Huh. I'm actually impressed. Despite the fact I was relentlessly attacking him with my light whips while he was stuck in a somewhat small enclosed space, he managed to cast a spell in order to defend himself. This could be bad... but I'll just try and break the shell of ice he's in.
Hm... it's rather hard... oh? He's casting another spell. Although, I can tell what it is. Either way, the ice shell finally breaks.
However, instead of hitting them, it gets deflected by some sort of thin see-through sphere that surrounded him. Barrier magic, perhaps?
With the barrier defending him, he quickly moved up to my water spell and activated another spell, however, without chanting. In an instant, the water trap turned to ice, pretty much becoming his own spell as my mana used for that spell was converted to his own attribute.
Then, finally, he punched the ice just once, and it shattered right then. Strange, considering his strength stat isn't too high... although, it did say he had some sort of punching-oriented skill.
Anyway, the light whips are doing basically no damage and are just draining me of mana. I deactivate them, waiting to see what his next move would be.
They seemed to cast a spell, "Ice Magic: Icy Mist." He seemed to come up with a new spell on the spot, cold, very small, ice particles surrounding a large area around him, engulfing even me.
I see... so he also learned some new tricks from this tournament. This spell is similar in nature to the one Tanya used against me, but perhaps even more effective. However, I just deactivated my Holy Whips spell, the spell that's perfect at dispelling spells like this... will he give me enough time to cast it again?
What the-- from behind me? Some sort of icicle-like structure comes hurtling at me and surprising speeds. I just barely was able to dodge it, the thing grazed me, not managing to scratch my arm due to my armour's protective ability.
And now from above? Multiple icicles fall down from above me, crashing down onto the ground while I jumped back in time.
I land, things going quiet for a few seconds. Due to the mist, I can't actually see him, so I have no idea where he is. Plus, I can only sense the attacks the moment they're about to hit me... with that, he's so fast at attacking that it's hard to keep up, even with Thought Acceleration. I doubt he'll let me escape this, either...
Well, there's no reason not to try, I go and try and run out of the ice mist, ending up... nowhere, as I ran into a barrier. But, the inside of one... he used the time I was idle thinking to cast a barrier spell, trapping me in a barrier just as I did. Damn it, I should have run the instant he cast this spell.
There's only one thing I can do now, try and outlast his attacks. I can't even cast spells outside of this barrier... I tried that and failed.
From the right of me, another icicle comes at me. I dodge it. After a couple times of this, it's not hard to dodge even if they're quite fast. Oh? Two at once now? One from the left of me and one from behind.
Then, I first dodge the one from the left, moving right out of the way of the one from the behind, grabbing it. I was suspicious from the start... but this just proves it. These icicles aren't made from mana, they're created from a skill. And, he had one just like that. This means that he'll be able to endlessly send these things at me, long outlasting me as I'll get exhausted eventually... and he might just hit me a few times too. Grazing me did nothing, but perhaps a direct hit could hurt quite a lot.
Well, then, I believe he might have created certain conditions on this barrier. Such, anything he creates can go in and out, while the person inside cannot cast any spells outside of it while anything using their mana or skills will be blocked... but this icicle was created from him, not me.
So, all I have to do is track him down... how? I'm not sure...
No, I can use this mist to my advantage. I'll keep track of the airflow of the mist, noticing any small differences around me and perhaps even further out. I close my eyes to get a better focus of the mist... there's a slight change in the mist from the right of me, a icicle is coming at me. I dodge it, much more easily now.
Now, I need to sense from even farther away... the extremely quiet sound of shoes running on the floor, the faint, but somewhat unique smell of a slime... and then, the constant modification of the air through each movement they make. The air ripples towards me, letting me track his position...
There. I throw the icicle at where he'll be in the next second, and from the sound of it, it hit. Judging from the mist's variation in direction and force, the icicle seemed to perhaps hit him in the shoulder, causing him to mess up and trip. And now, using that time, I sent out a flurry of attacks using my sword against the barrier, managing to cut it up allowing for my escape. During that time, I ran up to him, kicking him in the stomach out of the mist. This might seem to be a bit brutal but was needed.
Oh, and I gained a new skill, too. That's quite convenient, and the skill seems to be useful too. This tournament has helped me grow quite a bit, hasn't it? Perhaps this is what the king truly wanted...
Well, we're now both out of the mist, my win is now almost guaranteed.
>Chapter Y.17, end.<