Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

Vast swathes of dark blue frost surged forth, like ancient, heavy leaden clouds, within which pure black lightning flashed and danced.

The enormous phantom of the soul behind Dago seemed to become clearer at this moment, and the ferocious behemoth vaguely revealed the outline of the Despairing Winter Dragon Beheilite in the shadows.

The black light from the [Cold Element] runes on the palms of both hands climbed up Dago's wrists, rising like thick, pure black flames.

Amidst this terrifying power, Dago's titanium armor glowed, and his monstrous body flickered in the void before transforming into a blurry figure that was impossible to detect with the naked eye. He then delivered a powerful punch to the humanoid giant bear in the distance!

"boom!"

The giant earth bear that Evaque had transformed into exploded directly. The residual force of this punch did not diminish, causing a small patch of void where Evaque was located to collapse and cave in, presenting a shocking semi-transparent distortion.

However, within the burst of light and mist from Evaque's body, a dark figure suddenly darted out.

Dago caught a glimpse of a giant black wolf engulfed in blue flames, and a chill ran down his spine.

He also remembered the battle between Evaque and Kolcrow, in which he entered this "Ghost Wolf" form and defeated Kolcrow with just one pounce.

"Frost!"

Dago's arms swung, and the three powers—the dark blue frost around him, the pure black lightning formed from the power of despair, and the black light of the [Cold Element] rune—all converged in his hands.

In his Blue Demon form, coupled with the activation of the Desperate Winter Dragon bloodline, his hands resembled the ferocious and terrifying claws of an ancient demon.

Now, the three forces converged, and three-colored light flashed at the narrow, sharp fingertips. The five fingers tore through the void, emitting a kind of terrifying, sharp, low howl, as if something was desperately screaming around Dago's arm.

"Click—"

The figures of the man and the wolf passed each other, leaving a terrible tear mark in the void that lingered for a long time.

Dago stood where Evaque had been, turned around, and stared expressionlessly at Evaque in the distance, who had switched places with him and was now in his ghost wolf form.

Suddenly, the next second.

Dago groaned and staggered back two steps. His once unharmed body was now riddled with titanium fragments in the chest area, and several deep lacerations appeared on his chest for no apparent reason.

The wound healed quickly on its own, but Dago's face turned a little pale.

He took a deep breath, trying to suppress the waves of excruciating pain emanating from the depths of his soul, as if something were tearing him apart.

His encounter with Evaque was bizarre. He felt as if his attacks had completely missed their mark, while Evaque easily left him with terrible wounds that went deep into his soul and were difficult to heal.

"Under the blessing of all spirits,"

The black giant wolf, its body wreathed in deep blue soul fire, uttered a deep voice belonging to Evaqui, "Your attacks cannot harm me."

"Yeah..."

Dago calmly said, "Then let's try again."

"Click click click—"

He withdrew from his state of utter despair. Pure physical attacks were ineffective against Evaque in his "Ghost Wolf" form, so there was no need to maintain this state that consumed a lot of despair energy.

"call--"

A massive surge of frost rushed in, and pure white ice blades rose from the vortex of ice and snow.

Starting with the [Fine Snow Sword Domain], which resonates with the dual magic domains, Dago remotely grasped an ice blade and slashed fiercely at Evaque.

The latter had an indifferent look in its eyes, and with all four limbs on the ground, its slender wolf body slowly took a running start in the void, charging towards Dago.

Just as the ice blade was about to strike him, Evaque leaped up suddenly.

The pure white ice blade silently sliced ​​through his body without encountering any resistance.

At the same time, Evaque's figure vanished abruptly, and a deep blue, chilling lightning bolt flashed across the void—

"Click—"

"Bang!"

Dago suddenly took a step back, his body slightly turned to the side, revealing a tear in his right chest from the beast's claws, and his face paled even more.

Dago's eyes showed no emotion whatsoever, as if the wounds to his soul and body had no effect on him whatsoever.

The aura of the Dharma Domain surged forth, and he summoned several spinning ice spheres radiating a deep sense of despair. But before Dago could do anything, the ghostly giant wolf that Evaque had transformed into had already silently pounced on him from behind once again.

"Dago Heca is indeed no match for Evaque."

