Chapter 874: Ritual Spells, Seizing

There is an overabundance of Ritual Magic in Elven Magic; this is caused by the unique nature of Elven Magic, as most elves constantly perceive the Magic Net during their Apprentice stage, using their own will to align with the Magic Net.

Thereby achieving a state of near-passive spellcasting, or what one might call Heaven and Man Unity; thus, Elven Mages find it far easier to reach a state of Resonance than Netherese Mages, who must use their will to forcibly distort the Magic Net.

The Mythallar—this pinnacle technique of Elven Magic—is the only technology Xia Duo knows of that can permanently alter the state of the Magic Net, and the Mythallar is, in fact, a type of Ritual Spell.

Perhaps it is not only the Mythallar in Elven Magic that can change the state of the Magic Net; even ordinary Ritual Spells might be able to change the state of the Magic Net, merely to varying degrees of intensity.

Right now, are these Elven Mages engaged in Joint Casting not performing Ritual Magic?

Or rather, Joint Casting, Resonance Casting, Coordinated Casting, and Ritual Magic are simply different names for the exact same essential thing!

Xia Duo does not know much about Ritual Magic; he cannot be certain whether the current scene of spell confrontation, with its turbulence of elements and energy, is the result of Ritual Magic being interfered with.

After all, if the Magic Net were to riot, similar scenes would also appear, much like that Mythallar Ruins within his Territory.

Let these questions be left for later, to be pondered slowly!

This thought flashed through Xia Duo's mind, and he then cast it to the back of his mind, focusing on dealing with these Elven Mages.

As more and more human High Mages arrived via teleportation, the capabilities of a super spellcaster became increasingly apparent—true multi-threading.

Moreover, the human mages, who far outnumber the Elven Mages, even if they cannot achieve a true state of Resonance—truly becoming many as one.

Yet, under the shared perception, shared thinking, and shared response of the Mind Link, the human side almost perfectly demonstrates what "skill approaches the Dao" means.

With nothing but seamless tacit understanding and coordination, they dragged a team of Elven Mages capable of true Joint Casting into the quagmire of spell confrontation.

As time passed bit by bit, the scales of victory tipped increasingly toward the humans.

……

On the field, the elves looked at the human mages around them, who were expressionless and focused solely on silent spellcasting, and felt a deep chill in their hearts.

Even now, they still held a slight upper hand, occasionally succeeding in knitting together a complete Spell Source Point, causing difficult-to-resist effects on the human side.

But any Elven Mage with a modicum of awareness knew that this situation could hardly continue; the tenacity of the humans exceeded their imagination.

They felt as if they were not fighting ordinary human mages; the swiftness and precision with which they countered spell elements made them feel as if they were facing a supreme High Mage.

No matter how they unleashed their power, they were easily suppressed; this feeling was extremely stifling.

"My lord, these are definitely not normal human mages; this is a trap!"

Mentioning a trap, two distinct factions immediately split among the elves; if not for the fact that they were still in the midst of battle, even the state of Resonance would have ended directly.

"Shut up, all of you!" a Gold Elf Mage who had just finished chanting an auxiliary incantation roared, then said as if puffing up with courage, "Victory must belong to Keman!"

"Victory must belong to Keman!" another Gold Elf Mage immediately echoed.

But such words could only deceive those ignorant Commoners; having become Elite Mages and survived until now, everyone was at least not stupid when it came to Wisdom.

Especially certain Moon Elf Mages who had received the final messages from mages who died in battle earlier; they looked at one another, and an inexplicable emotion circulated in their gazes.

Victory indeed belonged to Keman, to the Crown King, and to the Gold Elves, but it did not necessarily belong to them, members of minor families.

In fact, compared to those Commoners who could be manipulated at will, they, these Moon Elf Mages who had begun to step into the upper echelons, were the ones who most needed to be cleared out as soon as possible.

Various speculations surged in their minds, eventually condensing into a bitter smile at the corners of their mouths; the experience of their long lives told them that if it truly were as they suspected, even if they could complete the mission and return safely this time, it would be difficult to change the final outcome of destruction.

Once this thought was born, it lingered in their minds; reflected in reality, even if it did not affect the state of Resonance, the coordination during Coordinated Casting was greatly discounted.

At the same time, Xia Duo, who was in a deep link and had nearly projected his true consciousness over, immediately discovered the discord within the Elven Mage team.

——Angelin, Aubrey, Cain, 【Spell Breaking-2-1】, target updated.

The moment the spell was completed, the elves reacted, but it was already too late.

They were already at a disadvantage in numbers, and the humans were coordinated and tacit, with almost no wasted operations; they had long been dragged into the quagmire of spell confrontation, making it difficult to divide their attention.

Being able to realize it the moment this near-ambush spell was completed was already quite remarkable.

If the two sides had equal numbers at this moment, or if the elves had even more, they would have been sufficient to divide into several Spellcasting Clusters, advancing or retreating, defending or attacking, or even providing alternating cover in the spell confrontation, responding with ease.

But reality has no "ifs"; three consecutive Magic Net Suppression Fields were projected from different directions, almost instantly wiping out all of the elves' Protective Spells.

The Elven Mages were terrified; they no longer obsessed over attacking, nor did they have the Courage to attack, focusing only on their own protection, and thus a more intense spell confrontation began.

Although there was no turbulence of elements or energy this time, the fluctuations of the Magic Net itself were more violent, nearly rioting.

……

At this moment, a loud bang came from above the elves' heads.

Hearing this sound, even though no abnormality was detected in Magic Vision, and even though they knew that the most important thing at this time was spell protection, many elves still subconsciously wanted to look up.

This was, of course, just a small trick; although Xia Duo could possess full command over the nearly one hundred High Mages in the Mind Link through subconscious influence, the spells he could actually cast were extremely limited.

This is because the spellcasting process is not unconscious; afterward, everyone would remember the specific details of the spellcasting, and after a few people exchanged information, they could Huanyuan the complete spell.

Therefore, Xia Duo never considered those spells that were unique to him or potentially unique to him, only some common spells, and those on the Resonance Spellbook.

That loud bang really only had a sound effect; if the elves hadn't noticed it, it wouldn't have had the slightest impact at all.

The reason for doing this was still Xia Duo's lingering obsession with the Gold Elf Mage who led the Elven Mage squad he had eliminated earlier.

Magic Items that could teleport away instantly from the range of a 【Forbidden Restriction】 were not common!

Just as the sound attracted the elves' attention, nearby, two human mages, under Xia Duo's guidance, casually cast two 【Mage Hand】 spells.

This kind of spell, which is almost a Trick, has a very weak disturbance to the Magic Net; in such a situation of close-range spell confrontation bordering on a Magic Net riot, it was even more imperceptible.

Consequently, two Scepters, similar to those Xia Duo had seen before, flew out from the waists of two Gold Elf Mages.

It was not that Xia Duo did not want to take more, but the effective range of 【Mage Hand】 was very limited; there were only two human mages in range nearby.

【Mage Hand】 is not a physical hand that can grab multiple things at once; it is actually a Transmutation spell that changes the target itself, letting the target move on its own.

It can only affect one target at a time.

Of course, just as the 【Flight】 spell in the same Transmutation series can have a group version, 【Mage Hand】 can likewise have one, but that would not be just a Ring Trick.

That would not have been able to deceive the elves.