Josh Gets Played

His opponent was troublesome—at least, the first person Josh had encountered who truly made him feel that way.

Even when they were still far apart, Josh had already sensed how troublesome his opponent would be. As they entered the arena amid the host’s passionate commentary and closed to within twenty meters of each other, that feeling only grew stronger. This opponent really seemed difficult to handle.

Frowning, Josh carefully studied the woman before him. Honestly, even without seeing her face, he had the feeling that this chick is seriously hot.

That struck Josh as exceptionally strange. After all, the identity he had inherited after crossing into this world was extremely noble. He had seen every kind of woman, yet this was the first time he had experienced such a bizarre feeling.

Shaking his head, Josh stopped thinking about it.

Besides, what did it matter how alluring her figure was if he could not see her face?

And Josh was here to fight, to win those ten thousand gold coins—not to find a woman. Especially not one with that distant, unapproachable air that made him feel nothing much toward her.

"Heh, who would’ve thought Vison was such a simp?"

Josh thought maliciously. Vison had not lied to him—he really was friends with Josh’s brother Kane. Later, when Josh and Kane went to the treatment room to visit him, the guy had actually smiled and praised Josh for being impressive, which left Josh feeling a little embarrassed.

After all, Josh had been petty enough to viciously beat him up, yet despite being injured so badly, the guy did not blame Josh at all. Instead, he even wished Josh luck, even though Josh’s opponent was the goddess of his dreams!

That suddenly made Josh feel a little more favorably toward the guy who had beaten him for over ten minutes. He just had not expected the guy to be into women with such an icy personality.

Josh barely needed to think to know that Vison had probably received no response from her at all. So, he had entered the competition in hopes of having some memorable contact with his goddess.

His luck had just never been very good. The first time he entered, his goddess had not participated at all, and his opponent in the finals had been Kane!

Then poor Kane had been brutally beaten by his own friend. The second time, Vison had finally managed to enter alongside her, only to get brutally beaten by Josh again. Now he could only lie in the treatment room. What terrible luck.

"Looks like I’m not only a plot destroyer from another universe—I’m also a love guillotine in this world!"

Josh sighed and silently mourned for the unlucky Vison. Then his expression immediately turned serious.

The host had finally finished his supposedly impassioned speech, and the referee came over to explain the rules to Josh and the others before asking one final question: were they ready?

"Yes."

"Yes."

By coincidence, both Josh and the elven princess Avila gave the same one-word response. The referee looked a little awkward, but he did not dare say anything.

Anyone who had made it this far could be considered an outstanding talent of the younger generation. Not to mention that both of them had terrifying backgrounds. He did not even dare get angry with them.

Nodding, the referee quickly left the arena. Forget Avila—even Josh’s destructive power alone was more than a referee could withstand. They did not want to die in some inexplicable area-of-effect attack. They were here to judge the outcome of a match, not to throw their lives away!

"The match begins! Cheer for our Champions!"

At the referee’s command, the audience erupted into thunderous cheers.

Josh immediately formed a Magic Shield around himself. When it came to defense, he still chose an Ice element Magic Shield. He had used it for so long that it came naturally to him, and the Fire element in his hands was more suited for offense!

Sure enough, just after Josh formed his Magic Shield, the woman who had stood before him like an iceberg had already vanished!

Josh did not even need to think. The instant he finished casting his Magic Shield, frost swirled around him, and bone-chilling cold spread wildly outward from his body. A Ring of Frost immediately expanded!

And Avila was right behind Josh!

She seemed somewhat surprised that Josh had reacted so quickly, but she had no intention of speaking. She directly performed a backward flip, using powerful wind-attributed Battle Qi to instantly escape the Ring of Frost’s range, then stood at its edge and watched Josh from afar.

That was close. Good thing I guessed it beforehand.

Josh cried out inwardly. In truth, that brief instant had been dangerously close.

This damned rule really gave Josh a headache. Not being allowed to cast magic beforehand did affect him somewhat. Fortunately, he could now cast many low-tier spells almost instantly. Otherwise, another mage would likely have fallen victim to that sneak attack.

Even if the Magic Shield could not be broken, the rhythm of the battle afterward would probably become extremely chaotic.

A mage losing their rhythm was deadly. Casting spells recklessly and constantly replenishing a Magic Shield would drain a mage’s mana. Josh did not want to fall into such an embarrassing situation.

Rangers had highly varied methods of attack, but based on several matches he had watched earlier, Josh had made some guesses about Avila’s habits.

Josh’s luck was not bad. After casting his Magic Shield, he immediately used a Ring of Frost on himself. Sure enough, Avila had already slipped behind him to prepare a sneak attack.

Looking at Avila, who stood at the edge of the arena waiting for an opportunity to attack, Josh felt that this woman’s speed truly exceeded his expectations. He had thought Jonas was already fast enough, but this woman was even faster than Jonas. More terrifyingly, she did not seem to have pushed her speed to its limit at all.

