Azeroth Monster Manual

“Bang, bang, bang.”

The sound of fists hitting flesh echoed in the empty arena, accompanied by the human mage's wild laughter and the elf's faint moans, gradually silencing the entire arena.

Kainar lay on the ground, covered in blood, twitching slightly, but this did not bring mercy or a halt from the human mage.

The bloodlust rooted in his bones made Kexilem increasingly twisted. He swung his fists, striking the elf's face, chest, and abdomen relentlessly, until his hands were covered in blood.

“Huff, huff.”

The human mage panted, raising his blood-stained fists to examine them closely, then emitting an eerie laugh.

“Hehe, hehe, hahahahaha.”

The sinister, morbid laughter echoed in the arena. Even the dwarves, who had been furious at the death of their compatriot, stopped cursing, unable to bear the sight of the elf's misery.

… …

“Mommy, will he die?”

The little girl whispered, afraid to look at the cruel scene below. Her mother had a complex expression, forcefully covering her eyes.

The previously silent audience suddenly erupted in noisy discussion.

“That elf… has already demonstrated his courage.”

Mel, the dwarven woman who had been shouting the loudest, inexplicably said these words to her companions.

“Indeed, he is a true gladiator.”

Her companions lowered their heads, seemingly lost in thought, but unanimously agreed with Mel's statement.

Time slowly passed, and the elf's painful moans became almost inaudible, until…

“Let him go!”

A little boy shouted at the arena, but his voice was ultimately too small, soon drowned out by the clamor.

“Let him go…”

The boy shouted again. This time, he was no longer alone. Gradually, companions around him joined in the cry.

“Yes, let him go, you coward!”

“Let him go, you bastard who only knows how to pick up scraps! You are not worthy to stain the life of that warrior!”

“Yes, let him go quickly!”

… …

The little boy's voice gradually grew from one person to two, ten, a hundred, until… everyone.

People no longer looked at the dying elf with prejudiced eyes. His efforts and wisdom had earned him everyone's recognition.

“Let him go!”

“Let him go!”

“Let him go!”

The unified roar was like a rushing torrent, washing over Kexilem's eardrums again and again.

“What a bunch of annoying flies.”

The human mage's twisted face became increasingly狰狞. He was tired of this weak torment. It was time to end it all.

An icy blue light rapidly coalesced, and an ice spike shimmering with cold light appeared in Kexilem's hand.

He held the ice spike against the elf's throat but didn't rush to stab it. Instead, he cast a sound amplification spell.

“All of you, shut up!”

The human mage's voice became loud under the effect of the sound amplification spell, immediately silencing the roaring audience.

“You really want him to live?”

The mocking voice was met with the audience's angry curses and a hail of rotten apples and empty wine bottles.

“You coward, you are not worthy to win this match! You have defiled the honorable gladiatorial contest!”

Mel roared with all her might.

“Alright, alright, this year's audience is really hard to please.”

Kexilem stood up, ignoring the dying elf, and continued speaking.

“Since you want me to spare his life, and as a member of the Kirin Tor, I will of course listen to the people's opinions. So, let me ask our client, is he willing to admit defeat?”

After saying this, he squatted down, using all his mocking ability to lift the elf up and bring his ear close to the elf's chapped lips, making a listening gesture.

“Poor little elf, are you willing to admit defeat to the great Kexilem? This is the only opportunity that the dear audience has fought for you.”

Beneath Kexilem's smiling face lay coldness and morbidity. He had already made a decision. Even if this weak and pathetic elf begged for mercy, he would end his life without hesitation.

Kainar slightly opened his comically swollen eyes. He tried to bring his lips close to Kexilem's ear, seemingly wanting to say something.

“Ah, my ear!”

Kexilem, who had originally been confident of victory, threw the elf violently to the ground, screaming shrilly. He squatted on the ground in pain, his hands trembling as he covered his left ear. A stream of blood dripped slowly through his fingers.

“Heh… heh, haha, hahahaha.”

Kainar, lying on the ground, seemed to use all his strength to spit out half of his ear from his mouth. Under the effect of the sound amplification spell, all the audience heard the elf's heavy breathing and joyful laughter.

“How dare you, how dare you, you filthy worm! I will freeze you in eternal ice, and cut your flesh piece by piece.”

Kexilem staggered to his feet like a madman. The dripping blood no longer flowed, and the missing half of his left ear froze under the effect of ice magic.

The violent magical fluctuations swirled in the arena as if tangible. Kainar struggled to sit up, supporting himself with his only unbroken left arm.

Snow began to fall throughout the arena, and the chaotic arcane magic instantly transformed into ice magic.

