Chapter 96: Bad habits

After choosing the equipment I wanted, I head to the arena following after Vilde. The walk is giving me time to doubt my decision to accept the fight and now I'm starting to regret it.

"You seem to be distressed, is there anything the matter?"

"I'm just thinking that I don't really know how to fight properly, I'm worried that I'm going to do it wrong."

"Yes, you're indeed doing it wrong."

"We haven't even started yet!!!"

"Our match began when you selected the equipment you wanted to use. That pendant you are wearing grants some protection against fire if I'm not mistaken."

"Yes, it seemed like an obvious choice."

"You are not entirely wrong. However, it's usually a better idea to choose equipment that will cover your weaknesses rather than something that does what you are already capable of doing. I believe that you are already able to protect yourself from heat and heal burns."

"Well, that's true, I did take a bath in lava once. But if you ask me, I don't really know what my weaknesses are."

"And that's what we will be finding out shortly. Other than that, you also do not seem to be aware of how important information can be. There's no reason for you to make that pendant so visible, and you should have attempted to make some inquiries about Helen when I let you see her earlier."

"Are you talking about your pitchfork? I already figured out what it does. You use it to deflect spells by grabbing them the same way a farmer would pitch hay."

Vilde stops walking for a moment, looking surprised.

"How do you know that?"

"I was just wondering why you would choose a pitchfork as a weapon... Then I felt how some tiny amounts of mana were getting stuck between the prongs, and from that, it was easy to figure out its function."

"To be able to make such a deduction from such a brief look... impressive."

When we reach the wall, Vilde activates a hidden switch and a rock sinks into the ground, allowing us to enter the arena without needing to squeeze ourselves through the gap.

"Very well then, let's begin. Defend yourself!"

"Uh, wai- AGH!" He suddenly stabbed me in the arm! "Don't attack without any warning like that!"

"I most certainly did warn you. That was more of a warning than any enemy would have given you."

"That's true, but still..."

"Now, you need to treat this like a real fight. Make sure to be constantly on guard."

"Okay... I underst- AGH"

He stabbed me again!

"It doesn't seem like you understood. You need to take-" 'Shadow lance' "-this fight seriously."

Ugh, he dodged it so easily... I wanted to pay him back with a surprise attack of my own.

'Blazing hell'

Vilde jumps back creating some distance between us and throws a fireball at me. It doesn't seem very strong, with my high magic stat making me resistant to magic attacks, something like that should not even be able to hurt me at all, so I do not bother defending.

"Why are you allowing that to hit you?"

"It didn't seem dangerous."

"If I may offer some advice. You should never, ever, treat an attack as 'not dangerous'."

"Oh, but people are always using attacks against me that do nothing even if I don't defend myself."

"And yet, it appears that those attacks were dangerous after all, they have caused you to develop quite a bad habit."

Unexpectedly, it does actually set me on fire, but it's not hot at all. Neither I nor my clothes are getting burned... Oh! Now I get it, these flames do not affect physical things at all, the only thing that's on fire is my mana.

Wait, my mana is on fire!

'Shadow lance'

That was scary, but I was able to use the burning mana to cast a spell to get rid of the fire. Vilde was able to deflect it with his pitchfork, just as I thought.

"You were able to discriminate the mana that was on fire and use it for a spell, and all of that almost instantly. I have never witnessed such skill... It's difficult to believe that you can be so good at magic yet so bad at fighting."

"Uh, thanks?"

I'm not sure if that was a compliment or an insult... I guess I'll have to show him just how skilled at magic I really am, now it's my turn to cast a spell. But if I go with something simple he'll just dodge or deflect it, in that case...

'Rain of destruction'

With this spell I can make hundreds of 'shadow lances' fall down on him at the same time, I can even control them a little to attack from the sides as well. This should be much more difficult for him to deal with.

However, before I had even started, he made another big jump and got his back against a wall. Now, none of my attacks will be able to come from behind.

