Manaless Mage-Chapter 296: Trent’s Dilemma[1]

"Tsk..." Trent clicked his tongue, staring at the small map displayed above his watch.

The screen was very thin and transparent, and on it a well-detailed map of the forest was shown.

A thin green circle scanned the area around him back and forth, but then, nothing new popped up.

The map was meant to assist the student in navigating their way through the best forest, so they wouldn’t get lost or confused during the tournament.

However, it also had another function, and that was to assist the participants in locating any token within their area.

The tokens would show up as tiny, white dots on the screen, letting them know either another participant or a mana beast was there.

Trent hissed again, closing the screen on his watch.

He had expected to spawn somewhere he could easily wrack up points, whether it was from other participants or even mana beasts.

But then, it seemed like his luck had betrayed him, as there didn’t seem to be any sign of another Elementalist or mana beast around.

He would have to move around for a bit, which could waste his time; time he felt could be spent quickly obtaining points.

’Whatever... as long as I qualify, there’s nothing wrong in this.’ Trent thought, scoffing under his breath.

He calmly advanced forward, making sure to properly scan his surroundings to avoid any sudden attacks.

Beep!

A low beep suddenly echoed from the holographic screen flying above, and he instinctively turned his head to the drone.

[No 1: Harry Ainsworth from Vane Academy: Thirty(30) Points.]

A familiar name was boldly displayed on the screen, along with the number of points and current position on the rankings.

’W-what... so fast?!’ Trent thought, his eyes widening in shock.

Veins bulged around his forehead, and he slowly clenched his fists, his body trembling in anger.

’While I was busy wasting time... he has already taken first place!’ He thought, gnashing his teeth in annoyance.

He was sure Harry had gotten the chance he was praying for, something which was clear by how he easily got thirty points.

But what he didn’t know was that Harry’s situation hadn’t exactly been lucky; at least it wouldn’t be been if it was any other participants in his position.

The only reason he didn’t get knocked out by the three wolves was due to his insane strength, which no other Elementalist in his tournament was even close to.

’Don’t think because you’ve gotten first place... you’ll be able to retain it.’ Trent thought, the voices in his head slowly getting louder.

’Don’t let him take your place.’

’You need to defeat him...’

’He’s your enemy... you can’t let him win...’

They kept muttering, adding fuel upon his anger and frustration.

’I’ll surpass you... Harry!!’ Trent thought, grinding his teeth in annoyance before taking his eyes off the drone.

Suddenly, he felt the grasses behind him rustle strangely, and his body froze in surprise.

Swoosh!

In the next second, a long, sharp slash of flames suddenly flew towards him from behind, moving through the air at astonishing speed.

’Wind Burst!’ Trent thought, swiftly propelling himself to the side with a short yet powerful burst of wind.

Fwoosh!

The fiery slash flew past him, barely grazing his chest before crashing into a short tree in the distance, instantly slicing its stem into two.

Thud!

The tree fell to the ground, its stem rapidly burning to a crisp.

Trent’s gulped, cold sweat running down his back as he stared at the tree’s condition.

’If that attack had hit me...’ He thought, his gaze snapping back to the bush of grasses where the attack came from.

’...it would have been terrible!’ His face twisted into an annoyed frown, and he hurriedly channeled his elemental mana throughout his body.

"Ho! Ho!" A tiny voice echoed from the bush, and a short, black haired boy jumped out of the bush.

He was putting on a black and grey uniform, with the logo of his academy boldly embedded on his chest.

"Your senses are sharp, I didn’t expect you to dodge that." He said, clicking his tongue in disappointment.

A taller boy abruptly came out behind him, his eyes narrowing at Trent.

He also had black hair, expect his was a bit spiky compared to the latter, and his facial features were quite similar to his team mate’s.

"Vane magical academy huh?" He muttered, hissing in disappointment.

"I didn’t know students there were that strong... first him, and now you." He muttered, his gaze briefly drifting towards the drone above.

