Above the mage!

Chapter 485 [Absolute Darkness]

Crack!

The moment the tip of the Frozen Blade struck the pale blue water ripples, spiderweb-like cracks instantly appeared on the surface of the pale blue energy shield.

Fragments of blue light emanated from each crack.

Subsequently, the recoil force generated by the collision between the energy shield and the frozen blade acted on the ice blade.

With a crisp sound of shattering glass, the entire ice blade began to crumble from its tip.

Ice crystal shards flew out with a sharp whistling sound, some embedding themselves in the wall behind Santos, others grazing Walker's cheek and leaving several frost-like bloodstains on his body.

boom!
Ice shards and blue light splattered everywhere, and the overflowing cold air directly knocked Walker, who was sitting in the chair, to the ground.

The rum on the table spilled all over the floor, and the liquid instantly froze into amber-colored icicles.

Santos was also thrown backward by the intense impact of the Frozen Blade, crashing into the wall behind him before coming to a stop.

Ignoring the pain in his body, he grabbed the staff that was beside him the instant he flew out.

In a battle between mages, if their strengths are roughly equal, seizing the initiative will be extremely important.

This is especially true for lower-level mages.

Because low-level mages have extremely limited means and possess very few combat spells.

In this situation, the mages' fighting style is basically a barrage of spells and defense against each other, one after the other, like a traditional turn-based game, mainly a contest of numerical values.

Everyone has played turn-based games. When the stats are similar, whoever goes first wins.

But Lanwen is a fourth-ring mage, and his opponent Santos is also a fourth-ring mage.

In the classification of mage levels, mage apprentices to second-ring mages are all considered low-level mages.

The third-ring mage to the fifth-ring mage are outside this category and are called intermediate-level mages, while those above the fifth ring are high-level mages.

As the spell library expands, the options for synergistic strategies between spells also broaden.

In addition, with their diverse and unpredictable specialties and unique cultivation methods, mid-level mages have a wide range of abilities, completely transcending the realm of "turn-based games".

Although Santos was caught off guard by Lanwen, who immediately triggered the "passive effect" of one of his trump cards, the Extraordinary Pendant, and left him in a sorry state, that was all.

He became a gang leader in a place like Black Sails City because of his magic, not anything else.

Everything Santos has now is the result of his own efforts, one spell at a time.

His reaction was extremely quick, demonstrating exceptional combat skills. After grabbing the staff, he was already waving it the instant he was sent flying backward.

The magic on the staff began to flow rapidly, and silver-purple arcs of electricity suddenly lit up the intricately carved patterns.

This magic transformed into dozens of lightning seals that surged from the staff, then instantly condensed and twisted into a lightning whip as thick as a bowl.

The lightning whip crackled with electricity, scattering tiny sparks that ionized the surrounding air, releasing a pungent ozone odor.

"Drink!" Santos roared.

With a swing of his staff, the lightning whip ripped through the air with a sharp whistling sound, leaving a brief afterimage in the dimly lit tavern room before hurtling straight toward Gao De's face.

[Lightning Beam].

This is a strategic spell reserve that Santos selected from his own spell library and inscribed on his staff. When needed, it can be cast with a simple flick of the staff, which is quick to activate and does not consume his own mana.

His most shrewd move was that this counterattack wasn't aimed at the most powerful Lan Wen, but rather at Gao De.

Staff spellcasting belongs to magic-based spellcasting, not magic-based spellcasting, and therefore does not have the bonuses of ascending spellcasting.

[Lightning Bolt] is only a third-circle spell, and it cannot pose much of a threat to Lanwen, who is a fourth-circle spell.

Santos did not know Goddard's specific mage level, but given Goddard's age, he was certain that Goddard was only a low-level mage.

Therefore, the spell attack from the third ring would inevitably be fatal to Gaode.

Lanwen, clearly led by Gaode, would certainly not sit idly by.

If Lan Wen wants to save Gao De, he must stop his current offensive and turn around to protect Gao De.

This is a classic example of a strategy to relieve the siege of Wei by attacking Zhao, a type of overt stratagem.

Looking at Santos's face, contorted with exertion, Gao De could clearly feel the violent energy carried by the lightning whip rapidly approaching, and the air itself felt slightly stinging due to the accumulation of electrical charge.

That old fox is indeed cunning.

However, he miscalculated one thing: although he was a low-level mage, he was not necessarily unable to deal with third-circle spells.

"Don't worry about me!" Gao De said softly, and at the same time stomped his right foot lightly on the ground.

