BXBX NOVEL Chapter 57 Samiel Vs. Estrid (2)
Lanlaris and Karliana observed the fight together with Yvraine and a few invited guests. Especially Karliana, whose eyes perked up because this was the first time she saw Samiel fight, and she immediately recognized the thing that happened.
'Ultimate Ability... related to the Class for sure, and at least Lord Class. Such powerful Ice ability is rarely seen, especially among the weaker-tiered individuals. Him, being Old Deus and bore of the Daemon's Sultans Blood, is going very well with it...'
Cardinal Karliana thought, and partially she was a bit shocked, seeing how slow the frozen arm of Estrid was melting. Being able to melt ice created from the Ultimate Ability was really something very impressive that not many people could achieve, especially being still a mortal.
Not many people knew this, but Karliana was privy to this information, not only due to her status as the Cardinal of the Hall of Kadath but mainly because she knew Estrid from her childhood and she was a friend of the Cardinal Zaldidraax, so she knew the certain extent of her abilities.
She knew that Estrid inherited a particular type of dragon flames from her father, Zaldidraax, which were far hotter and far more destructive than average dragon flames.
And even ordinary dragon flames were very destructive. Dragons were species that had one of the best, if not the best destructive flames in the entirety of the Cosmos.
Lanlaris was not surprised because he saw Samiel fighting for several months, and he was a bit knowledgeable about his abilities and knew that he possessed Ultimate Ability. But what Karliana saw, she saw very powerful Ultimate Ability, even among other Ultimate Abilities.
Some of them were on the verge of evolution, and from what she saw, she thought that Samiel's Ultimate Ability had the potential to evolve to become stronger and more powerful. This was something very rare because usually, when someone awakened Leveled Ability, then more than 95% would never manage to evolve their abilities to a higher Level.
That was because, typically, the Ability Evolution required too many resources, luck, and other things, so finding the right combination in one person was like finding a feather of a phoenix.
Down below the stands, the fight was going on as Estrid was spawning one fireball after another, trying to push Samiel out of the perimeters, so she could safely melt her frozen right hand before she would engage him in close combat.
While Estrid seemed like muscle headed dragon, which she was, there was no doubt about it. But, during the combat, she showed cunningness and a keen mind for combat strategy, just like now, when she created distance between them.
Samiel, meanwhile, smiled about this as he summoned five of his Undead and commanded them to surround him and Estrid, creating a pentagram shape, as suddenly, their bodies lit up.
Seeing Samiel's cheeky grin, Estrid knew that he had played her.
Suddenly without warning, some kind of magic formation lit around them, creating a pentagram-shaped magic circle above the two of them as she felt her body being heavier and fatigued.
"You know that telling your opponents about your abilities during the fight is stupid, so don't expect me to do it."
He said, sticking his tongue out while casting several 3rd Level Spells of Void Magic, Void Strike. This spell was peculiar, as it was not seen; suddenly, near Estrid, space folded and struck her, which she blocked with her left hand, causing several of her scales to be torn off.
Void Strike was one of few destructive low-leveled spells of the Void Magic. The proof was right here, as Estrid's left hand was seriously bleeding and had some deep cuts into her flesh.
She quickly related that incoming spells that were aimed at her were dangerous, so she started dodging them, but unfortunately for her, she was not agile as she thought herself to be; thus, she was getting hit over and over.
"AAAHHHH!"
She screamed in pain as one of the Void Strikes hit her directly at her chest, which was not protected by dragon scales, causing her grievous injury, together with severe bleeding. This was the reason why he was never using Void Magic during sparring, but for the spar with Estrid, he decided to make an exception.
Samiel seeing this, immediately got to work and started literally spamming 1st Level, weakening spells, aiming at the injured spots on her body, hoping to hit at least something. Even though he cast countless spells, he barely felt his Mana decrease.
Dragons were known for their magic resistance and resistance to curses, so if he started using 1st Level Curses from the start, it would be just a waste of precious Mana because she, as Red Dragon, one of a very strong and noble bloodline, could just shrug them off like nothing.
Thus Samiel had a different aim.
It was to penetrate her defenses to a certain degree and use his curses to target the most injured places on her body, thus indirectly lowering her magic resistance and curse resistance. This was one of the methods of getting past the Magic Resistance by creating a physical injury, though this method didn't really work every time.
