novelraw Chapter 75 : Element-Favored Duel Arena (2)
Chapter 75 : Element-Favored Duel Arena (2)
Chapter 75: Element-Favored Duel Arena (2)
The portals were arranged in five columns.
A total of thirty portals.
There were five portals of the same color each.
Portals 1 through 5 were black, 6 through 10 were red.
11 through 15 were brown, 16 through 20 were white.
21 through 25 were gray, 26 through 30 were sky blue.
And the final row, portals 31 through 35, shimmered in a mix of the six colors above, glowing colorfully like a rainbow.
‘Wait, could this be……?’
Just by looking at the colors of the portals, I could make one guess.
The fact that every portal color exactly matched the unique color of an element.
It didn’t seem like there was no connection at all.
“Follow me.”
Keled took the lead and walked toward Portal Number 11, which we had been assigned.
In front of the portal, two measuring devices had been placed.
“Put those on and come in.”
He coldly spat out just that one line, attached the measuring device first, and stepped into the portal.
Even the glance I had sent him was filled with a strong will that said he would definitely stomp me.
“Artel! Let’s definitely win!”
It was Kiena, who had been assigned the portal next to mine.
She had already attached the measuring device, and before entering the portal, she clenched her fist tightly and cheered me on.
“Yeah, Kiena, you definitely win too. You can do it, right?”
“Of course!”
Then I spoke to Hei, who had been assigned Portal Number 13 next to her.
“Hei! You can do it too, right?”
“Of course!”
The distance between the portals wasn’t very wide, so it was close enough to hear without having to shout.
Only after confirming that Hei and Kiena had entered their portals did I step into mine as well.
As I emerged from the portal, a gigantic canyon greeted me.
“As expected…… my prediction was right.”
A canyon made entirely of rocky cliffs.
It wasn’t some cramped canyon.
The towering cliff walls on both sides were massive enough to block out the sky, and the valley between them was wide enough to build an entire building.
It was the moment I confirmed the true form of the Element-Favored Duel Arena with my own eyes.
Its purpose was surely this.
An elementalist’s magic is enormously affected by the surrounding environment.
If a Water Element elementalist were to manifest water elemental magic in a place covered by the sea, the magic would be far stronger than usual.
That was because all elemental magic originated from nature or the environment.
That was why the Flewd Elementalist was the strongest.
Flewd existed everywhere we lived and breathed, and even if their own mana was insufficient, they could replenish their power by using the environment.
But other elements were not like that.
From the start, manifesting magic in a place where the surrounding environment couldn’t be utilized meant carrying a fatal penalty.
This duel arena was made entirely of a canyon.
It was specialized for the Earth Element and was created to make use of this environment.
This must have been the difference from 1st Class, which had been a beginner class.
‘So that’s why Professor Cullem said that…….’
To me, Kiena, and Hei, who had just arrived at 3rd Class, she had said, “Ah, the three of you might not know. The meaning of the favored duel arena.”
From 3rd Class onward, the start of the intermediate classes, it meant you were at a level where you could use the environment.
I understood it clearly, but Kiena and Hei likely didn’t understand the meaning of this duel arena.
‘This is going to be harder than expected.’
I was worried not about myself, but about Kiena and Hei, who would be fighting their duels in the same type of favored duel arena as me.
In my previous life, duel arenas like this didn’t exist, so even I hadn’t anticipated this variable.
Kugugugung-!
A loud rumbling sound began to echo from the cliff walls.
I could clearly feel that my opponent, Keled, was manifesting Earth Element magic using this canyon environment.
Dudududud-!
Soon, even the ground began to tremble, and Keled’s figure came into view in the distance.
I couldn’t help but be shocked when I saw the magic he had manifested.
‘This is supposed to be the level of a 3rd Class student? It’s way different from what I expected.’
Keled was riding atop a thin, long wall made of the Earth Element, rapidly closing the distance between us.
I couldn’t be certain whether his magic only looked stronger because of the surrounding environment, or whether the level of 3rd Class itself was genuinely higher than I had expected.
‘Well, I can figure that out step by step.’
For now, I immediately manifested Torrent Ball and threw it at Keled as he charged toward me at high speed.
“What? You think something like that magic is enough?”
But Keled sneered and swung his arm over his head.
It was the same motion as swatting away a fly that had flown in front of his eyes.
In response to his gesture, new rocks appeared and wrapped around his body in an arch shape, merging with the thin, long wall he was riding, forming something like a tunnel made of stone.
The arched rock blocked my magic, and Keled continued to approach me at high speed.
Puseok!
Just as he nearly reached me, the ground beneath my feet changed into a perfectly circular shape, and as if someone had shoved my back toward the charging Keled, my footing bounced and propelled me forward.
At the same time, Keled made a throwing motion, and spike-shaped rocks shot out from the arched stone, flying straight toward my body.
The magic’s chaining, precision, and speed were on a completely different level—hard to believe it was only 3rd Class.
Had the standards of students risen overall as the times changed?
By the standards of my previous life, these were spells one should have only started learning from 4th Class onward, yet here I was seeing them from a 3rd Class student.
If it had been another student, they would have been helplessly overwhelmed by his attack just now, and the duel would have ended right there.
“I told you! I’m the one who gets to say sorry!”
It was what Keled said as he passed by my side.
The thin, long wall he rode on was so flexible in its use that it could freely change direction, twisting like a snake’s body.
Keled returned to his original position to regain momentum.
‘Did he seriously mistake my thoughtful look for panic?’
