Ch.75Decisive Battle: Second Half (2)

“We agreed to go all out against each other without holding back.”

I hadn’t expected Seria to be the one to suggest this first.

It’s true I hadn’t directly shown her my power before, but she seemed like a forum addict back then… so I figured she probably knew the extent of my abilities.

Unless someone completely avoided the forums, they’d know—and these days, almost no mages stayed away from them. Anyone who needed to know probably already did.

I was aware that Seria absolutely needed to win this time.

‘But that’s not going to happen.’

I could have thought she might be asking me to lose just this once.

Of course, while I felt sorry for Seria, I had absolutely no intention of letting her win even if she had asked me to lose just once.

Well, Seria wasn’t the type with such a weak personality that she’d make that kind of request to me anyway.

Even so…

‘I never expected her to ask me to fight with full power.’

Had she gotten fired up with competitive spirit after seeing me?

Or perhaps she wanted to resolve this by clashing at full strength to clearly demonstrate the gap between us?

I wasn’t sure which it was, but one thing was certain: I would face her with everything I had, just as she requested.

I didn’t know how long Seria could hold out, but since we needed to show some back-and-forth action, I should start with a probing attack.

I drew up my blood and looked at Seria.

She too had summoned her magical power and deployed a magic circle while watching me carefully.

As we continued our tense standoff,

“Blood Spine.”

Blood spikes formed in my hand and rushed toward Seria.

“[Nature’s Rest Net]”

As if she’d been waiting for this, Seria quickly wove a net of various vines to easily block my blood spikes.

Though I hadn’t thrown them with full force, the net demonstrated considerable strength to block my blood spikes.

“Hmm.”

Back when she was an inexperienced kid, she couldn’t even react to this.

The attack I just launched was much faster and sharper than back then, yet she blocked it effortlessly. This clearly showed she hadn’t become the Green Tower Master just for show.

But…

“You haven’t forgotten already, have you, kid?”

Blood can take any form.

That’s what I always used to say when I was Count Vladimir.

The Blood Spine’s form became fluid and seeped through the entangled vines.

Now, what will you do?

If left alone, the blood would flow through the tangled vines.

The outcome was obvious without saying.

That’s when it happened.

Crack!

The vines burst open, causing the blood that had been seeping through to splash in all directions.

Just as I thought this would only make things worse,

“[Water Ball]”

The water sphere she formed simultaneously with the bursting vines diluted my blood.

Though it was a very small amount compared to the blood in my body, losing any of my blood was somewhat unpleasant.

Seria didn’t stop there. She struck her staff on the ground, channeling magical power.

A magic circle formed instantly, overturning the entire arena, and she spread the Water Balls widely, detonating them in midair.

As the water that burst in all directions soaked the ground, trees began to sprout.

‘Look at this one.’

Did she use my blood’s magical power along with her own as nutrients to turn this place into a forest?

I was momentarily surprised by how Seria transformed the arena into a forest in an instant, but then trees shot up from the ground toward me.

There was no need to leave these be, so I continuously swung blood around me, literally grinding up the trees shooting at me.

“Hmm…”

However, the ground-up trees transformed into something like thorns and swirled like a storm.

Getting pierced by those wouldn’t be a major problem for me, but an ordinary human exposed to even a little of that would be instantly killed with holes all over their body.

‘She’s making the best judgments…’

Being a vampire, I wouldn’t die from something like this, but we were clearly in the middle of a match.

From a human perspective, if I took an attack that could potentially be fatal, Eterna would likely end the match.

That might not necessarily be the case, but for fairness, that’s probably what would happen.

If so, I shouldn’t get hit even once.

‘It’s a bit wasteful, but…’

This barely counts as using any strength.

I quickly spread my blood widely to create a protective barrier against the thorn storm.

And…

‘You should never give a mage time to cast.’

That was a truth from the past and remained true now.

You must never give a mage time to cast.

That’s the same as saying “please eat me.”

This thorn storm was clearly a spell cast to buy time to prepare the next major spell.

Feeling the magical wave from far away, I stomped on the ground and shot toward Seria’s direction at tremendous speed, using the blood shield as a jet engine.

“…?!”

Despite her using Blink to distance herself, I reached her instantly, and Seria reflexively formed water widely.

‘This is…!’

An application of Water Ball.

Perhaps worried about my blood being diluted by water again after what happened earlier, I was firmly in control this time, so the unfortunate dilution didn’t occur, but…

‘I’ve slowed down…!’

My body slowed down significantly.

It made sense.

This was water like sticky honey, with drag maximized to prevent me from moving.

‘The experience of a great mage really shows…!’

It wasn’t enough to completely stop my movement, but it was sufficient to buy time.

Seria twisted the staff she had struck down.

Crack!

She twisted the magic.

She stopped the spell she was originally going to cast and immediately twisted it into a freezing spell.

But she couldn’t bind me for long.

Just a brief moment, not even a second.

When the blood surrounding my body instantly shattered the ice and escaped,

Seria had already used Blink to create distance again, and she burned the broken ice with fire to evaporate it, creating smoke.

“Impressive…”

What incredible adaptability.

This magnificent magical battle could only be shown by someone of Seria’s caliber.

It might not be impossible for other mages, but among ordinary mages, Seria would be the only one who could cast and apply such diverse elemental magic.

But…

‘If she thinks I can’t find her through this, that’s a problem.’

I could see Seria perfectly well through the hazy steam.

Of course I could.

I wasn’t looking for Seria with my eyes.

Seria tried to attack me by moving the earth where I stood.

I easily destroyed the earth spikes that shot up from the ground with a slap-like strike, and I drew out my blood to cut through the earthen spheres trying to surround me.

“You’re being annoying.”

What spell was she trying to cast that required buying so much time?

By this point, I was getting curious.

It’s not like I knew all of Seria’s magic.

I drew out my blood after tracking her position through the magical traces of her Blink.

Then I spread it widely around, instantly blowing away the steam.

“Too late…!”

In just a short time of barely five seconds.

Seria, who had somehow finished her incantation, aimed her staff filled with magical power at me.

Looking at the massive magic circle surrounding the entire arena, I smiled.

‘Well done.’

She’s definitely improved.

Multiple casting to buy time for the original spell.

And minimizing the casting time for that major spell.

She might be called the Green Tower Master, but the variety of magic Seria used was so diverse that it wouldn’t be strange if she became the next Aether Tower Master.

“Arrow of Great Nature.”

A massive storm arrow formed of magical power targeted me.

‘This is…’

Seria’s unique magic that had inflicted significant damage even to the Demon King.

There was no time to dodge.

Even the Demon King couldn’t avoid this magic.

Moreover, she had already finished aiming and was just waiting to fire.

Of course, getting hit by this wouldn’t kill me.

I could naturally get up and face her again.

But this wasn’t a life-or-death battle, just a match.

I would be fine, but there was a good chance Eterna might declare me defeated for the sake of fairness.

So…

‘I guess it’s time to get serious.’

If I just stay still, I might be disqualified.

With that thought, the arrow was fired.

A green arrow of devastating storm rushed toward me.

Then,

KWAAAAA!!

The forest behind the arena was annihilated.

Just from the arrow’s aftermath.