Using jump formations one after the other, I was able to reach the High Forest in just a month and a half. Instead of going to the Tarrister settlement with my people, I went to the depths of the forest where the trees were the largest.

I created magic sonic explosion traps over and over again on the huge trees around. At times creating hidden acceleration formations. In addition, I had a considerable supply of portable traps that I set up while were at the academy.

Of course, it was impossible to hide such traps from the True Magician, but in a few weeks I managed to stick them everywhere around. So even a True Magician will have to spend some time to get rid of them. When I was satisfied, I sat down on the ground and calmly waited for the guests.

A couple of days later I saw Stephanie. Shoulder-length white hair neatly styled. On the head is something like a beautiful diadem. Blue eyes and a rather attractive and youthful face. Her white and blue robe tightly wrapped around her slender figure, giving her the image of a beautiful flower. An amazing diamond-shaped pendant hung around her neck, most likely some kind of artifact. In the hands of a crystalline staff with a pommel in the form of the letter G.

Even at first glance, it became immediately clear that she specialized in the element of ice. The frosty air around her could be felt from afar.

- Did you come to kill me or can the issue be resolved peacefully? - I asked out loud.

My hoarse voice echoed next to the galloping Stephanie and she slowed her unicorn down.

- I'm afraid that you have nothing to offer as a worthy compensation for the death of my grandson - she said coldly, looking in my direction.

- I can return everything that was on his body, pay a hundred thousand gold. I can demonstrate a formation that will increase your elemental power by 10%. - I began to list my modest possibilities.

- You have no right to bargain with me. Whatever belongs to you will be mine anyway. Whether you like it or not, all your secrets will be mine. I will make you feel pain you have never felt before and break your mind and will. So I'm giving you one last chance, what do you have to offer? - Stephanie asked.

What chance is she talking about? It became clear to me that negotiations are pointless. She is a True Magician and didn't see me as a threat. Whatever I suggest, she already believes that it belongs to her, which means that all attempts at persuasion are meaningless.

Using Kyle's name never even crossed my mind. In any case, my mortal body will not last for much longer. There was no point in trying to save my own life at any cost.

- Well, then I will at least give the last fight of my life, even if it’s a waste of time. I hope you will forgive me for such insolence.

The echo of my voice faded and I got to my feet and ran in the opposite direction from Stephanie.

She moved forward again, her staff hovering beside her and the ground around her began to freeze, covering the trees with ice and disabling traps within a 20m radius of her.

- Your pathetic tricks won't help you. - Stephanie said, spurring the unicorn.

As she passed through where I sat earlier, I activated the first print. Traps near her stopped working, however, traps were activated in a circle around her at a distance of 20 to 50 meters.

At the same time, 8 explosions sounded and sound waves spread in all directions. Complete chaos erupted in the tranquil forest. The surroundings were covered in a chaotic swirl of dust, broken branches and small vegetation. The bark of the trees on which the formations were applied burst and fragments of the bark of various types scattered around like projectiles. The collision of sound waves created something like a small hurricane. A moment later, waves from all directions reached Stephanie but powerlessly bounced off her ice armor. Even the Unicorn was protected by Stephanie's ice armor and was unharmed.

But the traps were designed primarily for the sound attack of the human body. Mage's Barrier didn't have noise reduction by default. The sound was exaggeratedly powerful and hit both the rider and the unicorn on the eardrums.

- Ah! - Stephanie screamed.

She sat down on the unicorn clutching her head. Blood flowed from her ears and she could hardly hear anything. The unicorn was also hurt and could hardly stay on his feet, but slowly sank to the ground.

- Christian! - Stephanie tried to help the unicorn.

Convinced that the unicorn was fine just disoriented, she calmed down. But at the same time felt a burning fury.

- Bastard!

Picking up the fallen staff and sealing her own ears with ice, she set off in pursuit, leaving Christian to rest. Ice Release was a combination of wind and water, so she caused a small windstorm behind her which greatly increased her speed.

It was not a full flight however it was enough to touch the ground at times flying the rest of the distance in the air. Because of her speed the staff couldn't freeze the surrounding area fast enough, but she didn't care.

However, before she had time to approach the fugitive, another explosion sounded. Now more traps exploded simultaneously. Although she covered the outer part of her ears with ice and thus reduced the impact of the sound, this did not save her from another shock.

The pain in her ears irritated her, and even more irritated the endless buzzing in her ears. Although the soul was not affected, the body could hardly withstand the impact of such a level of sound.

This time, Stephanie decided to freeze even her eardrums. Feeling relieved, she again rushed in pursuit.

Stephanie quickly closed the distance, but I clung to a huge tree with a formation and activated it, flying away from her like a bullet, not landing too successfully in the distance. This scenario was repeated several times.

