C153: Public Duel (3)
Chapter sposored by Peksi. Thank you for your support.
Matthew Summert back was damp with cold sweat. As time went by, his mind and soul were slowly being eaten away by insects. When in his life could he feel this tension?
'But now, I'm feeling it.'
He thinks he will be swallowed up by Rudger Chelici, the man in front of him. He has to attack before he gets eaten. His instinct shouted so, but Matthew Somerset could not hastily use magic because of the momentum flowing out of Rudger.
'This is such a strong momentum. I can't believe he's a first year teacher like me.'
Rudger wasn't even pointing his cane at him. If it was someone else, he might have taken offense and mocked him for that behavior but Matthew Somerset did not.
'The opponent is a wizard who uses the source code magic that casts any magic almost instantly. I can't let my guard down even though he didn't aim his cane at me.'
Rudger information is familiar to him.
Even though he seemed to be standing still to others Matthew Summert thought differently.
-Rudger's ready for battle.
His relaxed-looking posture was clearly bait to make his opponent lower his guard by showing a gap on purpose. The moment he catches it and takes the lead, he will be very hard to stop.
Thinking so, Rudger, who was standing still, was seen as an iron fortress without any gaps.
"Rudger Chelici! He's a scary man.'
Matthew bit his lip tightly. People around him said Rudger was overrated, but he didn't believe it. No. At first, Matthew certainly had distrust in Rudger's evaluation. However, when he faced him in person and aimed at his cane, such thoughts disappeared as if they were washed away.
That man is the real deal.
That attitude of pretending to be relaxed, the act of holding the cane lightly without aiming it and even those eyes waiting for the opponent to make the first move showed how confident Rudger was that he could win the duel.
It was getting harder and harder to breathe and sweat ran down Matthew's forehead and stabbed his eyes. Rudger, who was waiting to see when his opponent would use his magic, could not hide his doubts when he saw Matthew Summert.
'What's wrong with him?'
Matthew's complexion was so bad that he was worried about him. Was he sick?
The audience who watched the match between the two was also surprised.
"What? Why would they just stand still and do nothing for 5 minutes?"
"What's wrong?"
Rene, who was sitting on one side of the stands, was also suspicious of the situation.
"Senior, why are they both staying still when it's been a while since the duel started?"
"Junior is still inexperienced."
"What?"
Erendir, who was sitting next to her, said proudly.
"Look at that. Now, Matthew looks nervous. He's even sweating."
"Yes, but?"
"Don't you understand? The fight between the two has already begun."
"The fight has already started?"
Rene's surprised voice attracted the attention of people around her while Erendir chattered with excitement.
"Don't you know? The battle of real masters is going on without having to use magic in person. Just like now!"
Those who secretly overheard the conversation between the two nodded unconsciously and were convinced because it was somehow plausible.
Above all, it was the Third Princesses saying that, not just anyone else.
"It's strange. I think Mr. Rudger is bored."
Rene muttered in a low voice. She didn't know why she thought that, but she just had a feeling. However, when her senior spoke with such conviction, Rene had no choice but to agree with her.
At that moment, Matthew Summert, who had been sitting still so far, moved because he couldn't stand the tension anymore.
'Yeah, that's great. Now that it's like this, I'll show you properly!'
Matthew clenched his teeth and prepared his magic. A line of magical power was drawn in the air, a magic formula was engraved, and eventually a single magic was completed.
White ice flowers were formed in the air, it was the third-rank attribute elemental magic [exploding ice flowers]. As soon as the ice flowers were in full bloom, countless petals rushed toward Rudger like an explosion.
A part of the audience burst into admiration at the spell appearance that was both powerful and beautiful.
'Wow! That's amazing! Beautiful ice-floating magic that unfolds in an instant! How will Rudger stop it?'
'If this is the case, even you……!'
Matthew Summert, who was confident of his victory inside, opened his eyes wide at the scene that followed. This is because the ice petals that were flying toward Rudger melted down in an instant and disappeared.
There was a hot fire around Rudger, forming a thin wall.
'That's the defensive spell [Fire wall]. When the hell, I couldn't even see him casting it.'
It was a powerful blow, but he was shocked to learn that he didn't do any real damage.
'What?'
Rudger, on the other hand, was puzzled because the attack was too weak.
'That's it? Really?'
It would be too obvious if he pretended to be hit as soon as his opponent attacked, so he stopped it and waited for the next magic to fly, but strangely, the opponent didn't take any action.
