Though I could sense her by the mana fluctuations, I couldn’t actually see her yet, as there was a hill between her and me. As I was approaching though, her thinner illusory form blinked into existence in front of me, blocking my path.
“Why did you call me out here?” I asked without hesitation.
“The duke wishes to meet with you,” she said in her annoyingly high-pitched voice.
I snorted in disbelief. “Out here? Yeah, right.”
“Oh, but he does,” said the illusion, smiling. “But earlier at the Ball, you mentioned that you would be interested in learning from me. I thought that this would be the perfect time to give you a little lesson before we go see him.”
“A lesson, huh?” I said, raising my eyebrow. “Is this about what I said at the ball? I was being honest though. Keeping [Levitate] up for so long holding so much weight is truly impressive. I’d love to learn more about how-”
“Silence!” the illusion shrieked.
“That illusion spell you were using was impressive too,” I continued. “I had a little question about it though. What do you do when people get too close to you and bump into your fat? Or do you just-”
“Shut up!” she said, using sound magic to amplify her voice. “It seems you need a lesson on manners as well! Has no one ever taught you to respect your betters?!”
Suddenly, I was surrounded by a tight shell of mana, completely restricting my movements. I recognized it as [Hold Person], and started probing at it with my own mana. My findings were… confusing. It was noticeably weaker than my own version of the same spell. Of course, I had the advantage of increased stats, but she was still a level 100. Even if I had doubled stats, my [Hold Person] shouldn’t have been that much better than hers.
“I have no respect for someone who can’t even walk without magical assistance,” I said calmly.
The phantom’s face was filled with fury for a moment, before it was replaced with a wicked grin. “Don’t worry. You won’t die,” she trilled. “As long as you don’t resist, that is. If you do, well… I might not have a choice.”
She held out her hand, and I felt fire mana start to coalesce above it shortly before a small fireball appeared. The mana and heat continued to increase until the ball was white-hot, but it still wasn’t quite enough to concern me. She was probably going easy on me, so as not to kill me.
“As you can see, this is a fireball,” she said. “However, it has a bit more power than an ordinary fireball. By taking the time to condense my mana, I can pack a lot more power into the same size package. Unfortunately, it runs a bit hot. I need to protect myself from the heat with a shield spell when I use it. This one is a bit weaker than my normal one, since we’re so far from my body, but it should be enough for a beginner archmage like yourself to get the idea.”
The illusion started walking toward me, holding out the ball of fire toward my still immobile shoulder.
“Now, this may hurt a little bit, but I hear you’re a vampire, so this should be no problem to heal.”
I watched the ball of fire approach me with a bored expression, still not bothering to break out of my bindings. What she was doing was cruel, but I was more disappointed in her than angry. Had she really underestimated me that much? When the ball was a few feet from me, I finally made my move, casting a powerful wave of [Dispel] outwards from my body. In an instant, the fireball, the illusion, and the binding spell were all gone. Before she had time to remanifest them, I cast [Teleport] and appeared a few feet in front of her real body.
The fat woman had another illusion over her body in a futile attempt to hide her bulging circus tent of a dress. She had dropped all pretense of walking, and was hovering a few feet off the ground, her inflated legs dangling uselessly below her.
The moment I appeared in front of her, she flew backwards a few dozen feet in surprise.
“Ah, I see you managed to escape,” she said, trying to maintain her composure. “You’re not quite as weak as I thought you were.”
“I could have broken out of that at level 50,” I said, staring at her incredulously. “And that little display with the fireball? Seriously? Was that supposed to scare me? Are you an idiot?”
“Arrogant brat!” she shouted. “I was just starting out soft, to make sure you weren’t as faint of heart as you looked! Now’s when the real lesson begins!”
She raised her arms– well, her illusion did at least– and I felt mana start to gather in points all around me. For the first time since meeting her, I was legitimately impressed. The sheer number of [Magic Missile]’s she was conjuring was beyond what I could do, even with multiple casts of [Magic Missile Barrage]. At least before I got [Multispell]. She must have gotten the same metamagic skill. The power of each missile though was… lacking.
I conjured up a single [Hex Shield], but then thought back to the Baladan incident, and conjured a second one just in case. With [Hex Shield] higher level and my [Intelligence] being much higher now, my shields were now much more flexible, and had many more hexagons. They were still not quite as small as a bee’s honeycombs yet like Natalya’s were, but they were only two inches across, and there were thousands of them.
My initial instincts to only conjure a single shield ended up being correct, as none of the missiles ended up breaking through the first one. I was a bit regretful about the wasted mana used in the second cast, but I had so much [Willpower] that it was just a drop in the bucket compared to my overall mana pool. I didn’t have much time to regret though, because just as the last of the missiles broke uselessly against my shield, I sensed a huge amount of Earth mana below my feet.
I used [Blink] and teleported out of the way, and a split second later, a dozen earthen spikes shot out of the ground where I had been standing.
