NOVEL FROG Chapter 114: Face-off Between Two Elemental Adept Magi
Victor stared at Graviel with an impressed look on his face. He actually had arrived in this chamber five minutes ago and had been watching silently since then. From the moment he froze Jared and Dorian by using a magic scroll to do the same to Elara… It was absolutely marvelous, like watching a theatrical drama.
If not for his punctual arrival, Graviel would have succeeded in killing the other three. If those three were killed, how could he exact his vengeance? More importantly, he would lose out on the opportunity to obtain additional mindless NPCs for his academy. That would be a huge loss.
Still, as much as they were innately untrustful of each other, Victor did not believe that it would come to this. Well, one thing he noticed the second he got to this chamber was that the Twilight Moon Pendant — his defensive magic tool — had been glowing. The cause was likely the strange energy contained in the air, likely produced by the runes on the walls around.
“What…? How are you alive?!” Graviel stammered in disbelief, a tinge of fear flickering across his expression. The shock of seeing Victor alive must have been overwhelming.
Indeed. Who would not be frightened to discover that the person they had attempted to kill was still breathing and now seeking retribution? It was a classic story, even in this world.
Victor chuckled darkly. “Oh, you’d be more surprised by what I’ve gone through.”
“All this time… With the ambush at the valley to the sudden attack of a supernatural phenomenon and magical beasts, it was all your doing!” A realization dawned on Graviel as he turned his gaze back to Victor. “How did you orchestrate all of this? Who’s backing you?”
Victor made a condescending smile, stating, “You must be confused. You must be curious. Unfortunately, I’m not here to satisfy your curiosity. Your time is over.”
“You! You won’t stop me here! I’ll complete all these trials and inherit the legacy of the Steelrose Order!” With a manic expression, Graviel tightened his grip on his dagger and was ready to cast spells in retaliation. “You, a mere acolyte of the puny Asteriscus family, dare to act so arrogantly?!”
Victor, smirking, said, “We’ll see about that.” Then, with a flick of his wrist, he conjured a blazing spear in his hand — the same spell he had previously employed to combat the mechanical beast.
“A-A Bet-tier spell! How?! Have you advanced to the rank of Elemental Adept Magus?” Graviel’s eyes were wide open, his body trembling slightly. “Impossible! Impossible!”
“Nothing is impossible,” Victor replied slowly, enunciating each syllable as he hurled the blazing spear at him.
Bang!
An explosion arose as soon as the blazing spear made contact with the target, but Victor knew this was far from over. The defensive magic tool owned by Graviel was one of the highest quality; it could even block an all-out attack of an official Magus like him. Other than that, Victor was not using his full power in casting that spell.
Sure enough, as the smoke cleared, Graviel was only knocked back a few meters from his original position, with an extremely cracked transparent shield before him that soon shattered into pieces. One more spell would surely bring an end to his life, Victor was certain of that.
“Any last word?” Victor closed his distance as he uttered those words.
Graviel seemed to have finally realized the dire situation he was in and pleaded amidst rasped breaths. “You can’t kill me! No, I can’t die here! Let’s talk this through. We can share the inheritance of this place.”
“Pfft. Really now?” Victor shook his head in disdain. “What a cliché,” he scoffed and continued after pausing for a moment, “Once you’re dead, all of this naturally becomes mine. There’s no point in sharing it with you.”
“Damn you!” Graviel snarled, retrieving a strange vial from his interspatial ring. “Hehehe. You don’t know what’s hidden in the shadows of this world. This is what they gave me to anticipate this kind of situation.”
“Still talking nonsense, huh. Truly the typical actions of a cornered rat.” Without hesitation, Victor unleashed another {Volcanic Spear}, aiming to end the confrontation once and for all. Of course, he would not allow him to consume the vial — it gave him a bad feeling.
However, in that span of time, Graviel activated a magic scroll, conjuring a wide arcane shield adorned with intricate runes and blocking the incoming blazing spear. The shield rippled slightly as it absorbed the impact of the spell. It must be a top-notch Bet-tier spell or even a higher-tier spell, as it could easily withstand {Volcanic Spear}.
“Tch, rich bastard.” Victor furrowed his brows. Again and again, Victor’s magic spells were blocked by Graviel’s treasure; this truly got on his nerves. Refusing to be deterred, he cast {Warpblade}, and a long ethereal blade materialized on his hand. This Cosmo elemental spell could cut through space itself, and even the strongest shield would amount to nothing in the face of its esoteric nature.
“Break for me!” Victor swung the ethereal blade at the arcane shield with all his might. It sliced through the air with a sound like tearing fabric, cutting through the space itself, as it collided with the shield.
This time, the arcane shield didn’t end with just a ripple; signs of tears formed on the point of contact, spreading with each passing second. Even though the runes glowed with a brilliant intensity as they absorbed the force of the blow, Victor’s spell clearly surpassed it. Finally, the shield shattered into countless light particles, dissipating into the air.
“Now, it’s your turn.” Victor hoisted the ethereal blade in his hand toward Graviel, about to strike him down.
“It’s too late, Victor! I’ve drunk the vial. Keke— Agh! Aargh!!” Graviel’s voice twisted with agony as he clutched his neck, his body slowly transforming into a bluish-pale-colored fiend.
