Chapter 1035: Chapter 788: Mana Shield?
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Crack!
A crisp sound, and an extremely fine space crack suddenly appeared. Yet, even this minute crack was enough to inflict fatal damage. The Guardian of the Ancient Mage Tower toppled over stiffly, and the doctor who had been waiting by their side immediately rushed forward, using magic to restore the torn area and to stop the bleeding and numb the pain.
"How on earth did you break free! My magic had not yet dissipated!" the Guardian of the Ancient Mage Tower, still reeling from the intense pain, asked with difficulty.
"This is high-end skill, I find it hard to explain to you," Long Yi said with a grin.
Having defeated two opponents in a row, the surrounding audience was forced to reassess Long Yi—the legendary fighter who was as strong in spellcasting as he was with his fists.
The next opponent for Long Yi clearly seemed a bit nervous, as he appeared to be more of a researcher than a qualified combat mage.
"Hehe, this is my first time entering the fight, but I’ve researched a new spell that is enough to ensure my victory in any magical battle!"
The mage’s voice even trembled a bit.
"Oh? Show me!" Long Yi said, interested.
"Mana Shield!"
Hum!
All the mana within ten meters radius from that mage suddenly stopped responding!
"How about that, you can’t cast spells now, can you?" the mage said, proud of himself.
Long Yi was taken aback, as it was indeed the case. Every time he tried to cast a spell after that, his mana would instantly be consumed, but no magic would occur.
"But I have my fists," Long Yi said as he shook his fists.
"Fists don’t count, only spells do!" the other said.
"Hey, aren’t you ashamed of exploiting such an obvious loophole in the rules?" Long Yi asked, amused.
"Not a bit! Rules are rules, hahaha!" With that, the man actually launched a magical missile that exploded on Long Yi.
"Eh?" The onlookers let out a surprised noise, since it was clear that no mana could be cast in the vicinity, so why was he able to do so?
"Haha! Scared now? This space doesn’t affect me! I can attack you at will! And you can’t attack me!" With that, another magical missile exploded towards Long Yi!
Long Yi was very puzzled. Could such a thing really happen? It shouldn’t be, right? This Mana Shield was extremely strict, the entire spell had no flaws, even Ai Lin had not noticed anything amiss.
Unless! The Mana Shield stopped working whenever the other was casting a spell!
"If you think you can defeat me with just a few simple magical missiles, you’re thinking too pretty. These few hits don’t even count as tickling me." Suddenly, Long Yi burst out laughing.
"No matter, I have all the time in the world. I guess your time is more precious than mine, right? I can play this game with you for a day, two days, even a month, until you admit defeat," the mage also said, laughing.
"My God, I’ve really never seen someone as shameless as you," Long Yi shook his head.
"You haven’t, have you? Today, I’ll let you see for yourself. To me, the process doesn’t matter, only winning does!" As he said that, another magical missile flew towards Long Yi.
Long Yi didn’t dodge, letting him continue the attack. The other clearly meant to bully him, eventually getting up close to Long Yi and incessantly casting spells. The rule of the competition was to use spells, and if Long Yi used any non-magical form of attack, he would be immediately disqualified. Although the other’s magical missiles weren’t very powerful, they were still quite annoying. This time, even the surrounding crowd stopped jeering at Long Yi, after all, such behavior was very much against the spirit of the competition.
However, at the moment the other launched another magical missile, Long Yi suddenly raised his hand and cast a magical missile as well.
Boom, it hit the target precisely, and Long Yi himself took the hit from the other’s magical missile.
The people around immediately made sounds of surprise.
"How could you!" the mage started to say.
"How could I also seize that moment?" Long Yi said with a smirk, "I was wondering, your spell seemed very meticulous, there shouldn’t be any loopholes to exploit. It wasn’t until your last spell that I noticed you have an irregular window of opportunity! You deliberately kept this window very short, so short that it only allows an instantly cast magical missile to fly out. But if you can take advantage of this window, so can I!"
Before his voice had died away, Long Yi and his opponent almost simultaneously raised their hands, the opponent firing a magical missile. But Long Yi fired two! The opponent’s was just an ordinary magical missile, but Long Yi’s missiles were wrapped in flames!
Boom boom!
Flames burst forth, and the mage rolled on the ground in a sorry state trying to extinguish the flames, half of his already messy hair now singed!
"So, still want to try?" Long Yi asked, smiling.
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"I have to admit, your insight is quite astonishing. The buffer period I left for myself was unexpectedly uncovered by you. But well, since it has come to this, let’s just drag this out! I will close all the buffers!"
