Above the mage

Chapter 765 Using Their Own Methods

The spread-out network of electric arcs was cut off in mid-air by the radiant rays, melting away segment by segment.

The dense lightning strikes of the [Thunderstorm Technique] were completely dispelled by the light barrier that Liu Ying casually spread out.

The raging lightning energy transformed into countless scattered elemental light points.

All the lightning power approaching her, no matter how swift it seemed, could not reach within half a foot of Liu Ying's body.

While perfectly dismantling these attacks, the white light in Liu Ying's hand condensed and shot out at a steady, unhurried pace.

A series of seemingly insignificant rays of light continuously fell on Bai Nuode's body.

Each ray struck with precision and restraint, avoiding vital organs such as the head and heart, leaving only a faint, shimmering white burn mark on the surface of Bainord's skin.

It wasn't fatal or devastating, but it constantly caused Bainord a burning sensation from the surface elements.

At first, it was inconspicuous, but as it accumulated, the initial slight stinging pain gradually spread and formed a continuous, large-area, excruciating pain.

This pain has begun to affect his concentration and spellcasting stability, and even his actions.

Bai Nuode gritted his teeth and persevered.

Given his proud nature, he couldn't bear to give up the competition because of pain.

Moreover, from beginning to end, Liu Ying has always maintained a nonchalant and playful demeanor.

This nonchalant attitude deeply stirred his resentment.

With his exceptional mental fortitude, he managed to calm his chaotic mind.

Despite the burning pain spreading throughout his body, Bai Nord continued to rapidly chain together various spells.

He stubbornly launched wave after wave of lightning attacks, trying to force Liu Ying to come up with more methods to prove his difference.

Outside the fighting arena, five dragon claw-shaped platforms stand suspended in mid-air.

Built against the natural mountainside, they are the highest-level VIP areas of the Dragon Ridge Arena.

The stadium was already full on the day of the finals.

Furthermore, on the Dragon Claw Suspended Platform today, every spectator is of an astonishingly high status.

The most prominent and magnificent dragon claw in the very center contains only two figures.

A handsome, tall man and a woman dressed in an elegant long dress.

.

It was Richard, the head of this year's French Bulldog competition, and Madam Wang Mian, who rarely makes public appearances but made a rare appearance at the Dragon Ridge Fighting Competition today.

The Dragon Claw Platform isolates the arena below from all the noise and commotion. The platform is quiet and peaceful, with only occasional breezes passing through the cliff.

The two of them looked down over the entire arena from above, taking in the entire scene of the French fighting competition.

At this moment, they watched as Liu Ying unilaterally crushed Bai Nuode in the fighting arena, and as Bai Nuode struggled in vain with burning pain, their eyes remained completely unmoved.

After a long silence, Lady Wang Mian finally spoke slowly, her voice clear and elegant, her pace calm and unhurried: "It's rare to see Liu Ying angry."

Liu Ying's face was expressionless, revealing no emotion whatsoever.

However, as Liu Ying's closest relatives, the two of them were keenly aware of Liu Ying's subtle emotional changes.

Richard tilted his head slightly and replied in a calm tone, "I only met you once a month ago."

He was referring to the incident where Wang Mian's wife arbitrarily "drove away" Gaode, which caused Liu Ying to become angry.

Lady Wang Mian glanced at her eldest son indifferently, without saying a word.

Richard smiled, not embarrassed at all.

Lady Wang Mian's gaze returned to the slender figure in the arena, her eyes deep: "Liu Ying's control over the energy within her body has improved to a new level."

"Yes." Richard nodded in agreement, happy with the good news.

"Infuse some divine radiance energy into the spell—the injuries caused by divine radiance energy have been proven to be incurable; they can only be left to dissipate over time. The mages of the Empire are in for a rough time," he said softly, his tone indifferent and devoid of any sympathy.

He would not feel any sympathy for the mages of the Empire.

"Liu Ying not only wants to win this round of battles, but also wants to cripple the Empire's combat power in subsequent rounds."

Madam Wang paused slightly, her tone carrying a hint of indulgence and praise for her child: "Your father's decision to let Liu Ying participate in the competition is also reasonable. This child has finally taken the initiative to try to win something for the first time."

This is probably not the first time... Richard's eyes flickered slightly as he looked at the flowing fireflies below in silence.

He was Liu Ying's biological brother, so he naturally understood what Liu Ying was doing.

This is different from the previous battle at Linhai City.

That time, Liu Ying simply relied on her terrifying control over the light element to overwhelm the enemy, using the free light element that naturally exists in the outside world.

This time, she actively used a tiny portion of the "light element" energy within her body.

The "light element" energy within her body is completely different from ordinary light element.

