The last of the scrap metal grenades detonated at the same time as the masked man rushed at Ewan, and the latter could not avoid a violent head-on collision with the strange invisible shield that his enemy was wearing. The young hunter was thrown backwards and rolled on the ground before being stopped by the trunk of a big tree.
The second impact finished emptying his lungs of the air they still contained inside, and caused him to grumble in pain. His back and chest felt like it was on fire, and the hard, angular trunk of the tree had slammed into his left side, hitting his muscles and ribs.
The young hunter also had a headache, and by pure instinct, he managed to retrieve a tiny ball of paper from one of his apron pockets and threw it against the ground.
Immediately, a cloud of irritating dust exploded between him and his attacker, incapacitating both the masked man and Ewan, who had not had time to protect himself. However, the young hunter knew that this would not be enough to give him time to straighten up, and rummaging again in his apron, took out a small thick paper card that he threw violently to the ground in front of him to plant it in the earth.
The masked man, who had recovered much faster than him, was already approaching him again when he saw the card on the ground, and suspicious, raised his arm forward. His hand met a resistance in the air, stopped by a transparent slab, and he knew that his prey had just drawn up a magic rampart to prevent him from advancing towards him.
Taking advantage of this moment to get up, Ewan stared at the man on the other side of the transparent rampart, and already prepared to set off his next trap. These cards were a bit of a last minute asset, and even if the rampart created was only about ten meters long, it was enough to give a moment of needed respite, and prepare an offensive.
With a breath made difficult, Ewan took out of a medium-sized bag a tool that looked like a tuning fork, then unfolded the handle, telescopic but still very resistant. A few more seconds, and he would be ready to give this guy what he deserved.
However, the masked man refused to wait patiently.
Pulling his gloved hand away from the magical rampart, he pointed his palm skyward, then after a short moment, created ice claws from the back of his hand to his fingertips. Like a ferocious creature, he raised his hand backwards, then, with his fingers spread out like the claws of a monster's paw, he thrust his clawed hand forward to dig his frost-sharpened fingers into the magical rampart in front of him.
The transparent ice claws went through Ewan's rampart until the man's fingers were fully embedded in it, and cracks began to appear all around. The tears spread in all directions from the point of impact, and to give the final blow to the magic that was far too weak to resist any longer, the masked man drove his fist through the magical rampart. It shattered into a thousand pieces with a sound like broken glass, the pieces falling to the ground and shattering into small pieces before dissipating as if they had never been there.
Wide-eyed, Ewan had to face the facts: this guy and his ice magic were too dangerous, and if Géandre didn't come back soon, he wouldn't bet on himself.
With one hand, the masked man brandished his sword, and with the other, still equipped with ice claws, threatened Ewan by slowly moving his fingers. He knew he had an advantage, but he wasn't the only one in this situation. All he had to do was get a little too close, and the young man could turn the situation in his favor.
Holding up his sword and the strange long-handled tuning fork, Ewan signaled to his enemy that he intended to put up a fierce resistance. The man in front of him, already in an attacking position, rushed at him, and brought his sword down from left to right.
Ewan deflected the sword that was coming in his direction, and directed his own in an upward arc to try to disarm the masked man.
However, the latter had seen the blow coming, and moving aside, scratched Ewan's arm with his hand covered with ice. The young man did not feel anything at the moment, the cold masking any sensation of pain; then he felt something moist and tepid running on his arm. This type had clawed it until blood, as a wild creature would have done it. Tightening his grip on his double-edged sword accordingly, the young hunter sent the tip of his weapon towards his enemy as if it were a harpoon, and as the masked man deflected his sword again to attack him with his other hand, Ewan was finally able to seize his chance. With skill, he aimed the forked head of the tuning fork at a piece of his opponent's armor. The latter could not avoid the strange object, too busy attacking Ewan while parrying his blows, and was hit right on the breastplate of his black metal armor.
A kind of metallic noise sounded several times all around them, as if the armor was resonating from inside, and suddenly the metal it was made of started to crack.
Aware of the danger, the masked man took two steps back, feeling under his still ice-covered fingers a huge crack in his armor piece. This must have displeased him, because vindictively, he generated from his hand with icy claws a spear of frozen water. Then, grabbing it, he threw it with all his strength towards his target. Unimpressed, Ewan lunged at him and swung his sword at the magical projectile to throw it off course. The strange icy javelin offered no resistance, and deviated from its course, going to plant itself in a thicket; leaving the field free to Ewan to reach his enemy.
Claws stretched forward with his fingers spread, the masked man waited until Ewan was within reach to swing his sword up and down and surprise him in turn. Forced to accept the blow, the young man sent his hand armed with the tuning fork to touch again the pectoral armor of his opponent while intercepting the man with his other hand, armed with his sword.
A new metallic echo echoed throughout the forest, a sign that he had hit his target. The piece of armor he had just touched finished breaking and fell to the ground, but he could not recover the tuning fork: its handle, grabbed by the man's ice claws, refused to move. Then, while tightening the fist, his enemy crushed and broke clear in two the telescopic handle of the object.
Forced to abandon the sonic weapon, Ewan sent his hand back and towards his belt to recover his dagger, but having understood his intention, the masked man sent his clawed hand forward to seize directly the face of the young hunter between his fingers. Unable to reach the secondary weapon in his possession in time, Ewan altered the posture of his hand on the hilt of his sword to hold it head down and hilt up, and with this more stable position, narrowly stopped the icy claws in front of his face.
The masked man's icy fingers closed in on Ewan's sword blade, and Ewan realized that he had just been trapped at his own game: his sword was now locked in the hand of his opponent, who hastened to spread a layer of ice on the weapon to force the young hunter to drop it.
As a last resort, Ewan finally retrieved his dagger from his belt, and stuck it up and down, straight into the back of the masked man's hand. Despite the icy water, the blade sank and reached the soft tissue, staining the ice with red splashes.
Nevertheless, even wounded, Androanni did not let go of Ewan's sword. No one could stand in his way so easily. Confidently, he instantly generated ice to trap the dagger in his hand, and brought his sword down on the young man's neck, sure that he could not resist.
The sword struck its target, but did not sink, and with surprise Androanni saw that the young hunter had stopped the blade with his bare hand. More precisely, he had covered his right hand with ice after dropping his own sword, and intercepted his enemy's blade by tightening his fingers on it.
Shivering with cold, Ewan prevented his opponent's blade from moving and generated more ice around the black-bladed sword.
This guy wasn't the only one who could use ice elemental magic, and while he was a little disappointed to have to reveal his asset so soon, Ewan was confident. If this guy was trying to throw him off balance, he had chosen the wrong target.