Endless Leveling Done Right!

Chapter 487: Freeze The World Before My Eyes [Part 2]

The snowy winds howled as the blizzard intensified.

Emil knew that the barrier would keep his spell from spreading out of the arena, so this was the perfect opportunity to trap his opponent without letting anyone know how he did it.

No one could see anything apart from the dome of snow and ice. The lack of visibility dampened some of the excitement the spectators felt. Henry and the other contestants, however, felt a little frustrated.

’Emil sure knows how to hide his secrets,’ Henry thought. ’I guess I have no choice but to go all out against him from the start.’

The two of them had been rivals since young. One was a mage, the other a magic swordsman.

They had sparred a few times in the past, but those matches had ended in draws time and time again. The reason for this was because both of them hadn’t been fighting to the fullest. They had simply wanted to keep each other in check.

But this tournament was different.

Henry glanced at the VIP Seats where Lady Celestria and her father, Duke Percival, were seated.

Since the Duke of Dawn and the Saintess were present, he had to show his mettle to impress them both.

While there was no guarantee that the champion would really become Lady Celestria’s fiance, winning the tournament didn’t have any downsides.

In fact, there was a possibility that Duke Percival might take this as an opportunity to play matchmaker and give the champion the chance to court his daughter.

While no one could see what was happening inside the arena, a raging battle was being fought.

Adam was busy crushing the pillars of ice that were meant to trap him while Emil unleashed Ice Spears one after the other.

The Gentle Scholar was at a complete advantage, toying with his opponent who only had high defenses—thanks to his strong body—going for him.

"If I were you, I’d just give up!" Emil shouted as he fired a dozen Ice Spears at his opponent, who were punching them to oblivion.

"Don’t make me laugh," Adam sneered. "I admit that you are indeed a very powerful Ice Mage. But so what? You cannot keep this blizzard up forever. I know for a fact that domain-like abilities like yours consume a lot of mana. Sooner or later, you’ll run out of juice. When that happens, I will end you!"

Emil knew that Adam was right.

The Blizzard he conjured was truly powerful, but its upkeep burned a lot of mana. Moreover, he was still unleashing dozens of Ice Spears at his opponent and that needed mana too.

At most, he could only last for fifteen more minutes.

"What’s wrong?" Adam laughed. "You suddenly became quiet. Cat got your tongue?"

"Shut up, mongrel," Emil replied coldly.

Adam smirked. "So much for the so-called Gentle Scholar. Did you name yourself that? What a pompous bastard. Henry is still much better than you!"

Adam was one of Henry’s friends. He intended to defeat Emil here so that his friend could advance to the finals without worrying about his rival.

However, the blizzard was also doing some damage to him. Although he had high defenses, the coldness was starting to penetrate his body, numbing him.

Still, he acted like he was fine so that Emil would feel flustered. That might give him an opportunity to strike.

With a roar filled with determination, Adam reached out to grab one of the Ice Spears thrown at him and threw it back to Emil.

The Ice Mage was forced to dodge the sudden counterattack, allowing his opponent to grab the remainder of the Ice Spears and hurl them at him.

The snow had already reached Adam’s knees, so moving was a monumental task for him.

Since he couldn’t get up close and personal with his enemy, he decided to be resourceful and use his own spells against him!

"Fine! A battle of attrition it is!" Emil dodged the other Ice Spears and simply focused his powers on strengthening the blizzard.

The wind and snow picked up, slowly burying Adam’s body.

Of course, Adam didn’t take things lying down. He tried to move, exerting his reserved strength to charge at Emil’s direction.

Emil laughed at Adam’s pitiful attempt to get close to him.

The young man simply summoned a pair of wings made of ice. As soon as the wings attached themselves to his back, he flew as high as he could while maintaining the intensity of the blizzard.

He then raised both of his hands and the snow around Adam transformed into giant snow hands.

With a thunderous roar, Emil pressed his hands together. The giant snow hands obeyed his command.

Trapped between massive palms, Adam knew that Emil intended to crush him and end the battle once and for all.

Adam resisted with all of his might, using his incredibly high defense to endure the punishment that would have made others surrender.

"Just give up already!" Emil growled, using all of his willpower and strength to crush his enemy while keeping the blizzard active.

Adam didn’t bother to reply because he was using every ounce of physical and mental strength to resist.

For the next few minutes, nothing changed. Both young men struggled without gaining—or losing—any ground.

The minutes ticked by so painfully slow that they felt like they were fighting for years.

However, both knew that was impossible, so they only did what they could do and that was to endure and give everything they got!

"Such an interesting battle," Lex muttered. "It will be over soon."

While everyone couldn’t see what was happening inside the dome, he alone could "see" through it.

And just like he had predicted, Emil finally ran out of power a moment later. The young man slowly descended into the snowy world that he had created.

He panted for breath. Despite the coldness of his surroundings, beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

The snow finally died down and everyone was able to see the outcome of the battle.

"Winner, Emil!" Alex declared.

Adam had already been teleported outside of the arena half a minute ago. The young man was immediately swarmed by medics, who used their healing powers to bring warmth to his icy cold body.

Emil wiped the drool from the corner of his lips using the back of his hand. He was practically a spent candle, having overexerted himself.

’I underestimated him too much,’ Emil thought as he glanced at Adam. ’It seems that Henry found a good teammate.’

The young man took out a stamina potion from his storage ring and chugged it all down without a care in the world.

Only when he finished drinking all of its contents did he feel slightly better.

Emil then gave Henry a side-long glance before walking out of the arena.

He wanted to collapse so badly, but he wouldn’t do it in front of his rival!

Some of the medics approached Emil and asked him if he was hurt anywhere. The young man replied that he wasn’t hurt, but he decided to ask the medics for some potions.

He would be fighting one more time today, so he needed to return to his peak and rest while he still could.

A few minutes later, a few mages from Solara Academy used their flame magic to disperse the snow that had piled up in the arena.

Dim Dim, who was building a little snowman in a corner, sighed as its creation started melting before its very eyes. Knowing that playtime was open, the little bun ran back to Alex.

When the arena was dry once more, Alex called for the next pair of combatants. Charles would once again take center stage.