The Sword and The Shadow

Chapter 521

Annelotte's Miscalculation

Annelotte didn't choose to make this a public fight. After all, her gifts and Angelista's special abilities were top secret.

While most people in Chino, and even Hocke, knew that Annelotte was a gifted, that didn't necessarily mean they were aware of her actual gifts. Quite a number of people didn't even know they centered on low-temperature frost.

Showing all her trump cards in a public fight would be a bad idea, so she wisely chose not to make it public. Even Angelista didn't have much to say about that decision.

"What do you want to see? The aftershocks from my and the principal's fight with shock you dumb! For the sake of my blissful sex life, you folks better hide yourselves away in a safe place!" Angelista yelled with frustration at her annoying students who wanted to see the match.

However, her words earned her the scorn of Annelotte and the other teachers, not that she minded it. Her dark skin didn't even blush in the slightest as she winked suggestively at the students, as if saying that she'll play with them all night after she dealt with the problem.

Annelotte popped another vein in anger. If she recalled correctly, this was probably the angriest she got after losing her memories.

The last time was during Kurdak's betrayal when Leguna doubted her. Even though she tried so hard to help him, she ended up being doubted. How could she not get angry about that? At least, that was theoretically how it should be.

While she did feel a little annoyed about it, there was another feeling that dominated most of her mind: grief.

She didn't know why she felt that way, and had no way of understanding why. She couldn't comprehend why certain thoughts would occur to her. Despite her chaotic mood, she still headed to the dueling arena of the academy with Angelista.

The old man watching the arena was no fool. He knew that there were some people from whom he could never collect money. Annelotte's expression was dark as the abyss, so the seemingly blur old man didn't come to trouble her. He even intelligently shut the arena door tight after they entered.

Angelista felt like cursing when she saw that. While the old man usually seemed air headed and would often stick around her like a disgusting old creep, it now seemed that all of it was only an act. However, she couldn't be certain whether he was just perverted or simply liked to mess with her.

"I know we've set the limit to level-five spells, but you better not let your guard down! I've been miffed for days now and I'm afraid I'll tear this whole building down if I lose control." Angelista changed into a revealing magus robe as she spoke.

If any man was to see that robe, his nostrils would definitely enlarge to look like that of a pig. He might even have second thoughts about harming such a beautiful specimen. However, she was going face Annelotte, who happened to be at the brink of a freakout.

"I think you're the one who should be worrying!" Annelotte snapped.

"Oh, you're angry for real!" Angelista chuckled. "Words are truly wondrous things. Hmmm, I wonder what I said to make you so mad…"

Angelista tapped on her chin with her fingertips. A couple seconds later, she turned to Annelotte and smiled. "Ah, was it your repressed feelings, perhaps? Or your matter with Leguna?"

"Shut up!" Annelotte could no longer control her rage. She instant cast a blizzard spell. The sudden decrease in temperature caused fist-sized ice to form around Angelista in an instant.

Normal people, nay, even a mid-order warrior would be half dead after experiencing cold of that level. However, Angelista was a soulgrasper and supposedly the most talented magus in all of Darklight.

Angelista stood there, unharmed by the spell. Like when she was fighting Leguna, she used her soul powers to form a silver barrier to block off the attack. The barrier was formed from pure enthymema. Not only could it defend against physical attacks, it could also mitigate most kinds of elemental damage. It was an all-purpose ability.

It was as if she didn't feel Annelotte's attacks at all. She looked at her and said, "Let us make a bet, shall we? The duel would be much more interesting that way. Let me see… If you lose, how about you treat me to some alcohol?"

"Enough babbling!" Annelotte wasn't planning on agreeing at all. She merely continued her dictation to put up some defenses.

"And if I lose…" Angelista muttered, "Then you'll be free to do with me what you want! Even if you throw me to Leguna, I won't object to it! I've long wanted to have a taste of that cherry boy!"

"Don't bring him up!" Annelotte raised her voice to the point of a shriek as she instant cast a fireball spell.

Boom!

Angelista didn't fool around and immediately activated the enchantment on her robes. It could allow her to activate an elemental barrier without any cost once a day. The user was free to decide what kind of elemental barrier it was to be.

Faced with a water swayer, she chose to use an ice elemental barrier. Being a soulgrasper, she was able to immediately tell that Annelotte's 'fireball' actually contained ice elemental essence. If Annelotte had been trying to count on misleading her with an ice-aspect fireball, she had made the wrong choice.

Angelista stood there lazily and even yawned in exaggerated fashion. "Your performance this time pales much in comparison to the last time we dueled. Is the mere mention of Leguna dulling your moves? I didn't think he would have such a huge effect on you."

Annelotte didn't respond and merely continued her dictation nonstop. She launched her attacks relentlessly in an attempt to pierce her defenses.

If anyone else was there to witness it, they would definitely be shocked to see the undefeated glacial empress sweating profusely from the sheer effort of launching attacks nonstop. However, she wasn't able to harm that dark elf in the slightest.

Some ten minutes later, Angelista shook her head to shake off the sense of dizziness she felt. She didn't look nearly as relaxed as she appeared. While Annelotte had kept her promise to use only level-five spells or below to attack, she was still a super talented magus and ranked among the top five magi in Hocke. While her enthymema was not as strong as Angelista's, she was far stronger when it came to the accuracy, formation and precision of her spells.

All those factors affected the strength of a spell. That was why even though Annelotte didn't use any high-level spells, she was dealing quite a lot of damage.

Angelista's soul barrier was only barely able to hold up to those spells. If Annelotte had used a stronger spell like Death's Finger, the barrier would definitely crumble in no time.

Annelotte wiped her sweat off tiresomely. She had used up most of her enthymema and mana. She knew that Angelista wasn't faring that well either, but she couldn't be sure whether she was still capable of offering up any more resistance.

Angelista breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "What? Can't hold on anymore?"

She kept quiet and looked back. From her expression, the glacial girl seemed like she could toss a fireball at her at any moment.

"Using low-level attack spells is just a huge waste of mana and wouldn't be able to do much damage in the first place. This is the first thing you told me during our last duel. Why have you forgotten about it so easily?" Angelista said with a smile.

"You aren't doing any better either!" Annelotte snapped, dissatisfied. She knew what she was doing was highly irrational. Yet, she didn't have a choice. She felt her anger boiling over from Angelista's words. Her mind would immediately blank out. She wouldn't be able to strategize and layer up her plans like usual. All she could do was think of the next spell to throw on Angelista's barrier. By the time she snapped out of it, she found that her mana had mostly run out.

However, she didn't panic because of that, knowing that Angelista was hardly faring better than she was.

Angelista laughed. "I think you're forgetting what kind of race I hail from."

"So?"

"Among those of our race, you don't even have to ask if we know how to fight hand-to-hand. The only question is whether we're actually good of it." Angelista changed into an even more revealing leather armor and drew a longsword before she got into a charging stance. "While I don't know impetus, I can stand toe to toe to a human low-order warrior!"