"!!!"
I winced as several more arrows pierced through me, causing to hit the ground. Rolling to my feet while desperately dodging a few more energy arrows, I glanced around the open arena and realized that there was nothing for me to seek cover under.
The terrain was overwhelmingly advantageous to someone with ranged abilities. No wonder they called the current edition the shooting edition. Currently the meta favored a shooting list, and those mages who relied on melee were at a slight disadvantage.
A very slight disadvantage, for such weaknesses could easily be circumvented by focusing on defensive enchantments to endure the barrage of spells or shots, or specializing in speed. Indeed, many combat mages used super speed to almost teleport next to their opponent and engage them in close combat. Since ranged mages specialized in ranged attacks, they were pretty terrible at melee combat. Mostly. So they would get wrecked if they allowed their opponents to get close.
It all depended on who was fighting.
Unfortunately, I had neither speed nor defense. If melee combatants were at a disadvantage against ranged mages, then summoners were totally weak against both melee and ranged, for such opponents could quickly take down the summoner before he or she could finish casting the spell. Unlike ranged spells, summoning spells took a lot longer to cast, and consumed much more energy. After all, we weren't just throwing a temporary fireball that existed long enough to hit the foe. We were actually bringing an actual, living existence capable of casting its own spells and launching physical attacks into the material plane. Of course it would be a much more complex spell.
Taking a deep breath, I reached out and grabbed an arrow before it struck me. The energy projectile detonated in my hand, causing me to stagger back. Good thing it did – while I stumbled, the following volley of arrows sailed above my head.
"Hmph. Lucky bastard."
I stared at Hal Gunther, who continued to maintain a good distance from me. "Not really. I'm more curious as to why you haven't finished me off already."
Hal Gunther had plenty of opportunities to hit my vital points and knock me out for good, but he had been aiming for my limbs, or non-vital areas in my body. Probably to show off how accurate he was, and to prolong the battle needlessly. I felt blood trickling down numerous wounds, and grimaced. At this rate I might pass out from the blood loss before he finally delivered the finishing blow.
"Are you kidding me?" Hal Gunther snorted. "It won't be fun if I win so easily. Come on, entertain me more! Where's your spells? Are you sure you don't have a Divine Device? This is so one-sided that it's boring!"
Indeed it was. Not just from him, but also for the spectators. The Crowley Academy students were staring at me impassively, as if wondering if I was just wasting their time. My schoolmates were watching me sympathetically, put in their eyes. Many of them were probably thinking they were vindicated in their decision not to volunteer, after seeing the sorry state I was in.
However, I shrugged. "So what? It's not my job to entertain you or make your fights fun."
Hal Gunther glared at me, and then loosed several arrows. I quickly hit the ground to avoid them, silently noting that I was gradually getting used to the pattern and speed of his attacks. It was subtle, but I was getting better at dodging them.
Unfortunately, I was aware that Hal Gunther was still holding back, and he hadn't really unleashed his true power yet.
"I've to admit, I'm impressed, though."
Suddenly, Hal Gunther caught me off guard with a compliment. I stopped dodging and narrowed my eyes.
"After watching me put on such a miserable performance? Are you being sarcastic?"
"No. I genuinely am impressed." Hal Gunther grinned, revealing sharp teeth that resembled a shark's maw. "Even after taking so many of my hits, you still haven't given up yet. I thought you would surrender by now, or beg me to end this."
"Who would be so stupid to beg you to end a match by delivering the finishing blow when I can just painlessly surrender?" I asked with a roll of my eyes.
"See? That's what I mean." Hal Gunther pointed at me. "You know that you have the option to surrender, yet even with those wounds you still haven't given up yet. You're still fighting me."
"These wounds?" I glanced down at my current injuries, and cracked a derisive smile. "Are you kidding me? My Dad beats me up more badly than this on a daily basis. Never mind my Dad, even my schoolmates deal much worse injuries to me. Do you really expect me to give up just because of a few cuts and scratches?"
Hal Gunther glowered at me, his expression contorting in fury. If I could spare the breath, I would have done a Star Wars imitation and said something to the effect of "good, let the hate flow through you." unfortunately, I wasn't some Sith Emperor who could shoot lightning from his hands.
"Idiot. I was only going easy on you. I'll teach you true terror!"
Throwing his hand into the air, he summoned a gigantic forest out of nowhere. In an instance, the entire stage was covered in greenery, with grass and trees sprouting and growing from what seemed like soil.
"It took me quite a bit of time to cast this spell, but it's worth it!"
Unseen, Hal Gunther was chuckling in the midst of the woods. Even though I could hear him laugh, I couldn't pinpoint the direction where his voice was coming from. It seemed to echo everywhere and nowhere.
"This is my ultimate spell, Hunter's Forest! Welcome to my world!"
