Close Combat Mage
chapter-99

Chapter 99 – Ice Fiend’s Nine Prisons Pt. 1

In everyone’s eyes, the battle between the Fire Arts and the Water Arts would end within 30 seconds. A few Sea of Fires would be cast first, and once the people from the Water Arts were forced into a corner, one Fire Ball would be able to break the Aqua Aegis. By then, one more Fire Ball would be enough to defeat the opponent. Historically, most of the water elemental mage apprentices had been defeated this way.

Standing on the arena, the first person from the Fire Arts faced Xue Er. He looked below the platform where Suo Jia was standing, and his mouth twitched in disdain. The first competitor from the Fire Arts asked, “How come your captain didn’t come, and you were instead sent to your death? Is your captain a man or not?”

“Hmph!” Delicately snorting, Aimi scornfully said, “I don’t know whether or not our captain is a man, but I do know that if he came up, then we wouldn’t be able to play. That’s why he has to stay seated.”

While speaking, Xue Er coolly pointed her staff at the fire mage and said loudly for everyone in the arena to hear, “Listen well. I, Aimi Xuete, will defeat you. We water elemental mages will bring about history right here and now!”

“Pfft….hahahahahaha!” The entire arena boomed with laughter. Even the nearby referee couldn’t help but chuckle. This girl was really too naive. To think that she wanted to bring about history, it wasn’t something that just anyone could create!

Not daring to tarry any longer, the referee suddenly raised his hand and loudly declared, “Alright, both team members get ready. Round…start!”

As soon as he heard the referee’s command, the fire mage immediately retreated backwards. The staff in his hand lit up, and with a flash of red light, bright flames immediately rose from underneath Aimi’s feet. Not bad…this was precisely the Fire Arts’ auxiliary magic, similar to the Swamp Technique: Sea of Fire!

Originally, the individual who trained in Water Arts would only be able to flee in desperation once trapped in the Sea of Fire. However, Aimi had absolutely no intention of running away. The instant before the Sea of Fire had risen, her Aqua Aegis had materialized with a ripple. The blue curtain of water had enshrouded and protected Aimi right before the Sea of Fire had been activated.

For a moment, the entire audience was unable to speak after witnessing this scene. Aimi stood there amidst the Sea of Fire like a fairy. Any flames near her Aqua Aegis were completely extinguished. Even the slightly further flames were eroded by the cold air, and were forced backwards from her.

Proudly looking down at her opponent, who was currently staring in shock at her Water Arts, Aimi said in disdain, “Let me offer you some advice. If you think my Water Arts are the same as other people’s, then you are doomed to lose. I can clearly tell you now that I am not afraid of any of your Fire Arts in the slightest. In terms of elements, water subdues fire. Today, you will definitely lose!”

“Che…” Faced with Aimi’s arrogance, the fire mage couldn’t help but grit his teeth. His staff once again lit up, and a Fire Ball whizzed outwards, shooting towards Aimi as fast as lightning.

As the Fire Ball leapt towards her, the corners of Aimi’s mouth drew backwards as she said with contempt, “You think that a Fire Ball of this level can hurt me? Stop deluding yourself!”

As Aimi moved, the Fire Ball had instantly arrived in front of her. The next moment…..made everyone dumbfounded as they gaped at the scene that had just occurred. Just as the Fire Ball was a meter away from the Aqua Aegis, the entire Fire Ball had quickly started to wither up. Once the Fire Ball finally passed through the meter mark and crashed into the Aqua Aegis, it had instantly been extinguished, just like a match dropped into water. During the whole scene, Aimi’s Aqua Aegis hadn’t even rippled once.

Looking down at the fire mage opposite of her, Aimi scoffed, “Just as expected. Do you have any other techniques? Oh! That’s right…there’s the Soulfire Circle too. Don’t hold yourself back, and just activate that. Let’s see if that can harm me at all!”

Faced with Aimi’s provocation, the fire mage suddenly panicked. The Sea of Fire was useless, and even the Fire Ball had done nothing. What was he supposed to do now? Could it be that he really did have to rely on the Soulfire Circle? What a joke, the Soulfire Circle was an AOE attack. In terms of attack power, it wasn’t much better than the Fire Ball.

Helpless, the fire mage could only continuously wave his staff, and shoot out Fire Balls one after another. Seeing this scene, Aimi smiled to herself. She leisurely walked towards the fire mage, completely ignoring any Fire Balls that collided into her Aqua Aegis.

