Do You Really Think I Won’t Get Angry?

"The match begins!"

At the referee’s command, Magic Shields of different colors appeared around Josh and Vison at the same time.

For a mage, the most fundamental spell should not be some type of offensive magic, but a Magic Shield. Never underestimate a Magic Shield. This thing could always save your life at the most critical moment!

Although Josh was self-taught and might have vastly different fighting methods from an orthodox mage like Vison, when it came to protecting himself, Josh did far better than orthodox mages. He understood perfectly well that only the living could keep dealing damage!

Just as his Magic Shield finished forming, Josh suddenly discovered that Wind elements had already filled the area around him. The sharp Wind elements, carrying a slicing sensation, immediately told Josh that this was Vison’s attack!

Josh immediately cast several simple spells around himself. Sure enough, once he had finished setting them up, streaks of wind blades that looked like ice shards fell to the ground.

"Pretty ruthless."

Josh sighed. Vison’s opening assault had been incredibly fast. Fortunately, Josh had learned enough spells. Otherwise, he would definitely have taken a few hits. His Magic Shield might not have been broken, but it would still have affected the battle to come.

Josh had used a minor spell he had learned in the Wizard World—Impedimenta. Although it was merely a minor spell, once paired with Magic elements, it immediately underwent a qualitative transformation.

Though Josh rarely used what he had learned in the Wizard World, these things that required little complicated manipulation still had considerable value at crucial moments.

After blocking Vison’s first wave of attacks, Josh immediately launched a counterattack without holding back.

Standing there and taking hits was not Josh’s habit. If someone came looking for trouble, he hit back—that was Josh’s way! Magic power surged as ice spikes carrying bone-piercing cold erupted from the ground and shot straight at Vison!

Most importantly, Josh’s ice spikes were far from ordinary. After studying for some time, Josh did not know whether Akathosh had been deeply influenced by him or whether he had been influenced by Akathosh, but he had added some little tricks into every single ice spike.

For instance, whether these ice spikes struck someone or not, they would shatter upon touching any object and turn into countless sharp ice thorns!

Just imagine it—if one of those things actually hit someone, that unlucky person would probably be turned into a honeycomb in an instant.

Even if they missed, it did not matter much. If the opponent was even slightly careless, the ice thorns unleashed by the explosion could still turn them into a honeycomb!

This spell required changes in magic power and precise control, but for Josh, who possessed four types of Magic elements, that was no problem at all. Thus, this particularly underhanded spell was quietly born.

Sure enough, although Vison was powerful, he had not expected Josh’s magic to be so insidious. He casually used several Wind element spells to slice apart Josh’s ice spikes, but the next moment, Vison sensed a terrifying malice.

He immediately poured his magic power into his Magic Shield. Sure enough, the ice spikes exploded at once!

Looking at the ice thorns embedded in his Magic Shield, Vison’s expression turned extremely ugly. If Vison had known about an animal called a hedgehog, his expression would probably have been even uglier.

If he had not trusted his instincts, his Magic Shield might already have been pierced through.

Vison looked grim, and the spectators in the stands wore equally strange expressions.

Why were His Highness Josh’s methods so… vicious? Of course, many people actually thought of the word "despicable," but on second thought, everything seemed perfectly normal. It was merely an application of magic. At most, Josh’s methods were a little ruthless.

The expressions of the three emperors seated together were all different. Black in particular looked thoroughly embarrassed. He had never expected Josh to use such a method, though he personally thought there was nothing wrong with it.

Borot and Ilka, however, both felt that Josh was somewhat despicable.

Borot was a little better about it. After all, neither side of the fight was a dwarf, so he was simply puzzled.

But Ilka was different. Josh was fighting an elf, and this style of combat was truly impossible to guard against.

Imagine narrowly evading a spell that looked extremely dangerous, only to discover in the next instant that the spell had merely been a decoy, while the real danger was still waiting behind it.

Who could withstand that? There was not even the slightest sense of fairness in it.

Of course, part of the reason was that Ilka was an elf. As elves, they found it difficult to accept such methods. Otherwise, their rangers would not be distinguished from assassins by not constantly hiding themselves in the shadows.

Especially since Josh’s opponent was an elf, which made Ilka even more displeased.

"Black, who is Josh’s teacher? Why did he come up with such a vile spell?"

"Josh found his teacher himself. Although I have never met him, from Josh’s descriptions, I can tell that his strength is definitely no less than ours. And he was also the one who helped Josh resolve the problem in his body."

"No less than us? Are you sure? And what was the problem with Josh? What prevented him from obtaining Magic elements for more than ten years?"

Ilka found Black’s words utterly unbelievable. No less than them? Did that not mean he was also an expert of at least the Ninth Tier? Josh’s teacher was actually such a figure?

Thinking carefully, it seemed that only someone like that could resolve Josh’s problem. Still, he was very curious about what exactly Josh’s problem had been.

"This… forget it. I’ll tell you slowly. After all, this will become known sooner or later."

"I’m listening. Tell me, old friend."

