Sangook slammed into Merlin. The two of them grunted as they fell on the ground, rolling away from Dr. Eleanor in a tumble of embarrassment.
“Merlin!” Hakyun called out for what was the fifth time now. “Are you okay?”
It was getting stupid.
Sangook jumped to his knees, spat out a mouthful of sand, and turned to Merlin. “Stay out of my way!” he roared.
Merlin shot him a glare. It didn’t hurt, it was just annoying. “I was going around her. I told you to attack from the left!”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do!”
Merlin’s face squeezed, disgusted. “What in the world is wrong with you? Are you mad? Is this what we’re going to keep doing? In a tournament? In front of thousands of viewers?”
“You know,” Dr. Eleanor chimed in from where she was standing, a hand on her waist, smiling despite being inevitably bored. “He’s kinda right.”
“Can it!” Sangook sneered.
She was yet to be troubled by them to use even a single spell. Her Grimoire was floating overhead, opened to its first page, and practically useless. Merlin and Sangook making a fool of themselves for almost a minute now was enough defense for her, as well as entertainment. And Hakyun was too confused to know what to do, because Merlin had had a plan.
“Like hell I’m going to listen to what you have to say. Who the fuck gave you the mantle of leader here?” Sangook growled, rising to his feet and turning Dr. Eleanor’s way once again. “I’ll be fighting my own way, so stay away or I won’t have the decency of cancelling my spell when you bump into me next time and you’ll freeze to death, Deficient Mage.”
For the first time in what felt like ages, being called a Deficient Mage felt like a slur to Merlin once again.
He clenched his chin, rose to his feet, and thought about socking Sangook in the face. But that would do nothing but turn the tide totally away from them. What he needed now was to find a way for them to pose even a bit of a problem to Dr. Eleanor and see if they could manage to steal the key. Which was turning out to be a much taller mountain to climb than was initially suggested.
If only the plonker would listen to a word he said.
Merlin sighed and turned to Hakyun; the boy shrugged as if to say: I told you so. And he had really told Merlin so.
Maybe it had been crazy of Merlin to even think about the possibility of the two of them and Choi Sangook, who hated them the most in the whole academy, working together. The problem was, he had not been thinking about bonding with the boy, but the best way for Prestige Academy to achieve victory. For him to achieve victory. Because he needed and wanted it. And even Choi Sangook’s stupidity wouldn’t prevent that.
Sangook raised his hand, oblivious to Merlin’s thoughts, and his Grimoire flipped two pages ahead. The air chilled at his command, and the leaves of the trees flanking the path they were on rustled. Hakyun shivered, Merlin stood, defiant against the abrupt change in the weather condition. His Resilience had broken into the sixtieth level during the past two weeks, so unless Choi Sangook summoned Iceland itself here, he doubted if he would ever be bothered by the cold from the boy’s spells again.
What was still the same was being captured by the beauty of Sangook’s spells. In sharp contrast to the fiery, untamable temper of the lad, his magic was stunning. Like petals of flowers carried up in a whirl by the wind, two tornadoes of frozen flakes of ice appeared beside Dr. Eleanor, twirling both violently and elegantly—a funny coincidence, but one Merlin had once been on the receiving end of.
Dr. Eleanor, on the other hand, was a stranger to Choi Sangook’s magic. And yet, she didn’t look one bit bothered.
As expected.
“Ice magic,” she mumbled. “It’s a common type of magic in the States. But it's very hard to control.” She narrowed her eyes on Choi Sangook whose teeth were rattling almost indistinctly. “Takes a toll on its user. Even more so than their opponent if care is not taken, so it’s advisable to cast only one spell at a time. And yet, here you are, controlling two Ice Tornadoes. Brazen. You sure you won’t freeze before I do?”
Merlin blinked. He hadn’t known that about Ice Magic. How come he had missed it despite having more than just brief altercations with Sangook now?
Choi Sangook, however, looked more annoyed than cold.
“Just shut up and fight me.”
Dr. Eleanor shrugged. “If you say so.”
She popped another pill into her mouth, chewed, and in the next instant she vanished from in between the two Ice Tornadoes just before they slammed into themselves. Choi Sangook’s brows twitched. And then she appeared before him, like a thief in the night.
But if there was anything Choi Sangook was besides being hot-tempered, it was prepared.
He grinned at her, and from his feet spread out a thin layer of ice over the ground, destabilizing her as she slipped slightly. Then it stopped spreading forward and decided to climb up her feet instead, crawling up towards her torso like countless spiders.
“Where’s the key?” he asked as Dr. Eleanor tilted her head at the magic. “Answer me, or I’ll turn you into a popsicle.”
Dr. Eleanor hummed the heaved an exhale, her breath visible in the cold air.