"Whatever. If she isn’t going all out, then she isn’t. I’m not giving it my all either."

After muttering a few complaints, Josh decisively launched his attack. The most effective way for a mage to deal with an elven ranger was to suppress her relentlessly, leaving her no chance to attack.

Of course, that came with risks. A mage’s attacks had intervals, and if a ranger caught one, the mage would probably be finished.

Just like Jonas before—he had seized the gap between Josh’s magical attacks. At the time, Josh had also been in the middle of casting, so Jonas had attacked without hesitation.

Of course, Jonas’s ending had still been rather miserable. Who told him to face a Sixth Tier mage?

With a slight raise of his hand, a pale golden fireball appeared in Josh’s palm.

Although Josh had not infused it with Void Origin, the power of his Fire element magic had never been weak. And because he had used it so often, it could be considered his strongest magic aside from origin magic such as Void Magic.

The fireball shot forth instantly, trailing a long tail of flame as it flew straight toward Avila! Its speed alone startled everyone present!

Everyone knew that Josh’s magical attacks were famously slow. He generally relied on large-scale magic to win, but now they realized that His Highness Josh’s attack speed was not slow at all!

What was more, the fireball transformed into a soaring fire phoenix in midair!

It swallowed Avila in an instant amid violent mana fluctuations, leaving every spectator in disbelief. Was this really His Highness Josh, who wielded Ice element magic and won through defense?

"My God! I never expected His Highness Josh’s offensive magic to be so outstanding!"

"Exactly! The last time His Highness Josh won using Fire element magic, it was incredibly powerful, but I thought his Fire element magic would be as slow as his Ice element magic. It seems we were all wrong!"

"I never thought His Highness Josh was this formidable! He had only been using Ice element magic before because he was going easy on his opponents. His Fire element magic is actually his strongest!"

Josh’s outstanding performance naturally earned cheers from everyone present, and they all readily concluded that his previous reliance on Ice element magic had merely been him going easy on his opponents.

In truth, Josh had only wanted to catch someone off guard at a crucial moment. His intentions were nowhere near as noble as they imagined.

The crowd continued to cry out in amazement, but Josh frowned inside the arena, because he sensed that his attack had missed.

That was not surprising. He had already experienced that woman’s speed. Sure enough, his senses had not been wrong. Like a ghost, the woman suddenly appeared at Josh’s flank!

Her dagger, brimming with dense Wind element Battle Qi, viciously stabbed toward Josh’s ribs. But just as she was about to succeed, a layer of solid ice suddenly emerged around Josh and tightly encased him!

Avila’s dagger did not stop because of the ice. She still poured all her Battle Qi into it and stabbed down fiercely!

The violent Wind element, carrying tremendous cutting force, pierced straight through Josh’s solid ice. That startled Josh, but fortunately, his Magic Shield had not stopped operating. It protected him from harm while also buying him time to gather mana.

Not bothering to shout slogans like "You’re courting death!" or "Die!", Josh’s mana surged. Following Avila’s dagger, he sent his mana directly through it. At the same time, a Frost Storm formed beneath Avila’s feet, and its snowflakes spread wildly toward her!

Josh had no intention of letting such a good opportunity pass. A Frost Tomb instantly condensed, freezing Avila directly within it!

The entire audience gaped in shock. They stared incredulously at the two enormous Frost Tombs in the arena. They had never imagined the battle would develop like this!

"D-Did His Highness Josh win?"

"N-No, I don’t know either! But it looks like His Highness Josh… won."

"This is unbelievable!"

The spectators had no idea who had won within the arena. The two enormous Frost Tombs completely blocked the flow of any aura, leaving them deeply confused. However, Black, seated in the higher stands, frowned. He was not like those spectators—his senses were far sharper.

Sure enough, just as Black’s frown suggested, one of the Frost Tombs suddenly exploded!

Amid endless flames and biting frost, Josh and Avila burst out at the same time. Avila looked slightly disheveled, but she remained elegant.

Josh, on the other hand, looked utterly constipated. Just moments ago, when he and Avila had both been sealed inside Frost Tombs, even Josh had thought he was about to win. But in the next instant, he discovered that his mana seemed to be blocked by another force of mana. He could not control the Frost Tomb sealing Avila at all!

More importantly, while he was stunned, that mana had actually begun trying to seize control of the Frost Tomb he was inside!

Josh had never experienced anything like this before. He had never imagined that another mysterious source of mana could exist. This was an arena, not some chaotic place—there was no way anyone could cheat like this!

To prevent his Frost Tomb from being taken over and turning him into an ice sculpture, Josh decisively transformed his Ice element into Fire element in an instant, thoroughly blowing apart both his own Frost Tomb and Avila’s. The endless flames did not harm him, nor did they harm Avila, though she looked somewhat disheveled.

But at that moment, Josh already understood what had happened. The hunter had become the hunted! He stared at Avila with a constipated expression before finally gritting his teeth and saying:

"You’re a mage too?"