Chapter 171: Stop, Please! [4]

The situation had now turned favourable for me.

Using spells was always draining on one’s mana reserves, as each spell required tremendous amounts of mana to create its circuit, and then more mana was used to actually power up the spell and achieve the desired effect.

Though one spell wasn’t enough to drain the mana reserves of an individual like Victoria.

Still, it was better than nothing.

Her mana reserves had surely taken a hit.

“That’s a nice trick you have got there.”

Victoria commented as she took out another sword and was already in a stance to continue the fight.

Without replying to her, I glanced at the cloud of dust that had mostly settled down, as three identical figures emerged from it.

The clothes on their bodies were torn apart in many places, but overall they looked fine.

“Huh?”

Victoria exclaimed involuntarily in surprise, as she must have expected the clones to at least suffer some amount of damage, but on the contrary, they appeared to be in perfect shape.

After all, I too had some proficiency in creating barriers.

It was a basic spell… at least for me.

That was why I hadn’t expected Victoria to be able to create a barrier of her own, as the spell took quite some time to master…

One had to learn how to solidify mana in the air without destabilizing the entire barrier.

Each particle of mana had to be grouped together, forming large clusters that were then arranged to create a solid wall of mana.

Compared to other spells, once the barrier spell was mastered, it generally took very little time to implement, making it one of the best instant defensive options available at a fighter’s disposal.

Though the time taken could vary depending on the individual in question.

Victoria must have predicted my attack before, which gave her the required time to cast the spell in order to create sufficient distance between us.

On my part, I was even faster than her… which was a given considering my level of mana control.

The moment the lances were shot at my clones, they had immediately cast barriers on themselves.

Well, not only them, but even the rest of my clones that were on either side of the attack had cast their own barriers—

After all, precaution was better than cure.

Though casting six barriers at the same time had used a lot of my mana.

Around five percent, to be specific.

Still, the clones only shared one-tenth of my power, which also included the mana available at their disposal.

Conserving the reserves had led to a reduction in the strength of the barriers, resulting in the clones suffering some damage, which had quickly been repaired by my regenerative abilities.

As the clones were covered in a cloud of dust, no one was able to notice it, and I had kept the regeneration at a minimum level.

Some stains of blood and light injuries could still be seen on my clones, though the outcome was surprising for everyone to see.

I mean… all of them might have expected to find the clones with detached limbs, blood pooling under their bodies.

I scanned the surroundings once, only to find that many of the other student council members had arrived at the scene but still chose not to interfere.

Hm?

Were they from the disciplinary committee?

Shifting my focus to Victoria again, I slightly licked my lips.

Even if I had not suffered any tangible damage, I couldn’t let the girl go away now, could I?

Swoosh!

One moment my clones were standing in their places, and the next—

I had surrounded Victoria from all sides, though she seemed ready for the attack.

Four of my clones attacked her from four sides, while the rest of us stood just behind them, ready to follow up.

Victoria, true to her abilities, went into a hyperactive state, as she defended each of the strikes aimed at her with relative ease.

Every time she defended an attack, she would immediately launch a counter, though it was difficult to focus on one enemy, as there were six of them surrounding her from all sides.

That reduced the attention she could devote to a single attack, though Victoria wasn’t one to be defeated by such things.

My fifth clone soon joined the battle to overwhelm Victoria, but the effectiveness of its presence could be debated, as Victoria wasn’t fazed in the slightest.

As these clones were weaker than their original—that was me—they weren’t able to truly land a decisive strike against Victoria.

And a great deal of their mana was used up just to defend against the Frost’s counterattacks.

I observed the situation from the outside without jumping into the battle.

Looking at Victoria, she appeared to be in absolute control of the situation, but her body was getting far more drained than what she was showing on the outside.

Still, I could feel another vibration in the mana particles around me.

Victoria was preparing her second spell.

I could have stopped her, but—

Where was the fun in that?

My current limit for Mirage Clone was a total of six clones, including the main body.

I could maintain such a state for a longer amount of time without burdening my mana reserves or my mind, which had to simultaneously operate in six different bodies.

And if I decided to push to the extreme, then more clones could be created, but they would damage my core, mind, and overall combat prowess during an intense battle where one had to be focused enough to actually survive and win.

But—seeing Victoria silently plotting a spell and having that I-am-winning attitude had somehow resulted in an extremely strong urge to play with her.

Reducing my mana presence to the lowest limit possible, I silently created another clone and made it enter the battle that was raging before my eyes.

Taking sufficient distance from Victoria, I hid myself far away.

Well, not hidden, but mixed myself with the surrounding mana so as to disappear from Victoria’s senses.

After all, Victoria was a mere Gold Core and couldn’t possibly use mana sense like I did.

Fooling the senses of someone like that was surprisingly easy for me.

Though there was a small issue of Victoria’s allies being able to see through my trick, as they were watching me from the side lines.

My mana reserves had begun to reduce at a faster pace due to the creation of my seventh clone. And now I had to use another spell to eliminate any chances of Victoria getting help from the outside.

I willed mana through my core, creating the desired spell within seconds of my retreat.

Mana Silence.

A spell that blocked all noise from the outside, trapping the individual in a state similar to being in a void.

It wasn’t a spell for combat, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be used in one.

A small transparent barrier had already formed around the area where Victoria and six of my clones were currently engaged in an intense battle.

Though Victoria seemed to have noticed the change of mana in her surroundings, it wasn’t up to the point of being truly lethal to her, which made the girl focus on the battle again.

Looking at the pieces falling into place, I couldn’t help but smirk in silence.

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