Chapter 167 The Mad Mage

The maid once again brought Shaoke back to his room during mealtime, since you couldn't cast spells while eating.

After returning to his room, a simple lunch quickly took care of Shaoke's hunger. The maid cleared away the leftovers and, as before, carefully massaged Shaoke's abdomen and chest, attempting to engage in conversation with the mage to build some rapport.

A thread-like strand of mental energy swiftly probed the surroundings through the crystal ball. This undisguised, barely-concealed murderous detection quickly provided the mage with information about his environment. Everything was normal; there were no other mages nearby. This put Shaoke on edge. Whether it was due to spending too much time in such an environment, killing too many mages, or because of his inherently bloodthirsty nature, Shaoke had recently begun to crave completing tasks as quickly as possible during each mission. He no longer concealed his movements as he had during his first mission. Of course, there were other mages like him, though their numbers were few.

The green flame at the tip of the staff danced rhythmically as the mage advanced. Occasionally, a flame would break off but was quickly grasped by the mage through mental manipulation, then merge back into the larger flame at the staff's tip.

Shaoke retrieved the magic item that showed friendly positions, carefully memorizing the locations of the red dots around him. He then chose a direction with fewer red dots and set out. Every few kilometers, he would release his mental energy to probe the surroundings. He still had to stop to rest and recover.

The mission area was littered with rocks, with few living creatures in sight. Only occasionally would some birds fly by, chirping as they passed through the sky. When encountering such situations, Shaoke would spitefully release his mental energy to freak out the birds, hoping to attract the attention of other mages nearby.

After another day of travel, just as Shaoke had released his mental energy without concealment to probe the surroundings, he detected another similarly undisguised mental energy approaching from behind. The two frenzied mental energies quickly tangled in the air, each attempting to lock onto the other while trying to avoid being locked onto themselves.

The appearance of a mage quickly excited Shaoke. Strings of spell incantations flashed through his mind, and his hands almost uncontrollably began to outline a spell structure. Fortunately, he quickly suppressed these abnormal behaviors, sensing that the mage behind him shared many similarities in their approach.

The two mages tacitly halted their spell preparations, relying solely on their powerful mental energies to entangle each other, and began to close the distance between them.

After rounding a massive rock, Shaoke quickly located the other mage entangled with him through mental detection. That mage was also cloaked in a black robe and hood.

The difference was that Shaoke's magic item showed no presence of a Death Mage here, so Shaoke identified him as a target.

"Are you certain we must fight?" the Black-robed Mage, having also detected Shaoke, hesitated slightly before asking via a messaging spell. "I believe there is no need for conflict between us." The mage added after a pause, "Do not delay too long. I wish to know your decision." With that, he abruptly released the magical energy within his body, concentrating it around him to facilitate spellcasting.

After briefly assessing the opponent's strength, Shaoke did the same. He had grown restless after several days of failing to find other mages and was eager to complete the mission and leave. Thus, he had no intention of letting this mage go, even if the other could be considered someone like him to some extent.

The prolonged confrontation quickly revealed Shaoke's undisguised killing intent to the other mage. He realized that conflict with this mage was unavoidable; one of them would inevitably fall to the other.

Just as the battle was about to begin, Shaoke suddenly sensed an extremely subtle mental probe swirling around them. Although the probe quickly withdrew, both Shaoke and the other mage pursued it with their mental energies. Simultaneously abandoning their standoff, the two mages activated the Feather Fall spell on their robes and swiftly chased in the direction from which the probe had originated. Neither wanted their prey to escape.

Two undisguised mental energies quickly located and locked onto their target—a Blue-robed Mage. Through mental detection, Shaoke soon realized the mage had activated all defensive spells and was fleeing toward a cluster of large rocks ahead.

The chase continued relentlessly. Despite the mage repeatedly casting spells to disrupt mental locks, he could not shake off his pursuers. After half a magic hour of pursuit, Shaoke finally sensed the mage entering his casting range and immediately began chanting an incantation.

The complex spell structure outlined by his hands remained undisturbed by the wind generated from running. Instead, it grew clearer as it absorbed mental energy. Green Flame Manipulation—a burst of green flame from the staff's tip shattered and merged into the newly formed spell structure. A larger flame then materialized between Shaoke's hands. The green flame swiftly transformed into a short javelin and, under Shaoke's command, shot toward the locked target.

At the same time, the mage who had been confronting Shaoke completed his own spell. Cutting Wave—a broad, black thread unfurled in his hand and flew rapidly toward the fleeing mage.

Sensing the spell fluctuations behind him, the fleeing mage quickly tore two spell scrolls, releasing the stored spells, and continued his escape while beginning to prepare another spell.

The scrolls contained two third-level spells, but without the precise control of a spellcaster, they failed to intercept Shaoke's and the other mage's spells effectively. The green javelin and black thread almost simultaneously evaded the interception and struck the mage still preparing his spell.

The three layers of defensive spells were easily pierced. Shaoke's green javelin shattered the opponent's defenses and crashed into his head before exploding. Clearly, the mage could no longer cast the spell he had nearly completed. The black thread, after slicing through the three defensive layers, swiftly passed through the mage's waist and vanished upon striking a large rock not far ahead.

The mage's upper body abruptly fell after a few more steps, while his lower half continued running briefly before coming to a halt.

The two third-level spells released from the scrolls, deprived of their master's weak control, mechanically flew forward until they struck their initially locked positions and dissipated.

Shaoke did not attempt to evade or disrupt the spells. Instead, driven by inexplicable excitement, he quickly prepared the Elemental Hand spell. A palm three to five meters wide tightly grasped the nearly arrived spell, causing it to explode violently. The scattered spell energy chaotically collided with the defensive spell he had timely activated and vanished.

The other mage made a similar choice, directly dispersing the spell sealed in the scroll, with little difference in distance from Shaoke.