The Problematic Child of the Magic Tower
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 345: Wind and Lightning (4)
Lightning flowers bloomed within Oscar’s eyes.
Dozens of streaks of lightning fell toward the ground.
‘That can’t be blocked.’
In battles between mages, the most important thing is self-objectification.
If you recklessly challenge a mage of a higher rank head-on, you might not even be able to gather your bones afterward.
Oscar, who was more sensitive to his own condition than anyone, gave a small nod.
‘At my current level... at most, seven minutes.’
It wasn’t satisfying, but that would be enough.
Whoooom!
Compressed wind instantly churned through the space inside.
Not only his muscles but also his blood and mana circuits rapidly began to heat up.
Chiiiiik, scorching steam leaked from the skin of his entire body.
‘Overdrive.’
It was a body-enhancement spell that used wind, but it wasn’t a spell recommended for long-term use.
Fundamentally, it accelerated the body’s aging and rapidly gnawed away at its durability.
Even so, the reason this spell had not faded away and was still steadily adopted among the masters of the White Tower was one.
‘Because it’s fast.’
Whoooom!
With a light step on the ground, the compressed air exploded and Oscar’s figure shot forward.
A thunderous boom followed behind him, and dozens of bolts of lightning struck the place where he had just been.
Having momentarily outrun even lightning, Oscar exhaled a hot breath and glanced back.
“...Ha, this is ridiculous.”
He let out a hollow laugh not simply because Pentarion had scattered dozens of lightning bolts.
“Even in the middle of this, you’re still leaving no evidence?”
The lightning he had fired struck only the innocent ground and trees.
Naturally, trees struck by lightning should burn, and explosions should occur in the earth.
Yet on the ground where the lightning had struck moments ago, there was not a single trace.
‘It’s magic cast with the attack target strictly set as me.’
Therefore, the moment the attack missed, it vanished without leaving even a trace.
The reason was obvious—he didn’t want to leave behind his own mana.
Oscar clicked his tongue at the opponent’s caution, which was so extreme it bordered on paranoia.
“Hm, Overdrive.”
Pentarion quietly nodded.
It was a spell he hadn’t seen in a very long time, but he had never forgotten it.
After all, it was one of the few spells capable of countering the Yellow Tower’s lightning with speed.
“However, even the previous White Tower Master could only use that spell freely after reaching Level 9.”
His tone was gentle, but the barbs hidden within were unmistakable.
How many minutes could a mere Level 7 mage—not even Level 8—possibly maintain it?
Even Oscar had no retort to that scathing criticism.
‘Why is your memory so good when you’re already that old?’
In truth, Overdrive was a spell that placed tremendous strain on the body.
In his previous life, he had only been able to use it for days and nights on end after reaching Level 9.
“You’re right, I can’t use it for long. At best, about seven minutes. So how about we rest for a while during that time?”
Oscar asked while lightly shaking the camera in his hand.
Pentarion, whose gaze had fixed on the camera, slowly parted his lips.
“How rude. There is no need for that.”
Crackle, crackle!
Static electricity flowed through the air, and soon worm-like currents began crawling across the ground.
The moment Oscar saw it, he kicked off the ground and leapt into the air.
“If the mouse’s footsteps are quick, then one simply removes the ground it can step on.”
“...!”
Chiiiik, chijijijik!
Intense currents writhed across the entire forest floor.
The moment he stepped on even a little of that, he would burn into black charcoal.
Naturally, stepping on the ground was out of the question.
‘More importantly.’
Oscar’s gaze turned upward.
Wrapped in blue flashes, Pentarion stood with his hands clasped behind his back like a noble sage, his face as expressionless as ever.
That signature impassive expression.
But in his eyes flickered a trace of delight he hadn’t quite managed to hide.
‘Pentarion is waiting.’
If his guess was correct, he was waiting for the moment Oscar used Flight.
If he used Flight, not only would he lose the speed of Overdrive, but his position would momentarily become fixed.
For Pentarion, aiming for that brief instant would be as easy as breathing.
‘In that case....’
Just as the other side had overturned the board by breaking conventional logic, this side would overturn the board as well.
Without using Flight, Oscar entrusted his whole body to gravity and slowly fell.
Soon, just as his back was about to touch the ground first—
“Prairie of the Gentle Breeze.”
Swaaaaaaa!
A refreshing sound like a waterfall shook the entire forest in an instant.
Oscar’s body fell back-first onto the soft wind.
“Whew.”
When he glanced sideways, he saw the currents writhing beneath the wind.
Since Pentarion had spread electricity across the ground, Oscar had simply created a new ground of wind above it.
“......”
That irritated Pentarion.
After all, it was no different from rendering his magic useless.
“Hm.”
With indifferent eyes, he once again swept his gaze across the entire forest.
The mana contained within his eyes distinguished every living being in the forest.
‘...No reinforcements.’
That made the youngster’s actions even harder to understand.
A mere Level 7 facing a Level 8 mage alone?
To Pentarion, that was incomprehensible behavior, and thus he couldn’t lower his guard.
‘If it were up to me, I’d like to leave this place immediately.’
The camera in Oscar’s hand.
It kept bothering him like a thorn stuck in his throat.
If that brat submitted photographs taken here to the Imperial Court, he would have to deal with quite an annoying situation.
