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An Otherworldly Scholar - 139
🕑 Added 2024-06-29 04:39:12 +0000 UTC“A Mountain Druid shouldn’t be fighting on the plains,” Kaeli Herran grinned as specks of golden mana emerged from the ground and formed a radiant halo around her.
The ground trembled, and the sand liquified, but Zaon jumped back before getting caught. The hair on my neck stood to its ends as mana saturated the arena. I had felt this sensation before when the Lich used the freezing area spell back in the Farlands. The air quivered as Kaeli forced the environmental mana to change and bend to her will. The crowd also felt the disturbance because they suddenly became silent.
Boulders buried ages ago by the elements emerged from the ground. Some were small, the size of my head, some massive, like cars, and even a couple of them, as huge as cargo trucks. Then, roots and vines followed, climbing over the rocks and giving life to small, gnarled trees and stumpy mountain bushes, making the surface uneven, full of nooks and crannies where to stumble. When the vegetative growth stopped, about half of the oval area was occupied by boulders and trees.
There was no way a low-level Druid could channel so much mana, so I used my mana sense. The area spell was being sustained by the environmental mana and not by Kaeli herself, which meant Zaon couldn’t stall it. I cursed. The change in the dueling area was terrible news for us. Most of my HEMA training assumed a flat combat surface and stable footwork, yet my trust in Zaon’s skills was unbreakable.
Zaon kept his distance, circling the transformed area, examining the new surfaces, the bottlenecks, and the dead ends. Kaeli couldn’t force Zaon to enter, but the opposite was also true. She wasn’t going to come down any time soon. They were in a stalemate.
“Do you like my remodeling?” Kaeli asked, using her vine-whip and a dash of mana to grab onto a tree and jump on top of a truck-sized boulder.
“I could see myself having a picnic there,” Zaon replied, examining the area.
“Picnic?” Kaeli asked.
I noticed Zaon was using the English word.
“A picnic is when you prepare a basket of food and go to a picturesque place to eat it, usually accompanied by someone else. Oh, and you sit on a blanket,” Zaon replied, his eyes moving swiftly from boulder to boulder, memorizing the terrain.
I could sense his [Awareness] working non-stop.
“So, a trip to the wilderness? Like a hunting trip?” Kaeli asked with a puzzled expression.
“No, a picnic usually lasts a day or an afternoon. You hang around, and then you return home,” Zaon explained.
“Why would anyone want to take their food to the wilderness where a monster or bandits can attack them? Don’t people lower their guard when they eat? Wouldn’t it be safer to eat at home? What about the bugs? What if you live in a big city? Wouldn't it take time to go away and find a good picnic spot?” Kaeli let out a barrage of questions.
Zaon scratched his cheek. The two were taking their sweet time.
“I guess picnics are for high-level people with lots of free time. It should be entertaining for someone who spends most of their time in the city,” he finally said.
Kaeli nodded, her eyes lost in the crowd. “It’s a strange concept, but I don’t dislike it. Getting away from the Towers of Neskarath for lunch when the forges work at full bellows sounds nice. The smell is too strong to eat in peace. We should—”
Lord Herran interrupted her before she could finish the sentence.
“Don’t listen to him! There’s only one reason a boy would take a girl far from prying eyes! You are a slim girl, Kaeli, so you must elope with a sturdy man to keep the Herran bloodline strong!”
The old adage seemed correct, that a thief believed that everybody else stole. At least Lord Herran wasn’t giving Zaon flak for being a commoner or an orphan. I guessed it was part of Ebros' culture to respect strength and potential.
Kaeli turned around, her face red as a cherry.
“One more word and I will never, ever talk to you again,” she growled, her ears pinned back.
Ilya signaled Zaon to seize the opportunity and attack, but the boy refused. Whether it was due to fair play or fear of retribution on Lord Herran’s part, I didn’t know. The boy was smart, though. Attacking when Kaeli lowered her guard would only leave Zaon as a treacherous scoundrel in front of the crowd. I made a mental note to follow his example and stop antagonizing nobles as long as they kept their hands far from Elincia.
Lord Herran opened his mouth to reply, but Kaeli cut him off before he could spit out more awkward comments.
“I swear to the System I will surrender right now and give up my whole eight points if you say a word.”
Ilya grinned and signaled Zaon to continue flirting. The signaling comprised a mixture of smooching and hugging her own shoulders while pointing at Kaeli. Zaon, once again, shook his head. [Awareness] helped me read his lips.
I’m not flirting, I’m buying time. I have a plan.
Meanwhile, Lord Herran raised his hands in defeat, and Kaeli turned to face Zaon.
“We should focus on the combat before my father starts with his bullshit again,” she said.
