Chapter 875: Breaking the Balance, Winning Head-On

The moment the two scepters flew from the waists of those two Gold Elf Mages, they flew straight toward the human side; with two such obvious items being taken away, the Elves would have to be blind not to notice.

But at this moment, a single hair pulled affects the whole body; although those two Gold Elf Mages desperately wanted to ignore everything and snatch back the scepters, as the core of the joint casting, they also knew that once they made such a move, it would inevitably affect the Resonance state.

Once the Resonance state was lost, they would no longer be a single entity, they would have no advantage over the humans, and failure might happen in an instant.

Compared to such an outcome, the loss of the scepters was nothing; they did not only have that one path of escape.

But even so, the two Gold Elf Mages still felt their hearts bleeding, and for the moment, they had no heart left to continue fighting; in the gaps of spellcasting, they could not help but cast probing glances at their other companion whose scepter had not been lost.

Eyes shifted, and a decision was silently made.

……

As for the human side, it was not until those two scepters flew into the distance, were collected by an Advanced Rank Mage, and were quickly inspected, that Xia Duo finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Regardless of the final result, this trip was worth it just for these two extraordinary Magic Items.

And as the commander and the greatest contributor to the victory, he believed no one would have any objections to him keeping one for himself.

As for the other one, in a flash of thought, he already had arrangements for it.

At the same time, Xia Duo also noticed the last two Gold Elf Mages; they had also had two scepters tucked at their waists, but after what had just happened, they had already gripped the scepters in their hands.

Those scepters likely possessed the ability to teleport instantly within the range of a 【Forbidden Restriction】; once they were on guard, it would be almost impossible to snatch them away.

Although Xia Duo felt a bit of regret, he also understood the principle of being content and knowing when to stop, so he increased the frequency of commands in the Mind Link and intensified the Suppression of the Elves.

The impact of losing the scepters could not possibly be non-existent, and it was even quite severe; as the person with the most comprehensive Perception of the overall situation, Xia Duo clearly sensed that the coordination of the Elves was beginning to fall into chaos.

The source lay with those two Gold Elf Mages who had lost their scepters.

At first, there was only a tiny bit of sluggishness, which could be quickly compensated for in a spellcasting team of over thirty Spellcasters, but with every round, there was a tiny bit of sluggishness, and by the next round, this sluggishness was actually magnified more than thirty times, which was very obvious.

After a set of key Spell Elements was countered by human Mages in one spellcasting attempt, the already very delicate balance collapsed almost instantly.

For the first time, a human Restriction Spell landed on the Elves; this was different from the near-ambush 【Spell Breaking-2-1】 from before, but rather a Suppression effect produced by gradually regaining the advantage in a head-on confrontation.

At this point, the Elves had no room for a comeback.

—The Elves have exhausted their techniques!

Xia Duo could not help but convey this thought in the Mind Link; perhaps there were various reasons, but this was indeed a head-on victory for human Mages over Elves on a life-and-death battlefield.

It might not be the first time, but it was absolutely fair and square!

It could even be called a model of the weak defeating the strong; if not for Xia Duo, it would have been almost impossible for the human side to organize a coordinated attack of over twenty people.

Let alone achieving the current level of coordination where dozens of people were of one mind, nearly reaching the level of Joint Casting.

If not for Xia Duo, wanting to defeat the joint spellcasting of over thirty Elf Mages, while not entirely impossible, would certainly require using some unconventional means.

For instance, those powerful scepters the Elves had that could teleport instantly within the range of a 【Forbidden Restriction】, Xia Duo believed the human side certainly had them too; at the very least, Niya had brought one.

Like now, Xia Duo had defeated the Elves in a head-on duel without taking any shortcuts, and in his heart, he felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

All along, he had viewed the Elves as his greatest opponents, especially the several trips to the Projection Plane, which allowed him to see the past glory of the Elves with his own eyes.

Even if they were declining now, as a saying from his hometown went, even a rotten ship still has three pounds of nails!

Whether from the perspective of total population or high-end power, the Cormanthor Kingdom alone surpassed Netheril by more than a notch, not to mention the other Elven Nations!

Surrounded by the Elven Nations, it was hard for Xia Duo to imagine the pressure on those Great Arcanists above, but he was very clear on one point: to be backward is to be beaten; this is an eternal truth.

This Green Field Plane operation was the first time Xia Duo had participated in a direct conflict between Netheril and Cormanthor; the previous Snow Melting Competition had more or less involved some elements of watching from the sidelines, and it was unclear what exactly was involved in that.

But this time, once the humans lost, to say nothing of anything else, at least this Habitable Plane might not be kept; this most intuitive interest made Xia Duo truly feel the pressure brought by the Elves.

Or more accurately—the pressure brought by the Elven Cormanthor Kingdom, which gave him the feeling of being in the torrent of an era.

But at the same time, he also saw the potential of humans, saw the potential of the Netheril Magic System, and this head-on victory made him see even more possibilities for the future.

It was truly a joy beyond measure!

……

Xia Duo's joyful emotions were constantly transmitted through the Mind Link, infecting the other Advanced Rank Mages as well. However, before everything was settled, he could not let his guard down.

Currently, it could indeed be said that they had won, but it was only a victory under conventional means; now it depended on whether the Elves would use unconventional means.

On this point, Xia Duo actually had no confidence in his heart.

He knew that Niya had indeed brought a very powerful Magic Item, a 10th-Ring offensive Magic Scroll left behind by her great-grandfather, the Great Arcanist Saville.

No one knew the specific power, but it was certainly not small.

Even Xia Duo had brought a Dragon Skin Scroll "bought" from those Elves who had fled to the Savile Territory.

Once activated, it would immediately seal teleportation, restrict flight, and simultaneously summon a wide-area Chain Lightning, attacking all living things within the range indiscriminately, except for the user.

However, the Princess had not given Niya any trump cards, and even if other Advanced Rank Mages possessed any unconventional means, they would all be consuming their own foundations, which created a mentality of taking chances.

Moreover, it was very difficult to control, and there were many variables.

Just like Xia Duo's Dragon Skin Scroll, if it were really activated while he was with Niya, would he have to gamble on whether Niya could survive?

He and Niya were husband and wife, so he could have such considerations, but others might not have much of a friendship; once there was a need to use unconventional means to save one's own life, one would not consider the safety of others at all.

It might not necessarily be an indiscriminate Magic Scroll, but could also be some other means that made it disadvantageous for others to escape.

If one were unlucky, perhaps more would die at the hands of their own people than at the hands of the Elves!