Chapter 307: Noah vs Aria

Noah’s eyes shifted to the spot on his blade where it had sliced the arrow. Dark flames burned there, cancelling his Mana Blade beyond it.

He flicked the sword, channeling more mana into it. The dark flames froze inside the ice shards and fell to the ground, and the Mana Blade coated his sword again.

"This level of Umbra mana isn’t enough to stop me," Noah said, pointing his sword at Aria. "You need to do better than that, Raphael’s little sister."

The moment those words left his mouth, Aria’s jaw tightened, the darkness covering the arrow in her bow turning violent.

The arrow shot even faster than before, whistling through the air. Noah slightly turned his head, letting the arrow move past his ear.

At the same time, the remaining survivors rushed at him with increased morale now that their leaders had finally stepped in to fight.

As the first one approached him, thrusting a spear laced with Mana Blade, Noah was about to freeze him like his previous opponent, but the swing of his blade stopped midway, his eyes widening.

He immediately swung the sword behind him.

Slash!

It sliced the arrow that he had dodged just a moment ago. Still, the head of the sliced arrow managed to brush the skin of his neck. It was a shallow mark, producing only a bead of blood.

The opening gave the opponent in front a chance, his spear stabbing into Noah’s side. Or at least it should have.

It struck the shield of ice that Noah had materialised around his torso at the last moment.

His sharp blue eyes shifted back to the spear boy, sending chills down the boy’s spine.

"S-senior Noah, I—"

Bam!

Before he could finish his words, Noah landed a punch across his jaw, sending him rolling across the field like a ragdoll.

’So she can manipulate the trajectory of her arrows,’ Noah muttered inwardly, his gaze shifting to Aria at the back, who already had two more arrows nocked on her bow, its string stretched and ready to be released.

Noah continued fighting his way through the horde of survivors, but it wasn’t as easy as before. The survivors were focusing completely on offence, ignoring defence entirely. The fact that he must not injure them critically made it all the more difficult to avoid their suicidal attacks.

Then came Aria. Each time he showed the slightest opening in an attempt to freeze the survivors, her arrows would come for his blind spot. Laced with Aura, her arrows were the only attacks that could threaten him.

He had to shift back and forth between Sword Aura and Mana Blade to block Aria’s arrows and freeze the survivors, who wouldn’t survive a single swing of his sword.

’No way, this is just a coincidence,’ Noah muttered, his breathing turning uneven. ’All of this must be a planned strategy, taking advantage of the fact that I can’t kill them. Who could come up with such a shrewd plan?’

His gaze instinctively shifted to Aria, or more accurately, to the darkness in her eyes. He could tell that she was absolutely pissed. ’What the hell did that Vlad bastard do to set this crazy woman off?’

Still, as flawless as their strategy was, the survivors, who were only One-Ring Mages, Squires, or Candidates, couldn’t land any meaningful blows on Noah despite the numerous openings created by Aria’s arrows. The only injuries he sustained were a few scratches on his arms and legs from those same arrows.

"I have to agree that it was an excellent strategy," Noah said, his chest rising and falling with mildly heavy breaths as he slowly walked towards Aria, the only remaining survivor. Only faint red scratches were visible on his skin, and his uniform was torn in several places where the arrows had brushed past him.

"Too bad, I was your opponent."

Aria didn’t respond. She shot another arrow at Noah, who was only a dozen feet away from her.

The arrow covered the distance in the blink of an eye. It stopped just before reaching Noah’s face, caught by his hand, which was coated in bluish silver mana. The dark flames on the arrow were extinguished, frost spreading across its surface.

He tightened his fist, breaking the arrow in two. "You have lost, Aria Starveil," Noah stated, opening his fist, the frozen pieces of the arrow falling to the ground.

Aria moved her hand to the quiver at her back, but it grasped only empty air. No arrows were left in the quiver.

Her lips pressed into a thin line, a visible sign of frustration appearing on her face. Noah cancelled the Mana Blade on his sword, its color returning to the original steel as he bolted towards Aria.

He had no intention of letting the girl who had pushed him to the brink of exhaustion get away without facing the consequences.

As he approached her, Aria whispered, lowering her bow, "Three."

Noah reached Aria and swung his sword in a horizontal arc, the flat of its blade coming for her stomach.

"Two."

Strangely, she didn’t move from her spot, nor did she show any sign of fear in her eyes.

"One."

Noah’s arms began slowing down, his eyes narrowing in confusion. Just as his sword reached her stomach, he froze completely. The sword fell from his hand, hitting the ground with a light thud.

"Zero," Aria whispered, the corner of her lips rising into a faint smile.

She raised her hand, her index finger touching Noah’s forehead. "The one who lost is you, Noah Silva."

Noah didn’t respond, or more accurately, he couldn’t. His arms, his facial expressions, even his eyes: everything had turned completely still, as if he had become a statue.

Aria moved past him, her breathing ragged. If she had had to use one more arrow, she would have suffered mana deviation. Her eyes shifted to the opposite side of the field, from where she could still hear the noises of battle.

"It’s your turn now, Masked Maniac."