<h4>Chapter 359</h4>


    The next day, Zich and hispanions and Marilyn entered a nearby deserted forest. A heavy thicket of trees blocked the clear sky. If one viewed the area from above, they would only see green and no ground. Yet, arge hole formed in this ocean of green.


    <i>Crash! </i>Another tree copsed. Zich lifted the tree that fell over with one hand and threw it.


    <i>Thud! </i>The treended on a pile of cut trees that hispanions had already made. Zich stuck Windur upside down on the ground and looked around his surroundings. ‘This size is good enough.’


    “I am done cutting trees now! Snoc! Pull out all the tree roots!”


    “Yes!”


    “I understand!” At Zich’smand, Hans stopped swinging Estede and Snoc ced his hand on the ground. Ripples formed in the dirt like skipping stones making ripples in ake.


    <i>Drrrr! </i>The ground began to backflow where trees’ roots were firmly established. Like vapor rising from boiling water, the dirt started pushing outwards. Likewise, tree roots were pulled out of the earth, and Zich and Hans cast them to one side. Soon, arge vacant lot was created. Zich gestured with his hands—Hans, Snoc, and Elena moved away from the lot. Only Zich, L, and Marilyn stood in the center.


    “Are you both ready?”


    “Yes!” Marilyn gripped her staff and shouted.


    “Me too,” L said.


    “I’m sure you both know this, but the purpose of this duel is to test Marilyn’s skills. I hope both of you don’t go too overboard.”


    “I understand, sir!” Marilyn answered loudly, and L nodded.


    “I will intervene if the situation looks like it’s getting too dangerous,” Zich said and turned around to back away. However, as if he had just suddenly thought of something, he turned back around and said, “L.”


    “Huh?”


    “Go easy on her.”


    “Okay,” she answered. No matter how amazing Marilyn was, she couldn’t be stronger than L by any means. In addition, a curse caster tended to be weak in directbat. Yet, Marilyn wanted to protest.


    “Sir Zich, do you think I will lose?” She puffed out her cheek. “Even though Ms. L is a hero and an amazing mage, I am also a worthy opponent!”


    In situations like this, most people would have tried to make the other party’s mood better withforting lines, but Zich was firm.


    “Still, I’m sure L is stronger than you,” he said. His belief seemed resolute, and a gust of wind blew around L’s face. She tilted her head and wondered, ‘Why is my mood good again?’


    Inparison, Marilyn’s cheeks were more puffed up than before. Nevertheless, Zich indifferently stomped to where his disciples were. Only Marilyn and L remained in the center. Marilyn pouted her lips as if she was dissatisfied, but as if she wasn’t genuinely angry, she soon stretched out her hands to L while smiling. “Hope we have a good fight.”


    “Me too.” L grabbed Marilyn’s hands.


    Then, Marilyn added, “Like Sir Zich said, please go easy on me.”


    “I thought that disgruntled you.”


    “Although I am confident in my abilities, it’s not to the point that Ick self-awareness. Furthermore, it’s true that ck mages are weak in head-to-head battlespared to traditional mages. I just wanted to joke a bit.” Marilyn smiled widely. She was truly a bright person, and L couldn’t help but also smile.


    “You must really like Zich.”


    “Ehehe, although it hasn’t been long since I’ve seen him, I am already head-over-heels for him.”


    L was already aware of this, but for some reason, she couldn’t exin the reason why her smile faltered slightly.


    “What about you, Ms. L?”


    “…Sorry?” L asked.


    As if she was sharing secrets, Marilyn lowered her voice and asked, “Do you love Sir Zich too, Ms. L?” Marilyn looked serious. L opened her mouth to deny it immediately. The word love didn’t fit at all in her rtionship with Zich. He would also probably smirk and deny it immediately. But what was the reason? No words came out of her mouth.


    In the meantime, Marilyn continued, “You guys share a special rtionship with each other among everyone else. I couldn’t help but be conscious of it.” Perhaps, she had felt this way since Zich and L shared many secrets such as the regression, Clowon, Glen Zenard, and so on.


    “So, how do you feel?” Marilyn asked almost insistently. L opened her mouth to answer when—


    “Widen your distance!” L heard Zich yell from the farthest corner of the lot. L sped her mouth shut.


    “I will hear the answerter?” Marilyn winked sweetly and walked away like Zich told them to. L stared at her for a moment before she began to widen the distance between them too. Then, with a good amount of space in front of them, they faced each other. Even if this was a light duel to test Marilyn’s skills, real magic would pass back and forth between them, and the two looked quite nervous. Then, Zich threw a rock. It flew between L and Marilyn as they stared at it.


    <i>Thud! </i>The rocknded on the floor, and L and Marilyn simultaneously moved.


    <i>Pop! </i>L made the first move. A fireball the size of a fist shot up from the ends of her staff. Marilyn''s face looked stunned to see L perform magic with no incantation or preparatory movements at such an exceedingly fast speed. She quickly moved her body away.


    <i>Crasssh! </i>The fireball flew forward and collided against a tree. The tree broke in half and fell over. In the severed area, sparks burned up and scattered ck ashes.


    <i>Pop! Pop! Pop! </i>More fireballs shot up from L’s staff. There were three of them this time. One of them was aimed at Marilyn while the other two flew in the direction where she would most likely escape to. Yet, Marilyn hadpleted her own spell. ck smoke formed around her surroundings.


