Close Combat Mage
chapter-323

The thief’s smile was very sweet, but he wasn’t the only one smiling. His companions were also smiling, and Suo Jia was as well. However, everyone’s reasons for smiling were different.

Suo Jia would never make such a low-level mistake. The instant that thief had hid himself, he’d become Suo Jia’s greatest enemy. Suo Jia, who was using the Water God’s Shield and Life Protection, wasn’t actually afraid of the four warriors. Aside from the fire mage, the only person that Suo Jia could feel threatened by was that thief. The current reality only confirmed that Suo Jia’s judgment had been correct.

It looked like this attack was about to succeed, but the next moment…a devastating hurricane frenzily engulfed the area around Suo Jia. At the same time the thief’s dagger finally pierced the Water God’s Shield, rows and columns of diamond-like icicles wildly flew out and dispersed from Suo Jia.

If the dagger had gone deeper by just a few more centimeters, Suo Jia definitely would’ve died. This was something that the thief understood very clearly. However, that difference of a few centimeters was something he’d never be able to cover. Following the explosive charge of the diamond-like icicles, the thief was helplessly sent flying backwards.

Three Mysterious Ice Arrows were activated in succession. The first two broke through the thief’s Life Protection, while the final one sharply shot through the thief’s body. At the same time, the thief’s body finally fell to the ground from the Diamond Charge’s push.

“Clang!” A clear ring could be heard as the thief’s body crashed down, smashing into pieces that scattered over the ground like he’d turned into a vase. Remnant pieces of his corpse were all over the area.

Seeing their two companions be killed so miserably by Suo Jia, who seemed to just be playing around, the four warriors began to feel regret for the first time. They regretted having provoked this fellow with an unknown background for no reason. How was Suo Jia a human, he was clearly a demon king!

However, although Suo Jia was very terrifying, the four warriors didn’t actually shrink back. In their eyes, the victory of this competition was definitely theirs. That was because…they’d finally successfully arrived within 10 meters of Suo Jia’s body.

Seeing the four malicious glares from the warriors, Suo Jia couldn’t help but chuckle and gently put his hand down. At this point, Suo Jia understood that continuing to rely on magic alone would no longer work.

At such close range, activating Ice Roar would mean that Suo Jia and the Diamond Dragon would also be within the attack range. If he removed himself from the attack range, the four warriors could still cover the ten meter distance and appear next to Suo Jia in the blink of an eye, making the Ice Roar a waste without question.

As for the Mysterious Ice Arrow, it was now useless as well. Suo Jia made some calculations; the four warriors all had green Life Protections, so 12 arrows in succession were required to wear down one warrior’s Life Protection. In this time, Suo Jia would’ve been killed over multiple times.

Everyone knew that in close combat, a warrior was entirely able to go up against magic head-on and attack a mage. Under the berserk attacks of a warrior, the one to fall first would definitely be the mage, and not the warrior!

The regrettable part of close combat was that the mage was always the one that suffered. Once a warrior neared a mage, that basically signified the coming of defeat. In a close range confrontation between a warrior and a mage, victory always belonged to the warrior.

However, would Suo Jia surrender so easily? No…of course not. Suo Jia had already realized his weakness when he still young. After all these years, he’d also used all his efforts to overcome the disadvantages he had. Although the ten meter range was the warrior’s territory, it was also Suo Jia’s!

He spread his hands, and immediately…a long ice stream appeared and spun around Suo Jia like a nimble snake. This time…Suo Jia didn’t compress the ice stream. The thigh-thick and 20 meter long ice stream slowly wrapped itself around the 6 meter tall Diamond Dragon, closely protecting Suo Jia and the Diamond Dragon within it.

Suo Jia’s hand danced, and the next instant…the ice stream around Suo Jia and the Diamond Dragon suddenly leapt towards the opposite four warriors like a serpent leaving its pit.

Faced against the ice stream’s brazen confrontation, the four warriors all brandished the weapons in their hands and moved to welcome the ice stream. At the same time, the Diamond Dragon didn’t stay idle, and abruptly opened its large mouth, blowing out breaths of Ice Seal.

“Snap…snap…” Following the Diamond Dragon’s icy breath, two warriors were instantly sealed within ice. At the same time, a warrior hacked down onto the ice stream, and under Suo Jia’s Freezing Touch, was also successfully turned into an ice cube! Only one warrior remained. He’d broken the ice stream with a single chop, and was now charging at Suo Jia.

After feeling that violent blade, Suo Jia was able to immediately conclude that this guy’s wild slash was even more explosive than the Crimson Bear’s. With the current hardness of the Diamond Dragon’s Glacial Armor, it would be unable to endure successive bursts of attacks from the opposite party. Once they neared, the Diamond Dragon would most likely have its Glacial Armor broken through in an instant, and lose its combat ability.

