Shield of Radiance (II)

Long Haochen's gaze narrowed slightly. He did not dodge, instead charging straight toward the ice ball.

But at that moment, the ice ball suddenly sank. With a smack, it struck the ground. A layer of blue radiance instantly spread across an area two feet wide. Long Haochen's charging foot landed right on it.

A chill surged up from beneath his feet. His footing slipped, and Long Haochen's body swayed as though he were about to lose his balance.

A confident smile appeared on Lin Jialu's face. Her chant did not cease, and a pale-blue shield of light had already enveloped her. This was the second-order spell, Ice Shield.

Yet the smile on her face quickly turned to astonishment.

The instant Long Haochen's foot slipped, a faint golden glow suddenly welled up over the top of his foot. With a smack, he actually crushed the frozen layer of ice beneath him with a single step. His body immediately regained its stability, and not only did his Charge not slow, it abruptly doubled in speed. The heavy sword in his hand shot forward in a Thrust, striking the Ice Shield.

Third-Order Knight!

Lin Jialu and her two attendants were all stunned. Being able to wield Holy Light Spiritual Power was the mark of a Third-Order Knight. This boy, who looked to be not even fifteen, was already a Third-Order Knight?

"Puff, puff, puff..." A rapid series of impacts rang out against the Ice Shield.

Long Haochen felt as though he had stabbed into a wall of ice, and the force of his Charge was immediately halted. However, large cracks spread across the Ice Shield beneath the Thrust skill. It looked as though it would not hold much longer.

Though Lin Jialu was greatly startled, her casting did not stop. A ring of white ice instantly burst forth from around her body. Its powerful force hurled Long Haochen, who had been within arm's reach, away.

This was one of the Ice Mage's most commonly used repulsion skills against close-combat professions. Even without a Magic Staff, Lin Jialu's casting was so fluid and swift; she truly deserved her title as a magical genius.

Long Haochen, pushed away, was slightly dazed. Fighting a mage truly was different from fighting a warrior.

At that very moment, more than ten ice pillars rapidly rose around him, blocking every path in front, behind, left, and right. The bitter chill made Long Haochen shiver, and even the circulation of Spiritual Power within his body seemed to slow by several degrees.

Only then did Lin Jialu breathe a slight sigh of relief. I nearly fell for Li Xin's trick. This little brat is actually a Third-Order Knight. If Xu Tiankong had gone up against him, he really might not have been his match!

Li Xin, on the other hand, sighed inwardly. In her view, Long Haochen, now imprisoned, would inevitably be affected by the ice magic and suffer a sharp decline in combat strength. Before he could break through the barriers around him, he would probably be defeated by Lin Jialu.

But just then, Long Haochen jumped.

"This foolish boy," Li Xin could not help saying under her breath. Against a mage, jumping when there was still some distance between them—wasn't that making himself into a target? Lin Jialu's Ice Prison had been intended to make him leap up. It seemed he truly had no experience fighting mages!

Sure enough, the moment Long Haochen leaped, a knowing smile appeared at the corner of Lin Jialu's lips. Ice balls flew one after another, blasting toward Long Haochen. She was already holding back; otherwise, if those first-order ice balls had been replaced by second-order ice blades or Ice Cones, their attack power would have been far greater.

Yet Long Haochen once again stunned everyone present.

A faint layer of golden light seeped from Long Haochen's body, spiraling upward. With both hands gripping his sword as he held it high above his head, his handsome face took on an even more sacred air beneath the glow of the Holy Aura.

Each ice projectile shattered on its own when it came within a foot of Long Haochen. Even the chill they released could not penetrate the golden light in the slightest.

The words Light Slash Sword instantly surfaced in Lin Jialu's mind. The smile on her face froze at once, and without hesitation, she cast another Ice Shield in front of herself.

Long Haochen descended from the sky, swinging his heavy sword downward. The faint golden light instantly surged in brilliance, transforming into a foot-wide blade of light that tore through the air.

Light Slash Sword was a Third-Order Knight skill. Both Punishment Knights and Guardian Knights could learn it. It consumed fifty points of Spiritual Power. It invoked the Power of Holy Light to protect the body, then condensed it into a blade of light to attack the enemy. Its attack range was directly proportional to the knight's own Internal Spiritual Power Cultivation Level.

This skill was the first ranged attack ability a knight could use through Internal Spiritual Power. Although it consumed the same amount of Internal Spiritual Power as Sun Slash, its power was far weaker, because Light Slash Sword was a ranged skill and also an integrated attack-and-defense skill.

Even so, Light Slash Sword was generally a skill only knights above level five could possess. Only at higher levels, with abundant Spiritual Power to support it, would this skill's might gradually reveal itself.

The golden blade of light collided with the Ice Shield almost in the next instant. With a crisp crack, the Ice Shield shattered at once, but the blade released by Light Slash Sword was also neutralized.

Long Haochen did not pause in the slightest. The instant his feet touched the ground, he launched another Charge at Lin Jialu.

Seeing that her Ice Shield had blocked Light Slash Sword, Lin Jialu finally relaxed. Fortunately, this little brat's Spiritual Power isn't that strong. Otherwise, that strike would have been truly difficult to block. I underestimated him.

However, after blocking Light Slash Sword, Lin Jialu's smile returned. Facing Long Haochen's Charge, she released Repulsion Ice Ring once again.

Light Slash Sword consumed fifty points of Spiritual Power. Clearly, the little brat did not have much Internal Spiritual Power left. As long as she blocked his Charge once more, he would have no choice but to admit defeat.

Smack—at the instant Repulsion Ice Ring appeared, Long Haochen's movements suddenly changed. His right foot stomped fiercely against the ground, and he broke off his Charge on his own, bringing himself to a halt. The heavy sword in his hand rose upright before him.

Repulsion Ice Ring swept past Long Haochen, but this time, he was not pushed away. Instead, a faint layer of golden light appeared over his body.

The heavy sword pointed forward, lightly resting against Lin Jialu's shoulder.

"Hiss—" The sound of sharp inhalations came almost simultaneously from Lin Jialu's two attendants. Lin Jialu herself, who had been preparing to continue casting, also froze in place.

Though Long Haochen's heavy sword had not truly struck her, she could clearly sense that faint Holy Aura.

"Sister Lin, thank you for letting me win." Long Haochen stepped back several paces and sheathed his sword as he stood there.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! Even a Fourth-Order profession could only be pushed back temporarily by my Repulsion Ice Ring." Lin Jialu's face was filled with disbelief. As she looked at Long Haochen, her former smile had entirely turned into shock and unwillingness.

She had lost. As the genius girl mage of Bright Moon City, she had actually lost to a boy so much younger than herself. How could she possibly accept that?

Even though she had been holding back the entire time and had not used any Magic Equipment, she had still lost with the Cultivation Level of a level-six Third-Order mage.

Not only Lin Jialu herself—even Li Xin's eyes visibly showed confusion. But she understood Long Haochen better than Lin Jialu did. After a brief moment of distraction, she understood.

Divine Seal Block. When Lin Jialu used Repulsion Ice Ring for the second time, Long Haochen had used Divine Seal Block.