Chapter 66 (2/2)

Effects: Creates a repulsive force field that deflects any object that tries to break through the shield. The higher the speed of the penetrating object, the bigger the force of its repulsion.

Link’s Whistle crashed into the shield as soon as it appeared and it discernibly slowed down the moment it entered the force field. In half a second, when it was a foot away from the Magician, its 600 feet per second speed had slowed down drastically almost to a halt.

Finally, it stopped at about four inches away from the Magician’s body. He could clearly see that on the surface of the rotating metal spike, there were numerous runes continuously flashing red light, looking very unstable.

From a glance, the black-robed Magician knew that it was a complicated and high-level spell that would attack in two stages – first would be a physical impact, and the second would be an explosion!

“Damn it!” cursed the Magician. He knew that an explosive power would be released, and not only would he have to deal with the flames, but he would have to face the metal pieces that would be sent flying in all directions by the explosion. He knew that his shield was undoubtedly insufficient in blocking the shrapnel.

Then, the black-robed Magician finally showed the true capabilities of a Level-4 Magician – in no time at all, he had instantaneously cast the Level-0 Basic Guarding Barrier around his body. It was only a Level-0 spell, so he could cast it quickly. In fact, he didn’t just cast the spell once, but in that short period of time, he managed to cast five basic Guarding Barrier around his body, right at the moment before the Whistle exploded.

Bang! Shattered metal pieces were scattered in all directions, most of them were deflected by the shield, but some managed to penetrate the shield and hit the Magician’s body. Tongues of flame from the explosion spewed in all directions too, but the Magician was protected partly by the Guarding Barrier and partly by his robe. Nonetheless, a small part of the fire did reach the Magician’s body.

A groan of pain escaped the Magician’s mouth before he could stop it. He had to make a hasty decision then. Instantly, a ring on his finger flashed up and the Magician’s body was engulfed by a burst of blinding white light. 0.1 second later, the Magician had disappeared into thin air, and reappeared again hundreds of yards away!

He had used a short-distance teleportation spell – Burst!

Bang! Another Whistle had exploded exactly where he had been moments ago. If he had escaped just seconds later, he would’ve been a fresh corpse by now.

Once he was about 300 feet away from them, the black-robed Magician’s wand lit up again and 1.8 seconds later, an enormous magical creature began to materialize – Ashen Hawk.

Ashen Hawk

Level-3 Spell

Effects: The colossal hawk will transport the spellcaster at the speed of a wild swan.

Grey billowing smoke streamed out from the blue gemstone at the tip of the black-robed Magician’s Mithril wand. Then the smoke coalesced into dust, grass, sticks, and other light objects to form a giant hawk. The black-robed Magician then mounted onto its back. The giant hawk flapped its wings and flew up into the sky.

To evade from Link’s Whistles, the hawk flew in sporadic paths, fluctuating up and down, then zig-zagging from left to right. Only when it had flown more than a thousand feet away, which meant they were safely out of Link’s attacking range, did it pick up speed and soared away into the distance.

The black-robed Magician had gotten away!

There was no way of chasing the Magician now, so all Link could do was to stare at the Magician flying away on his giant bird.

The moment the black-robed Magician escaped, the Crystal Golem gave out and stopped its attacks abruptly. Its structure didn’t collapse but it just stood there motionless instead.

Jacker immediately backed away from the giant and heaved a huge sigh. Beads of sweat streamed down his forehead as if he had been standing in the rain. Heaven knew how harrowing the battle had been to Jacker and how much of a close shave it had been with death for him.

Still, it wasn’t a total loss. He felt as though the fierce battle had unshackled his potential and freed him from his own doubts which had been holding him back. He was confident now that with just a little bit more training he would surely be able to reach Level-4.

Link sighed with relief too. He stared at the diminishing figure in the sky that was the Magician.

“We’ve been tricked by a Dark Elf!” said Link with a bitter laugh.

When the metal shell of Link’s Whistle pierced the Magician’s body after it exploded, Link noticed that the blood that spilled out was dark blue with a purplish tinge – that was an irrefutable characteristic of the Dark Elves’ blood.

It’s little wonder that the strange incident in the East Cove Magic Academy happened half a year after the tragedy of the Change of the Bloody Moon when there were Dark Elves lurking around causing mischiefs.

Finally, Link went back to the interface and checked the latest notification. He was immediately taken aback by the contents of the newly activated mission.

Mission Activated: Search for Clues.

Mission Details: Locate the members of the Syndicate division and from there retrieve more information about the Dark Elf Magician.

Mission Rewards: 20 Omni Points.

What is the Dark Elf Magician up to now? Link was apprehensive because from what he learned of the nature of the game and in lights of recent events, he knew that this Dark Elf Magician must not be taken lightly.

Never mind, I’m too exhausted to think of anything now. I’ll just wait for General Anderson to arrive and we’ll decide what to do next then.