Trent merely scoffed, wind rapidly gathering around his hands.

"I don’t care what academy you are from." He said, palming his hands together.

"I’ll beat you two to a pulp!" He proclaimed, suddenly thrusting his hands forward.

Swoosh!!

"Cyclone Blast!" A large, spiraling burst of wind immediately blasted from his hands, hurtling towards the two participants at terrifying speed.

The wind tore through the grass, charging towards the two with a loud, echoing roar of power.

However, despite the power attack hurting at them, they remained in the same position, with smug smiles on their faces.

As the blast was about to hit them, the taller boy swiftly stepped forward, swinging his arm to the side, as if to slide a door.

"Earth Wall!" He shouted, and following his actions, a large wall of earth suddenly rose up from the ground, sliding in front of the wind blast.

Bam!!!

The attack slammed into it with a loud, deafening sound explosion, spiraling violently as if to break through the thick wall.

But the wall stood strong, not even budging an inch despite the terrifying force behind Trent’s attack.

Swoosh!

The wind eventually dispersed, surging up into the air before vanishing into thin air.

"Vengeful Fists!" The earth Elementalist shouted, parting his arms, before thrusting them.

The giant wall suddenly divided into two, the two parts swiftly changing shape into two giant rock fist, before shooting towards Trent.

’What!’ Trent thought, his eyes widening in shock as he stared at the two massive fists of earth rapidly closing in on him.

"Air Steps!" He shouted, swiftly leaping up in the air.

A thin plate of wind materialized beneath his fist, which he quickly stepped on, using it to push himself even higher up.

Even more places rapidly appeared before him, and he hurriedly stepped on them like they were stairs, climbing far higher than the earth fists could reach.

The fist flew beneath him, knocking down a couple of trees before dissolving into tiny, brown particles.

As for Trent, he charged forward, propelling himself with another swift burst of wind, until he got very high in the air, giving him a clear view of his opponents.

"Blade barrage!" He shouted, summoning countless number of wind blades around him, before launching them towards the duo.

Fwoosh!

Swoosh!

The blades rained down like a storm, slashing through the air with rapid speed as they speedily closed in on the pair of Elementalists.

"Don’t forget about me!" The shorter one suddenly shouted, stretching his hands towards the incoming downpour of wind blades.

"Fiery Blade Storm!" He shouted, conjuring countless blades of fire around him.

Fwoosh!

The blades swirled violently around one another like a tornado, before shooting up towards the barrage of wind blades.

The rather simple charge of the wind blades were rapidly swallowed up by the storm of fire blades, and a large number of them quickly dissolved into thin air.

As for the ones that managed to escape the storm, they completely lost trajectory, weakly striking the ground before vanishing.

A few of the fiery blades made it past the rain of attacks, flying towards Trent at rapid speed.

Trent gritted his teeth in annoyance, watching as one of his most prized attacks was rendered completely useless before the fire Elementalist.

The situation he thought was already in his control was turned against him instead, as his choice of attack had more or less fired back at him!

"Aqua Cocoon!" Trent shouted, swiftly crouching his body up his the air.

Slosh!

A sphere of water rapidly materialised around his body, encasing him completely.

Szzz!

The fiery blades struck the sphere barely a second later, but none of them could penetrate its tough, watery surface, and they immediately sizzled into vapour.

Seeing the attacks had already dissolved, Trent quickly dispelled the Aqua cocoon, before distancing himself from the Elementalist with another burst of wind.

He gracefully landed on the ground, his face squeezing into a deep frown as he stared at the tall, black haired boy.

’This is bad...’ He thought, his gaze alternating between the taller and shorter Elementalist.

’Two Stage three Elementalists... I’m being overwhelmed!’ The expression on his face worsened as he realised, his stance not relaxing for even a second.

If it was just the shorter one, then he would be able to win for sure, as that one was only an early stage three fire Elementalist.

But the main problem was the taller Elementalist, who happened to be a peak stage three Elementalist!