I hate to admit it, but he looks like he’s in top shape.
Phelms smiled casually as he walked into the ring. He wasn’t nervous, and I knew he wasn’t about to go easy on Fran, either. His oppressive aura was more apparent when he was right in front of us. He was like a deep river, as the old cliché went—calm on the surface, with a strong current rushing underneath. I didn’t expect any less from the veteran A-Rank.
Good.
Yeah, for you.
Fran would be disappointed if Phelms wasn’t at the top of his game.
“Coming in from the East Gate: Dragon Hunter Phelms! He’s a retired adventurer, but this old dandy can still run circles around his spry juniors! He may be fighting for third place, but his old strength is alive and well!”
Phelms wore his usual light armor, if you could call it that—a white shirt and black slacks. The man looked like a butler who had taken off his suit jacket. Of course, if you looked closer, you’d see it was all made of dragon materials. Scales were even woven into the fabric of his shirt to reinforce it.
“Hello. It’s been a while.”
“Hm.”
“Would you be upset if I said that I didn’t expect to see you here?” he asked.
“I feel the same way about you.”
“Ha ha ha. You got me there.”
We’d fully expected Royce to win his earlier match, but the old man had proven his mettle. I didn’t know what to expect from his strings. How did you even fight like that, anyway? Most worrying of all was his combat experience. That was one way to overcome our superior stats. If we were more experienced, we could’ve handled Amanda’s reckless tactic yesterday.
“The young rising star versus the wise former A-Rank! Who will win this battle of extremes?!”
“Me,” said Fran.
“Ah, but you’re mistaken. I am going to win.”
Fran readied her sword and Phelms dropped into his fighting stance. He looked like a karate fighter, with his spools of thread probably hidden under his gloves. I checked the threads out, just in case.
Name: King Baleen Battle Wire
Attack: 100-489; Mana: 500; Durability: 500
Mana Conductivity: C-A
Skills: Timespace Element, Flash Element, Ocean Element, Frost Element
Name: Dragon-Eater Spider Thread
Attack: 55-455; Mana: 300; Durability: 700
Mana Conductivity: D-B+
Skills: Flame Element; Sand Element; Land Element; Storm Element; Steel Element; Thunder Element
That was a lot of elements. Could he change each thread at will? I guessed their attack power changed depending on their length and thickness.
“The combatants look ready to tear each other to pieces!”
Fran and Phelms locked eyes.
“Let the match for third place…begin!”
I immediately launched the spells I had prepared.
“Thunderbolt.”
Gale Hazard.
Blaze Wave.
Acid Venom.
Our spell salvo should work against Phelms, even if it failed against Amanda. His threads would conduct enough electricity for Thunder Magic to be effective. The wind spell was there to blow his threads away, and I threw in a flame spell just in case they were flammable. The poisonous acid was there just in case they weren’t.
Our spells mowed down the threads Phelms sent after us. The strategy worked for defense, but our spells were soon overwhelmed by the sheer multitude of wires. I felt powerful mana emanate from each thread. Magic wasn’t going to be enough.
We have to get closer.
“Hm.”
Phelms had the advantage in ranged combat and could easily dissipate any spell we threw at him. Ironically, if we had an extra couple hundred meters between us, we would have the upper hand. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough space. We couldn’t retreat far enough to escape his threads.
The only thing left to do was get into close quarters. We decided to forego Physical Immunity this time, Amanda’s million lashes still fresh in our minds.
We need to get closer.
Yeah.
We needed speed. Speed enough to break through the threads unscathed.
“Flashing Thunderclap!”
“Hrm!”
Black Lightning accelerated Fran forwards, the sudden boost in speed startling the veteran. He should’ve anticipated Flashing Thunderclap after watching Fran’s fight with Gaudartha, but there was a difference between watching it and seeing it activate in front of your eyes.
He sent more threads after her, but there was no stopping us. Besides, speed wasn’t the only way to avoid his wires.
Teacher, the plan!
Got it! Dimension Shift!
Short Jump!
He could tell where would go, so I used Dimension Shift to cover our tracks. The Timespace spell allowed attacks to go right through us. Activating it took a few seconds, but I just needed it to cover the gap that teleportation left in our defense.
Phelms looked up, read our move, and surrounded the space above him with threads, but Fran slipped through all of them unscathed.
“Hrm! Timespace Magic…! Dimension Shift, I see!”
He’d figured it out?! I hated dealing with veterans. They had ways of dealing with everything, even Timespace manipulation!
“Haaa!”
Fran brought me down from the sky, but Phelms had taken this into account. A barrier of threads encased the old man, stopping us mid-plunge. Each individual wire was reinforced with mana, dissipating the force of Fran’s sword. Despite our advantage in skills, we didn’t know how to deal with these threads. Fran couldn’t see what he would do, even with her Sword King Mastery.
Well, we’re just getting started!
The black lightning covering Fran’s body ran down my blade. I hoped the current would run through the threads and electrocute Phelms. It was a noble wish.
“That’s not going to work.”
“Hrmph!”
The power of the black lightning faded instead of shocking the old man. He had spun enough threads to disperse the electrical current. Fran began hacking away at the barrier, dishing out more electricity with every slash. However, the barrier held. How did he handle this so well?!
One more time!
Dimension Shift.
Short Jump.
Create Clones!
I repeated the teleport strategy, but this time I made clones to provide a distraction. They would be destroyed in a second, but that was okay. Phelms wouldn’t ignore them, even if he knew they were clones, especially since they had physical bodies. Watching copies of myself die was unsettling, but I was getting used to it. Still, I didn’t expect the shape my three copies took this time.
“Hm?”
What?
Name: Clone
Attack: 100;
