Chapter 32: Please Begin Your Performance
Heat waves rose, and standing on the scorching sand, Rochelle was filled with questions. She wanted to know exactly how Sawyer had died. He hadn't even cast a spell. According to the recorded intelligence, the 'Static Net' released by Law Destroyers—also known as Soul Galvanization—should only trigger when a spell was cast, right?
In reality, the activation range of Energy Blockade was broader than Rochelle imagined. This was the gap between actual combat and intelligence. In principle, the 'Static Net' created by Energy Blockade was triggered based on the degree of resonance between the caster and the elements.
To put it simply, Energy Blockade was like a trap. The closer the interaction between the caster and the elements, the higher the chance of triggering this trap.
Could this be avoided? The answer was yes. The older generation of Spellcasters had learned to create Elemental Avatars using their own aura, soul, and elemental power, positioning the avatar behind themselves.
Each time they cast a spell, they would sharply increase the activity of the Elemental Avatar. This acted like a lightning rod, drawing the 'Static Net' within a few meters toward the avatar, thereby preventing Soul Galvanization when casting themselves.
Whether through swarm tactics or any means necessary, the previous generation of Spellcasters had won. Abilities like Elemental Avatars were their wisdom.
Unfortunately, the Elemental Avatar ability was extremely difficult to cultivate. It required severing a fragment of one's soul, a very painful process. Injecting that small portion of soul into the Elemental Avatar was necessary to deceive the 'Static Net' formed by Azure Steel Shadow energy.
Back then, to fight the Law Destroyers, some Spellcasters had gone mad. It was an era of rapid development in magic energy, magic patterns, and elemental studies.
With a thud, Sawyer's headless corpse fell into the sand pit. At this moment, in the Void Arena, the audience was dead silent. The expressions of many Void races clearly said: 'That's it? I was getting hyped, and that's it?'
Countless gazes shifted from the big screen to the Arcane Eternal Star section. These looks seemed to ask the Spellcasters: According to the rumors, weren't the Law Destroyers and Spellcasters evenly matched? How was Yinqi Sawyer killed in an instant? They wanted to shove a microphone in their mouths and let them explain.
In the Arcane Eternal Star section, the new generation of Spellcasters remained silent, avoiding the surrounding stares. Their comrade had died, which was already troubling. Coupled with the strange looks around them, the female Spellcasters of the new generation felt both anger and shame—a feeling of being exposed for bragging.
Compared to these new-generation Spellcasters, the older Spellcasters were exceptionally calm. They wanted to say that when fighting the Law Destroyers a thousand years ago, the scenes were far more embarrassing than this. They were long used to it.
Among them, the white-robed Mage Sage Seraphilia was the calmest. The reason was that earlier, when Su Xiao participated in Alice's Demon Castle game, the final round involved a tournament in the Void Arena. Mage Sage Seraphilia had been present then, and the Arcane Eternal Star representative had lost.
At that time, Mage Sage Seraphilia had only lost a bit of face. Though she was sulking, her anger faded after a while.
What truly made Mage Sage Seraphilia unforgettable was the Strongest Warrior Tournament. She had sat in the spectator seats, watching as her disciple, Dilin, was killed by Su Xiao on the field below.
The audience that time was even larger than now. For Mage Sage Seraphilia, that was a public execution, a nail-biting experience. Apart from being toyed with by a female Law Destroyer, it was one of the greatest stains and black marks in her life.
On the spectator seats, Mage Sage Seraphilia, wearing a soft cloth hood, yawned behind her hand. Having experienced that public execution, the current situation was a small matter for her.
"Seraphilia, you're quite calm. Looks like Rochelle is going to die too. Don't you have anything to say?"
A female voice came from beside Mage Sage Seraphilia. Hearing this voice, Seraphilia furrowed her delicate brows.
"Crow Woman, I am your elder. Don't you know respect?"
"Elder? Respect? Old hag, you all raised me like a beast, and you expect me to have manners? Whoever holds the chain, I listen to them, and I go bite someone's throat out. Isn't that what you wanted? Don't play the emotional card. I'm a wild dog, a beast, a female animal. Am I right, Seraphilia... Madam?"
Crow Woman, sitting beside Seraphilia, had a casual attitude. What left the deepest impression were her eyes. Her eye sockets were pitch black, the outer ring of her pupils white, and at the center of her pupils was a dark central pupil—black to the point of depth, captivating.
"Look, Rochelle is about to die too. If she dies, does that mean I won't get a chance to step in? That's great news. To be honest, I don't really want to fight that Blood Beast to the death. He's a tough enemy forged through slaughter, really hard to deal with."
