Advent of the Archmage

Amidst the ruins of the square, in the heart of the street.

The swordswoman Alina chose the best timing to make her move.

At that moment, the human Magician had just killed off the hired human Assassins. This was the moment that the Magician would let down his guard, or at least it was the moment when his reaction time would be the slowest.

She was now about 130 feet away from the Magician. With the help of one of her Battle Art skills, Deception Spiral, she would only need 1.5 seconds to cross this distance!

In 1.5 seconds, Link would be within her reach. Then all she needed to do was smash the Magician's defensive spell apart and decapitate him – all with a single swing of her sword!

Yes, she was a Level-5 Assassin so there was no reason she couldn't do it! More importantly, she was not alone—he had two strong comrades behind her as well.

Just as Alina rushed forward, the Level-4 Assassin Ainos came out of hiding and instantly raised his arm and took aim. In that hand was a crossbow that was radiating a cold silvery Battle Aura.

Click.

The arrow was now in place, and the magic seal on the crossbow was now activated. At the same time, Ainos had stabilized his aim and locked it on Link's skull.

Whooosh!

For a moment, there was a sudden burst of light that was blindingly bright. Then, an arrow that looked like a silver thunderbolt emerged from it, tearing through the air at a frightening speed towards Link's head.

This crossbow contained anti-magic powers. At the instant of firing, it would also be boosted by the power of a Level-3 spell, which gave it extreme penetrative force. Even if it couldn't completely break through Link's defensive shield, it was sure to weaken it by a considerable amount, so Alina would only have to touch it with the tip of her sword to completely smash the shield.

Once the arrow was fired, the bright magic crystal on the silver crossbow dimmed slightly – it was now recharging. The process would take a while, so Ainos would have to wait three seconds before he could fire the next arrow.

At the same time, the Magician Felidia finally stood up.

He made no move to attack, though. He began, instead, to cast a defensive spell.

Of the three Dark Elves present, he was the only to have fought against Link before. He was familiar with this Magician's tactics and strategies and he was confident that the combined forces of the three of them would be able to defeat him. Still, they must be prepared to protect themselves with a shield, otherwise the last counterattack from Link before he died might kill at least one or two of them.

That was why they decided that Alina and Ainos would be the ones to attack the human Magician and he would provide them both with the protection of his defensive spells – it was a fail-proof fighting strategy.

About 0.8 seconds later, Felidia used the magic bracelet on his arm to cast a halo spell – Dark Fog!

Dark Fog

Level-3 Halo Spell

Range of Effect: 260 feet.

Effects: Specified targets within the range will be shrouded in a thick protective grayish fog which will decrease the power of a Level-3 spell attack by 60%.

(Note: The higher the level of the spell, the weaker the protection, e.g. the power of an attack from a Level-4 spell would only be decreased by 50%.)

Although the defensive spell was only Level-3, it was more than sufficient to protect Alina because she'd only left a window of 1.5 seconds for the opponent to cast another spell. With such a brief period of time, the most powerful spell the Magician could possibly cast was a Level-3 spell. Even if he could cast a Level-4 spell, its power would still be halved by Dark Fog and Alina's own Battle Aura would no doubt protect her from it. There was no reason to doubt that she would be able to counter any kind of attack this Magician would hurl at her!

Within seconds, Alina was now less than fifty feet away from Link. She used her Battle Art to blur her silhouette, making it harder for the Magician to aim his attacks as it was now impossible to pinpoint her exact location.

"No!!!" shouted Prince Phillip helplessly.

The human Magician who had just rescued him minutes ago was now in grave danger and he didn't even have the power to do anything about it!

While he was screaming, the Assassin Ainos' silver arrow managed to pierce through Link's Level-4 Edelweiss. The tip of the crossbow arrow was in direct contact with an opposing force as it penetrated the force field; it emitted a shimmery silver light as its speed was gradually impeded. It looked just like a fish that had jumped into a pool of thick gel.

At last, when the arrow had penetrated the shield for about one and a half feet and only a few inches away from Link's forehead, it was deflected away by the force field. However, the Edelweiss had indeed received some damage because of this attack. The light that had enveloped Link's body was now so dim that it was almost invisible. All it needed was for Alina to poke the shield gently with her sword and Link would be rendered completely defenseless.

