Magic Made Simple

Chapter 22: Overwhelming Power

I had never been much of a fighter before the system. I'd never gotten into a fist fight or anything like that, even as a kid. When the system came around, I had learned pretty quick and got to what I thought was a pretty decent level of skill, even if it wasn't great.

Standing in front of the King, seeing the smoothness of every motion he made and the ease with which he swung his over six foot long staff, I felt utterly outclassed in every way imaginable.

I dumped mana into my mana barrier, using one of it's less memorable functions to focus all of it's defensive power on blocking magical attacks. I fired of several bolts of mana towards the King, each one of them harmlessly fizzling away upon coming into contact with his metal armor. His staff traced a large arc in front of him, and a thin blade of mana rocketed towards me. I only barely had enough time to duck under it as it soared past, leaving a deep cut in the stone wall across the room.

My eyes widen as I feel mana drain from my aura, despite the attack not having even hit me. I look back to the King, immediately activating empower at full burn as I sprint towards him. I couldn't afford to hold back if I wanted to put up any kind of noteworthy fight.

A sword of mana appears in my left hand as my bone dagger appears in my right. I dodge out of the way of several more arcs of mana, each one still draining a bit of mana from me. My weapons clash against the Kings staff, every attack getting blocked effortlessly. My resolves harden as I redouble my efforts, trying to get something past his defense. He didn't even need a mana shield like I did, as his reflexes were quick enough to block everything I tried to throw his way.

After half a minute of me attacking him relentlessly, the wind gets knocked out of my lungs as his staff slams into my sternum. I go flying back, only having a moment to see the new pattern of mana he had traced in the air. He must have done it while he was blocking my attacks. How could he even be fast enough to do that?

That entire array of mana lights up, and a beam of mana almost half a meter thick shoots towards me, grazing my mana barrier as I get out of its way. It had been extremely expensive to block, and I was certain I would have lost several kilograms of body mass had that beam hit me.

I decide to switch up my strategy, tossing my mana made sword up into the air above me. The weapon bursts apart into a dozen mana bolts, each one flying towards the King. It wasn't unlike when I'd made a mana firework, but this time it was with the intent of firing as many smaller attacks at him as I could.

With all of the bolts arriving simultaneously, he was unable to block every single one with his staff. Four of them were blocked by his weapon. Another two were swatted away by his hand. Three more fizzled out against his armor.

The last three managed to finally do some noticeable damage. One of them had hit the crook in his elbow, right where the material was softer to allow easier movement. It had left a light burn on the black material used for the joint. The second left a small but noticeable dent on one of the shoulder plates of his armor. The last of the three had managed to nail him directly on the cheek, turning the skin red and drawing a small amount of blood.

Despite the red liquid now running down his cheek, the King smirks. "Not bad. I would have tried to have all of those target my face, but it was still impressive nonetheless."

His words are followed by two dozen orbs of mana appearing in the air all around him, each one instantly recognizable as a mana bolt. From the looks of it, they were about as strong as mine were.

"My turn." The King says, pointing his staff towards me as all of the bolts fly in my direction.

The bombardment of spells is effective to say the least. More than half of them hit me directly, draining a chunk of mana with each impact. A few of them had been blocked by my dagger and gloves, and a good handful of them had missed thanks to me dodging out of the way.