Chapter 463: Accident

Just as Xia Duo thought things had finally come to an end and was preparing to go out to signal those ordinary soldiers to come and finish up, he suddenly sensed something unusual in the Magic Net environment around him. But he barely had time to make any move; he only subconsciously extracted a pre-stored Protective Spell from the Magic Net. Fortunately, he still knew that someone from Jilan City was observing, so he only extracted a 【Mage Armor】 that he had elevated to the 2nd Circle.

The next instant, a figure appeared not far from his side.

It was none other than the Town Mayor who had just gone out! No! Xia Duo immediately realized this was absolutely not the real Town Mayor. If it were the real Town Mayor, being able to teleport meant at least being a High Mage; how could they be content staying in such a small town? The situation at hand had changed. Xia Duo was unsure if this was a test from Aosike or if he had really run into a den of thieves, but as long as the Scrying spell existed, he had to maintain his "Aidi" persona.

At this moment, even though Xia Duo was already a High Mage, he had to muster his full attention, because the opponent was no weaker than him.

【4】 Upon seeing the Town Mayor appear, Xia Duo quickly retreated out of the house to prevent being caught in a disadvantageous position within the cramped space, while simultaneously focusing his attention on the opponent's reaction.

At the same time he saw the Town Mayor appear, Xia Duo quickly retreated toward the outside of the room to prevent being caught in a disadvantageous position within the cramped space, while simultaneously focusing his attention on the other's reaction.

In fact, the opponent also noticed him immediately; the standard Mage Robe of a judge directly exposed his identity, and there were still lingering traces of light left behind after the 【Fireball】 explosion in the space.

At this sight, the "Town Mayor" shrieked, "Demon!"

The next moment, a short and exquisite metal wand appeared in her hand, and immediately following, an energy beam like a laser shot from one end of the wand toward Xia Duo.

However, ever since the opponent appeared, Xia Duo had been keeping his eyes on her movements. Facing her spell, he did not panic in the slightest, because panic was meaningless. At this moment, it was as if he had pulled his consciousness out of his body, examining this scene from another perspective.

This was also because he was only here as a Projection, which gave him this confidence. Almost like a robot, he calmly and quickly took out the 【Dispel Magic】 Scroll he had prepared beforehand.

He successfully activated it before the beam reached him. At the same time, his footsteps did not stop for a moment, and he quickly retreated toward the door.

At this moment, he even had the presence of mind to identify what spell the opponent was using. Although he had never seen it before, the Suppression Field of 【Dispel Magic】 instantly smoothed out the Magic Net in front of him, and the beam simply vanished as it passed through.

Taking advantage of the fact that the opponent had not yet activated the next spell, Xia Duo quickly exited the room and then threw a spell firework into the sky; this was the signal he had pre-arranged with those ordinary soldiers.

However, ordinary people could provide almost no help when facing a High Mage, so he would still have to rely on himself going forward.

As Xia Duo continued to move away from the Town Mayor's house, he pondered how to deal with this situation. If he ran, unless he could teleport, how could he, a newly promoted Intermediate Mage on the surface, outrun a High Mage?

What's more, the opponent would not give him a chance to escape.

Sure enough, just a few seconds after he ran out of the house, the "Town Mayor" also rushed out, but by this time, light was flickering on her body, not at all like the lack of any protection just a moment ago.

Xia Duo felt some regret that he hadn't attacked her directly just now, but thinking about it, if he were the opponent, it would be impossible to be ambushed by an Intermediate Mage.

When two Mages face each other, individual strength is still a major factor. Of course, if several Intermediate Mages were to attack at the same time, an ambush would not actually be difficult.

Even if they coordinated well, a head-on battle would not be impossible, but if a High Mage wanted to run, it would be very difficult for Intermediate Mages to stop them.

Now that Xia Duo was alone, there was actually very little he could really do. He was now actually hoping that the people on the Scrying spell side would hurry over to support, rather than just watching the show from the sidelines with the intention of testing him.

"Mayor Beiji, do you know what kind of crime it is to attack an Imperial Mage? Stop now, and I can intercede for you with the Judgment Court to waive your fault of harboring a demon. A talent like you shouldn't continue to stay in such a small town; you could have a much brighter future!"

While saying things he didn't even believe himself, Xia Duo slowly retreated backward, not forgetting to add a few more Protective Spells to himself.

It was just that inside the house, the "Town Mayor" had clearly said "demon" in Elvish, and with two of her kin likely already having met with misfortune, how could she be shaken by Xia Duo's words now?

"You demons! You all deserve to die!" This was said in the human language.

The next moment, a flash of light struck. Xia Duo knew it was bad and hurriedly closed his eyes, but his heart became even calmer. Even when the unknown magic hidden behind the light stripped away all the protection on his body, he did not waver in the slightest.

This did not count as a real attack yet.

But what followed was. Xia Duo noticed the Magic Net not far in front of him beginning to knot continuously, and he heard a few short, sharp Elvish syllables in his ears. At the same time, the Magic Net around him changed, seemingly entangling with him.

"This must be a target-locking attack spell!"

Xia Duo immediately made this judgment. At this point, he had given up on running, because once locked on, if it couldn't be dispelled, running to the ends of the earth would be useless.

This was the first time he had seen this type of magic, but the opponent clearly wasn't casting such a spell to satisfy his curiosity or let him study it, but was genuinely trying to take his life!

He casually activated a 【Dispel Magic】 scroll. The Suppression Field appeared, but the momentary suppression effect failed to completely dispel the lock in the surrounding area.

At this moment, Xia Duo had the mind to take the 【Blade of Veto】 out of his Personal Space. The 【Spell Breaking】 effect inherent to that sword might be more effective; after all, both were products of the Elves, and it should be able to restrain it somewhat.

Considering that the situation had not yet reached its worst, he could only temporarily suppress this thought.

Grabbing the Hand Crossbow from his waist, Xia Duo pulled the trigger, following the vague position he sensed in the Magic Net. He didn't hear the sound of a hit, only the sound of the bolt hitting the ground.

Seeing that the spell was about to be completed and the people on the Scrying spell side still hadn't come to support, Xia Duo had to expose more of his "potential." He began to compete with the "Town Mayor" for control of the Magic Net Strings around his own body.

Whether a spell succeeds involves multiple levels of elements in the Magic Net working simultaneously. Theoretically, as long as one makes the lower-level elements impossible to realize, the spell can be dismantled.

But offense and defense are relative; where there is destruction, there is naturally construction. Therefore, there are spells that involve the cyclic construction of low-level elements within high-level elements, which is to say—

A 3rd Circle level Spellcaster, even if they destroy the elements below the 3rd Circle in an enemy's 5th Circle spell, might be completely unable to break the spell, and might even cause the spell to produce a locking effect, doing more harm than good.

Unlike the Elves who treat magic as an art, humans treat magic merely as a tool, emphasizing simplicity and ease of use. They rarely have these "baits" left intentionally, but concentrate most functions in high-level elements, so that even if low-level elements are destroyed, it is of no great consequence.

Even in extreme cases, it is not impossible to omit all low-level elements.

Although this "Mayor Beiji" appeared in human form, Xia Duo could basically confirm that she was undoubtedly an Elf, and not some so-called "collaborator."

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(End of this chapter)