(I'm back, hopefully. Will be back to the old release schedule of a chapter for this book every other day. It alternates with my Star Wars novel. Check it out if you haven't! Only difference is that the chapters will probably be released pretty late in the evening. I'll be working from 8 to 4. Also, the new J. Cole album is sick as fuck. Highly recommend it.)
The top of a blanket of snow is usually made up of light, dry snow or heavy, wet snow. In this case, it was the light, dry stuff. As the strong gusts of wind blew through the town, snow was kicked up and blew against our faces.
I had to squint my eyes in order to see. It made me wonder if there was a spell I could use, or create, that formed a transparent shield over the caster's eyes. That would be pretty sick. Maybe I could even use light magic with it to enhance my vision. The refraction of light can allow me to magnify images. I could also use it to give me night vision by enhancing certain colors! Oh, the ideas.
As I thought about all of these things, I shook my head and lightly smacked my cheeks twice. 'This is no time for this. I have enemies to take down.'
Currently, I was in an alley, wading through knee deep snow. Out of nowhere, I heard something shift in the snow so I dropped to the ground, only leaving my head peeking out.
Then, the worst thing possible happened. I felt something land on my head. 'SHIT THEY FOUND ME!'
I scrambled to my feet, readying myself to counter attack but alas, there was no one around. I swiveled my head back and forth, trying to locate whoever hit my head. Then I decided to look up.
What I saw made me want to sink into the snow and disappear. On the edge of the roof above me, there was a chunk of snow missing. It was at this moment that I wanted to depart from the mortal plane for a bit. Even worse, the entire crowd was able to see me do this. Odds are that not many people were watching me. There were two royals and a noble on my team after all.
I shook my head and continued forwards. Jacob's voice quickly came over comms. "There are two sweeping down mainstreet. Cal, move forward and flank them. Yanni, hold your position. We will carry out a pincer maneuver with overwatch from Anna. Move out."
Following the orders, I quickly turned around and headed back down the alley. The end of the alley I was headed towards would exit onto this town's mainstreet. Thus, I needed to go around in order to carry out a successful flank.
Combat in a snowy environment was a completely different animal compared to typical combat. The first thing is the light refracting quality of snow. As light goes into the snow, it will be reflected and scattered omnidirectionally. A bright light could easily blind everyone in an area.
Another aspect to it is the sound absorbing quality of snow. A large portion of snow is air when it is not packed. This air acts as insulation and will absorb the kinetic energy within soundwaves. This allows for sneaking around and communicating to be done easily.
For me, the snow was almost perfect. Snow is essentially ice that lacks any semblance of density. Thus, it was essentially made up of water. Being my best element, I could simply manipulate the water in the snow to launch an attack from outside of my opponents view.
Each time I passed an alley, I stopped at the corner and peeked around it towards main street. I did this to avoid being spotted by the enemy that was moving towards me down the street.
On my fifth corner, I was fortunate enough to spot the two enemies moving down the street. I quickly pulled back and held my back against the house, controlling my breath in order to avoid any possibility of detection. Various senses can be enhanced using mana so you can never be too careful.
I slowly stepped away from the wall, making sure to lift my feet and not make too much noise. Turning around, I noticed that there were lots of gaps between the bricks in the house. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Thus, I climbed up the wall. Fortunately, there were plenty of places to secure my feet.
As I neared the top, I could feel the strain in my forearms and fingers. 'I should really train my body if I plan on being a mage that does close combat. I'll see what kinds of weights they offer in the kiosk.'
Fortunately, I was able to reach the roof without slipping and alerting the enemy to my position. As I reached the roof, I crawled through the snow, leaving my head out in order to see. My hair was blond so it would be easier to blend in than if I had dark hair.
Slowly but surely, I reached the edge of the roof. I quickly spotted the two enemies due to their team uniforms. They really do stand out in the snow. I whispered to my team through comms. "I'm in position, ready to engage."
From my elevated position, I was able to see Yanni hiding behind a stack of boxes on the side of the road. Jacob must have been in an alley still as I couldn't see him.
Jacob replied quickly but quietly. "Spells free, boys."
I immediately responded. "I'll snare them. Take out one each to ensure the takedown." I heard no objections. In a tactical situation, I assumed that this meant that they would go with my plan.
Reaching out my senses, I felt the mana flow within the ice that made up the snow. It was quite scattered and weak but it was there nonetheless. Behind each of the two enemies, I condensed the flow and guided it towards their feet. The increased flow density essentially created a river of ice flowing under the snow. It was quite mind blowing. Since it was already ice, I didn't need to worry about the ice being weak due to modifying the mana flow rate too quickly.
As my stream of ice slowly approached their feet, they began to slow down. They must have been suspicious of something happening. That was my chance!
Immediately, I shaped the ice into blocks around their feet, binding them to the ground. Once it was in place, I froze the mana flow, making the ice as hard as rock.
I had thought about it before but the state of matter in this world is dictated by the flow rate of mana within it. Gases have the highest speed but one of the weakest flows. Solids have the slowest speed but the strongest flows. Liquids are somewhere in the middle.
As they found themselves snared, Yanni and Jacob sprung into action. A window shattered as Jacob dove through it, reaching his target without even touching the ground. Trailing behind him was a rock, controlled by his spell. It collided with the head of his target, knocking him out cold.
Yanni's target found herself slowly being encased in ice. As the ice reached her neck, she tilted her head back and breathed a tall stream of fire into the air.
