Chapter 185


    Chapter 185: Guest Teacher


    “Switch!” nis called out just as my wind-infused fist was about to connect with Camus’ chest.


    I muttered a string of curses, stopping my strike. <i>How is it that over these past few days, the matches always seem to stop at such inconvenient times? She has to be doing this on purpose. </i>


    As if to answer my usation, my trainer rified by saying, “Exactly twenty minutes have passed. Elder Camus will be switched for Elder Hester. General Arthur, please restrict your water magic.”


    I wiped the sweat pouring down my face, trying to get a breather until my next opponent arrived. Having my water magic banned meant that I couldn’t use ice as well. How frustratingly convenient for Hester, who would’ve been at a disadvantage against those two elements.


    Taking a peek at the audience, I could tell everyone had been paying close attention to myst fight against Camus, my sister particrly engrossed.


    The elder approached me until we were just about a dozen feet apart. Tying her long grey hair back into a bun, she readied into a dueling stance. Being a silver core mage meant that, while her strength was conjuring, she could easily augment her body. The fact that she wore tight-fitting clothes and chose to use a conjuring ring rather than the traditional staff or wand meant that she wanted the flexibility of both long range and close rangebat.


    “Begin,” nis stated, her voice amplified by the artifact she was speaking into.


    Hester immediately snapped her finger, a spark igniting between her middle finger and her thumb.


    The blue ember was just a distraction though.


    Since I wasn’t using Realmheart, my eyes couldn’t see the fluctuations in mana, but I could feel it. My body, enhanced through assimtion with Sylvia’s dragon will, seemed to instinctively sense that I was in danger.


    I quickly propelled myself back, just in time to see a burst of fire detonate where I had been standing.


    The explosion caused a cloud of smoke, obstructing my view of Hester.


    <i>She didn’t expect to hit me with that. She wants me to lose sight of her. </i>


    I swung my arms, manipting the cloud of dust between us to shoot forward. The rock and sand in the air froze still for a second before erupting forward into a shockwave of debris.


    Like I had predicted, Hester’s form came into view. She managed to shield herself with a panel of fire. It was my turn to strike back.


    Augmenting mana into my legs, I shed forward, gathering blue fire into my fists.


    I striked at the panel of fire, expecting my me to overpower hers. Her spell disintegrated, but to my surprise, Hester was no longer behind the panel of fire she had conjured.


    That’s when I felt it again, the primal instinct that told me I was in danger. This time, it came from below my feet.


    Blue fire swirled beneath me before erupting into a pir of mes. For a moment, my vision turned blue as an intense heat washed over me.


    My aura blocked the attack long enough for me to manipte the fire from harming me. If I rued too much damage, the defensive artifact in my armor would activate, making it my loss.


    Just when the heat was bing unbearable, I was able to dispel Hester’s attack and break the pir of fire... only to find myself surrounded by a dozen or so fiery spheres, each the height of an adult.


    Judging by the fact that I couldn’t see or sense Hester, and that each globe of fire would be able to fit a grown woman inside, I knew she was in one of the globes.


    If she was trying to annoy me with all of these distractions, it was working.


    I stomped the ground, conjuring earthen spikes. Only half of the spikes hit its mark.


    <i>Note to self. Practice aiming with earth magic. </i>


    The spikes that did hit bore straight through the spheres of fire, causing them to disperse. But it didn’t take long for new spheres of mes to manifest and take their ce.


    Before I could strike them down again, the ming globes brightened beforeunching their attacks.


    Each globe seemed to have a mind of its own, as the attacks fired by them were different from each other. One globe shot a barrage of small fire bullets, while another began spinning and releasing burning crescents.


    I was forced onto the defensive by the barrage of attacksing from all directions. I erected a stone wall from the ground to block the me bullets andunched a de of wind at the burning crescent, detonating the fiery spell prematurely.


    My mind raced, trying to think of my next move. I couldn’t keep staying on the defensive, but I had no idea which ming sphere she was hiding inside of.


    The temptation to just release Realmheart grew, but I knew that was just a shortcut into solving my inadequacy by blowing off most of my mana.