Pure wood elemental magic power poured out from the magic crystal originating from the "Azure Wood Longevity Scripture" within his body, flowing along the main magic power meridian directly to the sea of ​​magic.

After the spell model was activated, countless emerald light spots traveled along the recoiling torrent of magic straight to the sole of the right foot.

The Broken Bones Tavern was renovated from an old ship hull. The entire structure is made up of countless pieces of wood, and due to its great age, the surface is covered with moss and vines as decoration.

The room was also decorated with some decorative green plants.

At that moment, the instant the spell took effect, the beams of the Shattered Bone Tavern, which were made from the old ship's skeleton, suddenly creaked slightly.

The old vines that sprouted from the cracks in the wall suddenly straightened and extended, and the moss on the surface shone with a lustrous sheen under the nourishment of magic;

The potted green ivy vines in the corner seemed to have come to life, with their slender stems growing wildly at a visible speed, and their leaves swelling from the size of a fingernail to the width of a palm.

Even the grass seeds left in the cracks of the floor sprouted immediately, instantly growing into tender stems half a foot tall.

Driven by magic, these plants intertwined and entwined, instantly forming a dense, three-dimensional vine net in front of Gao De.

The old vines serve as the load-bearing framework, while new leaves fill the gaps.

【Entanglement Technique】.

This spell causes tall grass, weeds, and other plants to entangle any creature that enters or is in the area, inflicting an entangled status. The entire affected area is treated as difficult terrain.

This is a powerful control spell.

Wood elemental magic is inherently good at controlling the field.

However, Gao De used the [Entanglement Technique] at this moment not to control the field, but to defend.

Control spells are not limited to just controlling the field.

scoff-

The whip lashed fiercely against the rattan net.

The electric arc spread instantly, moving wildly across the surface of the vines and emitting a sizzling burning sound.

[Lightning Bolt] is a third-circle spell, while [Entangle] is only a first-circle spell. Even when cast under higher-circle conditions, [Entangle] is much weaker than [Lightning Bolt].

However, plants naturally possess an extremely strong ability to restrain lightning.

Neither the destructive power of lightning nor its annoying paralyzing effect is significantly reduced on plants.

The inherent insulating properties of plants are on full display at this moment.

The moisture-rich plant fibers act like a natural conductive mesh, distributing concentrated current throughout the entire vine mesh.

Although the vines at the point of contact quickly turned charred, the core defensive structure did not collapse immediately.

Under this attribute restraint, the vine net held out for nearly a second before turning black and beginning to carbonize under the powerful energy of the lightning whip.

Santos's pupils contracted sharply; he hadn't expected that this seemingly ordinary first-circle spell could block the first wave of the lightning bolt.

However, as a third-circle spell, Lightning Bolt is extremely powerful and cannot be completely eliminated even under elemental advantage.

Just as a fire, if strong enough, can boil water dry. However, at this moment, Gao De's next spell had already been cast.

A scorching orange-red flame shot out from his fingertips.

【Burning Hand】.

The flames shot straight forward, aiming precisely at the charring vines.

The next second, a sight that shocked Santos appeared.

The flames released by the Burning Hand did not burn the vine net; instead, they caused the carbonized plant fibers to explode in flames.

The flames and the arcs of lightning wrapped around the vines instantly created a violent energy clash.

The electric arc restricted the spread of the flames, creating a turbulent flow of energy that shimmered with blue and red light above the carbonized vine netting.

The originally violent current rapidly diminished under the combined effect of the flames and vines. When the vine net was completely reduced to ashes, the arc of the lightning bolt also completely dissipated.

The original strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao" was cleverly thwarted by Gaode.

If Wei doesn't need reinforcements, then Zhao is in serious trouble.

Here, Lan Wen drew a circle in the air with his right index finger, and pure ice elemental magic flickered at the tip of his finger, as the next attack spell was already being cast.

In front of Santos, dense ice elemental magic gathered, forming a white dot the size of a pinhead, which then exploded with a "pop".

A visible, icy blue shockwave spread out in a spherical shape, freezing the air instantly into tiny ice crystals wherever it passed, like countless diamond powders exploding in the sunlight.

Even the walls were instantly covered with star-shaped ice patterns.

Santos felt a bone-chilling cold rush towards him, far more intense than the [Frozen Blade] that Lanwen had previously unleashed.

His right hand, which was gripping the staff tightly, was the first to suffer. The fine lines on the staff were instantly filled with frost, and his arm was also covered with a layer of white frost.

Santos tried to move, but found that his boots were frozen to the ground, with ice spreading up his trouser legs.

Walker, standing nearby, was not spared either; a thin layer of ice also spread rapidly from his legs to his entire body.

