Close Combat Mage

Chapter 102 - Superior Tactics Part 2

As any experienced person knows, the Swamp Technique cannot be underestimated. Although it was only the combination of mud and water, once one fell into the swamp, there was no way they could get out of it, no matter how much strength they used. Even if they had enough power to pull themselves out, they’d end up breaking their own leg!

The best way to break away from the restrictions caused by the swamp was to slowly wiggle, swivel around, move about, and then pull oneself out after having loosened the bindings. Trying to pull directly out with force alone wouldn’t work. The fire warrior hurriedly began to rotate his leg and move his foot around. Finally…his left foot was able to escape from the swamp.

Just as the fire warrior was inwardly celebrating his success, he tried to jump towards the side. However, after he exerted energy to move, his body still remained motionless. In horror, he looked down at his right foot. Unknowingly, his right foot had also become trapped by a swamp.

Although the fire warrior had successfully freed his left foot from the Swamp Technique, his right foot had unfortunately been caught right after. It was quite evident that while he was busy trying to release his left foot, Aila had once again cast a Swamp Technique underneath his other foot. It seemed like what she did was quite simple, but in order to grasp the timing for this, it required quite a bit of mental decisiveness and a sufficiently fast casting speed.

When he exerted some strength, his body was still unable to move. Helpless, the fire warrior was forced to drop his left leg back to the ground, which deeply sank into the ground as well. At this moment, although his two legs could still move a bit within the swamp, it was extremely difficult to do so.

“Xi!” The fire warrior took a deep breath. He knew that in order to break free from this Swamp Technique, he had to assemble his battle qi, and use his explosive fire system battle qi to blast the swamp apart. This was an extremely easy way to gain his freedom again, and after a brief moment, boiling fire system battle qi began to frantically circulate within his body, gathering together, and beginning to brew…

“Chi…” Right when the fire warrior was about to explode with battle qi, and cause the swamp to burst apart, a violent earth shattering sound rang out. Lifting his head in shock, he saw a blue-tinted Ice Sphere whiz towards him.

If it was an ordinary situation, a fire warrior would never be scared of such a spell. Once it drew near, he could shatter it or move backwards to avoid it; both were easy to do.However, both his feet were currently nailed to the floor, and other than facing it head on, there wasn’t a second option.

Tightening his grip on his greatsword, the fire warrior fiercely slashed outwards. With a bang, the Ice Sphere was completely shattered into countless shards and cold frost.

However, although the fire warrior had successfully broken the ice sphere, his efforts in escaping the swamp had stopped. In addition, his two legs were now even more firmly embedded into the floor, and half his calf was already caught. In addition, he was still continuously sinking!

With Aila’s current strength, a single Swamp Technique was roughly ten centimeters deep. However, if she added one more and continuously produced two Swamp Techniques, then it would have an additional ten centimeters of depth. If the fire warrior was unable to break out of this, then she could drown him alive with just the Swamp Technique. This was what made the Swamp Technique so frightening!

Moving his two legs a bit with difficulty, the fire warrior knew that if he did not find a solution soon and ended up sinking further, it would be impossible to break free with his current amount of battle qi. Once it reached that point, the warrior who lost all moving capabilities would be no different from a mage’s practice target.

Unfortunately, Aila obviously would not give him that chance, and one after another, Ice Spheres were shot in his direction. The fire warrior couldn’t do anything but continuously wave his greatsword, cutting the Ice Spheres in halves.

He cut apart ten Ice Spheres in succession, until finally… the fire warrior felt that something was wrong. When the Ice Spheres were shattered, the released cold air had already created a thick layer of frost on top of his armor, making it difficult for him to move.

This was not all there was to it; the cold air that leaked into the armor had already made him shiver. If he continued in this way, he didn’t know how much longer he could last. The most important part was that those Ice Sphere shards had already started to cause the swamp ensnaring him to freeze. The swamp was like steel, and moving around in there made his two legs feel like they were being snapped.

Seeing the opposing Aila once again lift up her staff, the fire warrior understood that he had already lost all chances of victory. If he continued like this, he would be knocked down! After realizing this, the fire warrior lifted his hand in defeat; there was no point in continuing.

Seeing the fire warrior slowly walk off the stage, Suo Jia was so excited that his face radiated with delight. Aila actually gave him an important lesson; although she only utilized the Ice Sphere and Swamp Techniques, she used the two to their utmost limits. She even linked the two magic spells together, and utilized the icebound effect she mentioned earlier. She imitated the effects of the Revolving Frozen Gas’s results and rooted the fire warrior in place so he would not be able to move at all. If it wasn’t like this, how could the prideful fire warrior possibly admit defeat!

