Chapter 32 - 31: Clash of Magic

Chapter 32: Chapter 31: Clash of Magic

Since they had laid their cards on the table, there was no need for Gaode to hide anything anymore. This was a life-and-death battle; he had to use whatever means he had without holding back. The dark green acid ball flew at an extremely fast speed, and its lethality was not to be underestimated.

But just as the acid ball was about to touch Mage Seda, an invisible barrier blocked it, causing the acid ball to burst prematurely. The highly acidic substance scattered instantly, forming a small patch of acid rain. Even so, not a single drop of acid could get close to Mage Seda.

"Magic Alchemy Items, they should be First Ring," Gaode judged, his expression turning grim at the sight of this scene. To block his two attacks so easily, with Mage Seda not making the slightest Casting movement, it was highly likely not a Trick Mage Seda had mastered himself, but rather from the Extraordinary Items he had equipped.

Given Mage Seda’s status as an Alchemist and a veteran Mage Apprentice, it was only natural for him to possess one or two First Ring Magic Alchemy Items. Gaode had considered this when mentally rehearsing the scenario beforehand. However, the world of magic was too magnificent. With his shallow knowledge of magic, he simply could not determine what this magic was, what effects it had, or what its flaws were.

"Acid Splash..."

Compared to Gaode being completely clueless, Mage Seda’s knowledge was much more profound; he recognized the magic Gaode cast at a glance. His ashen face turned a bit green. He took a deep breath and marveled, "I really underestimated you, my good apprentice. Even I haven’t mastered this magic, yet you’ve managed to learn it.

"I truly don’t know where you got the Magic Formula from, nor when you mastered it.

"But, this is as far as you go."

As his voice fell, Mage Seda finally made his move. Courtesy demanded reciprocity. His anger toward this apprentice who dared to defy his authority had accumulated to the absolute limit. Mage Seda stretched out his dead-wood-like right hand, pointing his index finger at Gaode.

A tangible vortex appeared in his hand, transforming into dazzling red and orange light and radiating blistering heat as an arrow formed of fire took shape. Following the direction of Mage Seda’s index finger, that Flaming Arrow pierced the air like a meteor, trailing a fiery tail as it shot toward Gaode.

The flames burned fiercely, moving at incredible speed. The distance between the two was so short, and Gaode had not mastered any magic to increase his agility. One could well imagine that an attack even Earth Vein Creatures with physically resilient bodies like the Wolf Rat could not dodge, he certainly had no way to evade. And indeed, that was the case.

However, Gaode was exceptionally calm. Facing the speeding, blazing Flaming Arrow, his expression remained unchanged. He did not even attempt to dodge—that would only waste precious combat time. The Flaming Arrow magic mastered by Mage Seda was known information to Gaode. It was impossible for him not to have a countermeasure prepared.

The next moment, a faint light lingered around his body, spreading out like ripples to envelop him. The moment the faint light appeared was exactly the moment before the Flaming Arrow was about to hit him.

[Enhance Resistance]!

The barrier constructed by magic revealed its efficacy. The Flaming Arrow, which could have originally dealt lethal damage to Gaode, was instantly weakened of most of its power upon colliding with this barrier. What finally landed on Gaode was just some relatively weak flames. Although it burned through Gaode’s clothes and scalded the skin on his chest, it stopped there and did not bring any further damage to him.

"Good boy!" Mage Seda was quite surprised to see this scene, the contempt on his face vanishing. "You really hid a lot of skills!"

He was surprised both by the new magic Gaode had cast and by Gaode’s overall capability.

The more powerful a Mage was, the shorter the Casting Time required to cast magic. Logically speaking, Mage Seda’s Attack Magic should have been cast before Gaode’s magic. But the two Spiritual Lights of the Flaming Arrow and Enhance Resistance magic appeared almost simultaneously.

This was because, although Gaode did not know the exact magic Mage Seda had mastered, he was certain that after he finished casting [Acid Splash+], Mage Seda would definitely retaliate. So, after casting [Acid Splash+], Gaode immediately activated the Magic Model of [Enhance Resistance].

Thus, even though his required Casting Time was longer than Mage Seda’s, because he didn’t react only after Mage Seda cast his magic—he started activating the Magic Model before Mage Seda cast his magic—coupled with the time it took for the Flaming Arrow to travel, it resulted in the current situation where both of their magic was cast simultaneously.

In the fighting games of Gaode’s past life, there was a technical term for this: Prediction.

This was a scenario that would only appear in the battles of an Elder Mage, yet it happened with a First-class Apprentice whom he hadn’t taken seriously at all. How could Mage Seda not be surprised?

Gaode’s current situation was not exactly good. An unnatural flush appeared on his face. Even though [Enhance Resistance] blocked most of the Flaming Arrow’s power, the residual might still hit him hard. More importantly, his Mana was already mostly depleted!

Besides the difference in the amount of magic mastered and the gap in Casting Time, the biggest gap between Gaode and Mage Seda lay in the amount of magic that could be cast.

It seemed that both were Mage Apprentices with seemingly little difference in their realms, but Gaode was merely a First-class Apprentice, while Mage Seda was a Third-class Apprentice. Gaode’s current Mana could only support him to cast five Tricks before being completely exhausted. Mage Seda, as a Third-class Apprentice, had Mana that could support him to cast more than twenty Tricks.

A Mage out of Mana was worse than a super minion. This was a universally recognized truth in any world.

Including the [Mage’s Hand] he cast at the very beginning, Gaode now astonishingly only had enough Mana left to cast two Tricks. He exhaled deeply, maintaining his composure while gritting his teeth, forcing himself to temporarily ignore the continuous burning pain coming from his chest.

WHOOSH!

Another acid ball appeared in his hand, shooting toward Mage Seda with a flick of his arm. When facing Mage Seda’s Flaming Arrow magic, he had not made any evasive movements. Knowing he couldn’t dodge, he simply placed all his hopes on the [Enhance Resistance] magic. This was also to buy time, ensuring that he would still have the initiative in the next round of exchange.

Gaode was betting that Mage Seda was bound to be extremely confident in his Flaming Arrow magic, believing it was enough to take him down, and thus wouldn’t prepare his next magic right away.

He won the bet. So in this round, the initiative still belonged to Gaode!

Gaode’s third magic was still [Acid Splash+].

Mage Seda saw all of this and couldn’t help but curse inwardly, "How bizarre!"

Despite his Casting Time being obviously faster than his opponent’s, out of the three rounds of magic exchanges, except for the second round which was a tie, Gaode surprisingly held the initiative in the other two.

Where was the logic in that?