Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)

Chapter 541: Unraveling

The elf had a look of surprise at that moment, and flapped her wings in rage. She flew toward Xiao Lin, but it seemed like she had never flown in that state before. She was not as quick as anticipated.

However, after Xiao Lin used up so much of his energy, his speed was not as quick as it used to be. The chase quickly reached a distance of a few hundred meters, and the slow dark treants were left behind.

The woman was not stupid; after her initial anger, she quickly noticed something was wrong, but Xiao Lin did not give her that much time to think. Without the interference from those dark treants, he needed to focus more on his attacks since he did not have much time left.

Flame sword aura!

This time the woman did not use Absolute Defense, even though Xiao Lin estimated that her Absolute Defense would already be up. She seemed to remain careful. Without the help of the treants to protect her, she did not simply use that skill.

She really was apprehensive about his dragon breath sword. Looking at her expression, Xiao Lin was certain of his earlier guess, but he quickly got even more conclusions. Earlier, his sword aura formed a few more wounds on her.

The woman was not as strong as he thought. More accurately, her strength was not expressed in a normal form, such as speed or power; it was a type of enemy Xiao Lin had never seen before.

Ever since the start of the latest semester, even though it had not been that long, and Xiao Lin had not attended all the classes, Gu Xiaoyue’s notes had meant that Xiao Lin had seen the notes from most classes. Of those, a theory that was brought up interested him a lot.

It was a system of strength that the colonists had compiled on Planet Norma. As colonists, they were all immensely curious of foreign magic and sword aura.

The theory was called the balance of strength. The meaning was simple: there did not exist an unstoppable power. Physical power was like a food chain, and there was something on top. For instance the orcs had strength and physiques above any other race, but their intelligence and mental strength was far lower than other races.

Normese humans were a more balanced race, and could do everything, but they were not at the peak of anything either. The elves had dexterity and extreme reactions, but they were not very strong. Dwarves were extremely creative, but their own combat strength was extremely low. Even the dragons that stood at the peak all had their special natural counters.

There were no perfect races and no perfect strength. The scholars from Earth believed that it was a form of protection from the natural law of the world. His intuition told him the woman was strong; even the Incomplete Absolute Defense could still block anything within the same rank, which was still terrifying.

Even without increasing her rank and power, if she had Absolute Defense, she would be unbeatable in this world. After all, Absolute Defense could even withstand the power of dragons.

However, that was not the case. Xiao Lin had read about the strongest of the natives before, and had never heard of Absolute Defense, nor had he ever heard of this woman.

That meant that Absolute Defense was not unbeatable; it definitely had other unfavorable conditions other than the natural restrictions.

Xiao Lin was no expert in that department, nor could he figure out an answer in such a short time. It did not matter; if he could not figure it out, he would just need to directly experiment.

With the information from Replicate, Xiao Lin subtly activated Incomplete Absolute Defense. A shield formed around him, but his shield was red. It was a shield formed with pure energy, which was different from the elf.

Xiao Lin once again opened his Eye of Truth, and saw that his Absolute Defense was made of elemental energy, while the opponent’s was made of dark and natural energy. He did not know if he was mistaken, but when he opened his Eye of Truth, he clearly felt that his Absolute Defense had a faint ripple, as if it had been strengthened.

After using the skill himself, Xiao Lin finally formed a deeper understanding of the skill. What shocked him was that the skill was something that had its own law.

Xiao Lin might not be at the level where he could create his own laws, but he had interacted with those on that level before, including in the Final Lands when Ivanovich got him to collect the Shards of Creation. All of them had close relationships with law, and Xiao Lin started to be more sensitive to it. When he used it, the special feeling led him to understand immediately.

The elf was shocked as well; she was even more familiar with the special properties of Absolute Defense than Xiao Lin, and when the red shield formed in front of Xiao Lin, she immediately understood what it was. She immediately shouted in anger and shock, “Impossible! How could you have Absolute Defense!”

Xiao Lin was full of questions as well, but he had no time to chat.

With only three seconds of Absolute Defense, the 10% toll on his strength exacerbated his exhaustion. The treants were closing in, and Xiao Lin used the precious few seconds he earned to rush at the woman.

This time, he used up all of his strength. Xiao Lin used his own body like a cannon ball and shot forward.

However, it was not because Xiao Lin wanted to do it. He had no choice. After using Absolute Defense, he immediately understood the skills weaknesses. Absolute Defense not only targeted the enemy, it targeted himself as well. He could not use any attacks during that period, especially anything that needed energy. The moment he tried, he felt the elemental energy immediately disperse. The only thing he could use was that collision.

The woman widened her eyes, and the close distance did not give her time to dodge, so she could only activate Absolute Defense.

In midair, her faint green shield collided fiercely with his deep red shield.