Chapter 486 - Shackled (2/2)
Taking a mage prisoner and preventing him from escaping the whole day. Furthermore, they could not be humiliated or mistreated under the tacitly accepted law of Anril. They could only be treated with good food and wait for the opposition they belonged to pay the ransom. It was too aggrieving to be a victor. Hence, there was this Mana Shackle spell.
However, one had to have a deep understanding of the Rules of magic in order to seal a mage’s spell casting ability. It was only Legendary-mages that grasped the magic Rules and created the Magical Domain that had the ability to cast the Mana Shackle spell.
Upon hearing the screams of the Archmage, the onlooking mages of the Tower of Dusk and the Malfa Family did not show much surprise on their faces. Although it was harder to seal a mage’s ability to cast spells than to kill the mage, that young President was a Legendary-mage.
However, their calm expressions changed quickly. The mages in the area were so shocked that their mouths did not know how to close anymore after Lin Li sealed the mana of the other two Archmage prisoners. Even if he was still a Legendary-mage, it should be impossible to single-handedly seal the mana of three Archmages. Was he still human?
There were three essential factors when mages cast spells—mental strength, mana, and the structure of elemental sequencing—but the most fundamental one was still mental strength. Adjusting mana when casting spells and sequencing elemental structure both had to go through mental strength. Mana increased with levels, and the elemental structure sequencing was perfected through practice, but it was widely believed that everyone had a fixed amount of mental strength—there was almost no way to practice and increase it. Hence, the strength of the mental strength basically determined a mage’s potential for development.
All of the mages present knew that this spell, Mana Shackle, was said to shackle a mage’s mana, but in actual fact, it was sealing mental strength to cause a mage to be unable to adjust mana. Hence, this spell did not require much mana, but the required mental strength was extremely large. At the same time, the more mental strength the user employed, the stronger the effects of this shackle.
Under the premise of not affecting one’s own body, an established Legendary-mage could only shackle one Archmage. If two Archmages were shackled by him, his body not only would not be able to unleash powers at the Legendary-level, but he could even fall off from the Legendary-realm accidentally. After all, it was hard to recover from damage to mental strength.
Three level-18 Archmages had actually had their ability to cast spells sealed, and yet the young President looked like he had just done something trivial. There was not a single sign of mental exhaustion. Everyone was silent; they even did not dare to look squarely at Lin Li. They only dared to size him up from the side sneakily; just how strong this young Legendary-mage President was!?
How would they know that Lin Li was simply a mental strength monster? When compared to that vast mental strength, the mental strength used to shackle the three Archmages was simply like a drop of water in the sea. Yet, it was this drop of mental strength that made other Legendary-mages—or even Sanctuary Masters—unable to dispel the shackles he cast.
Lin Li shackled the mana of the three Archmages and caused them to lose the ability to cast spells. He waved his hands to get his subordinates to lock up the three of them. Once they sensed something abnormal in their bodies, the three Archmages’ faces immediately turned pale, and they lost all thoughts of trying to escape.
There was actually nothing much to clean up on the battlefield. All there was to do was to treat the injured allies and finish off the injured enemies while gathering the bodies of the fallen allies to be brought back and burning the corpses of the dead enemies. As for the spoils of war, there were still items on those few Archmages other than the four Alchemy Colossuses that Lin Li had disabled. The pockets of the rest were cleaner than their faces.
Hutton stood next to the bodies of those from the Malfa Family; he looked at them with heartache. These were all elites of the family, and each of them had a significant value. Originally, he’d thought that this was a sideshow. He had not thought that the enemies they encountered were going to be so strong. He only hoped that the Malfa Family would be on good terms with the Tower of Dusk through this incident. In that case, these deaths would not be in vain.
Seeing the bodies being collected, Hutton spoke to Yeric and walked towards Lin Li to ask what was their next move. However, he only took two steps and felt something was wrong. He turned round and saw that Yeric was still standing at the same spot with an expression of biting his tongue.
Seeing that expression of his, why would Hutton not know what he was worried about? He thought, F*ck, I already told you before that that President Felic and the Tower of Dusk should not be provoked. You just wouldn’t f*cking listen. Now what, you’re scared, right!? Hutton actually felt some elation, and said, “Yeric, why are you in daze? Follow me to look for President Felic and see what he plans next.”
“Ah! Yes, yes…” Yeric’s face was full of internal conflict. He slowly walked over to Hutton, and finally he could not help but say, “Master Hutton, although I was being rude to President Felic previously, it was all for the Malfa Family. You can’t stand by and just watch me die.”
“Yeric, what are you saying? What’s this about leaving you to your demise? Did you forget that I didn’t remind you only once? You didn’t want to heed my advice, so what else can I do?” Hutton spoke with an innocent look.
“Master Hutton, it’s my fault. Please, don’t lower yourself to my level and help me out,” Yeric pleaded with an anxious look.
No matter what, Yeric was a level-17 Archmage. Although he could not be compared to that monster Lin Li, he was still a talent. Hutton thought for a bit. He did not wish for the Malfa Family to suffer any more losses, so he said, “Ok, go apologize sincerely, and I will follow up for you. President Felic is a Legendary-mage, he shouldn’t make a fuss with you.”
Although Yeric was still ill at ease, it was better than doing nothing at all. He immediately nodded and walked over with Hutton. When he had just walked over, he rushed to the front and bent forwards at a 90-degree angle. His att.i.tude was as sincere as it could get, he said that he was blind, that President Felic was magnanimous, and asked not to make a fuss, and so on.
Although Lin Li tended to avenge grievances big and small, he still had to give some face to Hutton. They had come to help, and quite a few of them had perished. It was also still unclear if there were any spoils to find in the Syer Bandits’ hideout. As a result, he benevolently waved his hands, and said to Hutton, “Mage Hutton, after this battle, be it the remnants of the Syer Bandits or the mysterious organization supporting them, I believe the main force is no longer here. From here on, I plan to attack the Syer Bandits’ hideout immediately. Think about it.”
Currently, it was sufficient to take down the Syer Bandits’ nest with just the strength of the Tower of Dusk. Their hideout might even be empty. However, after this battle, the loot so far was not enough. The Malfa Family had losses there, so Lin Li was rather embarra.s.sed to just send off Hutton and the rest empty-handed. More importantly, he could not bear to give the Alchemy Colossuses to the Malfa Family, so he thought that it was impossible not to find some good items within the Syer Bandits’ hideout to send off Hutton with.
Lin Li did not specifically mention forgiving Yeric, but since he talked about cooperating for the next plan, it also meant that he would not look into it anymore. Yeric finally settled down his anxious heart and stood up straight beside Hutton, listening obediently to their conversation and turning a blind eye to the gazes of the other members of the Tower of Dusk.
Seeing that Lin Li did not make a fuss about Yeric’s rudeness previously, Hutton also let out a sigh of relief. If Lin Li wanted to look into it no matter what, he could only sacrifice Yeric for the sake of the relations.h.i.+p between the two factions. He also sensibly did not mention anything about it. As for Lin Li’s next plan, he said, “We will follow President Felic’s arrangements. The Syer Bandits have been threatening the Breezy Plains for a long period of time and committed countless murders and arson. Being able to eradicate them completely this time, we of the Malfa Family will not s.h.i.+rk responsibility in order for the Breezy Plains to gain some peace.”