Chapter 868: Internal Strife, Killing

Just as Xia Duo was speculating what trump card this Elf Mage squad might be hiding that could reverse the situation, the Elves themselves were already nearing a breakup.

To humans, this Elf Mage squad all appeared to be Elves, but in reality, they could be divided into two parts: one was the Gold Elf Mage who led them, and the other was the remaining twelve Moon Elf Mages.

At this moment, one of the Moon Elf Mages in the squad had a ferocious expression, devoid of any elegant posture; if it were normal times, even he himself would likely despise his current appearance.

But now, he had no mind to care about anything other than his life. While casting spells, he glared resentfully at the leading Gold Elf, his lake-blue eyes with slight golden flecks almost spitting fire, and he asked bitterly:

"My Lord, are we still not retreating? The Mythallar Node needs us!"

If they were not currently in a state of Resonance for Ritual Magic, and still engaged in a spell confrontation with the humans—where stopping would easily lead to being picked off one by one—he would have already left on his own.

In fact, this Moon Elf Mage's words also represented the inner thoughts of the other Moon Elf Mages.

It was just that, unlike the one who had just spoken, they did not have decent family backgrounds; they were all of common origin and could not speak on equal terms with that high-and-mighty scion of a great family.

Perhaps it was the family background of the Moon Elf Mage who had just spoken that played a role; the Gold Elf Captain of the Mage squad frowned and said displeasedly:

"Lord Jielinisi asked us to find an opportunity to eliminate the Elite Mages among the humans. Now that victory is clearly in sight, do you want to retreat?"

"But, My Lord, the current situation is clearly disadvantageous to us!" the Moon Elf Mage said indignantly. He did not believe this Gold Elf Lord could not see their current predicament.

In this situation, let alone killing humans, they could hardly even protect themselves!

Perhaps the real mission was not to eliminate the Elite Mages among the humans, but to find an opportunity to clear out the Elite Mages among the Moon Elves?

At the thought of certain rumors recently circulating in their home country, this Moon Elf Mage could not help but shiver. Looking at his Captain, this Gold Elf Lord, his gaze was now completely different.

Immediately following this, Xia Duo, who was closely monitoring the state of the Elf Mage squad, suddenly discovered an opportunity: one of the important nodes in the Resonance state of the thirteen Elf Mages suddenly disconnected.

Under normal circumstances, this would be almost impossible to happen, but this did not seem to be a normal situation either; the Elves' Joint Casting was significantly different from the one Xia Duo achieved indirectly through the Resonance Spellbook.

Although flexible, it was precisely because of this flexibility that this Resonance state was affected by every single Spellcasting Node. In layman's terms, they had to maintain tacit cooperation at all times; the slightest mistake would terminate the Resonance state with the other spellcasters.

As for the Seven Towers' Resonance Spellbook, although it was rigid and all spells were pre-set, as long as the spellcaster did not actively cancel it, the Resonance state would continue indefinitely, basically unaffected by the individual spellcaster.

Xia Duo could not evaluate these two methods of Joint Casting, but from his heart, the one from Netheril was more to his liking. After all, Earth placed great emphasis on standardization and liked to eliminate the influence of human factors.

Like the Elves' method, perhaps that was the magic technique they championed, but in Xia Duo's view, it did not meet the needs of overall civilizational development.

The development of civilization requires universality; anything that cannot be popularized, in Xia Duo's view, is lacking something.

Of course, the development of civilization and individual pursuits are not contradictory. This is true both on Earth and in this magic world; it only depends on the position an individual occupies to determine what needs to be considered more.

As for now, these Elf Mages needed to pay the price for their personalization!

Almost at the same moment he detected the opponent's mistake, Xia Duo ordered the projection of the Magic Net Suppression Field. The reason he had not used it before was simply because the Elves still had room to resist.

Before dragging them completely into the quagmire of spell confrontation, rashly increasing the intensity might have allowed these dozen big fish to slip away.

Even if teleportation was blocked, there were many other ways to leave. Although these methods might not necessarily work, Xia Duo still wanted to minimize variables as much as possible.

But now it was fine. The Elves, while in a state of Joint Casting, were almost equivalent to a Senior Arcanist, similar to an Archmage or a Senior Arcanist on the human side.

But once the Resonance state was terminated, they instantly reverted to their original form—merely a dozen Elf Elite Mages similar to human High Mages. With Xia Duo having mobilized so many High Mages, there was almost no possibility of a comeback.

In the face of a Magic Net Suppression Field equivalent to an 8th-circle spell, the Elves' hasty and uncoordinated resistance could barely stir up any waves.

Through the visual information subconsciously shared in the Mind Link by a certain High Mage present, Xia Duo clearly saw that those Elves, who were usually indifferent and arrogant in their posture, now had faces almost filled with fear.

As for the leading Gold Elf Mage wearing a pale gold Mage Robe, it was less fear than confusion, shock, and panic.

But before the Binding spell indicated by Xia Duo arrived, this guy took an exquisite Scepter that was still shining with a strong Magic Aura from his waist, and in a flash, he disappeared before everyone's eyes.

Leaving behind only those dozen or so Elf Mages, who were burned into white ash by a series of dense fireballs.

Only then did Xia Duo heave a sigh of relief. Regardless of how many more Elf Mages could be killed later, at least this result was, in his view, enough to turn in the mission.

After all, this so-called Plane War likely had more symbolic significance than actual significance.

Of course, he would still try his best to destroy the Mythallar Nodes. In fact, at the same time this squad of Elves was eliminated, Huaiyate and the others, who had been freed up, had already teleported to the vicinity of a Mythallar Node under Xia Duo's instructions.

This node was none other than the Mythallar Node that Niya was attacking.

Although Xia Duo could not let Niya return to the camp with him to wait for the results, and Niya herself would not agree, it was still fine to give her as much support as possible within the scope of possibility.

Immediately following Huaiyate, the "True Executors" who had been dispersed and used by Xia Duo for Spell Counter against the Elf Mages began to teleport toward the Mythallar Node target that Angelin's team was attacking.

Angelin was among the first batch of High Mages to support Huaiyate under Xia Duo's near-precognitive instructions, and now he was going to support Niya.

Then, whether out of balance for the original two agreement teams or in gratitude for Angelin's cooperation, destroying the target of Angelin's team first could be considered the proper thing to do.