Above the mage

Chapter 752 A String of Four (Part 5)

After casting spells with high intensity using both lightning and fire elements more than ten times, Elwin's eyes suddenly turned piercing.

The staff in his hand suddenly emitted an unprecedentedly intense light.

The magical fluctuations emanating from it were far more intense than any spell he had cast before.

This was already beyond Cedric's expectations, but what made him even more alarmed was that the spell Elwin cast was not aimed at him.

Instead... Gareth!

Erwin made a fatal surprise move that no one in the game expected.

The moment the spell landed, a vast expanse of thunderclouds formed out of thin air.

Dark, lightning-filled clouds loomed low over the battlefield.

Countless thick bolts of lightning continuously pierced through the clouds and crashed down, bombarding the entire area where Gareth was located.

Fourth Ring Evocation Spell: Lightning Storm.

This spell has a built-in chain-like transmission property.

Lightning can jump and chain between hard cover, magical barriers, and metal equipment at will.

It is specifically designed to erode shield barriers through multiple layers, effectively dismantling defenses and shattering the magical structure of shields.

It was a perfect counter to Gareth.

The sudden cross-field attack instantly pinned Gareth down.

Gareth had no choice but to focus all his attention on defense, doing his best to withstand the raging storm.

A fleeting, deadly vacuum defense line has thus been formed!

"Now!" Erwin thought to himself, narrowing his eyes.

Olivia keenly seized the opportunity, and the light beneath her feet instantly intensified.

Her figure transformed into an extremely pale blue stream of light, completely breaking free from the entanglement.

In an instant, Olivia bypassed Gareth and aimed directly at Cedric in the back row.

Cedric relied heavily on Gareth for front-row protection, maintaining an extremely stable position without pulling back at all.

He focused all his attention on remote elemental manipulation and spell clashes, immersing himself completely in the battle against Elwin.

This demonstrated their trust in Gareth, but it also became their biggest weakness.

He had no idea that his opponent would suddenly abandon their exchange of fire and turn their attack on Gareth.

They hadn't anticipated that Olivia could break through the defenses in an instant.

By the time he realized the sudden, chilling killing intent coming from his side, he was already completely cornered.

He had no room to retreat or pull back; he could only struggle to control the earth element on top.

However, any attempt to intercept her at this moment would be futile against a melee mage of Olivia's caliber.

With the blessing of several layers of [Sword Singer's Dance], Olivia's water magic was extremely condensed and poured into her extraordinary longsword.

The continuous water-attribute sword energy layered upon each other, gradually increasing in intensity.

Each of her sword strikes precisely pierced the charred cracks on the surface of the earth elemental's body, which had been blasted away by Elwyn.

The power of the water element inherently possesses excellent properties of penetration, vibration, and stripping, which are very effective against the rigid defense of the earth element.

Every slash from Olivia landed precisely on the weakest point in her defenses.

The sword's edge plunged into the crack, forcefully tearing apart the originally tiny fissures in the rock shell.

Even the Earth element, known for its defense, quickly collapsed under Olivia's targeted counter-attack combo.

Large chunks of hard rock peeled off layer by layer and crashed to the ground.

The thick rock and soil structure was instantly riddled with holes.

Taking advantage of the visual obstruction and displacement created by the collapse of the earth elemental's body, Olivia skillfully maneuvered around it.

She once again used this opportunity to accelerate her progress.

The broken and clumsy earth element was simply unable to keep up with the turn.

She skillfully bypassed this final barrier, taking advantage of the new round of [Swordsman's Dance] buff from the stacked earth element, increasing her attack speed and...

The sword pressure surged again, now directly confronting Cedric himself.

The real decisive blow began from this point.

The subsequent sword strikes were like a continuous rain, as rapid as a gale, giving Cedric no room to adjust.

A turret mage is already at a disadvantage when facing an elite melee mage in close combat.

Moreover, she's a melee mage of Olivia's caliber.

Even though Cedric quickly activated the protective spells pre-written in his staff to protect himself.

But Olivia was confident, and the extraordinary longsword she handed over suddenly carried an extremely strong shock-piercing effect.

This is another of her specialties.

This allows Olivia's melee attacks to have a powerful effect on breaking through magic defenses.

The continuous, rain-like sword strikes crashed down, and the surface of the invisible force field shield instantly rippled with dense magical energy.

The barrier's resilience rapidly diminished, and in less than three breaths, it collapsed under the continuous tremors, utterly annihilated.

The continuous vibrations from the longsword disrupted the flow of mana within Cedric's body, causing it to become disordered.

