Chapter 781 - Showdown Between Light and Darkness (1/2)

“Sure, it’s my pleasure to be able to consult you, High Priest Gergila,” said Lin Li. He didn’t think that Gergila had other intentions or plans to plot against him, so he agreed readily with a nod.

The 24 stone pillars in the arena rose slowly around the field. The dense mageweaths on the stone pillars also radiated magical light one after another, and soon, a transparent magic s.h.i.+eld shrouded the field. Lin Li and Gergila were already standing in the middle of the field, each holding a staff and waiting for the defensive mageweath to be fully activated in the arena.

There was complete silence in the arena, and the Werewolves, Vampires, mages, and believers of Darkness were all staring at the middle of the arena with excitement. Battles between high priests were rare, and only their respective disciples would be qualified to watch them.

As for the young mage Lin Li, they had all heard about him in the past few days, and knew that he was the distinguished guest invited by Sendros, and that he was the owner of the Tower of Dusk in the Breezy Plains. They heard that he was a powerful Legendary-mage, and even though they were all in disbelief after hearing the news, they could not help but grow curious, since it concerned Chief High Priest Sendros. They, too, wanted to see what was so amazing about the young mage Lin Li.

The four remaining high priests were talking to each other anxiously in the grandstand in front of the arena. Did Gergila really just want to share his actual combat experience? That was one of the reasons, but not the only one. As a high priest of the Darkness Shrine, he definitely didn’t want to spar with a guest of honor just because he was feeling an urge to practice.

“Zoquila, is it really appropriate for Gergila to do that? Sendros has warned us before,” the Vampire Culostein asked with some concern. Although the five high priests were all members of the Darkness Council, they were all respectful to and fearful of Sendros, especially when they thought about Sendros’ means of dealing with rebels and those who violated the rules. Even the cold-blooded Vampire could not help but feel a chill down his spine.

“It’s just sparring and an exchange of experience, nothing too disrespectful. Besides, Master Felic is a willing party too. I doubt Sendros will hold it against us,” Zoquila said while hiding his face in the large hood, making it impossible for anyone to see his expression. However, his tone revealed the uneasiness within him.

“Don’t scare yourself. After all, we’re doing it for the Darkness Shrine. Besides, didn’t you guys see that Mage Felic seems to be looking forward to the sparring session too? There’s nothing too special about it. We’re doing this for the sake of satisfying him too,” said the Werewolf high priest Poladio, who was rather nonchalant about it.

After giving it some careful thought, the Vampire felt that Poladio made sense too. Although Sendros’ brutal means were frightening, he was not unreasonable. At the thought of this, the several high priests finally felt slightly relieved, and they s.h.i.+fted their attention to the center of the arena. At this moment, the defensive mageweath of the arena had already been activated completely, and the opponents finally moved after the two of them exchanged some polite words.

Neither Gergila nor Lin Li exhibited their respective Magical Domains. After all, it was just a friendly sparring session. Hence, there was no need to go all out. Besides, Lin Li really took it as a sparring session, and although Gergila was not very satisfied with Lin Li’s answer to his question, he did not dare to take Sendros’ words lightly.

However, Gergila felt that even if he didn’t go all out, it wouldn’t be too difficult to defeat Lin Li. He felt that regardless of how great Lin Li’s mastery of magic theory was, it did not mean that he could use his spells well. His mana was almost infinite, but that did not mean that he could use it appropriately. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been so many battles in this world. There would easily be a distinct winner once they compared each other’s mastery of magic theory. As for experience in adventures, there wasn’t a clear winner.

Besides, the environment of the Darkness Shrine was similar to a Darkness Domain, which allowed the strength of the believers of Darkness to greatly improve. Gergila initially had level-23 power, but with the help of Dark Magic, his power was probably great enough for him to rival a level-24 powerhouse. Gergila thought that the only thing he had to do was to make sure Mage Felic would not lose too badly to protect the pride of the latter.

“Be careful, Mage Felic,” Gergila specially reminded. He pointed his staff forward, and a shadow formed at Lin Li’s feet.

There were some ripples at Lin Li’s feet, and it was as if the ground had turned into black water. There were then black tentacles like giant pythons that emerged from the ground and intertwined around Lin Li’s body.

Upon hearing Gergila’s reminder, Lin Li almost couldn’t recover from the shock. Is this a new battle tactic? It might just be a sparring session, but he doesn’t have to be so friendly and polite, Lin Li thought as he raised the Helios’ Scepter and pointed it toward the ground gently. A ball of flames immediately spread outwards, using his body as a central point.

Resistance Ring Of Fire was a very effective spell that mages could use when they were being besieged. The black tentacles that were moving toward Lin Li were suddenly pushed away from Lin Li by the Resistance Ring Of Fire which caused them to melt quickly. Immediately after casting the Resistance Ring Of Fire, Lin Li immediately waved the Helios’ Scepter and caused a ray of Thunderbolt to condense, after which it immediately crashed into Gergila’s head.

Gergila was not surprised by the fact that there were no effects of using the shadow. If Lin Li couldn’t even counter that, how could he be respected and valued by Sendros? Gergila s.h.i.+fted his footsteps swiftly, and while giving himself an additional s.h.i.+eld, he seemed to have become a shadow. At this moment, the pillar of Thunderbolt seemed to have landed too. However, it caused numerous ripples to form in the ground.

Lin Li squinted a little—the Darkness Guardian was a Legendary-level defensive spell, and its effects seemed rather similar to those of Void of the Stars. Of course, it was much worse. It was said that the mages who mastered the Void of the Stars would be able to place their body and soul in the Void of the Stars, and no longer be hurt by the magic spells and weapons. Actually, under the effect of the Void of the Stars, the caster would definitely become an existence that no longer belonged to Anril, and thus would not be susceptible to damage by humans.