Swinging his pitchfork at an incredible speed, he deflects every single one of the shadow lances without any difficulty. With each swing he grabs multiple lances and then throws them away, he tries to aim for me most of the time but that's pointless, I can easily get rid of my own spells.

Eventually, I realize that all I'm doing here is wasting my mana, so I stop making lances. He sends the last one at me, I guess I'll make it disappear like the others... wait, why is the pitchfork flying at me?!

"Ugh!"

He threw the pitchfork at me so that it was hidden behind the lance! I didn't see it until it was too late and it got stuck in my stomach. Eh?! I can feel more of that mana-burning fire coming out from the tip! This is bad, it's going to be much harder to get rid of it if it's inside me...

No, I need to calm down, just do it like before.

'Shadow lance'

I did it!

"Your mana control is truly astounding! I wonder what your limits are."

Hundreds of flames of various colors manifest all around Vilde, is he planning to copy my last attack?

'Bullet hell'

The flames are flying at me in various patterns, they look pretty but now's not the time to admire them.

'Shadow nail'

As much as I try dodging them or stopping them with weak spells, there are just too many flames. When my mana starts burning I do my best to get rid of them but this time I end up losing a substantial amount.

"You are doing such a great job at getting rid of my flames, and yet, they are still able to make a dent in your mana. Do you understand now? What your weakness is?"

"My weakness? I don't understand."

"Then let me ask you. How much mana do you think a level 500 mage has compared to a level 100?"

"5 times as much?"

"Precisely. And yet, a single level 500 is far more powerful than 5 level 100s. Do you know why that is?"

"Because they can use their mana 5 times more effectively so it feels like it's 25 times more. And since their spells will be 5 times stronger it's more like 125... Not to mention that they'll probably know better spells and might be able to use more mana from their surroundings to complement their own..."

Most people usually get the impression that I have an immense amount of mana, but it's really more quality than quantity.

"And yet, the actual amount is still only 5 times more. At high levels, the amount of mana of a mage is very small in proportion to the power they have. That's why attacks against their mana from opponents of their level are very effective."

"Oh, I never thought about that."

"And that's especially true for you. You can heal yourself easily as long as you have mana, so normal attacks don't mean much to you. But a pure mage such as yourself will be as good as dead if you ever run out of mana against an enemy of your level. That is the more likely way in which you can be defeated, any smart opponent will aim for that. And yet, you choose an amulet that only protects you from the type of fire that burns your body. Did you even consider taking something to preserve or restore your mana?"

"No, I never had to worry about my mana until now, so I didn't even think about it..."

"And that's another bad habit born from only facing weaker foes. Now, let me show you the other method to defeat a powerful healer, an attack that damages you in a way that cannot simply be healed."

'Frozen hell'

"Uh? Is it getting cold?"

Oh, now that I think about it, fire magic can control heat. But being able to remove heat must require very high skill.

"By removing the heat from your body I'm also removing your energy. Soon you will not be able to even move."

T-this is bad. It's s-so cold, my body is trembling. I need to land a hit on him before it's too late, b-but he's avoided all my attacks so easily until now... Wait, what if...

"H-hey, are you sure that nothing I c-can do will kill you?"

"I'm absolutely certain, you don't need to hold back."

S-some of the monsters in the infernal caverns were able to survive at least one of my 'obliteration blasts', and Vilde is stronger than them. If I m-make it so that the area of effect covers the entire arena, he will not be able to avoid it. I will also get hit, but I can heal.

'Oblit-'

*Smack*

"Agh!"

He kicked me in the face! I was sent flying and my spell was interrupted.

"What did you expect would happen when you try to use such a slow spell against an opponent that's standing right in front of you?"

"Uh... N-normally I'm always able to finish my spells."

"Looks like we found yet another bad habit."

