Above the mage

Chapter 760 Information Gap

Enveloped in layers of illusory light, Herbert was trapped in the illusion created by Feng Lin.

He doesn't have the Mandora's Eye like Gao De, which can directly see through illusions and understand their origins, but he has his own way of breaking illusions.

Herbert instantly focused all his attention and abruptly closed his eyes.

He discarded the light and shadow information perceived by the naked eye and stripped away the interference of distorted and illusory light.

Shadow mages, who spend years fighting in the shadows, have honed their senses to a level far exceeding that of ordinary mages.

Without needing to lock onto a target, one can accurately pinpoint its location simply by sensing the magical energy flowing through the air, the rhythm of life, and the shifting air currents.

In just two breaths, he caught a wisp of real magic power subtly shifting from the countless chaotic and false auras.

That was the real Feng Lin, quietly maneuvering and pulling.

Herbert suddenly opened his eyes, a glint of light flashing in them.

Once he pinpointed the exact location, the dormant magical power within him erupted, condensing into a pure negative energy shockwave that blasted through the air toward the target location.

But the expected fatal blow did not occur the next second.

The pitch-black necromantic impact pierced straight through the slender figure without triggering any magical collision or causing the slightest physical tremor.

The moment it struck, the figure transformed into countless tiny specks of firefly light, scattering in a flurry.

These scattered illusory light spots did not completely disappear; instead, like a persistent ailment, they drifted all over Herbert's body, clinging to his skin in strands.

His body was instantly marked and outlined by a faint, shimmering white light.

At this moment, Herbert's body became much brighter, like a large light bulb, and he could no longer stealthily attack silently for a short time.

"Fake?!"

Herbert's heart tightened suddenly, and he instantly realized that he had fallen into a series of increasingly elaborate illusions.

The figure he precisely targeted and successfully "destroyed" was still just an illusion.

While he was deeply entangled in the first layer of illusion and focused all his efforts on breaking through it, Feng Lin had already used her [Cat's Cunning] specialty of silent teleportation to quietly escape his perception threshold. She continued casting spells without interruption and seamlessly launched the second layer of illusion. This time, she no longer created complex light and shadow scenes, but left behind a realistic false spirit with complete magical fluctuations and life characteristics.

This fake spirit perfectly replicated all her postures, making it incredibly lifelike.

Herbert believed he had successfully broken the deadlock thanks to his extraordinary perception.

Little did he know that he had only broken free from the most superficial, simple illusion, and had immediately stepped into the second layer of illusion trap carefully woven by Feng Lin.

The real Feng Lin had already quietly retreated to outside the third level of rhythm.

From the initial continuous detection and locking onto the shadows, to forcing Herbert to break stealth, and then to the double-layered illusion spells for continuous control.

At this moment, Feng Lin had completely taken control of the battlefield rhythm.

Cedric, standing to the side, naturally wouldn't waste this hard-won, excellent opportunity.

Herbert's true form was exposed, his ability to conceal himself was sealed, and he was trapped by illusions, becoming a sitting duck.

Cedric immediately abandoned his efforts to restrain and pressure Reginald in the front row, and activated the blue crystal on his staff, causing a sudden surge of magical power.

Seeing Cedric's high-damage spells coming to fruition, Feng Lin seized the opportunity to launch her attack, raising her hand for the third time, preparing to further control Herbert.

Her fingertips rapidly gathered magical light, and the new spell model was steadily constructed, its halo dazzling, ready to take full shape in the next instant.

But at this crucial moment of decisive victory, an unexpected event suddenly occurred.

The illusion spell model that was about to take shape suddenly shattered without warning.

It shattered extremely abruptly.

There was no external attack, no interference from opponents, no magical disturbances, and no external triggers.

Given Feng Lin's precision in controlling her magic, such a low-level spellcasting failure should never have happened.

Her heart sank.

Viola's continuous enchanted spell attacks had a hidden trick up her sleeve!

On the Empire's side, Viola's lips curled into a smile.

This is one of her specialties.

[Mental Shackles]: When your enchantment spell hits, the target will be put into the "Mental Shackles" state, which reduces casting speed and has a chance to fail. Any damage taken by the target while in the shackles state will prolong the duration of the shackles.

Knowing full well that Feng Lin's soul defenses were impenetrable and that low-level enchantment spells could not budge them in the slightest, she still continued to launch low-level enchantment spell attacks.

It appears to be intended to wear down Feng Lin's soul defenses, but in reality, it's to prolong the duration of the mental shackles until the spell fails.

The mental stiffness caused by a failed spell lasts only a brief moment, so short that ordinary people cannot detect the flaw.

But in the eyes of Herbert, a top-tier assassin mage who excels at seizing fleeting opportunities, it was already a fatal flaw that could deliver a fatal blow.

A sharp glint flashed in Herbert's eyes.

He instantly activated his Shadow Cloak ability.

