A mana user, such as a mage, if put in front of a dragon, was like comparing an ant with a human! The latter could easily squash the former in seconds.
However, Allen wasn't using the Erchian Dagger during this time.
He observed the mage with a stern expression, and the mage also eyed each of his every movements.
Nobody dared to attack first. The mage didn't dare to as Allen could provavly find an opening from his spells. Allen also didn't take the initiative, as the mage might rain down his spells on him.
The two of them were on a standstill...
In a flicker of a hand, the magic user made his move in a flash. The mage sent out fire energy balls, it was his basic magical attack! Meanwhile, Allen backed off and sent out dagger flashes to intercept the energy balls.
-boom-
The energy balls exploded in contact with Allen's dagger flash, but the latter kept going towards the mage!
The mage noticed the incoming dagger flashes and dodged them one by one. It could already be seen that this mage knew how to battle.
On the other hand, Allen was inwardly joyful, because he now knew that this mage focused on fire type spells.
How did he know? It was because the basic attack of the mage has something to do with fire. For example, if a magician, focused learning on fire spells, the essence of fire would seep into his staff and his basic attack, which was the normal energy ball, would obtain the fire attribute.
The fire element was known for being great at inflicting damage while potentially hurting an enemy for a small period of time.
However, the next thing that occurred made Allen's eyelids twitch. The room noticeably got hotter and hotter, which made the kid sweat profusely.
Meanwhile, the mage grinned and sent out more fire energy balls. This time, they were bigger and faster. The athmospheric condition of the area strengthened the power of the fire energy balls!
The kid immediately dodged the attacks and backed off until his back touched the walls.
-hss-
"Ack...", Allen felt a stinging heat from the walls which made him step away a bit far from it.
If the kid wasn't wearing the enchanted clothes right now, he would have collapsed due to the excessive heat and the part of his body that made contact with the walls would have been burnt.
-fwoosh-
The way back to the previous room was suddenly sealed by a metal door. Making Allen's last path of retreat unavailable.
The mage chanted out a spell and waved his staff towards Allen.
-whoosh-
A wave of fire formed and rushed towards the kid. With the boost of the hot temperature in the surroundings, the flames got brighter and brighter the farther from the mage.
Allen sensed that it became hotter and other as the wave closed in, he knew even if every part of his body was covered with the enchanted clothes, he would still be burned to death.
The kid wasted no time and got out of the way of the wave, but as soon as he got out of the way, another fire wave was coming towards him, which prompted him to dodge it too. However, he didn't notice that the mage has already finished charging his staff and sent out his third spell.
-fwoosh-
The mage sent out a charged fire energy ball, it was his third spell, it might sound simple, but it was more powerful than one could imagine.
Allen didn't have enough time to act and only got to use his arms to block the charged fire energy ball.
-bang-
-hss-
The kid was thrown back towards the wall and felt the wrenching heat of the wall at his back again.
"Hiss..."
Afterwards, Allen fell onto the ground and left a crack on the wall, while his arms felt like it was burning. He thought, 'Why do I always encounter powerful enemies?'
The first time, he encountered Warren and suffered a defeat. The second time, he battled with the barbarian and almost died because of being caught off guard. The third time, was when he encounted the dragon, but survived due to the help of the people from the remnant village.
If one would see in their own eyes, he won most of them. However, in Allen's perspective, he really didn't win any of them through his own strength.
'No... it's because I'm still too weak!', the kid realized.
The reason why he won most of them and was still alive was because there were other people or things to help him, but now, he was alone!
-fwoosh-
The mage sent out three more normal fire energy ball with his staff towards Allen. The kid got to dodge it by rolling on the side and began to stand up, but before he even got to stand, the mage finished casting his last spell.
Magicians at the Mage level could only learn four spells, now, this was his last spell.
Allen was about to prepare to dodge it while still trying to stand up, but then he saw that it wasn't a fire spell when his staff cracked and lightning materialized on it!
Lightning crackled and launched out of the staff towards Allen. Even if he was prepared to dodge it, he wouldn't be able to because lightning spells were typically faster than humans who don't possess great power!
"GAHHH...!", Allen screamed withthe highest pitch of his voice. When the lightning spell was finally over, the kid collapsed to the ground with a thud.
***
Meanwhile, at Three Heads Tavern...
Kate and Drake were taking a rest after their sparring session, at the same time, Mr. Sanchez walked down the stairs while wearing a jacket.
"Master, where are you going?", Drake asked while handing out a mug of beer. "Do you want some?"
"I'm going to take a walk outside. No thanks.", Mr. Sanchez refused to drink.
"Okay, looks like masterpiece is all mine."
"Why do you think Allen was on a hurry earlier?", Kate suddenly asked.
"Probably... because of family problems?", Drake wasn't the one who answered the question, but was Mr. Sanchez.
"I hope he'll be alright then.", Kate said.
"Oh? You're worried about him? Is there something that I don't know?", Drake shamelessly asked.
"What?! No! There's nothing you don't know, but, it's just that, I have a bad feeling, do you think he'll be alright?", Kate asked.
"He'll be alright.", Mr. Sanchez suddenly said.
Kate only nodded while Drake starting to drink the beer.
'He'll be alright...', Mr. Sanchez repeated within his mind and left the building.
***
-tap- -tap- -tap-
That was the noise of the butt of the staff tapping on the ground.
The mage slowly approached Allen, who was lying down with his stomach flat on the floor.
The mage lifted up his staff, and was about to smash Allen's head with it... when the latter suddenly grasped the former's legs.
The mage fell onto the ground when Allen pulled him down, the latter then didn't waste any time and jumped on the former and kept punching him on the face while Firm Fists was activated.
One could imagine how powerful Allen's fists were right now after getting a bit of permanent increase in his constitution from summoning the Erchian Dagger twice while the Firm Fists was activated.
Allen mercilessly kept punching on the mage's face, the latter tried to get hold of his staff but the former kicked it away.
Seeing that his staff was now too far away from his reach, the mage tried to grasped the kid's head in a bid to get into a brawl, however, each time the mage tried to do that, he was punched on his chest.
One had to take a note that a magic user's body was weaker if compared to their counterparts.
The kid didn't stop punching until the mage was knocked out! Some of the mage's teeth were missing, he was also bleeding out of his mouth, while his nose was crooked at bit out of position.
Allen stood up and kicked the mage's body away and huffed out, "Curiousity kills."
Earlier, the mage only planned to smash the back of the kid's head so he could still see who the kid was, however, the said action backfired on him instead.
Don't worry, the mage was still not dead... probably half-dead tho.
Actually, Allen was really knocked out earlier, it was just that his consciousness immediately woke up afterwards.
Their location was still heating up, which forced Allen to go to the corridor leading to the last room of the gambling den.
The kid took out a pill from his pockets and swallowed it. Afterwards, he felt that he was energized to the brim once again.
"Now, I need to have a talk with their leader."