Battle Mage

"Alright, shall we go in and take a look?" Antonidas asked.

"Of course."

Following Antonidas into the hall, I felt a detection spell trigger as I crossed the threshold; once inside, the feeling of being monitored by detection magic persisted since I wasn't wearing a badge. Upon entering the main hall, the first thing that caught the eye was a massive magic screen, scrolling through a list of available quests.

It displayed requests like "10 pairs of Gnoll fangs needed," "10 samples of Nessie blood needed," and "1 Arcane Crystal needed."

On either side of the screen were several windows; the ones on the left were for accepting quests, while the ones on the right were for turning them in.

Behind the windows sat cute apprentice mage girls. "It is said that the guild specifically assigned this job to them because it offers generous rewards and requires a high level of attractiveness."

On the acceptance side, the mage seeking a quest must first provide the quest number and present their badge.

The mage girl verifies the quest and checks if the conditions for acceptance have been met—some quests have prerequisites to prevent too many people from taking them and wasting their limited acceptance quota.

For quests without a limit on how many times they can be taken, the mage girl registers them directly; for those with a limit, a contract must be signed.

"At the turn-in window, the mage girl simply verifies the mage badge, stores the quest items, and notifies the quest poster to verify completion," Antonidas explained to Karen.

"It seems the quests here are all low-level."

"Yes, quests for mages above the intermediate level are rare and have high requirements; they handle those internally within their own task systems."

Antonidas was exceptionally talented and seemed to have a good reputation, as many people came over to greet him or ask for advice.

Antonidas introduced these mages to Karen with a hint of pride. The mages here were all primary or intermediate level, and the questions they asked were also of a basic or intermediate nature. Having spent many years as a low-level mage, Karen possessed a wealth of experience and unique insights, allowing him to quickly hit it off with them.

In the days that followed, they organized and established a club—the Low-Level Mage Alliance—and held several club activities, with Antonidas as the president and Karen as the vice president.

One day, a mage ran over to Antonidas and said, "President, that battle mage is here again."

"A battle mage?"

"Battle mages are a school of magic created by us humans, specifically for combat. These mages specialize in one type of spell and have fast casting speeds. A battle mage has been coming here to cause trouble for the past few days, and I've chased him off, but he's back again. Let's go take a look."

Arriving at the guild arena, I saw a 50x50 stone platform covered by a bowl-shaped transparent barrier, with one person standing inside and another lying on the ground. These guys were incredibly strong; this was already the eighth person to be knocked down.

The person standing saw Antonidas arrive and remarked, "Finally, someone who can actually fight."

"I don't know who forgot the pain once the wound healed and came back looking for another beating."

"Don't get cocky. I was careless last time; you won't be so lucky today."

"This guy is named Soth. Last time at the auction, he had a conflict with one of our members over a piece of magic material. He came here to cause trouble and was handled by the president, but he wasn't satisfied and came back," a person nearby whispered to Karen.

"Since you insist on being humiliated, I will oblige you."

Antonidas helped the injured mage off the platform and stepped up himself.

Both sides activated their magic shields, which allow mana within the body to offset incoming magic damage within a certain range.

Both were intermediate mages; they didn't have any status skills or need for buffs, so the referee simply announced the start.

Soth immediately raised his hand, and a barrage of fireballs flew from his palm toward Antonidas.

Damn, that casting speed is way too fast; it's instant! Antonidas had anticipated this and, remaining calm, used Arcane Missiles to precisely detonate each fireball in mid-air. Soth had also anticipated this; these were just opening pleasantries, and he immediately followed up with several Scorch spells, which were also nearly instant.

Fire elements gathered out of thin air around Antonidas, generating flames to burn his magic shield.

Although the damage wasn't high, it was difficult to defend against and would increase the damage taken from subsequent fire spells.

Because of the opponent's casting speed, Antonidas was temporarily on the defensive. He frowned, gritted his teeth to endure the Scorches, and fired an arrow made of ice elements he had been gathering for a while toward Soth.

Soth casually used a Fire Blast to disperse the Ice Arrow.

However, he didn't expect a smaller Ice Arrow to follow immediately and strike him. Although it didn't cause any damage, it coated his shield in ice elements, slightly slowing down his mana gathering—a small amount, but enough to prevent his small fire spells from being cast instantly.

Seeing that Soth could no longer rely on instant spells to gain an advantage, Antonidas's brow relaxed. Soth, on the other hand, was shocked. Could it be that Antonidas can also cast instantly?

"Vice President, how did the president do that?" a member mage asked Karen, puzzled.

"The first one was a level five Ice Arrow with normal damage. The second one was a level one Ice Arrow. He intentionally increased the mana output of the level five arrow without increasing the control, causing the mana to become slightly turbulent and its speed to drop without collapsing—that's incredible magic control."

"Because the two Ice Arrows had different speeds, they arrived almost simultaneously."

"Neither of these arrows actually did any damage; one had scattered mana and the other had very little. They were just meant to interrupt Soth's instant casting and stop the disadvantage. Amazing, truly amazing. Antonidas is worthy of the name."

Hearing this, Soth's expression improved; at least it wasn't instant casting, so he still had a chance.

Then, the two began to trade blows. For intermediate mages, the difference from primary mages is just having a few more output spells and higher damage; the gap isn't huge, and the techniques were simple, making the scene a bit dull.

However, Antonidas gradually gained the upper hand through superior magic control and deep mana reserves.

But Karen noticed that Soth wasn't panicked at all; it seemed he still had a trump card.

Gradually, Soth began to kite, slowly moving closer to Antonidas. The slowing effect of the Ice Arrow had long since worn off, and Soth began using instant spells again to suppress him while closing the distance.

Suddenly, Soth stopped casting and let Antonidas's spells hit his shield. He lunged forward, and the fire elements within him erupted as he charged at Antonidas.

Fire Blast—this is a skill with a crowd-control effect. If the condensed fire elements hit, they cause a stun. No wonder he kept moving closer to Antonidas; the spell has a short range and is mainly used against melee classes. I didn't expect Soth to use it as a control skill.

Would Antonidas fall for it? If he did, he'd be in danger.

Antonidas just smiled slightly; it seemed he had anticipated this move. He had activated the Flame Ward, a defensive spell with a long cooldown, in advance. It perfectly absorbed the incoming fire elements, and since no damage was dealt, he naturally wasn't stunned.

Although Soth was surprised that his tactic was broken so easily, he immediately relaxed and looked unconcerned. He touched the ring on his finger and shouted, "Dragon Breath."

A dense concentration of fire elements gathered, forming a massive orange-red dragon head that spewed flames forward. Antonidas was caught off guard and hit; the massive damage shattered his magic shield, and the spell's effect left him in a state of fear, unable to move.

Seeing Antonidas hit by the spell, Karen immediately shouted, "We concede. That is the high-level spell Dragon Breath; how are you able to cast it?"

"Heh, this is my mentor's Dragon Ring, enchanted with Dragon Breath. I happened to be helping my mentor with a task a while back and hadn't returned it yet. Any other questions?"

"Winning against the guild leader just by relying on equipment, and using a sneak attack at that—what kind of skill is that?" the mage beside him said indignantly while helping the injured Antonidas off the arena.

"Equipment is also a part of one's strength. Or are you saying that wearing equipment isn't allowed?"

"That isn't even your equipment."

"It is currently equipped on me, so naturally, it counts as my equipment.

Is there anyone else who wants to fight?

If you have the guts, stop shouting from down there and get on the arena."

The mages below couldn't beat him to begin with, and seeing him equipped with such high-level gear, they could only grumble and didn't dare to step onto the stage.