Chapter 427: Mirrors Of The Heart [Part 2]
Chapter 427: Mirrors Of The Heart [Part 2]
"Oh dear! Oh my! This isn't good!"
Fortis Dud's over-exaggerated response spread within the mirror maze, which now consisted of broken mirrors.
"Officer, we have an offender here!"
"What's the crime?"
"Breaking ladies' hearts of course!
"A capital punishment indeed!"
Fortis Dud's one-sided performance continued, making Ethan feel a headache.
Truth be told, even though he knew that they weren't real, he was still reluctant to hit his lovers. Because of this, he targeted the mirrors on the wall, making their clones disappear on the spot.
Deep inside, he was thankful because the mere thought of hitting someone as delicate as Luna and Lilian would weigh on his conscience.
Lily and Nicole could fend off for themselves because, among the women of his acquaintance, they were the strongest when it came to actual fighting.
As for Chloe and Emma, he believed that the two of them were smart enough to avoid his attacks.
This left Ethan no choice but to target the mirrors, instead of the women, resulting in the unexpected result of destroying the mirror maze.
A few minutes later, Fortis Dud stopped joking around and once again addressed Ethan.
"The mirror maze reflects the important people that you hold inside your heart," Fortis Dud explained. "It takes a lot of courage to hurt the people you love, so most of the time, people like to tackle the root of the problem to prevent the problem from escalating.
"As expected of the candidate I have chosen. You not only did you manage to clear the second trial with flying colors, but you also made a mess…"
Fortis Dud said the last part in a dejected manner as if looking at the shattered mirrors on the walls also broke his heart.
The shattered mirrors disappeared, and once again, there were four intersections that appeared in front of him.
But, just as his initial plan, Ethan chose to go to the right side.
As he walked along the path he had chosen. His surroundings suddenly changed. He found himself standing on the surface of a lake.
However, he wasn't alone.
Standing on the opposite side, hundreds of meters away from him was a beautiful woman with long blue hair.
She was looking at Ethan fondly, but instead of feeling warmth, the young man felt an ache in his heart that he couldn't explain.
This was the first time that he had seen this woman in front of him, and yet, his body was reacting.
It was as if he should know who she was, and not knowing her made him feel a sadness that he couldn't describe.
Ethan had a hunch about who she was, but since he couldn't confirm it, all that he could feel was an ache in his heart that didn't want to go away.
A few minutes later, the woman raised her hand and pointed a wand in his direction.
"Aqua Anguis!"
Countless Water Snakes rose from the lake and headed toward Ethan as if they were in a frenzy.
"Aqua Anguis!"
Ethan cast his own spell, manipulating his own Water Snakes to clash with the Water Snakes that were headed in his direction.
After the first wave ended, the blue-haired woman unleashed a barrage of countless Water Balls and Water Spears, forcing the young man to dispel them with his own water spells.
'Now I understand why Fortis Dud asked me to only enter once I had filled up my magical reserves,' Ethan thought.
The water on the lake wasn't real water, so he was unable to manipulate it. However, the Water Spells that the woman was using against him were real.
Truth be told, Ethan wasn't the least bit bothered by Water Spells since he could manipulate them to a certain extent.
But after his exchange with his opponent, he realized something important.
He could only manipulate Water Magic if his proficiency was higher than his opponent's.
If he was fighting against a Master of Water Magic, his strategy to manipulate it wouldn't work, similar to what was happening at the moment.
Ethan knew that this battle couldn't continue in a battle of attrition.
Although his magical reserve was plenty full, he didn't know what kind of challenges he would be facing next, so he wanted to conserve as much of it as possible.
Because of this, he decided to charge forward, while maintaining the momentum of water spells.
When he got closer to the woman, he thrust his trident forward, with the intention of piercing her chest.
But before his trident could land on her body, it was deflected to the side by a crystal sword with a blue blade.
After her successful parry, the woman counterattacked with a stab, which grazed the robe on Ethan's chest.
'I can't underestimate her!' Ethan thought as he blocked the woman's follow-up attack.
At first, he thought that the woman's sword strike was very light since he was easily able to block it.
However, her next attack was significantly heavier, resulting in him taking a step back.
With each exchange between the two of them, Ethan could feel that her blows were getting stronger and stronger.
It was as if every strike strengthened her next attack, stacking up its power.
The sound of two weapons clashing spread in the surroundings as Ethan found himself skidding on the ground for dozens of meters after his recent exchange with the beautiful woman.
His arms holding his trident were also starting to feel numb due to the force of her blow.
'I mustn't block her attack and just focus on dodging and deflecting,' Ethan thought as the woman charged in his direction with a faint smile on her face.
For some reason, Ethan felt that the woman was having fun fighting him, which he immediately rejected.
He knew for a fact that the woman in front of him wasn't real, so why would he think that she was having fun when fighting against him?
As the two continued their deadly dance over the surface of the lake, Ethan realized something.
The lady wasn't just attacking, and moving randomly.
The water around him was glowing faintly.
He had seen something similar in Otto City when Nicole had drawn symbols on different places in the city in order to summon a thunderstorm, allowing Ethan to deal with the Dungeon Outbreak.
When the woman saw that Ethan finally realized what was happening, the smile on her face widened.
Half a minute later, the magic circle she had created on the surface of the lake finally came to life.
Ethan's body flew backward like a kite whose string had been cut as a giant fist made up of water, punched out and hit his chest, sending him flying.