Chapter 1354
In battles between true mages, no matter how formidable a spell might be, if it can't hit the enemy, it's no different from a first-rank spell. Only those spells that can actually affect the fight are truly useful...
The moment Archmage Leon Merlin's second Magitech Railgun was fired, Maxwell's chanting never faltered. Terrifying waves of mana surged around his body, and behind him appeared the spectral image of a monstrous creature seemingly assembled from crystal—the Crystal Fiend. The fiend had no limbs, no head—just a torso cobbled together from countless shards of crystal, its surface covered in dense magical runes. Even within its translucent body, intricate runes could be seen.
As the second Magitech Railgun shot out, a faint breeze swirled around Maxwell. For a Sky Rank mage, such a breeze would normally be trivial, but here, it was as if gentle hands nudged Maxwell’s body sideways by more than a meter...
A distance of just over a meter was enough to evade the direct impact of the Magitech Railgun. All that remained was to withstand the residual force carried by the blast, which, compared to the cannon’s main impact, was negligible—certainly not enough to shatter that crystal shield...
With just a touch of mana manipulation—not even a first-rank spell—he could unravel Archmage Leon Merlin’s powerful magic.
Young men like Archmage Leon Merlin may never understand this: a spell is only as good as its application. Used well, it’s magic; used poorly, it’s just powerful trash.
What a pity—he’ll never get the chance to grasp this truth. Such a prodigy, lost forever. If things were different, we’d have recruited him into the Thorned Crown. What a shame...
Once this spell is unleashed, even if he’s mastered the laws of space, he won’t be able to escape. He’ll be erased along with the very fabric of space itself. Such a shame...
A trace of pity flickered in Maxwell’s eyes. He gently closed them, as if unwilling to witness Leon’s demise. Behind him, the phantom of the crystal fiend began to radiate an eerie pulse—a sure sign that the spell was about to be unleashed...
At that moment, the second electromagnetic cannon was already tearing through space at high velocity. By all rights, its trajectory should have missed Maxwell entirely. But just as the shell left the barrel, a spatial rune on its surface flared to life, distorting the space ahead ever so slightly as it sped along...
It was just a tiny distortion, but the Magitech Railgun, which should have flown straight, instead traced an arc through the air—without losing any speed—and struck Maxwell’s crystal shield head-on.
The crystal shield, already riddled with cracks, had no time to recover and, without support from the Prismatic Crystal Orb, stood no chance against the second Magitech Railgun’s force.
The instant the electromagnetic cannon struck the crystal shield, it exploded like a sheet of glass, shards flying everywhere. The residual force of the cannon hit Maxwell square in the body, triggering a massive crisis. His incantation was down to its final words, but now, no matter what, he couldn’t finish it.
Maxwell’s instincts kicked in, and his body erupted in crystal, sealing him inside a massive crystalline block. The unfinished spell was completely broken at that moment...
After the Magitech Railgun struck Maxwell, it shattered into fragments. The terrifying speed smashed against the tough crystal encasing Maxwell, and even the sturdy shell couldn’t withstand the force. The crystal cocoon around Maxwell was blasted away, streaking across the sky like a comet, crossing seven or eight kilometers before crashing into a mountain...
Flames and arcs of lightning danced around the crater. The bizarre magical beasts inhabiting the mountain seemed to sense something dreadful and fled in a frenzy.
Leon floated down from the sky, hovering above the massive crater, not making another move—just quietly waiting.
Deep inside the mountain, dozens of meters down, the crystal encasing Maxwell was riddled with cracks. A half-meter-wide dent marked its surface, and from that spot, fine fissures spread throughout the entire block.
A few seconds later, the crystal shattered and faded away. Maxwell’s face was pale, his eyes filled with disbelief, and his mana was turbulent. Beneath his skin, it was as if tiny worms were writhing about. His complexion flickered between white and red for over ten seconds before finally stabilizing, and the 'worms' beneath his skin vanished.
He spat a mouthful of blood, which turned into a pile of blood-red crystal shards in midair. When he looked up again, the glow in Maxwell’s crystalline eyes was pure, stunned disbelief...
Maxwell didn’t know that Archmage Leon Merlin hadn’t killed him simply because he couldn’t. If the battle had dragged on, with both sides going all out for hours, they’d both have ended up in disaster...