Among the onlookers, a wizard shook his head in judgment, "His strength is quite strong. He was able to defeat Gehrman and has the Crimson Oath. He is definitely one of the eight strongest people in this generation. What a pity."

"How could the difference in soul power caused by two minor realms of spiritual power be so easily erased?"

"Evaqui's psychic magic can directly attack the spellcaster's soul. Unless there is a corresponding soul defense method, even Kolklau cannot withstand his soul attack at the same level, let alone Dago Heca."

"It seems the first round of the bloody battle is about to end. Perhaps Evaque will inherit the legacy and continue the bloody battle that Dago failed to complete?"

"With Evaque's strength, the chances of completing the bloody battle are much greater..."

Everyone was discussing it. At this moment, the situation on the field had become very clear. Dago had no effective means to resist Evaque's soul attack and could only passively take the beating. Defeat or even death was only a matter of time.

They have begun to speculate on how the situation will change in this battle.

In the crowd, Lindis smiled without saying a word. He was simply focused on watching the battle on the stage, which was showing a one-sided trend, as if this was exactly the scene he wanted to see.

A genius who should have had a bright future was manipulated by his "invisible hand" and could only be tortured and humiliated to death little by little by an opponent he could not defeat at this stage, right in front of everyone.

What a beautiful scene!

In the distance, at the residence of the Royal Court of Life, Tracy yawned boredly. The only thing keeping her awake was probably the moment she saw that "annoying guy who should have died" fall on the stage.

Below, the wizard Fink sneered incessantly, the silver-haired witch Emily remained expressionless, while Ginya pursed her lips tightly, her beautiful eyes glazed over, lost in thought.

The wizards from the Progressive Society and the Thorn Ring all wore solemn expressions.

Even though they had anticipated this outcome, they never expected it to happen so quickly and so tragically.

"call--"

An invisible gale arose, but it did not stir up a single snowflake.

Evaque landed lightly in a void, surrounded by dense ice spikes and flames, yet he seemed completely unaware of the slightest bit of cold.

Evaque gracefully lowered his head and gently licked the fur on his right forepaw. Before him, within the breathtaking snow kingdom, all the icy, clustered "monarchs" trembled precariously.

"hiss--"

Dago took a deep breath and slowly straightened his hunched body.

His face was terribly pale, and he exuded an intense sense of weakness emanating from within.

His eyes, however, were frighteningly bright, with a certain gleam constantly flickering within them.

"I'm probably the only one on the field who doesn't want you to die here."

Evaque stopped licking his fur, his indifferent gaze falling on Dago, a deep voice emanating from the wolf's mouth:

"Isidore's legacy is not important to me. On the contrary, your existence is what I value more, Dago Heca."

Evaqui read out Dago's name.

Surrounded by snow and wind, Dago's long black hair danced lightly with his robes. His pale, handsome appearance and weak demeanor gave him the air of a "lost ice prince."

"I felt it."

Dago nodded, and he even said "thank you" to Evaque.

His soul was "scarred" by Evaque's attacks, but only Dago knew that Evaque had not truly killed him.

Otherwise...

Dago turned his head and looked in one direction. In a corner where no one was paying attention, a young man with a face as white as a corpse and hair the color of rotting seaweed was staring intently at them, his eyes and face filled with resentment and pleasure.

That was Korklau, who had previously been defeated by Evaque. It was clear that he was in a very good mood to see Dago, who had severed his arm, experiencing the same pain and torment as him.

Dago examines himself, and he is a mixture of his former self "Dago" and the remnants of Behelette's will. Under Evaque's "whipping," he tends to become clearer.

While the scars brought him pain, they also tempered his soul and cleared away some obstacles.

"It seems you are very aware of your soul's problems."

Evaque said calmly, "I have a way to help you solve this, but I need you to do me another favor first."

"Can."

Dago nodded in agreement without hesitation, "Let's set a time after this battle is over."

"You still won't give up?"

Evaque frowned upon hearing Dago's reply.

He glanced around at the icy kingdom constructed by Dago and said, "What other tricks do you have up your sleeve? I have to tell you, your understanding of spatial magic is too shallow. The spell you used in the battle against Kolcrow was not bad, but your control over it was too low."

"Neither of those two deadly moves will have much effect on me..."

In response to Evaque's comment, Dago didn't reply. Instead, he looked at Evaque and suddenly blurted out, "In your current state, you shouldn't be completely immune to magical attacks, right?"

