NOVEL NEXT 16 - Time for Reversal
At the moment the Minotaur’s arm fell toward Jeff, he twisted his body to avoid its attack.
— Bang!
He didn’t use Movement or any other magic for that evasive maneuver. Jeff’s body was already in a state of 200% synchronization rate, making him extremely agile and nimble.
“Grrrrr…..”
The problem was that a Minotaur’s attack never ends with just one strike. Minotaurs have the habit of pursuing their targets until they’re dead. Because of this, the people inside the arena clicked their tongues as they watched Jeff.
“Is… is that guy insane? Even with a high synchronization rate, how can he do something like that?”
“With his life at stake for power, I guess nothing else matters to him.”
Although Jeff had avoided the Minotaur’s attack, people weren’t particularly surprised. They thought he’d dodged it thanks to the artifacts and various advantages he’d gained in exchange for raising his synchronization rate.
— Thud… thud…
After its first attack missed, the Minotaur stomped its feet while glaring at Jeff. Its eyes looked ready to kill him at any moment. People didn’t dare approach and all observed Jeff’s actions from a distance.
‘As I thought, there’s definitely a designated range.’
Rather than focusing on the threatening Minotaur in front of him, Jeff observed the behavior of the 11 remaining Minotaurs around him.
The previous attack had revealed several things:
Minotaurs only move when someone enters a specific range.
Even if one Minotaur is attacked, others won’t react unless someone enters their range.
If they take direct damage, they’ll pursue up to a certain distance even without someone entering their range.
It was quite a lot of information to gain from such a brief skirmish.
‘They must have used a magic circle or some specific technique.’
Thinking this, Jeff checked the mana energy around him. Concentrating with his entire mind, he could feel slightly alien mana clusters in the vicinity. They had a scent similar to Mellin’s mana.
‘I don’t know exactly what it is, but she used magic to create the Minotaurs and designed the range in which they move.’
Just as Jeff figured that out—
“Raaaaargh!”
— Kwaaang!
The Minotaur charged forward again. But Jeff didn’t retreat. Instead, he rushed toward the Minotaur, evading another attack.
Next, Jeff moved toward the Minotaur’s right foot. He drove his staff straight down onto the Minotaur’s instep.
— Thwack!
The magic staff pierced right into the Minotaur’s foot. There was some blood, but it wasn’t a deep wound. Concerned that the staff might get stuck, Jeff immediately pulled it out.
Blood began to flow steadily from where the staff had pierced the Minotaur’s foot.
‘Their durability isn’t that high.’
To inflict actual damage on a real Minotaur, this level of attack would never be enough. While it wasn’t a fatal injury, he had determined that their durability wasn’t very high.
‘When I used fireballs, they didn’t seem to take much damage, but when I directly struck with my staff, it bled. This means they’re more vulnerable to physical damage than magic.’
He also confirmed that the Minotaurs’ weakness was physical damage, not magic. This meant that casting spells from a distance wouldn’t be very effective.
Jeff stuck even closer to the Minotaur that was bleeding from its foot.
— Whoosh!
The Minotaur tried to grab Jeff with its hand, but he moved like lightning to avoid it.
“J-Jeff! I’ll help you!”
— Bang!
Ariel’s support fire came just in time. She used her elements to freeze the Minotaur’s feet.
‘So binding is possible.’
— Clang!
But the time she could restrict the Minotaur’s movement wasn’t very long. Shortly after its feet were bound, the magic was forcibly dispelled. As if immunity existed.
Jeff shouted to Ariel:
“Ariel. This time, please use binding magic from a different element than ice, quickly!”
Hearing Jeff’s words, Ariel hurriedly created restraints made of earth. The restraints flew rapidly and were applied to the Minotaur.
‘1…2…3…’
— Crack!
But as expected, the restraints that limited the Minotaur’s movement were released after just a few seconds.
‘You can’t take the easy way out, Jeff.’
Mellin had made it so that no kind of binding magic could last more than 3 seconds, to prevent people from immobilizing the Minotaurs with magic and one-sidedly beating them.
There were several other mechanisms that Mellin had implemented:
Damage reduction when trying to harm Minotaurs from outside a specific range, additional damage reduction for magical attacks, binding spells that couldn’t last beyond a certain time, and designation as a Minotaur’s target when entering a certain range.
Mellin’s intention was clear.
‘This test isn’t about attacking from a distance. It’s about teammates cooperating, with someone serving as bait at the front while companions fight alongside them.’
That was the core of this exam.
It was designed so that pushing one person to be bait while standing safely at a distance casting spells wouldn’t inflict meaningful damage on the Minotaurs. So what should they do? Multiple people needed to rush at a Minotaur simultaneously.
