Chapter 75: Elent-Favored Duel Arena (2)
The portals were arranged in five columns.
A total of thirty portals.
There were five portals of the sa 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, shimred 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 elent.
It didn’t seem like there was no connection at all.
“Follow .”
Keled took the lead and walked toward Portal Number 11, which we had been assigned.
In front of the portal, two asuring devices had been placed.
“Put those on and co in.”
He coldly spat out just that one line, attached the asuring 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 .
“Artel! Let’s definitely win!”
It was Kiena, who had been assigned the portal next to mine.
She had already attached the asuring device, and before entering the portal, she clenched her fist tightly and cheered 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 erged from the portal, a gigantic canyon greeted .
“As expected…… my prediction was right.”
A canyon made entirely of rocky cliffs.
It wasn’t so 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 mont I confird the true form of the Elent-Favored Duel Arena with my own eyes.
Its purpose was surely this.
An elentalist’s magic is enormously affected by the surrounding environnt.
If a Water Elent elentalist were to manifest water elental magic in a place covered by the sea, the magic would be far stronger than usual.
That was because all elental magic originated from nature or the environnt.
That was why the Flewd Elentalist 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 environnt.
But other elents were not like that.
From the start, manifesting magic in a place where the surrounding environnt couldn’t be utilized ant carrying a fatal penalty.
This duel arena was made entirely of a canyon.
It was specialized for the Earth Elent and was created to make use of this environnt.
This must have been the difference from 1st Class, which had been a beginner class.
‘So that’s why Professor Cullem said that…….’
To , Kiena, and Hei, who had just arrived at 3rd Class, she had said, “Ah, the three of you might not know. The aning of the favored duel arena.”
From 3rd Class onward, the start of the interdiate classes, it ant you were at a level where you could use the environnt.
I understood it clearly, but Kiena and Hei likely didn’t understand the aning 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 sa type of favored duel arena as .
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 Elent magic using this canyon environnt.
Dudududud-!
Soon, even the ground began to tremble, and Keled’s figure ca 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 Elent, rapidly closing the distance between us.
I couldn’t be certain whether his magic only looked stronger because of the surrounding environnt, 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 imdiately manifested Torrent Ball and threw it at Keled as he charged toward at high speed.
“What? You think sothing like that magic is enough?”
But Keled sneered and swung his arm over his head.
It was the sa 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, rging with the thin, long wall he was riding, forming sothing like a tunnel made of stone.
The arched rock blocked my magic, and Keled continued to approach at high speed.
Puseok!
Just as he nearly reached , the ground beneath my feet changed into a perfectly circular shape, and as if soone had shoved my back toward the charging Keled, my footing bounced and propelled forward.
At the sa ti, 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 tis 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 overwheld 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 montum.
‘Did he seriously mistake my thoughtful look for panic?’
Honestly, I was an Archmage in na, 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 ant Keled was riding the wall again, attempting the exact sa attack pattern on .
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 , 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 segnts were connected.
When Keled passed by my side, the wall he was riding remained completely in front of .
“Did you get so focused on attacking that you didn’t even have ti to pay attention?”
When a tail is long, it’s bound to get stepped on—this was practically waving it in front of , begging to be stepped on.
Put another way, it probably ant it had beco 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 and lit it on fire.
‘It’ll be a bit hot.’
The flas rapidly raced along the wall, stretching toward Keled.
Dudududud-!
But the rumbling of the ground continued unabated.
That ant 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 ca into view.
But there were no flas 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 .
I admitted it.
The level of 3rd Class was higher than I had expected.
Still, it didn’t change the outco.
“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 .
And just like before, he made a wild throwing motion.
In response to his gesture, thick rock spikes shot toward .
But I was able to imdiately 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 seed he couldn’t properly control its speed, as he kept changing direction only after passing by my body.
I had been waiting for that mont, 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 seed 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 mont he erged, he fell off the wall he had been riding.
At the sa ti, 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 seed my voice no longer reached him due to the flas.
The ti it took him to pierce through the gigantic Fire Shroud didn’t even reach a full second.
Despite that brief mont, his uniform had caught fire, and his skin had suffered burns.
Crack!
As the asuring device attached to him shattered, a portal leading outside opened.
This duel arena was designed so that when a asuring 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 ti, 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 ca 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 so 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 imdiately!”
“Yes, I was going to anyway. You’re the one stopping , 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 ca 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 ti he saw .
“If you don’t believe , 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 ca 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 sester of 3rd Class, she delivered 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 co out.
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