"certainly."

Evaque nodded without hesitation, and said in a cold tone, "But can you cast spells that can harm or affect me at this stage?"

A smile appeared on Dago's pale face, and he said softly, "Perhaps."

The next moment, Dago extended his right index finger and gently tapped the air in front of him.

In an instant, the raging snowstorm on the platform completely stopped, the snow country froze, and the entire space fell into an absolute stillness.

The starting gesture for 【Shattered Winter Mirror】.

Evaque is no stranger to Dago's tactic.

He knew very well that the "mirror" would shatter afterward, and the true essence and terrifying destructive power of this spell would then be revealed.

But as he told Dargo, Dargo's understanding of the mysteries of space magic was too superficial, as he had not received a complete inheritance of spatial magic.

Although the power of spatial collapse is terrifying, in his "Ghost Wolf" state, there are too many "gaps" in those rampant and churning spatial collapse forces that he can easily dodge.

On the contrary, the spatial stagnation at the start had a greater impact on him, temporarily restricting his movements.

However, if it only involves restraint without causing harm, the outcome of this battle will not change.

"Foolish and ignorant."

A faint fluctuation of consciousness emanated from Evaqui, and a faint blue light shone from the huge eyes of the ghost wolf. Then, one after another, deep blue wolf-shaped phantoms quietly emerged from both sides of Evaqui's body.

This was a killing move he had never used even when fighting Andariel; it was a technique of the ancient spirit witch.

Evaque has decided to end the fight immediately.

"Yes, kill him! Tear him apart! Shatter his soul to pieces!"

Everyone felt Evaque's determination, and countless eyes were focused on the stage. In the void on one side of the platform, Kolklau, who was hiding in the shadows and silently healing, was excited when he saw this scene. He roared and his face was filled with fervor and expectation, and his face was distorted.

Gehrman, who also left the room as a loser, had a complicated expression. Having been defeated by Dago, he could not help but feel conflicted seeing Dago about to die at the hands of another.

Just when everyone thought that they would soon see the beautiful snow country shatter like a mirror, and that this battle would come to a complete end in a desolate and beautiful way.

Standing atop the "Winter Mirror," Dago did not shatter anything before him.

He merely glanced around, his gaze settling on Evaque in the distance, and then...

Extend your finger and gently make a slicing motion in front of you.

The void seemed to transform into an invisible pocket under this fingertip, which sliced ​​through the pocket, stealing endless mysteries from the spirit world.

A mysterious aura, so dense it was hard to describe, poured out from the crack.

The rolling free energy particles in the world, regardless of their elemental system, all surged toward the platform.

A mysterious and serene [River of Despair] quietly emerged before Dago, radiating the power of a dual-resonance magic domain.

Within the space of consciousness, the seal of the [Multiple Prisms] flickered quietly.

The tranquil "River of Despair" suddenly increased from one to two, and then from two to four.

Four rivers of despair flowed silently in a circular pattern, then began to converge and cascade down to one point.

Without making a sound, the flow and descent accelerated, eventually forming the outline of a black vortex.

The energy resonating within the dual Dharma domains continuously ascended during this process, quickly breaking through to a new height, and then continuing upwards...

"Snapped!"

A crisp snap of fingers rang out, followed by what sounded like thunderclaps in the sky.

The tranquility was shattered at this moment.

In an instant, the four flowing rivers of despair abruptly stopped, and a huge black vortex was fully formed.

At the very center of the vortex was an extremely deep blackness, seemingly capable of devouring everything, and an unprecedentedly terrifying aura emanated from that darkness.

I sensed the faint fluctuations in this energy.

Outside the arena, Lindis's smile froze in the crowd.

In the void, an old woman in black robes named Jennifer suddenly opened her eyes. Beside her, the miracle wizard in a moon-white robe paled in shock, blurting out, "A miracle domain?! How is this possible?!"

At that moment, countless people were stunned and their faces turned pale.

Only Dago remained unmoved.

His pupils reflected a mottled, dazzling array of colors, his gaze intense. With a forward-pushing gesture, he extended a finger and slowly pointed it at the astonished Evaque in the distance.

"Surely you can't resist this move now!"

"The Endless Whirlpool of the Sea of ​​Despair!"