Boom!
A cyan hurricane suddenly surged in front of Jenna, erecting a cyan shield to block her path.
Leilin's flame-wreathed right hand collided with the shield, producing a tremendous crash.
"Un... Uncle Manna!" A smile broke across Jenna's face.
Amid a roar of wind, a golden-haired, burly man appeared before Leilin.
"Manna?" Leilin recognized the wizard he had met only briefly in the past.
"I came as soon as I heard your transmission — luckily I made it in time!" Manna planted himself directly in front of Jenna, glaring at Leilin with hostility. "How dare you hurt my niece like this! My family will definitely not—"
Boom!
Before Manna could finish, Leilin unleashed a barrage of black fireballs, smashing them toward Manna.
In Leilin's view, since they were already enemies, he might as well eliminate them completely — what was the point of more talk?
"Uncle Manna, be careful! He's incredibly strong — he's already surpassed semi-elementalization—"
Before Jenna's warning even finished, Leilin had already guided the shadow fireballs into Manna's green hurricane.
Under the assault of fireballs reaching an astonishing 51 degrees, Manna was forced back step after step.
"Incredible!" A look of utter terror crossed Manna's face.
Immediately after, Leilin appeared before him like a ghost. A claw wreathed in blood-red flames was already lunging toward his face.
Crack!
A sound like a soap bubble bursting rang out. The magical barrier around Manna's massive body was torn apart like paper before Leilin's Scarlet Hand.
Leilin's hand didn't stop — it plunged straight into the big man's chest.
Crunch! A huge chunk of bloodied flesh was ripped from around the big man's chest, and the surrounding skin was singed black.
"No good! The gap in power is too vast — if we stay here any longer, we're dead!"
Manna immediately grabbed Jenna from the ground, turned, and fled!
To be fair, Manna had also reached the level of semi-elementalization, making him among the elite wizards of the entire South Coast. Unfortunately, he had run into the far more monstrous Leilin, who completely outmatched him in spiritual power and elementalization — and even in physical combat.
"Teus — Farelion!"
In the instant of fleeing, Manna hurled out a silver spell scroll.
Nine green tornadoes rose up like walls, blocking Leilin's pursuit.
"Trying to run!"
A deep, dark glint flashed through Leilin's eyes. He muttered a few guttural incantations and pointed his right hand forward.
The black mist instantly condensed into a black serpent and shot after the two of them.
The black serpent seemed completely phantasmal, passing right through the green tornadoes and arriving before Manna in an instant. Its scarlet eyes fixed on Jenna as it opened its maws to bite.
"What the hell is that?!"
Manna unleashed a blast of green hurricane.
Whoosh! The black serpent slipped unimpeded through the center of the hurricane. Then it opened its maw and bit hard into Jenna's neck!
Two black puncture marks instantly appeared on Jenna's snow-white neck, faintly forming a twisted, grotesque wizard rune.
"Jenna?!"
Manna's hand was wreathed in white light as he tried to brush the black serpent away.
But the black serpent whipped its tail around and bit down on Manna's arm, branding him with the same symbol.
After completing these two attacks, the black serpent hissed, dissolved into a cloud of black mist, and burrowed into the bodies of both Manna and Jenna.
"This situation! It seems like a curse? This is bad!"
Manna's face darkened. The rune marks hadn't produced any sensation in his body, but his instincts screamed that something terribly wrong had taken hold.
"Jenna! Hold on!" Manna roared, the green hurricane around him expanding as his entire body transformed into a gale and vanished into the forest.
Leilin stared in the direction Manna had fled, motionless for a long while.
Then the surface of his body cracked open like porcelain, and a torrent of blood gushed out.
"Too badly hurt? Can't hold on anymore?" Leilin sank to one knee, his head spinning, his vision blurring in and out.
If it were possible, he would certainly have preferred to press the attack and kill Manna and that Jenna outright. Unfortunately, in his current physical state, he could no longer continue fighting.