Such terrifying calculation ability—he figured out how to hit me in less than a second. The first spell knocked away my Crystal Fiend artifact, and the second shattered my crystal shield. If I hadn’t had one last line of defense, I’d have been torn to pieces by now...
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How did he do it? Less than a second—how was any of this possible...
Maxwell’s face was stunned; he simply couldn’t comprehend it. The higher the level, the more troublesome battles between powerhouses become. Unless there’s absolute dominance, it’s almost impossible to kill a true opponent outright. No matter how powerful a spell is, if it can’t hit or penetrate defenses, it’s nearly useless.
That’s why, when choosing a bloodline to fuse, he went with the most difficult and dangerous: the Crystal Fiend. Its spells possess the power to break magical defenses with ease, able to shatter a mage’s shield in an instant.
And the unique nature of crystal magic also grants him astonishingly powerful defenses...
For a spell to hit the enemy is the first requirement. Only then, if the spell can break through the opponent’s defenses, does it have a chance to finish them off...
But in such an intense battle, to perfectly grasp every tiny shift and respond flawlessly—in a fight between equals, that’s basically impossible. Pushing your combat ability to one hundred and twenty percent just means your focus gets completely tangled up...
Maxwell hadn’t expected to get hit head-on. Thinking back over everything, cold sweat broke out—he realized he’d completely underestimated his opponent...
While Maxwell was still reeling, another electromagnetic cannon shot down into the pit. In such a confined space, its force was even more terrifying than outside. Maxwell’s body was hammered deeper into the mountain like a nail.
Maxwell was like a sitting duck, struck by three electromagnetic cannons in a row. The crystal covering his body was riddled with cracks—just one more hit would shatter his final defense. Even if he had more tricks up his sleeve and might block another shot, at this rate, even he wasn’t sure what the outcome would be.
His former arrogance had completely vanished, replaced by a heavy sense of facing a true adversary.
Just as Maxwell braced himself for a desperate struggle, the electromagnetic cannons suddenly stopped. Leon’s calm voice echoed through the pit.
A trace of regret appeared on Leon’s face. Such a golden opportunity—an unbroken string of attacks, and Maxwell had no chance to dodge. At that depth, with the frequency of the strikes, he could have been battered to death by electromagnetic cannons alone...
But unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. The angle at which Maxwell was driven into the mountain was slanted; at that trajectory, one more shot would send him right through the peak and out the other side. After that, finishing him off would be much harder, and that last cannon shot wouldn’t have killed him anyway...
And most importantly, with Maxwell blasted away, the remaining dozen or so Sky Rank powerhouses had already caught up—there was no time to keep attacking. Next would be a siege by all those Sky Rank mages. Even if they were only first or second rank, Leon could take one out every three seconds at full power, but with Maxwell added to the mix, there was no point in continuing the fight...
Rather than that, it was better to negotiate. After all, the main goal in catching up with these people was to stop them from recklessly causing trouble here. If they kept it up, it wouldn’t be long before they triggered a catastrophe, and then everyone in this plane would suffer the consequences.
Leon appeared to be the first to back down. A dozen seconds later, Maxwell flew out of the pit, his robe in tatters. A Prismatic Crystal Orb floated in from afar and circled him. Suspended in midair, Maxwell watched Leon warily, clearly still on guard—but he didn’t attack again.
Maxwell didn’t know that Leon hadn’t killed him simply because he couldn’t. If the battle had dragged on, with both sides going all out for hours, they’d both have ended up in disaster...
Calculating his position inside the mountain based on angle, force, and speed—no one else would waste so much effort on something like that except Leon, who was using the Wheel of Allspells for deduction...
Maxwell hadn’t expected this; he just thought Leon wanted to negotiate...
Only with matching strength does negotiation become possible. Leon’s expression was calm; he didn’t even spare a glance for the Sky Rank mages surrounding him. A few of them were already itching to attack, but Maxwell waved his hand.
“Everyone, stand down.”
“Lord Maxwell, isn’t your real goal here to find something in this special plane that can ease the conflict of foreign bloodlines?”
“Lord Merlin, I admit I underestimated you. You really did have a chance to kill me.”
Leon ignored Maxwell’s comment and spoke on his own accord.
“Lord Maxwell, I was the first to discover this plane. I’ve been here many times already.”