It's getting colder and colder, I need to... Wait a second, 'rain of destruction' is also a slow spell, and yet, he let me use it before, is it because he knew that he could deal with it? Now that I think about it, it's weird that he knew to jump to the wall before I even started to cast it. Don't tell me...

I prepare to cast a 'shadow lance', but I'll make it curve so that it comes from the right. As soon as I decide that, he holds his pitchfork to block an attack from the right.

I change my mind and prepare to cast a 'shadow lance' that will come from the left. And as soon as I decide that, he holds his pitchfork to block an attack from the left.

I didn't even move during any of that, I was only thinking about what I was going to do...

"D-do you have a skill that predicts what I'm going to do?"

"At last you realize! Yes, after taking part in more battles than I can count, I obtained the 'battle master' skill. It allows me to sense my opponent's intentions, but don't you have a similar skill? One that you obtained from merely one battle?"

"You m-mean 'battle analyst'?"

"That's correct. With the gap of experience between us, that skill is the only thing that can give you a chance to match me."

After saying that, he begins to gather a large amount of mana that sinks into the ground.

'Hell beneath'

"You know, if you don't want people to think that you're the devil, you should not put 'hell' in all of your- AGH!"

A massive explosion from under me launches me into the air and I land face first in front of Vilde.

"Why are you not using that skill?"

"I d-don't know how to activate it..."

"It appears that your subconscious does not think of this as a real battle... And yet, you should be able to activate your skill by simply willing it, battle of not. Why did you not practice until you could?"

"I don't know, I g-guess I just assumed that it would activate when necessary."

"You 'assumed'?! Mmm, it appears that we have finally found the worst of all the habits you got from only facing weaker foes. You assume that every fight you get into is going to be easy."

Is that true? I've only faced enemies weaker than me, all my fights have been easy, until now...

I've done nothing but embarrass myself this entire fight. Is this really who I am? Someone who can bully the weak but will fall over as soon as things get a bit difficult?

No, I won't accept that.

Perhaps my fights have been easy, but it's not like I've never faced any difficulties in my life, and I always did my best to get through them. Why would this be any different? There must be a way for me to win, I'm just not trying hard enough.

That's right, I'm such an idiot. He told me that this 'frozen hell' was not something I can heal and I just accepted it! What was I thinking?! My 'flesh shaping' is not just for healing wounds, I can also use it to raise my body temperature and get my energy back!

And as for 'battle analyst'. That's nothing more than me focusing on the battle and using my mind to analyze it. If I want to activate that skill, I only need to do that!

"Mmm, I see that you are not giving up yet."

'Bullet hell'

Why did this spell give me so much trouble before? The flames move in patterns that are easy to predict, and they are not even all that fast. I can see it! The optimal path to dodge and deflect them all!

"Oh! Excellent!" Vilde seems happy to see me deal with his attack.

"That's not all!"

'Swamp terrain'

As expected, predicting my spell, he jumps before the ground becomes swampy, but the fact that he could predict my attack also makes HIM predictable. I knew that he would jump, so I prepared to cast two spells at once.

'Gravity bomb'

'Shadow lance'

He cannot dodge in midair, and even if he uses his pitchfork to deflect the 'gravity bomb', I prepared it so that the force of gravity will make him spin into the 'shadow lance'.

However, by twisting his weapon after stabbing it into the spell, he reverses the spin, which allows him to dodge. So it won't be so easy...

Now he's conjured a flame behind him that is pushing him towards me. I can tell that I'll be in trouble if I don't get away, so I use a mana push with all my might to send myself flying, creating some distance before he lands.

Vilde is by far the toughest opponent I've faced, he said that I only needed to hurt him once, but even that will be difficult. However, that cold from before is now completely gone, and my confidence has grown. I know that I can do this.

My opponent looks at me with a wide grin on his face.

"It seems that you're finally done warming up."

forli

When I was first writing this chapter I capitalized the first 'a' in 'arena' twice. I think that my brain thought that I was writing Arana's name.

Also, longest chapter so far by quite some margin.