CHAPTER 32: PLAYING FOUL

Styles pushed against the wall he rested on and walked to the middle of the clearing. The fourth boy who was watching the entrance rushed back to drag Cheng away from where he lay half unconscious. His body drew a line of blood after him as the boy took him further away to the corner.

Eric watched with interest as Styles stood beside the silent boy, whispering something into his ears.

’Are they planning to double-attack me now? These mages don’t like a fair fight, huh?’

[I don’t know their ability, but the other boy has a strange aura akin to Manipulator’s. Not to worry though, I don’t think his quirks will have much effect on you.]

’I see. There must be a reason why Styles wouldn’t let me fight him next. He must be his background fighter.’

[Correct. But don’t you think you should make a run for it? His ice wall has gotten weaker. You can easily break through and save yourself the stress.]

’And risk getting called a coward? I don’t want to fight him again. I must end this now.’

Styles finally stopped whispering to the other boy, and he stepped closer to Eric, but not close enough to risk a swift attack from him. Eric knew mages needed space to be able to attack well, so Styles wasn’t going to come close, seeing how Cheng foolishly did that and ended up almost dead against Eric’s surprise attack.

But Eric knew he stood no chance if all he was going to do was defend and wait for a counter like he did against Cheng. Styles seemed to know what he was doing, giving him that space, but he wasn’t going to make it comfortable for him.

So, Eric moved closer before Styles could get himself ready for an attack. Styles matched his steps, as he stepped backward also. But Eric didn’t stop edging closer to him.

Suddenly, Eric bounced on his heels and sped straight at Styles, trying to cover the distance faster or at least push Styles to the end of the corner.

But Styles wasn’t as slow as Cheng when it comes to conjuring their magical powers. He shot his palm forward, forming ice walls in front of Eric, trying to stop his momentum. A thin block of ice suddenly appeared before Eric, but he was going too fast to stop himself from crashing into it.

He went face-first through the barrier and his body came crashing after. But thankfully, the barrier was thin, as Styles didn’t form it at a comfortable time. A dull pain shot through Eric’s head as he stormed through the ice wall, stumbling immediately only to find another ice wall in front of him. This one was thicker and he couldn’t break it even if he was running faster than before.

He stared at Styles’ distorted image through the transparent ice wall, and all he could feel was disgust. Styles was playing with him and he knew it. Else, why was he only building walls instead of attacking him directly by throwing ice spears or something?

"Are you perhaps interested in Bricklaying, ice boy?" Eric scoffed, disgusted. "Then go build some igloo in some cold regions when fighting a yeti or something. I mean, what’s with all the misplaced priorities, building ice walls in a warm region?"

Styles grunted from the other side. Eric knew he’d gotten to him. He expected to hear the wall crashing down and a furious attack from Styles. But instead...

A cracking sound erupted from the ice walls and suddenly, large icicles, conical and with sharp pointy edges, jutted out of the wall, growing straight at Eric.

"Whoa!"

Alarmed, Eric jumped backward in an attempt to dodge the sharp ice. He slid upon landing, the wet floor not helping his balance.

"That was close," he said, breathing a sigh of relief.

[Close? Boy, you were hit.]

[-2 HP]

Eric stared down at his chest, and indeed, he saw two of the ice cones stuck inside him, with their snapped ends dripping blood that poured out from his body. "Oh man..."

He underestimated Styles’ summoning ability. He could even conjure ice spears quickly out of the ice wall he already made. "Seems you’re more than a bricklayer after all." He pulled the ice cones loose as he bled slowly.

The walls crashed down, and Styles stepped out with about twenty ice spears hovering around him, ready to be thrown. Giving an angry face, Eric saw the spears move slowly toward him while Styles remained on the spot. The spears stopped about half the distance between the two of them, with Styles using the spears as a method to stop Eric coming speedily at him again.

"You swordsmen are really worthless, you know," said Styles confidently. "You’d go through all the stress of agonizing training, pushing your damn body to its limits, only to lose against us mages. Isn’t that sick?"

’I think it’s time to use my only skill against this foul-mouthed chicken. I don’t care if they find it unnatural. They probably won’t remember it after I beat their heads to a pulp. And I can always dismiss it as a special swordsman’s technique I learned in training.’

[Using your skill against the mages really won’t draw much suspicion, because they don’t have enough knowledge of what swordsmen’s training is about. But be careful. News spreads fast, you know.]

’I want to be faster than news.’

Eric forced a smile, replying Styles, "If there’s anything sick here, it’s you Styles."

’Use Killer Dash.’

He expected to dash past Styles with his next move, but he only got a notification from the system instead.

[Mental Manipulation effect from a C-ranked mage detected.]

[Do you wish to block?]

’I see they really played foul. It must be that silent boy. He’s trying to manipulate my mental reaction so Styles could deal with me easily. Block that nonsense.’

[Mental Manipulation Effect Blocked]

Eric heard a loud gasp escape the mouth of the silent boy. His eyes grew wide, staring at Eric. Strangely, Styles understood immediately that the effect didn’t work, so he smiled and pushed the spears closer to Eric, ready to finish the face-off here and now.

"Use Killer Dash," Eric mouthed.

But immediately, the ice wall blocking the main entrance behind him came crashing down with a loud noise as ice bricks scattered everywhere. Eric glanced back to see what had caused it, but he couldn’t utter a word. He saw a blue swordsman’s uniform first and shortly a beautiful figure.

It was Opal.