Chapter 36: Fate Is Mine

"This guy"

Then Zeda Master thought of how Gao De had been his apprentice for so many years, yet only now did he reveal everything, never having shown the slightest flaw before.

Gao De’s depth of planning and his profound patience were utterly inconsistent with his age; the more Zeda Master pondered it, the more dread he felt.

"You’ve indeed outmaneuvered me at every turn—I’ve suffered because of you."

Having pieced together everything, Zeda Master suddenly regained his composure.

He spoke toward the dark mist where no figure could be seen: "But if you have no other tricks, this farce ends here."

"You still underestimate my knowledge—and overestimate your arcane artifacts."

"A Level 1 alchemical device cannot bridge the vast gap between us."

Zeda Master gritted his teeth against the relentless agony in his sole and sneered: "Mist Veil is a Level 1 spell, but it has no offensive power—and severe limitations."

"And fortunately, I know those limitations."

"It’s over!" Zeda Master roared.

Wasn’t the reason he was trapped in this dilemma precisely because of this mist? Then let the mist vanish—and all problems would resolve themselves.

A Gao De who had exhausted his mana, stripped of Mist Veil’s cover, would be utterly at his mercy. And he knew two ways to counter Mist Veil.

Strong wind and flame! There was no wind spell among cantrips, but flame spells were plentiful.

And he happened to know one.

A red glow flared in his hand, followed by intense heat.

A shaft of flame reformed into an arrow, and as he swung his arm, it shot forth—instantly becoming a blazing fire arrow.

"Burn away your mist."

Boom! Boom! Boom!!! Before his words had fully faded, a shocking explosion erupted—completely unexpected by Zeda Master.

Explosion! Explosion! In the blink of an eye, flames spontaneously ignited around Zeda Master.

Simultaneous with the explosion, a high-pressure, high-temperature shockwave formed.

The massive shockwave spread outward, violently striking surrounding objects and structures—Zeda Master, being the closest to the epicenter, was the foremost "object."

The residual effect of his Shield Spell was instantly obliterated.

The colossal force swept across Zeda Master’s body, shredding his Level 1 arcane robe outright, then tearing into his aged, frail flesh.

Burning flames mixed with thick smoke surged onward, continuing to spread and devour everything in the room—including the mist released by Mist Veil.

In but an instant, the mist of Mist Veil was entirely consumed by fire.

With the mist gone, obstructed vision finally cleared.

The room was now a ruin: smoke hung thick in the air, light twisted through the murky atmosphere into hazy columns, slicing the chaos into irregular patches of shadow and glow.

The immense pressure of the blast left the walls covered in mottled scars; a massive crack ran clean through one entire wall.

All furniture inside had been overturned and shattered by the shockwave.

Chairs were broken, tables split into pieces, books from the shelves reduced to ash and paper scraps, the remnants still smoldering.

Shards of debris littered the floor.

Two figures lay sprawled amid the devastation, their clothing charred and tattered.

Both lay motionless, neither dead nor alive.

An eerie silence.

Aside from the occasional crackle of dying embers, no other sound could be heard.

Huh~ huh~ huh! Moments later, heavy breathing filled the room.

One of the two figures on the ground began to stir slowly.

Gao De!

He regained a sliver of awareness, feeling searing pain all over his body, his limbs weighed down like lead.

Gao De mustered every ounce of strength to struggle upright, each movement accompanied by agonizing pain and ragged gasps.

Though the explosion’s epicenter was Zeda Master, and though he had done his best to keep distance and lunged toward the door the instant it detonated,

the room was too small, the shockwave too swift—he could not escape its effects no matter how hard he tried.

Kill a thousand, lose six hundred.

Now, every breath Gao De took felt like a monumental effort, forcing air into his exhausted lungs; each exhale was slow and labored, like the last gasp of an ancient bellows, sluggish and reluctant.

He mustered his arms to prop himself up, then trembled to his feet.

Once standing unsteadily, Gao De used sheer willpower to temporarily suppress his injuries and pain.