Antonidas let out a barely perceptible sigh of relief, and a hint of a smile appeared on his previously stiff face.

“That bastard… is finally getting serious.”

… …

A huge ice tornado coiled around Kexilem, and the violet emblem on his forehead flickered slightly, indicating that he had activated some kind of amplifying magic item.

Kainar's lower body was instantly frozen, and no matter how he struggled, the hard ice did not show a single crack.

Kexilem frantically chanted incantations, and crystal clear ice spikes gradually formed, one, two, until three.

Supermagic [Ice Shatter] triggered {Your frost spells cast on frozen targets gain double the critical strike chance}

“Die!”

With a loud shout, the three ice crystal prisms entwined with wind and snow generated tremendous kinetic energy, spinning towards the elf.

Five-ring frost mage inscribed spell [Blizzard] released!

The audience in the stands all let out hurried exclamations at this scene. Some timid adventurers even covered their eyes, unable to watch the tragedy that was about to unfold.

“Bang, bang, bang.”

After three loud booms, the entire arena fell silent.

Kexilem felt somewhat dizzy, and a layer of fine sweat oozed from his forehead. This quasi-epic spell had almost exhausted all of his magic power.

He was not usually such a reckless person, but that damn elf had cost him half an ear. No matter how cruel and powerful the spell was, it was not too much to use on that lowly worm.

Kexilem wiped away the sweat, straightened his body, and scanned the audience with a distorted expression. The audience, who had been passionately excited, immediately quieted down, not daring to meet the bloodthirsty high-level mage's gaze.

But no one noticed that the central magic circuit of his [Silken Robes of the Cruel Gladiator] was flashing with rice-grain-sized red light.

… …

“I - am - the…”

Kexilem raised one hand, looking down at the VIP席 where the elf was, as if provoking him, saying word by word.

“You… are not.”

The intermittent voice caused Kexilem's last words to get stuck in his throat, unable to be spoken.

The ice mist dissipated, and the golden shield around Kainar slowly disappeared. The weak elf actually stood up little by little.

“This is… the Limited Invincibility Belt?”

Romans said in disbelief, then shook his head as if denying it, muttering.

“Impossible, the shield of the Limited Invincibility Belt can only withstand a full blow from a mid-level mage, how could it be…”

“Limited Invincibility Belt 2.0, can withstand a full blow from a high-level mage. It's a game I made in my spare time, I didn't expect it to come in handy…”

After saying this, the boy no longer paid attention to the elves' reactions, and continued to observe Kainar on the arena with a solemn expression.

… …

"Why, why, you tenacious cockroach, why won't you die?"

Kexilem's eyes were bloodshot, and he used his remaining mana to condense ice spears, a dense rain of them surrounding him.

"Metamagic [Ice Lance]!"

With Kexilem's roar, ice spears, with triple damage from metamagic, shot one after another towards the trembling elf.

"Pfft!"

"Pfft!"

"Pfft!"

Kainar, already covered in wounds, had thumb-sized bloody holes erupt all over his body.

The elf didn't dodge, perhaps simply lacking the strength. His chapped lips trembled slightly, squeezing the last drops from his depleted mana pool.

A faint orange glow flickered on Kexilem's robes, only to be met with the human mage's wild laughter.

"Out of tricks? Foolish elf, don't you understand what I'm wearing? Haha, and your weak, laughable [Scorch] is just tickling me?"

Kexilem laughed maniacally as he propelled the suspended ice spears.

The faint orange glow still flickered on the human mage, but Kexilem simply snorted dismissively and ignored it.

The [Silk Robes of the Cruel Gladiator] that Archmage had gifted him were enough to block all ordinary spells below the 6th circle.

…

The bloody holes continued to spread on Kainar's body, but the tenacious man only retreated slightly, not falling. Even the heavy groans he had been making ceased. He stubbornly repeated the weak spell, again and again.

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

…

Each time Kexilem roared, another bloody hole would appear on Kainar's collapsing, fragile body.

Time slowly passed. Many were already in tears, covering their mouths, unable to speak. Even the boisterous dwarven matron secretly wiped the tears from her eyes, muttering something under her breath.

Perhaps the pride in her heart, the hero in her heart, was no longer the hastily dismissed dwarven mage, Afus. Alfamei. The hero in her heart had become the sissy, soft elf she often mocked.

That man's name was… Kainar. Sunflame.

"Die!"

"Di…"

Kexilem waved his arms frantically, but the ice spears around him were all gone. The human mage suddenly felt a sense of panic. Perhaps realizing the birth of this weak emotion, he shook his head vigorously, deliberately revealing a morbidly twisted smile.

