Second World

"Why do you say that?" Four Winds asked.

"It's still a slim chance, though," Jack said. "Never mind that. As we said before, we will just do our best."

Four Winds didn't push further. Inside his mind, Jack was conversing with the hidden Peniel, "I have been wondering. That Roho guy can dual-cast. His off-hand casting uses a magic glove, the same as Duke Alfredo. Can I cast spells using that kind of magic gloves as well? I mean, if I can, I will be able to equip two swords properly without relying on the Magic Weapon spell."

"You can cast using magic gloves. However, any weapon you wield will be considered null. You won't get any effect from the weapon's ability and when you hit using that weapon, the produced damage won't calculate the weapon's damage stat."

"Oh... I guess I'm stuck with the Magic Weapon spell then," Jack said

Inside the arena, the battle continued fiercely. The armored basilisk was more than a match for the two treants. Mkulme was dominating Kilio with fast movements. His karambits kept on slashing Kilio whose heavy maul had difficulty landing a blow. Kilio's steel body mitigated the damage, though, allowing him to endure.

As for Roho, after exposing his dual casting ability, his off-hand hand continued erecting the magic shield for protection while the staff in his main hand cast a different spell. Roho's magic shield was larger and sturdier than normal, all the flying knives that hit the shield were deflected.

Roho completed his spell and three tall earth walls came out of the ground around Tumwa, confining her the way they confined Jiwe Sharpstone in the previous match.

After imprisoning Tumwa, Roho turned to look at his other two opponents. He was still thinking about whether to aid Kilio or his treants when he heard a hissing sound from where his earth walls were.

He turned back and saw a black spot appear on one of the earthen walls. A flaring red ring surrounded that black spot, and it was enlarging.

Realizing what was happening, he hurriedly cast another spell.

When the black spot grew to a certain size, it burst into flame. The flame burst continued as if there was a flamethrower behind that earth wall. The flame finally died down and a large hole was sported on that earth wall. Tumwa was seen behind that hole.

Roho completed his casting. A man-eating plant appeared right in front of the hole. If Tumwa wanted to come out of the hole, she would be snatched by that man-eating plant.

Tumwa lifted his left hand. Everyone just noticed then that the glove on that hand also had a power stone. The power stone glowed and a spell formation appeared.

"She can cast spells as well?" Jack uttered in surprise. She had sported the abilities from the hidden weapon specialist, has a pet, and was now a spell caster as well. She was a very versatile combatant.

Her spell was completed and the man-eating plant burst into flames. It was the Immolation spell. Jack recognized it because Master had used the spell before on Peniel, except Tumwa's was more powerful.

The man-eating plant was engulfed in fire. It convulsed and uttered a shrill sound. It was obviously in pain. It had a strong weakness against fire.

While the plant was quivering, Tumwa jumped out of the hole. The plant still tried to bite Tumwa despite the burning, but its reaction was late because of its pain. Tumwa made a roll and escaped the plant's scope. The plant was not a mobile creature. Once the target was away, it became practically useless.

Roho cast another spell when Tumwa was escaping the plant. It was completed then and the ground below Tumwa shook. The ground then broke apart. Large pieces of the ground tilted up randomly. Those pieces then slammed down on Tumwa.

Tumwa had been moving once the ground shook. Despite the earthquake, her running was not affected. Even when the ground broke and tilted. She ran and jumped around the pieces as if she could predict which parts of the ground broke earlier and which parts broke later. With that intuition, she expertly dodged the ground pieces that broke and fell on her.

"She has mana sense," Four Winds said.

"That is not strange, she is a mythical grade," Jack replied.

Tumwa was throwing her flying knives even as she was running around the fluctuating ground, and her aim was uncannily accurate despite the situation. This forced Roho to again erect a magic shield for defense while his other hand cast another spell.

While throwing her knives, Tumwa was also casting a quick spell. Multiple flame bolts shot out once her spell was completed. With a large number of flying knives and flame bolts coming at him, Roho was forced to continue being on his edge because he had to adjust his magic shield around to deflect those projectiles. This caused the spell casting on his other hand to slow down.

With the chaos, Roho didn't notice that a boomerang flew by his side. This boomerang made a U-turn and struck his back. His concentration was still solid enough that the spell formation he was forming didn't break. However, he lost his balance due to the back attack and his magic shield was lowered.

Tumwa capitalized on this and unleashed Concealed Needle, another Hidden Weapon Specialist's skill. Thirty almost invisible needles flew at Roho from different angles. Roho was unable to block them all. He was struck and inflicted with Paralyze effect. The spell formation on his staff broke then.

Tumwa didn't relent. She had escaped the turbulent ground area. She continued throwing flying knives which caused the Bleed effect. Among the flying knives, some small pellets were spotted. When these pellets hit Roho, they exploded, inflicting him with Disoriented status.

Afflicted by so many status effects, Roho had trouble reacting.

Kilio saw Roho's predicament. He made a large swing that caused a strong shockwave that forced Mkulme back. He then used Charge, rushing over to Tumwa who continued to chase Roho while throwing her flying knives.

Once arriving, Kilio swung his large flaming maul at Tumwa. Tumwa skillfully dodged to the side while tapping the maul's shaft to redirect its swing, before making a spin kick that accurately struck Kilio's head, sending him sprawling.

"My goodness! She also knows martial arts," Jack uttered.