He dragged his weak legs step by step to the other motionless figure in the room, then knelt beside him.

"Why... why..." Zeda Master still breathed, and had regained a sliver of awareness.

He sensed Gao De’s approach, tried to lift a finger—but after several attempts, failed, only managing to whisper faintly through trembling lips.

Compared to Gao De, Zeda Master’s injuries were far worse.

His body was covered in tattered clothing soaked with flour and blood; large areas of skin were burned, showing uneven shades of blackened and swollen flesh.

Some skin had even been peeled away by the heat, revealing raw pink tissue beneath.

Zeda Master’s eyes brimmed with pain and confusion.

"This was my final move," Gao De grinned, laughing freely—the most unrestrained laugh since he’d come to this world—"You underestimated my knowledge too."

That night, he woke Amy and asked him to buy something in town—the very flour he later threw alongside the acid vial.

Dust explosion.

No more than 9.7 grams of flour dust per cubic meter of air.

If the local concentration of flour dust reached this threshold and met a sufficiently strong ignition source, an explosion could occur! In his former world, this was common safety knowledge.

But in this world, almost no one knew it.

After learning Mist Veil’s effects, Gao De knew that relying solely on the synergy between Mist Veil and the corrupted Fang of Mist was utterly insufficient to defeat Zeda Master.

He was younger than Zeda Master, his physical condition superior.

But the problem was—he had never trained in combat, in either his past or present life.

Facing a veteran mage skilled in close-range spells, his slight physical advantage could never offset the mage’s magical superiority.

Only when he realized Mist Veil could be dispersed by strong wind and burned away by flame did his plan fully crystallize.

Gao De gambled that Zeda Master would almost certainly know how to counter Mist Veil—and that he possessed a flame spell.

Knowing the counter and possessing a flame spell, Zeda Master had no reason not to use it to dispel Gao De’s mist.

So Gao De’s task was to scatter flour in the enclosed room before Zeda Master cast his flame spell, raising the airborne dust concentration.

This was Gao De’s final gambit! Do all you can, leave the rest to fate.

Fate, in this case, was whether Zeda Master knew how to counter Mist Veil.

If fate was not with him, Gao De’s last resort was to rely on the corrupted Fang of Mist and "duel with spears" against Zeda Master.

Even in this worst-case scenario, the flour wasn’t useless.

Flour dusted on Zeda Master’s body would help Gao De, whose vision was obscured by mist, better locate his target.

But none of this mattered anymore.

Because fate was with him! Even as he laughed wildly, Gao De raised the Fang of Mist high above his head.

Pthsh!

Blood spurted, splattering Gao De’s body, mixing with the blood oozing from his own wounds.

Just as he had stabbed Yilan that night, Gao De plunged the Fang of Mist into Zeda Master’s chest, then withdrew it—his motion unnervingly practiced.

One thrust wasn’t enough.

He pulled the blade out and stabbed again.

Then withdrew, stabbed again.

Over and over.

"Why..."

Zeda Master’s breath grew fainter, his eyes wide open, fixed on Gao De, lips trembling as he gasped out an incomplete sentence.

Before he finished, his head lolled to the side—no life remained.

Though incomplete, Gao De knew exactly what Zeda Master had wanted to ask.

With his last shred of strength, he focused his mind on Wind Spirit Moon Shadow.

Origin:

0th Level—【Human】(2/7), 【Gray-Eyed Rat】(used), 【Dark Marsh Crawler】(used), 【Wolf Rat】(1/7).

Seeing the (2/7) after 【Human】, Gao De grinned, and calmly answered Zeda Master’s unspoken question.

He spoke to the corpse, now barely human in form: "Why?"

"Because my life was stolen back from death—yours was yours to keep. Who dares play death with a man who already lost it?"

The one who walked out of this room alive was him.

The breath he’d held so tightly finally released—Gao De lost all control of his consciousness, collapsed with a thud, and slipped into unconsciousness.

(End of Chapter)