Even though his figure was marked by the illusionary light and could not be concealed, he still retained the spatial teleportation property of Shadow Cloak.

The remaining shadow beneath their feet instantly stretched into shape.

Using light and shadow as a medium, he blurred and moved through the air, following the trajectory of Feng Lin's shadow, instantly completing a short-distance spatial jump, and silently appearing in an absolute blind spot behind Feng Lin.

This was both to evade Cedric's offensive and to launch a decisive attack.

Necromantic power rapidly condensed and compressed in his palm, transforming into a necromantic blade as thin as a cicada's wing and entirely black.

.

The blade was surrounded by a negative energy aura that devoured life.

Using the remaining speed from Shadow Cloak, Herbert flipped his wrist and stabbed Feng Lin in the back with a cunning and sharp strike.

Just as the necromancer's blade was about to touch Feng Lin's body, the protective array in the arena responded instantly.

A pale golden barrier suddenly lit up, instantly enveloping Feng Lin and forcibly isolating her from all fatal harm.

However, while protecting Feng Lin, it also forcibly removed Feng Lin from the fighting arena.

In that brief moment of decisive space, Cedric's counterattack had already landed perfectly.

None of this was a coincidence.

As early as when Feng Lin activated the double illusion to restrain Herbert, she deliberately adjusted her position, seemingly passively pulling him, but in fact precisely moving closer to the area where one of her air elementals was stationed.

This air elemental wasn't just there by chance; rather, it was a tactical tacit understanding that the two had formed beforehand, specifically paving the way for this decisive moment.

Feng Lin anticipated that Herbert would use every means to get closer to her and deliver a fatal blow, so she simply let him take the bait.

The instant Herbert emerged from Feng Lin's shadow, Cedric instantly locked onto the air elemental as a spell relay point.

Relying on the long-range casting characteristic of [Elemental Resonance], spells can be cast directly through the air elemental body.

The raging hurricane instantly materialized, its fine and sharp blades spinning wildly and cutting precisely at Herbert, who had just completed the assassination and whose old strength had just dissipated while new strength had yet to emerge.

Herbert's body froze, unable to dodge in time.

Furthermore, having been marked by the illusionary light spots, they had nowhere to hide and no way to avoid this deadly attack.

A violent and dense barrage of wind blades instantly enveloped him, slicing down layer by layer.

At the same time, the protective magic circle lit up again.

Herbert was also expelled from the French fighting arena.

In the blink of an eye, a tactical exchange was completed on the field.

The originally evenly matched three-on-three battle has been rewritten into a two-on-two standoff between Holy Empire's Reginald and Viola against Plantagenet's Cedric and Evan.

In terms of numbers, the two sides are evenly matched.

From a purely tactical standpoint, this exchange was a huge win for the Holy Empire.

Herbert is a single-function shadow assassin mage with an extremely high skill ceiling but fatal weaknesses.

He relies on concealed environments and chaotic battle situations, making him adaptable to only one type of situation.

Feng Lin, as a control mage, is the fulcrum of the Golden Finch team, and a key figure in connecting the team's tactics and balancing the enemy's output.

More importantly, after Feng Lin leaves the field, no one will be able to limit Viola's performance.

Viola will be able to unleash her full power without any constraints.

It was evident that the eyes of the Imperial mages watching the battle in the Holy Empire's contestant area all flashed with certainty.

Herbert's unexpected exit was beyond what was planned before the game.

However, the outcome of trading an assassin for the enemy's core control of the field was entirely within their acceptable range.

The two-on-two endgame officially begins.

The moment the battle resumed, the disparity in strengths and weaknesses between the two sides became completely apparent.

Reginald immediately stabilized the position, and his [Rock Armor] was fully activated.

Thick rock armor covered his entire body, steadily withstanding Evan's lightning burst.

Evan knew the situation was critical.

At this moment, the team's only hope of breaking the deadlock lies in their own breakthrough.

He gave it his all, and as his wings trembled, lightning surged across the sky.

Dense electric arcs and explosive lightning strikes came one after another.

But each fierce bolt of lightning that struck only exploded into tiny sparks on Reginald's hard rock armor.

The thick rock armor stood firm like a boulder, unaffected by the raging lightning.

While maintaining his defense, Reginald pressed down with one hand, activating the gravity spell once again.

An invisible and intangible gravitational field expanded instantly.

Because the distance is close enough, the gravity restraint is stronger and more precise at this moment, specifically targeting Evan.

Evan belongs to a system of high-speed dashes and agile combat, and his biggest weakness is restricted mobility.

The sudden increase in body weight instantly tugged at Evan's floating posture, causing his wings to tremble and lose balance.

Whether in offense or defense, Reginald is like Evan's natural nemesis, perfectly countering him.

Just as Fritz had suspected, the Holy Empire, with its comprehensive intelligence, devised a targeted tactic against their players.

