Chapter 3378: The Decisive Role of the Saint's Envoy

————It will be later~~

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Since many completed spells possess the effect of settling the outcome in one blow, skilled Mages in a duel will often try their best to prevent their opponent from completing any completed spell.

Of course, correspondingly, they themselves must try their best to complete a spell capable of settling the outcome in one blow while under the opponent's interference, obstruction, and counter-measures.

This is an Element-level Spell Duel.

Similar to playing Chess, individual Spell Elements are like individual chess pieces and are not enough to surround and kill the opponent; at the same time, even a Master cannot perfectly and accurately control the position to surround and kill the opponent, which is why layout is needed, and why one must meet moves with corresponding moves.

Every position for surrounding and killing is equivalent to completing a full spell, and such a complete spell can sometimes decide the winner in one strike, but many times it will also involve repeated fighting just like in Chess.

Therefore, when Xia Duo brought out Chess in the Golden Dragon District of the Holy City in the Kingdom of Radiance, it immediately became popular and was highly welcomed by the Golden Dragon Mages; there is no other reason, it is simply because Chess is too similar to a Spell Duel.

Although the details are simpler, the intent and line of thought are connected; for the Golden Dragons, spells are not without cost, but if they are just moving pieces to play Chess, even playing for a month is not a problem.

What Xia Duo provided for the Snow Melting Competition in the Main Plane was Chess, only adding piece-to-piece combat; he only promoted Chess within the Progress Society, also because the effect of Chess on improving the line of thought for Spell Duels is very obvious.

According to convention, the first move by Xia Shao is not a Forbidden Restriction spell, as using control is equivalent to sending the opponent away, and it is certain that the Floating City cannot be left temporarily, so he should directly summon 【Wide-Area Prohibition】.

Regardless of the situation, Xia Shao pretended not to have discovered anything abnormal, and the avatar itself did not have such rich emotional expression, especially when he was distracted in many places, it was even more so.

Such pressure was far from what could be compared to when he was just controlling Kandela and the other Elves to duel the opponent; it was as if his own dueling strategy and even his spellcasting details had been mastered by the opponent in advance.

Could it be that they suddenly became calm? Does such a change have to wait for him to arrive?

When it comes to the bonus to Arcane Energy, the Arcane Energy form is clearly not yet comparable to the Saint Form of Elven Magic; of course, on the other hand, if the Application of the Arcane Energy form is developed enough, it is thought that many counter-measures will emerge as the times require.

"Surrender, this time I will not let you run away again!"

Her best choice was to not care about those underage Elves of the Moonshadow Family and just leave herself; at that time, Xia Shao would be beyond reach and would have no way to stop her.

Suddenly, at a junction in the stronghold passage, a flash of spiritual light appeared, and a behemoth squeezed out from an extremely tiny, flickering Elemental Channel.

This process happened too fast; in just an instant, Xia Shao completed the transformation from the Arcane Energy form to the primitive Saint Form Avatar.

"Why would it be like this?"

And his entrance with such a big commotion naturally could not be hidden from Dafuni, who had a high level of attention on the battlefield, but knowing is one thing, and being able to deal with it is another.

Therefore, whether it was the speaking Xia Shao or the silent Dafuni, both understood that the two sides could not reconcile, and even less could they surrender; there was only one ending for both sides, and that is a fight to the death!

Thus, the two sides touched and retreated.

But now, Xia Duo had already arrived.

Logically speaking, if the opponent had the strength they have now just a moment ago, they should have taken down Kandela and the others very quickly; after all, it was just "proxy fighting" just now, which not only had latency but also the low-efficiency characteristics of the spellcasting tool itself.

Currently, it is a time of war; at worst, he would just discard this avatar, and the main body could just create another one. Although creating a Saint Form is still quite troublesome, Xia Duo still had this bit of decisiveness.

No room for concession.

Could it be that Kalano being captured from the very beginning was a trap specifically aimed at him? But if it was just aimed at his avatar, what would be the use?

It could also be the medium or the price for the opponent to use a Time-Involving Spell.

But once Dafuni got serious, the Guidance Artifact would naturally be useless, even if Xia Duo "proxy fought" later, it would still not change such a situation.

Calm? A thought stirred in Xia Duo's heart, and he realized that the situation was not right; clearly, in the perspective of Kandela shared through the Mind Link before, Dafuni's emotions were very rich.

Thus, Dafuni also made a move.

Good things should of course be kept for one's own people first.

"Hmm?"

But Dafuni's silence did not affect Xia Duo continuing to approach; this time, he came and focused on observing the mysterious starlight radiating from Dafuni's eyes, and he guessed that this might be the fast way for the opponent to activate a Time-Involving Spell.

Dafuni retreated into the innermost stone room of the stronghold, while Xia Duo retreated to behind Kandela and the other Elves; while controlling Kandela and the others to leave, he walked toward the stone room where Dafuni was, shouting at the opponent as he walked:

Upon arriving, Xia Duo did not hesitate to summon the Annihilation Light, or rather, the main body cooperated with the avatar's Positioning to actively trigger it; previously, Kandela used a Guidance Artifact for the precision strike of the Annihilation Light, and when Dafuni was not getting serious, it was of course up to him to use it.

But this time it was Dafuni's turn to remain silent; the two sides had already had one contact in Taiweimansa, and it was that contact that made both sides understand the other's attitude toward the matter of the Time-Involving Ritual——

Or was it that Dafuni had been pretending all along, just to wait for him to come?

However, at the moment, without more developed Applications, Xia Duo still used the native Saint Form of the avatar without hesitation.

Xia Duo made a move, and Dafuni would naturally not watch him complete the Forbidden Restriction spell; the difficulty of countering a completed spell versus a Spell Element, even a beginner who has just come into contact with Magic knows that the former is more difficult.

And right now, from the moment Dafuni chose to pursue Kandela, although she seemed to have the upper hand in the stronghold, for the broader war, she had undoubtedly already fallen into a disadvantage.

But now, casting spells personally is the same; he is not a full-time War Mage who doesn't know how to do things without War Spells; before obtaining War Spells, he was also proficient in Spell Duels.

Currently, his development of the Arcane Energy form is still very insufficient; the only Applications at present are Arcane Leap and using it to repair body damage, refusing to restore missing body parts by converting to the Arcane Energy form and then converting back to a flesh-and-blood body.

However, this time he did not continue to summon the Annihilation Light; just now it was only to interrupt the opponent's duel with Kandela and the other Alliance Mages, and if he only summoned the Annihilation Light now, he was afraid it would be difficult to take the opponent down.

But the avatar is different; Dafuni cannot stop the connection between Xia Duo's avatar and his main body, or rather, Dafuni might not have even thought that what Xia Duo sent was an avatar.

As soon as Dafuni made a move, Xia Duo felt deep pressure; the opponent could always counter the key elements, and even arranged a backup plan before his Positioning.

But not moving is not a good choice either; where is there a "police officer" who sees a terrorist right in front of them but does not take action?

Until Xia Duo walked to the threshold of the stone room, Dafuni had not made a response, nor had she cast any spells, just staring straight at Xia Duo, her eyes very calm.