"I don't believe it. You must be saying that on purpose, aren't you?"
Torezzas's cunning eyes darted around, drifting to the space behind Leilin.
"See that? After hearing your words, your little girlfriend is very upset!"
"Boring!" Leilin didn't even turn his head.
"But it's time to end this!" Leilin looked up at the sky. The light was brighter than it had been at dawn.
Wizards were clearly rational people. Torezzas had just threatened Leilin, but that was only with a one-in-a-million hope. His real purpose was most likely to stall for time until reinforcements from other apprentices arrived!
The Black Bone Forest apprentices were at an absolute disadvantage in the blood duel, and now it was already the second day. The enemy apprentices had certainly begun to assemble. Once Leilin was discovered, everyone would be out for his blood.
When that happened, spells would rain down like a deluge. Even with the Falling Star Pendant, the energy inside wouldn't last long.
"End what?"
Several spellcasting materials appeared in Torezzas's hands as he took a few steps backward.
"Of course, this boring game!"
A cold light flashed in Leilin's eyes, and he chanted several syllables.
Sssss!!! Clusters of red and green gas spread rapidly across the icy field.
The white frost and thin mist dissolved at incredible speed the moment they touched the red gas, and the temperature at the scene kept rising.
The green mist continuously refilled the area, and visibility dropped sharply—no one could be seen within three meters.
"This is what I prepared especially for your spells—Combustive
Leilin said softly. Just now, all his apparent trash talk had actually been the Chip frantically calculating behind the scenes, setting up the area and secretly scattering various auxiliary materials.
"Just corrosive gas!" Torezzas sneered.
Blue electric currents erupted across Torezzas's entire body. If the lightning covering him before had been a thin layer, it had now surged to a full centimeter in thickness.
"Go!" Torezzas pointed, and the blue lightning charged straight into the red and green cloud.
Zzzt!!! Wherever the lightning struck, the red and green gas evaporated, revealing clear ground.
But the smugness on Torezzas's face hadn't lasted a moment before his expression suddenly changed.
"This magical fluctuation! You—you're not some First-rank Apprentice at all! You're Third-rank!!!"
An energy fluctuation violently erupted from the center of the red and green cloud. All the electric serpents were corroded directly by the green gas, and a streak of green even followed the lightning's path, spreading toward Torezzas.
"No!" Torezzas gave a long look at Leilin inside the cloud and turned to flee.
Leilin immediately flung his hand forward, and a green ring-shaped spell enveloped Torezzas's body. His sprinting figure suddenly slowed as if shackled by chains.
Sssss!!! The red and green smoke spread to Torezzas's vicinity, engulfing him completely.
The smoke grew thicker and thicker. Leilin could no longer see Torezzas's silhouette with the naked eye.
Crackling!!! Lightning and thunder constantly erupted from within the Combustive Death Cloud, along with Torezzas's screams and cries of pain.
A cold smile tugged at the corner of Leilin's mouth. This Death Cloud was an improved version of his earlier spell, specifically enhanced with neutralizing agents most sensitive to electrical energy particles—a natural enemy of all lightning-system apprentices!
Listening to the shrieks from inside the Death Cloud and the sound of flesh being corroded away, pained expressions appeared on the faces of Biji and the other apprentice behind Leilin.
"Oh! I'm going to kill you!"
Several seconds later, Torezzas burst out from the Death Cloud's range, wreathed in a cloud of smoke, and charged straight at Leilin.
"Ah!" Seeing Torezzas's appearance, Biji and the other apprentice couldn't help but cry out in shock.
Torezzas was now bare from the waist up. Most of his clothes had been corroded away. His body was covered in festering pustules oozing yellow pus. One eye had fallen completely out of its socket, hanging from his face by only a few red blood vessels.
Combined with the missing patches of muscle on his face, Torezzas now looked exactly like a zombie from Leilin's previous life.
"Even though apprentices can use energy particles to modify their physiques, this kind of tenacious vitality is truly extremely rare!"
Leilin extended both hands. The black bracers on his wrists automatically unfurled and stretched outward, finally forming a long black bow. An arrow with barbed tips was nocked in one smooth motion.
"Wind speed and humidity calculated. Trajectory adjusted!"
With the Chip's assistance, Leilin's archery was now on par with any so-called master.
Swish swish swish swish! Four arrows shot from Leilin's bow. Black streaks of light tore through the air, piercing straight through Torezzas's four limbs and pinning him firmly to the ground.
"Gurgle!!!" Torezzas struggled. Flesh continued to slough off his body. It seemed even his vocal cords had been damaged—he could no longer form a single complete word.
"Did... did we win?" Biji's eyes were slightly unfocused as she watched the scene.
"Mm! We won. But there's still something left to do!"
