VIP Chapter 186: Iron Made (4k)
Bang bang bang—
The smoke hadn’t cleared. It seemed the other party was also worried about her surprise attack and wasn’t using large-scale magic.
But judging by Liya’s magic eye, which could see the flickering magic circuits when she used magic, the flame bullets were quite accurate—especially after she defended with ice bullets.
In the lingering smoke…
Liya was treating it like a duel of ice and flame bullets, like something only a child who had just learned magic would do.
She had prepared her defenses. Although she couldn’t pinpoint Liya’s direction in the smoke, she could block all of Liya’s attacks by sound alone.
“Are you going to keep this up?”
“This kind of back-and-forth in the smoke seems endless.”
“Why don’t you come out, and we’ll have an honest fight, just the two of us.”
“Oh dear, I forgot. You seem to not know. Will likes straightforward and honest people the most—just like me.”
Shuna wasn’t particularly angered by anything else, but she couldn’t stand this trash talk!
Naturally, she was also a very straightforward person.
It’s just that…
Currently, she was indeed injured before the opponent, and on the other hand, she was still testing Liya’s strength.
Her attacks were fierce and not without method; they could even be described as rigorous academic style.
Whether it was the exploding flame, the ultimate move, or the temperature of the flame bullets, they were all quite high.
However…
Apart from the fierce attacks and the extremely high-temperature fire-attribute magic, there seemed to be nothing else.
Her attacks…
It was as if all the concentrated heat of the flames and the ferocity of the offense were meant to break through some incredibly powerful defense. Shuna had encountered such specialized adventurers before, but this one’s specialization was too purposeful. Shuna had only seen such focused specialization during training for “targeting a specific BOSS.”
However, precisely because of this, perhaps her defense and agility would be completely unallocated, making them extremely weak points?
What kind of attack would such a Liya unleash next?
Was she almost out of energy, or was she just beginning…
As Shuna pondered this, she noticed that the surrounding smoke seemed to have significantly reduced…
Wait a minute…
What is this…
She looked over. Liya hadn’t moved much, diligently playing the role of a “stump mage.”
But…
She had dragged over the table, which seemed to hold many messy witch items, and stood on it.
“Imprint our destiny, burn our souls, roast our lives…”
Shuna listened as she began to chant.
Extreme Flame Meteor?
This was a very familiar ancient magic, as Will had used it many times.
Given her abilities, such ancient magic should be instant cast…
No.
Shuna realized that the smoke around her was dissipating… it wasn’t time yet, but rather…
She intended to use the storm generated by the chanting to gather power, causing the smoke to dissipate quickly under the strong wind. For a ranged mage, her biggest obstacle had been cleared.
There wasn’t much smoke left on the ground!
Moreover, she had specifically found a table, so she could see more clearly and gather the smoke above her.
“This is Extreme Flame Meteor—”
Accompanied by air currents and storms, the smoke and dust around Shuna seemed to have been swept away by the wind.
The Extreme Flame Meteor also flew towards Shuna’s head.
However, precisely because of this, Shuna had some thoughts.
To realize this idea, the first thing she needed to do was…
Dodge this attack.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liya’s round table was quite high.
Clatter, clatter.
On the tabletop were items for drawing blood, items for injecting blood, cosmetics for dressing up, a hourglass, an iron hoop… oh, and Will’s discarded clothes.
When she first ordered this table, she had envisioned a witch sitting elegantly at the table.
However…
She hadn’t expected this table to have such a function beyond being used as a prop.
It allowed her to stand at a high vantage point, with a clear view—
Indeed.
“Standing at a high place certainly gives a exhilarating feeling of looking down on everything.”
Including the escape trajectory of that damned wicked woman.
Shuna ran wildly across the vast Witch’s Box to evade her attacks.
“Run, run, don’t you feel like a little rabbit in a cage, waiting to be roasted and served on a platter?”
The smoke had already cleared.
At this moment, Liya was treating the Extreme Flame Meteor as if it were a basic attack, bombarding Shuna, who was running continuously in a fan-shaped area in front of her.
