Chapter 1375: 133. Magic Against Magic

The invisible fluctuation spread rapidly outward with Huggins at its center, giving Muen absolutely no chance to react.

This was a move he had prepared long ago, so naturally it left no openings and no room for reaction. With the support of more than a hundred high-purity magic stones and an intricate interconnected formation, an area extending over a thousand meters in every direction was enveloped by this strange fluctuation. Unless one was a true Crowned One, there was simply no way to escape its range in a short period of time.

And as long as one remained within it, the circulation of magic power would be disrupted. Muen flexed his five fingers and could clearly feel that the flow of magic power inside his body had become much more sluggish. Many methods of circulating it had even been outright prohibited.

Yet it did not completely seal magic.

After testing it, Muen discovered that as long as he released his magic power outside his body, he could still use magic with ease.

"Exquisite."

After sensing it for a moment, Muen could not help voicing his heartfelt admiration.

If it had merely been a simple magic-power seal, it would not have been enough to impress him this much. But the fluctuation Huggins had released was very clearly aimed solely at Enhancement Magic—and specifically Enhancement Magic applied to the physical body—while having absolutely no effect on other magic.

He could even continue using illumination magic.

The reasoning behind that was easy to understand. After all, Huggins himself was also a pure mage. He could hardly begin by activating a large-scale magic-power seal and crippling himself along with his enemy.

Crude hand-to-hand combat had always been the method of fighting most rejected and disdained by mages.

So this was completely one-sided silence—a vicious killing move Huggins had painstakingly prepared solely to counter Enhancement Magic!

Cut off outside support, block internal assistance, then completely seal Enhancement Magic.

With all of these factors layered together, even Muen, who had experienced all kinds of desperate battles up until now, could not imagine how a mage specializing in Enhancement Magic was supposed to survive such a situation.

"What? Scared?"

The corner of Huggins's mouth twisted upward as he let out a sinister chuckle:

"You don't look like a complete idiot to me. Tell me where that bitch is, then bare your neck and accept death. I can give you a quick one right now."

"Your proposal does sound pretty good, but just standing here and letting you cut me down would be way too embarrassing if word got out."

Muen spread his hands. "Before that, how about I ask one more question?"

"A question? Heh, a dying man sure has a lot of nonsense to say. But considering that you and I can be regarded as members of the same school, go ahead and ask."

"That bitchy old woman you keep talking about......is she a white-haired, red-eyed woman who looks like a little girl?"

"What? A little girl?"

Huggins froze. "What nonsense are you talking about? That woman's bust is at least a D. Since when did she look like a little girl?"

"All right, I understand."

Muen silently nodded.

So that was it. He had misunderstood earlier.

He had thought this guy was talking about that old woman with a little girl's appearance, and had even wondered how someone could be this bold—openly badmouthing that old thing whose heart was narrower than the eye of a needle in broad daylight. Wasn't he afraid she would make his life miserable?

After all, although that bastard old woman who looked like a little girl rarely left the Academy's sea of flowers these days, she still had just a tiny bit of influence in the world of magic, and even within the Origin Tower itself.

Otherwise, she would not have been able to fabricate an identity like this for him so easily.

Now it seemed this guy was not actually that stupid. The old woman he was talking about was not that old woman with a little girl's appearance, but......

"Ariel's teacher?"

Muen rubbed his chin......among the people he knew, only Ariel's teacher fit the current conditions.

But why was this guy looking for Ariel's teacher?

And judging from what he had revealed earlier, it seemed Ariel's teacher and this man shared some difficult-to-describe history of love, hatred, and entanglement?

Could this be the classic disciple-betrays-the-teacher routine?

"Huh? Come to think of it, could Ariel's teacher actually be that missing Enhancement School......"

"What are you muttering about over there?"

Huggins interrupted Muen's thoughts and said coldly, "Even if I am magnanimous enough, I'm only giving you a little time for your final words. Well? Are you willing to tell me where that woman is?"

"Why are you in such a hurry? I'm thinking about it, aren't I?"

Muen sighed helplessly.

All right. Confirmed.

This time, he really had suffered a completely undeserved disaster.

The person this guy was actually looking for was not him at all.

It was Ariel.

It was just that his current identity, the Enhancement School crest he possessed, and the "outstanding" Enhancement Magic he had displayed had all caused this guy to misjudge him.

No wonder this guy's appearance had been so inexplicable and illogical. Muen had nearly cracked his head trying to figure out his motive earlier, only to discover that he had simply mistaken him for someone else.

......Boring.

So boring.

He had wasted this much time on a piece of human trash.

"I've decided!"

Muen suddenly raised his hand like an obedient student preparing to answer a question in class.

"Oh? You're finally willing to tell me everything? Very good. Since you're being so cooperative, if you're willing to help me deal with her and destroy your own future in magic from this point onward, I might even spare your life."

The mockery on Huggins's face gradually deepened.

It seemed the disciple that woman had found this time was nothing more than......

"No......what I mean is, I've decided that I'm going to beat the hell out of you."

