Advent of the Archmage

Whoo, Whoo. The wind howled past Link’s ear.

All of a sudden, there was a soft whoom in the wind. At the same time, Link noticed that tiny grain-like points of red light had appeared out of thin air beside him. With a closer look, he quickly realized that these were balls of fire burning quietly in the air.

Whoom. Whoom. Whoom. The sounds came one after another at increasing frequency. With each whoom, a new dot of light appeared. These specks of light soon filled the air, forming a fiery red mist in it.

This red mist stretched from the earth to the high heavens. Floating a few thousand feet in the air, Link looked down and saw what appeared to be a sea of red. The crimson sea was giving off an intense heat. Everything in its area of effect, which had a radius of more than ten miles, was burned to a crisp by it.

At a glance, it was as if the whole world had been transformed into a hell on earth where the Lava Knight Mozur reigned supreme.

“So this is a Level-15 master’s realm…” breathed Link. Despite the realm’s simplicity, the knight’s realm was able to slaughter countless innocent lives in an instant with it. However, Link could do absolutely nothing about it. The only thing he could do right now was to continue keeping himself alive as long as possible.

Suddenly, the sound of ice breaking rang out around him. The space around him had transformed into ice. The layers of “ice” and the infinite reflective surfaces in it now seemed like the inside of a processed diamond.

Link had activated a spatial defensive barrier known as the “Multidimensional Barrier.”

Multidimensional Barrier

Level-14 spatial spell (personal creation)

Description: Space is folded and curved by the spell around the user in a unique pattern to form a dynamically stable spatial cocoon with extraordinary defensive power. It is especially effective against energy-based attacks.

(Note: No matter how fiercely the storm rages on, I will not budge.)

After years of intensive research on spatial magic, Link’s understanding of space had finally reached a high point. Not only had he gained a lot of experience in the area through his prolonged use of Spatial Power, but Link had also acquired the magic book “Sacred Realm” and an entirely new magical system from the Fedaro realm. Through the confluence of all the magical wisdom he had accumulated over the years, Link had given birth to a new breed of spells never before seen in Firuman.

The Multidimensional Barrier was one such spell.

Strictly speaking, Mozur’s flaming realm was an energy-based attack of sorts. Even though it was a powerful technique, to a Level-15 Legendary master, a realm served as a support spell. Its offensive capabilities were just one of its side-benefits.

That was the reason why the realm’s unbearable heat instantly vanished as soon as he cast the Multidimensional Barrier around himself. The tiny balls of fire that had appeared around him just now were also ejected from within Link’s barrier.

“Lord of Ferde, you can’t hide from me forever! Have a taste of my Lava Fire technique!” roared Mozur in the midst of the sea of fire.

A realm was the result of a Legendary master who had attained so much power his mere presence was enough to twist the laws of nature around him. In his realm, a Legendary master would receive a lot of benefits. Not only would the scale of his power see a huge boost, but a wide variety of never-before-seen battle techniques would also be open to him as well.

Mozur had opened up his own lava realm around him. Link had absolutely no idea how the Lava Knight would be able to attack him from thousands of feet away.

The only thing he should be doing right now was to stay out of Mozur’s realm and avoid a direct confrontation with him in his element as that would only lead to his demise. His wisest course of action now was to observe the situation at hand and patiently wait for an opportunity to retaliate.

Link did not respond to Mozur’s words. Gradually, the Multidimensional Barrier began expanding around him. Space had taken on a diamond-like quality as the barrier spread out more than a hundred feet in all directions.

Finally, Mozur made his first move.

With a boom, the ground beneath his feet turned red hot. Without warning, Mozur was launched into the air by a geyser of white lava that had erupted beneath him.

It was as if a huge hand made of lava had hurled Mozur into the air at incredible speed.

He would probably be able to reach Link within ten seconds.

However, this was not enough. Link was no fool. He would naturally try to avoid the Lava Knight that was coming at him fast. In the air, a Warrior would never be able to keep up with any unrestrained Magician who knew what he was doing.

However, Mozur still had another trick up his sleeve.

As Mozur closed in on his quarry, he drew out his sword and swung at Link. “Die!”

Battle aura surged out from his sword like a raging river, summoning all the floating balls of fire in the air to it. In an instant, the balls crashed into Link in a fiery wave.

At the same time, more balls of fire appeared, trapping Link in a thick crimson mist.

Link tried to move but soon realized that a mysterious force was inhibiting his movements. Right now, he could only move at a tenth of his original speed. This was way too slow. He would not be able to evade Mozur’s onslaught.

This was not all Mozur had to show Link.

Before the first wave of Battle Aura could reach Link, Mozur swung his sword a second time. The two waves of Battle Aura merged with one another to form a powerful flame strike, which glowed just as bright as the sun as it surged against Link’s Multidimensional Barrier.

From afar, one could see a huge pillar of fire rising from the ground. At the tip of this fiery pillar was a large ball of blue light, which managed to outshine even the sun.

At the same time, Link could feel the realm’s power restricting his movements more and more until he could no longer move a muscle.

In the air, Link noticed that the space around him was about to crumble under the concentrated force of Mozur’s flame strike. Cracks had appeared in it, and violent ripples were spreading out from the point of impact in the fabric of space.

His Multidimensional Barrier would not be able to hold out for long. Due to the disturbance of the spatial ripples, Link could not even cast an ordinary Legendary spell to save himself. He was now trapped in his enemy’s realm. At this point, he had no other choice but to confront the Lava Knight head-on.

Despite being enemies, Link could not help but admire Mozur’s awesome power. I think the only one in all of Firuman who could withstand his attacks may have been Morpheus himself.

“Hahaha, Link, enjoy being burned alive!” shouted Mozur gleefully. His eyes were now bloodshot, like those of a demon who had just gotten out of hell.

Link remained mute. He had not moved an inch even as he felt the realm’s hold on him.

Aside from the Multidimensional Barrier, he did not set up any other magical defenses around himself. At that point, he could only unsheathe the Ode of a Full Moon sword and pointed it at Mozur. The sword’s tip gleamed with light as soft as moonlight. He simply floated there without making any attempt to flee, as if he was now ready to intercept Mozur’s next attack.

“You overestimate your abilities, little man!”

Mozur was now 1500 feet away from Link. He unleashed his third attack, bolstering his previous two attacks against the spatial barrier. The din grew louder, and more spatial fragments appeared as if the Lava Knight’s onslaught was about to pierce through the realm of Firuman itself.

Mozur had used up all of his power with this third attack. This was his most powerful technique. None of his opponents had ever survived such an attack from him in the past.

He had once even used this technique to obliterate an entire city in the Aragu Empire.

The steady rush of power was inching closer and closer towards Link, threatening to swallow him up.

Just then, Link, who had remained motionless all this time in the air, suddenly moved. He swiftly swung the Ode of a Full Moon sword in an arc across the air before him.

When the sword’s tip touched the air, the latter parted like a curtain to reveal a portal in front of Link.

Link immediately stepped into the portal. In an instant, he was gone.

Despite managing to paralyze Link with the power of his realm, Mozur was unable to completely seal off Link’s spatial magic. At the last possible second, Link managed to elude Mozur’s grasp.