    <i>Think, Arthur. How would I try to fight me if I was Hester? </i>


    The only strategy I could think of was to get on my nerves until I let my guard down. That was the answer.


    I let out a roar of frustration, wildlyunching shockwaves of wind and sts of fire at the globes. Of course, the ones I hit were reced by new ones, but I continued my seemingly agitated assault.


    Coalescing tendrils of lightning around my arms and legs, I shed forward, striking down the spheres of fire up close.


    For each globe I struck down, another two took its ce until over thirty spheres hovered around me.


    <i>Her mana pool is impressive. </i>


    The spheres began undting this time while they glowed brighter. I thought they were all going to explode, but instead each of the ming globes shot a condensed stream of fire at me.


    <i>Is this the final attack?</i> I thought, noticing that the spheres grew smaller as they released their ming beam.


    I put on my best expression of surprise and horror and waited until all of the beams were just about to hit me before I acted.


    Siphoning arge amount of mana for my core, I engulfed my entire body in a suit of fire. Absolute control was necessary to keep the fire from harming me, but timing it with Hester’sst attack would make it seem like I was hit.


    Even with several extrayers of pure mana and fire mana protecting me from Hester’s barrage, I felt the fire singeing the hair on my extremities. I feared for a second that I might actuallye out of this bald, but my aura kept me—and the majority of my hair—safe.


    I heard Ellie call out to me in horror over the roar of the mes, but I kept my focus on the opponent. I knew Hester wouldn’t let her guard down even from this.


    This next part was the hard part.


    One aspect to consider for a multi-elemental mage was his strength to not just know <i>when</i> to utilize each of his elements, but <i>how</i> to utilize multiple elements in conjunction to one another.


    Keeping the ming barrier around my body, I split off a part of my focus so I could manipte the ground underneath me.


    I felt my mes tremble—a sign that my concentration was wavering.


    <i>Almost</i>. Enduring the growing heat around me as I manipted a hole into the ground for me to fit inside, I waited until I finally saw Hester’s silhouette through theyer of fire between us.


    <i>Now!</i>


    I copsed my protective spell just as I fell into the ground, immediately covering the ground above me so I waspletely submerged below.


    The earth shook at what I assumed was Hester’s next strike.


    Without wasting any time, I <i>pushed </i>at the earth around me, utilizing the seismic perception spell to sense where everyone was. I felt a ripple in the earth from a different location—it was the same perception spell that I had used except far stronger.


    Focusing back on the task at hand, I shaped the earth around me, allowing myself to slowly move underground.


    I knew experts like Buhnd were able to traverse underground as easily as if they were underwater, but unfortunately I wasn’t at that level.


    It didn’t matter, though. It was Hester’s turn to be caught off guard.


    I only took two seconds to gather mana around my right first for my final attack. As soon as I was ready, I cleared the earth above me and bolted up to the surface by infusing wind mana beneath my feet.


    ck lightning coiled around my right arm like a vicious serpent ready to strike. Just beneath me, standing on the ground, was Hester, her arms enveloped in a fire fashioned into long des with thin tendrils of electricity wrapped around them—no doubt her actual finishing move.


    Hester whipped around to face me just as my body descended. It was toote though. I was within striking range and she wasn’t in the safety of her fire orb.


    We were ying to my strength now.


    My opponent’s lips moved—whether she was cursing or chanting a spell, I couldn’t tell—as she brought up her ming arm des.


    The ck lightning tore free from my arm as I unleashed the voltaic charge at Hester. The ck tendrils ripped through the air until our two spells collided.


    A sphere of congealed fire and lightning formed from the impact, growingrger and brighter until it finally exploded with us in the epicenter.


    <span ss="s1"><b>KATHYLN GLAYDER</b></span>


    The explosion obscured our view of Arthur and Hester. My eyes flitted to Arthur’s little sister; I was prepared to conjure a barrier in case the shockwave reached us, but her bond had already responded, pulling her close with its body positioned to block any remnant of the st caused by the colliding spells.


    With Arthur’s little sister the target of my concern, I forgot to protect myself from the shockwave that detonated.


    I braced for impact, trying to raise a wall of ice in time, but to my surprise, the ground beneath me sank. I found myself a few feet below the surface, the shockwave passing through harmlessly above me.


