Chapter 10 - Battle magic assessment (III) (1/2)

Swoosh!

Clyde had been impatiently waiting for the command to start, and as soon as the Vice Dean finished speaking he tapped his leg on the ground and began his attack. He started chanting a magic spell, and at the same time a huge magic circle appeared beneath his feet.

Tssss!

White threads of mist was originating from where Clyde tapped his leg. This mist condensed and turned into a thin layer of ice that quickly began to spread across the arena. Before long, the entire battle arena was covered in ice.

Shad was stunned when he saw the thin layer of ice, preventing him from charging Clyde in a frontal attack. He wasn't one to hesitate though, and quickly began to prepare a spell known as magic circle shield. This was a rankless magic spell, that was capable of being cast regardless of a mage's rank, attribute, or talent. However, the amount of mana it required was astonishing for a spell with no rank. It was a spell designed only for defense, where the user creates a magic circle and imbues his mana into it in order to make it as hard as steel. The final strength of the shield depended on how much mana the mage could supply, but regardless of a mage's strength the shield could only last two minutes before it disappeared.

Normally, a mage cast this spell by raising his hand in front of the attacker and allowing the shield to appear in front of him, facing the attack. However, Shad did the opposite. He positioned his hand as though he was praying, and the magic circle shield appeared horizontally in front of him. Once it was complete, he jumped on top of the shield so that he could evade the thin layer of ice that was going to freeze his leg if he stayed on the ground.

The entire audience, including the professors and staff that were watching, gasped in surprise. Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined someone could use this type of shield as a stairway. Not that it was impossible, simply that they had never used it in such an unorthodox way. They were all forced to silently congratulate Shad for his creative thinking in response to Clyde's attack.

”Not good,” mumbled Shad with a look of irritation on his face. While it was true that he managed to evade the ice attack, Clyde was already finishing his second spell. Shad was allowing his opponent to control the flow of battle.

”Ice Creation Magic, Icy Storm!”

Fwoosh!

A magical whirlwind 10 meters wide and composed of snowflakes and ice shards rapidly began to grow in strength and size on the arena. Within the maelstrom, shards of ice danced around like daggers, prepared to ruthlessly destroy anything in their path.

”Mana shield!”

Before the maelstrom reached his position, Shad cast a mana shield around his body. Normally people didn't use mana in this manner because it was such a waste of energy, but Shad had no choice in this situation, plus he had an incredibly large amount of mana. This was the only skill he could quickly cast that would protect his entire body. It wasn't technically considered a spell, because the user did not need to chant any spell in order to create it. Instead, they needed to release the mana throughout their body and then manipulate it spiritually. It required both a large amount of mana and very strong spiritual energy.

The mana shield's strength and elasticity depended on the user's spiritual energy, rank, and the amount of mana they possessed, but once it was fully created nothing could damage the user until he is either out of mana or cancels the shield. It would require a disproportionately powerful opponent to break a shield such as this, and in a fight between two mages of similar strength it was a nearly impenetrable shield if they had the mana and spiritual energy to keep it.