This is bad! This is bad!
Countless root-like vines emerged from the forest throughout the arena and rushed towards me.
I activated my Ice magic and froze the ground around me, including most of the trees inside the arena, but the gigantic vines didn't even flinch and continued their charge.
The roots hiding underground instantly grabbed me, but just like what happened at the hole earlier, they were trying to hold me down without causing any damage, apparently leading me to the worst-case scenario of exhausting myself before I could even fight her directly.
I stopped them by burning them down using my Fire magic and Wind magic while using my extreme speed to dodge; however, due to me being occupied with dodging the vines, it was already too late when I noticed the literal thundercloud forming right above me and blasted a devastating thunder strike coming from the sky.
After the deafening roar of the thunder strike, I had just taken, I immediately felt the surge of massive physical boost in me. The Warrior's rage finally kicked in, but I didn't need a physical attack. I need mana-draining magic to execute whatever Cherubim was saying.
I heard footsteps coming towards me. I raised my head and found her staring at me with her left hand leaning on her waist.
"You had me thinking that you were already doing it when you covered the ground in ice, but it turns out you're just using your feet as your medium. Now that the entire place is covered in ice, you can create an indefinite amount of ice spikes to attack me. It is quite creative, I must admit. However, you are doing it the hard way."
In an instant, all the trees around us instantly disappeared into thin air, and even the ice around the arena I created disappeared as well.
So, this is what a powerful mage could do. She can create and demolish a forest at will, not to mention the freaking thundercloud that struck me earlier.
However, I have no time to wonder and need to move fast! The obstacles are finally gone, and she's just standing before me.
I blasted both my Fire and Electricity magic toward her, but as I expected, she just brushed it off using her Earth magic and blocked my attack using a huge boulder.
I activated my extreme speed, and with the power boost I received from the thunder strike earlier, I think I can overcome her in close combat now.
"This is how you do it."
After hearing her voice, the next thing I felt was the intense pain of being smashed by the boulders of ice, which suddenly materialized from the ground.
Unlike me, who still needed to cover the ground in ice to create ice spikes, her ice spikes came out in every direction, on the ground, and even in mid-air without anything supporting them.
I covered my fists with Fire and Wind magic to punch and burn my way through; however, the ice spikes floating mid-air suddenly surged towards me and hindered my movement as I destroyed or got hit by some of them, most of whom were the same size or larger than me.
Due to the damage I was receiving, my physical attacks became more and more powerful. Making smashing through the ice and even rock boulders became easier until I finally reached her.
I immediately activated both my nature magic and Mystic thread and released countless webs and vines from my hand toward her.
But a powerful gust of wind blades instantly obliterated them.
Contrary to what I expected, Raiden didn't run and just stared at me.
I took my opportunity and jumped towards her with my fist covered in Wind, Fire, and Electricity magic and aimed for her.
However, before I could even reach her, I felt my body float and completely paralyzed while an intense pain attacked my entire body.
As if my body was slowly withering and I was being stabbed and burned at the same time, and I could feel that pain all over me!
All I could see was her and the black circular prison containing me.
I tried to blast my Fire magic in an attempt to destroy the dark prison, but it was useless; my fire attack just bounced back towards me.
My physical boost is useless if I can't move!
[Confirmed: New Skill Imitated: Dark Magic skill Acquired]
"Tell me, why aren't you using the greatest advantage the people of your tribe have? The problem with you is, I can easily tell that you don't know your own potential; you have the power but can't properly wield it."
As much as I want to hear more of your pep talk, I'm currently in the middle of insufferable pain right now.
I have to get out of this place. Let's fight fire with fire, but this time it's
Dark magic!
I don't know what's gonna happen, but let's do it!
I activated my newly acquired Dark magic, the coolest element of all!
"Dark magic. Show me what you can do!"
I instantly felt tremendous pain in my right hand, more than what I was feeling all over my body. Suddenly, a jet-black smoke-like fog materialized in my right hand, generating a sizzling sound. What came next was a huge explosion of dark fog that instantly broke the dark circular prison that contained me and threw me away from her.
Upon landing, I immediately stood up and almost jumped due to pain in my right hand. My hand completely turned black after casting the skill. At least her ball of darkness didn't grill my entire body just like my own skill did to me!
It freaking hurts! What the hell with this skill? My hand felt more painful than when I was inside her. Dark magic! Why does it hurt the user more?
Even though the black fog finally stopped coming out, the sizzling sound was still there.
"I see, so you also have an aptitude for Dark magic."
"Yeah, as much as I want to talk, I'm in the middle of something here."
"That reminds me of my early days."
I stood up and faced her.
Man, I'm already beat up, but she hasn't received any damage yet.
Toasted hand later, I have a battle I need to somehow win.
"If you have an aptitude for Dark magic, your Dark magic will be far more destructive than the ones who don't have an aptitude for it, even for the caster. It will always attack you when you activate it with your body as your medium. With that said, why not use a more reliable and more powerful medium? I hope it's not just because you can't do it."
"Maybe for you, it makes a lot of sense, but not for me. Would you mind explaining it to me while waiting for my toasted hand to cool down? You looked like a very smart person, and I'm pretty sure I could learn many things from your outstanding knowledge of magic".
One of her eyebrows instantly rose as she crossed her arms.
Of course, it's just a joke. As if she would, as far as I'm concerned, it's already a winning game for her; I don't think she would waste more of her precious time on me.
And there she is.
A stone suddenly appeared behind her.
She sat on the stone.
And crossed her feet and put her hand on her chin while attentively staring at me.
She exhaled. "Hmph, you really are helpless; it can't be helped then. Besides, who am I to reject the plea of such a poor soul that you are? I am too kind for that."
Ha?
Don't tell me she decided to go into teacher mode because I jokingly called her smart.
"I... I didn't expect you actually take it seriously-"
"Now, now, I'm the only one allowed to talk. All I need you to do is to listen carefully, nothing else. Are we clear?"
All I could do was scratch my head. "Ah... sure."
Yep, she definitely does!