“Complacent, “ she mumbled. “Did no one teach you not to relax in battle until you are certain you’ve won?”
Choi Sangook didn't get to reply as countless bone structures jutted out of Dr. Eleanor’s legs, ripping holes into her clothes but shattering the ice that kept her in place. They didn’t stop there, however, and made their way towards Sangook who was only a few steps away. He managed to regain his wits quickly and move out of the way, but he was not so lucky as to evade every strike. A few slashed him across his thigh, ankles, and calf. And while he was catching his breath, Dr. Eleanor turned her gaze towards his Grimpoire hovering in the sky, directing her palm at it. Another bone spike structure grew from her hand; a second later, it was shooting towards the ancient-looking book. Just before it hit, the Gtrimoire shifted out of the way, racing back into Sangook’s hand, and the bone structure missed.
It seemed he had learnt something from fighting with Merlin after all.
“Well, I guess I’ll give you points for that,” Dr. Eleanor said with a smile as she turned back to Sangook, the bone structures she had produced coming back to her and returning to her body. She popped another pill and swallowed it, then turned towards Merlin and Hakyun who were both watching like they were merely audiences. “What? Are you both just going to stand there? Come on. Fight for the key. What if your other party fails?”
They won’t. Merlin was certain of that. Nora would never live with herself if they did. But that was no incentive for them to fail here either. However, he was not watching just because he wanted to, it was because he knew trying to team up with Sangook was pointless.
He had a different plan.
“Good. Come on. Let me see what you have, Merlin Tyrrell. I’m curious,” Dr. Eleanor walked forward, past Sangook who was down on one knee still feeling the pain from his sustained injuries, and focused on Merlin.
But she had gotten things wrong.
“Are we going to fight her now?” Hakyun asked, ready as he’d been from the start.
“No,” Merlin whispered. “I have another plan. Sangook will do that for us.”
“Hold on!” Sangook voiced just before Dr. Eleanor could completely throw him to the background. “I’m not done yet.”
As expected.
“Tend to your wounds, kid,” she said. “You’re bleeding. This isn’t a life or death battle.”
That was where she was mistaken. Merlin had heard the boy’s conversation with his father, and it was technically a life or death battle for him.
Sangook gritted his teeth and channeled mana. His Grimoire flipped back to its first page, and immediately ice flakes bloomed over his wounds, forming thin frozen layers over the cuts.
He stood up.
“See? I’m perfectly fine.”
Dr. Eleanor sighed and turned around to face Sangook, acknowledging his zeal to continue. And that was Merlin’s cue. He whispered his plan to Hakyun, and immediately dashed into the forest to the side. Dr. Eleanor, noticing the movement, was forced to turn her head slightly, which was something of a blessing to Sangook.
“You should focus on the more important Mage here,” the boy muttered smugly, and Dr. Eleanor froze again. She shattered the ice keeping her bound with even less worry than the last time, and she and Sangook fell into what was a one-sided fight that was in her favor.
Merlin didn’t let himself be derailed. He bounded past trees, making sure not to get too farther than thirty steps from Dr. Eleanor’s location, until he found the perfect hiding spot. As soon as his movements stopped, Hakyun’s Grimoire left his hands and flipped open. Chunks of rocks were pried from the ground, merging together until they formed a boulder around Merlin with a gap large enough for him to see, and his mana to directly connect with Dr. Eleanor. He would have preferred to be fully concealed, but his Intelligence was still only up to Level thirty-seven—a lot more than what he had started with, but not yet enough to take him to the big stage. Basically, he still needed his opponent to be in his field of vision for his ability to work.
He wasted no time going ahead with his plan.
Merlin activated Reader Mage, and across his view appeared details of the most recent spell Dr. Eleanor was casting, enabling her to blur out of Sangook’s view without even the slightest bit of worry.
[Perk: Reader Mage Activated]
[Analyzing spell…]
[Analysis complete]
[Spell: Copper Conduit
Category: Advanced, Tier II.
Spell Wielder: A-Class Mage
Spell Description: A spell formed by increasing metallic ion concentration in the body through mobilizing copper ions, enhancing nerve conductivity along neural pathways to boost reaction time and reflexes.]
[Deconstructing Process: The mage uses a mana sheathe to stabilize the process. Create a dent in the sheathe, which will cause the process to collapse and render the spell useless due to incompletion. However, this is a delicate task. Not only will you be subject to adverse effects as a means of taking on the magic of a Mage far beyond your capabilities, there is also the risk of impacting them with migraines if the deconstruction is not done delicately. Caution is advised.]
[Deconstruct?]
[Yes?]/[No?]
Merlin froze, his brows pulling in.
Dr. Eleanor was a Metal Mage?