“I thought you said you weren’t going to kill me,” I said.
“I knew you’d survive that,” she replied nastily.
I sensed another bout of Earth mana welling up at my feet again, and tried to [Blink] away again, only to have my spatial spell be disrupted by her interference. I had a brief moment of indecision before leaping into the air and simultaneously reaching into the ground with [Earth Manipulation] to disrupt her spell. Unlike with Spatial magic, which was more complex, Earth spells were often difficult to disrupt, due to their simplicity. However, I still tried anyways, as I was curious to see how difficult it would be to stop a level 100 archmage’s spell.
The contest between our [Willpower]’s didn’t last long before, to my surprise, I won. The ground shook slightly, and the dirt was disturbed, but no spikes appeared.
“H-how?!” exclaimed Beatrice, backing away from me again in shock.
I did some quick calculations, made even quicker by my high [Intelligence]. An [Archmage] received 30 free stats every level in addition to 30 to [Int] and [Wil]. Assuming she was a mage her whole life, and she split her free stats evenly between [Wil] and [Int], she should have had more [Willpower] than me. Even if she didn’t put any of her free stats into [Wil], we still should have been close. Instead I had overpowered her easily. That meant that not only did she not put any of her free stats into [Wil], but that her class prior to [Archmage] must have been pretty bad.
“You moron!” I responded. “You heard I was a vampire. Don’t you know what that means? Doubled stats!”
“W-what?” she said, a look of fear appearing for the first time.
“And you didn’t put any of your free stats into [Willpower], did you?” seeing her fear deepen, I knew I had been right. “You’d think that with so much more [Intelligence], you would be a bit smarter.”
With that, it was my turn to go on the offensive. I hadn’t gotten a chance to test out [Multispell] yet, so I decided to mimic her, and cast as many [Magic Missile Barrage]’s as I could. Before [Multispell], I could cast up to 7 different spells at once. [Multispell] tripled that. I cast 6 copies of the spell around her, saving the last bit of my focus to disrupt her if she tried to [Blink] away. The number of magic missiles floating around her was at least double what she had conjured against me.
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Just as I predicted, she tried to [Blink] away, so I disrupted it, and she immediately set to casting as many [Hex Shield]’s as she could, just in time for my missiles to crash into them. She had a dozen layers of shielding around her when the first missile hit, but by the time the last one landed, there was only one full one left, and a few shattered pieces of the others.
I checked my HUD and winced at seeing that nearly half my [MP] was gone. No wonder she hadn’t tried to [Magic Missile Barrage] at me again. It had been worth it though, as between her own [Magic Missile Barrage], her shields, and her spikes, she was probably running low on her own [MP].
As if to prove my thoughts, as soon as she saw that there were no more missiles, she immediately started flying away back towards the city. Since she was always using them, her [Fly] and [Levitate] skills were higher than mine, so she should have been faster, but because she weighed so much, she was not. I caught up to her easily, and when I was a few feet away from her, I cast [Dispel] again, canceling her illusion and her flight spells. She only fell a few feet before reactivating the flight spell, but left the illusion spell undone, exposing her true self to the world.
I started casting [Water Blade] at her, aiming for glancing blows. She blocked the first few, but her [MP] must have been running dangerously low, because once she realized where I was aiming, she stopped, and one got through, leaving a thin red line on her flabby shoulder that soon began dripping blood. She must have thought that if she got back to the city, she would be safe even if she were cut up a bit. That was her mistake.
I used [Hemokinesis] to gather the dripping blood from her wound and siphoned it straight into my mouth. I almost spat it out, because it was so overly sweet, but I managed to force it down, and was rewarded with a System prompt.
[Create Thrall] lvl 15
Current Thralls: 6
Available Thrall Slots: 9
You have consumed the blood of [Human] Beatrice. Would you like to add a Thrall?
[Yes]
[No]
Yes, I thought. And immediately, Beatrice dropped like a rock.
“Float!” I commanded.
Her fall stopped abruptly, as the mindlessly obedient woman cast [Levitate].
“Slowly descend to the ground,” I said, and she did so. I knew she was low on [MP] and didn’t want my newest, most powerful Thrall dying from a fall.
With Beatrice safely back on the ground, I looked back at my new System notifications.
You have survived an ambush from a powerful opponent! You have gained a large amount of exp!
[Archmage] lvl 6 -> 69
[Create Thrall] lvl 15 -> 48
I temporarily ignored my free stat points and instead brought up Beatrice’s status window, something I had discovered I could do one night while bored and fiddling with the [Create Thrall] skill. After skimming it for a few moments, I laughed and then flew down to stand in front of Beatrice. I switched the control type to geas, and watched the life return to her eyes as she fell over backwards and started crawling away from me.
“Don’t move,” I said, and she stopped.
“P-please. Mercy,” she squealed.
“Ha!” I said. “Mercy? After you tried to kill me?”