    After the explosion subsided, I was raised back up toe face to face with Elder Buhnd.


    “Careful, Princess,” he grinned before turning his attention back to the origin of the st.


    The cloud of debris caused by the explosion subsided and I could see the two figures.


    Arthur, while disheveled, was standing. My guardian, on the other hand, had fallen back—a soft pink glow surrounding her signaling that the defensive artifact had been triggered.


    Elder Buhnd sped his hands together, obviously excited. “Haha! Brilliant!”


    “The artifact worked seamlessly!” Miss Watsken eximed from the side, excited for a different reason.


    “It’s worrying that you’re this surprised about the same device meant to keep my brother from dying,” Arthur’s little sister muttered, patting the dust off of her wardrobe.


    “I wasn’t surprised!” the artificer protested. “Just happy that there were no unexpectedplications.”


    “Mhmm.” Arthur’s sister cast onest look of doubt at Miss Watsken before turning her focus to her bond.


    “What was General Arthur’s mana flow readings during that battle?” Elder Camus asked Miss nis. I eavesdro—listened in, curious about Arthur’s improvement over thest few days.


    Miss nis’ eyes glowed in a myriad of colors as she assessed Arthur’s internal data. Eventually her irises reverted back to their original colors. “General Arthur’s mana flow for spell casting earth and wind have increased by four percent and two percent, respectively.”


    “And that’s a... good thing?” Elder Buhnd asked, his thick brows knitted in confusion.


    “The rate of General Arthur’s growth is... impressive, to say the least. It has been less than a week, yet the improvements he has made in his peripheral elements is remarkable,” she replied before recording her newest findings into her journal.


    “I think you’d be more helpful in the war if you led arger group of soldiers than trying to push that old body of yours,” a familiar voice sounded from behind us.


    My eyes widened as I realized it was Commander Virion apanied by General Bairon as well as Master Varay.


    I immediately lowered my head in respect.


    “No need for such formalities. I’m just here to check up on my youngest general,” Commander Virion chuckled. “Actually let me apologize in advance.”


    I raised my head tentatively, locking eyes with Master Varay. My teacher of ice magic regarded me with her strong gaze before turning her attention to the aftermath of Hester and Arthur’s mock battle.


    “That passive-aggressiveness is beneath you, Virion—I mean, Commander,” Elder Camus responded with a slight smile.


    “Part of my job is making sure my strongest assets are being as effective as they can,” Commander Virion clipped back, smiling amiably as he squeezed Elder Camus’ shoulder.


    “What are you apologizing for?” Elder Buhnd asked. “Don’t tell me you’re going to cut our y—training time short! I was just about to go next!”


    “Actually, Princess Kathyln was scheduled to go first,” Miss Emeria corrected.


    Master Varay approached me with a casual gait, stopping in front of me. She tenderly picked out a piece of debris that had be lodged inside my hair. “It’s been a while, Kathyln. You’ve gotten stronger.”


    Blushing, I quicklybed my fingers through my hair, trying to get rid of any other signs of my unkempt appearance. “Thank you, Master. I’ve been growing in strength while training alongside the elders and General Arthur.”


    She nodded before shifting her gaze behind me. I looked back to see Arthur pulling Hester back up on her feet. I could make out Arthur’s lips moving but it was impossible to hear what he was saying.


    “I just arrived from a mission and have some rare time,” she began, unclipping the fur-lined cloak over her shoulders.


    The rich midnight blue cloth fell to the ground, revealing Master’s signature battle attire, a minimal navy armor with gold ents that looked like a gift from the asuras when she wore it.


    I stepped out of the way and let her pass, already knowing what she was going to ask.


    “At least the show’s going to be entertaining,” Elder Buhnd grumbled as he sat down on a stone chair he had just conjured.


    “Umm, G-General Varay. I’m not sure the artifact has enough fuel to withstand a duel of this caliber,” Emily said, raising a shaky hand.


    Without breaking stride, Master Varay locked eyes with Arthur. Even in his disheveled and worn out state, my former ssmate’s eyes gleamed as his mouth curved into a smile.


    “Bairon. Help Miss Watsken fuel up her artifact for my little skirmish against our newestnce.”