“Fine. Show me all your tricks.” Despite his words, Victor did not intend to let him finish the transformation unopposed. Unlike the protagonists or villains in novels who would wait for their opponents to reveal their true power, Victor was not about to play by those rules. Like hell I would let him!
Without a second more of dilly-dallying, Victor lunged forward, brandishing the ethereal blade. But as he closed in on Graviel, the transformed fiend let out a guttural growl that sent Victor flying back several meters.
By now, Graviel had completed his transformation into a three-meter-tall bluish-pale demon, with fiendish horns and leathery wings. If Victor didn’t know any better, he would have thought that he was facing a creature straight from the depths of the Nether Realm — the world of demonic beings like demons.
“This power! Hahaha! So this is what the elixir given by them does.” Graviel’s voice deepened, echoing like that of a monstrous being as he laughed. “It stimulates the potential of my body and gives me similar traits to that of a Warlock, transforming me into a demon-like being and thus achieving the strength of an Elemental Adept Magus and make me capable of casting Cryo element Bet-tier spells without practicing. Even you, Victor,” he gazed at Victor threateningly, “you’re not my opponent.”
The transformation not only affected him, but also his surroundings. Despite being inside a sealed chamber, chilling snow began to fall down, plunging the temperature below 0 degrees Celsius. The intense cold was enough to make Victor shiver slightly.
“Are you not afraid of the consequences? Not being able to revert to human form?” Victor couldn’t help but ask the million-dollar question that lingered in his mind whenever faced with such situations, though this was his first time in real life.
Using an elixir like this never came without a price. Even if the effects were temporary, they often left long-lasting side effects, such as shortening lifespan, crippling one’s cultivation, and having permanent alterations, among other horrible things.
“Such a worthless question. The Cult behind me could easily turn me back. But because of you, I now have to reveal the existence of this place to them.” Graviel shot a venomous glance at Victor.
The Cult? Victor had never heard of the existence of such an organization in this kingdom or even in the neighboring lands. It must either be a well-hidden force operating in the shadows, or a smaller, lesser-known group. Otherwise…
Victor raised his eyes in a sudden horrific realization, and a shiver ran down his spine.
Before he could dwell further on his unsettling realization, Graviel shouted with bloodshot eyes full of malice, “Now, prepare to meet your end!” His hands stretched open, conjuring a bluish-icy energy that enveloped the chamber. “Victor, you’re nothing but a frog at the bottom of the well! {Perfect Blizzard}!”
The snowflakes that were raining down transformed into lethal shards as sharp as obsidian, slicing through the air with deadly precision. Had the spell been cast in an open field, its devastation would have been amplified manifold, given its classification as a small meteorological spell.
“Shoot! A Bet-tier spell!” Victor cursed, instinctively activating an innate shield made of ethereal energy. The deadly snowflakes were repelled, unable to breach his defenses and get close to him. Though he had anticipated this coming, witnessing its ferocity firsthand left him momentarily shaken.
Fortunately, his shield was able to easily block the full brunt of the spell. Because of the esoteric nature of Victor’s magic shield, some of the energy of the blizzard was stored in the void and used to replenish the shield itself.
“Is this the extent of your power, Graviel?” with a deviant sneer, Victor taunted. “If you think this feeble display can defeat me, you sorely underestimate my capabilities. I may be a newly-promoted Elemental Adept, but I am anything but ordinary.”
With a swift motion, Victor vanished from his original position, utilizing the {Blink Step} spell to reappear behind the demonic form of Graviel. In a fluid motion, he conjured the ethereal blade once more and slashed at him.
Taken by surprise, Graviel failed to evade the attack and was injured by Victor’s precise strike. Dark maroon blood splattered from his wound, but it quickly healed at a speed seen by the naked eye, causing Victor to be slightly appalled.
“Damn you!” Enraged, he retaliated with a vicious swing of his sharp claws, but Victor narrowly escaped by the skin of his teeth, blinking away from harm’s reach.
“Die, Victor!” Graviel’s voice thundered as he conjured a long white sword of condensed ice, lunging at Victor who had just reappeared with immense killing intent.
Unable to evade this time, Victor was forced to use his ethereal blade to block his opponent’s blade, turning the combat into a melee. This exchange of blows continued until tens of rounds. Because of Graviel’s enhanced strength from the elixir, Victor was hard-pressed to get the upper hand, but he was not losing out either. Though it became evident that it would be near impossible to achieve victory this way. After all, Victor’s skill in using a sword was very basic and more like a child play unlike his magic proficiency.
Finding that there was no end to this, Victor backed away, preparing for the final spell that would end the confrontation once and for all. “Graviel, let’s put an end to this!”
“That’s precisely what I had in mind!” Graviel responded decisively, his expression becoming more ferocious as he transformed the condensed ice sword into a chillingly cold blue energy that grew in size with each passing second.
Meanwhile, Victor extended his palms, summoning flames and whirlwinds on each hand as he had done previously to finish off the mechanical beast.
“—{Absolute Zero}!” Graviel hurled the massive blue energy toward Victor.
“—{Blazing Burst}!” Victor fused the two opposing forces, creating a tempest of scorching flames and icy winds that he unleashed at Graviel.
Boom!
A collision of the two opposing forces sent shockwaves of energy rippling through the air, blasting anything in its wake.
