to say my neutralizing spell.

He screamed angrily, cleaning his face and spelled another ice explosion spell. I thought he would try it; it was a good guess as I'd already hidden behind a column the moment before.

I was giving myself brownie points for having guessed his next spell. You have to know how these mages think: he will try to freeze me, to stop me from moving, and the best is the ice explosion. However, now he must have at least some 30 seconds cooldown on the spell.

A cat and mouse fight ensued. I, using my bare fists and non-magic boots, hitting and kicking like a kick-boxer, he, shooting ice bolts and fire bolts, and now and then an ice explosion.

Unfortunately, I do not do much damage this way. Not against his strong ice armor. At least it works; I do some damage and keep him busy.

His ice armor protects almost all parts of his body; he has even over his face a transparent, practically invisible cover; however, a hit is a hit, and he flies each time like a crash dummy. That must be at least uncomfortable.

Good that I have my >. It turns on automatically when I take repeated damage of one type, gradually reducing it.

Yeah, but I am not sure how much this reduction counts against these fucking bolts. I managed to push his hand away, and the bolt he shot missed me. One bolt I may survive, but two… Well maybe. Better not risk any.

Now to my trick. Well, it's not really a trick. I cannot use my katars, daggers, swords, or any weapons with additional enchanted spell damage. The only sharp non-magic items I have are a knife and a fork from my cutlery. I decided to use the knife. I could try to use my fork too, but I think the blade is better.

I got an excellent occasion as he had a stone column behind him. I sent him flying with a kick; he hit the column damn hard and came back almost as a ball would do. His ice armor worked this time against him, too strong to crack, elastic enough to send him back. Now I followed with a hit to his face. The knife passed perfectly in the narrow slit of his armor and struck his eye. He screamed viciously, and for a short moment, I thought I could see a path to my victory. OK, he might have some scrolls or heal-potions, but I will continue to chase him and renew his wounds.

His ice explosion was in cooldown, but he used the arcane nova spell.

I did not expect that.

This is a fucking weak low-level spell that can be used to burn mosquitoes around the mage unless one specializes in arcane magic, and he was no arcane magic specialist.

However, in his case, the effect was tremendous. It threw me away with heavy arcane burns on my skin. OK, one can make the point that I was the annoying mosquito.

It was worse than the fireball before. This fucking arcane magic passes through armor and attacks the skin directly.

Due to the blast, I flew several meters through the air, but it was not the hit against the wall that pained me but the burns all over. It must be second-degree burns over half of my body. The pain exceeded everything I had endured before. I never thought I would have to take this much pain in a game. This is not real; it is not real!!

I rolled, sent another dispersion cloud to hide my presence, and jumped high on a column. Before the cloud dissipated, I grasped some ornaments from the stone pillar and fixed my feet in a crack of the ceiling, getting myself in a fixed position under the tiled roof in less than a second.

I whispered the spell > and camouflage covered me.

The position was draining, but I could keep it for hours if needed. I gritted my teeth and concentrated on not screaming, trying to ignore my pain.

He was raging, jumping from place to place and sending nova explosions after nova explosions and screaming:

“No mercy! No mercy! Come to me if you dare! Coward!”

I was breathing hard, assessing the situation: The obvious truth was that he had been toying with me until now. This arcane blasting would have made it impossible for me to come near him, and he seems to be able to blast as much as he wants. Fuck.

I have no good attacks from a distance. What? Throw my knife and fork at him? That's why I have Alice for long-ranged attacks. She would burn his ass continuously. Fuck. I do not have my Alice anymore. Only the thought pained me more than I imagined it would.

He started to blast the whole area systematically. Sooner or later, he'll get me, even if I stay hidden. Alice's resurrection time is running out. My crossbow is not good enough for this situation, I would be slower than he is at shooting, and my damage would be low to non-existent.

If my eating knife had been at least six to seven centimeters longer, it could have reached into his damned brain. That comes close to fatal wounds, isn't it? But that needs a perfect execution, a lot of power, and luck. Maybe more power than I have in my hands, as it is a non-magic weapon.

Dark thoughts of revenge flooded my brain. I'll stalk you and kill you, eliminate you, vaporize you…

Keep cool, Dolores. I need to keep a cool head.

I should go for the jugular. I think that is my only chance. If I push his head with one hand, that might make enough room for my knife to enter between the joints of his ice armor. His ice armor is like metal armor, not even an evolved ice armor, but with tremendous power behind the spell.

He stopped and drank a healing potion.

This is my moment.

I said my > spell, covering the market with dark fog.

It is one of my strongest spells, ideal in such situations.

I stood still for the next 10-15 seconds. He sent arcane blasts and then suddenly the ice explosion. He tried to time it for the moment when he thought I would attack him. Only now, I ran at him to plant my knife in his jugular. He was still sending arcane blasts, but I had to risk another blast to hit his jugular.

That's when I stepped into the trap. After the moment I said darkness, he had thrown traps around him. I should have thought about such a possibility, but this is no typical mage move. He must have a hunter friend, and both must have powered the spells in the traps.

I tried > before the ice froze completely. Too late, it succeeded but only partially. I could unfreeze me and one foot, but one foot remained block-frozen.

Repeating the spell will not help as it was no longer magic holding my foot but a hard block of ice.

He heard me and blasted me again.

I am in a dangerous area with my life points now; I must be looking like a zombie, and he'll finish me with the next blast. I feel like having passed through a harvester-thresher.

I tried to break free. Damn trap! I thought about cutting off my foot, but even for this, I'll need time with this blunt, not magically enhanced knife. I still have some 10 seconds of darkness. Until I exchanged my weapon, he found me; he needed just one step to see me.

He looked at my dejected appearance:

“You lost the fight; accept or die!”

Instinctively, I tried to interrupt him with >, but it did not work. Sure, it is a magic attack. His wand charged blue with the next powerful ice spell. I am dead. I am done. Defeated.

Damn, this should not be allowed in town! Even duels are forbidden in protected towns. Besides, he is too strong; this was not normal? What the hell? I'll go straight to the official channel to complain after this. I'll spam the official channel with this until they quarantine his char. They need to apologize for this; I always have the game logs running, I know it takes a lot of space, but it is very precious in such cases. No cheating with me.

“O.K. I lost!”

Once I said this word, an iron chain formed around my neck.

We'll meet inside the official channel for this, you bastard!.

My Cala raised her hands in submission and put a knee to the ground.