Chapter 166: The Battle Continues
The two of them had already exchanged over a hundred punches, and the fight was getting more and more intense. Soon, they were no longer satisfied with just trading blows and began a full-on close-quarters brawl. Straight punches, left hooks, right hooks, uppercuts, front kicks, sidekicks, and roundhouses all came in a flurry. Both of them were now sporting bruises from the exchange.
"Don't hit the face!" Gildarts yelled, as a left hook from Noah connected and his cheek immediately started to swell.
"Weren't you the one who hit my face first?!" Noah shouted back, a bruise already forming on his own face.
Gildarts just laughed. "That was an accident."
"Do I look like I believe you?" Noah gave him a look of contempt, and the two of them stopped talking.
Suddenly, they both attacked at the same time, each throwing a right hook at the other's face.
"I knew you were aiming for my face," Gildarts said, blocking Noah's punch with his left hand, breathing a sigh of relief.
"You're one to talk, you bastard!" Noah also caught Gildarts' right fist with his left hand and glared at him.
"Hahahahaha—" Gildarts laughed awkwardly for a few moments, and then they both let go. They immediately started fighting again, but this time, the target for both of them was the other's face. Soon, both of their faces were swollen.
Noah, getting tired of this, lifted his right leg for a knee strike. Gildarts responded with a knee strike of his own. Their knees collided in mid-air. BOOM! The resulting shockwave blasted outwards, and they were both pushed back by the force.
Feeling the throbbing pain in his face, Noah decided to heal himself. "Enchantment: Self-Healing Ability Boost!"
After the spell was cast, the swelling on his face began to slowly subside.
"Hey, hey, hey! How can you do that?! Hurry up and hit me with one of those too!" Gildarts, his face looking like a pig's head, shouted at him.
Noah just laughed and shook his head. "I think you look great like this."
Without waiting for a reply, he clapped his hands together, and a massive magic circle appeared behind him. "Ice-Make: Ice God's Spear!"
A giant spear made of ice materialized and then shot towards Gildarts. Seeing the massive projectile approach, Gildarts didn't dodge but met it with a head-on punch. After a brief stalemate, with a loud BANG!, the ice spear was shattered by his Crash magic, but he himself had been pushed back a fair distance by its momentum.
"Ice-Make: Ice Dragon!"
While Gildarts was dealing with the spear, Noah was already preparing his next attack. The moment the spear shattered, a massive ice dragon, dozens of meters long, with the features of various beasts—the horns of a deer, the head of a camel, the eyes of a rabbit, the neck of a snake, the belly of a clam, the scales of a fish, the claws of an eagle, the paws of a tiger, and the ears of an ox—slithered out and lunged at him.
Gildarts' expression tightened. This ice dragon felt completely different from the spear; it was much stronger. He gathered his magic in his right hand and punched out to meet it. The two attacks collided in the air, and a fierce wind blasted outwards, cracking the ice below. Gildarts' feet sank as the ice shattered beneath him, forming a large crater and sending shards flying in all directions.
They were in a stalemate for a couple of seconds before Gildarts increased his magic output, the power in his fist intensifying. BANG! The ice dragon finally couldn't take it anymore and was disintegrated into small ice cubes, which then completely vanished.
After shattering the dragon, Gildarts looked up and saw Noah's magic power surging, the overflow creating gusts of wind that washed over him. His expression turned grim; he knew Noah was about to unleash an even stronger spell. So he too began to gather his magic. The gales from their combined power clashed in the air, and the atmosphere and the ice field itself trembled.
The distant guild members also felt the pressure, and their expressions all turned serious. Even the usually hyperactive Natsu was watching the duel with a tense look on his face.
"Ice-Make: Ice Giant!"
A massive head made of ice rose from beneath Noah's feet, lifting him into the air. It was followed by a neck, a torso, and limbs. Finally, a 100-meter-tall ice giant stood before Gildarts. Even the distant spectators could see it.
"That kind of shaping magic... Noah has already found his own 'form'. He's entered a new stage on his path," Ur said with a sigh.
Are we really learning the same magic? Lyon muttered to himself. In the years since he had joined the guild, he had been beaten down by various members, especially Erza, Mirajane, and Ultear. He had witnessed the strength of Gildarts, Noah, and Laxus. All of his previous arrogance was gone, beaten out of him. He was now very humble. After all, even his own master was constantly working hard, and the others his age who were stronger than him were working even harder. What did he have to be proud of? But now, he was once again in a state of existential crisis. He was only a year younger than Noah at most, but was the gap in their strength really this big? Forget the 100-meter-tall ice giant; he couldn't even make the ice dragon from before. The most he could manage was the ice spear.
"I also think it's ridiculous," Gray added from the side. "But after getting beaten up so many times, I've just come to accept it." He had sparred with Noah so many times that he was completely numb to it. Seeing such an absurd display no longer surprised him.
"Mama, can you do that?" Ultear asked Ur.
"I can," she replied after a moment's thought, "but that kind of shape is not my specialty, so its power would be much weaker. And my magic power doesn't support that kind of extravagance." Ur's own magic was very high in both quality and quantity, but there was still a gap between her and Noah or Gildarts. Such a massive construct wasn't suitable for her; the magic cost to create and maintain it was simply too high. Besides, she had already formed her own fighting style. At most, she would learn a few of his more suitable techniques, but the overall framework wouldn't change.
"Alright, it's continuing over there," Ur said, looking back at the battle.
Ultear and the others immediately refocused their attention. The giant ice figure raised its right fist and brought it down towards Gildarts.
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