The traps went off again and again, but couldn't slow Stephanie even for a moment. It's hard to say how much more damage her barrier can absorb. Now, Stephanie was using the staff's power to accelerate even more, and even my acceleration formations couldn't buy me much time.

She got extremely close again, and her left hand was covered with ice, waiting for the opportunity to strike. I used the sonic sword and Knight technique, then turned around and activated the formation on the back of my own armor.

In the blink of an eye, I approached Stephanie, aiming my sword at her head. However, as expected, this did not have the desired effect. Even my armor, colliding with the body of this fragile lady, just bounced powerlessly and received a frost burn.

- Idiot, did you think close combat would help you? - she asked contemptuously.

Stephanie didn't let my body bounce off her and grabbed my shoulder with her frozen hand. From the shoulder, an ice prison quickly began to spread through the body, but I had activated the delay formation in advance, now on the front of the armor. Another explosion sounded and I was carried back this time.

Stephanie were still holding my partly frozen hand along with part of the shoulder, which was literally torn off from my body.

Due to the wrong position, I flew only few meters and crashed into the ground with force, rolling a little further in an uncontrolled rotation. The armor buckled a little and many bones in the body were broken after such a maneuver.

Stephanie threw my arm away and started using the ice prison again while my battered body lay on the ground to completely disable me. This ice prison spell worked from a distance of 10 meters.

- Not bad for a... 

She turned sharply, but did not have time to understand anything.

The next moment Stephanie was crushed into a bloody paste.

In her place landed a huge tree trunk about 6 meters wide. This giant weighed under a thousand tons and towered almost a hundred meters. There was a terrible roar, the earth shook as if from a volcanic eruption. Dust filled the surrounding area.

My body bounced on the ground and I flew away from the shock wave again. I grunted from the terrible pain in my whole body, once again spat blood. I could not breathe, but I used my remaining left arm with a prosthetic to remove part of the armor and get the potion from my bosom. Uncorking it, I poured the contents into my mouth and swallowed forcefully, fighting the pain.

It was a life-saving potion that I found on the body of a dead acolyte. Having identified its properties at the academy, I was not going to exchange it and kept it for myself.

Gradually, the internal organs returned to their original state and I was able to hardly breathe again. Nevertheless, I had to lie down for a couple of hours until finally the bones began to grow together.

Fortunately, the shoulder of my right arm remained frozen and prevented heavy blood loss, and at first I was in no hurry to get rid of this frost. However, when I felt a little better, began to gradually fight the element of ice.

Part of the shoulder joint was simply missing, which was a terrible injury even for me. However, I could still create an appropriate prosthesis. The number of my injuries has accumulated over the years. Now I was missing both arms and one leg. The face was like the face of a dead man with dead skin, and there was no hair at all. I could only laugh at myself.

Considering how much time had passed, there was now no doubt that this True Magician had finally died. However, I was very lucky that everything worked out. I have prepared several suitable giant trees in advance in various places along the path of the traps. The trees were all huge. Besides, I specially processed their branches so that they did not create unnecessary noise and made sure that there were no obstacles in the fall path.

Of course, I still had to get Stephanie to run after me and defuse the traps one by one. So I hoped she would go deaf or seal her hearing on her own. Also, so many traps regularly triggered around should have made her get used to them and stop paying attention to the constant sound waves around so that she would not notice the trap that gave acceleration to the tree that I sawed with the sonic sword as well as the fall of the tree itself.

All my efforts were aimed at making her stop paying attention to the endless vibrations around. I spent all my own spiritual energy primarily on transmitting vibrations to the ground and air around me, creating interference for perception and giving the impression that this is my way of controlling traps.

If this attack contained magical elements or mental energy, Stephanie would most likely still be able to feel it. However, in the circumstances I created, she still did not notice an ordinary tree. Of course, there were no guarantees. If she had time to react a little earlier or something else would not have gone according to plan, then death would have awaited me. But I didn't think of any other way to kill the True Mage.

I knew the exact places where the trees prepared by me in this area were supposed to land and choosing the right moment activated the trap, while making sure that I myself would jump into Stephanie's arms and stop her at the right place for me. At worst, we would both die.

Although the armor of the Mages was really strong, but as Kyle said, if the attack power exceeds its limits, then all the rest of the damage falls on the wearer's body. Luckily, the tree turned out to be quite deadly. A thousand tons of weight is a force that no True Magician in the human body could survive. Perhaps even a rank 2 Mage would be nothing more than a stain on the ground.

Finally, I managed to lift my old tired body and, having thrown in a few more medicines, went to the fallen tree. I started hacking at the huge tree little by little with my sonic sword, trying to get to the remains of the body.

Soon I was looking at the bloody mess that was left of a beautiful True Magician with great prospects. I even for a second felt sorry for her, considering that she was killed by an old man who already was a walking dead.