Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 206

“The King of the Frost Giants is a good being who likes a fair fight with someone who is good enough,” Professor Voladi said.

Professor Voladi explained kindly, and Ihan looked curious.

Professor Voladi spoke in a very knowledgeable way.

For a moment, Ihan thought Professor Voladi knew who was inside the strange, twisted passage.

‘I bet he already knows,’ Ihan thought.

“I… I’ve heard of them before, but…” Dirette said, her voice trembling a little.

She knew that in other worlds, beyond their own, lived powerful beings – spirits, demons, angels.

Some of them were famous, even in the wizarding world.

The King of the Frost Giants was one of these.

A good being, people said, who loved a fair fight with a worthy opponent, and gave great rewards to those who won.

…That all sounded fine, but still, something felt wrong.

*A first-year student?* Dirette thought, her eyebrows furrowing.

Even if this Frost Giant King was honorable and loved challenges, throwing a beginner like Ihan in there just didn’t seem right!

Taking a deep breath, she spoke up, despite her nervousness.

“Professor,” Dirette said, her voice a little shaky, “is it… is it really okay for a first-year student to fight the King of the Frost Giants? Isn’t that too soon?”

“Incorrect.”

“……”

Dirette felt a flash of anger at the professor’s quick dismissal.

She had been brave to speak up!

Her fourth-year friends, seeing her reaction, quickly grabbed her sleeve, pulling her back gently in alarm.

“Dirette, calm down. He’s a professor!”

“Professor Muze!”

…Isn’t he too young? Seems a bit reckless.

However, an unexpected party took Dirette’s side.

It was the King of the Frost Giants.

The King of the Frost Giants tilted his head, his blue eyes, like chips of glacial ice, fixed on Ihan.

Even though wizards are known for prodigies who show amazing skills from a young age, the wizard before him seemed far too young.

The King of the Frost Giants wanted a fair fight.

He didn’t want to fight someone who was too young.

“King of the Frost Giants, I promise you this challenger is strong enough,” Professor Voladi said firmly.

The King of the Frost Giants nodded, feeling the power coming from the wizard.

If a wizard put his name on the line…

“……”

Ihan had been listening quietly. Now, he looked confused.

Does he really have to do this, even putting his name on the line when the King is acting like this?

The challenger must say their name to the king.

“I am Ihan of the Wodanaz family.”

Good. Young challenger.

The King of the Frost Giants pointed to the blue ice crown on his head.

If you can break this crown, which shows my pride, you win.

‘More than I thought…?’

Seeing that the King of the Frost Giants was nicer than he thought, Ihan quickly made a plan.

The King of the Frost Giants seemed different from what he really was.

He would say Ihan won even if the crown just had a scratch, and he seemed pretty relaxed.

Well, it would be weird if he was worried about fighting a first-year student…

He had to use this to his advantage.

Ihan would use his best strategy, the one only he could do.

Surprise the enemy and beat them with the first attack!

“But, King of the Frost Giants.”

What is it?

“If I win this fight, will this twisted place go back to normal?”

If that’s what you want, then yes. It’s the winner’s right.

The King of the Frost Giants nodded.

It seemed like the King of the Frost Giants was important for keeping this place together.

If the King of the Frost Giants left, this twisted place would go back to normal soon.

Ihan took a small step forward.

The talk wasn’t that important.

What mattered was getting closer!

‘Just one more step.’

“King of the Frost Giants, just one more question.”

Ask.

“Is that one of your helpers behind you?”

The King of the Frost Giants turned his head.

Ihan pointed his wand and shouted.

“Unleash, the lightning of Perkuntra!”

It was the fastest and strongest magic Ihan had ever used.

He couldn’t use any magic before, because the King couldn’t see it coming.

When the King of the Frost Giants turned his head, Ihan used as much magic as he could, said the spell, made the magic, and shot it from his wand!

“!”

The fourth-year students stared.

The lightning magic was stronger than they thought.

The first-year student usually just shot many simple spells to make his attacks stronger.

They were impressed, but fourth-year students could do that if they had time.

Because the magic wasn’t hard.

But this surprise attack was much better.

He could finish and use it so fast, even with lightning, which is hard to control.

It wasn’t just about being fast.

He had to know a lot about lightning and control it well!

‘I don’t think I could even control fire, let alone lightning, when I was a first-year…’

They were surprised that the first-year student was tricking the King of the Frost Giants with a surprise attack.

The White Tiger Tower students didn’t know how amazing the magic was, and they talked quietly.

“Uh… is it okay to trick him like that?”

“Wouldn’t it be okay since he’s at a disadvantage?”

Bang!

Ihan’s attack didn’t hit the crown.

A blue ice wall appeared in front of the Frost Giant King’s crown, stopping the lightning.

“……”

Ihan understood why Professor Voladi had told him to learn the floating ice shield magic.

‘It works well.’

Even though he was attacked by surprise, the King of the Frost Giants wasn’t angry.

He seemed interested.

He is good enough.

“Thank…”

Ihan got ready to shoot a water orb while thanking him.

The Frost Giant King would not be tricked again.

Bzzzzzt!

With a crack like thunder, ice exploded outwards from behind the Frost Giant King in a wide half-circle.

The ice surged towards Ethan, moving like a hungry, icy beast.

