Taming My Vampire Servant - Chapter 178

An hour quickly passed, and Principal Arthurdane checked on the Blue Gem section. When he confirmed that all first round winners were already complete in the resting area, he started to announce the next battle.

“The second round…” he read the scroll given by Educator Alphonse.

Murmurs among the Masters and Servants could be heard as they nervously waited for the next competitors. As Educator Rosanna looked at where they were seated, most of them averted their gazes away from him.

“Miss Ivory Sprucemint and Mister Asher Riclett! Please come on stage!”

There was a loud cheer from the audience as the two of them, together with their respective Servants, walked up to the stage and stood at the middle part of it.

Principal Arthurdane grabbed a marble from the bowl. It was colored brown. “The terrain is… Forest!”

Educator Heidi of the Defense Class, with her large corundum Golem Servant beside her, said with a big smile, “I shall lead the creation of the terrain. Please do not move even though the ground will shake!”

“Yes, ma’am!” Ivory and Asher yelled.

Seconds later, they felt the shaking of the ground beneath their feet. They crouched and balanced themselves as the arena slowly changed. A slope of land rose up above and numerous cypress trees emerged from the soil.

Afterwards, Educator Heidi explained, “The rules of the second round will be the same as the first round. It will also only last for thirty minutes. As for this Forest terrain, there is a quagmire underneath. If one Master or one Servant falls, it would be their loss!”

Then, loud horns played, indicating that they may already start their battle.

Asher was positioned on a higher slope than Ivory’s.

Ivory and Sigmund were the first to charge at Asher and his tree Nymph Servant Rosetta.

But in contrast to their movements, Asher and Rosetta moved backwards, creating a distance between them. He then casted Earth magic and formed a high wall, blocking Ivory and Sigmund’s sight. While he was materializing his level 3 weapon, he ordered his Servant, “Rosetta, go now.”

“Yes, Master,” she moved to the side and entangled her roots onto one of the trees.

Using Air magic, Asher jumped up the tree branch and waited for Ivory and Sigmund to break the sturdy Earth wall and pass by.

As soon as Ivory and Sigmund walked in front of that tree, Asher released his weapon.

Sigmund was the first to hear the whirling sounds of Asher’s weapon, “Watch out!” he yelled, pulling Ivory onto him.

The slope and the intensity of his pull made them stumble and roll down the ground, while also hitting some of the roots of the cypress trees. They knew that if it continued, they might reach the far end, which was a quagmire!

Ivory enveloped her Silverblade mana onto her normal mana and used Air magic in wind form to raise them up. Thankfully, they landed safely onto the ground.

Sitting casually on the high tree’s branch, Asher raised his hand and grabbed his three-sided boomerang with polished elephant tusk on the sides. He stared at them not wanting to give them any chance to do something behind his back.

“Sigmund… We are at a disadvantage,” Ivory murmured while patting the dirt off her armor.

“I know. I can sense his Earth-type mana,” Sigmund responded. “Aside from that, his Nymph Servant is a freaking tree Nymph.”

“Mister Riclett knows what he’s doing. He knew that once we got a hold of him, we would not let him escape. Plus, his boomerang works when he’s at a distance, that’s why he tried hard to keep us away.”

He nodded, “And look, he’s not even doing anything, he’s just watching us,” he glared at his direction.

“Okay, let us think about that certain technique that we developed specifically for the Forest terrain,” Ivory suggested. “Now I wonder if it would actually work. I can imagine it working if I used the magic theories as references, but if we are up against Asher and his tree Nymph Servant, I do not know if it would still be as effective as I could imagine it to be.”

“We can only try, then,” Sigmund said.

“Okay, let’s meet at the top of this sloped forest.”

After talking about their next move, the two of them decided to go uphill, but in separate ways.

Sigmund ran to his left, while Ivory to the right. They still needed to assess the situation. Because they did not know Asher that well, they did not know what his personality and temperance were like. They could not guess if he was an aggressive or a patient person.

The Master-Servant pair continued to run up ahead, avoiding the trees in front of them. On Ivory’s side, she was able to run upwards without any distractions.

Unfortunately, on Sigmund’s side, it was not the case. As soon as he reached a certain point, roots of the cypress trees suddenly moved and came after him!

Good thing that his heightened hearing helped him be extra sensitive to the rustling sounds, and it enabled the Vampire Servant to move backwards and backwards, dodging the restless roots.

The movement of the other trees surrounding him stopped when he reached a certain distance. This made Sigmund guess that the ability to control trees was only done in a limited distance from a certain point.

‘It must be related to the tree nymph’s position,’ he thought.

Concentrating on collecting a subtle amount of heat, he used Fire magic to mark on the small grasses and tree barks. He went to and fro, not stopping until he deduced by its shape that it’s a large circle away from where Rosetta could control trees.

Just when Sigmund had already figured out the safe distance without the trees under Rosetta’s control, Asher’s boomerang came flying towards him.

“Shit!” Sigmund yelled, and he ran in zigzag to avoid it.

The tricky thing about Asher’s boomerang was that it could change its direction mid-air, depending on how Asher controlled it. The orange-haired Master had almost the same levels of Wind and Earth-type in his mana, and being in a Forest terrain would certainly be advantageous to him.

Sigmund already knew this, since the boomerang never hit any tree.

Meanwhile, Ivory had already reached the peak of the slanted forest. She scanned the area and since her Servant wasn’t still at their meeting place, she got anxious.

‘Should I go there and help him?’ Ivory contemplated.

If she went there and deviated from the plan, their goal to do their developed Advanced technique might be halted.

However, if she chose to follow their plan and just wait for her Vampire Servant, Sigmund might be forced to use a lot of magic to protect himself.

With a little Air magic assisting her, Ivory climbed one of the trees. She climbed up ’til she reached the tree crown.

The problem was, her ears were acting up again. They were very itchy from time to time, and she regretted that she did not look for a physician prior to the Servant Competition.

“Shit… What the hell… Stupid boomerang…”

Ivory could suddenly hear subtle murmurs of a man’s deep voice, who she recognized as Sigmund. She thought she was hearing things, so she shook her head. Then, his voice was gone once again.

“Geez… What was that?” Ivory murmured with creased brows.

Meanwhile, it was as if Asher was purposely chasing him to make him consume more mana because even a Servant’s movement also costs mana. He was using the advantages of the terrain, his tree Nymph Servant, and his boomerang, all against Sigmund!

The boomerang then whirled back, and it disappeared in Sigmund’s sight. He used that moment to run uphill as fast as he could, hoping to reach Ivory soon.

As he ran, he thought about the current situation. Perhaps, the reason why Asher took back his boomerang was to rest for a while, or perhaps he must be planning to move from his position. Or maybe he was planning another surprise attack?

Whatever it was, Sigmund knew he should not delay their offense anymore. He and Ivory needed to do their grand plan as soon as possible!

When Sigmund reached the peak, Ivory was not there.

“Ivory! Where the heck are you?!” he called loudly.

“Sigmund!” Ivory called from behind as she had just climbed down the tree. She ran towards him. “What took you so long?”

“That boomerang kid-” he shook his head and stared into her light blue irises. “Hey, let’s not waste any time. Let’s do our plan before they plot something else against us.”

She met his gaze and nodded at him.

“Give me your hands!” Sigmund held Ivory’s hand, and the two of them focused on gathering heaps of mana.

“This is all or nothing. You understand that, right?” the Vampire asked his beloved Master.

Ivory replied with determination in her tone, “Yes!”

Seconds later, Sigmund heard the rustling of leaves. “Shit, they’re coming here!”