Mana barrier? That consumed mana, far more than Jake would spend in stamina by dodging. Teleporting away yourself? It could work, but once more, way more resource-heavy than just leaning to the side.
The only real mages Jake had fought of somewhat high power were Abby and the King of the Forest. Abby had been weak defensively, and that was even while using space magic, a type of magic offering excellent physical defenses.
As for the King of Forest… Jake was unsure if that monster could even be called a mage. His physical defenses and stats had been utterly insane, strong enough to survive a mini-nuke of dark and light mana blowing up within his damn body.
The point was… Jake felt like everyone needed a bit of everything to truly excel. His encounter with the cloud elemental had taught h
