episode_0045

Lightning magic is a magic that focuses on power and speed. While fire magic is a wide-ranging attack, ice magic prioritizes suppressing the opponent, and wind magic has the characteristic of being difficult to defend against.

Before that, the spy had also used lightning magic, so I knew that giving the first attack to a wizard using lightning magic would definitely result in a follow-up hit, so I tightly gripped my staff once again.

Yuria in front of me was looking at me and smiling, but I couldn’t help but know what she was thinking. Since it was a duel being watched by someone else, I thought everyone would have the same desire to show the difference in rank, so perhaps the first player would get a more powerful spell.

As I was thinking about whether avoiding or blocking would have a better chance of winning, I heard the sound of “start” in my ear and opened my mouth, swinging my staff.

“Mana, protect my body!”

As soon as I shouted the spell, a protective shield appeared around my body, and I looked at her. Looking at the staff aimed at me, the spell being spit out, and the length of the spell, it was clearly a lightning strike, one of her prides.

That’s why I quickly spit out the order.

“Ice, pierce the enemy!”

And the ice arrow that flew at the same time as my spell flew quickly towards her, and she aimed her wand at the ice arrow flying towards her and finished the spell.

The lightning bolt quickly fired from her staff collided with the ice arrow and shattered the ice, and I followed that with shock magic.

As shock magic was created around her, she looked at me with interest, spoke a spell, and I fired shock magic.

One on her body and one on her leg. Following a quick shock spell, I moved my body back slightly.

As the shock magic flew fast, she stopped the spell she was chanting and blocked my attack with protection magic. I saw that and created an ice arrow and attacked her again.

Naturally, the more I chanted the magic, the more my hands trembled and I felt like energy was draining from my body. The amount of mana is limited, and I haven’t been able to aim for more than that yet.

As I was carefully handling the wand, I heard Yuria’s voice.

“Aren’t you trying too hard from the beginning?”

“Because this is my specialty.”

With those words, I smiled and opened my mouth, pointing my wand at her.

“Ice, gather around me.”

And as soon as I cast my spell, cold began to seep around my body, and at my spell, she laughed and pointed her wand at the sky.

“Then, I’ll show you my specialty too.”

Lightning strike, she was the person who made lightning fall from the sky during the entrance exam. Even though he was a first year student, there was probably no one who had been struck by lightning.

Interrupting the spell was a priority, but it was difficult to block the chanting that was coming out quickly, so I just moved towards her with the cold surrounding my body.

Lightning falls from the sky. It can be controlled to a certain extent, but control is impossible. There weren’t many wizards with that level of skill in this academy.

The coldness surrounding my body began to freeze the water droplets around me, and I then opened my mouth.

“Ice, wrap around my body.”

Under my spell, the surrounding ice slowly began to gather around my body. Senior Erica said something like that.

‘If you can’t get the ice to a specific place, you can probably gather it to a location you know best, like your body. ‘I’ve already experienced coordinate magic, so it won’t be difficult.’

Then, I fired the ice surrounding my body towards her with my staff, and at that moment, as if she had finished chanting the spell, she swung the staff that had been pointed towards the sky towards the ground.

Then my eyes became bright. Although I couldn’t see the lightning that struck my body with tremendous light, my whole body felt hot, as if I couldn’t use protection magic to block the pain of the lightning that struck my entire body.

Feeling as if your flesh is getting cooked, feeling as if you will collapse as soon as you close your eyes even a little, feeling as if your body muscles cannot move well.

Yuria, who was looking through such pain, was smiling. It was always that kind of smile. Celestria, Erica-senpai, and Isabelle-senpai.

People who are called geniuses in the world always look at me with that smile. That smile that seemed relaxed and self-understanding made me uncomfortable.

It felt like I would collapse if I relaxed at any moment, but I forced myself to bite my lip and pointed my cane at her and shouted.

“Ice, crush the enemy before me!”

And at the same time as she shouted, the ice surrounding her body flew in one direction, and in response to my spell, she pointed at me with her wand and uttered a spell.

It was a familiar order. Lightning was shooting towards me, but it wasn’t the type of lightning that aimed in one direction, it was splitting lightning. It was magic I had seen before.

Because I was familiar with it, I knew the method, and I remembered Erica’s magic.

