Thus, to cover up for my mistake, I shot off an Icicle Lance. It wasn’t like I was married to Modelwill or anything. I just wanted to see how well I stacked up against a so-called upper-level magic-born at this point.
And once I get bored of it, I’ll “consume” you, too.
My Icicle Lance accelerated in the air before contacting Gelmud. He had his arms in front of him in an attempt at defending himself, and then instantly froze. He screamed in agony—magic worked well enough on him, which I wasn’t expecting.
Of course, no magic-born of the upper ranks would be finished by that alone. He immediately shattered the ice off his arms and fired an even larger bolt of magic at me. No fancy tricks this time; just a big, blunt hunk of magic, crafted with everything he had.
“Die! How dare you inflict pain upon me… I’ll blast you to smithereens!!”
But he couldn’t. I just ate it up with Predator again. He let out a surprised yelp, shocked that I snuffed out the attack once more.
“No! What— What is that you’re…?!”
He began shaking fearsomely. I sent a Water Blade his way. He tried to dodge, but the speed of it caught him off guard, cutting a deep gash in his side.
“Gaahh!! Y-you… That was not magic…?”
So it wasn’t that he couldn’t guard it—he just didn’t. He apparently thought Water Blade was magic, so he attempted to counter with an anti-magic barrier instead of expending the energy to dodge it. That barrier was probably why the Icicle Lance didn’t do much lasting damage.
Gelmud began chanting a spell, fervently attempting to heal himself. Wow, he’s got that kinda thing, huh? He looked like a freak, but maybe he was more multitalented than I thought. Guess the “magic-born” name wasn’t there for show. Maybe I ought to exercise the ol’ arsenal a little myself.
Benimaru, Ranga, and the others were keeping a safe distance away, staying on the ready but apparently content in letting me handle matters. Shion was probably expecting me to go all-out, I imagined, but she didn’t look disappointed in me. She was hooked, in fact, eyes sparkling with delight as she watched. Hakuro and Soei, meanwhile, were ready to join me at a moment’s notice, just like I figured they would.
The orc lord and his minions didn’t seem like they were going anywhere, either. Now was the time, I supposed. I casually sauntered forward, stopping once I was next to the still-cowering Gelmud.
“Hey, can we get serious now? You were gonna show me what a high-level magic-born can do, weren’t you?”
Then I kicked him. Hakuro could’ve easily dodged it, I was sure, but Gelmud took the full brunt of it. I could feel the sensation of bones breaking against my foot.
Must’ve been a more telling blow than I thought…or was Gelmud that much of a wuss? Oh wait… I have Multilayer Barrier and Body Armor on me, don’t I? That probably had something to do with it.
“Y-y-you…?! I am a magic-born, and you…”
As I pondered over what I had just done, Gelmud began to unleash his full aura in a rage. Yep, he sure was an upper-level guy. But it was still at only about the level of Shion or Soei—lower than Benimaru, in fact. Did that make him an upper-level magic-born? I knew I shouldn’t have worried.
With a sudden dash, I launched myself toward Gelmud’s chest, aiming a fist right at the pit of his stomach. I felt no pain as I propelled it through his magical defenses. They dulled the effect of melee attacks, apparently, but they couldn’t fully dull the effects of my punch.
A look of anguish spread across his face. I paid it no mind, landing a flurry of strikes. He could do nothing to keep up with them. His aura was huge, but in terms of physical strength, he was nothing. Long-range strikes must have been his forte—and most projectile attacks were completely helpless against Predator.
I never thought much about it, but against long-range attacks, I had a pretty insurmountable advantage, I supposed. Let’s try some long-range moves of our own, then. I adjusted the Water Blade I fired a moment ago, creating a ball of liquid. Then I tried infusing it with Poisonous Breath and Paralyzing Breath, seeing if it could all mix together.
I then tossed the resulting ball, about the size of a fist, at Gelmud. It wasn’t as fast as I thought it’d be, given that it wasn’t pressurized like Water Blades. It was slow enough for Gelmud to react to, and he fired back with a magic bolt of his own. That Water Blade from before must’ve taught him to do away with the taunts and such.
But it wasn’t done yet. The ball exploded into a spray of fine mist, spreading all over Gelmud’s body.
“Garhh!!” he shouted in anguish, writhing in the mist. Just as I hoped. Now I knew how to modify the Water Blades themselves. And…wait.
I think I had my finger on something here. When I created that ball just now, that feeling I had…
I pointed my right hand at Gelmud, who was still in pain and desperately attempting to heal himself. Will this work? When I made that ball, I didn’t take any water out from my stomach for it—I just rolled it out from my aura. Maybe if I tried that with magicules instead… There we go. I now had a fist-size piece of spirit above my right hand. So far, so good.
Now, how to fire this at him… Slowly, I pushed it forward, as if executing a breath-type attack. I felt something push lightly against my palm, and then the ball of spirit shot forward as fast as a Water Blade. Guess it worked.
Hakuro’s eyes burst wide open. “He’s learned Modelwill,” I could hear him whisper. “Still unrefined, though.”
So now I had my own magical bolts. We’ll just ignore the second thing he said for now. Once I learned something, things would fall into place pretty quickly. I was sure I could burn more magic to boost its strength, too.
That shot just now missed, sadly. I’ll hit the next one, I thought as I stared Gelmud down.
“What are…you…?! How?! Not even an upper-level magic-born such as I could—”
He was interrupted by the bolt of magic knocking him cleanly off his feet. I was still just practicing, so I didn’t put too much force into it, but it still beat one of my punches, it looked like.
Next I fired several in succession. Smooth sailing. It’d just be a matter of time before I fully mastered it.
Time for more practice, I decided as I targeted several shots on Gelmud. I then simply stood there as they all hit home. Geez, I’m more merciless than I thought. I think I got a little too excited about learning this new attack.
Still, this dude was way too weak. His store of magic was definitely beyond A level, I’d grant him that, but he still felt weaker than the ogre mages. What’s with that?