Anna continued to be in a daze as the previous fight replayed in her mind continuously. It was simply… absurd.
She felt a trickle of sweat drip down her forehead as she involuntarily gazed at Rob’s sleeping figure. That final blow, that intense slam against Leo Regulus’ face, caused excitement and awe to fill her heart.
Is he really… that good? How did he even do that? He’s just an apprentice mage! Was it a fluke?!
As she struggled to accept the results of that fight, she was broken out of her trance as she heard Corine Windsoar shout, “Annabeth Auburn, get up on stage!”
It’s my turn already?!
Cold sweat broke out of her back as she instinctively tensed up. Even if she technically did live in this world for a long time already, and had experienced combat training under her tutors and instructors, she still felt nervousness bubble inside her.
“What a greenhorn!” a voice chortled from the side, causing her to freeze for a moment as she looked down at the unmoving statue beside her.
“You prick! I’ll show you that I’m no greenhorn!” she clicked her tongue and stood up in a hurry. Then, she kicked Rob’s legs and proceeded to run up the stairs and walked up onto the stage in her anger.
But, she soon realized what she just did as her eyes interlocked with a pair of strange golden eyes, with pupils in the shape of golden circles.
The boy in front of her had dark skin and fluffy white hair. His golden eyes held a deep luster to them full of wisdom and brilliance. He was of average height, and had a slim figure, allowing her to gain some shallow insights.
A mage? Hmm, he should be Melvin Dolton, the heir to the Earl Dolton household! I heard he’s highly talented in Wood Magic and is already a quasi-Mage! Still, I’m specialized in Fire Magic, and the gap between an apprentice mage and a quasi-Mage isn’t that big! I still have a chance to win!
As she pumped herself up for the incoming fight, Melvin Dolton had an aloof and relaxed attitude as he thought to himself, Annabeth Auburn, the child of the Marquess Auburn Household. She’s skilled in Fire Magic, which does counter my Wood Magic, but she’s nothing more than a novice.
With a confident grin, Melvin Dolton cupped his fists and said, “Let’s have a good fight, Miss Auburn.”
“Just call me Anna, Mister Dolton!” she chuckled and waved both of her hands to the side, forming two wisps of bright orange flames.
“Well, let’s get started!” Corine Windsoar clapped both of her hands, and the healers on the sides prepared themselves to help at a moment’s notice to not have another Regulus situation happen.
Anna pushed both of her hands forward, launching two arrows of bright orange flames, but Melvin was as calm as ever and simply walked forward while leaning slightly to the side, dodging the two fiery arrows by mere inches.
Huh? He dodged that?!
As she panicked because of the rapidly closing distance, Melvin felt slight pity for her and inwardly sighed, This fight is just too unfair. She’s up against me, someone who has been given the blessing of Samsara. Hmm, I’ll hold back so she won’t get too humiliated.
Deciding to be a gentleman, Melvin purposefully used less mana than he usually would and extended out his hand, creating a long winding wooden branch to erupt out of his open palm toward Anna.
She reacted quickly, leaping to the side and waving her hand to form an arc of flames, sacrificing attack power for a larger range. It was a simple spell that lacked finesse, but it gets the job done.
The flames soon covered the long wooden branch and were well on their way to burn Melvin Dolton, but he wasn’t someone dumb enough to let it reach him and simply let the wooden branch fall to the ground, allowing it to burn into bright flames.
Heh! It’s time for me to counterattack!
Using the flames burning on the long branch beside her, Anna waved her hand and gathered the flames into one large ball in between her two palms. She then clenched both of her fists and waved her hands forward, forming two long whips of bright orange flames that launched toward Melvin Dolton.
Against this strong attack, Melvin Dolton chuckled and pointed forward at the charred branch beside Annabeth Auburn, and said calmly, “Are you forgetting about the branch?”
Oh no!
Before she can even react, the branch beside her moved on its own, and a long wooden spike erupted out of nowhere and pierced her left arm, near her tricep, causing her to lose focus and dispel the whip of flames.
That should render her left arm useless. Still, she has enough mobility to move around, and her right arm is still useable if she wants to cast spells similar to a flame whip.
Let’s see how you’ll handle this situation, Annabeth Auburn!
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
With the overall situation under his control, Melvin Dolton wore an eccentric smile and let Anna get over the pain and didn’t attack in the process.
“Fuu…” She breathed out and let the blood flow drown her hand, gritting her teeth in the process as she stared at Melvin Dolton with a grateful gaze.
“Are you ready?” He asked as he held two spheres of wood, one in each hand.
“Mmm!” Anna nodded her head and extended out her moveable right hand, forming a simple fire arrow.
With her current mana reserve, she was only left with just a bit over half, and would soon exhaust herself. On the other hand, Melvin Dolton still has over 75% of his mana left, and can still use a wide variety of spells to deal with her.
He’s clearly not using his full strength, and allowing me to gain combat experience. Hmph, he’s miles better than that prick! I definitely won’t forget about this favor, Melvin Dolton!
She began to think, analyzing her strong points and whatever advantage she could take hold of. He’s clearly skilled in long-range attacks, and my flame magic is of superior offense. I can use wider attacks while having higher firepower overall. If I get to launch an attack on him, then I can bridge the gap between our mana reserves and get the chance to win!
