Underestimated

Gorum sat in silence for awhile, watching the warriors battle. He thought about talking with the Imp girl more, but for some strange reason he got the feeling she wouldn't take anything he said seriously...

Eventually the fighting ended and just as Gorum thought, the elf ended up winning. Although it's not like it was a landslide victory, the other two he favored gave her a run for her money. The girl stood in the middle of the fighting area (which was basically just a big patch of dirt), her fists raised in the air in a victory pose.

"Ehehe! Take that you humie bastards! Elves are number one!" She exclaimed, jumping up and down with excitement. Although Gorum felt there was a bit of irony to her exclaiming such a thing while covered in bruises and scrapes.

"Ahem, now that we have a winner amongst the warriors, it's mages up next! And remember, using physical attacks is considered cheating. You're competing with your magic, not your muscles..." said one of the twins, a stern look on her face as she glanced towards Gorum while she spoke.

He was unsure why she did such a thing, he wasn't so dishonorable to do something like that anyhow...

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Magic is a fickle thing, and is filled with many different branches and prejudices surrounding those branches. For example, force magic. It's extremely simple in terms of magic formula and consumes barely any mana at all. The problem? It only has two spells, push and pull. No matter how much you level up your force magic skill, you'll only ever have those two spells. Not only that but the actual utility can be replicated with other more effective spells. Due to those reasons, the Force Magic school is regarded as a useless spell set.

And yet....

"Nngrh!?"

"What's happening!?"

"I-I can't get up!"

"What magic is this!?"

Complaints and cries of confusion erupted from the mages as their bodies were pressed flat to the ground, unable to resist as an invisible force put the weight of a mountain on their backs.

'None of them can withstand the 3rd tier of [Push] huh?' Gorum thought as he examined the mages around him.

To him, Force Magic was far from useless. It conserved Mana, and wouldn't require more mana at the highest tiers. Not only that, but just two spells suited Gorum just fine, there was a lot one could do with pushing and pulling. It didn't really matter that the actual firepower was negligent, after all he could just pour in more mana and that alone would increase the pressure.

"This is disappointing, can none of you figure it out?" He said, his cold and gravely voice sending chills down the spines of the mages, weakening their spirits.

The state of the mage tourney had drawn quote the crowd at this point, many townsfolk Oooing and Aaaing at the scene. Fascinated at how a warrior was beating mages at magic.

"Fuah!" A voice cried out as Gorum felt a piece of his magic be dispelled. Curious as to who could unravel the spells matrix, he turned his head to where he heard the cry, widening his eyes just a teeny bit in surprise.

"Hrmph! So you were a proper mage after all!" said the witch in purple robes, brushing dirt off herself and adjusting her witches hat.

"Mh, that was scary." Another voice said as Gorum felt another bit of magic be dispelled, it was the red imp Gorum was speaking to before. She propped herself up with her stave, her deadpan expression seeming a bit winded.

'Now this is a surprise..' Gorum mused in his head. These women actually had potential, they unraveled a tier 3 spell, which was impressive for how low Gorum was guessing their levels to be. Back in his homeworld, Gorum remembered that the average mage capable of dispelling tier 3 spells was usually around level 1,000 or so. Either they were prodigies or Gorum was misinformed.

"Well, color me slightly less disappointed." Gorum said as he popped his neck, alternating his gaze between the two.

"So, which of you plans to cast a spell first?" He taunted, keeping his senses alert for the construction of spells.

"As if I'd tell you when I'm about to attack!" said the woman in purple robes, trying to conceal the fact that she was conjuring some type of lightning affiliated spell.

"I too, wouldn't think it wise to throw away the element of surprise." Said the red imp, similarly concealing the construction of a spell. Although, hers was fire affiliated.

"I'm going to get bored..." Gorum said, faking a yawn to taunt them even further. Provocation was a valuable tactic, although not really honorable. Gorum didn't particularly care though. If an opponent can't keep their cool, it's their own fault.

"More like you'll run out of mana, I bet using magic like this on a large scale is quite taxing!" the woman shouted, flinging a lighting bolt from her fingers.

Following suit, the red imp fired off a large fireball at Gorum. Although she didn't have any snarky comment like her competitor.

Unfortunately for them, nothing less than a 9th tier spell can even scratch Gorum. Their spells dissipating the moment the collided with him. Leaving Gorum standing completely unscathed.

"Well, I suppose that was all for surprises." Gorum remarked with disinterest.

"What the-!"

"Impossible!"

The two mages could barely get our their complaints before they were forced to the ground, literally pressed into it by the force of Gorum's spells. It was quite the sight, seeing so many accomplished mages pushed into the dirt by an unseeable force. All topped off by Gorum standing so nonchalantly in the middle of it all.

"Young lady, I think this counts as my victory. No?" Gorum said as looked to the twin supervising the mage tourney.

"A-Ah yes! W-Winner Gorum!" She said, still visibly dumbfounded by the results of the event.

"Haha! That was awesome!" Said a young voice, prompting Gorum to look in the direction of said voice. What he saw was... concerning.