26 Toxic opponent

Alexander and Mark discussed the terms and conditions of their cooperation for quite a while to make it profitable for both of them.

"There is one last thing I need. I am not sure into what level of a gate can I send you without worrying whether or not you´ll survive. Once again it is not completely necessary, but for your safety, it is better. Could you please spar with one of our guild members? It will be completely safe. We have healers in here and if things get out of hand I will immediately step in."

"If it´s as safe as you say I don´t have a problem with a friendly fight."

"Thank you for your trust. Then, follow me. The training grounds are in the second building right next to this one." Alexander stood up and headed out of his office.

On his way, he told Robert. "Bob, call Olivia into the training grounds. Also, tell one of our healers inside to get ready."

"I´m on it, sir." he responded.

First, they got to the ground floor by elevator. Then they headed outside through a side exit. After just a few minutes they arrived in a large gym hall.

There were already some hunters inside, sparring or training their bodies.

"Your opponent should arrive in a minute."

As he said it didn´t take long for a short woman with shoulder-length black hair to arrive.

"Alex, what are you calling me for out of nowhere?" asked the woman.

"Olivia, I´m gonna need you to have a friendly spar with this young man." He pointed at Mark with his hand. "This is Mark Williams. He´s an A-rank, magician-type hunter."

"Okay then, if that´s what you want."

"Mark, this is Olivia Rose, the vice guild master of the Viper guild. She is an S-rank magician who specializes in acid magic."

'Acid magic, huh?'

"Mr. Wright I don´t think this is a fair fight." he objected.

"I know that the difference in rank is great, but this isn´t a fight to the death. It´s just for me to understand how you fight." Alexander tried to explain himself.

"Don´t be afraid. I´ll hold back for you." Olivia said with a smile.

"No sorry I worded it badly. I can´t think of a way you can beat me." Mark said in all honesty.

"That´s some courage you have there." Olivia said a little bit impressed.

"Not really."

"Well, that´s neither here nor there. Let´s get this over with quickly." said Alexander.

The two opponents then moved to the middle of the training grounds under Alexander´s instructions. They stood several meters away from each other with the guild master in between.

There was also a healer waiting on standby overlooking the fight that was about to happen. The other trainees were really trying to look like they were not watching what was happening.

"You´ll stop when I say so, alright?" asked Alexander.

The duo nodded.

"Start when you hear start, okay?"

They both nodded once again.

"3...2...1...Start!"

'Page 2, Magic-siphoning barrier'

Immediately after he said so Mark was enveloped by the spherical barrier. With a wave of her hand, Olivia summoned a bubble of colorless liquid and sent it straight at her opponent. The acid covered the whole barrier.

However slowly the layer of liquid started disappearing without having any effect on the magical wall.

'It is as I thought. Mana is not a compound nor a molecule, therefore acids shouldn´t have any effect.'

While Mark was thinking about anything else but the fight, his opponent fired off another spell. Grey mist seeped out of her hands and started traveling along the floor.

'I didn´t think of that. From what I gathered most barriers let air through. The others aren´t omnidirectional so there is a way for her attacks to seep through barriers.'

'Page 2, Magic-siphoning barrier, permeability: light, Page 10, Air supply'

He had a whole different problem in his mind. All of his spells were very dangerous, enough that he was reluctant to use them. However, after seeing the vice master bombard him with life-threatening magic his hesitancy disappeared.

'Page 13, Magician´s eyes'

In front of his eyes appeared a small display and now he was able to see Olivia´s outline clearly even through the fog.

From the onlookers´ point of view, he was in a quite troublesome situation.

"Are you sure he´s not more of a support type?" she asked.

Alexander kept on watching the match without saying a word, expecting a counterattack from Mark.

Suddenly an extremely fast projectile flew from the fog and hit the vice master into her chest, with seemingly no effect.

'Page 4, Targeted freezing'

Several streams of water emerged flying toward her from different directions. Olivia stepped to the side in order to dodge the attacks.

However, it was to no avail as the water simply followed her movements. When she was hit layers of ice started instantly piling on her.

Despite being awakened, getting engulfed in ice with a temperature of -50°C (-58°F) still hurt her a lot.

Olivia coated her body with a thin layer of acid with which she managed to melt the ice.

Mark still hasn´t moved from his starting position. The fog surrounding him got already absorbed into the barrier, strengthening it even further. He was watching Olivia in hopes of seeing some new interesting spell.

Several meters above him a small cloud appeared. It started raining. The droplets were falling at great speed bouncing off the sphere covering Mark, sounding like a drum. The floor around him started melting under the acid rain.

'If the barrier didn´t absorb anything then It could maybe get broken. But this is ... underwhelming.'

'Page 3, Automatic rock spikes, targeting: magic flare, modifier: multiple attacks'

Under Olivia´s feet, several bumps appeared from which sprouted several spears running through her legs and body. The cloud above Mark disappeared due to her losing focus.

Seeing this, Alexander decided to stop the match. "Stop!"

Mark dispelled his spells and walked over to the guild master. The healer who was waiting there the whole time ran towards Olivia to stop her from bleeding.

"Yeah, I think I can send you into an A-rank dungeon with a clear conscience." said Alexander.

"You better raise my salary for this!" Olivia shouted from the distance.