“Ice, protect my body.”

Then, the ice created by the coldness of my body followed the protective shield and blocked the lightning in front of me. Amid the sounds of ice breaking and lightning moving in my ears, I bit my lip and chanted the protection spell again.

However, with no chance of winning against the slowly crumbling ice shield, I bit my lip and put down my wand, and the professor opened his mouth at my actions.

“Up there!”

Naturally, the winner was Yuria. I wondered if I had held on even a little, but I was filled with regret and shame.

As I was lost in thought about how I could win the duel, Sharon whispered softly in my ear.

“You worked hard.”

“I had a hard time.”

“Still, you withstood the lightning strike against the Thunder Witch, and the attack was successful, right? That’s quite an achievement. If it were me, the duel would have ended already?”

I couldn’t agree with that. If it had been Sharon, I might have endured longer, or even won. Because you are the main character.

The protagonist didn’t even know it was possible. That was impossible for a person like me who couldn’t be a supporting character.

“The winner may have already been decided by the amount of mana.”

“It’s amazing that you survived through that mana gap.”

“If Erica finds out, she will scold you, right?”

“I guess I should pray that I don’t die.”

I sighed at Sharon’s words. If Erica found out, she would say various things, asking if she lost again, and asking if it made sense for her student to lose.

As I was sighing at that thought, Sharon smiled slightly and spoke up.

“So, if the Thunder Witch and the Flame Princess fight, who do you think will win?”

“Celestria, the Thunder Witch is strong, but Celestria is on a different level, and it doesn’t seem like the Thunder Witch did her best… … The level is different.”

“The Thunder Witch must have been at full strength.”

“If it was full power, they wouldn’t have spared the lightning strike.”

Because her pride is like a thunderbolt. Her specialty is simultaneous lightning strikes, and making multiple lightning bolts fall from the sky.

“In the end, Astan, you and the Thunder Witch have different levels of status, but it showed that the difference is not that big.”

“There will be another strange title, something like the frost storm I talked about last time.”

Sharon laughed out loud at my answer.

What kind of wizard’s title is Froststorm? Please give me something more plausible.

“You worked hard.”

As I was walking down the hallway, Ceresria spoke to me, and I bowed my head towards her and saluted her.

“Thank you for your hard work, Ceresria.”

She smiled slightly at my greeting and stood next to me, and I looked at her and started moving slowly.

“You’ve gotten a lot stronger? When we met in the back of the bar, all we did was make ice on our bodies.”

“It’s thanks to senior Erica who taught me. Aren’t you, Ceresria, a completely different person from the one behind the bar?”

“What if you were hiding your power back then?”

“Well, at that time, it felt like Ceresria was playing with me. If she really wanted to kill me, she wouldn’t have come out like that.”

At my answer, she smiled, carefully covering her mouth.

“Of course, it is true that I have become stronger, but I am not someone who got stronger as quickly as Astan.”

“Do you know that I hate those words the most?”

“But it’s true, I know I have talent, but I grow based on what I learned in the royal family. It’s not something practical like Astan, the royal magic is a magic that makes you feel intimidated and longed for.”

“My magic says that’s not the case.”

“Astan’s magic has many practical aspects, such as attacking multiple locations at the same time to break through defenses, continuously moving and not allowing attacks, or using the surrounding natural mana to compensate for the difference in mana with the opponent. As for shortening the length, I guess I developed that habit since my teacher is Erica.”

“I see.”

I looked at her as I answered, and she was also looking at me.

“Would you like to compete with me next time?”

“That won’t happen.”

“It’s a shame, I had to duel with the Thunder Witch.”

“I didn’t challenge you to a duel, right?”

“Is that important?”

I sighed internally at her words, then looked at her and opened my mouth.

“Won’t Celestria win anyway?”

“So, did Astan fight with the confidence to defeat the Thunder Witch? And did the Clown of the Wind fight with confidence that he would win against me?”

“… … That’s not it.”

“That’s the essence of a duel, fighting to beat your opponent. But to beat your opponent, experience is important. Fighting even when you know you’re going to lose is a big help in the future.”

Then she held out her hand towards me.

“So, would you like to compete with me?”

“If you get the chance.”

At my answer, she looked at me and smiled brightly.

“Did you promise?”