    <i>Pswhhh! </i>The mes that collided with the ck smoke greatly decreased in size andpletely disappeared. L shot out a couple more fireballs. However, all it did was shake the ck smoke and did not deal direct damage to Marilyn. At the same time, Marilyn began chanting another spell.


    <i>Whoosh! </i>A green light passed through the ck smoke and stretched out; this was Marilyn’s specialty. L didn’t know what its specific effects were, but it was clear that getting hit by it wouldn’t be good. L stretched out her thumb.


    <i>Crackle! </i>A bright yellow light pierced the green light, and the flying green light disappeared without a trace.


    “Ahh!” L heard Marilyn’s shout from inside the ck smoke. Marilyn hadn’t expected that her curse would be easily nullified by one shot of L’s magic. However, Marilyn was also not an easy opponent. She was only startled for a moment and immediately began casting a new spell.


    <i>Flutter! </i>L heard thousands of thin pairs of wings pping. Something that looked like another cloud of smoke came out from inside the ck smoke. However, it was not smoke.


    “They’re bugs.” Hans carefully assessed them. Elena stood next to him, and she flinched after Hans said that they were bugs.


    Thousands of bugs pped their wings with a bone-chilling sound and rushed towards L. She frowned in disgust, but that was the extent of her emotion. There was no hesitation in her movements.


    <i>Crackle! </i>mes rose from beneath L’s feet and crawled through the ground like a snake. The bugs’ bodies suddenly grew as the mes approached them.


    <i>Bang! </i>A huge pir of fire stretched throughout the entire space. The bright red me stretched out its red tongue everywhere as if it was trying to consume everything in its surroundings.


    <i>Whoosh! </i>Nothing remained except for ck soot where the fire pir disappeared. Of course, this was also true for the bugs.


    “Tch!” Marilyn clicked her tongue. The ck smoke surrounding her had be very faint due to L’s continuous attacks. If a few more fireballs hit it, the remainder of it wouldpletely disappear.


    Marilyn began uttering spells again, and she took out a few small bottles from her pocket. L stared at them with a keen eye.


    ‘They’re potions.’ They were not healing potions made in temples. They were probably potions containing all kinds of curses with terrible effects.


    <i>Caw! </i>L heard a loud bird cry from the sky. When she looked up, ten crows were spinning in the sky. One of them came flying down towards Marilyn.


    <i>Grab! </i>The crow tightly grabbed onto the potion that Marilyn gave to it and began flying again. When L was about to shoot a magic arrow toward the crow, a swarm of bugs began rushing toward her again. There were now five swarms of bugs.


    “Now that we’ve warmed up, let’s officially get started!”


    L heard Marilyn’s voice from inside the ck smoke. She mmed her staff on the ground and said with a level-headed voice, “As much as you want.”


    <i>Baaaaaam!</i>


    mes began erupting from beneath L’s feet. However, these mes were on apletely different level from when L burned one swarm of bugs. The swarm of bugs quickly turned their trajectory to avoid the mes. However, the mes swept towards the bugs like an eagle chasing down its prey.


    <i>Crackle! </i>The five swarms of bugs became a pile of ashes once again. However, Marilyn didn’t back down and called out more bugs. The crows began spinning above L’s head. It seemed as if Marilyn had nned to spill the potion on her at the right time.


    ‘It’s a bit bothersome.’ L was about to drop the crows when she felt her body suddenly be heavy.


    ‘Is it a curse?’ Her eyes moved towards the ck smoke where Marilyn probably was.


    “Weak curses can be cast even from a distance!”


    L could hear Marilyn’s triumphant voice from inside the ck smoke. She noticed a few more things that had changed about her body. Her five senses declined, and the flow of mana in her body twisted. They were not serious problems, but considering that she was in the midst of battle, it was not something to take lightly either. Marilyn used this opportunity to go on the offensive.


    <i>Wiiiiing! </i>The bugs rushed toward L without any consideration for their bodies.


    <i>Driip! </i>From above, the crows opened the potions with their mouths and dropped them.


    <i>Bam! Bam! </i>Green light burst out of Marilyn’s ck smoke. It also seemed as if Marilyn had decided to increase her defenses as the ck smoke grew even bigger in size and approached L. L might be injured by this attack. Hans and Snoc watched the battle anxiously, and Elena tightly clutched her two hands. Only Zich was indifferent to this sight.


    L moved her mouth for the first time to say a spell. In an instant, she was able to utter a spell at an incredibly fast speed.


    <i>Crassssssssh! </i>It was an explosion of mes. Therge pir of me centered around L literally evaporated the falling potions and crows circling over her head. The bugs were also swallowed up by the bright red mes, and curses of light were not able to pierce through the mes. When the pir of me disappeared, the only thing left was Marilyn’s ck smoke.


    “Hyaaaaat!” Marilyn suddenly burst out of the ck smoke. She raised her staff high up andunched a self-propelled charge. In a way, it was a great ambush that utilized the ck smoke she had expanded tounch her previous attack. If her opponent had been an ordinary mage, this type of attack might have worked.


    However, her opponent was L.


    <i>Tap! </i>L smacked the staff away with one smooth motion and grabbed onto Marilyn’s cor.


    “Huh? What?” L’s hand dragged Marilyn. Unable to properly retaliate, Marilyn was thrown to the ground.


    “Ack!” Tears started streaming out of her eyes from the pain that shot up from her back. When Marilyn managed to open her eyes, L’s staff was pointed right at her.


    “I won, didn’t I?” L calmly dered her victory.