Fierce Battle (Part Two)

[Something came up today, I'll see if I can push out the afternoon chapter tonight...]

The flames on the greatsword flared upward by another meter. With a single downward slash, the berserk power of the flame erupted instantly, making even Merlin, standing dozens of meters away, feel as though he could sense that ferocious impact.

Faced with this berserk impact, the fireball Merlin released was instantly swallowed up by the raging flames on the greatsword.

Merlin's eyes narrowed slightly. It was his first time encountering a situation where the Fireball spell proved ineffective, and moreover, being shattered by such a berserk, head-on collision.

"Your Fireball is merely a zero-level spell. When it comes to brute force, with the strength of my third-level Flame Swordsman cultivation, I can completely suppress your Fireball. Young spellcaster, you will be the first spellcaster soul to fall beneath my sword, ha ha!"

The bearded man laughed aloud, his gaze filled with heat and madness, as though being able to slay a spellcaster was something he had dreamed of.

Merlin hurriedly retreated a few steps. The bearded man seemed to know a great deal about spellcasters and spells, and the reality was indeed as his opponent claimed. Merlin was now at a disadvantage; his Fireball could not play much of a role against the bearded man at all.

Of course, Merlin also understood that the reason he felt so strapped for options right now was not because a third-level Elemental Swordsman was truly stronger than a spellcaster.

Even an entry-level spellcaster was absolutely incomparable to a second- or third-level Elemental Swordsman.

The reason Merlin found himself at a disadvantage was actually because the spells he currently mastered were too few, numbering only a single one. If he could construct a binding-type spell in his sea of consciousness, the situation at this moment would be vastly different.

Therefore, in the selection of spells, one also needed to be very cautious. Spells of great might were not necessarily suited to oneself, and the best spells should be able to be used in coordination to achieve maximum effect.

The offensive nature of Merlin's Fireball was already considered very strong among zero-level spells, but precisely because he lacked a binding-type spell, no matter how great its power, he now found his hands and feet tied and was suppressed by the bearded man.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Suddenly, several black arrows flew out from the house once more, making not a sound as they shot straight toward Merlin.

However, Merlin's mental power covered an area of several meters around him. The moment any change occurred, he could immediately detect it, so he had already noticed the arrows the moment they flew out of the house.

With the bearded man launching a fierce attack before him, Merlin was unable to dodge and could only release a Fireball once more to block them.

My remaining mana is not much; at most I can cast the Fireball four or five more times!

Although Merlin had been constructing the spell model for some time, it had after all only been a little over a month. Being able to cast Fireball a dozen or so times now was already his limit.

It seems I cannot kill them without casting the Greater Fireball.

A sharp glint flashed through Merlin's eyes. Judging from the direction the arrows were shot, there should be two people inside the house holding heavy crossbows and paying full attention to this place. Once they found a suitable opportunity, they would shoot arrows without hesitation, posing a tremendous threat to Merlin.

Therefore, he had to finish this quickly!

Thinking of this, Merlin hesitated no longer, and his mental power directly triggered the horizontal frame that had already turned red.

Greater Fireball!

Merlin pointed a finger, and a ball of fire nearly three times larger than the previous small fireball appeared in the void. The terrifying temperature scorched the air until it distorted, and its internal structure seemed extremely unstable, requiring Merlin to forcefully suppress it with his mental power, or else a massive explosion would occur.

Such a colossal fireball could truly be called a behemoth; it was impossible not to draw attention.

"Not good, is this a first-level spell?"

Feeling the immense power contained within the giant fireball, the bearded man's expression changed drastically. Decisive as could be, he immediately fell back and retreated. He understood spells extremely well; the giant fireball before him, even if not a first-level spell, was infinitely close to one. Its formidable might was definitely not something he, a third-level Flame Swordsman, could withstand.

The bearded man no longer pondered how Merlin could suddenly cast such a powerful spell; instead, he frantically retreated full-tilt, wanting to get away from that huge ball of fire in the void.

Even as he retreated, he infused all his strength into the greatsword in his hand, throwing it forward like a javelin with a fierce wave of his right arm.

The greatsword transformed into a streak of white light, following a beautiful parabolic arc as it rapidly shot toward Merlin, generating wisps of sparks from friction with the air—proof enough of how fast it was moving.

Explode.

Merlin's eyes narrowed slightly, and instantly his mental power detonated this massive ball of fire.

Boom.

Although the fireball was still one or two meters away from the bearded man, the power generated by the explosion was simply too great, and the intense shockwave directly blasted the bearded man's body into the air.

As for the greatsword thrown by the bearded man, it was likewise shattered into several pieces by the fireball's explosion.

As the smoke and dust cleared, Merlin saw the bearded man lying on the ground, face down upon the stone steps, completely motionless. A pool of blood stained the ground, startling to the eye.

Merlin did not rush forward blindly, but instead released another fireball that landed directly on the bearded man's back, blowing a bloody hole in it and exposing the glistening white bones within.

Seeing that the bearded man showed no movement whatsoever, Merlin finally stepped forward. He saw that the half of the man's head pressed against the ground had been nearly blown away, and he was long dead.

The might of the Greater Fireball left even Merlin somewhat astonished.

Yet Merlin did not dwell on it further. There were still people inside the house, and he had to kill them all before he could breathe even a slight sigh of relief.

Swish.

Merlin dashed directly into the house in a single stride. Several points of biting cold light immediately flashed within the pitch-black interior—they were black arrows. Fortunately, Merlin was well prepared, and two fireballs rapidly flew toward the direction from which the arrows had been shot.

Explode.

Merlin directly detonated the two fireballs. The figures hidden in the darkness instantly let out a few miserable screams. In the instant the fireballs exploded, availing himself of the faint firelight, Merlin saw two figures in black directly blasted away by the fireballs, collapsing onto the ground and remaining motionless.

Having dealt with the two crossbowmen, Merlin swept his gaze continuously around the house. He had previously blasted Jia into the house with his Fireball, but there was no corpse of Jia on the ground now. Clearly, Jia was not yet dead and must have gone into hiding.

The house was very dark, yet traces of blood could faintly be seen on the floor, extending all the way to a corner within the room. A cold sneer crept onto the corners of Merlin's lips as he followed the bloodstains over.

In the corner of the wall, Jia was clutching her thigh for dear life, her back pressed against the wall. The blood on the ground was flowing from her thigh; although Merlin's fireball had been deflected slightly by her shield earlier, her thigh had still been injured by the violent blast of the explosion.

"Merlin, don't kill me, I was only forced into this. Now that Lord Loren has been killed by you, and the kingdom's stronghold laid out in Blackwater City has been completely ruined by you, from now on I can become your woman and help you gather information. You can do whatever you want."

Enduring the pain in her thigh, Jia straightened her upper body, proudly thrusting out her plump chest while her gaze filled with teasing charm.