༺ Duel (1) ༻
-Crash!
The clash of our abilities caused a loud reverberation throughout the stadium. Smoke enveloped the two of us.
-Whoosh
However, it was his [Mana Control] that won our battle. Numerous spears continued to fly at me.
I immediately used a skill to parry all of the incoming mana spears.
Or, more accurately, I attempted to parry.
“Die.”
-Boom!
Before I could parry them away, the spears exploded with a guttural noise, directly striking me.
“Si-woo?!”
Through the explosions, I could hear Seo-ah’s voice.
Ah, dammit. She’ll definitely nag me later.
“I’m okay, so don’t worry.”
I reassured Seo-ah, as I hadn’t taken a direct hit from that attack.
“You used a skill to reduce the damage you took in that span of time? How impressive.”
“Thanks for the compliment, asshole.”
I used [Lesser Telekinesis] to try to redirect the explosion, but it still hurt.
I could still hold on.
Park Ki-yeol used his skill again, as if the first attack was only the beginning.
This time, at least 60 spears were aimed at me.
‘Yeah, he needs to be at least this strong.’
It still wasn’t enough compared to the power I felt when I faced that bastard.
I had become much stronger since, but it still wasn’t enough.
If I couldn’t defeat this guy, I wouldn’t be able to protect anyone in the future.
For that reason, I moved with intent.
But this time, I changed the target of my skill.
“What are you doing?”
I cast it toward the arena floor, resulting in a mass of smoke that covered our surroundings.
It would only be for a moment, but I could block his eyesight.
And using that brief moment of invisibility, I activate my [Stealth] skill.
If I had used it normally, he would be able to track me down even if I was invisible.
‘I won’t be able to use this for long.’
I had noticed this before, but the mana cost of this skill was too high. The longest I could use it without running out of mana was one minute.
-Slice!
I quickly closed the distance between us so as not to give him time to pinpoint my location.
In addition, I cast two more skills.
Using my sword as a medium, I combined two of my skills on my blade. A normal attack wouldn’t even injure a 4th stage Awakener.
“…Gah!”
Park Ki-yeol let out a groan as the blade cut through him.
However, it was only a flesh wound. It would likely not prove decisive.
As if proving my theory true, he continued casting.
As a sword made of condensed mana appeared, he grabbed onto it firmly.
-Slash!
Within moments, he struck directly at me.
“This crazy bastar-“
-Crash!
It was no ordinary attack.
The strike was accompanied by a storm of mana exploding in the direction of his slash.
If it landed, it would tear my body to shreds instantly.
‘This damn overpowered skill!’
I had already known it was overpowered, but facing off against it, that realization hit even harder.
There were likely more destructive skills that were also A-class, but the utility of his skill was far too good.
It was a skill that actualized mana in the shape one desired. You could summon a spear when you wanted to increase your single-target damage or force it to explode when you wanted to do damage in a vast area.
I could see why some people would only use Mana Control.
‘I just have to copy that skill.’
Instead of being discouraged by the display of power, I was ecstatic. I would win regardless and take that skill away from him.
That single goal dominated my thoughts.
First, I used the [Large Explosion] skill to block the attack. This time, it was an AoE attack that didn’t have much penetrating power.
‘I don’t have time to use any other skill.’
Every moment was dangerous, and the risk was too high to be experimenting with my skills.
Even now, I wasn’t even sure if this skill would stop his attack.
In addition, he seemed to be very happy with this situation.
“Got you.”
Park Ki-Yeol smiled as I blocked the attack with [Large Explosion].
As I felt a large flow of mana around me, more attacks formed.
-Crash!
All the spears he had made earlier rained down on me.
‘How is it that none of the skills I copied have an agility buff…!’
I couldn’t dodge the attack with pure stats alone. What was worse, none of the skills I had duplicated provided me with any stat boosts.
Therefore, I had no other choice.
Instead of using the skill to block the attack, I would use it on myself.
-Boom!
I felt intense pain and impact, but I was able to flee.
“…You used your own explosion to dodge the attack?”
I avoided being struck by his mana spears, but that was not all.
“Try this, asshole.”
I flew toward him using the power of the explosion.
I may not be as strong as him, but by utilizing the resulting shock wave from the explosion, my strike became more lethal.
-Clang
Our swords clashed with great force.
“Just because I’m a magic professor, you believe you can beat me in swordsmanship. How arrogant.”
“Of course I can beat you with my swordsmanship.”
As our blades flashed, explosions continued to occur.
-Clang
-Clang
-Crash
The frequency of those clashes continued to increase.
And as time went on, someone began to take clear advantage…
“This doesn’t make any sense…!”
“Oh yes, it does.”
…It was me.
He was faster and stronger, but when it came down to pure swordsmanship, I held the advantage.
‘Of course, I’d win.’
Having survived by fighting tooth and nail while I was level 1, I couldn’t imagine ever losing a duel when it came to swordsmanship.
-Stab
I attempted a stab, knowing a slash wouldn’t do sufficient damage.
It was a method that wasted slightly more movement but was certain to do damage.
However, it failed.
-Clash!
The sound I heard was not the sound of someone being stabbed, but rather the sound of my blade hitting something dull.
As I tried to check what had happened,
“Too bad.”
I saw a hard ball of mana in the exact spot I was trying to stab.
Was that why my attack didn’t go through?
If so, I had to get rid of that.
I countered with the same skill.
While my own version of the skill was E-rank, it would be possible to scatter that mass of mana briefly.
Eventually, I broke through.
“What do you mean ‘too bad’? I’m pretty happy with this.”
The sword plunged in with a stabbing sound, the grin on his face twisting into a pained grimace.
The wound wasn’t very deep, but I had drawn blood.
This time, I had gotten him good.
“…You useless turd!”
Enraged that he had allowed me to land a solid strike, Park Ki-yeol went on a rampage, using his skills at random.
As he made the ball of mana explode, I countered it the same way as before.
The resulting shock wave from our clash forced both of us back.
“…I admit you’re strong. You’re not just gifted; your affinity for combat is on a completely different level.”
He was being strangely sincere, yet there was a strange sense of relaxation in his expression.
It was as though he was already sure of his victory.
“But you’re still just a child. Haven’t you noticed something strange?”
“…?”
“Don’t you think that bitch who has been following you around would intervene in a situation like this? Isn’t it strange that nobody is stopping this fight?”
Hearing his reasoning, I searched my surroundings, noticing something was off.
Seo-ah or Ha-eun should have intervened by now. Besides hearing Seo-ah’s voice at the start of the battle, why had she not taken action?
‘What is this??’
As I observed my surroundings, I saw a blue barrier.
A transparent blue barrier that was only visible while I used the [Eye of Greed] was standing between the arena and the stands.
The issue was that I couldn’t see the people outside the arena at all.
“My skill, Mana Control, is a top-tier skill that allows me to manipulate mana. Did you know there’s a lot of mana in the air? If you were to be in an area with no mana, you would die in under a minute.
“Why are you suddenly stating the obvious?”
“My skill actualizes mana, but it has its limits. It takes a very long time to turn ambient mana into my own.”
“…”
“When I used Mana Control at the start of our fight, did I really only use it to make spears?”
As soon as I heard those words, a chill ran through my body.
Realizing the meaning behind his words, I immediately dashed toward him, but it was too late.
“With this barrier, I can stop attacks in this area while simultaneously controlling the mana within it much more effectively. Within this space, I’m invincible.”
“You fuck-“
“Well then, goodbye.”
With those words, giant spikes filled the arena, and this time, were impossible to dodge.
-Stab.
“Cough.”
The thorns pierced my entire body.
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