While watching Aila coldly standing on the platform, Suo Jia discovered that he had begun to admire her more and more. Normally, she wasn’t very talkative. But once she spoke. her words always contained brilliant wisdom behind them, as bright as snow, and as cool as ice. She was always so calm and indifferent, as if nothing in the world could possible phase her. She stood there in an awe-inspiring manner, both frigid and proud, just like a majestic icy mountain.

Fire warrior #3 said in a depressed voice, “Teacher, she already knows ice techniques; I obviously cannot defeat her. But…isn’t the Ice Sphere Technique something that one can only activate as a mage trainee? I suspect that they used external help!”

“Shut up!” The lecturer looked around his surroundings to confirm that nobody had heard the student’s words, and then hissed, “Don’t make us lose face. What she used wasn’t the Ice Sphere Technique, but the ordinary Water Sphere Technique. This doesn’t even count as magic. In reality, the only reason she had been able to summon an Ice Sphere was because of the special effects from the ice-condensing staff in her hand.”

“Ah! Relying on weapons to obtain victory? Then our loss is too unjust!” Fire warrior #3 cried out in contempt as he looked back at the platform where Aila was standing.

“Ai…” Lightly patting #3’s shoulders, the fire warrior captain sighed, “Just go throw out your Blaze Sword first before you start hating on the opponent. In reality, your Blaze Sword is still at a much higher level than her ice-condensing staff.”

“Eh!” Hearing the captain’s words, #3 couldn’t help but stutter in self-defense. Although he didn’t want to admit it, his precious sword was indeed quite a good item. Unfortunately for him, he hadn’t had a chance to display the swords power.

Just as #3 was trying to find a rebuttal, the fire warrior instructor said in a low voice, “Don’t be so stubborn. If you aren’t a bit more modest and don’t try to learn from your defeats, then you will never in your lifetime be able to even dream of defeating that girl. Her strategy and tactics are clearly much more advanced than yours. When comparing the two of you, you seem like a mere 3 year-old!”

The fire warrior instructor then turned towards #2 and said, “Alright, now it’s your turn to go up and test her. Remember…don’t stop; as soon as the round starts, start running. In addition, remember to carefully watch your steps, so that you can avoid being trapped by swamps.”

The fire warrior lecturer then paused for a while before continuing, “Also, try to be more attentive. Don’t advance as soon as the round begins. Gather all your battle qi below your feet, and run as hard as you can. If you get trapped by a swamp, quickly use the battle qi to blast the swamp apart. As long as you get closer to the girl, I believe…that the competition will end!”

“Brilliant! Really brilliant!” Fire warrior #2’s eyes lit up in excitement at the lecturer’s words.

Soon afterwards, the second round of the competition began. As before, Aila stood there as the representative for the Water Arts. Seeing the extremely confident fire warrior #2 enter the arena, Aila coldly smirked. To be honest, she didn’t think that the fire warrior apprentice would have any chance of defeating her at all. After analysing her opponent for an entire afternoon, she had already completed a method to face the fire warrior apprentice that would yield certain victory!

The competition began as soon as the referee gave the command. Just as his instructor had instructed, the fire warrior immediately began running around the platform. Faced with fire warrior #2’s wild running, Aila immediately activated two Swamp Techniques in succession. Both were evaded by her opponent, but the third Swamp Technique did manage to trap him. However, in an instant, fire battle qi burst outwards, and blasted the swamp apart. Just like that, fire warrior #2 charged over, a malicious smile showing on his face.

Seeing the wildly running fire warrior, Aila understood that the Swamp Technique was already useless. The fire warrior had now forgone attack and was using all of his ability to get closer to her. Once he achieved that, then no magic would be of use any longer. The Blazing Blade would instantly cut through and break all of her magics.

However, Aila didn’t panic at all. The normally expressionless Aila suddenly smiled gently, and stowed away her staff. Facing the fire warrior #2 currently 20 meters away, Aila activated Aqua Aegis!

The Aqua Aegis isn’t really magic. Instead, it is more similar to the ability to control water and the Water Sphere. Following Aila’s movements, fire warrior #2’s body began to approach the rippling Aqua Aegis at high speeds.

Everyone watching became completely dazed from shock. Even Suo Jia was gaping at Aila, not understanding her actions. No matter what, there was no need to cast Aqua Aegis against this opponent, right?