Episode 52.2

Lecan always knew he would have the third match against Argent Flame Wolf.

Thus he deliberated. Just how should he approach the fight.

And he reached a conclusion, a plan to exhaust the wolf by keeping on fleeing.

Every single Argent Flame Wolf's magic attack has a tremendous amount of mana put behind it.

Those attacks should consume quite a lot of mana.

And Lecan has Mana Restorative.

What'd happen then if he minimized his mana expenditure while the other party kept expending a lot of theirs.

He decided to take a shot at it.

The necklace would quickly use up all of its mana if he kept getting hit directly by Argent Flame Wolf's magic. By zigzagging around, hiding behind big trees, and avoiding direct hits, the necklace would last longer while Argent Flame Wolf would use up more and more mana.

Argent Flame Wolf is faster than Lecan in a straight race. And wolves are much better at swiftly changing course than humans.

However, irregular movement is deceptively difficult to do. And Lecan often used this tactic of fleeing until his opponent would drop their guard during his early years in his world when he wasn't as strong as he is now. And with <3D Perception> skill on him now, he's even better at running through forest now, the knacks he got from running for his dear life back then should prove useful even now.

He needs to stay in the forest to ensure this plan's consistency. This was the reason Lecan took the highways and always stayed in towns on his way to Yufu. And why he purposely traversed through forests on his journey from Yufu to Mashajain. And not a small forest, but somewhere the forest sprawls throughout a vast area.

And just as he planned, the Argent Flame Wolf went for him.

Lecan ran away. And kept running away. In order to grasp victory.

Lecan was headed for mountains with lots of ups and downs.

Trees, elevations and obstructions would protect Lecan from Argent Flame Wolf's attacks.

There were times where he couldn't perfectly dodge, even then he would strive to avoid direct hits. To minimize <Necklace of Intuador>'s mana usage.

Would be best if he could refill the necklace's mana, but that'd require him to stop and calm his mind along with a bit of time. That's unrealistic. Even then, he would find enough times to cast <Recovery> on himself, take in Stamina Restoratives and drink water here and there.

Argent Flame Wolf would stop moving to converge its mana whenever it shot powerful magic. Lecan has no way to completely evade this enormous magic thus he faces it head on with <Sword of Toron>. Vestiges of attack the sword couldn't disperse got blocked by <Necklace of Intuador>'s barrier.

Lecan is wearing the Queen Spider's armor right now. This armor has high magic resistant, but it's still lacking before the Argent Flame Wolf. Overking Bear Overcoat seemed to have exceeded its restorative effected, it's not restoring back and now sleeps in <Storage>.

Argent Flame Wolf kept its chase on Lecan, demolishing the forest in its path.

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"Woon!"

Argent Flame Wolf howled once. Then a mass of mana manifested above it, swirling into a complex vortex.

Busy with running away, Lecan couldn't afford to look behind at that vortex but it's probably a magic circle.

A storm suddenly blew ahead of him.

Lecan immediately cast <Gust> to escape into the air above.

But a moment before it was cast, he changed its direction.

"<Wind>!"

A strong <Gust> clashed with the storm ahead of him, and he ran through a gap in the winds created by the clash.

Then, a thunderbolt magic attack exploded behind him.

He would have been hit directly by that had he escaped into the air.

It's been more than a day since he started this escape plan.

Both Lecan and Argent Flame Wolf's speed hasn't deteriorated at all.

(Still this guy.)

(Is really sticking with magic attack.)

Lecan had always suspected it.

That Argent Flame Wolf specialized more in magic attacks than physical.

Naturally he's well aware just how dangerous its claws and fangs are, even experienced them first hand. Its nimbleness and motor skill are impressive as well.

And yet, he couldn't help but feel that Argent Flame Wolf specializes more in magic attack. He couldn't help but believe that these powerful magic and the vast amount of mana it has are the secret to Argent Flame Wolf's mightiness.

Thus the reason Lecan went with this strategy of exhausting the wolf's mana.

Regardless of whether that guess was right or not, the Argent Flame Wolf kept attacking with magic. There were also times it would warp right above Lecan and assaulted him with its claws and fangs, but it mostly persisted on using magic attacks as if it was to prove something.

By the end of the second day, Lecan slipped and fell down.

Argent Flame Wolf stopped and converged its mana.

This mana convergence was no joke. A vortex of a humongous amount of mana swirled.

Argent Flame Wolf is readying itself to shoot magic attack far more powerful than anything before.

Lecan thrust his left arm forward as he stood up and recited spells.

"<Deploy (Parshoot)>! <Reflection (Waldona)>!"

A hitherto unseen massively powerful magic attack was unleashed, swallowing Lecan whole.

A moment later, <Shield of Wolkan> was on his arm, <Magic Mirror of Ryin> was activated, and he proceeded to reflect this magic attack.

Its destructive power was simply beyond word.

A huge part of the mountain got gouged out and evaporated, all the trees around them got mowed down before bursting into flames.

Lecan was slack jawed at the enormity of the firepower.

As the cloud of dust settled down, the Argent Flame Wolf stood in the center of a giant crater.

Its eyes are closed, legs firm on the ground, it had stood against the magic.

Even this Argent Flame Wolf capable of brushing off any and all magic suffers great damage when hit by its own magic.

Smoke is rising from its whole body. Its beautiful fur has been dulled brown.

And yet there's not even a patch of torn fur. It truly holds a terrifying resistance against magic. However, the flesh under that fur seems to have suffered a great deal of damage, it's bubbling and swelling up.

Lecan could smell a scent of burning meat even from this distance. Its flesh under the fur has been grilled.

Lecan climbed down the crater.

Argent Flame Wolf opened its eyes wide. A gaze full of rage pierced Lecan.

Lecan carefully approached the Argent Flame Wolf.

Argent Flame Wolf shook its body, kneaded its inner mana and clad itself with that mana.

Then its browned fur regained its white luster back complete with the glister. The flesh under its fur also got refreshed, back to its glory.

(Oh?)

(What was that?)

He can't tell what Argent Flame Wolf just did. But it's clear that the wolf had just used up a huge portion of its mana.

This is exactly the chance to use his trump card.

Lecan recited a spell once he got close enough.

"<Gaspario Raaf>."