In addition to its terrifying power, it also has the terrifying characteristic of being incurable.

"She wants to cripple the Holy Empire's fighting force, just like Ellie did. If she cripples enough of the Imperial mages, the Empire won't be able to muster enough players for the fourth round of team deathmatch."

"If the Empire has no one to fight, it will have to give up the fourth game. This will save her a battle slot, allowing her to play the fifth game and help the team win the match."

"That's a good idea," Richard sighed, "but it's too simplistic."

Lady Wang Mian nodded, agreeing with her assessment of her eldest son.

"It's indeed difficult to change the overall situation; the Holy Empire won't let her get away with it so easily."

She looked up and gazed down at the Golden Flower team in the player area below, calmly stating the cruelest truth: "With the second game over, the initiative in this final has already changed hands."

"We are now on the defensive in every aspect. The only way we can win is if the Empire makes a basic mistake."

"But given their meticulous planning and execution, there is absolutely no room for error."

"The reason for this passive situation is only superficially due to the wrong choice of players in the second game."

She analyzed, "The root cause is that the Golden Flower team lacks foundation. Apart from Liu Ying, no one else has the ability to win the final victory."

Her gaze fell precisely on Gao De, who was intently watching the competition on stage. She paused for a moment and then said slowly, "Although the other team members are talented and capable, they are ultimately not capable of standing on their own, let alone standing shoulder to shoulder with Liu Ying."

Lady Wang Mian seemed to be stating facts, but also seemed to be implying something else.

"Though the firefly is strong, it cannot stand alone; what a pity."

She spoke of regret, but there was no trace of remorse in her tone; only a detached and insightful acceptance of the game's conclusion.

It wasn't that she didn't care about winning or losing this year's French Bulldog tournament, but rather that she had a calm demeanor stemming from her long-standing position and familiarity with winning and losing games.

Being able to accept failure gracefully is an essential mental quality for those in positions of power.

While the two on the platform were chatting, the situation in the fighting arena below was still progressing steadily.

As the battle dragged on, Bai Nuode's mind was finally jolted awake from the stalemate, and a chilling feeling suddenly surged through his heart.

Liu Ying's current posture is exactly the same as Ellie's in the previous game:

Deliberately letting the water out.

My body is covered with dense, bright white burn marks, and the burning pain has escalated into excruciating pain.

Although it's unclear what Liu Ying is thinking—this injury can be fully recovered with a healing spell after she leaves the stage.

But the alarm bells of reason rang frantically, and an inexplicable sense of danger gripped my mind.

The physical pain combined with a sudden surge of rational clarity, coupled with the fact that this was a one-on-one duel without a skilled enchanter to manipulate him, caused the pale-faced White Nord to abandon his stubbornness. Setting aside his pride, he gritted his teeth, raised his hand, and shouted, "I surrender!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Ying slowly withdrew the white light from her fingertips, a barely perceptible hint of lingering satisfaction flashing across her golden eyes.

"First round of the gauntlet, Goldfinch and Flowing Fire win!" The referee's clear announcement echoed throughout the arena.

White staggered and walked unsteadily off the field.

Meanwhile, the Empire's second fighter, Conrad, has seamlessly transitioned into the fighting arena, ready to take over from White Nord.

"If things aren't going well, just admit defeat. Don't try to force it," Bai Nuode whispered as he passed Conrad.

Conrad held his head high, his expression arrogant, not even glancing in response, only letting out a disdainful snort from his nose.

Conrad comes from the oldest noble lineage in the empire. His family originated from an ancient barbarian tribe in the early days of the nation's founding. They are the old elite class of the empire, conservative and arrogant.

The Bainord family is a rising family that emerged under the empire's meritocratic system, belonging to the newly powerful elites of the empire.

The old and new blood of the empire have always had conflicting ideas, were incompatible, and disliked each other.

Many people, including those within the empire itself, believe that if the empire had not been constantly expanding its territory, internal conflicts would have already broken out between the old and new blood of the empire.

Therefore, Conrad has always maintained this attitude towards B. N. N.

As soon as he returned to the players' area, Bai Nuode immediately raised his hand to signal the team's dedicated healing mage to come forward and treat the injury.

The burning pain in his body was not fatal, but it was persistent, piercing his skin and bones, and severely interfered with his normal activities, let alone engaging in high-intensity activities like French fighting.

The Imperial Healer stepped forward and skillfully cast [Higher Healing] with a raised hand.

A warm, pure white light instantly spread out, completely enveloping Bai Nuode's entire body, covering the shimmering white burn marks, and penetrating into her skin's texture.

The spell took effect very quickly, instantly repairing the cracked and damaged skin and flesh wounds on Bai Nuode's surface caused by the high temperature burn.