The fight between wizards must be so tight that even 0.1 seconds of everything is important but his opponent already wasted three seconds since the first attack.
'Should I have just gotten hit by the attack? No, no matter how much I fake it, I can't lose after being hit by this.'
If he wanted to make it plausible he should use 4th rank magic. However since the opponent used a third rank magic he had no choice but to defend.
"Wow!"
Seeing his attack blocked Matthew stepped back with a murmur. He felt a lot of pressure after seeing the source code. It was so fast that he already felt suffocated.
'He looks bad.'
Looking at Matthew's complexion, Rudger was convinced that the magic he had hoped for would no longer come.
'Looking at his complexion, he doesn't seem to be in a good state. It's not polite to stall against someone like this.'
He couldn't believe he wasted so much time with a sick person. Rudger decided to finish it as soon as possible with an apologetic heart. His cane, which had been facing down the whole time, moved slowly.
'It's coming!'
Matthew immediately unleashed a defensive spell. He remembered what he heard from Chris Benimore before entering the arena.
—Listen well. When Rudger Chelici uses magic, always focus on defense. Don't think about anything else, only defense.
Matthew Summert was also quick to judge the situation as a Theon teacher. He immediately surrounded himself with a mana barrier. Shortly thereafter, countless magic spells battered the barrier.
-He's the type that uses fast magic but it's not very powerful besides his amount of mana is small so he cannot attack for a long time.
On Chris Benimore's advice, Matthew gritted his teeth and poured mana into the mana barrier to increase its power. He planned to hang in there and look for a gap but something was wrong.
'What kind of magic, endlessly……!'
A number of spells beyond imagination flew at him. Usually, wizards shoot magic slowly one by one but Rudger poured magic endlessly like shooting a machine gun by using the source code.
Matthew overlooked the spells power a little and there was a crack in the mana barrier, and another magic hit it and broke the barrier before he had time to reinforce it.
He opened his umbrella when he saw that it was raining, but instead of stopping the rain, raindrops went through the umbrella.
"Ah."
That was the last thing he said as the swirling magic quickly engulfed Matthew Summert.
[Wow! After a long battle, Rudger Chelici s the victor! A series of spells hit his opponent without a break! What an unbelievable speed!]
Looking at Matthew Summert, who fainted and was carried off on a stretcher, Rudger was pleased to see the results. Still, he thought he had showed enough courtesy for the opponent.
Excitement emanated from the audience.
'He stood still all that time and then hit his opponent with a series of spells before he even had time to react.'
'Was that why he stood still for that long?'
"Rudger Chelici is a scary person. He was actually playing with his opponent.'
Everyone stared at Rudger with wary eyes. Hugo Burtag, who hoped Rudger would be brutally destroyed, clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth.
'That damn thing! Are you saying that you can be relaxed in a place like this?'
The mere sight of that indifferent face raised his tension. Hugo, who clenched his fist, slowly loosened the power he had given to his hand. How can a man be full from the first drink? There was still a chance.
"Rudger Chelici, you must have used up a lot of mana in this duel.'
His plan with Chris Benimore started right here.
'Yeah. Just keep winning. The higher you go, the bigger the shock when you fall.'
Hugo's eyes glistened faintly.
* * *
'Hmm. Mana consumption is quite extreme.'
Since then, Rudger participated in three more duels and he won every single one.
'What happened?'
He was definitely going to lose moderately, but when he came to his senses, he was in the final.
Rudger was seriously troubled. Obviously, he was willing to lose naturally even if his opponent only used proper attack magic but he won every match.
'Why isn't anyone attacking me properly?'
He didn't understand that.
All of Rudger's opponents responded only with a persistent defense as if they had talked with each other. Even though he intentionally revealed gaps, they were shrinking their necks like turtles hidden in their shells, so Rudger had no choice but to sigh and attack them.
'It's not good.'
It was unwelcome to Rudger, who wanted to save his strength.
'These days, I was cutting back on my medicine. If I go on like this, I'll suffer from a lack of mana in the next duel. Was it a big mistake that I thought nothing would happen because it was a festival?'
Since he had a constitution that consumed mana just by breathing, it was beyond his calculation to prolong the duels. It was still okay, but it was clear that his mana would be exhausted during the final.
'I ate it yesterday, so I should have endured for five days but now it looks like I'll have to prepare some medicine in advance.'
Rudger stopped by his office before the finals. He opened the desk drawer where his recovery medicine was and had no choice but to narrow his eyes.