“I-I never wanted to kill you. Just- just scare you a bit. That’s all, I swear!”
“Yeah, right,” I scoffed. “I know you’re a liar. I’m looking at your status window right now.” She tried her best to shrink away from me, but unfortunately remained the same size. “You’re only level 94, and you’ve been telling people that you were level 100? The strongest non-elf archmage? You lost to someone who’s only been training for half a decade! Don’t lie to me anymore.”
She whimpered and trembled, but didn’t say anything else.
“Tell me. Why should I give you mercy?” I said.
“I didn’t-” she started to say. “I wasn’t-” She started visibly panicking when she wasn’t able to lie. “I can be useful to you!”
“Correct,” I said, nodding. “At least you’re not completely stupid. By the way, are you using some kind of artifact or implant to change your voice?”
“N-no?” she squeaked, confused.
“Damn. I didn’t think it was possible to have a voice that annoying without trying.”
I smiled as I saw the pain in her eyes.
“Maybe it would be cute if you were smaller. I’m pretty sure some guys are into that sort of thing. Too bad you’re…” I gestured vaguely to her body, which was spread out on the ground like a puddle of slime. A tear rolled down her cheek.
“Awwww, did that hurt,” I said in a falsely sympathetic voice. “Good. I’m a little disappointed that that's all it took, though. I guess I should have known. You’re clearly insecure. It looks like you even put all your free stats into [Charisma]. I wonder how much [Charisma] it would actually take to counteract that, though.” I gestured vaguely at her again. “At least one point per pound, right? Maybe 2? So at 600 right now, you’re still at least 100 points short, as a conservative estimate.”
Tears were flowing freely by that point, and I was finding it difficult not to smile. I had disabled [Greater Disguise] for the battle, not wanting to waste any [MP], so my fangs were on full display, which hopefully added to her fear.
“That’s enough of that for now. After all, you were only trying to scare me, right? Now, I’ve scared you, so we’re even!” A glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes. “Unfortunately, even if we’re even, the duke won’t see it that way. I’ll have to go talk to him to sort things out. Take me to him, and then I’ll call it good.”
“I-I can teleport us directly into his castle!” she said energetically.
“No. We’re walking,” I said.
“B-but-” she started.
“No ‘but’s,” I said. Then laughed when I realized that she was now under a geas not to say ‘but.’
“B-” she tried to say. “B-. At least let me recharge my [MP] a bit first.”
“No,” I responded with a smile. “I said we were walking. If you recharge your [MP], you’ll just float there. That’s not walking.”
“B- I need my disguise though,” she pleaded.
“No disguises either. In fact, no disguises ever again. For the rest of your life, you must live without hiding your true form.”
She looked at me with horror. “You said we were even!”
“We are. I’m helping you. You’ll never be able to form real relationships if you hide yourself from everyone. I’m doing this for your own good.”
“B-”
“Stand up!” I shouted.
“Please!” she begged. “It will only take a few minutes!”
“No. The duke summoned me, didn’t he? We can’t keep him waiting. What happened to your manners?” I shook my head in mock disappointment. “Now get- Oh wait. You may move now. Alright, now get up.”
“I-I can’t,” she said after struggling for a few seconds.
“You were standing just fine a few minutes ago.”
“I-I can’t!” she wailed.
I sighed. “Well, there’s only one thing to do now,” I said.
Using [Earth Manipulation], I quickly crafted a large stone hand-cart around her, raising her off the ground.
“Activate [Archmage’s Aura],” I commanded her.
“Please! No!” she said.
“Do not disobey me.”
[Pride] has nullified [Archmage]’s [Archmage’s Aura] skill
“Now, let’s go!” I said, pushing her back towards the city (with some help from [Telekinesis]).
“Nooooo!!” she cried.
Although it was after midnight, the city streets were still lively and full of Spring Festival revelers, just as I had hoped. Beatrice wept openly as people stopped to gape at us as I pushed her through the streets. I had disguised myself with a hooded cloak, that covered my face completely. Though anyone higher up would eventually learn that it was me, I didn’t need all the commoners seeing me publicly humiliate someone who was like a celebrity to them.
Occasionally, I would ask Beatrice for directions to the castle, despite knowing the way already, just so I could watch her cry harder when I ‘accidentally’ made a wrong turn, extending our little parade. After nearly an hour of detours through the most crowded streets I could find, we finally made it to the castle. The guards at the gate lowered their spears when they saw us.
“State your identity!” said one of them.
I sensed a mana signal sent from one of the other guards leading back to the castle as he spoke. They had probably never seen Beatrice without her disguised, and didn’t recognize her, so they sent to the castle for backup against the distraught archmage, and the mysterious person who had managed to subdue them.
I leaned over and whispered into the obese archmage’s ear. “Go on, Beatrice. Tell the guards who we are and why we’re here.”
“Ar-archmage Beatrice a-and Archmage L-Lucille here o-on the summons o-of the d-duke."