Close Combat Mage
chapter-380-30041322

Chapter 380 – Berserk Roger Pt.1

Some might question, what use would just lowering an opponent’s speed serve? Once their speed dropped, their attacks and defenses would all become weaker as well. After all, with slowed movements, how could they possibly display any of their real strength when attacking? And how could their defenses be good if they couldn’t block anything in time?

Ice elemental magic was the cruelest type of magic because it didn’t directly kill off the opponent. Rather, it used its control to limit the enemy’s mobility, weaken their attacks, drop their defense, decrease their attack frequency…thus, the strongest ice mages could wear down enemies twice their strength. This was something that no other type of mage could do.

While others could say this kind of method was too troublesome and that it was a cowardly approach, this was undoubtedly the ice magic’s unique characteristic. If one sought a fierce and straightforward attack method, they would turn to fire magic, as that was its strength. In truth, if a fire mage encountered an ice mage, they’d be bored to death!

Ice Roar, Diamond Charge, and Hailstorm had also changed drastically. These moves’ characteristic trait was no longer their spinning force, but their freezing and controlling abilities. Any weak opponent would undoubtedly die, and even super strong enemies that could break through these attacks would still be stuck in a semi-frozen state that lowered their actual strength before the next wave of attacks.

In the past, Suo Jia had always either directly killed his enemies or the enemy would just break through his magic and continue attacking him. This was because Suo Jia’s comprehension of the ice magic and his communication with the water spirits were lacking. In reality, there was no way someone could continue attacking aggressively after getting blasted with ice magic.

Unless the opponent possessed magic immunity, their speed would definitely be lowered after encountering an ice attack. If they were on the weaker side, they could directly be frozen to death, and even if they were super strong, their agility, attack force, defensive ability, and other skills would fall.

Ice magic was extremely powerful because of its freezing ability. Even if someone broke through the magic, they wouldn’t be able to resist the effect of the coldness. A single exchange of attacks would cause the enemy’s status to fall, and the longer the battle went on, the more weakened they would become. Once entangled in a long fight, the victor would definitely be the ice mage!

Ice magic did have a decent ability to kill, but it was weaker in terms of attack when compared to fire magic. However, it was roughly on the same level when compared to earth magic, and superior to wind magic. Even the most basic ice magic had the freezing effect. In a battle against an ice mage, the ice magic would just seem to get stronger as time passed–although in reality, it was the opponent getting weakened.

But in that case, didn’t fire magic also have a burning effect? While true, the burned state could only inflict pain on an opponent, which meant it couldn’t necessarily weaken the moment. In fact, most burned victims would start attacking more violently. In a sense, while being burned meant being burdened, it also strengthened attacks. Thus, if a fire mage burned their opponent, it meant that they would have to swiftly defeat them after; if entangled in a long battle after, the fire mage would actually be the one losing!

In other words, a fire mage could either completely destroy an enemy or be killed off by the enemy, as burning an opponent raised their strength. Essentially, either victory or defeat could occur once the opponent was burned. If given the choice, all fire mages would undoubtedly choose to get rid of the existence of this burned status!

Aside from altering and strengthening their existing magics, Great Magic Scholars could also use a new magic: Ice Prison! This was a spell that used Mysterious Ice to create a frozen prison.

The Ice Prison’s effect wasn’t actually much different from Freezing Touch. However, Ice Prison didn’t need physical contact to activate. With Suo Jia’s strength, he could activate it at any moment within the range of his spiritual sense. After using the Exhaustion Training Method for nearly half a year, Suo Jia’s spirit power had doubled, and his sensing range had increased by 20 meters. In other words, Suo Jia could materialize an Ice Prison anywhere within a 40 meter diameter!

But strictly speaking, the Ice Prison spell was a new system that Suo Jia had never come across before. It didn’t just seal the enemy in a rectangular ice cube; that was too easy to break, and not sturdy at all.