“…Burn!” Ethan cast the spell and threw himself forward.

It was the start of a true challenge.

“Bones, seize the enemy! Cloak, swallow me!”

As Ethan summoned the Bone Restraints and cast Gonadaltez’s Invisibility Cloak, the Frost Giant King watched with a glint of interest.

He wondered what made this wizard so confident, what secret weapon he thought he had. Now that they were fighting, it was clear that this young wizard was a worthy opponent.

First, he sensed an immense amount of magical power that felt almost endless.

His spells were not perfect, but his magic was very strong. This made up for any mistakes.

This advantage was especially clear when he cast fire magic.

This area was where the Frost Giant King had declared his power, so ordinary flames shouldn’t even be able to ignite. But the magic Ethan cast rose up without regard for the cold, and quite fiercely at that!

Whoosh-

Since fire was the natural enemy of cold, the ice wielded by the Frost Giant King also became sluggish in its movements before the flames.

Of course, that alone wouldn’t have allowed Ethan to last this long. The young wizard had other strengths as well.

‘He has good instincts.’

The Frost Giant King was truly impressed by Ethan’s sharp senses. Seeing him detect the elements moving around him a step ahead and dodge in the opposite direction made one wonder if he was really a young human.

When that excellent sense was combined with the immense magical power to maintain various enhancement spells, he evaded attacks so nimbly that even the Frost Giant King found it difficult to hit him.

And finally, he had the flexibility to combine magic in various ways.

The Frost Giant King asked with curiosity, “Wizards usually focus on one type of magic. Yet you use so many. Why is that?”

The magic the challenger before him had shown already included various elements (fire, lightning) as well as illusion, enchantment, and black magic.

Considering he was a young wizard, it was even more remarkable.

Ethan couldn’t answer because he was fighting hard.

Right now, a huge piece of ice was wriggling in front of him like a living creature, so there was no way he could answer leisurely.

If he relaxed his guard even a little, sharp shards of ice would fly at him like raindrops…

Professor Voladi answered instead, “He learned it himself because he needed to.”

Indeed. To learn on his own in order to complete combat magic at that age was remarkable.

The Frost Giant King was impressed.

Many wizards knew their weaknesses and tried to fix them. But the Frost Giant King had rarely seen such drive in someone so young.

The fourth-year seniors were also impressed.

‘So that’s how it was?’

The White Tiger Tower students were also impressed…

Thud!

“Ethan!!!” Dergue screamed in horror. A huge pillar of ice had just plunged straight into the spot where Ethan had been standing.

“Don’t worry, Dergue,” Ethan said, gritting his teeth as he rolled to the side. He had been able to dodge because he had detected the movement of the elements before it fell from above.

His body was a little sore, but…

‘This is insane. He’s not giving me an opening.’ Ethan felt a sense of helplessness for the first time in a while.

No matter how much magical power he had, it was meaningless if he didn’t weave it into magic.

If he had a little time, he would summon flames all around to increase his firepower, but the Frost Giant King relentlessly kept attacking him without giving him any time.

He was already struggling to focus on dodging, so counterattacking was impossible.

“Shield, unfold!” Ethan chose defense instead of recklessly attacking.

It was difficult and painful, but this was the only path with the highest probability right now.

The Frost Giant King’s eyes gleamed with interest at the tenacity that was uncharacteristic of a young wizard.

“Challenger, is there a reason you insist on fire magic? You’ve only been using fire for elemental magic since earlier,” the Frost Giant King asked, pointing to the fire shield Ethan had raised.

In fact, the fire shield was the least used among elemental shield spells.

Its defense was weak, it consumed a lot of magical power, and it was difficult to maintain its shape…

Of course, that wasn’t a problem for Ethan.

“Isn’t it… compatible with cold?” Ethan answered cautiously as the opponent stopped attacking.

“Fire and cold can work together,” the Frost Giant King explained, his voice surprisingly gentle. “But a wise wizard uses their surroundings. Why fight against the cold when it is all around you?”

‘…Huh?’ Ethan paused.

Come to think of it, he was right.

If it were another wizard, they would have noticed that fire magic wasn’t working and cast cold magic instead, but…

Ethan had been so focused on the pleasure of controlling the fire magic that he had worked so hard on that he only used fire magic.

‘Did my head freeze from the cold?’

“I understand, challenger. It must be your pride as a challenger. I highly value that pride.”

“No…”

“But this challenge is not a matter of life and death. Sometimes you have to put aside your pride and learn to use other powers.” Instead of explaining, Ethan tightened his grip on the wand and shouted, “Freeze!”

Clang!

In an instant, a huge chunk of ice appeared in the air.

It was an enormous size that couldn’t be compared to fire.

Ethan waved his wand and attempted to change its shape.

“Shatter!”

Just like he had moved multiple water droplets at the same time, Ethan moved the ice shards.

Dozens of ice shards separated from the mass and began to fly quickly.

However, the Frost Giant King wasn’t surprised at all. He brought out the blue ice wall that had blocked the lightning earlier.

At that moment, Ethan’s hand moved instinctively. Before his head could make a decision, his body spat out what it had learned.

The advanced application of the water element he had learned from Yumidihus.

“Evaporate!”

In an instant, the blue ice wall faded and disappeared.