Olivia's lightning trap crawled into Erik's armor.
"Lightning Claw!"
The trap activated, electrocuting Erik and burning off part of his skin. His body shivered for a while until the lightning went out.
He was forced to kneel on the ground, panting slightly. This particular scene ticked him off even further.
"You damn bitch!"
His right hand which was gripping his great axe trembled in agitation. Never had he once knelt when fighting against other people.
Rather, it was them who knelt under him instead.
The demonic essence surged within his body once more, removing the effects of lightning that affected his body. It emboldened his mind and refreshed his thoughts, giving clarity to his senses.
Olivia noticed the changes and worried, 'That burst of demonic essence relieved his body of negative effects, huh?'
'It seems that I have to take time inflicting lightning attacks against him.'
She saw Erik standing up with his head high, staring at her.
"Your demonic essence is truly miraculous, Erik. No wonder a loser like you succumbed to such temptations.", she mocked.
Erik brandished his great axe and rebutted.
"And only na?ve people like you, Olivia, dare to not take the risk because you want to remain mediocre for the rest of your lives. Could you not give me that pathetic argument? My ears do not like to spare time on such nonsense!"
Olivia's eyebrows raised, "Oh, then prepare to be destroyed by this na?ve person, Erik!"
'Lightning Strike!'
A powerful barrage of lightning strikes shot out from Olivia's hand and bombarded Erik. He was slowly being pummeled by her attacks, even denting his tough demonic armor.
'This woman… dares to suppress someone like me?!'
Demonic essence burst out of him, blasting all her lightning strikes away. With this chance, Erik dashed to Olivia's position and still, only found a trail of her lightning figure.
"Argh!"
Olivia activated her trap again. The electrocution this time was worse, scorching most of Erik.
'Her speed… I can't keep up with it! I'll let her attack me and use my demonic essence to take all of them! Once her tempo slows down, I'll retaliate!'
He grinned underneath the nightmarish demonic armor, formulating an evil plan to subdue Olivia later.
"Hah! You think your lightning can do anything to me?! Go ahead, I'll let you see how futile your attacks are!"
Olivia saw through his tricks, mocking him instead, "How about catching me, Erik? Can't keep up with my speed?!"
"Is that all what your demonic essence can do?! Pathetic!"
She clasped both of her hands with one hand channeling the ice element and the other the lightning element.
"Summon! Glacial Lightning Bear!"
The winds turned cold and roared together with the lightning that cracked around the space in front of Olivia. Ice spikes protruded from the ground, collapsing the earth.
Beneath the hole, a bear-like figure formed. It howled a deafening roar while standing on its hind legs.
'She knows summoning magic too?!', Erik couldn't understand how Olivia managed to learn what was rumored to be a complicated magical skill over a short period.
"Hah! How hypocrite of you, Princess! It seems that I'm not the only one who sought strength between the two of us!"
"How about you shut up and fight, Erik?! Bear, attack!", Olivia ordered.
The bear crawled out of the hole in the ground and charged at Erik. The latter snorted, wondering why she changed her tactics.
Regardless of her reasons, Erik found it going alongside his plans, 'Summoning magic takes a large toll on their body! She needs to continuously control the elements of this elemental beast!
'And once it breaks...!'
Erik accepted her challenge and fought against the glacial lightning bear, slashing his great axe at the bear's sharp ice claws covered in lightning.
Every time they clashed; Erik would chip away some ice fragments from her summoned beast. This elated Erik, knowing that her beast wasn't as formidable as it looked like.
"You call this a summoned beast?!", he asked after decapitating its two front legs, "Die!"
He jumped high, preparing to demolish this useless thing in front of him. His great axe fell upon its fragile head, bursting it to pieces.
Erik landed on the ground and struck it once again. The bear's ice body was halved and its entire body was pulverized.
Much to his amazement, Erik noticed something off.
'Wait, this ice is way too fragile! This isn't how strong her usual ice magic is!'
"Too bad, Erik. You're one step too late!"
"Taste the result of my practice!", Olivia gritted her teeth and put all of her focus and strength into her next spell, 'I won't fail. Academy master could do this, and so shall I! What purpose would his teachings be if I can't reach this standard!'
A small lightning ball formed between her two hands, "Lightning Descendance!"
The lightning ball flickered, now surrounding her entire body with lightning.
At the same time, all of the ice shards left by the summoned bear turned into lightning bolts.
Their gradual conversion startled Erik.
"S-spell retraction and spell transmutation! Impossible, who in the heavens is your master?!", he shouted in aghast, 'I fell into her trap once more!'
This was something that only experts in magic should know of. Even some magisters in the League couldn't accomplish this. What more of Olivia who was just a countryside apprentice mage a few months ago?
"You don't have the right to know who they are!", Olivia coldly replied, "Feel the power of a mage!"
The lightning bolts bloated under her command and a thunderous roar echoed, striking Erik with hundreds of them. It brightened the area, temporarily blinding everyone who was nearby.
"No- argh!"
