"Ugh. He should be out of mana by now," Konrad grunted, fortifying his universal barrier.
But against all logic, Zoltan's attacks had only become fiercer in the last few minutes. Early on, he might have faked summoning an elemental, but now—
He actually created two.
And from the opposing elements, too.
It didn't matter if Konrad took care of the charges in the air—the air itself remained.
And his former master wasted no time shaping some of it into a wind monster.
He even had the capacity to create a tiny earth golem on the side, but—
Those two weren't the only things causing him headaches anymore.
'Yes. This one comes from a man in the crowd with graying hair,' Paula claimed. 'He's been trying to peer into your mind for a while, and now he's chipping away at your barrier.'
Who the hell was that?! And why?
This should have been a fair duel, but—
Not that this were his first rodeo.
Without even thinking, Konrad focused all infrared light above the stranger's head, and—
'So that's your Isekai Microwave, huh?' the voice noted. 'Not as deadly as I thought it would be.'
"I ain't trying to kill him," he grunted. "But it'll make him sweat more than I am now. Ugh. Since you're so bored, might as well find out why he's doing what he's doing and—"
That tiny golem knocked him down before he finished.
Crap. He should have focused on the fight instead.
Zoltan didn't hesitate to punish any opening he left.
And here Konrad thought his former master cast illusions earlier to fake their duel, too, but—
Alas, that wee little fella was pretty much real and packed quite a punch.
Well, only as long as the magic essence had held it together.
Once Konrad disrupted the bonds, it became fine dust again.
Not so much the wind elemental.
As it flew past him, it cut off a serious chunk of his universal barrier.
Which—its name might have been universal, but it couldn't do much in a melee.
Now, if he solidified the air around himself—
He pulled the same trick against the charging knights and a ballistic missile, but—
Zoltan didn't give him enough time to prepare.
Another lightning hit before Konrad's magic could coalesce into a solid shape, and—
With that, his universal barrier was finally gone, too.
'Sure you don't need help?' Paula probed, as if he weren't already busy.
"Deal with the crowd," he repeated, stealing a glance at Mister Greyhair.
As expected, the man was sweating and looked confused, but—
Konrad was, too, so it was high time he got his act together.
Recasting the barrier took him only a second, but cost a lot of mana.
Disintegrating the wind elemental was quite the opposite, though.
It should have only required a bit of finesse, but as it kept flying around—
Its caster, Zoltan, punished him for taking his eyes off him again.
He no longer announced his spells, or when he did—Konrad knew it would be something else.
"Quicksand," his former master yelled.
But what he actually cast was even more wind, knocking him back.
"That's not how you do quicksand," Konrad grunted.
And used his essence to manipulate the earth beneath the beastman's feet, or—
Well, that's what he tried, anyway.
Zoltan was already expecting it.
'Come on. If you wanna play mind games, let me read his thoughts,' Paula pleaded.
But Konrad refused.
"What about the crowd?" he gritted out instead, changing tactics yet again.
'Well, I've identified three men so far,' she said. 'Their actions range from polite mind probing to deliberate harmful actions. Luckily, the strongest one remained passive for now.'
Three?! And here he thought Mages were rare.
That said, the king gathered every noble into his castle, so—
'Oh, they hardly count as mages in my humble opinion,' the voice said. 'The polite one could be, on a good day, I guess. But Misters Greyhair and Shiftyeyes are not even on acolyte level.'
Shiftyeyes? He wanted to know more, but his own duel was far from over.
Every time he got back on his feet, Zoltan tried to knock him back down.
Even after Konrad had finally gotten rid of the annoying wind elemental—
The illusionist had summoned something else.
Something tangible and strong, not a mere image. And his bruises were living proof of that.
"Should've distracted him, too," Konrad breathed, after wrestling a new earth golem bare-handed. "Those naysayers have seen enough by now."
And the good thing about his Isekai Microwave was that—
He didn't even have to prepare for it anymore.
Every rune fell into place without trying to force it, and the mana to cast was minuscule, too.
Whether he concentrated a light that was already present or summoned some more—
It wouldn't make the tiniest dent in his massive mana pool anymore.
'Mind if I cook your admirers, too?' Paula asked, as if that wasn't what Konrad had already told her to do. 'Gotcha. Then I'll keep them alive, but make sure they're busy. Good luck.'
Yeah. His skill should have been enough not to rely on luck, but—
Zoltan kept surprising him.
And though Konrad encased him in that scorching heat, he kept on attacking, too.
'As a reminder,' the voice butted in again. 'You need to pierce the first layer of his barrier, not to incapacitate him. Especially not with something invisible to the naked eye.'
Yes, he knew that. But without slowing the beastman down, he couldn't even try.
Where the hell did his former master learn to cast his spells this fast?
How could he afford the mana?
Sure, Konrad learned magic fast, too, but this was—
"Ow," he yelped, taking yet another invisible attack in the face.
And this one couldn't have come from Zoltan, either.
'Sorry, sorry, on it,' Paula muttered. 'Mister Polite had decided it was time he'd join, too.'
Ugh. Yeah, he could tell.
Compared to those earlier little headaches, this was one hell of a strike, a wave of heat washing over his body. And more disturbing was how it bypassed not only his parallel brain, but—
His universal barrier couldn't stop it, either.
For a moment, Konrad even considered zapping that guy in response, but instead—
He cast a lightning bolt against Zoltan first.
Then, followed up with three more, until his former master collapsed to the ground.
Was that too much? But if he had even the most basic defenses—
"Stop, stop," the Silver Mage croaked, rushing into the scorched battlefield between them. "The duel's over. You've breached the amulet's first layer, Lord Halstadt. We have a winner."
Hah. To think the illusionist focused everything into his attacks?
But the pressure on him didn't ease.
If anything, it increased until his knees buckled.
"Fuck," Konrad grunted. "What are you doing?!"
'He's super strong,' Paula admitted. 'The more I try to contain Mister Polite, the more—'
Her voice cut off—a stranger's took its place.
'Stop attacking the crowd, Konrad Halstadt,' it demanded. 'Dispel all your magic at once.'
Was it Mister Polite?!
A man drew his eyes in the crowd, wearing a red cape, and—
He couldn't do anything but comply before he would black out.