Chapter 347: Frenzy [1]
Noah’s face was still twisted in the usual ugly way, as he shifted the topic to my—Kael’s family.
"Without the backing of the Frosts, without their resources, you would have remained a nobody."
A wise man had once said... well, there was no way the fool before me had any hint of intelligence left in his brain, so it was better to keep the wise man’s words to myself.
"Only because you had the blood of the Frosts were you able to crawl somehow, and reach where you are today."
Noah should have already known about my history from either Alicia or the rumours surrounding me, yet here he was babbling—
"I dare you to fight me with all you have got. Let this world know what you are worth."
"..."
"Scared? If you are, then just accept it, Frost... you can’t defeat me no matter what you do. Not using your abilities or those pathetic spells is just a way of trying to justify your defeat. You know it, even if you use them... you will still stay a pest, and I would be glad to crush you beneath my foot."
A dramatic line was followed by the protagonist smirking, trying to show himself off before the world.
I knew that without using my abilities or the spells at my disposal, defeating Noah was a tall task, but—
There was a reason that I wasn’t taking this fight as seriously as I would have taken a fight against some other Platinum core.
It wasn’t that Noah was weaker than them; on the contrary, he could right now be one of the strongest Platinum cores out there, but no matter what strength he had... at the moment it was just borrowed power.
And with me limiting my own powers, Noah could have defeated me somehow, but nature always had a way to balance things.
For the power that Noah was using, there was a drawback, and I just had to wait till it descended upon Noah.
In normal circumstances, stretching the fight wouldn’t have benefitted me, but Noah’s condition wasn’t the best at this given instance.
I just had to prolong the fight—
"Come on, Frost!"
Another roar from the protagonist shook the air around me as it was infused with his mana.
Sigh.
Willing my Gold mana, I increased my mana pressure, which, after being supplemented by a mana core at Gold 2, was now several times stronger than before, thus pushing back the mana pressure that Noah was still releasing.
"Are these petty tricks all that you have got?"
Swoosh!
Saying the words, Noah disappeared from his place, and so did I.
In the blink of an eye, Noah was already before me, his sword aiming for my—
Hm?
"Mana Blast!"
The sword had been a distraction—
Willing my mana, I tried to create a shield of mana pressure before me to lessen the impact, but I was late by a fraction of a second.
The impact from the blast threw me away, but it wasn’t like that was the end.
Shifting my weight to my elbows, I rolled on the ground to reduce the time of my unwanted flight, and as expected, Noah’s sword was in motion to slice through me.
Countering with a sword would have been inefficient and a delayed response, so lifting my right leg, I kicked with all my force and, as intended, it hit Noah right in his guts, as the guy was above me in order to deal the strike.
Boom!
A sonic boom was followed by the protagonist sliding through the ground, and I was quick to follow up with a charge of my own.
Within a few moments, I was before Noah, my blade slicing through the mana pressure and the air burdened with it.
Noah, being the monster that he was, twisted his wrist at an unnatural angle before parrying my attack, resulting in a huge wave of mana spreading in all directions, with us being the epicentre of the destruction.
The ground beneath began to crack under the thunderous clashes of our blades, but I didn’t stop, and nor did Noah.
Using Mirage Clone at the moment would have quickly changed the tide of the battle, but I held back.
Destroying Noah’s confidence and his image was more important than some mere brute victory.
Our blades clashed once again, and though I repelled Noah’s attacks, every time I did so, massive amounts of mana was being consumed, as defending against a Platinum core wasn’t an easy deal.
My mana control was the only reason that I was able to continue the fight, as it allowed me to efficiently use the mana reserves available at my disposal.
Still, no matter how efficiently the mana was used, or what type of combat technique was executed on my part... the fact remained that I was battling against the world’s blessed child, who at the moment had nature backing him.
The mana at his disposal was far more condensed than that of the average Platinum core.
The situation was difficult but not entirely impossible.
"All this power, and yet you couldn’t even put a scratch on me."
I whispered softly, my words loud enough only for Noah to hear.
Sidestepping, I evaded the piercing strike before diving deeper and engaging Noah in another episode of close combat.
"Isn’t it funny? Even with your ability, you are still a powerless fool... the same as before."
Now it was my turn to provoke Noah, as I delivered one dialogue after the other.
Noah, on his part, clenched his teeth as he tried to increase his speed, but I quickly matched up with him by using more mana on my part.
My mana reserves were steadily being exhausted, but I still had the advantage of tenacity, which Noah severely lacked.
The protagonist had the will to fight and to win, but his body, on the other hand, was lagging behind his mental fortitude.
But Noah had no idea about it, as the adrenaline rushing through his veins was clearly blinding his sense of logic.