Starting With an SSS-Rank Goddess Summon!

Chapter 154: Aeliana Vs. Rowena [I]

Eluned, standing on his left side with her green silk dress shot the pirate a glare.

"Do not underestimate the destructive potential of raw arcane power, you brute," Eluned corrected her sharply. "A true mage can unmake reality before a physical brawler even draws their weapon..."

In the center of the snow-covered ring, Reina stepped forward to act as the referee.

The disciplined Beast Tamer held her hand high in the air with the freezing wind whipping her dark hair.

Silas narrowed his eyes, deciding to make sure the match was balanced.

He focused his mind, choosing to look directly at their statuses in front of his face.

The familiar glowing blue holographic system windows materialized in his field of vision.

[Hero]: Aeliana

[Title]: Royal Elven Arcanist —> Starlight Arcanist (This title is given to people who have taken a step into the path of the stars)

[Rank]: A-Rank (Epic)

[Level]: 20 (EXP: 3/34000)

[Loyalty]: 100 (Diehard / Love)

[Vitality]: 225

[Mana]: 3340 / 3340

[Active Skills]:

[Arcane Piercer]: Fires a hyper-compressed, high-velocity beam of destructive starlight mana. Highly effective against heavy armor plating. (Cost: 150 Mana/cast).

[Elven Swiftness]: Passively boosts evasion and repositioning speed by utilizing ambient wind currents.

[Astral Detection Net]: Weaves a wide-radius, highly sensitive web of invisible starlight mana over a designated perimeter. Instantly alerts the caster to any unauthorized enemy breaches, reads their exact mana signatures, and forcibly illuminates stealthed or camouflaged targets. (Cost: 50 Mana/hour).

[Starfall Barrage]: Channels ambient arcane energy to summon a devastating shower of highly volatile starlight orbs from above. Blankets a wide area in explosive arcane damage, designed specifically to shatter tightly packed enemy infantry formations and break wooden siege defenses. (Cost: 400 Mana/cast).

[Royal Arcane Aegis]: Projects a highly condensed, multi-layered barrier of pure starlight around the caster or a designated ally. Capable of absorbing catastrophic kinetic impacts and cleanly deflecting high-tier magical projectiles without shattering. (Cost: 250 Mana/cast).

[Land Of Frost]: Projects a sea of ice forward that freezes any part of the environment that it touches, can also be focused on a living target making them freeze up inside out. (Cost: 700 Mana/cast).

[Spatial Teleportation]: Lets the user teleport over short distances and gain the advantage in a confrontation by manipulating the space around her to push her forward (Cost: 100 Mana/cast).

Silas rapidly parsed the heavy artillery she was carrying, then shifted his gaze to the blue-haired girl digging her bare feet into the freezing snow.

[Troop: Rowenna]

[Title]: Runic Arcanist

[Rank]: B-Rank (Excellent)

[Level]: 18 (EXP: 4500/40000)

[Loyalty]: 100 (Diehard / Fanatical)

[Vitality]: 185

[Mana]: 2000 / 2000

[Active Skills]:

[Runic Gravity Well (10x)]: Inscribes a heavy violet runic circle on the terrain that instantly multiplies localized downforce up to tenfold within its radius. Buckles heavy mythril armor, shatters beast legs, and forcibly grounds airborne threats. (Cost: 300 Mana/cast).

[Kinetic Repulsion Field]: Projects a short-range, violent pulse of reversed gravity around the caster’s body. Used to instantly deflect incoming kinetic projectiles, magical blasts, or ambush melee rushers. (Cost: 150 Mana/cast).

[Ignis Rune]: Etches a glowing crimson runic circle that detonates into a massive, superheated column of fire, or coats an enclosed area in persistent, clinging flames that melt through basic armor. (Cost: 200 Mana/cast).

[Glacial Rune]: Inscribes a freezing sapphire rune that violently saps thermal energy from the environment. Instantly creates slick, hazardous patches of spiked ice or encases suppressed targets in solid glacial blocks. (Cost: 250 Mana/cast).

[Fulgur Rune (New)]: Etches a golden, jagged runic matrix that detonates into a violent, seeking web of high-voltage lightning. Highly lethal when chained with water or ice environments. (Cost: 350 Mana/cast).

