Chapter 183: Close Combat

Chapter 183: Close Combat

The projectile flies toward Appius at a speed that no Human or Elf, for what matters can block. But [Mages] dont just fight in reflexes. [Mages] mostly fight with preparation. And thats why the bolt vaporizes before touching Appius. I can see an amulet blazing up through the energy world and taste its charred effect on my tongue. And now, its much dimmer compared to before. Whatever protective artifact just saved Appiuss life, its not going to work more than once or twice more. And now, we are close. Very close. Almost hugging-distance. I can feel the bastard breathing heavily, and I cant wait to put a lance through the roof of his mouth.

But theres a question for you, now.

Appius is clearly much more experienced than me at magic. It doesnt take a genius to understand that, right? But I have an incredible experience with the basics of casting and overall Mana manipulation also, I use Light Magic, which has the simplest spell matrixes to cast since its kind of the foundation of everything else. However, its highly unlikely that a normal bolt will kill him. This is the case of a no, my metaphor is no good for this situation. I was going to say its an immovable object against an irresistible force. But this is more like two very sturdy objects beating each other. Theres I dont know. Just watch.

I cant cast another [Advanced Light Lance] because he has brought out a very small staff, a little twig, really, that clearly has another spell attached. And now that staff is aimed at my face.

[Advanced Hexagonal Three-Folded Shields]

The impact is nothing world-ending, but I see the little shield I casted in front of his staff already has a crack in it. I casted it extremely close to the source, which means the bolt is hitting the shield at full power. But thats one source of attack I have taken care of.

And so, a battle of attrition begins.

Every time he casts from his staff, I pull up a shield. Every time he tries to cast something else, I throw a [Light] matrix and dissolve his spell into nothingness. At the same time, hes so proficient with his spells that he barely blinks in his attacking rotation. I really dont want to test the defensive spells in the hat since they already somehow failed to shield me from Atticuss blow. Lord Juler says thats because that blow was too weak.

Now, for all this guy looks like a sweaty meme of some MIT DnD-playing freshman, he knows what hes doing. Hes even feinting. He thrusts the little staff almost up to my face and then tries to shoot a bolt with his other hand. This type of close-range [Mage] combat means that no big spells can be used. They take too much time to cast. But thats good because, in the end, lower-tier spells are all about the fundamentals.

And whos got more fundamentals than me?

He finally dispels the massive shield he had summoned, probably to alleviate the Mana consumption. In fact, if we were to continue like this, it would just become a show of who has the biggest Mana reserves or who can imbibe more potions. And the answer to the first question is him, and to the second is me.

[Light-Bended Reality]

[Overcharged, Accelerated: Advanced Light Lance]

The two bolts hit the man in rapid succession before he could awkwardly roll away.

He screams in pain because of the second attack. His amulet failed, partially, and he took a blow to his ribs. The wind is kicked out of him, and he starts wheezing. But the bastard is still keeping up his casting, and now theres more of a distance between us.

Also, I can smell something different in the magic. Threads of blue energy are accumulating all around Appius.

WORM! he screams incoherently, raging because of my blow. But then, he smiles.

If I have to guess, he will use a powerful skill.

I feel the familiar feeling of electricity swarm my skin a moment before being zapped. Theres no real matrix around meoh, wait. There is. I look up in the air, seeing a massive construct that I had completely missed during our close combat.

Fuck, I swear.

HAHAHA! YOU ARE DEAD, WORM!

Looking around, a mild panic spreads through my body, taking over part of my anger. The massive spell matrix is too far in to disrupt. And the energy lines look as thick as tree trunks, for Gods sake. They are so big Id need to exhaust all my Mana just to disrupt that abomination.