His spell models kept shattering and could not be reformed.

In just a few breaths, the ultimate close-quarters combat crushing blow completely shattered Cedric's last remaining protective magic.

His body staggered backward uncontrollably, his breathing became disordered, his staff trembled slightly in his hand, and the luster of the crystals dimmed completely.

Olivia's eyes were cold as she seized the last opening and pressed forward.

The longsword condensed its power, a sword force formed from water elemental magic, aimed directly at Cedric's vital chest, delivering the final blow. Just as the sword's edge was about to touch Cedric's body, the protective array linked to the Dragon Eye Tower in the arena instantly activated.

A layer of clear, soft, pure white light suddenly appeared horizontally, blocking the fatal sword strike.

The light curtain trembled, dissipating all remaining offensive forces.

The referee's booming voice, amplified through the megaphone array, resounded throughout the arena: "Plantago Dynasty player Cedric, his fighting strength has collapsed, he is incapacitated, and is forced to leave the arena!"

With Cedric forced to leave the ring, the balance of the match instantly shifted.

On the ring, with Cedric forced to leave, the situation became two against one.

Gareth stood alone on the rocky wasteland, facing Olivia and Elwin, who were in top form and launching a devastating offensive.

On one side is the top-tier melee mage Olivia, and on the other is the turret mage Elwin with unparalleled firepower; the double pressure is overwhelming.

Even when facing two opponents, he never backed down, gritting his teeth and continuing to stalemate the situation, searching for an opportunity to turn the tide.

Without Cedric's restraint, he was under immense pressure from the two-pronged attack, far exceeding his personal defensive limits.

Elwynn's lightning and fire spells continued to bombard from afar.

Olivia engaged him in close combat, her sword strikes relentless, constantly attacking the openings in his shield and restricting his movement.

One person's defense can't withstand the ultimate attack of two people.

With his top-notch magic and rich experience in combat, Gareth managed to hold out for nearly ten minutes in a two-on-one situation.

He blocked several deadly attacks, demonstrating his exceptional skill.

It can withstand high-intensity pressure for a long time without interruption, but the consumption of magical power is ultimately irreversible.

Ultimately, his magical power was nearly exhausted, and he could no longer maintain his tense defensive posture, thus succumbing to defeat.

The second round of the doubles competition has come to a close.

"In the second round of the duo duel, the Linhai City Mage Team wins!"

The moment the verdict was announced, thunderous cheers erupted throughout the stadium.

All the viewers were still immersed in the exciting match that had just unfolded with twists and turns and clean reversals.

Inside the contestant area, Gao De, who had been watching the entire competition, had a hint of shock beneath his calm expression.

Everyone present knew perfectly well that the real turning point of this duo match was never Olivia's close-range finishing move, but rather Elwin's unexpected, instant-cast fourth-circle evocation spell, Lightning Storm.

How did Elwin manage to cast a fourth-circle spell instantly?

Everyone in the room was filled with doubt.

Even with multiple buffs, Gao De could only reduce the casting time of the same-level spell [Fireball] to almost instantaneous, with a slight pre-cast animation still remaining.

But Elwin managed to cast a pure fourth-circle spell instantly without any cast time.

This absurd casting efficiency is beyond the comprehension of ordinary mages.

The arena remained noisy as the match proceeded, and the Linhai City duo calmly finished their game.

They withdrew their magic and walked steadily back to their team's rest area, stepping on the pebbles scattered on the ground.

The mage leading the group from Linhai City looked on with approval and stepped forward, his tone filled with joy and recognition: "Well done, Elwin."

Faced with the team leader's praise, Alvin remained calm and composed, simply nodding slightly in acknowledgment, displaying composure and restraint.

Olivia also turned to look at Elwin, generously praising her teammate: "Your instant fourth-circle spell, which was cast without warning, was impossible for anyone unaware of it to defend against."

Olivia's word of approval instantly shattered the composure of the usually calm and collected Elwin.

A smug smile involuntarily crept onto his tense lips, revealing how much he cared about Olivia's opinion.

Olivia was not clear about the specific mechanics of Elwin's instant-cast fourth-circle spell ability.

But as a teammate, she knew that Elwin could unlock this incredible instant-cast ability after meeting certain spell accumulation conditions.

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This was also the core tactic they had finalized before the match.

The other teammates also stepped forward and patted Alvin on the shoulder, especially Derian and Horry, who had lost the first game, and were very excited.

With Elwin winning this round, their overall score against the Golden Flower Dynasty Mage Team is now tied at 1-1, and the suspense continues.

