Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

"Whoosh—crack—hiss—crack!"

The wind pillar slammed heavily into Barik's body. The ice crystal armor collided with the wind pillar, and the cracking sound and the howling wind intertwined into a deafening roar.

Ice crystal fragments shattered and flew everywhere in the strong wind, instantly covering the surface of the armor with spiderweb-like cracks.

With another dull "crack" sound, the heavy shoulder armor shattered first, and shards of ice with sharp edges mixed with air currents shot onto his exposed scales.

Barik felt a tremendous force pressing down on his back, his bones creaking under the impact. His body sank heavily into the ground as if crushed by a boulder, raising a cloud of dust and sending fragments of stone flying.

As the armor on his back shattered completely, the violent column of wind began to devour his flesh without any hindrance.

The spiraling force was like countless invisible wind blades, tearing wildly at his scales. The hard dragon scales were pried open by this brute force, and fine cracks appeared at the edges.

Just as Barik was fighting desperately against the wind pillar, Rock in the distance suddenly opened his eyes. He spread his arms slightly, and countless flames suddenly burst up around him. The fire was even more intense than the one that Busley had started, and it almost distorted the surrounding air.

Crimson flames swirled wildly before him, instantly coalescing into a thick fire serpent, larger than the venomous serpent Delang had gathered, its eyes blazing with scorching light.

The fire serpent let out a sharp hiss and pounced towards Barik. Upon colliding with the pillar of wind, it instantly dyed the air current a dazzling orange-red.

Flames and gales intertwined and swirled, growing ever more intense as they spun, forming a fiery wind pillar with double destructive power that tightly enveloped Barryk in the center, causing his scales to crackle and pop.

"Ugh—"

Barik screamed in agony as his entire body was engulfed in flames. The orange-red flames licked at every inch of his dragon scales, charring the once-gleaming scales. The air was thick with the smell of burning flesh mixed with the pungent stench of roasting blood.

Barrick's shouts gradually subsided, and the fire gradually diminished. Harlogan and Rock watched this scene unfold, their tense nerves finally relaxing, and their sense of crisis slowly dissipating as the fire weakened.

"It should be resolved by now," Rock said, his voice hoarse with uncertainty as he gazed at the still-smoking fire.

"This spell has exhausted our last bit of magic."

Harrogan did not respond, but stared intently at the still-burning fire ahead. If Barik was not dead, then they would surely die this time.

The fire was finally extinguished, but the thick smoke lingered in the air for a long time. Suddenly—a blue light appeared in the dark smoke, and the next moment, a thick, ice-blue ray pierced through the smoke and struck Rock's face.

Rock's pupils contracted sharply, and the fear that had just faded from his face froze instantly, but he didn't have time to react at all.

"Whoosh—Swoosh!"

The ray easily pierced his skull, and shards of ice mixed with drops of bright red blood dripped down the wound.

"Thump—"

Rock's body fell straight down, blood flowing continuously from the holes in his face, quickly staining the ground beneath him red.

Harlogan, realizing the sudden change, felt a chill run down his spine and turned to flee. Just as he lifted his foot, darkness fell from above, and a huge shadow crashed down upon him.

"Boom—Crack!"

Barik's situation wasn't much better. His body was charred black, and large patches of the dragon scales that once covered him had fallen off, revealing the mangled flesh beneath, a sight that was both terrifying and gruesome.

Barik, struggling to maintain his balance, scanned his surroundings. He was on edge, meticulously examining every shadow and corner, fearing that some elusive enemy might still be lurking there, ready to launch a fatal attack at any moment.

In the corner, the rune array above the elf's head suddenly lit up, and a pale purple light spread out like ripples. The light slowly converged and condensed.

In no time, a slender figure slowly coalesced in the halo of light, and his outline gradually became clear—it was none other than Heleto.

At the same time, a flash of cold light suddenly appeared on the high platform not far away, and a sharp ice spike shot through the air.

Barik reacted quickly, easily dodging to the side, but the movement aggravated his wounds, and a tearing pain instantly swept through his body, causing him to grimace and let out a suppressed groan.

Just as he turned around, a faint sound entered his ears. Looking in the direction of the sound, he saw "Heleto" not far away.

Although the opponent's aura was faint, carrying an indescribable sense of unease, Barik had no time to think about it. Despite the excruciating pain of his torn wound, he mobilized the ice element around him, preparing to unleash a freezing ray aimed directly at the enemy's vitals.

To prevent enemies hiding in the distance from launching an attack, he specially conjured a thick ice shield beside him, firmly covering his vitals and eliminating any possibility of a sneak attack.

Just as Barik was drawing the runes for the freezing ray, an invisible energy strangely passed through the ice shield and struck his chest without any obstruction.

"Bang—Pfft!"

The powerful impact knocked Barik to the ground. He struggled to look up and saw the figure in the distance slowly disintegrating, turning into specks of purple light and dissipating into the air. He then realized that the enemy in front of him was just an illusion used to distract him.

The Dragonborn's body was incredibly strong. Even after enduring so many rounds of attacks, the Shattering Impact, which was powerful enough to pierce through the chest, only left a small, deep crater.

But even a small pit could be fatal; chilling blood flowed out continuously, slowly draining Barik of his life force.

As he lay dying, his consciousness gradually cleared, and fragments of his life flashed before his eyes like a tide.

"The final moments..."

Barik suddenly smiled – being able to drag so many apprentices down with him when he returned to his peak was a fitting tribute to his former glory as a warrior.

His icy blue vertical pupils gradually lost focus, and as the last glimmer of light completely faded, Barik's life finally came to an end.

After a long while, seeing that Barik's body was no longer moving, Hughes and Heleto slowly walked down from the platform.

The two approached the cold corpse in silence, the air still thick with the lingering stench of blood and the chill of the night.

Hughes leaned closer to Barik, took out his tools, examined several wounds, and after confirming that everything was alright, straightened up and said to Heleto:

"He's dead."

The two of them breathed a sigh of relief almost simultaneously. They had just been figuring out how to make the furnace "accidentally" explode, and the commotion had naturally alerted them.

Just as they were about to leave, they stumbled upon the dragonborn dwarves easily slaughtering second-class wizard apprentices. The two immediately made up their minds:

Let Harrogan and his gang exhaust the dragonborn dwarf's magic first, and then the two of them will seize the opportunity to finish him off.