Muen swung his staff. His golden hair streaked with pale white fluttered in the breeze, while his gaze was resolute and righteous. "As a genuinely good man, how could I possibly betray my family? If I really did that, I might not even be allowed into bed anymore."

"You said......what?"

Huggins's smile instantly froze.

The hideous expression that had disappeared once he believed he had taken complete control of the situation crawled back across his face.

"Say that again?"

"I said......I actually felt like I'd hit it off with trash like you at first sight just now. Thinking about it makes me feel......disgusted."

Muen curled the corner of his mouth into a smile.

And in his eyes was the one thing Huggins could tolerate least of all......

Contempt.

"You're courting death!"

Rage and killing intent erupted outright.

The magic power that had already been poised to strike instantly condensed.

Intricate lines traced themselves through the air. Without any incantation, they erupted under Huggins's control into a devastating torrent.

Light flashed.

The pitch-black void was instantly filled with scorching astral winds. Muen raised his eyes and saw a crimson curtain of sky, like the end of the world itself, overturning above him and crashing downward.

Unimaginable light.

Unimaginable heat.

As though everything were about to be destroyed.

Beneath that descending "sky," Muen looked as insignificant as an ant.

——Power comparable to heaven and earth.

This was the terrifying magic unleashed when a Truth-Rank Grand Mage went all out.

Although Huggins had only broken through to the Truth Rank a few years ago, he had prepared for this moment for who knew how long. Thus, the instant he made his move, he used a killing spell that would leave his opponent absolutely no power to resist!

And beneath a killing move like this, how was a mage who could not even use the magic he specialized in supposed to survive?

"Utterly......foolish!"

The roaring gradually subsided.

Huggins lowered his head. Within his pupils was the gradually fading crimson light, like the final decline of an entire world.

He had not wanted things to end like this.

After all, in a certain sense, the two of them could be considered fellow disciples.

He had even intended to leave the other man some dignity at the very end.

But who could have expected that fellow to be so incapable of appreciating kindness?

All he had asked was for him to betray his teacher a little.

If he could not even do something that simple, how could he possibly travel farther along the rugged road of magic?

Utterly lacking in foresight.

Ending up without even a corpse remaining was only natural.

Just like his teacher.

"Looks like I won't be getting any information from him. Judging from the aura, she isn't on his person either......but since she's already shown herself, tracking her down should still be simple enough."

"The Origin Tower of today is no longer her territory."

Huggins turned around, thinking as he prepared to leave.

Now that this guy was dead, next came the woman who had been traveling beside him, as well as the current Enhancement School.

Whether it was her or anything she had left behind, he absolutely had to......

"Hey, isn't leaving before the fight is over a little......rude?"

"......"

Huggins's hand, just as it was about to reach for the Void Eye, abruptly froze.

That voice echoed through the gradually calming void.

It sounded so indifferent......

Yet to him, it was unbearably piercing.

"How......is that possible?"

Huggins turned around in disbelief.

That Truth-Rank spell, Heaven's Fall, was a large-scale destructive spell that ranked among the finest in the entire Elemental School. It had once severely wounded even a Crowned One.

That brat was merely an ordinary mage. How could......

"Did you really think that, as an excellent mage, Enhancement Magic was the only kind of magic I knew how to use?"

The brilliance dispersed, and Muen once again appeared before Huggins.

At this moment, his mage robe had been reduced to tatters, and several strands of his hair had been scorched. He looked rather battered.

But......

Battered was all he was.

Under Huggins's powerful offensive magic, only a few minor wounds had been left on his body.

And those minor wounds were already visibly healing.

"No......impossible......"

Huggins was utterly horrified.

Everything before his eyes was completely different from his calculations.

This man.

This Enmu.

He should not have survived!

Unless......

"Exactly what you're thinking."

Muen raised the staff in his hand high.

Brilliant radiance spread outward with that staff at its center.

The light constructed a thick curtain around Muen, enveloping him completely. It seemed that it had been precisely this curtain of light that had allowed him to survive such a terrifying attack just now.

And that was not all.

As countless intricate lines of magic power appeared, Huggins discovered to his even greater horror that those lines intertwined with one another and, in the blink of an eye, constructed hundreds upon hundreds of incomparably complex magical arrays!

Those magical arrays were dazzling beyond description, magnificent beyond description. Every single one of them was far more complex and enormous than his own, as though all the light in the world had converged in this place.

Amid that brilliance, almost bright enough to scorch his eyes, Huggins still forced his eyes wide open.

He wanted to see those magical arrays clearly.

He wanted to understand what kind of magic his opponent was about to use next.

He was an excellent Truth-Rank mage, one of the pillars of the Elemental School.

By all rights, something like this should have been as simple to him as eating or drinking.

But......

He couldn't tell.

No matter how hard he tried, he could not understand his opponent's magic......

He could not even comprehend the structure of those spells.

He could not understand how those magic-power patterns, which ran completely contrary to common sense, were supposed to continue functioning......

He couldn't understand them!!

"You still don't get it?"

Seeing this, the corner of Muen's mouth tilted upward as he said with complete confidence:

"Your magic really is pretty good, but clearly......my magic is better!"