Up close, they needed to shove magic down its throat, and if that didn’t work, use the basic weapons they carried—knives—to stab the Minotaur. Demanding perfect cooperation. That was the essence of this exam.
‘Now, you absolutely cannot solve this test alone. What choice will you make?’
At that moment, Jeff shouted from below:
“Ariel! Compress air and push the Minotaur away!”
— Boom!
As soon as Jeff commanded, Ariel fired a compressed air wave toward the Minotaur.
Earth, Wind, Ice.
Seeing the three elemental magics that Ariel used in an instant, the spectators in the stands were amazed.
“Indeed… 3-element magicians can fight so flexibly…”
“I understand why people treat magicians who have mastered more than 2 elements differently.”
It wasn’t just the spectators who were surprised.
Lunia and Cloria were also watching the arena with bewildered eyes.
“C-Cloria Director, why isn’t Jeff collapsing…? Looking at him now, it seems like he’s avoiding all the Minotaur’s attacks…?”
Lunia asked Cloria with anxious eyes. But Cloria answered with a grin.
“Lunia. Are you not seeing properly? Jeff hasn’t actually done anything. All he’s done is order the 3-element magician behind him to use binding magic while he runs away. With this approach, his head will soon be split open by the Minotaur. And since his synchronization rate is set to 200%, he might become permanently disabled. Good riddance. Besides, even if they push it away with compressed air, the Minotaur will charge again. It’s just a temporary measure.”
Cloria looked at the testing arena with a satisfied expression. She wanted to see the look of despair on Jeff’s face.
‘What? Why is he…?’
But Cloria couldn’t help being surprised.
Jeff was smiling. With his hand on the ground, as if he was having the time of his life.
◈◈◈◈◈
The Minotaur had been pushed back to some extent by Ariel’s compressed air cannon. Thanks to that, Jeff gained a small window of opportunity.
— Touch
Jeff instantly placed his hand on the ground. The feeling of Mellin’s mana that he’d been sensing was stealthily moving through the earth.
“Movement.”
As Jeff called out, crackling electricity began to surge.
Suddenly, a strange sound reached Mellin’s ear.
[Another party is attempting to interfere with the caster’s magic.]
‘What? That’s impossible… He already realized that area magic is cast on the floor…? How…?’
Mellin’s expression hardened.
Area magic. The mana field that Mellin had laid out. It was an auxiliary magic that made Minotaurs recognize and chase targets who entered a specific range, or let them go if they left the range.
In other words, it was one of the most important spells that determined how close examinees had to come before Minotaurs would chase them, or how far they had to go before Minotaurs would lose recognition and give up pursuit.
‘Nice try, but this magic won’t be dispelled by a mere instructor candidate.’
As soon as Mellin heard the message about interference, she tried to modify the arrangement of the mana field she had laid. Or rather, she tried to.
But.
[User’s unique skill is in operation. Elemental system cannot be changed.]
“What…?”
She tried to change the elemental arrangement of the magic, but it wouldn’t obey. She had completely lost control.
‘Impossible…’
Just as Mellin looked down with a shocked expression—
“Raaaaargh!”
The Minotaur that had been blown away by the compressed air cannon began running toward Jeff again.
“Th-that guy is dead now…”
“That bastard was acting cocky, looks like he’ll be the first to die?”
Some spectators in the stands, as well as other examinees at the venue, mocked Jeff. They accused him of being the first to die, of showing off while relying on his synchronization rate.
— Thump! Thump! Thump!
As if representing people’s sentiments, the Minotaur began to run madly toward Jeff. But Jeff was just crouching on the ground. He was sweating profusely, concentrating on something.
“Jeff! Jeff! You need to run away!”
Ariel tried to use magic again. But because she had overused binding magic earlier, she needed time to recover her mana.
“No…”
Just as Ariel was running toward Jeff with despairing eyes—
“Movement applied, rearranging magical elements.”
With those brief words from Jeff, his body was raised up.
The Minotaur was charging toward him.
— Screech
Jeff drew a line right in front of himself.
— Thump! Thump! Kwaaang!
Finally, as the Minotaur ran madly, about to pounce on Jeff—
— Screech…
The Minotaur’s movements began to slow dramatically. Eventually, it stopped in place.
People at the venue whispered, unable to understand what was happening.
“W-why did that Minotaur suddenly stop moving?”
“I don’t know. Wasn’t it charging madly just now?”
The distance between Jeff and the Minotaur: 50 centimeters.
Jeff put his hands in his pockets and looked at the Minotaur.
[Movement application complete. Resetting Minotaur’s recognition range.]
Jeff grinned.
The analysis ends here.
Now, it’s time for reversal.