Reader Mage 155-That’s Very Risky

Dr. Elias’s cane fell to the ground as he danced out of the way of a flabolt from one of the students attacking him.

If he recalled correctly, she went by the na Anastasia. He eyed her while evading her persistent attacks. Platinum blonde hair in a braid, ice-blue eyes. Yes. He was correct. She was Anastasia Kirova.

It surprised him that he recalled the nas of Nikita Academy’s students. He was never good with those.

What was more fascinating, however, was their arsenal of magic. No wonder they were so confident. Their powers were unique. Or at least they used it in unique ways. And if he was a little complacent, they would make life sothing of a trouble for him.

Like now.

Dr. Elias sighed as an external force infiltrated the blood stream in his right arm for the umpteenth ti. His arm turned cold, like it was dipped into a bowl of water filled with ice blocks, and his blood froze in place.

Blood clotting.

His arm was paralyzed.

Dr. Elias imdiately shot a glare Ivan’s way, and a spike of water from his attack bubble blasted through the air, aiming for the boy.

Mikhail, a boy with dark eyes, rushed in to protect Ivan. He slamd his palms on the ground, and thick vines shot out of the earth, spraying debris around as they coiled together to form a bean stalk that blocked Dr. Elias’s water spear. But at the sa ti, his defense obstructed his and Ivan’s view, and Dr. Elias’s right arm regained its function.

Perhaps after this duel, it would be blood magic he hated the most.

Dr. Elias was unable to catch his breath. Anastasia rushed in, flas raining down to keep him preoccupied.

She was doing a very good job. Quite the versatile mage. She was quick to switch between attack spells and defense spells as she attacked him, and she was the best counter to his water magic.

But she wasn’t an idiot. She knew that her attacks weren't enough, and so did Dr. Elias.

His eyes danced about the scene as he studied the rest of the students who were not taking their chances to overwhelm him with spells. They were all lounging behind trees, watching like predators, while leaving Anastasia, Mikhail, and Ivan to take the lead.

“What’s the plan?” Dr. Elias asked while angling his body to evade another of Anastasia’s flabolt. The girl didn’t say anything. She instead closed the gap between both of them in a dash and conjured a vortex of flas, forcing Dr. Elias to use a substantial amount of the water conjured in his bubble to quench it. Mist covered the scenery, and weirdly it didn’t disperse as quickly as it was ant to. Dr. Elias humd and turned his attention to Anastasia. “You know, that’s very risky. You could have been hurt.”

Anastsaia’s brows furrowed. “Do all Koreans talk so much?”

Dr. Elias pursed his lips. “I think that’s a trait characteristic to alone. However, young lady, that was rude.”

Anastasia clicked her tongue and continued on the attack.

Dr. Elias though was still focused on the mist in the air. It was past early morning now, and in a few hours it would be noon. Even though the mist had co about as a result of his blocking the attack of Anastasia’s persistent flas, it should have faded into oblivion by now.

Unless…

“Ah.” He snapped his fingers and pointed one at a girl with dark auburn hair and green eyes. “Yelena, right?” he said. “The Mist Mage. Is that the plan? Obscure my vision with mist? You know that’ll prevent Ivan from using his Blood magic too, don’t you? And if you don’t paralyze , I see no way for you to get the key.”

Anastasia’s gaze narrowed fiercely. “You would be surprised.”

“You hardly smile.”

“I don’t smile.”

“Sad. You’re young. You should smile more often.”

Dr. Elias was kind of enjoying the fight, if he was to be honest. The rage he had left his room with this morning had sowhat dwindled, and he was grateful for that, if he was to be honest. Children could have that kind of effect on one. They could make one’s bad day even worse, or they could make it a lot more pleasant. Their ability to tamper with an adult’s emotions through their antics was a specific reason as to why he had beco a professor. Thankfully, today was leaning towards the more positive side. Perhaps that was why he was taking it far more easier than he should have—or than was expected of soone who should be inclined to make things difficult for an academy seeking to overthrow his own on the rankings.

And that cost him.

Anastasia put a bit of space between her and Dr. Elias as snakes of vines shot towards him from Mikhail’s location. He nimbly evaded the attack, but was unable to keep himself out of Ivan’s line of sight subsequently. The boy saw him. The boy launched his mana once again into Dr. Elias’s bloodstream. And Dr. Elias froze mid air.

What set apart a seasoned Mage and ones still clad in the attires of inexperience apart was their attunent with mana. The forr wasn’t bound by physical movents of their body to use magic. There was no need for them to see their opponent, or point their hands in the direction of their target to direct their spells in its direction. All they needed to do was think about it. And Dr. Elias wasn’t a novice to the whims of magic.

A chunk of water pulled out of the bubble behind him, and pulled out into countless tiny pellets of water. Ivan’s brows pulled in as the pellets created a halo above Dr, Elias. The man smiled, still frozen in the air, and the pellets of water descended.

Mikhail, once again, went to the rescue of his teammate.

