Chapter 654: Too Strong?
CH654 Too Strong?
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Alex could have chosen to attack either the sorcerer directly or the conjured peacock itself. However, Alex had deliberately refrained. He wanted to fully understand the chanics and limits of the mystic art first-hand.
’Any mont now.’
Through his Spirit Sight, he could clearly see the peacock’s energy reserves steadily draining with every projectile it fired.
Finally, it reached its limit.
Crrr!!
The flaming peacock let out a sharp cry before its entire body collapsed inward, morphing into a condensed sphere of fire roughly the size of a standard [Fireball] spell.
[First Step — Ghost Step]!
[Third Step — Wraith’s Crossing]!
Alex took no chances. The mont he noticed the change, he imdiately widened the distance between them.
Boom!!
Just as he expected.
The peacock’s final attack was not only a similar size to an ordinary [Fireball], its explosive force was also similar— far from ordinary.
Alex stepped out from the cloud of smoke, casually brushing the dust from his clothes.
"Now what?" he asked the sorcerer.
The man stared at him before suddenly speaking.
"You stopped the ssenger birds from leaving. That ans you do not want news of this raid spreading yet... correct?"
"Yeah. So what of it?" Alex replied with a small shrug.
"I sent out a distress signal while you were occupied dealing with the Flashooter Peacock," the sorcerer revealed. "You have already lost. Stop now, and I may still be able to negotiate a cessation of hostilities with our Leader."
His expression hardened.
"Do not forget who stands behind us."
"Thanks for the warning, but I have no intention of stopping now," Alex said calmly. "And yes, I am fully aware of who stands behind your group.
"In fact, that was the very reason I bothered trying to negotiate with your Leader in the first place. But since he chose to spit in my face, well..." He gave a light shrug.
Then Alex smiled.
"As for the ssage you think you sent..." His smile deepened slightly. "...are you certain it actually went through?"
"What do you an...?"
The sorcerer’s voice trembled as he stared into Alex’s eyes, unnerved by the unwavering confidence within them.
"Anti-magic," Alex replied calmly. "At its most basic level, anti-magic is simply a form of energy that operates on a frequency opposite to magical energy. When the two co into contact, they cancel each other out, creating the illusion that the spell—or mystic art—simply failed to function."
He folded his hands behind his back.
"While I can’t directly use anti-magic energy, that does not an I cannot replicate its effects through similar principles."
"What are you saying?" The sorcerer’s unease deepened.
"Sending ssages through energy pulses... that is actually a rather interesting thod. Let
guess—your Leader possesses a device attuned to your mystic energy. By sending your energy out in controlled pulses, that device receives the signal and alerts him."
Alex tilted his head slightly.
"Am I wrong?"
"How do you—?"
The sorcerer blurted the words before abruptly stopping himself, realising too late what he had revealed.
"It is not particularly difficult. You could call it one of the most basic principles of energy-based communication transmission," Alex replied.
Unfortunately, he quickly realised from the man’s expression that the sorcerer did not actually understand the theory behind what he had been doing—despite instinctively making use of it.
"I suppose I expected too much." Alex shook his head with a quiet sigh.
"Long story short, you should be the one considering surrender. The ssage you believe you sent... never reached its destination."
With Spirit Sight, Alex could literally perceive mana itself, while OmniRune allowed him to manipulate it through the Rune-Tech platform. Reproducing a signal-jamming effect for mystic energy was far less difficult than it sounded.
He looked at the sorcerer calmly.
"So, what do you say? Will you surrender? Fortunately for you, I have a certain interest in your mystic arts, so I am willing to spare your life if you submit."
"Surrender? Never! Die!"
The sorcerer suddenly slamd his palm against the ground.
At once, Alex felt a massive torrent of energy erupting upward from beneath him. He tried to move—but found himself locked in place by an overwhelming gravitational force.
Boom!
A colossal pillar of fire erupted into the sky, swallowing Alex’s figure whole.
"Serves you right!" the sorcerer shouted in triumph. "That is what you get for being arrogant enough to demand my surrender!
"In your next life, learn not to flap your gums for so long and give your enemy the chance to strike!"
"That is sound advice. I do hope you rember it in your next life... assuming sothing like reincarnation after death does exist."
A calm voice suddenly sounded just as the sorcerer was about to turn away.
The sorcerer blinked once.
In that brief instant, before he could even process what had happened, Alex was already standing directly in front of him—unard, calm, and utterly unhard.
"How—?"
Spurt!
Before he could finish speaking, Alex’s wrist blade shot upward, piercing through the man’s jaw and driving deep into his skull.
Blood splattered across the ground as Alex viciously yanked the blade free, leaving the sorcerer to collapse as blood poured from the fatal wound.
The man hit the ground heavily. Blood pooled beneath him, spreading from his neck as he struggled through his final, labouring breaths.
Alex turned his gaze towards Udara’s side and, as expected, she had already dealt with the remaining two guards.
One had a blade lodged through his chest. The other’s neck was twisted at an angle that strongly discouraged continued existence.
"Are you done?" Udara appeared beside him and asked, her tone flat. "You took your ti."
"Sorry, I just wanted to experience a sorcerer’s mystic arts firsthand," Alex replied with mild apology.
"It looked flashy and weak to ," she said.
"Compared to Pangea’s spellcasting paradigm, yes," Alex admitted with a nod.
Then he frowned slightly.
"But I do not think we should dismiss these mystic arts too quickly. First, while they sacrifice raw power for more flamboyant conjurations, that trade-off introduces useful versatility.
"Take that fla peacock art he used, for example. I would not use it against a strong opponent—but against a large group of significantly weaker enemies? Absolutely. It saves the effort of casting multiple weaker spells or wasting energy on a single powerful spell that would be excessive for the task."
Udara nodded, understanding his point.
Then Alex’s expression hardened.
"Secondly—and more importantly—I do not think this man is a good benchmark for sorcerers as a whole. The sorcerers of the Holy Lands I saw within the Heaven-Earth Concordance space used far more refined and efficient mystic arts.
"I suspect this man simply inherited a poor-quality legacy. Otherwise, how do we explain how weak he was? He should have been roughly equivalent to a Great Mage."
Without warning, Udara suddenly grabbed Alex by the collar and pulled him closer until their faces were only inches apart.
Her eyes shimred with a faintly srising glint as she raised a brow and said,
"Master... have you considered that perhaps he was not weak— but that you are simply far too strong for your rank?"
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