A dazzling radiance descended from the sky like a meteor.
The instant it landed, the dark forest was illuminated brightly. The leaves swayed along with the wild air currents. Be it the adventurers or Elyse, they couldn't help but retreat to avoid the sudden storm.
In the blink of an eye, as Elyse retreated, a spear burst out of the dazzling radiance and shot toward the young lady.
Upon witnessing the spear speeding toward her, Elyse's expression sank. Without hesitation, she tossed the scimitar in her hand at the attacker and retreated into the depths of the darkness like an illusory shadow.
But the opponent's speed was faster than Elise had imagined. Almost at the same time when the ray of light tore through the darkness and shone on Elise, the spear had already arrived in front of Elise and was about to pierce through the maiden's heart.
At the same time, Elyse widened her eyes. Her scarlet pupils sharpened in an instant. At the next moment, wild negative energy flames erupted from her body, pouncing forward like a roaring, ferocious beast with its mouth wide open.
"Huh?!"
Upon witnessing the eruption of flames, the attacker seemed to be taken aback. Facing Elyse's attack, he stopped almost immediately. At the same time, he stabbed the spear into the ground and bellowed.
"Sturdy earth, grant me a shield!"
Along with his furious roar, the ground rumbled and an incomparably sturdy earth wall rose out of thin air, shielding the two of them.
Shortly after, the negative energy flames crashed into the earth wall and dissipated into nothingness.
At that moment, Elyse reorganized his stance. She placed her hands down and a flame shield appeared around her.
But even so, Elyse put on a solemn expression. Judging from the attack earlier, she was certain that the attacker was at least in the peak Master Stage and might even have entered the Legendary Stage.
The reason why she was able to force the attacker back was entirely because the negative energy flames of a mage naturally restrained all spell casters. But there was a limit to this restraint. At least for the current Elyse, she wasn't qualified to fight such a powerful opponent.
The smoke and dust dispersed.
The earth wall fell apart and was completely destroyed by the impact of the negative energy flames. At that moment, the attacker revealed his true identity.
It was a man who looked to be in his forties or fifties. He had a burly build and was nearly two meters tall. He wore a strange outfit that was modified from a mage's robe. On the outside, he wore the leather armor that warriors usually wore.
If he had not released the spell just now, it would have been impossible to associate this two-meter-tall, burly man with muscles all over his body that could be a bodybuilding coach with a spellcaster. On the contrary, it would have been more convincing to say that he was a barbarian or a warrior.
"Mage?"
The man patted the dust off his body and shook off a few pieces of jewelry. Even he did not dare to face Elyse's negative energy fire head-on. If it were not for the fact that he was an archmage and had a few defensive magic items on him, he might really be hurt by this little guy.
But now, his face didn't look good either. The man stared coldly at Elyse, his eyes burning with battle intent.
"I didn't expect you to be a mage … Look at your attire. You don't look like someone from the Glittergold Empire. Who are you?
Why did you attack our convoy? "
"…"
Facing the man's question, Elyse frowned but didn't say anything.
The opponent's strength was far greater than hers, and the mage wasn't completely invincible. From the battle just now, Elyse could perceive that the opponent understood the mage's combat characteristics very well. If he used a magic shield instead of a strength barrier to resist her negative energy flames, then Elyse had enough confidence to make him suffer.
But the opponent's reaction was really fast. When he noticed that something was wrong, he immediately chose to build an earth wall to block the attack of the negative energy flames and reduce the power of the negative energy flames to a minimum.
As a mage, Elyse certainly knew that the mage wasn't completely without weaknesses. The negative energy flames were best for pure energy effects, but it wasn't so powerful when bombarding those physical objects.
It seems that this enemy is difficult to deal with.
"Not talking?"
The man gazed at Elyse with a cold expression. Then, he flipped over and picked up the spear in his hand.
"It's fine. After I capture you, I have ways to make you tell me the truth. I didn't expect the Glittergold Empire to play such tricks … Hmph … But that's all there is to it …"
"Hmm …"
Hearing this, Zayen raised an eyebrow.
It seemed like his guess was right. The reason why the Mage Association transported the Ring Mage Staff so secretly and even used adventurers as bait wasn't only to keep it a secret, but also to deceive the Glittergold Empire.
This also meant that the higher-ups of the Glittergold Empire weren't aware that the Mage Association transported the Ring Mage Staff to the Fantasy Star City.
Or perhaps, they didn't want the other party to know.
But why did the Mage Association do this?
Zayen's curiosity was piqued. The Mage Association was the official spellcasting organization of the Glittergold Empire. In fact, they knew clearly that if it weren't for the Glittergold Empire, they would have been destroyed by the Templars.
