It felt as though a thick wooden club had smashed into his skull!
A terrible emptiness spread through his mind. A third-ring Evocation attack spell was far beyond what Karin's Frost Armor could withstand! After taking two such attacks in succession, Karin felt his mental energy dwindling to nothing!
But this was no time to relax! Although he had ridden his Hawkstrider some distance away, Karin could clearly sense that the mage Duen was gradually catching up using Blink.
Karin gritted his teeth. A green light appeared in his hand, then shot backward!
But just as Kane Sunfury had previously remarked, Melf's Acid Arrow was not a particularly powerful offensive spell... A mage of Duen's caliber could easily dodge it! Still, the brief delay gave Karin and his Hawkstrider time to put a little more distance between them.
"Head for those woods!"
Karin had already made up his mind. On the open plain, he had no hope of escaping. Only by fleeing into the woods, where his pursuer could no longer easily pinpoint a destination for Blink, would he have even a sliver of a chance!
Yet Duen saw through Karin's intentions just as easily.
"A sly little rat, aren't you?" he remarked with a smile, stopping in his tracks.
The mage Duen raised his staff, and a fireball slightly larger than the previous ones began to take shape.
"Host, watch out!" the All-Knowing Eye shrieked in warning.
Karin used the last shred of his mental energy to shield his body with Frost Armor... Unfortunately, he no longer had the strength to extend it to the Hawkstrider.
With a wretched cry, the poor Hawkstrider pitched Karin forward, then collapsed in agony, wailing incessantly.
The smell of scorched flesh filled the air.
Karin felt his head strike something soft... It was a patch of grass!
The little grove where he had once meditated and studied lay just ahead!
Struggling against the endless emptiness in his mind, Karin charged into the woods.
"Still trying to put up a futile struggle?" The mage Duen was in no hurry now. He knew Karin's condition perfectly well and knew he could not get much farther!
"So this is how the Morningwind family conducts itself!" A woman's voice, edged with anger, came from above.
"Who... who's there?" Duen's expression changed at once.
"A full-fledged third-ring mage coming here to bully a first-ring child. How very honorable!" the angry female voice rang out again.
Then a blue light flashed, and a teleportation circle appeared before Duen...
A female elf stepped out of the teleportation circle. She wore blue mage robes, and her expression held a trace of anger... In all fairness, both her looks and her figure were quite attractive, but Duen was in no position to consider either!
For any mage in Quel'Thalas, casting off red robes was a symbol-and an honor!
Mages below the fifth ring were required to wear red robes on formal occasions, a rule that had stood for thousands of years... Only mages of the sixth ring and above could wear robes of other colors according to their rank!
At the same time, any mage of the sixth ring or above was eligible to join the Silvermoon Council and receive the title of Archmage!
Duen knew the name and background of virtually every Archmage in Silvermoon City... The woman before him, for instance, was a sixth-ring, blue-robed mage from the Sunfury family!
"Archmage Tiffany..." Duen's face instantly turned deathly pale!
Tiffany's face was expressionless as cones of ice began to close in around Duen from every direction!
Duen offered no resistance whatsoever. He knew perfectly well that, with his strength, he could not withstand even a single exchange with a blue-robed mage!
The staff in his hand fell to the ground with a clatter, and several cones of ice pinned Duen firmly in place!
"The Morningwind family crest? I trust I haven't mistaken it!" Tiffany said disdainfully. "May I take this to mean that you are provoking our Sunfury family on behalf of the Morningwind family?"
Karin had no idea that the head of the Sunfury Library had already dealt with the trouble behind him!
He was still running desperately forward... Several times earlier, he had forced himself to cast spells when his mental energy was already close to exhaustion! His mind was now in utter turmoil. He could not even perceive the All-Knowing Eye's voice and was running almost entirely on instinct!
The scenery before him seemed familiar... Following his instincts, he had reached the old spot where he used to meditate and study!
"Wait... it's you, Mr. Mage. What's wrong?" A familiar voice suddenly sounded beside his head.
Was it her? Karin felt an instant rush of relief. If it's her, perhaps I'm saved!
Like a kite with its string severed, Karin crumpled.
"Mr. Mage, don't scare me!" The female priest caught Karin just before he fell to the ground and kept calling to him.
But Karin could no longer hear her voice at all.
Hunger... an overwhelming hunger... As though a wild beast had been unleashed from the depths of Karin's heart!
I need magic! Any source of mana will do, as long as it can satisfy my hunger for magic right now! Karin screamed hysterically in his mind.