【Frosty Nova】.

It is both an area-of-effect spell and a crowd control spell, and it can also quickly create an environment conducive to the effectiveness of ice spells.

Three birds with one stone.

Santos stared at his frozen knee, his one eye filled with horror.

The power of the spell Lan Wen cast far exceeded his expectations.

He instantly realized that although they were both fourth-ring mages, Lanwen's mage level was definitely higher than his, and he was probably no match for him.

To survive long in Black Sails City, one needs not only strong fists but also keen insight, knowing when to retreat.

But right now, the most important thing is to solve my own problems.

Without further hesitation, he suddenly stretched out his still-frozen right hand and ripped off the blindfold covering one of his eyes.

Beneath the blindfold, there wasn't a blind eye, but a strange eyeball with an eerie black light emanating from its pupil.

It was a completely black sphere, with no whites, only pure black light, and its surface was covered with spiderweb-like dark red patterns.

This is his biggest trump card.

Santos opened his eye as wide as possible, and the dark red, iris-like lines suddenly lit up.

The next second, it was as if the light in the entire private room was grabbed by an invisible hand and suddenly pulled away!
All the light was swallowed up, and the ice patterns on the walls lost their luster, turning into blurry gray shadows.

The most bizarre were Lanwen and Walker, both of whom were completely invisible in the darkness, as if they had never existed.

In the blink of an eye, the private room was plunged into absolute darkness, where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

This was not an ordinary dark night, but a thick, inky darkness where even outlines were indistinguishable.

Crack! Crack!

The sound of Santos and Walker breaking free of the ice rang out, but it was as if they were separated by a bottomless chasm, with no clear origin.

Darkness not only devours light, but also distorts the propagation of sound.

"Run! My Absolute Darkness only lasts for five seconds!" Santos, having quickly broken free of the ice, signaled Walker to run away via Teleportation.

The strange phenomenon at this moment did not originate from any spell, but rather from his fourth-ring feat, which is equivalent to granting him a special feat that is exclusive to a spell: Absolute Darkness.

Walker nodded.

Although Lanwen cast two consecutive spells at Santos, he could fully sense Lanwen's formidable strength and knew that even with his own help, they were no match. He wasn't stubborn and understood that running away was the best decision he could make.

However, he was unwilling to do nothing at all.

Walker gritted his teeth in hatred, the bloodstains from Lanwen's ice blade still lingering on his left cheek, which was numb and painful from the cold.

The anger in my heart surged from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.

After he broke free of the thin ice around his ankle, he spread his right hand and a dazzling orange-red light rose from his palm.

A pungent smell of sulfur and saltpeter instantly filled the air.

Sparks flew from between Walker's fingers, swirling and coalescing until they finally coalesced into a fireball the size of a human head.

The flames on the surface of the fireball twisted into serpentine patterns, with an almost pure white incandescent spot at its core, surrounded by layers of orange-red flame waves.

The sweltering heat even evaporated the remaining frost in the room, turning it into a white mist.

Walker's eyes flashed with madness as he shoved the fireball forward.

"Blow it up!"

Third Ring Evocation Spell: Fireball.

Fireball is not only the signature spell of the Evocation tree, but also occupies a core position among the third-circle spells. Moreover, because it is so useful, it has almost become one of the synonyms for a mage.

"Walker, are you fucking brainless?!" The appearance of the fireball actually made Santos, who was on the same side as Walker, furious.

Santos, of course, also mastered such a classic evocation spell.

However, he never considered casting [Fireball] from beginning to end.

Because the current battleground is the Shattered Bone Tavern, which is his territory.

Fire elemental spells like [Fireball], which are known for their destructive power, will almost certainly trigger a violent chain reaction and cause a series of fires and explosions if cast in a tavern full of flammable and explosive substances like alcohol.

This kind of burning and explosion does not distinguish between friend and foe.

Secondly, with this one spell, his Shattered Bone Tavern will inevitably be blown to the sky in a series of explosions.

This is territory he's been running for decades!

Compared to this, the fact that the dozen or so gang members still in the tavern lobby would perish in the fire seems insignificant.

Santos felt his heart clench suddenly.

But now is not the time to be heartbroken. While angrily rebuking Walker, Santos quickly cast the [Flight] spell.

A stream of cyan energy covered his entire body, and with the blessing of the [Flight] spell, Santos floated into the air and soared upwards.

His flight path was erratic and erratic, yet it carried a desperate urgency.

He needed to get out of the blast radius as soon as possible.

Walker, the instigator, was faster than Santos and had already rushed off the roof first.

(End of this chapter)