Advent of the Archmage

This was Link's first time facing a Legendary Warrior of a mortal race in real life.

Compared to the game, real-life Warriors had a more obvious intriguing aura. His actions were more agile and incredibly fast!

In the game, because of the average man's reaction speed and for equilibrium between the careers, lightning-fast speeds like this would never appear.

Even if Link had Legendary power, if he met a Warrior like this when he first arrived at Firuman, he would be defeated immediately. But now, he wasn't a rookie anymore. He was a master at fighting!

In the blink of an eye, the leader had charged to 30 feet before him. He raised his sword and cut through the air. A crystal-like strand of Battle Aura shot towards Link.

I can't block Level-10 strength!

Link's mind went crazy. In the corner of his vision, he saw Nana retreating 60 feet while carrying Milda and holding Riel. She had rich battle experience. When she ran, she didn't maintain a straight line with Link. Instead, she ran towards the side, making it impossible for the Legendary Warrior to kill them all.

This made Link a bit relieved. He started reacting with full force. He couldn't block the hit, but he could hide.

The opponent used the Battle Aura to fly through the air. Link already predicted his next move. He pointed somewhere on the ground with the Burning Wrath of Heavens wand in his left hand. Spatial Spheres appeared continuously. Bit by bit, they flew all around Link.

His control on the Abstruse Meaning of Space had increased again. In the past, his Spatial Spheres were only the size of a sesame seed. One could see it by looking closely.

Now, the frequencies of the Spatial Spheres were 100 times higher. When tightened to the extreme, they couldn't be seen by the naked eye. Even Link couldn't see them. He only knew they existed by the subtle Mana they emitted.

While making this trap, he flashed in the opposite direction of Nana.

Now, his Dragon Power was halfway into Level-9. His physical strength was at this level too. Because of his prediction, he dodged the general's attack by a millimeter. Then he pushed off the ground and stabbed towards the general.

"Oh, a Magician knows swordsmanship. That's interesting!" The knight was still in mid-air. Link was extremely fast. A non-Legendary Warrior would definitely be dead, but he wasn't at a loss.

Whoosh. The crystal-like Battle Aura erupted again. The general's body seemed to teleport. In a blink, he landed on the ground from three feet in the air.

He was so fast that when he hit the ground, there was a faint afterimage behind him. Before the afterimage disappeared, his body transformed into a streak of light again as he charged at Link.

During this, he continuously brought his sword down. Strands of Battle Aura hurled towards Link. There were three. One attacked Link directly while two sealed off his exits. He couldn't hide or dodge.

"Die!" In the general's eyes, this low-level Magician was definitely dead meat.

But then something happened!

The moment before the attack arrived, Link did two things. First, he activated the Dragon King's Fury wand. Instantly, his strength multiplied by ten and his speed multiplied by five. Next, he activated a Spatial Sphere he'd planted in the path of the general knight.

Buzz. The Spatial Sphere erupted. It instantly turned into a foggy ripple ten feet wide and blocked the knight.

"Spatial Rend!"

This time, Link didn't use Restraint. The difference between Level-9 and Level-10 was too big. Spatial Restraint wouldn't be effective and would just waste a chance to attack. On the other hand, the strange phenomenon created by the Spatial Rend could stun the opponent and delay their reaction.

Inside the Spatial Sphere, the force field became chaotic with Link's thoughts. Inside it, leaves, grass, rocks, and dirt all turned into fine white powder. Regardless of how powerful his attack was, the visual was already impressive!

The knight had been charging at Link. Seeing this, he was stunned, and his steps faltered. This had nothing to do with battle experience; it was his protective instincts!

When something incomprehensible happened, an animal's natural instinct would be to avoid it. They couldn't just charge forward stupidly.

The general's pause gave Link a chance.

When the Battle Aura came, Link's rising power burst out. The basic swordsmanship techniques that Kanorse had taught included footsteps. They came in handy now.

With the great power he had, Link flashed even faster than the general. The three Battle Aura arcs came one after another. Link stepped to the side, dodging the first arc by a hair's breadth. Then he moved his foot and flashed back to his original spot, dodging the arcs that followed to seal off his exits.

His speed was extreme. At a glance, it was like he didn't even move. The Battle Aura arcs passed by him as if he was just a shadow.

"Okay, you have nice tricks!" The knight was shocked too. Link's speed was honestly too fast!

And that wasn't all!

While performing those actions, a fiery-red light appeared on Link's Burning Wrath of Heavens wand. With a whoosh, a crystal red whip lashed out. It cut a graceful arc in the air and whipped towards the knight's head like lightning.

Stunned, he hacked at the whip. This move was also an instinct. Whether one could control one's instinct during battle was the difference between a Master and a regular Warrior.

