Do You Crave Power?

Wind Magic [Wind Wing Blades]

After a brief moment of surprise, the mage demonstrated the combat instincts expected of him. Without another word, he cast a sixth-tier spell. He was only a dozen or so meters away from the two of them, and they had not raised mana shields. At such close range, he was confident that even if he could not kill them, he could at least seriously wound them—even if they were a pair of Grand Mages.

The mage had never entertained the thought of negotiating peacefully with them. What a joke. Would such powerful people come all the way to this remote place just to protect a town mayor? Obviously, they had come because they knew about the "key" too. From the very beginning, they had been locked in a fight to the death.

Of course, the mage still harbored doubts about the two young people who had suddenly appeared. Although they resembled figures from a certain legend, he still refused to believe that anyone could reach the realm of a Grand Mage at such a young age. Thus, he was also testing the hidden powerhouse. If that person had a good relationship with them, they would surely step in. Then he could launch another sneak attack, and he would still win this battle.

The translucent wind blades shrieked sharply as they sliced through the air. This was an extremely insidious spell. Due to the translucent nature of wind magic, ordinary people could hardly see it with the naked eye, and it flew at astonishing speed. Over time, it had become the spell of choice for sneak attacks.

"A boring trick."

Mayuna naturally had no idea that he had already imagined the two of them as formidable enemies. In the eyes of the female Magic God, she did not need to know what he had done, because every elemental fluctuation around her was under her control. She gave the wind blades the same assessment. Raising her palm, she lightly curled her pale index finger upward. As though it had received an order, the wind blade made an incredibly difficult ninety-degree turn and flew upward, blasting a huge hole through the ceiling before leaving the building.

"Y-you... are you human or a ghost?!"

The mage was utterly horrified. He could accept his wind blades being blocked by a magic shield, and he could accept them being neutralized by a spell of the same tier. Those were the basics of mage combat. But what had just happened? The magic he had cast had suddenly become the other party's. He had never heard of such a thing, nor had any book ever recorded it.

In truth, ever since Mayuna became a Magic God, she had begun doing things that defied both humanity and magic. One of them was controlling other people's mana. Magic God—what exactly did the "god" in that title mean? Perhaps it referred to things that no human could accomplish. Since no one had ever achieved it before and there were no records to refer to, the title of Magic God had merely been proposed by dreamers who believed that Magic Saints could advance even further.

"How rude. Let me tell you a secret: I have an idiot here who can't see circles. Every spell you cast will be sucked into this place. Want to give it a try?"

Mayuna enthusiastically drew a circle in the air with both hands. Ruben could tell that this woman was playing around—and having a great deal of fun doing it.

"You three, buy me some time. I'm using a seventh-tier spell."

The mage's expression changed again and again. He would rather believe in that ridiculous item the idiot could not see than admit what Mayuna had done. After ordering his three subordinates, he hid behind them and began chanting. The three lackeys frantically unleashed all kinds of magic to stall for time: water balls, electric shocks, chunks of earth, wooden spikes, and spells of every other element. Yet without exception, they were all sucked into the invisible circle.

"Do seventh-tier spells require chanting?"

Ruben asked in confusion. He did not understand magic very well. The person beside him could casually cast even ninth-tier magic without uttering a single chant, which had made him question everything he knew about magic.

"Chanting can speed up spellcasting. Naturally, someone proficient doesn't need it. Since he's chanting, it proves that this guy is only a half-baked mage."

Mayuna still had the leisure to chat with Ruben, making the three lackeys on the other side miserable. Their mana was nearly depleted, yet they had not inflicted any damage. Their only effect was causing the colorful sphere beside Mayuna, which was absorbing all kinds of magical elements, to swell to around two meters in diameter.

"It's complete! Ice Magic [Descent of the Ice Dragon]!"

After nearly two minutes of gathering mana, the mage finally completed his strongest spell. An icy-blue giant dragon emerged from the magic circle he had drawn, beating its wings. Its icy-blue body was nearly twenty meters long, and it resembled the dragon race in appearance. It had originally been created by people imitating the dragons' forms. However, the creator of this spell had understood some basics of draconic magic, so the spell carried a trace of dragon might. The ice dragon opened its jaws and roared, and everyone in Dris heard it, turning toward the mayor's residence.

Though the dining hall was large, it could not contain the ice dragon's body. The moment it appeared, it tore off the roof. Under the mage's control, it beat its wings and flew into the sky before diving straight down at Mayuna and Ruben.

"This makes no sense. How can a block of ice make a sound? Does it have vocal cords?"

Faced with the ice dragon bearing overwhelming force, Ruben merely wore a puzzled expression. If circumstances allowed, he absolutely wanted to slice that dragon apart and examine it.

"And this dares call itself a dragon? It's underdeveloped."

Mayuna scoffed. Even that brat Mers had a dragon body thirty meters long. This dragon was far too weak. The two of their reactions made the paralyzed Aite want to grab them by the collars and roar, That's not the important part, is it?!

As the ice dragon drew closer and closer to its target, a sharp ice spike extended from its mouth to increase its power. With a violent crash and a fierce tremor, half of the mayor's estate was completely destroyed. A thick layer of frost covered the ground. Seeing such devastation, the mage finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although his mana was exhausted, he had succeeded, hadn't he?

"Chanting time: zero points. Spell power: zero points. Spell control: zero points. Didn't your teacher teach you the proper casting posture?"

Mayuna's airy voice passed through the ice and reached the mage's ears. Under his disbelieving gaze, the ice covering the ground gradually turned into blue light and flowed into the sphere beside Mayuna. Her three consecutive zeroes dealt him a cruel mental blow.

"That's impossible..."

The mage collapsed onto the ground, but it was not over yet. As if challenging their mental endurance, Mayuna lightly tapped the enormous sphere with one finger, causing it to compress inward.

Any mage could sense how violently the power within it raged. The explosion alone would probably leave everyone here without even bones remaining. Yet Mayuna was still compressing that terrifying thing. She did not stop until the colorful sphere had been compressed into pure white. It seemed to imprison an ancient beast within; with a single word from Mayuna, it would burst forth and devour anyone in its path.

"Mm, it's about time I returned this to you. There are a great many magical elements inside it, so let's call it an Elemental Compression Sphere."

Mayuna held the palm-sized sphere and weighed it in her hand a few times, revealing a demonic smile to the four already despairing people.

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Ruben: Main carry, 666. Main carry, eight 9s.

PS: Thanks to reader Arthur King々 for the 2,000 reward, reader Inherited Different Veins for the 500 reward, and Scarlet Master Is Mighty and reader Shuangmu JIA for the 100 rewards.