Above the mage

Chapter 773 Your Time Is Running Out

No one could answer Viola's question.

Since the start of the competition, the impression that Gaode left on the audience and all participating mages has been that of a pure ranged artillery mage.

His signature move, especially his unstoppable fireball technique, has become his trademark.

His first-half battle with Ellie, and all the spells he displayed, further proved that he is an incredibly pure and excellent ranged damage mage.

As a result, when Ellie got close, Gao De suddenly pulled out an ice sword and faced Ellie head-on, even showing a reserve of skills that could overwhelm most melee mages.

It's a true top-tier close-quarters combat battle, not something forced upon us.

Whether it's his exquisite swordsmanship or the more comprehensive melee buff system he demonstrates compared to most melee mages, it all shows that Gao De is a melee master.

It is important to understand the resilience of the bear, the strength of the bull, the elegance of the cat, and the hunter's mark.

These spells are geared towards melee mages; ordinary ranged turret mages wouldn't bother learning or mastering them.

Even for melee mages, while one of these spells might not be particularly rare, mastering them all is quite uncommon.

Then, thinking back to the various complex spells that Gao De had cast since the start of the competition, both those she had seen and those she had never seen before, she realized that Gao De had cast them all.

Viola's gaze froze, and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.

"Just how many spells did he learn...?"

19

This is a question shared by all viewers, but no one knows the answer.

The breadth of spell pool that Gaode has demonstrated has long exceeded the cognitive limits of ordinary mages.

In the blink of an eye, Ellie's reaction speed far exceeded that of normal.

Her shoulders and back suddenly tensed, and the blood vessels under her blood-red skin bulged wildly.

She forcefully clamped her armpit shut to block the sword tip, while simultaneously thrusting her elbow inward with her strong arm bone.

boom!

The sword tip pierced the flesh, but only penetrated the shallow layer of skin before being stopped by brute force.

The "Blood Flows from Her Face" effect was triggered instantly, creating a gash on Ellie's forehead.

However, due to her terrifying self-healing ability and physical resistance, the blood did not flow out like tears, resulting in a face covered in blood.

Seizing the moment of stalemate, Ellie's right claw slashed out without hesitation at extremely close range, the claw wind tearing through the cold wind.

Gao De immediately sheathed his sword, relying on the agility granted by the "Cat's Grace" skill, and slightly shifted his wrist at the last moment before the sword claws were about to touch him.

He let the hard spine of his ice sword slide along the back of the wolf's claws, intending to counterattack during the gap in the opponent's claw swing.

But Ellie's combat instincts were far more terrifying than he had imagined.

Her wrist suddenly flipped in mid-air, and the claws that were originally slashing outwards instantly hooked back.

She changed her horizontal slash into a reverse grab, aiming straight for the tendons in Gao De's right wrist where he was holding the sword.

Gao De's pupils constricted, forcing him to abruptly interrupt his counterattack and quickly parry with his sword.

In the next instant, at extremely close range, the sword and claws clashed wildly, producing a continuous series of ear-piercing sounds.

Each collision was accompanied by flying ice shards.

After the third collision, a deep, visible crack appeared on the ice sword formed by Gao Dezhen's ice magic.

But with a slight thought, his Zhenbing magic flowed, instantly filling the broken structure of the ice crystal.

The ice sword was instantly restored to its original state, showing no signs of damage whatsoever.

However, Gao De had an extra bloodstain on his left arm.

During the second collision, Ellie's claws grazed the outside of his forearm in the instant he couldn't retract his sword.

Because of the multiple layers of protection that reduced the damage, the wound was not deep, with only three shallow red lines spreading out in parallel.

But almost the instant the wound appeared, a faint dark red layer appeared under the skin.

Thick, toxic blood was seeping into his body along the wound.

Ellie's attacks did not stop.

Her next claw moved from bottom to top with a cunning, stabbing motion, aiming straight for Gao De's unsuspecting right rib.

Gao De bent his waist to the side, his upper body almost parallel to the ground, barely dodging the attack.

However, a thin, long wound was still torn open on the side of the flesh by the claw tip, and a second poisoning wound was formed.

The blood poison is spreading into his body along the two wounds.

A hint of indifferent smugness flashed across Ellie's bloodshot eyes.

She was all too aware of the effects of her own blood toxins; once they entered her body, they would continuously erode her flesh and slow down her opponent's movements.

"Although you surprised me..." This was the first time Ellie had spoken up since the start of the war.

Her surprise referred to Gao De's displayed close-combat abilities.

"But you won't last much longer. Your movements will only get slower and slower, and you'll soon completely lose the ability to resist," she said confidently.

Based on her past experience, ordinary mages would lose their fighting ability within a minute of his blood poison.

The outcome is already decided.

But Gaode did not show any sign of panic.

He glanced at the dark red spreading area on his wound, then nodded slightly, almost imperceptibly, as if confirming something.

"Your body is being attacked by an unknown toxin, and it is rapidly analyzing the toxin to understand its mechanism of attack..."