Alvin nodded slightly, accepting his teammate's approval with composure.

This game-changing, game-changing ability stems from his fourth ring specialty: [Rhythm of Destruction].

After casting ten or more Evocation spells in succession, his next spell can be cast instantly without mana consumption or casting time, and the number of rings can slightly exceed the previous average number of rings by up to one.

The seemingly brilliant contest and intense magical clash with Cedric just now were actually just foreplay for him.

It was all just to stack up the number of Destruction Rhythm repetitions, setting the stage for this instant-cast [Lightning Storm] finishing blow.

The seemingly tense 50/50 battle was under his control from start to finish, just like Gaode's steady strategy in the previous game.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the Golden Flower Dynasty's players' rest area was unusually quiet.

Cedric, still slightly breathless, said, "It was my fault. I relied too much on Gareth's protection, my positioning was rigid, and I ignored the opponent's tactical changes."

Gareth looked ashamed: "It was my fault for not being able to withstand the pressure of instant-cast spells and block the opponent's dash route, giving Olivia an opening to break through."

In two consecutive games, his defensive line was targeted and broken through by his opponents.

This was a huge setback for someone as confident as him.

Even though the breakthrough in the second game stemmed from Elwin's sudden outburst of a trump card, rather than from his defensive blunders, the proud Elwin still couldn't let it go.

"You don't need to blame yourselves. The opponent's methods were indeed too unexpected. The defeat was not due to your mistakes." Seeing the somber atmosphere in the team, Fritz immediately stepped forward to stabilize morale and comforted the two.

The other teammates also stepped forward to comfort them and relieve their psychological pressure.

"I shouldn't have pushed myself too hard. My mana is almost depleted now, which will definitely affect our subsequent matches." Despite his teammates' words of comfort, Gareth still had a furrowed brow, his frustration still lingering.

Despite facing a one-against-two disadvantage, he persevered and gave it his all.

Ultimately, failing to reverse the situation was secondary; the more important issue was that they almost completely depleted their mana, which will affect subsequent matches.

Although, as originally planned, he was not required to play in the third round of the gauntlet battle and could instead rest and recover his mana off the field.

But given his current state, Gareth knew perfectly well that even in the fourth round, his mana would only be less than 50% of his peak strength, resulting in a significant loss of combat power.

"I'll be there for the rest of the matches." At this moment, Liu Ying gently raised her eyes and looked at the somewhat sullen Gareth.

She said softly, "In a game where I'm present, you don't need to worry about these things."

The girl wasn't actually trying to comfort Gareth.

Because in her eyes, it was just an ordinary statement.

But her words were more effective than any words of comfort.

Gareth's tense nerves visibly relaxed.

After a short break, the competition resumed.

In the third round of the all-around competition, the lineups for both sides were finalized, and the venue was selected.

Fritz strictly followed the pre-match plan and made no personnel changes.

The final lineup for the Golden Flower Dynasty consists of four players: Liu Ying, Evan, Feng Lin, and Gao De.

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On the Linhai City side, the four players sent out were Captain Tris Igor, Elwin who performed well in the previous round, Olivia who played in two consecutive rounds, and Horry who played in the first round.

Amid cheers from the audience, the referee announced the list of players for this round of the gauntlet via a loudspeaker.

The moment the list was announced, it sparked another uproar and heated discussion throughout the venue.

The reason, of course, is the strange four-person lineup of the Plantagenet Dynasty.

Their lineup is actually a bit hard to understand at first glance.

If they underestimated this crucial match, they still fielded their ace player, captain Liu Ying, who has the highest potential in the team but can only play two games.

If they value the overall battle situation, they also paired up Feng Lin, who is not good at one-on-one combat but is more suitable for team battles, and Gao De, who only has three rings.

This mixed and extremely incongruous lineup left the audience completely baffled, with no one able to predict its tactical approach.

However, for the well-informed Holy Empire and Linhai City, there were clues to be found.

In the Holy Empire camp, Ellie Warwick looked at the four Plantagenet Dynasty players in this round and whispered the core message: "They don't care about the outcome of the first three players' endgames. They are confident that no matter what situation arises, as long as Flowing Fire appears, they can forcefully turn the tide."

"The other three only need to do their best to hold back and wear down the opponent; they are essentially just extras."

"Finally, I can see for myself just how strong Liuying is, the one you've all been hyping up, that makes you all so wary of her," Bai Nuode said excitedly.

Amidst the excitement, there was also a slight hint of resentment.

We are all elite mages, and our ages are similar. Even if you, Liu Ying, are powerful, are you really strong enough to sweep us away?

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