Chapter 19 (1/2)

Chapter 19: Meeting the Demon Princess, Again.

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Attacking Magician’s magic was useless. The most effective way was actually to attack the Magician himself. Every Magician knew that; Holmes knew it, and so did Link.

Link reacted immediately at the sight of the monstrous six-foot tall hound bounding towards him.

“Grease!”

A faint beam of light shot out of the hailstorm, landing on the ground in front of the Earth Hound and spreading out like a puddle of oil. The ground of the alleyway instantly became as slippery as ice, stopping 15 feet before and after where Link stood.

“You and your little tricks!” Holmes sneered. Grease was a Level-0 Spell. Overcoming it was a simple task for other Magicians.

“Sand!”

Bright light shot out of Holmes’ staff. A small whirlwind containing vast amounts of sand suddenly appeared in the small alley. The spell suddenly disintegrated when the whirlwind blew onto the surface affected by Grease, covering the surface with rough grains of sand.

The Earth Hound ran over the ground safely, rapidly approaching Link and reaching the hailstorm in no time. It charged into the Lesser Hailstorm fearlessly despite the sharp shards of ice.

Link was now 130 feet away from Holmes. It was still further than his spells could reach, but his target was Holmes, not the Earth Hound.

In response to the Earth Hound bounding at him, Link did two things.

First, he canceled the trailing effect of the Lesser Hailstorm on himself. Second, he leapt backwards and then to one side using Cat’s Agility. Under the protection of Guarding Barrier, he left the safe zone of the Lesser Hailstorm and evaded the Earth Hound’s attacks.

Leaving the hound to deal with the Lesser Hailstorm behind him, Link strode towards Holmes and pointed his wand at the ground behind him. “Vector Resistance Field!” he cried.

The air warped around the tip of Link’s wand. At first glance, they looked like the heat waves left behind by a rocket.

The force field smashed onto the ground. Link, with one foot in the air after having taken a step forward, was pushed by the force field which had just bounced off of the ground. The rebound energy launched him high into the air.

Behind him, the Earth Hound turned. It had its eyes set on Link and Link alone. It rushed out of the Lesser Hailstorm and pounced at Link with its jaws wide open. But just then, Link shot forward, leaving it to close its jaws on thin air.

In that moment, Link flew towards Holmes at breakneck speed. The monstrous hound, however, caught up from behind, poised to bite Link’s head off with just a snap of its jaw.

He would die when he landed. Link had only a fraction of a second to react!

Within that split second, Link focused his attention so intensely that the world around him seemed to slow down. Raising the New Moon Wand, he pointed at a fist-sized pebble on the ground.

Vector Throw! Vector Throw! Vector Throw!

Link had cast the Level-1 Spell three times within the blink of an eye!

A pebble flew off the ground towards Holmes each time he cast the spell. Despite taking only 0.3 seconds to cast, the pebbles flew swiftly and accurately towards their mark.

He hadn’t been called an Archmage for nothing.

Throwing a pebble with Vector Throw, Link had never missed his mark—so long as it was within 100 feet.

Holmes’ Swift Spellcasting ability was limited to casting Fireballs; those were his specialty. But each spell’s mechanism was different. It was impossible for him, a mere Level-2 Magician, to perform a Swift Spellcasting skill with each of the countless spells in the universe. Thus, Holmes’ spellcasting was far slower than Link’s for all other spells.

Anticipating Link’s next move, Holmes casted a defensive spell.

The reason was simple. His opponent was protected by a Level-2 Guarding Barrier. His Fireballs wouldn’t be effective even if they managed to hit the human Magician. On the other hand, he himself would be vulnerable to the Vector Throws.

Holmes was a Magician, not a Warrior. Further, he was neither agile nor fortified with supporting spells such as the Cat’s Agility. It would be difficult for him to duck or evade the oncoming, bullet-like pebbles.

The rocks were aimed right at his head. If even one of them hit their target, he would definitely be heavily wounded. He couldn’t afford to let any of them get close!

He had neither enough time nor Mana to cast a Level-2 Spell. Holmes came to a quick decision.

“Ice Shield!”

Ice Shield

Level-1 Spell

Effect: Forms a shield of ice with water elements. An exceptional defense against both elemental magic and physical attacks.

The Vector Throw had been used on a pebble. It was a classic physical attack. Using the Ice Shield was the right choice.

Throughout this exchange, the only mistake Holmes had made, was to underestimate Link’s spellcasting speed.

Link had cast the Level-1 Vector Throw Spell in less than 0.3 seconds. For Ice Shield, a spell of the same skill level, Holmes had taken slightly more than 0.4 seconds.

When the first pebble reached Holmes, he had only just cast the Ice Shield. Holmes had chosen the spell carefully based on his estimation of the time the pebble would take to reach him.

With a resounding clunk, the Ice Shield just managed to stop the pebble in its path. However, smashed to smithereens, the Ice Shield spell also disintegrated.

The next pebble followed right after the first.

Holmes wasn’t fast enough to cast an Ice Shield in time. Facing the possibly fatal blow, he had no choice but to pull out his ace.

A ring flashed on his left middle finger. Light flowed from it, covering Holmes’ entire body. It was similar to the Guarding Barrier Link wore, but it was neither as thick nor as bright.

It was a Level-1 Guarding Barrier. Link wore its upgraded version, Level-2 Guarding Barrier.

There was one problem, however. Guarding Barrier was a spell designed to defend against elemental magic. It was exceptionally effective against elemental attacks such as fireballs and wind blades, but it performed poorly when it came to physical attacks.

The pebble reached Holmes the moment the Guarding Barrier was completed. Thwock! It smashed onto Holmes’ forehead with deadly accuracy.