Suo Jia couldn’t help but smirk at the quickly charging over warrior, as well as the three companions swiftly breaking out of the ice. He spread his hands apart once more, and the long ice stream quickly spiraled around and blocked off the other three warriors. At the same time, Suo Jia used telepathy to give the Diamond Dragon instructions!

While Suo Jia successfully blocked off the other three warriors temporarily, the Diamond Dragon first used Ice Dragon’s Breath to seal the charging warrior into ice, and then…before the warrior could break out of the ice, the Diamond Dragon abruptly spun around. Using the resulting centrifugal force, its enormous, 10 meter long ice tail whizzed down with a bang at the warrior’s body currently sealed in Mysterious Ice.

“Crack…” Clear rings echoed out as the ice cube sealing the warrior immediately shattered from the contracted dragon’s tail. At the same time, the Life Protection around the warrior within the Mysterious Ice rapidly went down two levels from green to orange!

Seeing this, Suo Jia’s eyes couldn’t help but light up. He knew that the Diamond Dragon’s tail whip was absolutely not something with very large destructive ability. The reason it had caused so much damage was because the warrior had first been sealed by ice, and then the surrounding ice had been fiercely smashed with a whip, thus producing this manyfold greater damage.

Basically, if the opponent sealed was just the slightest bit weaker, that Diamond Dragon’s tail would definitely have shattered the body into tiny pieces. Having only dropped by two Life Protection levels meant that this fellow was already very powerful.

However, although they’d successfully damaged that warrior, the Diamond Dragon and Suo Jia were still in danger. Because the Diamond Dragon had lashed out with a spin, the Diamond Dragon’s back was facing the warrior that had now broken out of the ice. Seeing this, the warrior naturally couldn’t let this chance slip by. Without paying any mind to the pain his body was in, he abruptly raised the war blade in his hand and slashed down at the Diamond Dragon’s back.

If this strike hit, the Diamond Dragon’s following condition would be hard to predict. Although the Diamond Dragon wouldn’t be killed just like that, it was very possible that it would lose its ability to fight. This was something that Suo Jia definitely couldn’t allow to happen.

Of course, Suo Jia had naturally arranged this for his own reasons. Without any hard diamond, Suo Jia definitely wouldn’t monopolize his porcelain work. The instant the warrior’s war blade had just been raised above its head, Suo Jia quickly withdrew his control of the ice stream. With a wave of his right hand,a flash of blue light shot into the warrior’s arm.

The warrior’s movements couldn’t help shake for a moment. As a result of this attack, the force of his slash fell a bit. However, this alone wasn’t enough for the Diamond Dragon to break away from the danger zone.

With a crazy roar, the warrior gathered all his remaining strength and hacked down towards the Diamond Dragon. At this moment, Suo Jia unexpectedly gave a dark chuckle, and stretched his hands towards the warrior. Water Manipulation was activated at full force!

Following Suo Jia’s actions, the warrior could only feel the energy within himself forcibly drag his limbs out in the opposite direction. In that instant, he suspected that his body was no longer his, as it wouldn’t obey any of his commands.

Despite this, the warrior still refused to give up. Although his body was being manipulated, his battle qi was still under his control. Fiercely gritting his teeth, the warrior was still able to chop down with all his strength.

“Snap…” A loud sound could be heard as fragments of ice flew off from the Diamond Dragon’s back. However…with the addition of Suo Jia’s ice arrow, the might of water manipulation, as well as the slowed effects of freezing, the power of this attack was no longer enough to defeat the Diamond Dragon!

The powerful rebound force miserably sent the warrior back a few steps. At the same time, the Diamond Dragon finally turned around. Its large mouth opened, and the warrior was once again sealed on the spot.

This Ice Seal that looked just like a bunch of water spat out of the Diamond Dragon’s mouth instantly shackled the 2 meter tall warrior to the ground. The transparent and sturdy ice completely covered his body. This was the Diamond Dragon’s normal attack: Ice Dragon’s Breath!

Although the power had dropped by a lot already, the warrior’s blade had still successfully infuriated the Diamond Dragon. Seeing the sealed fellow before it, the Diamond Dragon’s body swayed to the side, and lifted those large legs as thick as several people put together, and with all its strength, stomped down towards the firmly sealed warrior.

Seeing the large foot descending from the heavens, the warrior strongly desired to break through the ice and flee. However, if he wanted to break the Glacial Armor right after the attack he’d completed earlier, he had to re-gather his battle qi. There was no way the Diamond Dragon would give him this chance.

“Crunch…” The Diamond Dragon fiercely stamped its foot down onto the ice cube. This violent attack caused the warrior’s ice cube to instantly shatter. At the same time, the Life Protection around the warrior’s body immediately turned blank, and blood came spurting out of his mouth.

Before the Diamond Dragon’s ice attacks had even stopped, it suddenly exerted strength. Using its brute force and heavy body weight, its large foot suddenly broke through all resistance, like a metal compressor, and firmly stomped onto the ground. The ghastly sight of violet-red blood splashed around in all directions from underneath the Diamond Dragon’s foot…