A wall of vine rose up around them, trying its best to block the pellets of water. But it hardly did enough. A few made their way through as the rest tore through the ground, and grazed the shoulders of the two boys hiding behind the wall of vines.

But the screams that followed from their lungs weren’t the usual that ca with feeling pain.

“Now!!” they both shouted in unison.

Dr. Elias raised a brow as he descended from above, free from the hold of Ivan’s blood magic. However, he wasn’t totally free. The mist that had gathered above him descended and shrouded him in an instant, obstructing his view and awareness of his surroundings.

“I see,” he mumbled as he noticed movents below. “That’s what it is then.”

As soon as his feet touched the ground, he was bound in place. He looked down to see his legs dug into small hills of compressed sand. They tightened around his ankles and held him solid.

“That’s Maxim, then,” Dr. Elias humd.

As he was appreciating the use of sand magic, two bright lights appeared in the mist, heading for him at a blistering pace.

Anastasia was at it again.

Dr. Elias called forth small chunks of his bubble of water, and doused the sand around his feet in them. Wet, they beca soft, and he imdiately pulled his leg free and turned around, nimbly avoiding the flaballs in the nick of ti.

But the attacks weren’t over.

He had moved from the sand into a trail of ice that had snuck up behind him from the mist. And imdiately he stepped on it, the trail reached for his feet and crawled up them. Once again, Dr. Elias froze.

“Their attacks are purely to restrict my mobility and keep from escaping this mist,” he noted to himself. “Smart. This way I can’t prevent them from trying all they can to steal the key. But this is not enough.”

Dr. Elias ford a hamr of water and smashed the origin of the ice crawling up his legs into pieces. Imdiately, he channeled mana to his feet and pushed himself forcefully out of the mist before the students could react.

What he had not been expecting though was that they would be waiting for him.

Dr. Elias was imdiately caged once more as he escaped the mist by a wall of wood, carved from the bark of the trees flanking the path they were on.

“Hmm… Viktor,” he mumbled, prodding the wood. “Nice work.”

But he couldn’t afford to waste any more ti admiring the magical capabilities of the students. He imdiately called forth the rest of the bubble of water he had gathered, and sharpened them into razors by compressing them. They sliced through the wood keeping him bound, and once again he was free.

Before he was captured again. This ti, it was by…hair. Long, thick strands of chestnut hair coiled together like vines and bound him by his wrists and legs. He followed the length to see a girl with gray-green eyes clenching her jaw as she held him in place.

“Hurry up, guys!” she voiced.

Dr. Elias looked up to where he had kept the bubble of water protecting the key and above it was a small cloud too close to the bubble, and out of place in the clear sky above.

At that mont, drops of rain fell out of the cloud, dropping into the bubble and mixing with it. The bubble reacted turbulently, its once calm flow disturbed by the presence of an external mana infiltrating it.

“Well, that doesn’t look good,” Dr. Elias mumbled and turned to Natalia, the girl keeping him bound with her hair. “I’ll have to rip your hair apart if you don’t let go.”

Natalia paled. Her magic was reliant on her hair, which ant she had to keep it long or it would be a bit botherso later on, having to grow it once again.

The threat should work.

Well, it would have, if Ivan wasn’t present.

The boy raised his hand in Dr. Elias’s direction, infiltrating the professor’s blood stream once again with his mana and clenched his fist. Dr. Elias’s hands and legs froze in place, his blood defiant against the laws of nature.

“Just stay put,” Ivan said, his breaths heavy. “We’ll soon be done.”

Dr. Elias raised a brow at the kid, and then glanced in the direction of the bubble containing the key. The cloud above it dispersed at that mont, and his bubble beca completely unstable. However, it still remained intact, not giving in.

But that wouldn’t last much longer.

If he didn’t reenact dominance in the bubble of water, by piling his own mana into it once more, it would end up breaking. But to do that, he would have to extract a large portion of water from the atmosphere, enough to overwrite the chaotic mana in the bubble, and that would be a lot more troubleso since he was already in the midst of battle. It was why he had made sure to arrange his tools down before the students had arrived. He glanced at the tiny bubble of attack water he kept hovering beside himself. That wasn’t enough. The constant attacks from Anastasia had made him use more water than he should have. And even if he decided to risk it, that would an giving up on freeing himself. There was also no guarantee that the mana in his small blob of water would be enough.

While he was in his thoughts, a girl with light olive skin and straight jet-black hair uncorked a bottle she had hung across her waist and poured out a stream of water from it. The water condensed to form a spear with a hook at its tip. In the next second, the spear shot forward, pierced through the bubble of water up above, and ca out on the other side with the key dangling in its hook.

Dr. Elias blinked and shrugged. “Hmmm. Well, that settles that.” He sighed and turned his attention to Natalia and Ivan as they both stared in a daze at the key hanging in the air, seemingly surprised that they had managed to actually retrieve it. “Mind letting go now?”