Leilin nocked another arrow and pointed it at the girl beside Biji. "What's your name?"
"Mo... Molly! My Lord!!!" The female apprentice who had personally witnessed Leilin use the Death Cloud to make Torezzas suffer beyond death quickly submitted.
"Good! Molly, go up there and take the head of the enemy who tried to kill your friend!"
"No! You can't do this! Molly is still a child! I—I can go in her place..."
Biji stepped forward.
Whoosh! At the same moment, an arrow whizzed past her ear, slicing through a strand of hair, and embedded itself in the distance.
"Don't defy me. Otherwise, next time, the arrow will go straight through your head!" A frigid light shot from Leilin's eyes, making him look utterly vicious.
"I'll go!" said the apprentice named Molly, and Biji fell silent.
"I like obedient girls!" Leilin nodded and pointed his bow at Torezzas, who was writhing on the ground. "Now! Get moving!"
The female apprentice gritted her teeth and pulled a jeweled dagger from inside her robes. She walked forward and looked at Torezzas, pinned to the ground by arrows through all four limbs. Her expression was complicated.
This was the man who had just defeated Jiamen—the genius apprentice regarded as a wizard seed who possessed a Magical Item. But now his four limbs were pinned to the ground, and he lay like a dog awaiting slaughter.
That feeling spread through her heart like creeping vines. "So this is what power tastes like? It feels wonderful!"
Watching the female apprentice raise her dagger, Leilin suddenly grabbed Biji and retreated dozens of meters in a flash.
"Let go of me, you pervert!" Biji struggled continuously.
In her eyes, the apprentice Leilin was disguised as was someone she didn't know at all—someone with power beyond imagination and an utterly unpredictable temperament. He'd just said he came to rescue her, and in the next breath, he'd aimed an arrow at her and actually fired!
In Biji's heart, she had already written Leilin off as some powerful lunatic. After all, among wizards, it was entirely possible for experiments or meditation methods to go wrong and leave someone mentally unstable.
Leilin shrugged. After creating enough distance, he voluntarily released his hold on Biji.
His eyes were locked intently on the figure of the female apprentice holding the dagger against Torezzas's chest.
"Too easy! Too easy! The Chip's estimated win rate wasn't that high, and it said I'd only be able to kill this apprentice at the cost of light injuries. But now, he's completely meat on a cutting board—at my mercy!"
"Unless... he still has some unknown powerful trump card!" Leilin's eyes flashed with sharp light.
Molly, clutching the dagger, glanced toward Leilin one more time. Seeing that his bow was still aimed at her, she closed her eyes in despair and drove the dagger downward!!!
"What a pity!" At that exact moment, Torezzas suddenly opened his eyes. His pupils were filled with deathly stillness and an indissoluble sense of regret.
"I never thought I'd actually have to use this move one day—and against a mere Second-rank female apprentice, no less!"
BOOM!!!
As he spoke, countless bolts of lightning suddenly surfaced across Torezzas's body. These lightning bolts were incredibly violent, instantly covering his entire form and continuously contracting inward.
When the electric light had shrunk to its limit, Torezzas's entire body suddenly erupted in a massive explosion. The deafening sound blasted in every direction.
Shockwaves swept across the field, ripping up the grass and revealing the soil and roots beneath.
"Watch out!" The instant the explosion occurred, Leilin pulled Biji to his side. A potion vial was smashed on the ground—the Tierf Spiral Shield Potion!
At the same time, the Falling Star Pendant around his neck began to emit a hazy greyish glow.
Under the protection of the potion and the light membrane, the ground beneath Leilin and Biji's feet remained completely unscathed by the explosion. In fact, it now sat slightly higher than the surrounding terrain.
"Target spell power estimated: 16 degrees. Comparable spells: Corpse Explosion 45.7%, Lightning Field 34.5%"
Reading the Chip's information, Leilin finally understood how its earlier estimate had been calculated.
Though he had the Falling Star Pendant, its maximum magical resistance was only 15 degrees, while Torezzas's final self-destruction was clearly at 16 degrees—more than enough to breach the Falling Star Pendant's defenses and inflict damage on Leilin.
But in the end, it was Molly who delivered the killing blow. Leilin had been dozens of meters away, so not only was the blast's impact significantly reduced, but he also had time to complete his defenses.
"Still... the power reached 16 degrees? It's already approaching the level of an official
For enemies who were already dead, Leilin never skimped on compliments.
"You butcher! Executioner!!! You knew all along that he would self-destruct! Didn't you?!"
Biji, cradled in Leilin's arms, shoved him away. Tears began to well up in her beautiful eyes.
At the spot where Torezzas had self-destructed, only a large crater remained, along with scattered fragments of flesh and clothing. In that explosion, Torezzas and the female apprentice named Molly had perished together, their remains thoroughly intermingled.