The redness and swelling subsided, and the wound healed.

"The burns from light are far less severe than those from fire, so they're not difficult to treat and are easy to manage. They won't affect your subsequent matches at all..." the Imperial Healer reassured Bainor while casting a spell.

Brendan nodded.

However, an unexpected change occurred.

After the skin wounds were healed, the repair effect of the white light treatment suddenly stagnated and made no further progress.

The faint, white burn marks that covered the limbs and torso remained unfaded.

Even the persistent, surging burning pain did not lessen in the slightest.

The Imperial mage, who specialized in healing, suddenly contracted his pupils, and the composure on his face vanished instantly, replaced by disbelief, astonishment, and doubt.

He has been deeply involved in the field of treatment for many years and is proficient in repairing various elemental injuries, magical burns, and toxin erosion.

Whether it's a fire injury, lightning burn, or frostbite from the Evocation system, all can be quickly neutralized and healed using standardized healing spells.

He had never seen anything like this before.

Isn't it a burn?

Without a second thought, he immediately switched spell models and cast spells one after another to remedy the situation.

First, a purification spell, "Neutralize Toxins," was used to remove any remaining abnormal toxins from the body. White light repeatedly washed over Bai Nord's body, but to no avail.

He then tried restoration spells to specifically repair the physical damage and magical imbalance caused by the spells, but to no avail...

All healing, purification, and restoration spells were ineffective against this strange, luminous white burn mark.

Even more fatally, the frequent magical stimulation not only failed to suppress the injuries but actually exacerbated them.

Bai Nuode instantly felt the burning pain on his skin increase exponentially.

What was originally a tolerable dull pain turned into an intense, excruciating pain that pierced through every part of my body.

He immediately let out an unbearable groan of pain.

"What's going on?" The others also noticed something was wrong and stepped forward to ask with concern.

The healing mage's expression darkened. He withdrew his spell and said gravely, "The burns on Bai Nord's body are not ordinary elemental burns, nor do they belong to any kind of poison, curse, or ordinary evocation injury."

"There is a mysterious energy attached to Bainor's wounds, continuously causing him pain."

"All the healing spells I know are ineffective; with my treatment methods, I simply cannot eradicate the injury."

He paused for a moment before giving his final conclusion: "To be completely cured, we must return to the Empire and ask other healing masters to dispel and remove these mysterious energies. I cannot do anything about it."

Upon hearing this, Bai Nuode instantly turned pale, a chill running down his spine. He gritted his teeth and said, "She's imitating the captain!"

Meanwhile, inside the French fighting arena, a new round of battles has begun.

The situation was almost identical to the previous game.

Liu Ying remained standing calmly, her posture relaxed and composed, controlling the rhythm of the battle throughout.

She was using seemingly insignificant rays of light to accumulate "light element" burns on Conrad's body.

"She wants to cripple all four of our players in this round of elimination matches, so that we won't be able to field a full fighting force for the subsequent matches," the team leader mage said in a deep voice.

At this moment, he had taken off his hood, revealing a face with square lines and a cold, hard profile shrouded in shadow.

"Surrender immediately and end the match."

Viola immediately chimed in, her tone decisive and sharp, having shed the respect and humility she had shown when facing the team leader, and now displaying an equal stance as if they were discussing tactics on equal terms.

She spoke very quickly, clearly understanding the situation: "Once Conrad is completely rendered ineffective like White, our tactical arrangements for the next game will completely collapse."

The captain's playing time will have to be used up prematurely, and all our strategic advantages will be lost.

"I admit we can't beat Liuying in a one-on-one match, but two of their main members are already out of commission, so in the next round we'll have to bring in two substitute members from the third ring."

"Our main force is complete. If we send all our members in, we'll force their other four members out of the game first."

"Finally, let's all help Ellie gang up on Liuying. With more people against fewer, can't we still defeat her head-on?" Herbert said somewhat unwillingly.

As an elite mage of the number one hegemony in the continent and even the mage plane, he felt extremely frustrated that he could only avoid battle and admit defeat in order to win against Liu Ying.

In response to Herbert's unwillingness, Viola's voice turned colder, "In this magic duel tournament, the chief mage personally ordered that we must win."

"You dismissed the overall strategy based on your own emotions and insisted on fighting head-on. If you lose the game, can you bear the responsibility?"

She leaned forward slightly, her tone even colder: "Or are you going to personally go before the Chief Mage and apologize for your unauthorized decision?"

The moment the words "Chief Mage" were uttered, Herbert froze, instinctively shivering.

Just hearing his name was enough to instill in him an instinctive sense of awe and fear.

The resentment and frustration he felt earlier vanished instantly. Herbert pursed his lips tightly, daring not to utter another word of objection.