“When you are ready,” Zaon replied.
It was good to see that not all the kids were obsessed with personal success and political gain. Watching a good-willed and respectful competition among all the court intrigue was refreshing. On the other hand, Ilya was seething because Zaon didn’t take the opportunity to strike.
Zaon continued circling Kaeli’s territory, feeding [Awareness] more mana.
“Don’t you dare enter!” Ilya yelled.
We were back at square one. The fight was a stalemate, and the crowd was getting restless. Knowing Zaon’s personality, there was a chance he would give in to social pressure. Even adults had trouble dealing with peer pressure, so I didn’t expect Zaon to be immune to it at his young age, even less against a crowd of several thousand.
Whatever Zaon's plan was, he had to hurry.
Kaeli channeled her golden mana to the palm of her hands. Her vine-whip came to life, slithering down the boulder to grab a handful of small rocks. Was she going to sling them? My guess wasn’t entirely correct. Kaeli poured her mana into the pebbles, making them pulsate with magic. Then, she grabbed one enchanted stone and weighed it in her hand.
Zaon raised his guard and spread his feet, ready to dodge.
Kaeli flicked the rock, and Zaon blocked it with his sword. However, the instant the pebble touched Zaon’s blade, an explosion of sparks enshrouded him. The sword slipped from his hands and fell to the ground, almost like when Zaon parried one of Wolf’s blows in the early days of our training. The crowd stood from their seats.
A gravitational spell? Was the System powerful enough for something like that?
Kaeli grinned and threw the next stone. Disarmed, Zaon cast [Steadfast Shield], but the silver plate shattered, barely diverting the projectile. Zaon cursed and dodged the third stone, which left a small crater in the sand. Kaeli continued with the barrage, enchanting and throwing her magic stones.
Zaon retrieved his sword, dodging the attack and using [Steadfast Shield] when he found himself in a compromised position. I didn’t expect Kaeli to be so proficient both in close-quarters and ranged combat. I used mana sense and noticed that Kaeli used a mix of personal and environmental mana to fuel her spell. Even if she didn’t hit any stone, she slowly wore Zaon’s mana down.
Kaeli shot, and the [Steadfast Shield] deflected the stone in the wrong direction, hitting Zaon and making him stumble. The barrier absorbed the hit and shattered into the thin blue mist. Zaon was in a lose-lose situation. If he entered Kaeli’s mountainous zone, he would be at a disadvantage, but if he remained outside, the girl would still break his barriers one by one.
“At this rate, Zaon will run out of mana first,” Ilya said, reaching the same conclusion.
The boy seemed to realize his situation because, after his initial retreat, he darted forward directly into Kaeli’s territory. Kaeli grinned as Zaon found refuge behind a giant boulder. She dropped the enchanted stones, causing a cascade of golden sparks, and used her whip-vine to swing across the terrain like a much thinner, feminine version of Tarzan.
The fight turned into a game of cat and mouse.
Kaeli chased Zaon down. His [Light-footed] trait was barely enough to keep him from the range of Kaeli’s whip. The boy stumbled across the rough terrain, unable to stand his ground and fight back. The shortcomings of my teachings were evident. The German School of Fencing, and most martial arts back on Earth, depended heavily on footwork to deliver both attack and defense. In Ebros, the System shifted the paradigm. Firana could use thin air as a solid surface, opening a whole new dimension of movement, and Kaeli used her whip-vine as an extra limb to swing like a monkey across the rocky area.
I realized that movement was overpowered, but it wasn’t everything. Firana had trouble against static combatants like Dreva Herran and Belya Nara, but both girls had a broad arsenal of area denial and ranged attacks. Zaon had none of them.
Zaon tried to climb a boulder to cut the chase, but Kaeli was faster and snapped one of his barriers. Seeing no way of escaping, Zaon turned around and charged, his movement hindered by the rocks and the vegetation. Kaeli, however, stopped chasing and disengaged, shooting her vine-whip at a tree protruding from the crevice of a rock and pulling herself on top of the massive boulders.
Zaon retreated before Kaeli could summon her [Magic Stone], and the chase started again.
“Turn off your Ghost Blade! You are wasting mana!” Ilya yelled.
If Zaon heard, he ignored her warning.
The boy darted through Kaeli’s domain, abandoning any attempt to engage in attack, but the terrain seemed perfectly designed for her to move around. Every tree was put there to help her swing with her vine-whip, while every rock and bush hindered Zaon’s movement. Kaeli chased closely, like hunter and prey, which was ironic considering she was a jackalope-spirit beastfolk. Usually, the elves were the ultimate hunters of magic lands, not horned rabbits.