Honestly, I was an Archmage in name, yet here I was being told things like this by a 3rd Class student.
Dudududud-!
Once again, the sound of the ground rumbling rang out.
That meant Keled was riding the wall again, attempting the exact same attack pattern on me.
I had already checked the durability of his magic when I threw Torrent Ball earlier.
It might be considered solid at 3rd Class, but to me, it was nothing more than a soft stone.
‘Looks like all he trusts in is that kind of mobility battle, but wouldn’t it be enough to just destroy the wall he’s riding on in one go?’
The wall Keled was riding had a fatal flaw.
There was no doubt it was a mount with excellent mobility, but the problem was that all of the wall segments were connected.
When Keled passed by my side, the wall he was riding remained completely in front of me.
“Did you get so focused on attacking that you didn’t even have time to pay attention?”
When a tail is long, it’s bound to get stepped on—this was practically waving it in front of me, begging to be stepped on.
Put another way, it probably meant it had become a habit.
I didn’t know what kind of students he had dueled so far, but since his opponents couldn’t keep their wits about them under his barrage, his cleanup had ended up this sloppy.
I placed my hand on the thin, long wall in front of me and lit it on fire.
‘It’ll be a bit hot.’
The flames rapidly raced along the wall, stretching toward Keled.
Dudududud-!
But the rumbling of the ground continued unabated.
That meant my attack hadn’t worked.
‘How did he neutralize it? I’m curious.’
I stood there with my arms crossed, leisurely waiting for Keled to approach.
At last, Keled came into view.
But there were no flames at all on the wall he was riding.
Looking closely, I saw that he had abandoned the wall I set on fire and created a new wall to ride toward me.
I admitted it.
The level of 3rd Class was higher than I had expected.
Still, it didn’t change the outcome.
“You were acting so confident, but is that all you can do? Being a Double Caster doesn’t make you anything special!”
Thinking he had completely seized the advantage, Keled shouted at the top of his lungs as he rode the wall toward me.
And just like before, he made a wild throwing motion.
In response to his gesture, thick rock spikes shot toward me.
But I was able to immediately grasp the fatal flaw in Keled’s attack pattern.
The thin, long wall he was riding.
Like a flexible snake, it could alter its trajectory in midair, but it seemed he couldn’t properly control its speed, as he kept changing direction only after passing by my body.
I had been waiting for that moment, and when he sped past my side, I left him with a single line.
“It’s hard to match your level. It’s over, idiot.”
“What are you say— Aagh!”
Keled couldn’t perfectly control his speed.
Along the path he was heading, I manifested a gigantic Fire Shroud.
Its size was comparable to the towering cliff walls on either side that seemed to block out the sky.
In the vast canyon, a literal curtain of fire was raised.
Keled passed straight through the Fire Shroud with his bare body, and the moment he emerged, he fell off the wall he had been riding.
At the same time, every spell he had manifested vanished.
“I’m the one who gets to say sorry—now you get it, right?”
“Aagh! It’s hot!”
It seemed my voice no longer reached him due to the flames.
The time it took him to pierce through the gigantic Fire Shroud didn’t even reach a full second.
Despite that brief moment, his uniform had caught fire, and his skin had suffered burns.
Crack!
As the measuring device attached to him shattered, a portal leading outside opened.
This duel arena was designed so that when a measuring device broke, it would automatically recognize the duel as finished and open the exit portal.
“It hurts……! It’s so hot I’m going crazy!”
Perhaps because he was tasting the bitterness of burns for the first time, Keled rolled around on the ground, crying out in pain.
‘Sigh, he’s just an arrogant student, not my mortal enemy. If he hurts that much, I end up feeling bad.’
I hoisted him onto my back and left the duel arena.
“You ended way too fast…… My goodness, what on earth did you do in there?!”
When I came out of the duel arena carrying Keled on my back, Professor Cullem checked his condition and recoiled in shock.
The blackened uniform and the skin flushed bright red were more than enough to signal danger.
“You should have shown some restraint! Were you really trying to kill him?”
“…….”
Honestly, it felt a bit unfair.
All I did was manifest one gigantic Fire Shroud, and Keled jumped in on his own and pierced through it.
Well, it was true that I hadn’t properly controlled my power.
“Take him to the infirmary immediately!”
“Yes, I was going to anyway. You’re the one stopping me, Professor.”
“Just hurry up and go!”
‘What a temper.’
I first hurriedly took him to the infirmary, then returned to the duel arena.
Kiena’s and Hei’s duels weren’t over yet.
I came back because I wanted to see the results.
“Why are you back again? You did take Keled properly to the infirmary, right?”
Cullem still looked like he wanted to bite my head off every time he saw me.
“If you don’t believe me, why don’t you go check for yourself?”
“Now you really live up to the rumors about Artel—no manners at all.”
I had no idea what kind of answer he was expecting.
While I was bickering with Cullem, Kiena’s duel ended, and she came out opening the arena door with a bright expression.
“Kiena……?”
In contrast, the student who had faced her wore a dark expression.
Why were their expressions so completely different?
“I won! Artel! What was that, 3rd Class isn’t anything special at all!”
As expected, Kiena had no sense of moderation.
Right at the start of the first semester of 3rd Class, she delivered me yet another fresh shock.
“That was impressive, Kiena.”
I ruffled her hair and offered my praise.
The training we had done over the past two months had clearly helped a great deal.
‘Now all that’s left is Hei.’
The two of us waited anxiously for Hei to come out.