'Nothing.'
He looked further in other places to see if he forgot that he put it somewhere else, but he couldn't see it.
He crossed his arms and glanced around. When he tightened my eyes, he could see small dents and dirt on the carpet.
'Footprints. There was a thief in my office last night.'
The other person may think he acted as carefully as possible, but he couldn't completely erase the traces. But since a thief broke in, why did he steal nothing but the magic recovery pills?
The strange sights he had felt before were fitted into the missing puzzle and completed one picture. Why did his opponents blatantly dragged on the duels maintaining defense magic?
There is only one reason. It was to use up his mana.
'Someone noticed that I lack mana.'
Where the hell? Who?
It means that someone saw that he was taking medicine. It was a little surprising that he was caught even though he hid it as much as possible.
'I see. Was it at the banquet hall?'
There was a time when he consumed a lot of mana and took medicine without checking the surroundings in a hurry. Perhaps someone witnessed the scene then.
'I can't believe I got caught. It's a little painful, but it can't be helped.'
There are no complete secrets in this world. Right now, there are people who recognized the identities that he has used in the past and follow him tenaciously.
'It is natural for information to leak from somewhere because humans are not perfect.'
The problem is that the opponent is attacking him through that weakness.
'Seeing that my opponents are all noble teachers I think that everyone in the Hugo faction knows about it. That means that someone among them discovered my secret.'
And he must have stolen the medicine while Rudger was away after discovering his secret.
He was in a lot of trouble and was pressed for time so he couldn't manufacture the medicine now.
'I have 5 minutes left. It's a tight time just to get back on the field.'
He couldn't leave because he had reached the finals. If he suddenly disappeared from here, it would not only damage the prestige of the academy, but also damage his image.
Thinking it was inevitable, Rudger left the teacher's office and immediately returned to the field.
[Everyone! This is the long-awaited final! Both sides, please come up to the arena!]
Rudger decided to finish as soon as possible because his mana was quite lacking. His opponent was a man in his mid-30s who looked somewhat sly.
[Today's final match! The undefeated myth that has not allowed a single attack so far, Rudger Chelici! His opponent is the teacher in charge of practical magic in the second grade and a wizard from the Burtag family! Devian Burtag!]
'Devian Burtag? If it's Burtag, is it the same family as Hugo?'
Devian was a close relative of Hugo Burtag, as the name Burtag suggests. However, unlike Hugo, Devian was skinny and not fat.
Rudger quickly examined his figure. The footprints pressed against the carpet and the actual size of his feet matched surprisingly well.
'That's him.'
The man who came into his office and stole his medicine case.
'And the culprit behind all this.'
Rudger's eyes were directed at Hugo Burtag and Chris Benimore, who were sitting in the stands. Among them, Chris Benimore noticed Rudger's gaze and laughed at him.
Rudger shook his head.
"I think I looked down on people too much. A teacher made such a childish prank."
I was talking to myself, but Devian reacted as if he heard it.
"A childish prank? This is ridiculous. Aren't you stupid? That's right. You should have kept the medicine container well."
Devian purposely showed only to Rudger the medicine bottle in his vest's inner pocket. Despite the blatant provocation toward, Rudger only stared at him with a calm gaze.
Rudger wouldn't be swayed by such a low-key, cheap provocation.
[Then! Let's start the semi-finals!]
The audience responded to the shouts of commentator Jesse Luna.
Rudger spoke to Devian, who was already prepared.
"I'll give you a piece of advice before we start."
"What is this all of a sudden? Are you scared now?"
"Give up this fight."
Devian burst into laughter at Rudger's words.
"Hahaha! Are you bluffing now that you don't have your medicine?"
"This is my sincere advice. If you surrender here and return the stolen medicine, I will let you go."
"Can you move on?"
Devian's face frowned as he was getting annoyed.
"I think you're thinking something weird right now. You don't know what's going on? Are you still joking about the seriousness of the situation?"
"Do I look like I'm joking?"
For a moment, Devian flinched without realizing it because Rudger's eyes changed and he felt as if he was looking at an endless abyss.
"I don't joke around. So listen to me."
Usually, since he went this far, Rudger doesn't have to be considerate of the other person because he wasn't the type to show mercy to those who were hostile to him.
"This is your last chance."
Still, Rudger is now warning Devian.
What Devian did was nothing compared to what might be coming.
"At least it would be better for me to lose 'when I can use magic.'"