Reader Mage-Stubbing August 10! Chapter 65: 65-I Win

Read chapter 65 of Reader Mage-Stubbing August 10! by A_Random_Turtle on NovelPedia.

A flaming arrow whizzed past Merlin’s left shoulder, almost grazing him if only he hadn’t broken his forward run and swiveled to the side just in time. However, the danger wasn’t over. After all, a cluster of Hakyun’s pestering rocks lunged at him where he had shifted to, stealing from him the brief moment he had taken to catch his breath. Maybe he had been way in over his head to request to train against two Mages. He didn’t even have the time to deconstruct a spell. There was no way he could win against them if things continued the way they were going. He gritted his teeth, his expression becoming tense. “What’s the problem, Mel? What happened to all that bravado you had a moment ago?” Chima wore a nasty grin as another flaming arrow materialized between his bow and its string, saving him the stress of having to nock it. He pulled and fired. Zero hesitance. Merlin dodged, but he realized that things were going nowhere, and Chima was most likely taking it easy on him. He should have taken it into consideration that Chima had reached Tier II in spell casting already. Melee, my ass… He had to figure out a way to get over his current hurdle. Chima and Hakyun’s tactic was rather simple—in fact, it was so simple that they hadn't said a word to each other but understood completely what to do. Chima would fire arrows at Merlin to keep him from approaching, and as soon as he dodged, Hakyun would have his rocks try to deal some damage. The problem was that their simple method was working so efficiently because Merlin—he wouldn’t lie—had kind of underestimated what they could do. Hakyun, for one, was more than just the rock slinger he had told Merlin he was. He could control the trajectory of his rocks, turning them into what could be classified as homing missiles. Merlin had a good feeling that deciphering how that worked was the key to winning the duel. Chima, on the other hand, was clearly holding back, if not he would have been the more troublesome Mage between the two. But as it was, Merlin had the liberty to focus on Hakyun. And that was what he decided to do. First, he had to figure out how Hakyun’s spells worked. It would have been faster if he could just rely on Reader Mage’s description, but his roommates were not giving him any breathing space to do that. “You guys have good teamwork,” Merlin said as he stood up. He shouldn’t be talking, he knew. He was expending valuable energy. He was just really amazed that, despite how much they bickered, they understood each other so well. And, well, he wanted to see if he could steal that moment he was yet to have. Chima smirked. “Buying time for your anti-magic, aren’t you?” He nocked another arrow and fired. Merlin rolled out of the way, but this time he was not so lucky. Two of Hakyun’s rocks hit him in the tummy, taking the wind out of his sail and dropping him to his knees. “You must have forgotten that we teamed up during the exam. I know your ability takes time to work.” “Oh, really?” Hakyun said, surprised. “I was wondering why our spells were still in full effect. That explains it. Ugh… At this rate we won’t get to see any anti-magic.” “We can see it after he gives up,” Chima replied. “We’re not giving him a chance to use it while this battle goes on, understand?” “Of course!” Hakyun roared. “I ain’t losing.” Merlin chuckled as he stood up to one knee, the dizziness that had plagued him slowly receding. They were right. He needed time to use Reader Mage. However, that was not the only ability he had. And…he had been meaning to test his newest Perk for a while now. Thankfully, this didn’t need as much time as Reader Mage to activate. Hakyun’s rocks homed in on him once again, Merlin jumped out of their path of flight, and was met in his new position by Chima’s arrow, which he dodged quite easily by crouching. In that brief moment, he activated Reader’s Bookmark. [Perk: Reader’s Bookmark Activated] [Bookmarks (1): Flash Step (Requires at least 190 milliseconds reaction time to f