"Die you wizard bastard!"
He swung his sword downwards at my head, but he was knocked off his feet by a large stone to the back of his head.
"Damn it—fuck, how?" he cursed, rubbing his head.
He was clearly disoriented, but it wouldn't last for long. I didn't put enough force into the stone, since I wasn't used to casting from my staff while it wasn't in my hands. In fact, I didn't even mean to do it in the first place.
When I tried to cast a stone in defense, it appeared above my staff a few feet away.
No one's coming to help. Have they still not realized what's happening, or are they purposely not interfering? Damn it, I'm all confused now! This isn't how it was supposed to go!
I cast a wave of water to wash over the field. I was sure it wasn't something any experienced wizard would do, since to fill a field with that much water would be incredibly inefficient for what I was trying to do. But I had mana to spare!
"Water? Do you think you'll make me lose my footing? How... cute!"
He charged, screaming, and I cast dozens of fire missiles. At the same time, I sneakily cast small pebble bullets from my staff.
He barely managed to defend against them all, but I already knew an attack like that wouldn't stop him. Of course, I always had the option to explode him into dust, but I was pretty sure Alwyn wasn't looking for that.
"You're pretty good for a kid! But all you have is that magical talent you were born with, you don't know what it means to put in work like we soldiers of the king do! That's why I'll defeat you!"
"I don't care, asshole! Die!"
I raised both my hands and cast a whirling lance of flame. I held it in front of me, waiting for him to get close enough.
"Keep casting, your spells won't reach me, no matter what you do!"
I closed my eyes. From my staff, now quite far away, I manifested a pebble. I poured mana into it, and the pebble vibrated in place. It shot forwards and collided with the man's sword. To his surprise, it sent the sword flying from his grip.
At the same time, I formed two hands from the mud at his feet, and made them grip onto his ankles, locking him in place.
"I win!" I grinned.
The lance charged at him and he raised his arms in defense. But it wouldn't be enough.
Suddenly, though, the lance was cut in half from its side. I stared in shock as the soldier's sword flew through the air and landed back in his hand.
"You are a knight!" I shouted.
"Tch, can't even recognize your kind's own handiwork?"
A magic sword? Like Mari's? But hers can't fly around, not without her own magic at least! What do I do now, that was totally my trump card!
"That's... cheating..."
"This is why little kids shouldn't fight," he laughed. "They just end up getting killed. Not like the tower probably cares about ones like you. Egotistical over-confident little brats, that is!"
The tower's strongest wizard is an egotistical over-confident brat, though! Damn it, I can't lose like this. I feel like I get bailed out of every big fight, not this one! I'm a wizard!
"100% confident"
That's what he said. 100%!
My staff flew into my hand, and I readied myself for his attack. I flinched as he swung his sword, but he was way too far to reach me.
That's when the sword flew from his hand and rushed at me. I blocked the magical sword, sending it off course, but when I looked back, the man was right in front of me, sending a fist into my face.
I tasted iron and brought my hand to my nose on reflex. I felt blood pouring, and in that moment, he sent another fist into my stomach.
The... sword!
I cast a small explosion in my palm, gaining a small amount of distance, but I couldn't prepare a defense against the rogue sword in time, and could only partially dodge. I ducked forwards, but the back of my neck was now bleeding.
Woah, that was close! I could've been decapitated right there!
I cast a massive boulder above his head which forced him to raise his hands in defense. He held the boulder up, shaking from the weight.
I got him!
I pointed the staff at him, defenseless under the boulder, and started to cast the flame lance once more. The sword impaled me in the stomach. Of course, to the man's extreme shock, I didn't even flinch.
Hopefully that didn't hit any vital points...! Here goes!
I forced mana into my staff, the obsidian orb burning with a bright orange vortex. The lance spun, sending sparks through the air, and I thrust it forwards. The soldier, using all his strength, brought the boulder down in front of him. But it was of no use.
The lance crashed through the boulder and struck him.
"Damn... wizard... brat... the lady was right... you—" he fell onto the ground, dead.
The knight lady told him about me? So she really is after my head, then... well, I already knew that. But...
I looked up at the caravan and noticed the lanterns slowly coming back on. The carriages, though, had all stopped. I saw silhouettes walking towards me.
"Yuck, where'd all this mud come from?" one called out.
"Ugh... it's so late and you guys woke me up to kill some wizard bastard. You couldn't handle it yourselves?" one complained.
"Seriously... so annoying. I mean, what psycho attacks a caravan in the middle of the night!?"
"It's because the lady isn't here," another replied.
"That retard went off and got himself killed. He was so confident too, saying it was a little kid. Everyone knows even little wizards are dangerous as hell!" one laughed.
"That's why we team up and make it super unfair!" the sixth said.
"Oh, found him!" the last one said. "Right over there!"
I looked down at the sword, still sticking out of my gut.
I'm... dead, aren't I?