All the people witnessing this couldn’t help but be skeptical: could this all be a dream? Since when could a water elemental mage apprentice bully others like this? That’s right…this was definitely bullying. Because she knew the other party couldn’t do anything to her, Aimi was walking right into the fire mage’s magics, almost as if she were an earth elemental warrior.

Under everyone’s gazes, Aimi finally arrived about 10 meters in front of the other party. She slowly raised her water staff, and a blue Water Sphere instantly jumped out. It directly shot towards the fire mage, who had just ended his string of Fire Balls.

All long ranged attacks had the same characteristic; the closer the distance, the harder they were to dodge. Now that the distance between the two was only around 10 meters, it took less than half a second for the Water Sphere to cover the distance between the staff and its target. There was absolutely no way to evade it. At such a close distance, Aimi wasn’t scared of the opposite party’s magic attacks at all, but what about the fire mage? Could he also resist Aimi’s Water Sphere?

Seeing the enormous Water Sphere instantly reach him, the fire mage couldn’t help but close his eyes. At this point, he could only face it head on. After all….the Water Sphere’s strength was limited, and at such close quarters, it lacked momentum. There was no way it could cause that much damage.

“Peng!” A muffled sound rang out, and the enormous Water Sphere fiercely hit the Fire Arts contestant. Due to the magic’s great force, the fire mage staggered back a few steps. At the same time, the entire Water Sphere burst with a huge splash, completely soaking his entire body.

“Dedede….” Just as all the people were expecting the fire mage to counterattack….another scene shocked the audience. After suffering the Water Sphere’s attack, the fire mage tightly hugged his arms, and began shivering fiercely. His face had turned deathly white, and his lips had become ashen as well. Had the cold air invaded his body?

Gleefully watching the shivering fire mage, Aimi arrogantly pointed her staff at him and said, “Hey! What do you think? Do you still want to continue competing?”

Terrified, the fire mage shook his head and looked at Aimi with fear in his eyes as he chattered, “No….not competing any more. I concede….I concede!”

Hearing the fire mage’s words, the referee stared blankly at him for a while, before announcing that the victory was Aimi’s. At the same time, the shivering fire mage had completely lost his threatening manner, and walked off the arena.

Seeing the fire mage leave, the crowd of fire elemental mage apprentices all rushed towards him, and scolded him, “What’s wrong with you? How could you be so useless? You couldn’t even defeat a female water elemental mage; why don’t you just go die?”

The first contestant from the Fire Arts seemed to not have heard anyone’s abusive words, and continued to shiver violently. Seeing this, the Fire Arts team captain knit his brows and asked, “What exactly is wrong with you? Even if you were defeated, there’s no need to be like this, right? You were only hit with a Water Sphere, not a bullet, OK?”

Hearing the captain’s words, the fire mage continued to violently shiver as he slowly extended his hands. Seeing the first contestant’s purple hands, the Fire Arts instructor shouted in shock, “God! He’s been frostbitten! Hurry up and bring him to the infirmary. If he isn’t healed right away, his hands will fester!”

Following the instructor’s words, a few of the students immediately rushed the first contestant out of the tournament area. At the same time, the Fire Arts instructor turned around to look at the arena in amazement. At the moment….Aimi was proudly waving at the audience. Since she had been victorious, she was beyond happy.

On the other side, the Fire Arts team captain asked his instructor in confusion, “Teacher, I don’t understand. The first contestant had only been hit with a Water Sphere. How could he have been frostbitten? Wasn’t it the Ice Arts that could induce frostbite?”

Shaking his head, the Fire Arts lecturer solemnly replied, “Normally speaking, it’s as you say. However, if the opponent has Heaven’s One Holy Water, then the result is different!”

“Heaven’s One Holy Water? What’s that?” The Fire Arts captain asked.

Glancing at the student, the Fire Arts instructor said in a serious voice, “Heaven’s One Holy Water is water that can never condense into ice. No matter how low the temperature is, it will always maintain its liquid state. Its freezing power far surpasses the Ice Arts’ by at least 2 times!”

The Fire Arts instructor helplessly looked at the Fire Arts captain and continued, “Actually, Heaven’s One Holy Water is the bane of any fire mage. Its extremely low temperature can completely cool any flames, and its liquid state can buffer the flames’ explosive impulse. In general, unless there are many experts opposing the Heaven’s One Holy Water at once, anyone that practices in the Fire Arts is doomed to die if they encounter Heaven’s One Holy Water. Just like what you witnessed just now, the Fire Arts practitioner has no chance of countering!”

“What!” Hearing the instructor’s words, the Fire Arts captain cried out in shock, “Could it be that we’re fated to lose today? Do we really have no way of going against Heaven’s One Holy Water?”