So theoretically, Samiel was right now testing his own luck.
Suddenly, Estrid felt like the whole world was spinning around her, but there was nothing she could do about it aside from trying to transform into her dragon form. But when she wanted to do so, she suddenly looked at the pentagram-shaped magic circle in the sky above them as she cursed something in the dragon language.
That spell formation was something that Yvraine gave him, and it had a miraculous effect of disrupting something within the dragon's body, which prevented them from turning to their true forms.
During their "agreement", if it could be even termed such, there was not a word about not getting outside help during the preparation. And in truth, Samiel didn't really want to fight Estrid in her dragon form because he knew that the result of such a fight would be uncertain.
He knew, or rather he sensed, that the victory would be guaranteed if he fought her in her human form. But dragons were way stronger in their true form because every aspect of their very own beings was enhanced tremendously.
Fight smart, not hard.
That was Samiel's motto during his whole life.
Also, during these three days, Yvraine told him practically everything she knew about Estrid's weakness, strong sides, and everything. And that was even when he didn't ask for it. Though even a blind person could see that, Yvraine wanted her rival to be beaten up and, if possible, humiliated.
He had to admit that Yvraine was a very vengeful person; if she felt she was wronged. Then she turned into a petty and vindictive banshee that would stop at nothing to get her revenge.
As Samiel weakened Estrid considerably, he basically forced her to attack him right now. That was because the longer she took, the more effect the curses he cast on her would have, and thus she had only choice right now, and that was to end the fight before they would be unleashed with their full power.
Unfortunately, the moment she engaged him in close combat, she lost because, Samiel swiftly counterattacked as he covered his hands in the ice created by the Winter Ruler, dodging her incoming kick and punching her with full power to her stomach.
This sent her filing several meters away when she stopped and puked a huge mouthful of blood, not realizing that several ice weapons were flying towards her. When she noticed them, she used her hands to protect herself from them.
Fortunately for Estrid, these Ice Weapons were not that strong in direct confrontation, but their side effect was even more terrifying; soon enough, some parts of her body started freezing after being touched by them when they shattered upon the impact.
With continuous weakening and luring Estrid into several traps, he started counterattacking more viciously, using mainly his hands and legs, going into close combat with her.
He didn't really want to use his Undead in this fight because they would be pulverized to dust by her strength, and that would be a waste of his hardly cultivated Undeads; thus, he chose the tactics of continuous weakening and traps.
Not to mention, he purposely withheld much of his power, only using the Void Magic at its lowest and in a way, which would not be life-threatening, and even during his close combat attack, he withheld from using weapons and just used martial arts or what he learned from Yvraine and during his stay at the Zephystrand.
Training with the recruits of the Silvermoon Knight Order really paid off. Because Estrid couldn't transform into her dragon form, and the pentagram spell formation, which was weakening her, aside from the first thing, was still active, she was having a hard time.
When she tried to attack one of the Undead that was acting as pillars of the spell, Samiel would always appear to protect it. Still, in the end, that was futile because he never stopped attacking her.
After more than twenty minutes of continuous attacks, Estrid was heavily panting, as she was tired, and the curses on her body that Samiel cast, even when weakened due to her magic resistance and curse resistance, still took their toll on her body.
They stood opposite each other, as suddenly Samiel stopped in his attacks and let her rest for a while before he looked at Cardinal Karlina, who subtly nodded at him. Samiel knew that she wanted him to stop the match because, be it he wanted or not, the Void Magic and other things he cast on Estrid were becoming more and more dangerous to her as time passed.
If not removed in time, there could be some nasty side effects, especially from the Void Magic, that even Hall of Kadath would have a hard time removing.
That was because Samiel never used it during spars with Yvraine or Sarun, because it was made to kill, not to spar for shits and giggles...
He looked at Estrid; Estrid looked at him; nobody said a word; he just nodded, forcing the prideful dragon girl to admit defeat. While Estrid was arrogant, she knew when she was in pitch, and now she certainly was.
Her opponent was stronger than her even when she was not weakened; it was just Samiel who preferred to fight in a way; he expended the least amount of power. He always did this, even when he was confident when he was more powerful than somebody, as it was easier, and also counted on that every one of his opponents had some hidden cards.