Before a Battle Mage like Link, using instincts was the biggest taboo. Especially after Link learned basic swordsmanship, he was even more familiar with the defensive moves a Warrior would use.

Thus, the knight missed. The Demon Slayer Whip twisted slightly, brushing past the sword. It looked like luck, but it was actually Link's prediction. With this mistake, the knight lost the chance to protect himself. Link's whip successfully broke through and hit the back of his head.

Crack! Crystal-red light splattered in all directions. The knight's head swayed a little. At the last moment, he activated his Battle Aura and protected his head. However, even though the pure Battle Aura was at the Legendary level, it was too rushed. The structure was too loose and wasn't as condensed as a Battle Aura Cut.

The result was that a shred of Link's power successfully seeped into the back of the knight's head. The back of one's head was a fatal shot. A regular person could kill someone while playing with a bit of pressure there. In a life-or-death battle like this, getting hit in the back of the head was a sign of getting killed.

The knight felt a little dizzy as if the world was spinning. He started seeing double and knew that he was in trouble!

"Argh!" he roared. He waved his sword and started attacking wildly in front of him.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Crystal threads of Battle Aura overlapped in front of him like a fan. The frequency was so dense that it was impossible to dodge.

But this was useless. Link had predicted this early on.

If the general was alone, he would definitely get killed. But he had around 30 knights behind him. Seeing that their general was in trouble, they immediately started shooting arrows at Link.

Link wasn't obsessed with fighting; he'd already started retreating. During this, he didn't look towards the arrows. Distinguishing their positions by sound, he pointed the Burning Wrath of Heavens wand casually—Restraint!

Whoosh. A ball-shaped force field appeared at the tip of the wand. It increased to ten feet in diameter. The next moment, dozens of arrows arrived. They dug into the force field. Like candles going into a cake, they froze in the air.

These knights were at most at Level-9 and couldn't break free from Link's magic. Before the general could recover, the white light of a Dimensional Jump appeared from Link's Dragon King's Fury wand. The light enveloped Link like water.

Nana saw this and immediately stopped retreating. She turned and rushed towards Link. Soon, she entered the range of the spell. The white light covered them all.

With a hum, the group disappeared.

The next instant, the restrictive force field disappeared. After dozens of twangs, the arrows in the air suddenly sped up and stuck into the ground.

The general had finally recovered too. Clutching his heavy head, he looked up in utter shock. He had truly felt the threat of death just then even though the Magician wasn't even at Tier-1.

"Who was that Magician? Does anyone know him?" he asked, his voice low.

"I think he's called Link," a knight answered, unsure. "He's Rockham's new apprentice… an official apprentice with the magic mark."

The general was a bit shocked. "Oh, it's him… Whatever. Since he escaped, we won't chase after him. Let's continue to the Lagu tribe."

He didn't have anything against Link and was only carrying out a command. Since Link was Rockham's apprentice and had escaped from him, he had no reason to continue this. He would just see it as doing Rockham a favor… But that guy truly was ruthless!

Humm. Thousands of feet away, white light flickered in the forest. Link's group appeared again. They were in a high area. If they climbed a tree, they could see the nearby situation and the knights on the road of the city gate.

After appearing, Link scampered up a tree. He looked towards the Spring Leaf Village. As he predicted, the knights didn't come after them. The general stood in place for a while and then went in their original direction.

Link let out a breath. That battle had been shocking. When he faced the Legendary Warrior, the pressure of the thin line between life and death suffocated him.

Climbing down, Riel looked at him reverently. "Master Link, you just defeated a Legendary Warrior!"

Milda also looked at him with shock. Her eyes shone with unshed tears.

Link didn't feel any pride. "It was just luck. This is Aragu. These Warriors have Legendary power but aren't battle Masters."

Other than the dragons, Legendary fighters of Firuman were all grandmasters of battles—undefeatable fighters who had survived hellish experiences. It would be impossible for someone on a lower level to beat them. It would already be a feat to escape alive.

"Let's go. We can't stay in Spring Leaf Village. Balha has probably gone crazy already. Faced with a madman like that, Rockham can only give in."

"Are we going to go find that cave?" Milda asked.

"Of course. According to the annals, it's in the Darrow Peak outside Black Eagle City 100 miles to the north. It's not too far."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Riel couldn't wait to get out of this f*cked up world.

…

Spring Leaf Village

Three halflings hid in the shadows outside the magic workshop.

"He escaped using a portal."

"Bullsh*t. How can it be a portal? He's not a saint. Where can he get the power for that? He probably used short-distance Burst. He can't be too far. Let's go find him."

The three halflings retreated into the shadows and disappeared.