As Zaon focused on traversing the terrain, Kaeli had a more difficult time connecting attacks. Minutes passed, Kaeli’s whip shattering rock every time she missed the mark with her attacks. No matter how much he fled, Zaon didn’t slow down. His endurance was surprising.
Across the pavilion, Lord Herran looked at the fight with a satisfied expression. Kaeli crushed another barrier after the boy took a wrong turn, but the boy didn’t bother to fight back. Even if it was a slow process, she had the advantage. While Zaon was trapped in the loose terrain, blocked by rocks and stumpy bushes, Kaeli used the knotty trees to swing and bypass the terrain hurdles.
“Zaon has to bring Kaeli to the ground somehow,” I muttered.
Ilya jumped to her feet, but I put my hand on her mouth.
“If Kaeli hears, she will be wary. Zaon has to figure it out by himself.”
Ilya nodded and mumbled something. I pulled my hand away. She gave me a confident grin and a thumbs-up.
“He will totally get it—” Ilya started saying, but before she could finish the sentence, the crowd roared.
Zaon pressed his back against the boulder. He had cornered himself in a dead end. Smelling blood, Kaeli wrapped her vine on a small tree and propelled herself at full speed. She was halfway through the trajectory between the boulders when the gnarled white tree snapped. The jackalope girl’s eyes shot open as she flailed through the air.
The girl slammed to the ground, and Zaon pounced. For an instant, the roles were reversed. Zaon scored a point, but Kaeli was quick to recover. She tried to escape, shooting her whip at the nearest tree. As soon as she pulled, the small tree broke.
Zaon grinned.
Kaeli looked around in confusion. The fracture at the base of the tree was clean save for the very edge of the bark.
“You did this!” Kaeli said, kickstarting her whip and adopting a defensive stance.
“And you are trapped down here with me,” Zaon said as a matter of fact.
“You can’t even trash talk right!” Kaeli cracked the whip, but Zaon cast [Steadfast Shield] to block the attack.
The fight continued on the ground, the boulders partially covering my view as the kids exchanged blows. Zaon was running down his mana reserves, and Kaeli quickly learned to be mindful of her attacks. She feinted and bluffed, forcing Zaon to cast an ill-timed [Steadfast Shield]. The barriers crashed down on both sides, but Zaon was still behind on score. Even without her capability to jump around the boulders, Kaeli was a good close-quarters combatant.
Kaeli had a slight advantage as her feet seemed to hold onto the uneven terrain while Zaon slipped. They exchanged blows, trading spells and pushing their bodies to the limit for the slightest advantage. I was starting to see how Prince Adrien measured potential candidates for the Imperial Academy. Dreva had it, and so did Kaeli.
Zaon was down to his last barrier but got used to Kaeli’s timing and slowly started recovering lost ground. He used [Steadfast Shield] to prevent Kaeli’s whip from gaining enough momentum to break his barrier, and his superior swordsmanship allowed him to sneak attacks through Kaeli’s shapeshifting abilities. The score narrowed until Kaeli was only one barrier ahead.
“I didn’t expect a sword-swinging class to give me such a hard time,” Kaeli panted.
Not even a drop of sweat fell from Zaon’s forehead.
“Yeah, on an even terrain, I would’ve already won,” Zaon replied, and I wondered if that was his attempt at getting into Kaeli’s head.
As much as Ilya needed good sportsmanship lessons, Zaon needed a lesson on trash-talking.
“Funny thing to say when you are about to lose,” Kaeli replied, opening the gates of her mana pool and flooding her body with magic.
Zaon darted forward before she could cast, but surprisingly, the girl didn’t shy away. She let the vine whip go and leaped on Zaon, shapeshifting into a bear. Zaon’s sword hit first, but Kaeli’s claws pierced the last barrier. The crowd exploded, and the girl returned to normal. Her knees quivered; the complete shapeshift had depleted her reserves, even if she adopted her bear form for only a second.
Before she could fall over, Zaon caught her in his arms.
“The winner of the match is Kaeli Herran,” the Master of Ceremonies announced.
Comments
I Dare Korval
Girls are just swooning into his arms. ;P
I Dare Korval
Well it was pretty questionable about Frianna losing and tying the match up. Also, Herran are only ahead 1 point and we now have a very motivated, ruthless, efficient, cut throat of a gnome to go next. Gotta feel sorry for that Snow Mage. I wonder if Ilya can summon up swarms of insect spirits (bullet ants would be vicious) and bury the Snow Mage under insect horrors. Each one would only cost a tiny bit of mana being so small.
Mohamed
Thanks for the chapter, Zaon is such a gentleman lol
Will
Poor Ilya having to carry the whole team to victory. Oh well. Great chapter. I'm pretty sure Zoan is going to end up with 50 girls wanting to date him.