Eleanor had noticed just how much danger Link was in as well now. Naturally she wanted to rescue the young Magician who'd just saved her life seeing that he was about to get killed. But she had underestimated the three Dark Elves' formidable power!

Eleanor wanted to cast a defensive spell on Link and protect him, but she instantly realized that there would only be less than half a second of time for her to cast it. By the time she was done casting the spell, the Dark Elf's sword would've cut him down from ear to ear.

In other words, in the face of such rapid attacks, Eleanor, the Master Magician who had been exploiting the mysterious features of secret spells for sneak attacks for a century was now powerless against the Dark Elves. She could do nothing but watch her friend get killed in front of her eyes.

The Dark Elves' battle strategy was like bolts of lightning that would bombard you with attack after attack without giving you time to react. In this case, even if you had the capability to cast a thousand different clever spells, you'd still be defeated as you wouldn't have the time to cast them.

It was not unlike the strategy that Link and Herrera used to knock the old Necromancer Shade to the ground and defeat him at the black Mage Tower.

Eleanor now realized the cruel truth of how it was impossible for her to help Link now. She couldn't understand why, but she suddenly felt a sharp pang in her heart. Finally, after more than a century of utter isolation and loneliness, she'd found a friend in Link. Yet in the blink of an eye, death would soon claim her only friend – why must life be so cruel and tragic?

No one could save Link now, that much was clear to Eleanor. The only person left that Link could rely on was himself!

Fortunately, Link turned out to be as reliable as any other help he could get. In fact, he had been brewing up a strategy the moment he saw the Dark Elf swordswoman appear.

The woman was nimble and agile; she was adept at concealing her movements and her speed was swift. It would be difficult to hit her with a spell that had high penetrative power like Whistle, as it would require Link to hit the target accurately. She was also protected by a defensive spell and possessed strong Battle Aura herself as well so any Level-0 spell, even Link's Glass Orbs, would be useless on her.

Moreover, even if he could hit the Dark Elf accurately with his spells, she would be able to block those attacks with her sword anyway. He also had so little time that he couldn't afford to make even the smallest of mistakes, so he would have to give up attacking her with any spell that worked in a small target area.

Which meant that he had one option left – his second strongest spell, Flame Blast.

Mana began to flow into his wand and reconfigure into the spell structure of Flame Blast. The fire elements stored inside the Domingo crystal would be a great help to him now as it would save him the time it took for elements to collect and condense at the tip of the wand.

Thus, within one second, a Flame Blast began to take form at the tip of Link's wand. Alina was roughly 30 feet away from Link by then, and she could even clearly make out the roiling heated air around the fireball. An ominous sense of danger overwhelmed her senses and her pupils shrunk to the size of a pinprick.

At this moment, two options stood before her. Firstly, she could retreat and save her life, or secondly, she could fight on until the last drop of her blood was drained from her veins.

A Warrior retreating before a Magician? That would be more shameful than death. The right choice was clear to her now – she would grit her teeth and fight till her last breath!

Flame Blasts were indeed powerful and there was no doubt that it was her three consecutive Flame Blasts that had turned the square in the heart of the city into a hell on earth. Still, Alina had the powerful defensive spell that Felidia had cast on her body and besides, she possessed a formidable Level-5 Battle Aura. More importantly, she was now only 30 feet away from the opponent. If Link decided to unleash a Flame Blast here, he would no doubt be burnt to a crisp himself!

The fire element was a wild and explosive element to control. While high-level fire spells were undoubtedly fearsome weapons in battles, they were also like double-edged swords that could equally hurt the opponent and the caster!

"Bring it on!" shouted Alina.

She unleashed a burst of Battle Aura which materialized as silver spikes around her body. The bright silvery glint that emanated from her body followed her as she dashed forward at high speed, leaving a trail of faint aura behind her. She looked just like a shooting star falling from the sky.

Unfortunately, she had yet again underestimated Link's true powers.

In truth, Link had another choice. He could use the Legendary spell to transport himself to a spot faraway and escape the attacks virtually unscathed. He could even bring Prince Phillip and Eleanor with him because the Legendary spell was able to transport more than one person. Despite this choice being available to him, Link nevertheless chose to fight head-on with Flame Blast – because he had enough faith in himself and was confident that he would thwart the Dark Elves' plans!

In fact, he wouldn't just thwart their plans, he would also defeat them all!