Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: Dark Elf Arc

Chapter 81

"Halkaista!"

"Turvata."

Caspian slammed his sword against Valen's, who blocked with an equal amount of force. Sparks flew from their clash. However, when both realized they could not overpower the other, they leapt back to gain some distance.

"Viltaa."

Mana gathered along Valen's sword before he swung it down. A rippled spread from his blade distorting the air in front of him as it shot toward Caspian, who narrowed his eyes. Spreading his feet across the cool floor, he took a deep breath and readied his sword.

"Halkaista!"

With a powerful swing, Caspian cut through the spell with ease, tearing it apart. Of course, the spell was just a distraction. Valen had used the time it took him to deal with the spell to close the gap between them and flow into a series of graceful sword swings. Caspian knew better than to let himself get caught up in Valen's pace and did something unpredictable.

"Springen!"

His body suddenly soared upward as mana propelled him into the air. He hit the ceiling and used Springen again, pushing himself back to the floor, which he rolled across before skipping back up to his feet behind Valen. Now in what he deemed the perfect position, Caspian tried to launch an attack from his sparring partner's blind spot, but it didn't work as the elf was far quicker at responding than he was attacking.

Clang! Clang clang! Clangclangclang!

The two of them continued trading blows as they danced across the room, shuffling along the floor as one attacked and the other defended. Both of them used their spells to their fullest.

Valen had a wide array of spells. Like Caspian, he was a Spellcaster, an elf who used the power of ancient words to create various effects. Unlike Caspian, he had a wide array of spells to choose from.

Caspian only had five spells, which was probably around the limit of what he was capable of containing because he was a half-elf, but Valen had over 100 spells. He had so many that even now, after so many spars, Caspian still hadn't seen all of them.

Not only did he have a lot of spells, Valen also knew how to use them. He excelled at stringing spells together so that one spell flowed into another.

"Viiltaa."

Once more, Valen released a powerful slash attack that sent ripples through the air, but this time, he didn't just stop there.

"Kahdesti."

He swung his sword once again, unleashing a second ripple that hid behind the first. This was one of his opening combinations. It normally worked by having his opponent avoid the first attack, only to step into the second attack. That didn't work with Caspian who could cut through all his attacks, but Valen had adapted. Of course, so had Caspian.

"Springen."

Caspian slammed his left foot on the ground and shot left as he used Springen to glide across the surface of the floor instead of jumping.

"Springen!"

He slammed his right foot against the floor next. This allowed him to change directions at the drop of a drachma, bypassing the two attacks that flew across the floor and harmlessly dissipated after traveling for several meters. With the boost provided by Springen, Caspian was able to traverse the distance between him and Valen in a few seconds.

"Torjua."

Caspian's eyes widened as he felt the sudden surge of mana just as he reached Valen. An incredible force suddenly slammed into him, pushing him across the ground. It was like he'd run face first into a wall, and then the wall began moving forward, constantly shoving into him. His sword flew out of his hand and clattered to the ground as he continued to slide backward.