Close Combat Mage
chapter-177

Chapter 177 – By Any Means: Fair or Foul Pt. 1

Faced with the violently charging Duo Mei, who was almost as fast as a rocket, Suo Jia couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh. Without a strong defense, Suo Jia would definitely not be able to fight against a warrior in close combat. Furthermore, against someone as strong as Duo Mei, he had no choice but to dodge her attacks. However…obviously, Suo Jia would not simply rely on dodging throughout the entire match, as that would only delay his death. Launching an attack while evading was the true way of the King.

With a press of his left foot, layers of ripples diffused through the air. Suo Jia’s body seemed to turn into that of a swimming fish as he elegantly rose in a slanted direction, evading Duo Mei’s blast. At the same time, the Ice Arrow instantly pierced through the space in between them once more.

Faced against this unavoidable ice arrow, Duo Mei remained calm and merely waved her left hand. A Space Shield materialized, causing the ice arrow to disappear silently without a trace. At the same time, the cloak on her body suddenly flew out from behind her, forming a streamer of red and gold as it began to drift into the air like wings.

During the following 2 minutes, Suo Jia finally witnessed the might of the Six-Winged Phoenix Heavenly Clothes. With its help, along with the the support of the fire wind battle qi, Duo Mei was like a mounted, propelled rocket. She charged around violently in midair like a phoenix bathed in flames, and continuously activated attacks in Suo Jia’s direction, wave after wave.

On the other hand, although Suo Jia did not have as much explosive power, he was still extremely fast. With each step, more ripples dispersed from underneath his feet, and like a fish, Suo Jia leisurely and easily dodged Duo Mei’s incoming attacks. As he dodged, he continuously returned attacks back at her as well.

In reality, Suo Jia had many battle skills that could bring him to victory. For example, the close range water manipulation, Ice Stream, Diamond Charge, Freezing Touch…however, all of these required him to be within close quarters to activate. Against Duo Mei, doing so would be a gamble!

Although Suo Jia had a lot of attack methods at close range, the slightest fault or lack of effects would result in Suo Jia being instantly defeated by Duo Mei, and he wouldn’t be able to put up any resistance. His defenses for close combat were just too weak, which was why Suo Jia kept evading.

Of course, in this kind of battle, Suo Jia definitely needed to obtain victory, and Duo Mei was the same. With the assistance of the four colored potions, they could keep battling without end, not stopping until a victor was decided.

For a moment, the two figures constantly weaved through the sky in pursuit of each other, and the audience on the ground was watching in a daze. However…regardless of whether it was the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes or Aimi and Aila, everyone was greatly benefiting from viewing this battle. The Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes could learn many things from Duo Mei, while Aimi and Aila could learn various usages of water magic from Suo Jia.

Finally, Suo Jia was unable to stay deadlocked any further. The world was ruled by strength; as a boss, how could his strength not be greater? Although it was risky, Suo Jia knew that he had to obtain victory!

Suo Jia gritted his teeth and tilted away for some distance. He then abruptly turned around, and an ice arrow pierced through the air as it shot head-on towards Duo Mei.

Duo Mei, who was currently focusing all her energy on chasing after Suo Jia, suddenly saw him turn around and activate an attack directly at her. She couldn’t help but feel shocked, however…her many months of battles weren’t in vain, and she immediately focused her attention and sliced the incoming arrow into pieces with her blade. At the same time, the power of her blade didn’t decrease at all, and she continued to fiercely slash it in Suo Jia’s direction. She chose to not hold back, nor did she need to, since she knew that Suo Jia wouldn’t be defeated so easily.

Everyone watched as Suo Jia and Duo Mei quickly neared each other like suicidal planes. It looked like they were about to collide, and for a moment, everyone grew anxious. In a direct collision, Duo Mei definitely wouldn’t have any problems, but that wasn’t true for Suo Jia. He didn’t have any armor, and he was a mage. Naturally, he would be smashed into pieces if they made contact!

As everyone was worrying over this, Suo Jia suddenly reached out with his left hand and opened a Space Shield, which instantly blocked Duo Mei’s war blade. If everything went as planned, Duo Mei would ricochet off of it!

However, Duo Mei’s experiences during these past few months were extremely important. After gaining tons of battle experience, she was able to judge the situation in that split second. The instant the blade hit the Space Shield, its power suddenly disappeared without a trace. After the light attack broke the Space Shield, Duo Mei skillfully released her energy once more. Red and gold light burst outwards as her war blade slashed explosively towards Suo Jia like a thunderbolt.

Suo Jia couldn’t help but be taken aback by Duo Mei’s experience and wisdom. He hadn’t imagined that she would see through his plans and successfully initiate an attack after breaking through his Space Shield!

The Space Shield worked like this: while it had an absolute defense, a single touch was enough to disperse it. Even a three year old child could break it with a single fist. Just now…Duo Mei had first lightly broken through the Space Shield, managing to avoid encountering a rebound. She then suddenly gathered her power within the close quarters and slashed outwards. In such a situation, Suo Jia definitely wouldn’t be able to block it; he hadn’t even summoned the Glacial Armor yet.

Suo Jia knew that against the war blade’s incoming slash, he didn’t have the time to deploy a second Space Shield. However…he didn’t believe that he would lose so easily. Although it was risky, it didn’t mean that it couldn’t succeed!

Suo Jia crossed his feet in a strange formation. The instant the war blade chopped at his chest, he nimbly shifted horizontally, and successfully avoided being cut in half by a hair’s breadth!

“Wa!” Seeing this scene, all the girls cried out sharply. Suo Jia’s figure was really too abnormal; his speed wasn’t any slower than a bird’s, and more importantly, his nimbleness was at an unfathomable level!

If Duo Mei was said to be a phoenix that was as fast as the wind, then Suo Jia would be an elusive fish. Although in terms of absolute speed, Suo Jia wasn’t on par with Duo Mei, in terms of agileness and spontaneous movements, Suo Jia had far surpassed Duo Mei.

Duo Mei was like a bird. Although her speed was fast, she was extremely slow at turning, and had to fly in an extremely large arc to circle around. It was impossible for her to turn at a right angle while flying at high speeds.

However, Suo Jia was different. He was like a fish darting around within the waters. When one tried to catch him, he’d simply wriggle his tail and instantly dodge to one side. As for turning in corners, he wouldn’t show any signs of doing so beforehand, and wouldn’t stop for a single moment to turn. He’d still be charging full speed straight ahead the second before, but after that second, he’d have already moved horizontally dozens of meters.

He lifted his head to drink a Magic Potion and a Spirit Potion. His chain of movements just now had consumed a lot of Suo Jia’s magic and spirit powers. Seeing Duo Mei looking at him in shock, Suo Jia returned with a gaze of praise.

In their exchange just now, Duo Mei had displayed her plentiful battle experience and knowledge. In contrast, Suo Jia had revealed his monstrous ability to move around mid-air. It could be said that if one of the two of them were the slightest bit lacking in skill, the battle would’ve ended in that instant.

“Defense capability!” As Suo Jia looked at Duo Mei, he began to realize just how important defense was. Without a powerful defensive ability, he’d have no way of entering close combat, nor any way of resisting against warriors. At best…he’d only be able to block a single blade strike! However, the current reality of the situation was that aside from dodging, he couldn’t possibly receive a single attack from Duo Mei’s blade!

“Tch…” Clenching his teeth, Suo Jia didn’t think much before quickly attacking Duo Mei once more. Regardless of who won or lost, the battle’s outcome had to be decided.