Powerless

The smoke cleared, and Li Yan stared at the enormous crater blasted open by the massive fireball. His grandmaster, Serie, was nowhere to be seen inside it.

"Little one, where are you looking? You might not be the only one who knows Space Magic."

Serie's voice came from behind Li Yan.

Cold sweat streamed down Li Yan's face. He had already spread his mana out and put his body on full alert. The slightest disturbance should have been detectable by his five senses.

Yet Serie had suddenly appeared behind him. Not only had his mana detection failed to notice her, but his five senses had detected nothing unusual behind him either.

Mana-dispersal magic erupted again. Though Li Yan reacted and unleashed powerful mana of his own to resist the close-range blast, he was still sent flying dozens of meters.

"You may be the only human who has learned and used Space Magic, but I'm an elf. Just because humans can't use a spell doesn't mean I can't."

Serie spoke proudly, raising a finger slightly and beckoning Li Yan toward her.

"Continue!"

Li Yan gritted his teeth and stood up. Unwilling to admit defeat, he fixed his gaze on Serie's grinning face.

One of his ribs had broken, but his golden finger, Immortality, was constantly repairing his body. It would take about a minute.

For now, his first priority wasn't to attack, but to buy time and delay Serie's urge to attack by using magic she found novel and stirring up her desire for magic.

"Flame Vortex!"

Li Yan unleashed fire magic. Based on the fundamental principles of fire-element magic, it was a constantly spinning fire-element attack guided by the wind element.

It was not only more powerful than an ordinary fire magic attack, but also faster and quicker to cast.

"Interesting, interesting."

An eager look appeared on Serie's face. She had indeed studied the Flame Vortex as a magical attack before, but she hadn't expected Li Yan to work it out on his own.

A transparent hexagonal defensive spell mercilessly blocked the Flame Vortex, but the next second, the Flame Vortex pressed against the defensive spell like a car tire and rolled straight over it as though driving across it.

"The principle of rotational motion. I didn't expect your Flame Vortex to have this kind of variation."

Serie casually deployed a netlike earth-element magic shield, completely intercepting the Flame Vortex, and watched as the Flame Vortex blasted the earth-element shield apart.

Serie's eyes widened slightly, and a surge of delight rose in her heart. She was already quite satisfied to have seen a new kind of magic attack.

After the Flame Vortex, Li Yan used Space Magic to teleport directly above Serie and mercilessly launched a fire magic attack.

"Water Shield."

Serie raised a hand slightly, and the next second, a crystal-clear water-element shield appeared in front of her. The fire attack collided with the water element, raising a vast cloud of steam that instantly enveloped the surroundings.

Taking the opportunity, Li Yan quickly teleported away and fired magic projectiles at Serie from every direction. Though their power was ordinary, he made up for it with an extraordinary number of them.

Thirty seconds had passed since the Flame Vortex, and Li Yan could feel that his rib was already more than halfway healed. In just a little while, he would be able to engage Serie in close combat again.

"It seems you've already used up all your tricks."

A violent gale blew the smoke away. Seeing that Serie was unharmed, without so much as a hair out of place, Li Yan's face darkened again.

"It's time to end this."

Serie stepped toward Li Yan. Gripping his staff, Li Yan fired magic projectiles again. Three magic circles appeared, and countless projectiles mercilessly bombarded Serie.

"What a powerless attack!"

Serie deployed a transparent hexagonal shield and silently walked toward Li Yan. Whether he used magic projectiles or fire attacks, Serie's hexagonal Shield spell always blocked his magic with precision.

Watching Serie draw closer and closer, Li Yan was about to use Space Magic to escape when he was startled to discover that a huge transparent barrier was also shrinking as Serie approached. His Space Magic could no longer pass through it to get away.

"Wait, sealing Space Magic?"

Li Yan fell into utter despair, staring helplessly at Serie as she drew closer and closer.