"Heh…cool. So you're actually capable of creating your own Artificial Reality."
I knew what kind of spell this was. It was a large-scale spell that allowed the caster to manifest his own imagined world onto the material plane. Artificial Reality was a complex enchantment on the same level as summoning spells – in a way, it was a summoning spell. A talented mage would be able to alter reality and impose his own imagination upon it, creating his own Artificial Reality where he could impose his restricted set of rules.
Of course, it was not almighty. The timeframe Hal Gunther took to cast it was pretty short, meaning that it wasn't a very powerful Artificial Reality. In other words, I didn't have to worry about otherworldly rules that locked down my magical energy entirely or controlled my attacks. There were those complex, powerful Artificial Realities where the enemies caught within them had every spell they cast immediately nullified, but this was obviously not one of those.
Rather, it seemed like an Artificial Reality very suited to Hal Gunther's style. As a predatory hunter, he lurked in the forest, ambushing unwary opponents and shooting from unseen positions. All the while he remained safe from retaliation.
There was a horrified gasp from the crowd. Many of them had no doubt witnessed Hal Gunther's ultimate spell before, and knew the fate that had befallen on all those who had fallen prey to it.
Several arrows came out of nowhere, seemingly from different directions. I dove to the side, but a couple of them struck me, knocking me off my trajectory in midair and hurling me into the ground. While I rolled on the ground, a new barrage of arrows arced up before descending upon me, puncturing all over my body.
"Gah!"
Blood gushed out of my mouth and wounds as I jerked up, even as the energy projectiles slowly dissipated, leaving horrendous injuries behind. Slowly sitting up, I leaned against a tree. As I suspected, Artificial Reality was really a high-level magic that allowed one's imagination to become reality. The tree felt tangible and physical.
"Are you sure you can afford to rest?" Hal Gunther scoffed from nowhere. I instinctively threw myself into the ground before over a dozen arrows embedded themselves deeply into the trunk. Rolling to my feet, I grimaced from the pain, only for another three arrows to catch me in the back, sending me tumbling forward from the impact.
Even though red-hot pain exploded through my skull, I found that I was still conscious. The bastard had deliberately missed my vitals and held back so that I wouldn't pass out. Or the battle would be over long ago.
"Don't surrender yet! At least try to find me!" Hal Gunther taunted mockingly, his voice echoing across his artificial forest.
"The Phantom Hunter indeed…" one of the audience murmured in awe. Even though the forest had blocked most of my line of sight, I could still overhear the whispers and comments from the stupid crowd. "Whenever he uses his Hunter's Forest, he becomes practically invisible and untraceable. It's impossible to detect him, not unless you have a very advanced spiritual sense!"
"It's over. There's no way Huang can find him now."
"The forest is his playground. He enjoys toying around with his opponents in it!"
"Seriously? Can you guys just shut up?" I was feeling a bit irritated. If they weren't going to help me, the least they could do was stop trash-talking me. Sometimes it felt as if the stupid crowd existed solely to trash-talk the protagonist while hype the antagonist up with sickening praises and compliments. They were literally kissing his ass and rudely writing off the protagonist, just so he could slap their faces when he prove them wrong later by crushing his opponent.
Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be that easy for me. I wasn't an overpowered Mary Sue protagonist, after all.
Another arrow slammed into me, sticking out of my shoulder and drawing my blood. Gasping, I fell to my knee.
"What's the matter? Why aren't you moving? If you don't find me, I'll turn you into a human pincushion, you know?"
I shook my head and snorted. "What's the use? I know I won't be able to find you. There's no point trying to seriously fight someone who's ripping off a retarded character from Rakudai Kishi no Chivalry."
"Huh? What the fuck are you on about?" a few more arrows struck me from several directions, forcing me into a dodge. Even so, I still couldn't duck completely and was sent staggering as a couple of them pierced my torso. Again, the sick bastard had avoided my vital points, most likely intending to bleed me out.
Sprawling on the ground, I shut my eyes and sighed heavily.
"I am not Kurogane Ikki. I'm not going to use Sword Steal and suddenly locate you – hell, I don't have a sword. I'm not Wang Zhong either. I don't have an ultimate Mind's Eye or Clairvoyance that can detect you."
"Like I said, what the fuck are you on about?!"
"Nothing. Only that you should have finished me off when you had the chance. Now you're going to regret not ending the match early."
"Shut up!"
Despite being furious by my neutral critique, Hal Gunther was still taking me lightly, loosing a few more arrows that pierced my limbs rather than my heart or head. Until the very end, he still intended on making me suffer.
Shaking my head, I smiled and opened my eyes. "Well…it's too late."
As soon as those words left my mouth, I completed my summoning spell for the first time ever in a hundred matches.