Summoning the Holy Sword

“I’m sorry, Mr. Rhode. I can’t do this…”

Marlene clenched her hands while looking at the man beside her who was listening to her reply with a pained expression. She could feel a trace of unwillingness in her heart. She was not a self-centered person; although she had been called as a genius for more than ten years, she learned the fact that there was always someone else better than her. Indeed, she was talented and capable. However, they were different compared with strength. Perhaps it was because of her age, so there was no one who could surpass level. But if it was the entire continent, there were a lot of mages who were still stronger than her. There was no way she could request having an opponent the same age as her; it was just not being realistic.

That was why Marlene was never ashamed to admit her deficiencies. However, this time she felt unwilling. Based on her sensitivity toward elemental reaction, she seemed to be able to catch the magic residual that the opponent left. With just one more step, she could already determine just how strong the opponent was. After going through many battles, she clearly understood just how important it was to find out about the enemy’s strength beforehand. If she did it after the battle started, there wouldn’t be enough time and it would be too late already.

But she just couldn’t do it; that mage’s controlling magic level was below hers, but he had more experience than her. She tried many times, but she was unable to figure anything out. She knew that the opponent’s level was higher than hers, but she couldn’t find out to what extent. It was just like looking at the moon in a foggy sky.

If I’m just a little bit stronger…

Thinking until here, Marlene dozed off.

Because of that, she didn’t notice the huge magic wave that quietly condensed above her.

Boom!!

An earth-wrecking sound echoed in her ears.

Two sides once again collided.

An explosive sound echoed in the air. For some times, even space seemed to be distorted because of the different elements in their magics. The ice crystals scattered around, turned into snow, and fell to the ground. It somehow looked beautiful.

However, both sides didn’t stop attacking.

Marlene lightly muttered and a few flame-burning tornadoes came to the surface. They pierced the clouds and roared toward the black-cloaked mage. However, this time, he didn’t wait for her to react; the Wind Snake suddenly opened its mouth and screamed. The next moment, the whistling storm turned into a surging wave, forming a barrier that was several meters tall.

Both sides instantly met each other.

But this time, Marlene’s expression changed.

When the storm barrier which stood upright like a wall came in contact with the flame tornado, it completely engulfed its power. The terrible force was enough to conquer a city, dissolve it by an intangible energy, and then reintegrated the energy into a barrier. Marlene could feel a surging wave reverse towards her; she couldn’t help but back down a few steps to stabilize her stature. However, the originally shining gem had already turned dull; clearly, that mysterious force has caused quite a huge damage.

It was master level lord!

This thought flashed through Marlene’s mind. She couldn’t help but be surprised. Of course she knew what it meant to face a master level Wind Snake Lord: the opponent could freely control anything that was related to the wind element. Which meant that she could no longer use wind magic to injure the opponent, or else who knew what might happen to her if she casted that spell.

Facing the enemy that was floating in the air, if she didn’t use wind element magic, then how was she supposed to deal with it?

The mage didn’t wait until Marlene thought of the answer, and a thunderbolt emerged from that wind barrier once again and flew toward Marlene. Although she quickly reacted, she only managed to lift her wand when the thunderbolt arrived in front of her. The protective shield was broken, finally reaching its limit this and getting crushed like porcelain. It completely collapsed and the thunderbolt was rushing forward in a flash. It almost succeeded until a golden barrier appeared and blocked it.

Boom!!

Regardless of whether the enemy was successfully destroyed or not, even though the thunderbolt was blocked, it still created a violent explosion. Among the flames, Marlene’s figure flew back and fell heavily on the ground. Soon, one hand held her shoulder, and then warm light wrapped around her body and healed her wound.

Lize squatted down beside Marlene. Her expression was very serious; in front of her, Anne was lifting the shield up high while focusing on looking at the person that was floating in the air.

“This really is unexpected…”

Looking at the four girls before him, the black-cloaked mage snorted. He glanced toward the Wind Snakes that followed his order and began to attack, but those vermin were blocking the snakes’ advancement. But this was nothing; they’ll be dead sooner or later—it was just a matter of time. However, the most important thing right now was to kill this mage.

Although they only have fought for a few strikes, the black-cloaked mage had already seen through Marlene’s strength. Based on her current age, it was really unexpected for her controlling and reacting ability to reach that kind of extent. The black-cloaked mage had never seen such a frightening kid. Right now, he had completely given up the idea of bringing her back to become a servant. He was planning to kill all of them. After all, with such a talented kid like her, even if he controlled her sometimes, it would still difficult to ensure that no problem would arise in the future.

It was clearly an unwise decision to plant the seeds of a future calamity when women were abundant in the world.

Thinking until here, the black-cloaked mage narrowed his eyes. He patted the Wind Snake Lord’s head and carefully looking at the people blocking the path in front of him.

Wait. Where did the man dressed in all black go?

Suddenly, a light piercing sound echoed from his back.

In the next moment, Rhode held onto a red sword aimed at the black cloaked mage’s heart.