But Kainar saw in those flickering eyes that this human, he… was afraid.

"Haha, haha, so what if I have no mana left? Do you still have the strength to cast a more powerful spell? Foolish elf, the moment my mana pool is replenished is the day you die!"

Kexilem seemed to think of something, and said to the still-casting elf with a fierce expression.

Metamagic [Awaken] activated.

The human mage raised a hand fanatically, and immediately a deep blue mana storm began to swirl. The originally depleted mana pool also began to slowly replenish.

Just as Kexilem was fantasizing about how to torture and kill this damned elf to win everyone's awe after his mana recovered, the mana storm suddenly disappeared.

Kexilem stood there blankly, staring in astonishment at the trace of mana debris remaining in his hand.

"This is… how is this possible, how is this possible…"

He looked at the elven mage in disbelief. Kainar Sunflame was slowly retracting his palm, and coincidentally, a trace of arcane debris remained in his hand as well.

"Spell Counter… it's actually Spell Counter… Why… you…"

Kexilem seemed unwilling to believe it, repeating garbled words.

After a long time, as if regaining his sanity, his dim eyes suddenly brightened.

The human mage dragged his tired body slowly towards Kainar.

"It doesn't matter… it doesn't matter… Hehe… Hehe… Haha, the final victor must be me."

In a series of disordered and garbled mutterings, the human mage began to accelerate. The originally slow steps became a little staggered, but the speed began to increase.

Desperately squeezing the trace of mana just restored by [Awaken], a short ice spike appeared in the human mage's hand. Seeing the elf's figure getting closer and closer, a bloodthirsty smile appeared on his lips.

In contrast, Kainar was still unwillingly casting [Scorch]. The human mage's robes were still as clean as new, not suffering the slightest damage from his weak spell.

…

"Die, you lowly maggot!"

Kexilem's mouth was filled with the smile of a victor. His arm slowly raised, the short ice spike shining with a sharp, cold light under the magical spotlight.

"Bang!"

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

The ice spike in the human mage's hand stopped in front of the elf's chest, unable to advance an inch.

A handful of blazing white flames ignited on his chest, and soon spread to his entire body.

"Impossible… Why?"

Kexilem rolled frantically on the ground, but the small flames on his body began to burn violently as if they had encountered gasoline.

The human mage frantically squeezed his mana, but the insignificant ice magic had no effect on the 4000° high-temperature blazing flames.

"Save… save me!"

Kexilem, his entire body turned into a torch, reached out a hand towards the elf, seemingly wanting to grab something.

But before long, that charred arm was also burned to ashes in the raging flames, leaving only a handful of black ash.

"Idiot!"

Antonidas smashed the vase on the table, cast a teleportation spell without saying a word, and left. Modera stood aside, silent as a cicada in winter. She saw long-lost rage and gloom on the Archmage's face.

…

"That pig farmer…"

Aier turned his head to look at the Grand Magister with a hint of a smile in his eyes.

"I mean that elf named Kainar, he… why…"

Seeming to realize that he had said something wrong, Romans was a little embarrassed, but the curiosity in his heart made him couldn't help but ask.

"When that human mage cast [Blizzard], Kainar wasn't idle either. Not only did he activate the Limited Invincibility Belt at a critical moment…"

"He also secretly cast his newly invented fifth-circle spell on the human mage in that instant when the ice mist filled the air…"

Aier paused, thought for a moment, and continued: "The smartest thing he did was that he understood that the magic resistance of that gladiator's robe was terrifyingly high, so he accurately released that magic in the center of the robe's core circuit."

"What exactly is that spell?"

Kelsas asked curiously.

"Kainar once told me that the name of that magic is… Combustion."

Metamagic [Combustion]: After activation, each time you cast a damage-based fire spell, the burst damage of Combustion will stack by 10%.

"And I just counted carefully, that guy Kainar… released Scorch a total of 37 times."

The elven boy said with admiration, causing everyone to stare in stunned silence.

"So… so to say, that human mage was burned to death by 370% Combustion?"

Romans stammered, never expecting that one day a small fifth-circle mage could create a metamagic spell that would drop the Grand Magister's jaw.

"That's right, stop spacing out, Hermit, quickly save people."

"Alrighty."

…

There was no light or darkness in Kainar's eyes. In his blurred vision, the figure of his father appeared first, then John, and finally fixed on the boy's radiant smiling face.

"For… Aier."

In the last second of the amplification spell, the elven mage said this sentence before falling backward.

PS: Combined chapters, battle scenes are really difficult to write!