Anna immediately yelled over comms. "You got two more incoming."
Jacob quickly replied, taking charge like the natural leader he is. "Knock her out to secure the takedown and then scatter. We can't let them catch us out."
I was on the roof and my position had yet to be discovered. Thus, I decided to not move. Meanwhile, Yanni whipped the back of the girl's neck with a water whip before retreating into an alleyway. She was out like a light. Jacob retreated into the alleyway next to the house he jumped out of.
About a minute passed as I laid there before the enemy reinforcements came into view. In similar fashion they were moving down the street. Unlike their teammates, they were much more vigilant. If I were to attempt the same type of thing as last time, I'd be discovered. In addition, I didn't have anyone to secure both takedowns. I wasn't some overpowered anime protagonist so I knew I couldn't just jump in and one shot two people who have probably been training much longer than I have. After all, experience can come out on top even in the face of absolute power.
The two enemy combatants approached their downed teammates. The remaining two were another male and female student.
The male was furious. "Those fucking idiots. How could they let themselves be ambushed like this?"
The girl shook her head. "The three of us weren't trained by a Dragon Corps officer like you were. Let's just prop them up out of the snow and figure out a plan."
The boy was seething, the snow nearly evaporating off of his skin as he tried to control his anger. He shoved some words through his clenched teeth. "I already have a plant. Let's fan out and try to take them out one by one. Stay off the street or you'll end up like their sorry asses." He pointed to his two incapacitated teammates."
Upon hearing this, I quickly reported it over comms. "I have a visual on the other two, male and female. They are recovering their teammates and then fanning out. The male was trained by a Dragon Corps officer. What should we do?"
There was silence for a few seconds as Jacob was presumably developing a plan. "Got it. Cal, take the female. Anna, guide Yanni and I towards the male. In addition, strike up a blizzard. We have the advantage in numbers so let's eliminate their visual capabilities. Move out."
Those were probably the best orders he could have given in this scenario. The girl was probably the weaker combatant based on their conversation. It would be safer to have two people take on the strongest combatant.
In response, I prepared myself to move. Fortunately, the girl moved towards my side of the street after setting down her unconscious teammate. For this tail, I got up from crawling and remained crouched. I would be able to move more quickly like this.
As she moved into the alley, I unbuttoned the scabbards for my karambits. I would use them to take her down. A compilation of Assassin's Creed style, aerial takedowns flashed through my head as I trailed her from above. I had time as I needed to ensure she was far enough from her teammate that he would not hear her. It would be bad if I ended up in a one on one fight with him.
While I was trailing her, Anna's voice came over comms. "Sixty seconds to round end. Don't do anything stupid."
I giggled internally. In response, Okami broke his streak of silence. 'You're totally gonna do something stupid.'
In response, I could only nod. 'It hasn't been long, but you already know me too well.'
Okami scoffed. 'I'll teach you some darkness techniques later to conceal your body.'
I nodded as I continued my tail. Suddenly, she turned and walked behind the house I was on top of. I knew this was the best opportunity. Without a doubt, she was out of sight and now far enough away for me to secure a silent takedown.
My legs were starting to get sore by now since I had been crouch walking for a minute and a half now. This confirmed the idea that I needed to train my body. I couldn't afford to skip leg day!
Slowly raising my hands, I slipped my index fingers into the safety loops on my karambits. I then carefully slid them out of their scabbards, unsheathing them with as little sound as possible. With my index fingers in the loops, I spun the two karambits around my hands, securing them into the classic reverse grip that is traditionally used with this type of knife.
I slightly sped up, trying to get a bit ahead of her so that I could wait for the perfect opportunity to strike.
Within a second of me stopping, my opportunity arrived. She looked away from the house I was on to observe an alley. Rather than jumping and making noise, I continued my crouch walk and dropped right off the edge of the roof.
The feeling of the cold air rushing past my face as I fell was refreshing. This feeling was quite fleeting, as I landed on my target. My karambits easily slid into her shoulders, making a clean cut. I quickly released my grip on one of my karambits, covering her mouth to muffle her scream before she could even squeeze it out. The pain proved to be too much for her as she passed out before she could even raise her voice.
I wasn't concerned at all that this strike would be lethal. It takes a lot more than that to end the life of someone with a body reinforced by mana. While it doesn't give additional physical strength, it does improve the body's fortitude.
Within seconds of me landing my takedown, the buzzer sounded. This signified the end of the round. As this happened, the barrier separating us from the crowd cleared. The roar made me feel as if I was drowning in waves of sound.
The announcer projected his voice over the crowd. "WHAT A MATCH! RIGHT AT THE END WE ALMOST SAW IT END IN A DRAW BUT A CLUTCH TAKEDOWN FROM CALLUM OF TEAM ZEPHYR GAVE THEM THE ONE POINT THEY NEEDED TO WIN!"
I was baffled at this. Did that one guy from their team take down both Jacob and Yanni? Aside from Yanni being trained by his father who is a member of the Dragon Corps, Jacob is a prince! He has been trained in the art of combat since he could walk! This was just unbelievable to me.
Suddenly, I heard a voice from within the arena roar out. "WE FORFEIT! I CAN'T CARRY THESE SHIT STAINS!" Following this tantrum, I saw the male student from their team leap through the air, flying for over a mile before landing at the tunnel he came in through.
This was all too much. All I could do was stand there in silence. What the fuck just happened?