[Terra Rune]: Inscribes a heavy brown rune that weaponizes the bedrock. Launches massive, razor-sharp obsidian stalagmites upward to impale beasts from their unarmored undersides. (Cost: 400 Mana/cast).

[Runic Overwrite (New / Being Learned)]: Analyzes, deconstructs and safely dismantles barrier seals as well as other runes. (Cost: 50 Mana/minute of channeling).]

[Fast! (New): A Support spell that can be used to increase the speed of the caster though it only interacts with physical stats.]

Silas paused with his eyes lingering heavily on Rowenna’s newest spell integration at the very bottom of her status block... She was working quite hard.

’Fast?’ Silas thought, his brow furrowing in confusion. ’A support spell that only interacts with physical stats? Why would an artillery-based gravity mage dedicate active mana to a physical speed buff? But then again... it’s not bad, I’m excited to see what she plans to do with it.’

He dismissed the glowing blue screens from his vision, the text dissolving into ambient pixels and focused his attention on the two women.

’This will be quite interesting...’ Silas concluded.

In the center of the ring, Reina raised her hand higher.

"Combatants ready!" Reina shouted over the howling blizzard. "Three... Two... One... Begin!"

Reina chopped her hand down.

The air pressure inside the snowy circle instantly warped.

Aeliana didn’t move her feet.

The Arcanist’s brilliant mind was already operating at hyper-speed, calculating countless ways to approach the gravity mage and attack without injuring her too much.

She raised her hands with a flawless multi-layered Royal Arcane Aegis of pure blue-white starlight snapping into existence around her body to absorb Rowenna’s inevitable opening gravity strike.

But the gravity strike never came...

Rowenna didn’t etch a violet circle into the snow, she didn’t summon fire or lightning either.

She stood perfectly still, locked her furious blue eyes directly onto the elf, and simply mouthed a single silent word.

"Fast."

The spell activated.

There was no glowing magical circle and there was no flashy elemental aura.

CRACK!

There was only a terrifying high-pitched sound as the air around Rowenna’s body violently compressed.

Her physical speed increased by a completely unnatural, astronomical margin.

Before Aeliana could even complete her first calculation, Rowenna vanished.

Rowena simply burst forward with the raw explosive velocity of Brida.

The force of her acceleration violently displaced the snowstorm, kicking up a massive rooster-tail of shaved ice behind her.

She crossed the thirty-foot gap in a fraction of a second.

Aeliana’s silver eyes widened in shock as the squishy artillery-based gravity mage suddenly appeared directly inside the perimeter of her Aegis shield.

Rowenna didn’t cast a spell.

She rotated her hips, planted her bare foot into the freezing mud beneath the snow, and delivered a devastating and fully committed roundhouse kick directly across Aeliana’s pristine face.

THWACK!

The sickening sound of physical impact echoed over the blizzard and the force of the blow made the Elf shoot backward like a cannonball.

Aeliana skidded violently across the frozen slate courtyard, her boot digging deeply into the icy ground in a desperate attempt to arrest her momentum leaving a massive trench of snow piling up behind her heel as her face was tossed viciously to the side.

The freezing wind ripped across the dark slate courtyard, howling through the stone arches of the territory.

Aeliana skidded backward through the thick slush, her pristine white spider-silk boots digging deep trenches into the accumulating snow to arrest her violent momentum.

Her head was snapped to the side from the concussive force of the roundhouse kick.

For a single agonizing second, everyone was dead silent.

The seventy-one women standing in the massive circle around them completely stopped breathing.

The only sound was the howling of the Umbral Basin blizzard.

Slowly, the Starlight Arcanist turned her head back to the center of the ring.

Her silver hair was wild, plastered against her cheek by the wet snow as she raised a delicate pale hand and touched her upper lip.

When she pulled her fingers away, they were smeared with bright, crimson blood.

Aeliana stared at the blood on her fingertips.

Her green eyes, normally pools of calm composure, suddenly narrowed into razor-sharp luminous slits.

The elegant high-society woman completely vanished, replaced in a fraction of a second by a true warrior.

