After the concentration of Dago's Despair Winter Dragon Bloodline reached six percent, his talent for ice magic had attained an utterly monstrous level.
He did not even need to do much. He simply raised a hand, and spiritual power surged forth.
Across the pitch-black wilderness, vast amounts of free ice-elemental particles rushed toward him as if in worship, forming a dense pillar of frost that roared like a blue python as it met the fireball falling like a meteor.
The difference between wizards and magical beasts was that wizard spellcasting was a skill, while magical beast spellcasting was an instinct.
Dago's mastery of mist-level ice spells had now approached the level of "instinct."
"Boom!"
The pillar of frost collided head-on with the descending fireball without any flourish. Two extreme energies crashed against each other, and deep-blue light flickered in Dago's eyes, making him appear mysterious and uncanny in the night.
His robe billowed as the white hair behind him flew upward. Terrifying icy power surged up in layer after layer, and the forces of flame and frost deadlocked dozens of meters above the ground, scattering brilliant streams of crimson and deep blue light.
More than a dozen breaths later, every flame in the sky had gone out, leaving only clusters of frost hanging overhead.
The bonfire at his feet had also been extinguished. The perfectly roasted wild rabbit had long since frozen into a hard lump of ice.
"Bang—"
A massive chunk of ice over ten meters in diameter radiated intense cold as it crashed heavily onto the ground, smashing a shallow crater into the earth.
Dago stepped forward and brushed aside the white vapor filling the area. Looking through the ice, he was startled to find an exquisitely designed red ladies' staff within.
It was roughly as thick as