After thinking for a moment, Black directly told Ilka some of Josh’s story. Borot listened from the side as well; they truly were curious about Josh’s circumstances.

But while Black was recounting those stories, Josh in the center of the arena was not having an easy time.

Perhaps Josh’s previous actions had directly enraged Vison.

Too despicable. If Vison had not possessed such sharp instincts, Josh might have successfully caught him off guard by now!

This made Vison furious, but it also made him extraordinarily vigilant. He no longer dared to treat Josh as an "easy opponent."

Before this, he had considered everyone fairly easy to deal with. Perhaps the only person he truly found difficult to handle—someone he was not even confident of defeating—was Avila, the eldest princess of the Elf Empire, the perfect goddess of his dreams, and the ultimate reason he had entered this competition.

Even when Kane had forced him into an extremely miserable state, Vison had carefully reviewed that match afterward. He knew that if he had taken it seriously at the time, he would never have allowed Kane to drag the battle out that far. He merely needed to be more careful whenever he met Kane again.

But what he had not expected was that Kane’s younger brother Josh, the person who had carried the label of trash for so many years, would possess such extraordinary talent—and show no obvious lack of combat experience in actual battle.

This guy was truly terrifying, even if Josh really was self-taught.

What orthodox mage would create such sinister magic?

Magic that contained something else within it, something that would catch the opponent the moment they were even slightly careless?

At least, Vison had never seen anything like it. Deep down, he believed such things were not orthodox, but he also had to admit that this method was simply brilliant!

Just imagine it. In a real battle, between his magic and Josh’s magic, whose would hold the advantage? Who would survive until the end?

He did not even need to think about it. It would definitely be Josh, the self-taught mage!

A real battle was not like an arena match, where defeating the opponent was enough. It meant doing everything possible to kill the enemy!

So Vison no longer dared to be careless, nor did he dare to treat Josh as an "easy opponent." He became exceptionally serious. This was his acknowledgment of Josh. He would defeat this opponent with all his strength, and that would also be a form of respect.

Josh had no idea what Vison was thinking. If he had known, he would definitely have regretted it immensely.

Just how fierce was Vison when he went all out? Josh had not known before, but now he did. Fortunately, he had chosen Frost Magic converted from the Water element, and he possessed four types of Magic elements.

Frost Magic might have lacked offensive power somewhat—at least, Josh’s Frost Magic truly lacked offensive power—but its defensive capabilities were genuinely high. At the very least, it had held off Vison’s attacks until now.

Moreover, possessing four types of Magic elements made Josh exceptionally sensitive to fluctuations in Magic elements.

This was also the main reason Vison’s attacks had been futile all this time. Just imagine it: every time you launched an attack, the person opposite you seemed to have already predicted it and thought of all sorts of ways to counter it. Could you stand that?

That was Josh’s current situation. Josh was only average at using the Wind element, but he had absolutely no problem sensing fluctuations in Wind elements.

He was extraordinarily sensitive—sensitive enough to guess what Vison wanted to do every time.

The fluctuations of Wind elements were simply too familiar to Josh. Other mages might not have been able to sense them so easily, but Josh himself possessed the Wind element. How could he possibly overlook them?

"So having four elements has a function like this too?"

Thus, the current battle became incredibly intense. Although it looked as though Josh was being suppressed by Vison, in reality, neither of them had suffered any real injuries.

Though Josh was being pressed hard, he was not incapable of counterattacking. Meanwhile, Vison displayed the bearing of the previous champion, wave after wave of spells relentlessly battering Josh.

"What a spectacular match!"

"Yeah! Both of them are incredible! His Highness Josh especially—he keeps overturning people’s understanding of him!"

"At first, everyone thought he was at most Fourth Tier. After all, he was so young, and it was his first time competing. Then he shocked everyone by being a Fifth Tier mage! Just when we thought Fifth Tier was already his limit, he told us that he was actually Sixth Tier!"

"Exactly! They’re both so young! His Highness Josh is only seventeen!"

"Seventeen… I never thought His Highness Josh would stand at such a height at that age. When we were seventeen, we were still studying at the academy and chasing girls!"

"That’s why His Highness Josh is down there, while you’re up here."

"…"

In the stands, every spectator was exhilarated by the clash between the two. They were simply too strong. Even sitting in the audience, they could feel the power of those spells!

Fortunately, because of Josh’s handiwork last time, the arena had specifically added several protective barriers this time to prevent overflowing magical energy from harming the spectators.

"Buzz!"

After once again using frost to slow Vison’s spell and evade it, Josh was truly beginning to lose patience.

His counterattacks had achieved only mediocre results, while the opponent’s attacks were exceptionally irritating. Although Vison had yet to break through his Magic Shield, Josh knew it was only a matter of time.

Josh still had plenty of magic power, but if this continued, he definitely would not be able to hold out.

Defense consumed more than offense. Even if Josh could endure it with the Elemental Light Wings, if he was really battered around like a turtle for more than ten minutes, he would not want to keep dragging things out even if he could.

"Damn it, do you really think I have no temper? Do you really think all I can do is defend?"