And naturally, his reputation would suffer damage in the process.
“......”
He said he could maintain Overdrive for about seven minutes.
That was probably true.
Even Oscar Sage, the previous White Tower Master, had only been able to maintain it for about that long when he was Level 7.
‘Sharing that information in a disadvantageous situation was likely meant to make me uneasy.’
Indeed, that information placed an invisible time limit on him.
Even if he didn’t push himself, victory on his side would be guaranteed after seven minutes.
‘However, if reinforcements really do arrive, prolonging the battle would actually be disadvantageous.’
In the end, a choice had to be made.
Should he finish it quickly while assuming the enemy had reinforcements coming?
Or maintain the current situation and drag things out while observing?
“......”
Pentarion’s eyes narrowed.
He was intelligent.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
The brat in front of him was rude and arrogant, but there was no denying that he was intelligent as well.
‘Then could someone of that age achieve such accomplishments and risk his life on nonexistent reinforcements?’
Logically speaking, that was impossible.
Therefore, reinforcements did exist.
That was Pentarion’s conclusion.
‘If reinforcements are coming, there is a high chance they will arrive within the next five minutes.’
In that case, staying here for too long would not be a good option.
Pentarion first erased the traces of his own mana left around the area and slowly descended in altitude.
He landed with both feet on the ground made of wind.
“Oh.”
Oscar chuckled when he saw that.
“Should I say thanks? For lowering yourself to the eye level of a mouse.”
“There was no need to go that far.”
Crackle, crackle.
Pentarion spoke bluntly.
“Hand over the camera.”
“...And if I don’t?”
“You die here.”
It didn’t sound like a threat.
It was spoken in such a calm tone, as if he were certain it would happen exactly as he said.
In reality, the probability of that was overwhelmingly high.
Oscar raised both hands high.
“In that case, I have no choice. Here, take it.”
“......”
Pentarion snatched the lightly tossed camera and glanced at him.
“And watch your mouth. A time will come when that arrogance leads you to your death.”
“Ah, yes sir.”
“......”
Pentarion suppressed the boiling anger inside him and began manipulating the camera.
Although it was a product made by the Yellow Tower, the operating method was rather difficult for someone who didn’t inspect them personally.
“Oh, by the way, did you know?”
“......”
Ignoring the chattering brat in front of him, Pentarion finally found the stored photos and videos.
—There’s an old saying: don’t look at the tree, look at the forest.
—That’s the thinking of a frog in a well. If you want to see the big picture, you should look at everything from the sky to the ground.
“......”
The moment he checked the video, Pentarion’s face twisted violently.
The figure of himself in the sky delivering such eloquent words appeared only as a blue lump.
Even the voice was faint, and the audio quality was so poor that it was hard to identify anyone.
Oscar shrugged as if fanning the flames of a burning house.
“They said Yellow Tower products were great, but I guess that’s all in the past. Move just a little farther away and the audio breaks, and since you’re wrapped in light you just look like a blue blob. What was it... isn’t there some kind of screen-zoom technology? Like a hundred times or so?”
After hearing such healthy consumer feedback, Pentarion crushed the camera with pure grip strength.
Crack!
He glared at Oscar.
In his blazing eyes, anger surged unlike anything typical of him.
“...It seems that time has come a little sooner than expected.”
“What time?”
“The moment when that arrogance leads you to death!”
Crackle!
With tremendous sparks, clouds churned in the sky above.
And as a gigantic lightning dragon raised its head—
“That’s strange. You said you wouldn’t kill me if I gave you the camera, so I gave it to you. Why are you trying to kill me?”
“That mouth must be torn apart.”
At Pentarion’s furious reaction, Oscar grinned from ear to ear as if he had just received the highest praise.
Facing lightning that could drive him to death, he casually raised one hand.
“You made the right judgment. I actually do have reinforcements.”
“It no longer matters. I will kill you before they arrive, erase the traces, and leave.”
“You won’t be able to.”
With a gentle smile, Oscar snapped his fingers.
Snap!
Pentarion’s face stiffened.
“Because my reinforcements have been with me from the beginning.”
“......”
No matter where he looked, the entire forest was filled with mages wearing the robes of the White Tower.
Not only the Level 8 White Tower Master, but also several Level 7 mages.
And more than thirty Level 6 mages beneath them.
“...Heh.”
But Pentarion laughed.
Oscar frowned slightly, seeing him laugh for the first time.
“You’re laughing?”
“Isn’t it amusing?”
He raised his head proudly while looking around at the mages surrounding him.
“A lion does not fear being surrounded by mice.”
“A lion, huh... that’s quite the confidence.”
Certainly, someone like Pentarion possessed more than enough strength to have that level of confidence.
However, this time it was closer to arrogance than confidence.
“What do you think?”
Clack.
Once again, Oscar’s fingers snapped together.
From the crack of opening space, a familiar figure stepped out.
“For someone of the Yellow Tower Master’s caliber, such words are justified. However.”
Greater than a lion—the sun.
The solemn gaze of Ludwig de Calderan turned toward the frozen Pentarion.
“Now does not seem to be the proper time or place to display confidence.”
“......”
Is he the type to become more emotional in his later years?
Oscar snickered as he watched the Yellow Tower Master tremble with clenched fists.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]

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