""

"You are suffering from the effects of Blood Wolf Venom, a toxin that corrodes your blood, slows your heart, impairs your physical mobility, and disrupts the flow of magic."

""

"Your body is beginning to adapt to the blood wolfsbane, you have acquired blood wolfsbane resistance, and your ability to resist this toxin has greatly increased."

[Intermediate Azure Body] is now exerting its power.

After evolving into the intermediate-level Azure Amber Body, Gao De's success rate in resisting intermediate-level magical toxins and extraordinary toxins increased.

Even if resistance fails, the symptoms of poisoning will lessen, changing from "significantly reduced" to "almost negligible".

More importantly, upon first contact with an unknown toxin, the Azure Amber Body can quickly analyze its composition and grant Gao De a certain degree of resistance to the toxin.

Furthermore, the Azure Amber Body can greatly enhance Gaode's efficiency in metabolizing toxins, and can transform the useless energy generated during the process of metabolizing toxins into gentle life energy to replenish one's own magic power and physical strength.

Ellie's prized deadly blood poison, when used by Qingpo's body, had a far less lethal effect on him than his opponent had anticipated.

Also exerting its power is the [Primary Healing Body].

It endows Gaode with extremely strong wound healing capabilities, which can quickly heal most physical injuries, including scratches.

Ellie was unaware of these things.

She believed that Gaode was already in a slump, so she struck while the iron was hot, transforming into a blood-red shadow and attacking without giving Gaode a chance to catch his breath.

A barrage of claw strikes followed.

Her movements were not fixed, and there was almost no redundant movement between her claws. Each retraction was accompanied by an acceleration for the next attack.

Ellie's hands moved in a continuous series of chopping, stabbing, slicing, and sweeping motions over a very short distance.

Gaode, on the other hand, calmed down and switched to a purely defensive stance.

His steps rarely deviate more than half a step from his original position; each movement involves a small-radius turn and adjustment on a flat surface.

Each swing of the sword did not exceed a range of three feet on either side of his body.

Gaode deliberately minimized its attack radius in exchange for faster recovery speed and more frequent blocking.

The two figures moved swiftly and intertwined.

A flurry of claw shadows covered his body, the ice sword trembled incessantly, and ice shards flew everywhere.

Gaode was undoubtedly at a disadvantage and was constantly on the defensive.

His shoulders, forearms, waist and other areas were constantly being scratched with claw marks of varying depths.

The frequency and speed of their exchanges were so intense that the entire audience held their breath, afraid to even breathe, lest they miss a single detail of the ever-changing offense and defense.

In the fierce clash, Gao De finally seized the fleeting gap between Ellie's two claw strikes and suddenly leaned his waist back sharply.

With the added mobility of the Boeing-equipped body, and taking advantage of the timely gusts of wind from the [Snowstorm] in the arena, he retreated at high speed, skimming the snow-covered ground, and briefly created a safe distance from the close combat.

During the retreat, a warm and soft emerald green halo rippled across the palm of his left hand.

【Healing Soul】.

A bright green halo coalesced and took shape.

The hazy, translucent spirit of the deer condensed from the green light.

The antlers shimmered with soft light, exuding a tranquil and gentle natural aura.

The spirit deer leaped out, nimbly circled once in the air, and opened up a closed healing domain space with a radius of five feet.

Gaode's retreating figure just stepped into the area of ​​effect.

The emerald green light instantly enveloped his entire body and seeped into Gao De's wounds.

The dark red edges began to shrink towards the center, the skin at the wound regained its color, and the cracked flesh slowly healed.

Although the recovery speed is not fast enough to instantly heal all injuries.

After all, [Healing Soul] is only a second-level spell, and its healing effect is limited per cast.

However, the core advantage of this spell is not that it instantly restores health to full.

Instead, it relies on a fixed area, allowing users to repeatedly enter and exit, triggering the healing effect multiple times, and possessing extremely strong long-term endurance.

Ellie didn't give Gaode a chance to recover safely. Her blood-red afterimage arrived in an instant. Facing the approaching Ellie, Gaode turned his left hand and a ball of silver-white light rose from his palm.

The light detached from his palm, rose into the air, and then suddenly exploded.

A perfectly aligned pillar of moonlight, ten feet in diameter, descended from the sky and precisely enveloped Ellie.

The light was not intense, and even carried a touch of moonlight's coolness, but the moment Ellie was enveloped by the pillar of light, her body tensed up abruptly.

[Moonlight]:

Creatures within the area will be consumed by ghostly flames, causing intense burning pain.

The shapeshifting creature within the area must undergo a physical resistance. If it fails to resist, the shapeshifting spell will immediately fail, reverting it to its original form, and it will be unable to transform into any other form until it leaves the light of this spell.

Ellie let out a low, hoarse roar.

It wasn't pain, but an extremely uncomfortable feeling, like something was burning inside my body.

