—Thank you to the great Zhu Shen and the Behind the Scenes brother for your tips. It's truly an honor to have two more Alliance Leaders—the sixth and seventh.
By the way, Qidian's mobile site is running a promotion right now. If you register, you can get some Qidian coins or something, so everyone go claim them and subscribe to this book, heh heh.
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The Corrosive Water Sphere and the Sunfire Shield vanished simultaneously. Lucian instinctively activated the spell model within his soul, and two silver-black Magic Missiles traced elegant arcs toward the merfolk holding the coral staff.
At the same time, Lucian dissolved into an afterimage and lunged to the side, relying on a knight's speed to dodge the incoming lock-on.
The two Magic Missiles struck the strange merfolk's body at blistering speed, but an invisible vortex materialized around him, swallowing Lucian's projectiles whole.
Second-tier spell "Resist Energy"!
It could absorb a designated type of energy up to a certain threshold. So he really was a merfolk spellcaster!
While neutralizing Lucian's Magic Missiles, the merfolk mage leveled his coral staff and pointed it at Lucian, who was darting through the narrow cabin as a flickering afterimage.
A surge of manic laughter suddenly welled up inside Lucian, and his entire body trembled as he burst out laughing: "Hahaha, hahaha!"
No matter how fast he ran, he couldn't shake the spiritual lock of this second-tier spellcaster.
Amid the uncontrollable laughter, Lucian's mind scattered. Whether he wanted to cast a spell or activate a magic item, nothing worked. Even his limbs grew weak from laughing, and his running and dodging gradually slowed.
Lucian was frantic inside, gasping for breath between fits of laughter. He realized he'd been hit by the second-tier spell "Thanos's Banquet of Laughter" and was in extreme danger. He had to evade immediately, or the merfolk mage's follow-up attack would cost him his life.
The "Ice Avenger" ring on his left hand continued to emit a crystalline, cold glow, giving Lucian an icy sensation that helped him maintain the bare minimum of responsiveness amid the wild laughter.
Combined with the sheer strength of his soul, willpower, and spiritual energy, Lucian finally managed to suppress the laughter just enough to roll on the ground and scramble aside in a panic.
A crackling lightning orb shot straight from the merfolk mage's coral staff, trailing jumping silver-white electric serpents in its wake, and slammed down right where Lucian had been standing and laughing moments ago.
The massive bolt of lightning erupted. The cabin where the apprentices had once lived was reduced to scattered planks of wood, charred black.
Even Lucian, who had rolled away, was caught in the shockwave. His back went numb, his body stiffened, and his hair stood on end—he nearly couldn't move.
But the jolt from the lightning also snapped Lucian out of his laughter. The Flame Weaver's Bracelet lit up, and a searing, terrifying fireball hurtled straight at the merfolk mage.
At a time like this, Lucian couldn't care less about leaving behind traces of a Fireball spell that couldn't be cleaned up. His first priority was staying alive in this merfolk mage's hands.
The Fireball roared through the air, distorting the surrounding atmosphere with intense heat. But the merfolk mage remained calm and unhurried. A perfect duplicate of himself split away from his body—also holding a coral staff, also with cold, emotionless silver-gray pupils, also with scales across his body glowing with blood-red light.
The Fireball struck the original merfolk mage like hitting a mirror. It detonated violently, flames scattering in all directions as the clone cracked, shattered, and vanished without a trace. The merfolk mage standing nearby was completely unscathed amid the blast, protected by the "Resist Energy" spell and a massive water bubble that had emerged from his scales.
Lucian's strongest offensive spell—the third-tier Fireball—had been effortlessly countered!
And the merfolk mage had used only the second-tier spell "Mirror Image," which created a varying number of duplicate images depending on the caster's spell level, helping the original avoid being targeted. Until the images were dispelled or forcefully destroyed, the true body couldn't be harmed at all.
There were no weak spells—only mages who didn't know how to use them!
Lucian seized the moment while the merfolk mage was still in spell-recovery and dissolved into an afterimage once more, sprinting away.
Whether or not he could break free of the spiritual lock under that crushing mental pressure, Lucian wouldn't give up any sliver of hope. At the same time, he activated the spell model within his soul, and a dark shadow that seemed woven from pure terror pounced toward the merfolk mage.
First-tier spell "Cause Fear."
Only if the merfolk mage fell into panic or some other negative state, unable to cast smoothly, would Lucian have a chance to attack or escape!
The shadow struck the merfolk mage, but he stood as though merely observing it all. His silver-gray eyes remained cold and emotionless, without the slightest trace of fear—as if the "Cause Fear" spell had absolutely no effect on him.
His silver-gray pupils flashed, and an extraordinarily complex pale blue pattern materialized before Lucian's eyes. It was so mysterious, so profound, drawing Lucian's gaze completely inward, as though every scrap of his spirit and mind had been poured into it, leaving him dazed and bewildered.
The "Fated Star" within his soul suddenly blazed with radiant light, as if urgently pressing Lucian, warning him that danger was imminent.
Shaken by this, and aided by the "Ice Avenger" on his left hand, Lucian shuddered violently and regained a measure of clarity. Without a moment's hesitation, he activated the Flame Weaver's Bracelet, and the Sunfire Shield erupted outward in streaks of flowing flame.