“No matter how much you run, you can’t escape—you can’t escape!”
Shuna was indeed running very fast on the field. Even the attacks of the extremely fast Extreme Flame Meteor didn’t hit her. But she could only advance in an arc that maintained a safe distance, inch by inch.
If she went a little further, she would have to expend too much distance to evade, and she couldn’t maintain it for long.
“You’re already an injured rabbit, why not just stop and let me roast you properly.”
As she spoke, another staff in Liya’s hand broke, cracking from the head.
She discarded the broken staff almost seamlessly and replaced it with another from her ring.
“The woman who tricked him away from me—”
The temperature in the arena rose.
“The scoundrel who made him fall for you—”
More and more craters were left on the ground.
“The scoundrel who stole the way he looked at me!”
The pink in Liya’s eyes was gradually replaced by an angry red, even a more fervent red.
Will had already responded to her.
She had already captured his gaze.
Why were there still people appearing now to disrupt things?!
Kill her, kill her, kill her, kill her, kill her—
The bombardment lasted for about five minutes.
It wasn’t just the Extreme Flame Meteor bombardment.
Almost all the instant-cast fire magic in Liya’s ring had been used. Coupled with the storm created by the Extreme Flame Meteor, the “Witch’s Box” would not be easily shrouded in smoke.
Although Liya didn’t want to admit it…
Shuna, who was seriously injured in the first blow and still enduring the pain of burns, entangled with her bombardment on the field for so long, was indeed the strongest adventurer she had ever seen.
No, precisely because she was such a strong adventurer.
She had to prove herself to Will even more.
She, who had spent three years with him in Entak, could naturally handle killing such a person on her own—
“Hoo…”
When the spot she stood on became a crater no longer conducive to rapid movement, Shuna finally stopped.
Liya’s barrage also paused slightly at this moment.
Shuna did not respond to any of Liya’s trash talk.
Then…
When the ground she stood on was covered in craters, she stopped.
“Finally stopped, willing to face me directly?”
Liya’s face overflowed with a smile. As she discarded the fourth staff, she raised the next one.
No chanting.
The large-scale magic she had kept as a trump card…
It was an intermediate magic she had researched while with Will at Entak First Academy, to further advance towards the ancient magic “Candle of First Creation.”
Because this magic required prolonged brewing of various potions and lengthy incantations, after its first successful experiment, she stored a copy in her ring at Will’s suggestion, for emergencies.
If the person before her could withstand this move, she would grudgingly admit she had some skill.
Increasingly fervent.
Increasingly hateful.
Increasingly arrogant.
Increasingly angry.
Increasingly jealous.
It was ancient magic erupted in such a state—
On that ordinary-looking magic staff, flames trembled. Never had such flames burned; they burned because they were forced to by Liya’s aura and rage, which intimidated them into burning.
“Enraged Fire Blazing !!!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shuna found Liya quite terrifying.
Compared to the monsters in the dungeons she had encountered, her terror lay in her magic consumption, attacking without regard for her own life.
Was it because the witch’s magic circuits were peculiar?
Or did the strange catalysts on the ground extend her consumption efficiency?
For a normal person, such immense consumption, especially of high-temperature fire-attribute magic, should have overloaded them.
Looking at the ravings of the twelve-year-old witch standing on the chair, Shuna could only think…
Was this guy high and unable to feel tired?
However…
Was the ancient magic she had just demonstrated going to be used again? And judging by the appearance, it was instant cast stored in a magical Witch’s Box.
It’s fine.
She had already devised some strategies, and although there was an element of gamble, it was worth a try.
“Enraged Fire Blazing !!!”
Shuna felt that this magic…
Was extremely dangerous.
More dangerous than any fire-attribute BOSS magic she had seen in dungeons.
It was like extreme tempering, meant to scorch anything flammable in this world to a crisp the instant it was stimulated by flame.
A witch specializing in the fire attribute—to the point of obsession—was able to produce ancient magic of this caliber.