The blood film covering her entire body rippled slightly under the silvery-white light, like bubbles bursting on the surface of boiling water.

Given Ellie's constitution, she should be able to resist it through the Moonlight's constitution.

Not to mention that her wolf transformation, strictly speaking, is still somewhat different from a metamorphosis.

However, as a spell specifically designed to counter polymorph, it had at least one effect in the short term: it caused Ellie extreme discomfort.

"You!" Ellie's voice was filled with shock and anger.

Surprisingly, Gao De, who was initially thought to be a ranged artillery mage, became nothing more than fish on a chopping board once she got close.

However, Gao De had stacked almost a whole set of melee enhancement spells and used his exquisite swordsmanship to catch her attack.

Moreover, they even possess the support spell "Healing Soul," a spell typically used by team healing or support mages.

What's even more outrageous is that they've now unleashed [Moonlight].

This spell is considered a very unorthodox technique within the mainstream mage system.

Because it is specifically designed to deal with shapeshifting creatures, it rarely appears in most mages' daily battles.

The spell pool in Gaode is so complex that it's unbelievable.

It has everything: melee, ranged, defensive, healing, and counter spells.

The combat strategy is flexible and varied.

How could such a young mage master so many spells?

Also, just how many spells does Gaode possess?

Ellie had never seen anyone with such an unfathomable pool of magic, and who was even constantly coming up with new things to counter her every move.

She dared not linger any longer, shifting her body to the right with all her might, instantly escaping the coverage of the moonlight pillar.

The agitated blood film on the skin gradually calmed down, and the dark red blood vessels regained their luster.

However, some discomfort still lingered and had not completely disappeared.

Taking advantage of the brief intervals when Ellie dodged the spell, God repeatedly entered and exited the healing field.

Thanks to the healing spirit, which triggered the healing effect multiple times, most of my external injuries have been healed.

Seeing this, Ellie gritted her teeth and chased after him relentlessly.

This time she changed her attack angle, launching a surprise attack from Gao De's left waist and abdomen blind spot, her wolf claws thrusting straight out.

Gao De spun to the right, his icy longsword sinking down to steadily block the vital points in his waist and abdomen with its thick spine.

clang!

The powerful impact traveled along the sword, causing Gao De to sway violently, but he remained firmly on his feet, his lower body completely still.

The increased power from [Bear's Tenacity] prevented him from losing his balance during the attack.

He twisted his wrist, and the ice sword slid along the back of the wolf's claws toward the opponent's wrist, attempting to counterattack and restrain him.

But Ellie anticipated his move and slashed from the other side with her left claw, blocking all his counterattack routes with two attacks.

Left with no other option, Gao De quickly sheathed his sword and returned to defense, resulting in another head-on collision.

Click!

New fine cracks appeared on the surface of the ice sword.

That's secondary.

The most important thing is that the wound on his right arm, which was almost healed, reopened due to the shock and tearing, and fresh blood slowly seeped out.

Ellie clung tightly to God, refusing to give him even a brief chance to pull away and cast a spell to heal herself.

Her claws lashed out alternately, so fast that the air whistled continuously as they cut through the air.

Gaode was forced to continuously block, retreat, block, and retreat.

The ice sword was cracking more and more, and even though he could use his True Ice magic to repair the blade in an instant, it couldn't keep up with the speed at which the claw attacks destroyed it.

Meanwhile, new injuries continue to accumulate:

His left shoulder was slashed open by sharp claws, and the poisonous blood seeped in.

Another long, narrow wound appeared on the outside of his right leg, and yet another toxin took root in his body.

Like a snowball rolling downhill, the injuries and blood toxins were accumulating at an ever-increasing rate.

The aura of the various protective spells on the body surface also visibly dimmed.

But Gao De's face never showed any panic.

He simply kept, mechanically, and instinctively parrying, dodging, and retreating.

His movements remained precise and steady.

His "Ninja Body" allowed him to completely ignore the pain caused by his injuries.

His sword-drawing movements remained as steady as a rock, unaffected by his wound.

"His time is running out."

Seeing that under this continuous offensive, Gaode finally stopped causing any more trouble.

Conrad, who had been somewhat nervous, finally regained his confidence and gave a decisive conclusion.

He's not the only one who thinks this way; it's the consensus of most people.

Gaode has reached its limit; it has been suppressed throughout and has no chance to turn the tide.

"Defeated but still honorable. As a third-ring mage, it's quite remarkable that you were able to push Ellie to this point."

Watching this scene, Evan shook his head and sighed softly, full of regret: "If God had the level of a fourth-circle mage, even just the early stage of the fourth circle, the situation would probably be different. Unfortunately, the level difference is ultimately insurmountable."

Gao De's defeat was already evident, but with such a brilliant performance, everyone believed that if the mages were of the same level, Gao De would definitely win.

As for now, all I can say is it's a pity.

Right now.

Gao De, who had been on the defensive and at a significant disadvantage, and whom everyone thought was about to lose, said to Ellie, "Your time is running out."