Maxwell’s expression changed dramatically, but before he could say anything, Leon continued speaking, unconcerned.
“You’re probably about to ask: Since I found this plane before you, why haven’t I conquered it, exploited it, or plundered its vast resources...?”
Maxwell didn’t reply—he simply listened in silence, tacitly acknowledging Leon’s point.
“You must have noticed—the magical beasts here are all very low-level, at least for the mana density of this plane. Add in that blue sun radiating magical energy, and you’d expect a huge number of extraordinary creatures, and very powerful ones at that.
But in reality, there are only beasts whose souls are no more developed than reptiles, and very few extraordinary beings. The strongest are just Sky Rank one or two, and even then, their combat strength is probably lower than a Sky Rank mage. Still, every species here is almost entirely communal.
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Do you know why? Because, for this plane, they’re nothing but reptiles.”
At Leon’s words, Maxwell’s face changed sharply. Leon didn’t elaborate, but Maxwell understood: these magical beasts were like the reptiles of the Northend World—the kind of bugs anyone could squash, mostly just low-level insect-type monsters...
In a normally developed plane, these creatures would always be at the lowest rung, never the dominant life form. But here, it’s all incomplete-souled reptiles—as if you stuffed a bug’s soul into the body of a level-twenty magical beast. Such a fractured soul can barely control such a powerful body; really, it’s just a collection of soul fragments...
There are no higher beings here, nothing with even a spark of true intelligence. With the abundant mana and that blue sun radiating magical energy, even a rock bathed in its light for thousands of years could eventually show signs of life.
But here, there’s not a single trace of intelligent activity. It’s disturbingly abnormal. Either this plane has a fatal flaw for life, or it harbors a terrifying danger that prevents any spark of intelligence from ever emerging—let alone actual intelligent life...
As Grand Elder of the Crown of Thorns—the one with the greatest authority—it’s not just Maxwell’s power that sets him apart. His deep magical research and vast knowledge are the main reasons. Though the Crown of Thorns has declined since its founding, their pursuit of magical truth endures, even if some have twisted that ideal...
Maxwell quickly imagined dozens of possibilities, glancing at Leon with a mix of suspicion and awe. He was now convinced—Leon had discovered this plane long ago and understood it deeply. Otherwise, how could he spot such issues the moment he arrived?
And since neither side could eliminate the other or claim the plane for themselves, with Leon’s deep research here, the best choice was to cooperate in exploring it.
“Lord Merlin, are you suggesting we work together to explore this plane? How should we divide the gains...?”
Maxwell hadn’t finished his sentence before Leon interrupted, utterly calm.
“Lord Maxwell, isn’t your real goal here to find something in this special plane that can ease the conflict of foreign bloodlines?
Or is it just profit you’re after? If it’s purely profit, then let’s split the plane’s resources evenly. If you all value gain over your own lives, I don’t mind losing out a little myself.”
Maxwell’s face changed instantly, and even the auras of the hooded, black-robed Sky Rank mages around him grew chaotic.
“How did you know?”
Maxwell cried out in alarm, both shocked and afraid. Only after blurting it out did he realize he’d lost control...
Leon glanced at Maxwell with disdain, tinged with pity.
“Crystal magic—unless you’re a human with rare gifts or special bloodlines, you can’t master it. But you’re not like those crazed Crystal Fiends, summoning Nullbreaker Crystals with spell power alone.
And then there’s your crystal defenses. Unless you’ve transplanted a Crystal Fiend’s bloodline, what other explanation could there be?
Your Prismatic Crystal artifact, your eyes, even the bloodline you’ve implanted—all come from a Crystal Fiend, likely one named Stark. The only sound it ever made was something like ‘Stark.’ And if you reached Sky Rank Five, Stark’s strength must have been level forty. You must have implanted the bloodline when you were a level-nine titled archmage.
It’s a shame. If I were you, I’d have kept one of my own eyes and fused the two crystal eyes into one. Now, every day your eyes tremble and your mana clashes violently, doesn’t it hurt?
As Leon finished speaking, Maxwell’s face showed undisguised shock, his lips trembling as if he’d seen something terrifying, staring at Leon.
How could he know? No one has ever known these things. How did he find out—did he learn everything about me just from a short fight?