Chapter 136 A combat mage’s strength[2]
However, despite the large number of water darts flying towards him, Nathan didn't seem to be the least bothered, on the contrary, he had a slight smile on his face.
He suddenly dashed towards the incoming projectiles, but rather than run straight at them, he ran in a slightly curved motion.
Swinging the thin-bladed sword in his hand, he deflected all the darts that stood in his way, rapidly closing in on Farhen.
As for Farhen, his face morphed into a deep frown as he watched the darts he placed so much hope in get destroyed like they were made of paper.
But he didn't feel to disappointed, because they were still doing as he hoped for them to do.
His main goal was to delay Nathan, even if it was for just a second.
Water darts was only a tier one spell, however, due to its tiny and sharp size, it could be very annoying for his opponents.
Farhen made a few weird hand signs as he rapidly channeled his mana in preparation to cast a spell.
A large amount of water elemental mana gathered at his sides, before rapidly forming into two long water arrows, with each at his side.
Their pointed edges glistening dangerously, proof of their sharpness.
"Water Arrows!" Farhen shouted. Following his words, the water arrows shot towards Nathan with tremendous speed, leaving a small trail of water in their path.
However, despite the incoming attack, Nathan didn't seem too flustered. He had already expected that this was Farhen's plan so he wasn't too surprised.
After casting that spell, Farhen didn't stop and rapidly chanted another spell.
He stretched his hand towards the floor of the stage, as a substantial amount of water rapidly his front of his palms.
"Water splash!" He shouted, and he suddenly pressed his hands to the ground.
Splash!!
The water gathered around in front of his palms immediately splashed around the ground, forming a rather large pool around him and Nathan.
This spell was quite simple; it didn't have any exceptional attack or defense capabilities, however, that wasn't why he casted the spell.
He simply wanted to mess with Nathan's footwork, hereby, preventing him from successfully dodging the water arrows.
Since combat mages relied mainly on martial art techniques and skills, their footwork was also a major part in their fighting ability, and by disrupting it, Farhen hoped to give himself an advantage.
It would have worked if he was facing a stage two combat mage, but the one Ewa was fighting wasn't in the second mana core stage, and was a stage three combat mage.
A slight smile appeared on Nathan's face again.
When he saw the water from a pool around him, he immediately channeled mana into his legs.
The moment he channeled mana into his legs, the amount of strength in his legs increased considerably, and he used that strength to firmly steady his feet on the ground.
He twisted his body slightly to the side, while also channeling mana into his sword.
A dull and thin yellow aura coated his sword, it danced around and wavered like a flame, however, its presence was still visible even to the audience.
As for Farhen, his eyes widened in shock and awe at the thin yellow 'flame' coating Nathan's sword.
'Sword Aura?!' He shouted inwardly in surprise, however, he wasn't given anytime to linger in his thoughts as Nathan suddenly slashed towards the water arrows.
Sword aura, just like name implied, was an ability unique to combat mages in which they coated their sword in a thin layer of mana.
Despite how simple it sounds, it was a very difficult and complex technique since it meant channeling mana out of the body and unto the sword.
Farhen knew how difficult it was to channel mana out of the body, and till today, he had never come across a combat mage who could use sword aura.
With a single swing, Nathan's sword sliced through the incoming projectiles, causing the water within them to splash around before disintegrating into tiny particles.
Without stopping, Nathan lunged towards Farhen, closing the distance between them in one leap.
A deep frown appeared on Farhen's face, and he instinctively tried to escape the attack by jumping backwards once more.
One thing he had been trying to avoid was a close combat with Nathan, since he knew he was guaranteed to lose if he did that.
However, he wasn't fast enough as Nathan suddenly swung his sword towards him in a swift upwards vertical arc.
The attack hit him cleanly on the side of his chest. His elite uniform managed to absorb most of its damage due to its unique material, but the impact of the slash still managed to slice through his flesh, leaving a deep cut that ran from his abdomen to his shoulder blades.
"Argh!" Farhen grunted in pain, as he felt waves of pain assault his mind from the injury.
For a few seconds, his mind was disoriented by the pain from his chest, and he instinctively moved one of his hand to grab the wound, taking his eyes off Nathan in the process.
Nathan, seeing this, didn't waste anytime and immediately followed up with another attack.
He moved to the side a little, before making another swing towards Farhen's side.
Since Farhen was already distracted, there was no way for him to block the slash once more, and it collided cleanly with his side, leaving another cut.
"Arg." He let out a low grunt. However, he didn't try to grasp the wound like he did before, he withheld the pain and immediately tried to distance himself from Nathan.
He rapidly channeled his mana, in order to cast a spell.
However, Nathan didn't give him the chance to even complete his spell as he immediately threw a kick towards the side of Farhen's head.
Thwack!
A loud, smack sound reverberated in the air, as Nathan's leg connected cleanly to the side of Farhen's head, successfully stopping the spell, and sending him flying to the side.
"Arg!" Farhen grunted, as the force behind the kick caused him to fall hard on the ground.
What followed in the next few minutes were practically Nathan overwhelming Farhen with either punches or slashes, without giving Farhen the chance to even breathe, talk less of cast a spell.
Farhen gritted his teeth in frustration as he laid weakly on the stage floor. His face was swollen at the sides, and blood dripped downwards from his nose unto his upper lip.
As if that wasn't enough, his chest and upper body stung in pain due to the different cuts inflicted on him by Nathan.
Though his elite uniform didn't appear to have any cut, it was a different case with his body.
While he didn't fight this duel with a hundred percent certainty that he would win, he didn't expect to lose this bad also!
Remembering how helpless he was against Nathan's relentless attacks towards the end of the duel left a deep pain in his chest.
He had faced combat mages before, and even won against them most of the times but never had he faced a combat mage as fast as Nathan.
As for Nathan, he simply stood at the other end of the stage staring at him with a nonchalant expression.
'I didn't think I would have to actually channel my mana in this fight, talk less of using sword aura. I guess the elites in this academy aren't so hopeless after all.' He thought, and a slight smile appeared on his face.
The instructor supervising the duel walked over to Farhen before placing a high-grade pill in his mouth.
Almost immediately, Farhen's injuries healed at a rapid speed, and if not for his heavy pants and drenched uniform, it didn't look like he was involved in a fight.
After that, the instructor announced Nathan as the winner of the duel, causing the large crowd of students to erupt in loud cheers.
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