Although he made a surprising move by replacing God and Gareth, Evan was still kept in this capture-the-flag game for tactical reasons.

This allowed the Holy Empire's pre-prepared countermeasures against Evan to come into play.

Cedric on the other side was also struggling.

Because Viola, without any checks and balances, had completely dominated the battle.

She remained firmly behind the defensive line built by Reginald, in an absolutely safe output area, continuously casting enchantment spells throughout.

Slender, condensed silvery-white rays of light silently pierced through the air, ignoring physical barriers and elemental shields, and landed precisely on Cedric and Evan.

Invisible mental shackles silently accumulate layer upon layer.

Although Feng Lin had already fallen for the trap and realized what was happening, she had already left the game and was unable to share this crucial information.

In addition, the initial effects of [Mental Shackles] are extremely subtle, only causing the two to perceive a slight lag in spellcasting.

So neither of them was on guard.

However, although Cedric was unaware of the existence of the [Mental Shackles], he knew that Viola absolutely could not be allowed to do as she pleased.

However, Reginald's defenses were impregnable.

No one could break through this impenetrable defense and reach Viola behind it in a short time.

The unsolvable suppression, the continuous weakening, and the impasse have completely trapped the Golden Flower Duo.

After dozens of arduous exchanges, Cedric, who had been consistently targeted by Viola and had his mental shackles stacked on him, was the first to reach the threshold of the mental shackle stacking.

To break the deadlock, Cedric cast a spell.

But just as the spell model was about to be fully formed after being activated more than halfway, the mental shackles suddenly erupted.

Click.

The spell model shattered instantly.

Cedric's body swayed violently, instantly freezing in spellcasting mode.

A once-in-a-lifetime opening appeared, and Reginald immediately seized the opportunity.

Dozens of sharp and fierce earth spikes burst forth from the ground one after another, blocking Cedric's dodging and retreat routes from all directions.

At the same time, the already dispersed gravitational field is contracting at full force.

The high-density gravity-resistant steel firmly adhered to Cedric's body, completely locking down his mobility, making him unable to move or evade.

Viola, behind her, simultaneously completed her finishing spell, and a [Mind Delay] spell landed precisely on Cedric.

This spell, combined perfectly with the mental shackles, completely stripped him of his ability to cast spells.

With offense and defense cut off, no way to advance or retreat, and all spells temporarily rendered useless.

The protective rune array was triggered, and golden light enveloped Cedric's entire body.

With Cedric leaving the field, the situation became two against one, leaving Evan to fight alone.

Without Cedric's elemental restraint, Evan is left to fend for himself.

He struggled for over ten rounds in Thunderbird form, but no tactic could reverse the tide.

The cumulative weakening of the mental shackles never stopped, and the lightning surrounding him gradually dimmed and thinned.

Ultimately, the transformation spell that kept Evan in Thunderbird form could no longer sustain it, and Evan was forced to de-transform.

Having shed his Thunderbird form, he completely lost the power to launch an effective counterattack.

A few breaths later, the rune array lit up again, and Evan also left the scene.

Although neither flag moved, there were no players from the Golden Flower Dynasty on the field, so the Holy Empire naturally won the game.

In the rest area of ​​the stadium, the three defeated players returned to their positions.

Feng Lin looked at Cedric and Evan, who were meditating with their eyes down, and said with regret, "I really didn't have time to remind you."

She was referring to Viola's "mental chains".

This was one of the key factors that led to their crushing defeat.

Fritz's mood did not change because of the loss in the first game. He said, "It was the lack of information that led to our passivity. We were trapped in an unknown counter-trap from the very beginning."

Cedric nodded slightly, his eyes filled with helplessness.

Evan also let out a long breath.

Because of the lack of information, they played a very frustrating game.

Looking at the whole defeat, the reasons were never singular.

Undeniably, the three players from the Holy Empire possess extremely strong individual skills, teamwork, and tactical coordination.

But this is only the surface reason. The real core reason for the defeat was the irreparable intelligence asymmetry.

When the strengths are roughly equal, the side with better intelligence will naturally have an advantage.

Before the tournament, the Holy Empire had already thoroughly understood Cedric's elemental summoning system, his board-flooding mechanism that gets stronger as the battle progresses, and Evan's Thunderbird transformation system.

Although Fritz made tactical changes, his intelligence weakness remained.

On the other hand, the Golden Flower team only managed to figure out Herbert's [Shadow Cloak].

They did indeed use this intelligence to successfully complete their precise fishing operation.

However, they had no idea about Reginald and Viola's core trump cards.

The root of all disadvantages lies in Viola's "mental shackles".

The entire Golden Flower team was completely unaware of Viola's tactics before the match.

Because it was unknown, there was no way to counter it or predict it, and its fighting strength was ultimately dismantled.

Having experienced it once, if they were to fight again, they would never allow Viola's enchantments to stack up unchecked.

However, this first loss was unavoidable.

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