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[Ice Age] huh… The woman called Ice had no such spell. She surely would’ve unleashed it on the arena during the monster extermination round.
Kael seemed to have transcended the intermediate tier of his class – this spell must’ve been an advanced one.
He either understood my confusion or just wanted to boast when he spoke up, “advanced-tier is where magic truly becomes a frightening force to wield. Up until this point, the elements are constricting. You can summon a fireball, but not a fire lance, a fire sphere, a fire square, you get my point. Once you reach the advanced level, your possibilities become limited only by your imagination and your Magic stat. I wonder if Mister Devil was not aware of this fact?” Kael finished his explanation by asking that question mockingly.
I was not, but I’m not going to reply. Instead, I began strategizing. He seemed to be a stationary mage who didn’t invest much into his physical stats, more or less exclusively focusing on the Magic stat. Perhaps I could use the fact that he had no frontliner to act as his bodyguard.
“You’re not very talkative, how boring. No matter.” He scoffed dismissively before aiming his staff at me and stated, “[Ice Barrage].”
Numerous javelins made of ice materialized behind his person as they hovered in the air while their sharp tips were pointed in my direction.
I reacted instantly by activating [Wind Step]. A gust of air surged around my legs, lightening my body and propelling me forward. I jumped down from Harold’s back and sprinted. The basic-tier wind elemental spell kept my movements fluid and steady, letting me run on the frozen terrain faster than I could normally, and without slipping as a bonus.
The barrage followed me relentlessly, each javelin was aimed masterfully. His more than a century of experience with the ice element was already showing itself. His projectiles were precise as if they were homing missiles.
I darted left, narrowly avoiding one that shattered the ground where I’d just been. Shards of ice exploded outward, biting into my skin like tiny knives. Another javelin was shot toward my chest. I twisted my body in mid-air, barely allowing me to evade as the projectile grazed my side.
“Running, Devil? Where’s the prideful Elemental Sovereign I saw during this event? Or are you just a loser who specializes in beating children up? You volunteered for this challenge, thinking me to be a loser, is that right?” His tone was smug, dripping with superiority, as if he already considered this a victory.
His hypocrisy seemingly knew no limits.
“Beating children up? Me?! I’m their age, don’t blame me for being significantly ahead of the curve. But what you, you fucker?! You’re the one who tries to restore your useless honor by beating youngsters up who are a quarter of your age!” I shouted my response annoyedly while running for my life.
I chose to run so that I could properly measure his competence and limits from a safe range. As long as there was this much of a distance between us, I felt confident in having the reaction speed to come up with an answer to his spells due to my high Agility stat.
As for my observation, things weren’t looking good. I think Kael is my first opponent who is over a hundred years of age, and since he was strong enough to participate in the trials a century ago, he was likely a competent wizard even back then. After all, Wizards like him had to digest the [Mystical Elixir of Awakening] before they turned 6 years of age.
For all intents and purposes, I was fighting against a person who’d been training to become an excellent mage since he could walk.
I pushed my body harder as I zigzagged across the frost-covered arena. [Ice Age] must’ve been a mana-costly spell, and his constant barrage should be draining too. However, assuming him to be dumb enough to exhaust his mana reserves was too wishful on my part, evidenced by his next words.
“Heh, if that was your attempt at making me lose my head then try again, kid. I can’t help but notice that you’re truly a hybrid. This is the first time I get to fight someone like you, and you’re already annoying me. How about you remain stationary for a while like a true mage should? [Glacial Chains].”
Despite being a certified yapper, Kael was a truly seasoned combatant. His experience and mastery showed when he smartly used the moment I was in mid-air to dodge one of his javelins to summon tendrils made of ice which restrained me.
I had to free myself swiftly or my Phenom Trials would end here. To that effect, I used my fire spells one after the other. “[Flame Cloak], [Burning Hands], [Inferno Blast]”
To my horror, the element I thought would serve as a great counter to ice was rather useless. The chains started melting, but very slowly. I couldn’t free myself before getting my body plugged full of javelins.
Were my fire spells just weak? Was this the difference between our Magic stats? I only had a little over a 100, if he heavily invested in Magic, he could be at around 200.
I intended on not investing my 10 Free Attribute Points due to fear of an observant person noticing me having leveled up twice in a row, but I couldn’t afford to hesitate in this case for something that had such a minuscule chance of occurring. Even if they noticed it, I could just say that I was hoarding the points from before because I was undecided about which stat I wanted to invest in.
With everyone knowing that I was a weirdo hybrid mage, that explanation should make a lot of sense.
After leveling to 26, my stats were as such:
[Health Points: 1181]
[Mana Points: 1556]
[Vitality: 79]
[Strength: 68]
[Agility: 80]
[Magic: 104]
I didn’t feel confident in my ability to outmanouver him if I put all my 10 points into Agility. Due to him having reached the advanced tier of spells, he could come up with many counters.
Instead, I intended to give myself a better chance by fighting him as an Elemental Sovereign.
[Magic: 104 -> 116]
(A/N: A bigger than 10 increase is due to Primordial Villain’s 25% boost to all stats)
I glanced in Kael’s direction and saw numerous projectiles zooming in my direction as if they were in slow-mo. I only had a second left.
“[Pyroclasm Burst]!” I intoned my spell with the biggest firepower.
A surge of fiery energy erupted from within me and the frozen ground trembled as flames exploded outward in a searing wave, melting the glacial chains that bound me in place. Steam hissed into the air as the intense heat ate away at the ice, freeing my limbs from their frozen prison.
The nearby javelins that were aimed at me went off of their intended trajectory due to the resulting blast.
However, I couldn’t help but come to the harrowing realization that even this mighty spell which was even further boosted by my 116 Magic stat, was not enough to melt the ice away from the ground beneath me. Hell, even the javelins were still intact, they were just thrown off their course and thus missed me.
What else could counter ice if not fire?