Versatile Mage

translated by xephiz

edited by aelryinth

an icy wind brushed their faces. a chilling mist descended from the darkness and froze the seawater when it touched the surface of the ocean.

it was not just a thin layer of ice. it was as sturdy as rock, and too thick for the sea hook black beasts to break through!

the ice covered a great distance, trapping a lot of the sea hook black beasts under the thick ice. however, the direction the ship was sailing in was left alone, allowing the ship to keep going!

“xuexue?” mo fan immediately knew who it was when he saw the ice.

mu ningxue’s nirvana ice domain was extremely effective against large groups of demon creatures. the frozen sea greatly hindered the sea hook black beasts’ movements, lifting a great burden from everyone’s shoulders.

“follow me!” mu ningxue stayed in the air while guiding the ship forward.

below the ice, a few viscera hunters seemed to have realized how much of a danger mu ningxue was to their plan. they quickly moved into mu ningxue’s flight path and suddenly sprang up into the air, breaking through the ice.

only the viscera hunters were capable of breaking through mu ningxue’s ice. they sprang into the air and surrounded mu ningxue, trying to take her out at once.

mu ningxue did not even glance at the viscera hunters. she continued to unleash the power of her domain to freeze the surface of the ocean. when the four viscera hunters were around ten meters away from her, their bodies starting freezing with every meter they traveled.

the viscera hunters finally reached a distance of five meters away from her, but they had all frozen completely. they fell straight down upon the layer of ice above the sea.

smash!

the four viscera hunters broke into bloody-hued pieces of ice. the rest of the viscera hunters shadowing mu ningxue immediately gave up on the thought, which would surely get them killed!

“i’ll keep an eye at the back!” mo fan yelled.

every viscera hunter that showed up at the front would die for sure with mu ningxue clearing the path ahead. the weak sea hook black beasts were trapped under the ice. they had no chance of breaking through the ice, regardless of their numbers!

the layer of ice had given mo fan a wide area to fight the sea monsters on. he swiftly went to the back of the ship and jumped onto the ice.

“take care of yourselves,” mo fan told cao qinqin and tang peng.

tang peng, jiang shen, and the others had witnessed mo fan’s strength. they did not to worry about his safety.

the viscera hunters were the only ones that could break through mu ningxue’s ice. mo fan soon noticed that many of the viscera hunters were striking the ice, trying to help the sea hook black beasts break through it.

mo fan immediately set his eyes on the viscera hunters. his eyes flickered as he grabbed a viscera hunter with telekinesis and tossed him into the air.

a lightning bolt struck the viscera hunter when it lost its balance and disintegrated it instantly into bloodspray.

a viscera hunter that was hiding under the ship suddenly appeared, swiping its claws fiercely at mo fan’s stomach.

“rebelling shadow!”

mo fan decisively consumed a commander-level soul remnant. the dark material materialized in the viscera hunter’s vicinity, a shadow that looked exactly the same as the viscera hunter, attached to the creature’s back!

the rebelling shadow had sharp claws, just like the viscera hunter. it tore the viscera hunter’s throat apart before it even knew what happened!

the viscera hunter’s blood scattered across the air as soon as it jumped up. jiang shen’s eyes widened upon witnessing it.

jiang shen was a shadow mage too, but it was his first time seeing anything like mo fan’s move.

“watch out!” cao qinqin yelled.

mo fan was behind the ship, where most viscera hunters were. these creatures preferred to use sneak attacks on their targets. they were now aware of mo fan’s outstanding strength, so ten of them decided to pounce at him at the same time!

these creatures had been hiding under the ice all along. each of them was in close proximity from mo fan when they showed up. even an advanced mage would die instantly under the circumstances!

“idiots!” mo fan grunted.

the dark material spread wildly. mo fan instantly consumed ten commander-level soul remnants.

the viscera hunters did not realize that the surrounding ice and water had been replaced by a black swamp the moment they broke through the ice. the swamp extended a few hundred meters…

ten shadows resembling the viscera hunters sprang out from the swamp. their actions were perfectly in synch, attacking under mo fan’s control. the viscera hunters in the air suddenly stiffened, before blood started jetting out from their necks!

the viscera hunters posed a great threat to mo fan only a second ago, but they all died horrible deaths in the blink of an eye. it only took the rebelling shadows a brief moment to eliminate their targets; not one of the viscera hunters managed to survive!

