Thanks to Mana Dominion, Leon didn't have to worry all that much about surprise attacks. Despite that, he still was quite confused when he turned around and saw Adellum looking at him with an amused expression.
"You really are something else," Adellum said. "I don't remember seeing that guy before, but he looked quite the typical warrior. Big ego, pride, small brain... but you made him accept his defeat easily."
"It is all thanks to your dead friend," Leon said. "His weapon helped me a lot, but you already saw that. So, you will be the-"
Suddenly, dozens of arrows of light appeared around Leon. The next moment, they flew toward him. He survived thanks to Mana Armor, but Leon lost half of his mana.
Congratulations! The skill Mana Armor has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Mana Armor has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Mana Armor has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
...
"You have a lot of mana for someone so young," Adellum frowned.
"And you have a lot of nerve to attack me like-" Leon got interrupted by another wave of Arrows of Light. "I see now... You are the type who liked to surprise opponents. I guess we are a bit similar... can't say I like you, though."
"You are a weird mage, and since you can counter Appraisal," Adellum said. "This is the easiest way to deal with you."
After repeating his attack one more time, but failing at causing any damage to Leon since he recovered his mana consuming the pieces of the colossal mithril helm, Adellum turned into a sphere of light and disappeared.
"The hell was that... did he give up?"
Something was off, Leon couldn't imagine the angels running away after the battle. Their goal was to use six planets to revive their god since Leon slowed down their plans; they wanted to kill him. However, Leon understood what Adellum was planning when he saw that the Ivolaer's armor had disappeared.
"Shit... I forgot they could use mithril to restore their mana too..."
Since Adellum observed Leon's fight, he more or less knew how much mana Leon had. Even if he couldn't use Appraisal, he could estimate his strength by observing him fight. Suddenly, several Arrows of light appeared nearby Leon again. However, he couldn't see Adellum anywhere...
"That guy... how can he aim with such precision when he clearly isn't nearby?"
Despite having a hammer as a weapon and also a body of someone who used to fight up close, Adellum was a pretty good ranged fighter. That was bad. Ivolaer's armor was much heavier and had a lot of mithril. If both of them rely solely on that to survive, Leon was bound to lose the battle of attrition. Mana Armor's level was obviously at least three times weaker than those Arrows of Light, after all.
"He is playing with me... Adellum probably can attack using that massive beam of light, but he won't use that. He is careful, but Adellum wouldn't go that far... unless he is put against the wall, Adellum won't fall to Malahk's level."
Leon had to conserve his mana, and the only way to do that was to take some risks. Leon deactivated his Mana Armor and used Haste. In the blink of an eye, dozens of Arrows of Light appeared around Leon, in a hurry, he flew to the side, but his left arm got pierced by several of those.
"Ugh... shit..." Leon moaned in pain and started to sweat cold due to the pain.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Light Resistance.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Light Resistance has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Light Resistance has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Light Resistance has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
...
Leon felt like the nerves of his arm had been cut off; he couldn't even feel the mana in his arm. His arm was severely damaged, but it was still there... so it was weird that Leon couldn't feel the mana. Regardless, Leon cast Full-Recover and recovered himself.
"I can't believe I'm such a masochist..."
Leon just learned the skill, and it leveled up to level thirty. Unfortunately, he would have to do that again, so he allocated those points on mentality. He had to make such preparations while he can before Adellun, or the other angels decided to use their trump card.
After repeating the same process of letting his arm being pierced two more times just to increase his resistance, Adellum suddenly appeared. He was visibly confused, so he couldn't help but ask.
"What are you doing?" Adellum asked.
"I'm bored, so I'm letting you wound me to pass the time," Leon said. "Perhaps by doing that until I get half-dead, you will muster some courage to face me."
"You are an interesting boy," Adellum said. "Weren't you the one who used Transfer to attack that man several times and even attacked his back?"
���He reacted to my attacks more than a few times, right?" Leon asked. "Besides, he always could attack me because I never left his range. You can't say the same thing about yourself, right?"
"I didn't think there are rules on the battlefield where the final goal is to kill your enemy..." Adellum frowned. "Did you come from a place where such things exist? If you have better eyes than your enemy, on your planet, you can't use that advantage if your enemy has bad eyes?"
Leon didn't have an answer for that, but he didn't feel bad about it. It wasn't like he wanted to make Adellum face him directly, he just wanted to taunt him a little… Regardless, since Adellum felt like he won the argument, he disappeared again and resumed his tactics.