So what were they doing now?
Could it be that the Glittergold Empire intended to use the Ring Mage Staff, but the Mage Association didn't agree to it, which was why they transferred it?
The Glittergold Empire couldn't be that foolish, right? Once the Ring Mage Staff was activated in the main plane, blood would flow like a river and the Holy Church would come knocking on their doors to annihilate their families.
Could it be that the Mage Association intended to inherit the will of the creator and continue to use the Ring Mage Staff to pursue that unreachable path?
But why did they choose this time … Could it be that they intended to take advantage of the Glittergold Empire's war to fish in troubled waters and throw all the blame to the Royal Family?
After some consideration, Jenn felt that the second possibility was higher. After all, the Royal Family of the Glittergold Empire wouldn't treat their country as a joke. On the other hand, Mages were willing to pay any price in order to pursue the core of everything. This was one of the reasons why they chose to trade with the Demons.
In fact, many Mages had traded their souls to the Demons in order to pursue an illusory goal and fell into darkness.
Jenn had seen this many times in the Demon Realm, so he wasn't surprised at all.
And judging from the current situation, perhaps most people in the Mage Association weren't aware of the truth. After all, even a three-year-old child knew about the story of the Ring Mage Staff. If the Mages were to know that they intended to restart the Ring Mage Staff, who knew how excited they would be?
For such a secretive matter, the fewer people who knew about it, the better it would be to prevent it from being leaked.
But now wasn't the time for guessing. He was certain that the Mage was in the Legendary Stage and Elyse wasn't his match at all.
Besides, it could be seen from his attire that he was a Battle Mage.
Battle Mages were the most specialized and proficient in combat among Mages. Not only could they release powerful spells, but they could also carry out incomparably powerful melee attacks.
Of course, Battle Mages also had their limits. They couldn't learn overly profound and mysterious spells like ordinary Mages. Besides, they looked more like Warriors than Mages at low levels.
But when these Battle Mages fully matured, they would become the most powerful and terrifying existence among the Mages. And now, in front of Elise, it was obvious that she was such an existence.
Although Elyse had learned some combat skills, combat mages specialized in combat, and Elyse was a "pseudo-dual practitioner" who relied entirely on his inhuman physique to get by. Zayen was certain that if the two were to fight, it would only be a matter of minutes before Elyse was defeated.
But he had no intention of sending Elyse to his death alone.
"Sophina."
Jenn gazed at the young lady beside him. At this moment, Sophina was still expressionless and indifferent. But Jenn saw the burning will to fight in her eyes.
It was apparent that this princess was looking forward to joining the battle.
Upon hearing Jenn's call, Sophina turned around and gazed at him silently. But her pair of bright, sparkling eyes had already betrayed her thoughts.
It seems like the blood of the red dragon flows in her.
Gazing at Sophina's gaze, Jenn smiled.
"Go and help Elyse."
Upon hearing this, Sophina nodded in response.
At the next moment, her figure vanished completely from Jenn's sight.
After witnessing Sophina's disappearance, Jenn turned around, narrowed his eyes, and gazed at the chariot and adventurers.
At that moment, the adventurers seemed to be completely dumbfounded. They didn't know what was going on at all.
They were only escorting a noble to Fantasy Star City and searching for a way to save their companion. But what was going on now?
Who is that young lady?
Who is this man who suddenly appeared?
What are they talking about that I don't understand, but I think it's awesome!
However, the man apparently had no intention of explaining to anyone. Upon seeing that Elyse had no intention of answering, he let out a snort and raised the longsword in his hand high. At the next moment, he metamorphosed into a whirlwind and split into six, dashing toward Elyse.
"Mirror Shadow!"
Upon seeing the six figures in front of her, Elyse was taken aback. Just like Jenn, she guessed the identity of the battle mage the moment she saw them.
But she didn't expect the battle mage to be so fierce. One had to know that Mirror Shadow was originally just an ordinary illusion spell used to confuse the opponent and had no practical effect.
But this battle mage seemed to have truly split into six as though there were six people attacking her at the same time.
For a moment, Elyse didn't know what to do. In the end, she gritted her teeth and swung her arms forward. Shortly after, negative energy flames erupted once again, rolling and blasting toward the battle mage.
However, the battle mage was faster than Elyse imagined. The moment her flames erupted, the six phantoms flew up as though they had grown wings, leaping over the flames in an arc. Then, they thrust their spears forward abruptly, aiming straight at the young lady.
"Sh * t!"
Looking at this scene, Elyse's expression changed drastically. At that moment, she suddenly witnessed a red figure appearing in front of her.
At the next moment, Sophina collided with the six battle mages.