Erik wailed in agony as his armor and body were roasted by the lightning bolts. Despite the protection of his demonic essence, it couldn't keep up with Olivia at all.
The last lightning bolt flashed, striking Erik's head and pushing his body back to the ground.
Olivia also knelt at the same time, gasping for breath after executing such a powerful spell.
"Heh… heh… serves you right, bastard-!"
Blood dripped off her mouth. Her eyesight wavered and she started to become dizzy, 'Damn it. At least he's knocked out!'
Right as she shouted those words in her mind, she saw the previous still body of Erik suddenly rise from the blackened ground.
When he stood upright, the upper half of his armor was gone, showing his roasted bare skin. His chest heaved up and down as he breathed deeply.
"What a burn! You're truly strong, Olivia! You're far from that na?ve girl I knew before!", he hoarsely commented.
Olivia could feel the excitement in his widened red eyes. She couldn't bear to see the sight, forcing her head down while coughing out more blood. Her mind was about to go blank as she covered her mouth with trembling hands.
"I see. That's all you've got! It looks like I win this time, Olivia!", Erik walked slowly into her position, staggering from time to time.
He didn't appear to be much better, but because of his warrior mentality, inhuman physical strength, and the vitality given by the demonic essence, he remained alive.
"Stop right there, you scumbag!", a more na?ve young voice called out to Erik. He turned his head to the left and noticed a pompous male mage running.
A small fireball formed on his hand and launched toward Erik.
"Fuck off, you lowly mage! You want to stop me with your weak fireballs?!", he gripped his right hand infused with demonic essence and punched the small fireball.
It was immediately destroyed, "It seems like you're just like this bitch right here that doesn't know their limits!"
The great axe was no longer restricting him, giving him more agility and speed when moving around.
"Lu-Lucan! Don't-!", Olivia tried to warn him but it was of no avail.
"Too late now, Princess! This prince charming of yours won't get away!", Erik dashed towards Lucan.
He then saw the latter casting more fireballs. He could only sneer and ignore Lucan's idiotic actions.
After all, what could several fireballs of various sizes do to him?
He continued with reckless abandon and punched at the fireballs that were sent to him.
"Hah!"
"Hrmph!"
"Hah!"
He struck three small fireballs consecutively and was rooting for more. Just as he punched the fourth one, the impact staggered him and put a halt to his advance.
'What? What the hell just happened? Did that fireball just staggered me?!'
Doubtful of his mistake, he punched again at the incoming large fireball. This time, not only was he staggered but he was blown several meters away.
The scalding heat worsened the burns left behind by Olivia's lightning bolts. Erik cried in pain again and almost clutched his torso to alleviate the pain.
Fortunately, he resisted this temptation and held onto the ground, digging it with his fingers.
Lucan ignored Erik and rushed to Olivia, "Olivia! You've overworked yourself again!"
This wasn't the first time that this girl pushed her limits. On the days they spent training over the last months, she had been passing out almost every day without a care.
Her reckless training made Jinmu assign Lucan into looking out for this talented yet careless girl.
"D-don't worry about me! Where's Jinmu and the rest? Are they okay?", she asked, ignoring her serious bad condition.
"They… Emi and that big sister elf are looking out for Solordo. As for Jinmu… I don't know where that guy went. He just vanished from our sight, but the map says that he's here somewhere."
He took out his system panel and showed it to Olivia.
"Possibly underground. There's a down arrow right under this one."
"He must be searching for something out there.", a thought formed in her mind.
Lucan shrugged, "Maybe that guy knows what Jinmu is up to.", knowing what Olivia meant.
"Go back to Emi, she'll heal you up. I'll talk with that guy."
"No.", Olivia held his hands, prompting him to jolt in shock and blush his cheeks, "Wh-what are you doing?!"
Olivia shouted unabashed, "I'm coming with you! Do you not see how tenacious Erik is? After all those attacks, he's still breathing."
"Who knows whether he is thinking up a scheme to lure us to him and ambush us when we get close.", she reasoned.
"Fi-fine. Then stay behind me.", Lucan couldn't persuade her anyway, 'From the looks of it, aren't the two of you the same?'
This thought somewhat irked a part of his heart and mind, though such feeling didn't last for long.
Erik laid out, basking under the sun. It was as if the roasted skin wasn't of any hindrance to him.
"Hey, bastard. You must have kept any hostages here, right?"
Erik laughed, "Hostages? What hostages?"
"Playing dumb?", Lucan raised his eyes.
Although he kept himself out of trouble during his days as the crowned prince, some of his friends would do the 'deed' whenever someone asked for it. Thus, as an observer, he was able to gather knowledge about it from time to time.
'Flaming Lasso.', a fire whip formed on Lucan's right hand and whipped it right at the center of Erik's chest.
The intense heat re-awakened the searing pain, causing Erik to wail loudly.
"Where are they-!"
He was about to lash again when an enraged voice blasted in their ears.
"You damn scoundrels! How dare you torture my dear son?!"
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