Crow Woman's legs were propped on the back of the seat in front, crossed. The weak-looking young Spellcaster in the front seat dared not speak but glared, his expression saying: 'Just wait until my cold is gone.'
On the Endless Desert, the rampaging fire elements around them calmed down. The reason Su Xiao hadn't acted immediately was that he was waiting for Bubu Wang and Baha to pull back to a distance.
He walked step by step toward the top of the huge sand pit. As he walked, the cracked sand layer beneath his feet crunched and cracked—this was crystallized material formed by high heat, essentially low-quality glass.
As Su Xiao advanced, Rochelle retreated. After a few steps, she stopped. There was no escape; she had to fight to the death. Her only hope now was that her luck would hold.
All the Elemental Ring Blades behind Rochelle emitted a faint glow. These ring blades numbered in the hundreds and were very fast. Unable to cast spells freely, manipulating these ring blades in combat was the best option.
With a whoosh, an Elemental Ring Blade flew past Su Xiao's ear, leaving a faint blood mark on his earlobe.
Seeing this, Rochelle's gaze sharpened. The enemy's speed wasn't as fast as she had imagined. Sawyer's instant death had made her uneasy, but now it seemed she and the enemy weren't completely outmatched.
Confirming this, Rochelle's fighting spirit returned. She had joined this Scroll War to make a name for herself. This made her think: compared to winning this war, eliminating the last Law Destroyer seemed... like it would make an even bigger splash? No, it would surely make her famous.
Rochelle extended one hand forward, and one by one, Elemental Ring Blades shot toward Su Xiao. Each ring blade was about 30 centimeters in size, with thin, sharp edges designed for maximum flight speed and cutting power.
The sound of cutting grew sharper. With a swoosh, an Elemental Ring Blade grazed past Su Xiao's neck. Just as he dodged that, he made several quick slashes.
Clang, clang, clang!
A total of seven Elemental Ring Blades were dispersed by Su Xiao's slashes. As a cost, three ring blades grazed his shoulder, side waist, and the side of his neck, leaving blood marks on his bare upper body.
Su Xiao felt the sting of the wounds. The feeling of battle was gradually awakening. Not enough yet. The enemy's ring blades were sharp; he couldn't just tank them head-on.
As the Elemental Ring Blades flew, cut, and danced around Su Xiao, blood marks appeared on him from time to time. Since he hadn't charged in and was only defending with his long blade, the wounds were all shallow.
Pfft!
A cyan ring blade cut across Su Xiao's left arm, leaving only a blood mark on his bicep. This time, he hadn't dodged. Why did this happen? The answer was Su Xiao's Magic Immunity Constitution.
Skill Effect 1: Unable to master/learn any spell-type skills.
Skill Effect 2: Immune to 40% of magic-type damage.
Awakening Effect: During combat, each time you take a magic attack, increase magic damage immunity by 2%, up to a maximum of 20%. This effect lasts until the end of combat.
Note: This passive ability has extremely high priority and can negate True Magic Damage, Holy Magic Damage, and Execution-type Magic Damage.
After the warm-up from Female Technician Rochelle, Su Xiao's Magic Immunity Constitution ability had reached its maximum effect. Moreover, Su Xiao had many defensive abilities and equipment, summarized as follows:
Spirit Shadow Constitution (Passive): Mana and the body resonate wonderfully, forming a good cycle between mana and health. Health is greatly enhanced. Health increase equals 100% of total mana (current mana: 38,517 points, health increase: 38,517 points).
Divine Judgment (Holy Spirit Rank, Growth Equipment, Ring): Each point of the wearer's soul strength increases health by 130 points (increased health by 40,000 points, this equipment's max increase is 40,000 points).
Basic Passive: Body Soul (Passive): Permanently increases health by 35%.
Berg Heart (Immortal Rank Equipment, Pendant): During combat, based on the enemy's ability characteristics, increases the wearer's adaptive abnormal status resistance by 62–80 points (currently increased elemental damage resistance by 76 points).
Melee Grandmaster (Passive): Increases physical defense and toughness by 40%.
These abilities and equipment effects complemented each other, along with Su Xiao's previous permanent health increases and physical defense. One could imagine how high his elemental damage reduction was.
A trickle of blood flowed down Su Xiao's arm. He was indeed injured, but so what?
Dozens of meters away, Rochelle looked at Su Xiao, covered in blood marks. Her heartbeat quickened. The enemy was injured, bleeding. She still had trump cards to play. She felt she had a good chance in this fight. As long as she stayed steady, victory was not far off. In short: Stay steady! She could win!
In reality, Rochelle didn't know that just now, she had officially been promoted from Female Technician Rochelle to Scraping Female Technician Rochelle. Her scraping was about to begin.