Chapter 54: Escort Request (4)
The Tower Master swiftly extended his hand, conjuring dozens of mana barriers in front of him. These barriers formed a curtain of pure mana, their sturdiness comparable to a fortress wall.
Ketal immediately felt resistance upon impact, but that only spurred him to apply more force.
Crack!
The barriers shattered like a spiderweb torn apart by human hands. In mere moments, they disintegrated, leaving the Tower Master in shock.
Even a ballista would struggle to penetrate my barriers! he thought. He had hoped the barriers would buy him a little time, but they failed even at that. His mind began racing at an incredible speed.
Ketal’s hand would reach him in 0.5 seconds. Accounting for a 0.2-second margin of error, he had only 0.2 seconds to devise and execute a countermeasure. The Tower Master wondered what he could do within those 0.3 seconds.
His accelerated mind quickly found an answer. The Tower Master curled his fingers, allowing mana to infiltrate Ketal’s body. He intended to influence Ketal’s very physical structure through direct mana manipulation. However, the effort proved futile.
To his dismay, the mana surged forward as though racing across an endless horizon, never reaching its destination.
Then I need to use special distortion, the Tower Master thought. By twisting the very fabric of space, he attempted to prevent Ketal’s attack from landing. Yet, even this measure failed. The distorted space forcibly reverted to its original state under immense physical pressure.
Next, he tried retaliation. Using mana, he mimicked the strength of Ketal’s attack, recreating an equal level of physical force to repel it. Remarkably, all these spells took less than 0.2 seconds to activate—a feat achievable only by someone at the pinnacle of their craft.
Still, none of it worked. The Tower Master was dumbfounded. He’s ignoring all of my spells with sheer physical force!