Chapter 116: Mantle
Oversized fireballs and blasts of pressurized water rained upon Percy one after the other, keeping him on his toes. The surrounding patches of grass had all been reduced to soggy cinders, his boots leaving dozens of prints as he danced along the soot and mud, dodging the apocalyptic storm of magic.
Had it been a single enemy, he wouldn’t have had as much trouble evading. He’d already done something similar years ago in the Guild, back when he’d been much weaker. However, the situation that night had been a little different. His opponent had been an earth user – an affinity not exactly famous for its speed. Also, comparing that person to the two bandits, Percy was starting to think he might have been drunk.
‘I suppose that would explain why he went hunting on the first level in the middle of the night…’
And that wasn’t all. Percy’s ability to dodge the spells heavily hinged on reading his targets’ intentions via Soul Vision. Sadly, he couldn’t exactly keep his eyes on two people at the same time. Of course, the situation wasn’t that bad. He could easily put some distance from them if he wanted, as he was much faster, and they had no way of catching up. It was approaching them he had trouble with. So, the two sides were essentially at a stalemate, as neither one could land a hit on the other unless they made a mistake.
‘Oh well…’ Percy grinned. ‘More practice for my affinity fusion.’
He’d already grown used to combining his two types of mana, but he hadn’t had much opportunity to test that in the heat of battle as neither the Starry Knight nor the horde of wasps had been suitable opponents. And he did need to knock a few kinks off his new trick. Constantly aligning and maintaining his mana while watching his enemies and dodging their attacks was tough. Yet, that was exactly what made this fight so valuable. Sure, he could probably find a way to win without it, but why waste such a willing pair of whetstones?
As for the outcome of the battle, he wasn’t too concerned. He knew he had the advantage, though the bandits hadn’t noticed. Due to his outlandish regeneration, they’d exhaust their cores before he did. Now it was just a question of whether they’d realize it in time, prompting them to take a risk he could pounce on. Either way, they were screwed.
‘I wonder how Nesha is doing…’
Retreating a few paces to give himself some space, he tossed his companion a quick glance to check whether she was ok. Not the best idea. So shocked was he by what he saw, he nearly caught a fireball to his face, yet even that wasn’t enough for him to pick his jaw off the ground.