Chapter 160 Attacking Third Tier Mage

Although the language of magic could not unleash the full power of this spell, the hand-seal techniques and other spellcasting techniques provided by the military department finally brought the spell's power up to its normal level. The green flame gradually took shape through his hand seals.

Guided by Shaoke's will, the mass of flame floating in his hand suddenly split off a portion, flying onto his staff and beginning to burn continuously upon it. Then, the remaining cluster of flame drifted toward the mage who had attacked him at his command.

A beam of black light shot out from the tip of the opposing mage's staff first. Shaoke did not recognize the origin of this spell, but that didn't stop him from controlling his own spell to counter the attack. The green flame attacking the enemy quickly split into two parts: the larger one continued flying toward the mage, while the other, under Shaoke's precise control, strove to lock onto the black light, aiming to entangle and disrupt the spell's structure.

The intercept failed. The black light was simply too fast, and the opponent's mana control was not much weaker than Shaoke's mental control. The black light slightly altered its trajectory and continued flying toward Shaoke.

One kilometer was no great distance for this type of single-target spell. Shaoke didn't panic as the spell shot toward him. Instead, he quickly activated the disintegration structure set into the three-pointed star magic array.

This disintegration structure was a primary reason Shaoke did not release disruption spells. After all, disruption spells rarely had much effect on an enemy caster's targeting, whereas this disintegration structure could easily disintegrate third-rank spells. However, it was ineffective against spells of higher ranks. Of course, this spell also had advanced forms, but inscribing those was even more difficult. At least Shaoke felt it was much harder than the Death Gaze spell.

Although its effective range was only a little over a hundred meters, this spell was the first choice for most military mages when inscribing arrays within their meditation spaces. However, very few succeeded. Of course, thanks to the silver light in the meditation space, the need for meditation to cast it was bypassed, though it came with a higher cost. But faced with the lure of instant casting, who would care about a bit more expenditure?

A pale purple light flew out from his eyes, swiftly intercepting the black light. Meanwhile, Shaoke continued controlling the two green flames, still attacking the mage.

Just as recorded in the books, no third-level spell could maintain its spell structure intact and continue harming the enemy when faced with the disintegration structure spell—not even the military's other unique spells. The black light quickly dissipated in the air under the glow of the pale purple light. Of course, Shaoke paid a cost for this: triple the consumption of a standard third-tier spell. Fortunately, he had set this array into the three-pointed star magic array in his mental space, so the expenditure was mostly spiritual power, with only the mana equivalent of a special-type spell consumed.

Although the mage was somewhat surprised that his spell had been dissolved, he quickly recognized this type of spell. After all, their military department also had similar spells, differing only in name and some aspects of spellcasting.

Faced with the two flames attacking him one after another, the mage who had attacked Shaoke had little time for surprise. Instead, he swiftly readied another spell and pressed his attack.

Although the black-robed mage relied on some support spells to move quickly, he still failed to evade the attack of the green flame. The larger flame, upon landing on the mage's defensive spell, rapidly absorbed energy from it and slowly grew stronger.

Under Shaoke's control, the smaller green flame slightly altered its spell structure, suddenly transforming into a javelin that heavily struck the opponent's defensive spell. Although it broke through one layer of the defensive spell, it was unable to penetrate another layer, as the mana and spiritual power contained in this spell were somewhat insufficient.

Despite having his defensive spell burned by the green flame, the mage attacking Shaoke showed no panic. Instead, he quickly prepared another spell: a slender black flame. Shaoke still did not recognize this spell, but that did not hinder his continued attack. Shaoke continued chanting spells while running. As his hands formed seals, a portion of the green flame at the tip of his staff exploded and drifted into the newly formed spell structure, thereby reducing the time needed to inject mana and spiritual power and indirectly increasing his casting speed.

The green flame once again drifted toward the mage, avoiding obstacles along the way and successfully reaching the mage's vicinity. By this time, the mage fighting Shaoke had also prepared his spell and stopped moving, as he had already confirmed the characteristics of his opponent's spell. He knew that no matter how he moved, as long as he remained locked on by the opponent, those green flames would reach him without consuming any energy and attack him.

