Chapter 33 - 32: Clash of the Strong

Chapter 33: Chapter 32: Clash of the Strong

"Fuck!" Nick cursed inwardly.

It was just some arrogant junior student who had clearly never experienced a brutal reality check.

Nick’s family belonged to the Freg faction. Because of their somewhat lower status, they had always served as pawns for the Freg family. The previous attack on Griffin had left Count Freg seething with anger. To curry favor with the Earl, Nick’s father came up with the idea of having Nick block the entrance to Zone S.

In other words, he had been targeting Caius right from the start.

Now that the brat had finally taken the bait, all Nick needed to do was beat him up severely to vent Count Freg’s frustration. Once the Earl was pleased, his family’s status would rise with the tide.

Countless thoughts flashed through Nick’s mind as he waved his hand. "Get him!"

Since the kid was asking for a beating, he couldn’t blame them for showing no mercy!

A young man beside Nick stepped forward and charged at Caius.

First-year students had only been exposed to Magic for a month. Even if they had tutors teaching them in advance at home, the Practical Magic they could master was extremely limited, and the power behind it was unimpressive. Dealing with a kid like this didn’t require any flashy moves; simply throwing him out using Body Techniques would be enough.

That kind of humiliation would be far more effective.

However, the young man had barely taken a few steps when a loud boom suddenly erupted.

The spectating crowd instinctively stepped back to get out of the way. Before they could even process what had happened, the initially aggressive young man suddenly let out a miserable shriek. He was sent flying like a discarded rag doll, crashing heavily at Nick’s feet.

Nick’s expression instantly turned solemn.

In the crowd, Lucian adjusted his casual posture, his gaze turning slightly serious as he looked at Caius.

That had been a basic application of the Wind Element. The principle was to continuously compress the air in a specific area, and once the gas density reached a certain Level, trigger an element riot to create an explosion.

It sounded simple and wasn’t too difficult to execute in practice. The problem was that Caius was only a first-year student. Moreover, despite so many people watching—including Nick, who had been staring closely at him—no one had detected any fluctuations of Magic Power from him.

Such terrifyingly precise control proved he was truly a genius.

Caius completely ignored the surrounding gazes of surprise and scrutiny, his tone remaining as cold as ever. "Next."

Nick completely lost his patience. He cursed under his breath, refusing to believe that so many of them couldn’t handle a single low-level Magic Apprentice!

With a single command, Nick and the others launched an all-out attack.

They coordinated flawlessly. Two of them created distance to chant a Spell, while Nick and another person rapidly closed in from the left and right. Facing a simultaneous assault of ranged and close-quarters combat, it was impossible for Caius to handle it all!

Earlier, Nick had still harbored some reservations. He figured that since the boy was the only son of the Beaumont family, striking too heavily might inevitably draw retaliation from Beaumont, even with Count Freg backing him.

But now... how could he just stand by and watch this brat walk all over him?!

At this moment, the distance between Nick and Caius was merely a hair’s breadth away—close enough for him to see the infuriating calmness on the latter’s face. He let out a low shout and reached out to grab him.

However, his outstretched hand grasped nothing but thin air. Opposite him, his companion who had arrived next to Caius at the exact same time also missed the target, widening his eyes in disbelief.

Nick quickly realized what had happened. "It’s a phantom!"

Phantom Magic!

But this was already a High-level element application. How could a junior brat possibly master it?!

Before Nick could cry out to warn his companions, the distant Spell chanting reached its end.

"Fire, burn everything to ashes!"

"Wind, sweep across the world!"

"No... wait!"

The fierce gale, entangled with roaring flames, swept forward exactly as the Spells had commanded. Nick and the other young man frantically tried to block, but in battles between Low-level Mages, whoever struck first usually won.

Unsurprisingly, the two were swallowed by the fiery tornado. If those two Mages hadn’t been lacking in strength, this single strike would have blown Nick and his companion to pieces. Yet even if they didn’t die, they were bound to suffer immensely.

Nick crashed to the ground, feeling a burning agony all over his body, as if he might pass out from the unbearable pain in the very next second. Through his blurred vision, a pair of pitch-black boots suddenly appeared.

It was Caius.

This guy...

The thought of taking the initiative to attack, only to fail in harming Caius while completely humiliating himself in front of all the students, filled his heart with frustration and inevitable despair.

He had lost so miserably... Would Count Freg vent his anger on his family because of this?

In a panic, Nick used the last of his strength to roar, "Lucian! Are you just going to stand there and watch him humiliate us? Humiliate the students of the advanced class?!"

As his voice faded, a dead silence fell over the area.

Under everyone’s gaze, Lucian stepped forward from the crowd. "Don’t drag me down with you, Nick." ℯ

He maintained the careless smile on his lips. "You went looking for a beating yourselves. What does that have to do with the rest of the students in the advanced class?"

Lucian turned to Caius. "However, I am actually quite interested in you. If I’m not mistaken, you didn’t even chant beforehand for that Phantom Magic just now."

The more High-level the Magic, the longer the preparation time required. For high-Level Mages, preparation time could be shortened by increasing Magic Power input, skipping unimportant Spell chants, or using Magic Items for assistance. But Lucian had seen it clearly just now—Caius hadn’t used any of those.

Even for an A+ genius, this was a bit too prodigious. It was so brilliant that it made Lucian’s hands itch, making him want to fight him personally to test his strength.

Caius glanced at him. He recognized this face. Lilia had been looking at him just a moment ago.

Caius spoke up, "Are you going to stand up for them?"

"No, no, no... The Williams family never gets involved in these things," Lucian replied. "We advocate for peace and reject any form of power struggle."

Caius scoffed. Advocate for peace? That was just a face-saving excuse for not having the capability to participate. He had no interest in Lucian, and a declining Duke Family like Williams wasn’t even worth his attention.

However, Lilia had been looking at him earlier.

Catching the flash of hostility in Caius’s eyes, Lucian was momentarily stunned before a lazy smile curled on his lips.

The next second, the element surged!

Even from over ten meters away, the spectating crowd could still feel the invisible pressure. Everyone tacitly retreated, terrified of being caught in the crossfire.

"Lilia, be careful." Cecie grabbed Lilia’s wrist in the chaos and pulled her to her side.

She looked toward the center of the battlefield. "I didn’t expect Caius and Lucian to start fighting..."

"Who do you think will win?" Lilia suddenly asked.