With the simple plan in mind, Anna began to rush forward as a lump of bright orange flame gathered in the palm of her head. In front of her, Melvin Dolton smiled and launched the two wooden spheres he held in his mind forward.
Hmph! She snorted inside her head and swung her right hand forward, dispersing the gathered flame into a wide arc. Offense was the best defense in this situation since Fire Magic isn’t that great when it comes to defensive spells at earlier levels.
Following right behind the wall of flames, Anna swiftly bridges the gap between her and Melvin Dolton, and once she does, her chances of winning would skyrocket!
Melvin Dolton grinned as a new wooden sphere appeared in his hand. It’s clear as day as to why you’re approaching me. Annabeth Auburn, you still have a lot of growing up to do if you want to defeat me!
The charred wooden balls falling to the ground beside Anna soon shook, but Anna already experienced this and was prepared to dodge any sudden attacks.
Melvin of course knew this and used his simple understanding of Anna’s mind to his complete advantage. Instead of shooting out a spike, a third wooden came flying out of nowhere and an emerald green vine whipped out at extreme speeds, lashing at her left calf. Since she was focused on the wood on the ground, she wasn’t able to notice the third one that came from the front.
“Hiss…!” she widened her eyes and moved her gaze away from the two balls, and instead stared at the third wooden ball still flying through the air toward her with a long whip extending out of it.
She was about to launch an attack at it, but a numbing sensation spread out of her left calf out onto her entire left leg, causing her to lose balance in the process and almost knelt down on the ground if not for her regaining balance at the last moment.
“Ha!” she shouted out loudly and waved her right hand, forming a burst of bright orange flames, engulfing the wooden ball flying toward her and burning the whip to a crisp.
“Well…” Melvin shook his head and sighed to himself. He then shrugged his shoulders, and said, “That’s checkmate.”
Melvin’s simple plan worked like a charm, using only a bit of his mana to launch two wooden spheres. It was a simple and crude attack, a wall of flame would easily counter that spell, and Anna did do just that.
Then, by shaking those wooden spheres by a bit, he grabbed most of Annabeth Auburn’s attention, dragging her eyes away from his third attack. Then, using that flaw, launched a devastating blow by coating the vine whip in paralyzing spores, immobilizing her left leg entirely.
Of course, he could have not shown mercy and paralyzed something more important like her entire torso or attacked her head, but Melvin wasn’t that cruel.
Now, the final part of his plan was coming to fruition. Just like the last wooden branch, the two charred wooden spheres that were a bit too close to Anna’s body started to shake intensely.
Bang!
The two charred wooden spheres erupted with terrifying might, splintering into countless wooden shards that pierced through Anna’s flesh and bore deep into her skin, causing her to widen her eyes in pain and fall down to the ground with a loud cry of pain.
“Ah!” she cried out and lied down on the cold concrete floor. Her eyes were tearing up from the pain, with blood flowing out from her body from the numerous splinters of wood, all the while the numbness from her left leg spread out to her other leg and even her torso.
It was a complete and utter defeat no matter how one looked at it.
Her mana reserves reached a pitiful 35%, while Melvin still had plenty of mana to spare.
The fight was, in a way, an eye-opening experience for her.
It was simply too complex, and even a tiny mistake like having her attention on something else for a split second, lead her to this sad predicament. Looking back at it, she could see just how much mercy Melvin Dolton gave her so she wasn’t utterly humiliated.
Fucking hell, I’m either complete trash or Melvin is a monster! The difference in strength between us isn’t that large, and my Fire Magic completely counters his Wood Magic, yet I’m utterly defeated!
Then, just how terrifying is that asshole? Leo Regulus is a quasi-Grand Knight, yet he defeated him so casually and so easily. Even Melvin shouldn’t be able to do so with such ease.
As her mind wandered amidst the pain and suffering, Corine Windsoar clapped happily from her seat and praised, “Good job, Melvin Dolton, I didn’t expect your mastery in Wood Magic to be this great already. You used those wooden spheres to allow your Wood Magic’s stronger close combat spells vine whip or wood spikes to deal with the problem of distance, and even used them to distract Annabeth Auburn from multiple fronts! It was truly a terrific display of combat and magic!”
“Also, Annabeth Auburn, you shouldn’t be too sad. You displayed wonderful skill in magic, above average even compared to the rest of the class, but Melvin Dolton here simply has much more mana to use, and greater combat experience.”
“With enough time, you can also be like him, and perhaps even one day defeat him with your Fire Magic being a natural counter to Wood Magic!”
“Good job, you two, now healers, please help the two here while we wait for the next contestants.”
Huh, so I did well? But this Melvin Dolton guy sure is tough.
“H-Hey…” Anna called out weakly while raising her bloody head from the ground, causing Melvin to stop in his tracks and look back at her with a smile.
“What is it, Miss Auburn?” Melvin smiled aloofly.
“If… you and that asshole were to fight, would you win?” Anna asked weakly, her eyes shining with bright light full of anger and hope.
“Well…” Melvin paused, his previous aloofness gone for a split second before returning to normal. “In terms of raw power, I’d be higher, but overall, if I were to be put in a cage and had to fight against him, I’d be destroyed without a fighting chance at all!”
Annabeth Auburn stared at him with clear disbelief. He didn’t even say a slim chance, he straight up said it was impossible for him to wind. “Well, damn.”
“Reality really is unfair by allowing this villain to win.”