The slender black flame was not released by the opponent. Instead, it coiled around the tip of the staff and, under the spellcaster's control, quickly absorbed the green flame still burning on the defensive spell. Then, the black flame descended from the tip of the staff. One part sank into the ground and disappeared, while the other, under its master's control, transformed into a small net that enveloped Shaoke's green flame. Afterward, both vanished into the air without a sound.

After completing this, the mage who had attacked Shaoke took out a crystal sealed with a spell from his pouch. Upon crushing it, the crystal powder drifted into the air, forming an extremely complex, massive three-pointed star magic array. From within the array, hundreds of pale blue spears flew out, whistling as they attacked Shaoke.

Shaoke did not notice the flame the opponent had discarded on the ground. Instead, he watched nervously as the eerie blue spears, which did not damage the trees, approached. Although he did not know the name of the spell the opponent had cast, he guessed its effect based on how the spears penetrated obstacles.

A mental manipulation-type spell—a relatively unfamiliar category of spells—flashed into Shaoke's mind. This category of spells had no physical attack power but focused on spiritual attacks. Shaoke guessed that these blue spears would attack his meditation space. If his meditation space shattered, he would not only lose his ability to cast spells but also be easily killed by the opponent.

After crushing a crystal sealed with a defensive spell, Shaoke took out the empty stone bead that had been hanging on his chest and placed it in his mouth. After all, an empty stone bead of a certain age could provide some help in resisting spiritual attacks.

After doing this, he crushed another crystal sealed with a Lava Ray spell, using it to attack the opponent. Just as he finished this, the pale blue light enveloped the space around Shaoke. Dozens of spears accurately struck Shaoke, with the defensive and support spells offering no blocking effect. The blue spears eerily merged into Shaoke's body and began attacking from within.

At this moment, Shaoke felt his meditation space begin to violently tremble. Although he could not enter meditation to check the specific situation, Shaoke guessed that the blue spears were continuously striking his meditation space, and they would only stop once the energy within them was exhausted or the space was shattered.

Although the silver light repeatedly calmed the space's turbulence, it was utterly helpless against the spears attacking the space. Enduring the pain, Shaoke took out another crystal sealed with a Lava Ray spell and released the stored spell toward the enemy.

Then, he forcibly mobilized a large amount of spiritual power and mana, injecting it into the staff on his back and activating a spell stored within it. The flame on the staff quickly transformed into the shape of a Blue Rhombus Flower, then detached along with the entire flame on the staff, attacking the mage he had locked onto.

The two Lava Rays did not pose much of a threat to the mage. He simply released two second-level spells, easily dispersing the Lava Rays that had pierced dozens of trees. Just as he prepared a new spell, the cluster of green flame reached him. Feeling the spiritual lock on him, the mage reluctantly gave up moving. He was quite impressed that Shaoke could still maintain a spiritual lock while his meditation space was under attack, as few could continue releasing spiritual power or mana to maintain target locks after their meditation space was assaulted.

Left with no choice, the mage used the spell he had prepared to intercept Shaoke's spell once again. After all, he recognized Shaoke's spell. He knew that if he allowed this spell to land on him, even with three layers of third-rank defensive spells, he would not survive, as this spell was known as the most powerful variation of the Green Flame Manipulation.

The black, snake-like flame quickly coiled around the flame shaped like a Blue Rhombus Flower. Then, he chanted a few short syllables in the demonic language. Immediately afterward, the ground behind Shaoke violently exploded, and a black flame heavily struck Shaoke. After tearing through two layers of defensive spells and dispersing the third, it finally dissipated in the air.

Shaoke, who was enduring the turbulence in his meditation space while controlling his spell attack, became flustered by this sudden assault. He thought another hostile mage had appeared on the battlefield. With this in mind, he used the unique technique of this spell to quickly alter the green flame's spell structure, causing it to explode.

Countless green flames burst apart, tightly surrounding the mage. The flames clung to the defensive spell and began absorbing its energy to replenish themselves.