But…
Shuna had also prepared a “post-modern” magic of considerable power, created based on her experience, to counter it.
Excessively strong fire-attribute magic was best countered not by water and ice, as under extreme disparity, the vaporized steam often caused more severe burns.
Shuna’s choice was…
“Myriad Flame Bullets, out.”
—She chanted a long fire-attribute spell while running.
—Using the various craters as nascent magic circles.
—Hundreds of delayed explosive bombs…
—Detonated all at once!
Two completely different types of fire-attribute magic and high-temperature explosions collided directly.
It was an explosion absolutely beyond imagination.
“!?”
Liya’s eyes widened.
The heatwave engulfing her now was far more distant than she had anticipated.
So…
Standing on the table, she was directly blown over by the heatwave.
“Cough… cough cough cough, so… so much smoke.”
Staggering a couple of steps on the ground, she finally stood up.
Liya quickly checked herself and found she was unharmed.
But…
She felt a little more tired. Was it because the scent of the Blood Mint Essential Oil in the air was evaporating due to the repeated high-temperature magic, causing her magic circuit’s catalysts to fall behind?
All in all, she had spent over five hours here with Will.
—If she had known that a disgusting bug would intrude into her territory, she should have saved a bottle of Blood Mint Essential Oil and let her have a taste of the highest temperature magic.
“Now I can’t see anything at all.”
Liya used her staff to support herself as she stood up, but the staff in her hand turned to ash the moment it touched the ground.
Even a brand new staff couldn’t withstand a single top-tier ancient magic?
The area was shrouded in smoke for the second time.
“Adding fuel to the fire? What… what kind of suicidal attack is this?!”
She couldn’t understand this enemy’s actions.
Why use an explosion to counter an explosion?
Moreover, that person was much closer to the explosion and had added fire to it. Surely not at this point…
As Liya thought this, a figure flashed through the smoke.
—She’s still alive, right?
Damn it, she did it on purpose, to disrupt her line of sight?!
Apart from the rapid footsteps, nothing else could be heard in the smoke.
But even hearing these footsteps was of no use…
*Whoosh*—
The footsteps suddenly stopped.
Where is she?
As long as… as long as she could find her location.
Then, the next second.
Liya could already see the person’s black long hair, vanishing like a phantom in the smoke, its trajectory untraceable, appearing before her.
A flash of blade.
—She’s using a knife. Just… just grab something from the side to block it—
Almost instinctively, Liya reached out and grabbed “something” from the side to block the blade that was lunging at her.
She felt a stick-like object next to her.
Of course, in her own territory, how could anyone defeat her? Even the staff she had thrown away could be within reach!
*Clang.*
However, when the blade from the opposite side met her staff, she heard the sound of iron hitting iron from her hand.
—No, why would a wooden staff make such a sound?
—But it did block the opponent’s small knife more assuredly and sturdily.
The staff in her hand…
She had never seen it before…
And it was…
Iron made?
“How… how is this possible? You calculated it precisely, you shouldn’t… huh? This is…”
Shuna was also shocked by the feel of her dagger.
What a joke!
This wasn’t the thing Will had been obsessing over creating, called… called “Ancient Flame Staff · First Edition”?!
It just happened to roll to her side?
And it blocked the move that she was certain would defeat this maddened witch.
—Will, oh Will, it’s not that I don’t want to save you.
—Stop digging holes for yourself! Please!
Of course, at this moment, Will was lying behind Liya like a cold corpse.
“Defense magic, reflected.”
“Tsk…”
Shuna was bounced back two or three meters by this impact.
The more force she had applied, the heavier the rebound. She braced herself for a moment before standing up.
And Liya, using the staff she had just picked up, propped herself up on the floor.
“Is it possible…”
She opened her hand, and right where she usually held it…
The symbol of the Great Witch Hat carved there was incredibly conspicuous.
Author’s Note: Testing the effect of one large chapter per day. I’ve thought about doing this before, but I didn’t have much of a backlog, so I couldn’t release it. LOL.
