Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Falsehood of Truth
At a distance of 200 meters, a Noble Phantasm could cover it in an instant, but it had been used in the previous battle against the Assassin, and its cooldown hadn't reset yet.
So, Suya could only rely on his own abilities to cover the distance.
Meanwhile, 200 meters away, Pelgors also saw Suya appear, observing his strangely swift and nimble movements. He frowned slightly.
"An Assassin who hasn't mastered 'Qi' but already has a refined physique?"
"How exactly did Eliot conduct his reconnaissance?"
"Nevertheless, although unexpected events keep piling up, an unknown Assassin daring to challenge me, especially after I've already activated my Bounded Field, is simply too foolish!"
He calmly turned around, raising his ethereal, cerulean longbow, aiming it at Suya, and slowly drawing the bowstring with three fingers. As the string was drawn, visible air currents rapidly gathered around the bow, forming a blue arrow on the half-drawn bow.
At this moment, Suya frowned as he watched. He felt a slight tremor in the magical circuits he had inherited from Artoria Pendragon, like an extra 'organ.'
Upon witnessing the opponent's spellcasting process, Suya almost instinctively realized that his magical attribute was the same as the magic being cast: 'Void', or 'Imaginary Number', among the seven great elements of Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Void, Emptiness, and Nothingness.
This was an extremely rare talent possessed by only a few, defined in magecraft as 'something that might exist but does not in the material world.' It was as if he was naturally born with this attribute.
Then, this peculiar magic, born in his circuits only today, immediately began to spontaneously imitate the action, constantly simulating and correcting, attempting to materialize the same miracle as his opponent. This abnormal organ activity, like an uncontrollably pounding heart, made Suya feel somewhat strange.
At the same time, the enemy—Pelgors—who also felt this peculiar sensation, frowned again.
"This brat actually possesses an innate 'Imaginary Number' attribute?"
Upon realizing this, a hint of murderous intent immediately flickered in Pelgors' eyes! The mages of Lycaon believed that the Root was the "first cause of the world," and to reach it, they sought to establish an ultimate model that encompassed reality, embracing all causes, effects, and logic.
Suya, with his 'Imaginary Number' attribute, his birth, his existence, his actions, and even the magecraft he employed, and the impact he had on this world, were all things that completely contradicted the Lycaon mages' pursuit. They were entirely unexplainable, uncontainable, and irreplicable by logic.
This was a 'falsehood' of truth, a profound blasphemy against truth itself!
Therefore, at this moment, upon realizing that such a completely illogical entity had appeared in his sight, Pelgors immediately abandoned his initial plan to prioritize killing Merlin. Moreover, with Suya's interference and Merlin's own defensive magic, this plan would be difficult to execute.
So, he chose—
Pelgors stared coldly at Suya. After releasing the arrow from his bow, he didn't hesitate, raising his hand and snapping his fingers.
Whoosh!
"Clap!"
The whistle of the arrow tearing through the air and the crisp snap of fingers sounded simultaneously! Suya felt his footing suddenly loosen as the entire block of earth beneath him began to turn into mud. He immediately leaped up from the softening ground, thrusting his sword into a raised mound of earth to his right. He straightened his back, swung around, pulled out his sword, and leaped to another block of earth.
However, constrained by the terrain, no sooner had he landed than a powerful arrow came flying towards him! In this critical moment, Suya balanced on his tiptoes, stopping his forward momentum with extreme precision. He raised his hand and swung his sword, deflecting the arrow before the next one could arrive. Then, with chaotic yet strangely graceful steps, he shifted five meters to the right, dodging Pelgors' second arrow.
Under the enhancement of [Swift Leap], he leaped two meters high, landing on another platform. Like a ninja, he continued to maneuver quickly, tapping his toes on the ground, leaping onto or dropping from platform after platform, wielding his longsword, constantly dodging or deflecting the arrows shot at him, rapidly approaching the longbow-wielding mage!
200 meters,
150 meters,
100 meters!
50 meters!
Even with a 200-meter obstacle course involving platforms with a 2-5 meter height difference, Suya, leveraging his proficiency in the [Swift Leap] combat technique, could close the distance to his opponent within a minute, using his hands, feet, and sword in unison.
On the other side, Pelgors had already drawn his longbow again, his gaze calm as he watched Suya, like an erratic flea, rapidly approach him. But soon, he released the bowstring. As an Archer with only the skill level of an average combatant, he found it difficult to lock onto Suya with such skilled swift movements.
However, he was still a mage.
Pelgors slowly raised his left hand. The magical greatbow disappeared, and a bone staff materialized in his hand. He stared at Suya, who was now almost within three squares of him, virtually within arm's reach, a hint of mockery in his smile. He gripped the staff and slammed it into the ground!
A circle of white ripples rapidly expanded from his feet, encompassing all nine square blocks of earth around him!
In the next instant, only the highest ten-meter platform where Pelgors stood remained. The eight surrounding earth platforms, arranged in a nine-square grid pattern, all crumbled into sandy powder and sank!
Then, a sudden storm erupted!
Pelgors' long hair and academic robes billowed upwards, flying in the strong winds. An invisible wall, composed of countless tiny wind blades, rose from the ground, erecting itself around him!
As this wall of wind blades suddenly appeared, Suya, who had been charging head down, barely managed to stop just before the wind wall. A wind blade grazed his face, drawing a cut and making Suya's expression turn grim.
He immediately retreated, pulling out a stack of four throwing knives from the satchel tied to his back and launching them towards the wind wall!
However,
"Clang!"
"Clang!"
"Clang!"
Even with the E-rank Strength and [Throwing] combat technique applied to these knives, they could only penetrate about two-thirds of the way into the wind wall before being deflected skyward by the countless tiny wind blades.
Within the bounded field, Pelgors' eyes narrowed as he watched Suya's futile efforts, a mocking smile on his face. Under his magical control, the pervasive earth within his bounded field could reverse the 'failed' logic of Aetheric block transformation into elements, manipulating the four major elements. As long as one stood on this land filled with Aetheric blocks imbued with his magic, he could reverse the logical process, transforming ordinary sand and soil into water, fire, and wind using Aether as a medium!
And next, protected by the wind wall, he was already in an impregnable position. He only needed to keep manipulating the terrain, forcing Suya to keep fleeing, thus exhausting his stamina and driving him to his death!
However, the next moment, Pelgors, who thought he had victory assured, saw this—
Outside the wind wall, Suya, whose attempts to throw knives had been fruitless, frowned and took a deep breath. Then, he slowly raised his hand, and the dense, crimson magical circuits all over his body lit up in unison! A dark red glow bloomed in his hand, slowly forming the phantom of a 1.5-meter-long greatbow!
Inside the wind blade wall, Pelgors' eyes widened, and the smile on his face froze slightly.
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