She lowered her hand, letting the blood drip from her chin onto the snow.

"You will regret that..." Aeliana promised.

Her voice wasn’t a yell like one would expect, it was a cold level whisper that somehow cut through the roaring wind with clarity.

Thirty feet away, Rowenna’s feet hit the snow.

The blue-haired Runic Arcanist stumbled slightly, her chest heaving violently as she gasped for freezing air.

The golden aura that had coated her body completely evaporated, fizzling out into useless sparks.

Her newly integrated Fast! spell had deactivated.

Rowenna gritted her teeth, feeling a burning ache deep inside her B-Rank mana core.

She was new to the spell.

Because it was a support buff that forcefully bypassed her standard biological limits to artificially spike her physical velocity, the mana drain was quite volatile.

She could only use it in short explosive bursts, and the physical recoil on her unconditioned muscles was staggering.

Her right leg throbbed from the impact of kicking the Elf’s jaw.

Before Rowenna could even suck in a second breath of air, the snow in front of Aeliana exploded.

The Elf just moved.

Utilizing her Elven Swiftness passive, Aeliana caught the currents of the howling blizzard, using the wind shear to completely eliminate her own air resistance.

She blurred across the courtyard, moving with a terrifying liquid grace that completely defied human biology.

Rowenna’s eyes widened in panic.

The artillery mage instinctively raised her arms, throwing up a desperate cross-armed guard to protect her head.

Aeliana crashed into her.

The Elf didn’t throw a magical projectile... she threw a devastating, picture-perfect left hook.

The punch bypassed the center of Rowenna’s guard entirely, slamming into the blue-haired girl’s right forearm with the force of a swinging iron mallet.

CRACK!

"Agh!"

Rowenna hissed in pain, the density of the A-Rank Epic Elf jarring her bones.

She successfully blocked the hook, leaning her weight forward to brace against the snow, but Aeliana was already moving.

Using the momentum of the blocked left hook, Aeliana pivoted flawlessly on her lead foot, sinking her weight into the slush, and unleashed a lightning-fast brutal right straight directly through the tiny gap in Rowenna’s forearms.

The knuckles bypassed the block and buried themselves directly into the center of Rowenna’s face.

THWACK!

Rowenna’s head snapped violently backward with her vision flashed blindingly white.

A choked wet cough tore from her throat as she stumbled backward, her boots sliding uselessly on the black ice beneath the snow.

She turned her head, spitting a thick glob of blood and saliva onto the pristine white snowdrift beside her.

"Is this a joke?!" Thora bellowed from the sidelines, leaning over the shoulders of the infantry girls.

The dwarven blacksmith waved her empty ale mug furiously in the air. "They’re mages! Why are they throwing hands like tavern drunks?! Use the glowing lights, you squishy cowards!"

"Shut up, dwarf!" Morwenna roared right back, pumping her fist in the air. She was quite thrilled by the raw violence taking place here. "This is a real fight! Break her nose, pointy-ears!"

Silas stood on the edge of the circle with his golden-ringed eyes tracking every micro-movement.

’Aeliana has quite a lot of Vitality...’ Silas analyzed with a sigh, running the numbers in his head. ’Rowenna has vitality too so technically, Rowenna can take physical punishment but Aeliana’s baseline elven agility gives her a massive rotational advantage in close-quarters combat... Rowena needs to find a way to break through this.’

In the center of the ring, Rowenna tasted copper. The coppery tang of her own blood flooded her mouth.

Her vision swam, but the loyalty she had for her Lord was still burning in her chest and refused to let her stay down.

Silas was watching.

The Lord was standing right there. She would rather die in the snow than look weak in front of him.

"Haaaa!" Rowenna let out a furious scream.

She bypassed her aching core, aggressively channeling a dense surge of raw mana directly down her right arm.

The golden aura of the Fast! spell violently flared to life around her fist and forearm, vibrating with unstable energy.

She didn’t try to cast a rune with the newfound speed, instead she stepped into the pocket, planted her back foot, and launched an accelerated right cross aimed directly at the center of the Elf’s chest, intent on caving Aeliana’s ribs in even if it meant breaking her hand.

The punch generated a shockwave however...

Aeliana was already gone.