This Ice Prison was a hexagonal prism. This mere difference in shape actually drastically increased its toughness. In addition, the Ice Prison’s ability to gather massive amounts of freezing air to direct at the target without end. If the victim didn’t break the Ice Prison quickly, they would most likely end up frozen to death!

The Ice Prison was pretty much just a solidly built icehouse that could keep itself eternally frozen while also having the ability to trap a person inside. In addition, it could continue repairing itself with the freezing air it gathered. If the victim wasn’t strong enough, there was no way they’d be able to break through. The final result would be to freeze to death inside. Even if the victim was extremely powerful, it would take a great amount of energy to break through. In general, if they couldn’t break out within 5 seconds or so, they wouldn’t ever be able to.

The greatest difference between a Magic Scholar and a Great Magic Scholar was their ability to comprehend the ice magic and to utilize it. Honesty, it summed up to a difference in “freezing”. The Magic Scholar focused on penetrative and destructive ability, while the Great Magic Scholar focused on freezing and control.

There was still about a month left until Suo Jia and his companions had agreed to meet, but Suo Jia didn’t spend that time resting. Instead, he and his Diamond Dragon rushed back to the first checkpoint. In a month’s time, he could ship a bunch of pickaxes and earn around two billion!

Suo Jia spent the entire time familiarizing himself with the magic’s functions. After all, learning and mastering were completely different stories. Being unfamiliar with his skillset meant that he could easily miss any essential and fleeting opportunity in battle. If he wanted to use it properly, he’d have to practice every day!

Finally, a month passed, and Suo Jia successfully earned 1.4 billion. In addition to the 400 million he’d originally possessed, his assets now reached a total of 1.8 billion. However, this was mere change when compared to the billions that he had previously owned.

Since Suo Jia was able to earn a lot of money from enhancing equipment, why didn’t he just continue to do so? Although there were still indeed people requesting to have their equipment enhanced, the number had dwindled to a very small scale. As such, there was no longer a systematic approach of handling it. Continuing on like that would result in losing money instead–major losses even! If Suo Jia had the ability to earn 10 billion in a month, he could naturally lose that much as well!

Suo Jia arrived at Illusion City’s inn very early, and chose a table in a corner to sit. After ordering some alcohol, he slowly shut his eyes, thinking over how his training had progressed the past half a year and summing up his gains and losses.

Time passed. His companions, who in the past would show up early, still hadn’t appeared. Puzzled, Suo Jia aroused from his contemplation and looked at the door in concern. It couldn’t be…that they had encountered something unexpected, right?

Just then, the door opened and Roger’s familiar figure appeared. Suo Jia couldn’t help but feel his jaw drop in shock. Although Roger’s silhouette hadn’t changed, Suo Jia could not see a crimson glow enshrouding Roger’s body. A fierce pressure radiated from him. Under Suo Jia’s gaze, Roger slowly walked over and calmly sat down.

Suo Jia was still looking at Roger in astonishment. As Roger’s collar wasn’t fastened, Suo Jia could clearly see fierce scars covering Roger’s chest. Some were inflicted by weapons, others by magical beasts’ claws. On that tiny area of exposed skin, there were at least a dozen wounds!

These scars all overlapped with each other. Some had already healed, others were in the process and covered with thick scabs, while others had only just started to form scabs. The most horrifying part was that there were also injuries that were still bleeding! It was clear Roger had just gotten them recently enough for them to not have gotten a chance to heal. In the end, there wasn’t a single piece of unmarred skin on Roger’s chest.

Trembling, Suo Jia raised his head to look Roger in the eye. He couldn’t imagine how Roger had spent the past half a year. Exactly what training had he gone through to have been tormented to this extent?

Roger cracked a grin and grabbed a bottle of alcohol on the table to pour himself a brimming cup and down half of it. He then poured the rest of it onto his chest, and the scarlet blood swiftly dyed his clothes dark red.