As he spoke, the other party waved his hand, and indeed, Long Yi tried several of the previous buffer periods but could no longer cast any spells.
At that moment, several magic researchers also gathered around, interested in this peculiar magic. Although they lacked the insight of Long Yi to observe the buffer periods, they hoped to break the spell in a different way.
"So, there’s a problem," Long Yi paused for a moment, then suddenly said with a smile.
"What problem?" the opponent asked cautiously.
"Firstly, as a mage, would you really create a spell that puts you in an environment where you can’t cast spells at all?"
"Secondly, as a mage, you just modified the spell during a non-buffer period. How exactly did you do that?"
Long Yi posed these two questions and immediately started to sneer.
"Hahaha! You’re really clever! But what good does your cleverness do? Indeed, I did leave a hidden buffer period, but I won’t cast any spells anymore. I won’t give you any chance to continue observing me! Let’s just continue this standoff!" the mage shouted.
"Sorry, I have no intention of dragging this out with you. I’ll find out where that hidden buffer period is myself!"
As he spoke, Long Yi raised one hand, aiming it at his opponent.
"Now I’m going to concentrate all my effort to condense a magic missile, which will merge with the fiery molten iron of my talent. I will try one hundred times per second, and I believe your buffer period won’t be any shorter than that. And once I succeed, it will be the time for the fiery molten iron to blossom on your face!"
The opponent stared at Long Yi’s hand, petrified.
Indeed, it was a radical approach. Attempting one hundred times in one second meant that Long Yi would be using a tremendous amount of mana in that second.
Before all eyes, a magical light shone from the palm of Long Yi. It was the light created by the constant obliteration of mana, and from the dazzling intensity of that light, one could tell that Long Yi’s mana was being consumed at a remarkably rapid rate. Yet Long Yi seemed unconcerned; on the contrary, he kept smiling while staring at his opponent. As time passed, the opponent’s complexion grew increasingly unsightly.
In a certain moment, the mage suddenly bellowed, "Mana Shield!"
All the mana barriers disappeared, a massive shield appeared, and at the same time, another spell rapidly appeared in Long Yi’s hand.
"Concentrated Bombardment!"
A sky full of magic missiles, all with blazing flames, emerged.
"Mana Barrier!" the mage shouted, Long Yi’s casting process immediately failed, but the spells already released did not vanish.
"Goodbye."
The bombardment continued non-stop. When all the magic missiles had fallen, the mage was left barely clinging to life.
The emergency medical team rushed forward, casting various life-saving spells, pulling him back from the brink of death.
"I’m convinced, thoroughly convinced! Hahaha!" the barely revived mage struggled to shout.
Meanwhile, in the shadows, two figures were intently watching Long Yi’s fight.
"If we talk just about combat capability, this Long Yi is indeed one of the best; no wonder even the ancient powerhouses were easily defeated," Aimondeus said.
"The purpose of the Ancient Mage Tower is to study magic, not combat. Even if they lost to Long Yi, there’s no need to dwell on it. Moreover, when it comes to sheer strength, it’s not Long Yi’s turn yet here in the Ancient Mage Tower," Solis said.
"Yes, I feel ashamed of my lack of wisdom compared to you, Master Solis," Aimondeus said. "But, Master Solis, should we just ignore this? Let him keep mocking our people here?"
Solis stared at Long Yi for a long while, then coldly said, "Send a high-level combat mage to meet him, and don’t take it lightly."
Upon hearing Solis’s words, Aimondeus immediately became excited, "Can our high-level combat mages finally be put to use?"
Solis nodded, "Aren’t there many who doubt the combat power of high-level combat mages? Since that is the case, let’s take this opportunity to show everyone what our research has always been about!"
"Yes, Master Solis!" Aimondeus left, excited. In Solis’s eyes, a flash of red light briefly appeared, and he murmured to himself, "Yes, now it’s just a warm-up for the high-level combat mages. When everything is in place, it will be time for me to take control of the entire Ancient Mage Tower!"
Long Yi’s formidable combat capability did not cause the mages to shy away; instead, many of them were eager to challenge him. The reason was simple: he was simply too strong. Within the Ancient Mage Tower, the mages created one spell after another, but some spells could not be tested without the aid of powerhouses; thus, Long Yi became their best opponent.
And the outcome was no surprise, Long Yi was victorious in every challenge.
This was just the preliminary round. After the preliminaries ended, Long Yi advanced to the next competition as one of the top sixty-four. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