“such…such a remarkable power of the shadow element!” jiang shen was lost in thought.

he never expected the shadow element to be so deadly and imperious. the viscera hunters might not even realize how they had died!

—

mu ningxue was clearing the path ahead while mo fan was protecting the rear. the others suddenly felt like there was nothing they needed to do. it was not exaggerating to describe the two as monsters after seeing their strength. the deadly trap had suddenly turned into a complete massacre!

“as expected of the two strongest members on the national team,” tang peng sat inside a cabin, holding in his guts with one hand.

he was suffering from serious injuries, and the others were in bad shape, too. they initially thought they were going to be wiped out on the ocean, but the battle had suddenly become one-sided after mu ningxue showed up.

—

a huge pool of blood was left on the ocean, even visible at night. the ship soon reached the shallow waters. another ship quickly came over to lend them a hand, escorting them back to the harbor at the dam.

“it’s a relief that no one died,” tang peng felt the pain easing a little when he saw that everyone had returned safely.

“we are so lucky that i asked mentor to come along. otherwise, there’s no way we would have made it back here,” cao qinqin said.

“fighting on the ocean greatly limits my capabilities. otherwise, you guys wouldn’t have ended up in such bad shape, either,” mo fan said.

if mu ningxue had not made it in time to freeze the surface of the ocean, mo fan doubted if he could have brought everyone back alive. the sea monsters were a lot more cunning than he had imagined. he realized why chairman shao zheng looked so haggard now. it must have been quite a while since the man was able to get a good night’s rest!

“speaking of which, didn’t the viscera hunters try to invade the city while we were away? is everything alright?” jiang shen blurted out.

“the city is fine; yu shishi’s moths managed to see through their tricks,” mu ningxue said.

“these little moths are really impressive!” jiang shen exclaimed.

“that’s good to hear… mayor, it’s our fault for being so reckless. we didn’t expect those assh**** to set us up,” tang peng apologized with a guilty look.

“he’s the mayor,” mu ningxue pointed at mo fan.

tang peng was startled. he turned to mo fan.

the other members of the patrolling squad were astounded, too.

even mo fan was taken by surprise. since when did he become a mayor? he might be the owner of fanxue mountain, but mu ningxue had been managing everything since day one!

“oh, we’ve been together for so long. it’s unnecessary to distinguish between us anymore,” mo fan said shamelessly after realizing something.

“hehe… he’s right!” the others let out hollow laughs. they were quite unprepared to witness a public display of affection between the two…

—

—

the danger had been resolved, returning calm to the new city. the injured members did not take a rest to recover from the injuries as they should have. they were drinking in some of the bars that had just opened recently, while boasting about the battle to the others.

the battle was clearly an unforgettable experience for many of them. apart from the little moths that had contributed greatly by detecting the viscera hunters, most of the discussions revolved around mu ningxue and mo fan, and their unbelievable strength!

“you have no idea! we were surrounded in the deep sea by at least three thousand sea hook black beasts. there were at least one to two hundred viscera hunters as well, but right at the start of the battle, mo fan… oh, boss mo fan, was fending them off by himself. guess how many a single lightning bolt could kill?” a mage whose face still had a visible wound said while raising five fingers.

“fifty?” a few young mages that did not take part in the battle asked curiously.

“what fifty? it’s five hundred! you have no idea how terrifying the situation was. the whole surface of the ocean was filled with the heads of the sea monsters bursting like popcorn… i’m not bluffing, it’s real, i saw it in person, and all he drew was a star pattern! i couldn’t even tell which tier his lightning spell was in. it’s a lot stronger than most of the advanced spells i’ve seen…”

“that’s not all of it! his shadow element is the real deal. i initially thought his lightning element was the strongest, but it’s like boss mo fan suddenly turned on his hacks when our mayor froze the surface of the ocean. the viscera hunters all died within seconds, and they were all killed instantly by their own shadows!”

“instantly? that’s insane! the viscera hunters are considered the strongest among the warrior-level creatures. how could they possibly die instantly?”

“why don’t you believe me? do you really think i’m bluffing right now?”

——

the new city was not very big. the incident that took place soon spread among the people rapidly. almost everyone knew what happened before morning.

many people knew mo fan was the strongest participant during the world college tournament, but the national team only consisted of students, and they were up against students from other countries, too. it did not necessarily reflect how the participants would do in the future. however, mo fan’s reputation skyrocketed after the attack of the viscera hunters. the patrol squads in particular were utterly impressed by mo fan’s capabilities!