This was Leo's first time fighting a wizard of the same level.
His earlier sparring with Gru and his fight against Nox, the Level Two Wizard from Black Skull Wizard Academy, did not count. Those fights had all ended in instant defeat, leaving Leo no time to make a move at all.
This tournament was his first real battle of wits and strength against other wizards. Perhaps that was why he had been made to participate.
The endless spells and unpredictable methods sent chills down Leo's back. This was no video game where high attack power guaranteed victory. These were life-and-death struggles with lives hanging by a thread. Until the enemy had breathed their last, he could not let down his guard.
Leo had personally witnessed an advanced wizard apprentice being cursed to death by an intermediate wizard apprentice. Their attack power had differed by a full 100 points.
The cause of death was simply that the advanced wizard apprentice had carelessly urinated outdoors. His urine contained information about his body, and a wizard proficient in curses had obtained it and easily cursed him. In less than half a day, he had dissolved into a puddle of pus.
There were also wizards proficient in sealing spells. Even Alice refused to approach them, keeping well clear of them.
It was not that Alice was inferior in combat strength, but that sealing spells were far too nasty. Once someone was sealed, even the simplest sealing spell could reduce their strength by several tenths.
From top-tier to peak, from peak to advanced, from advanced to intermediate, from intermediate to beginner-once that happened, they were as good as half dead.
Of course, such wizard apprentices were few and far between. It could be said that fewer than one in ten thousand qualified to practice those arts, so they were not easily encountered.
"What do you think? Shall we make a move?"
Hidden in a low-lying area and blending into his surroundings, Leo watched the images coming through the Ice Mirror before him and asked Alice beside him.
Ice Mirror was one of Alice's ice-attribute spells. Through the refraction of light, it used naturally occurring moisture as secondary mirrors. With the right angles, it could show scenes more than ten kilometers away.
Despite its simple principle, the spell was remarkably effective. As Leo watched the three wizard apprentices hiding in a mountain crevice, he could clearly see the Heluoluo Wizard Academy badges hanging on their chests.
Judging by the images transmitted through the Ice Mirror, Leo and Alice were strong enough to kill them instantly in a surprise attack.
The only drawback was that they could not hear any sound and did not know what the three were saying.
Alice watched the images and shook her head slightly. "Wait. This isn't the right time yet."
Leo would absolutely listen to Alice, because her judgment had saved him no fewer than five times over the past year.
Alice was like a living encyclopedia of wizardry. There seemed to be no spell she did not know, and she always made the most advantageous decision at easily overlooked yet crucial moments, possessing a miraculous ability to turn danger into safety.
Images continued to come through the Ice Mirror. The three wizard apprentices from Heluoluo Wizard Academy carefully concealed themselves. Anyone who thought they had hidden out of fear to wait for the tournament to end would have been gravely mistaken.
The three were clearly lying in ambush for other wizard apprentices!
Leo and Alice were extremely patient, remaining motionless in that depression for half a month. The three wizard apprentices from Heluoluo Academy displayed equally extraordinary patience, not moving a muscle.
Then, at a certain moment, the three Heluoluo Academy wizard apprentices in the Ice Mirror suddenly moved, all looking into the distance with delight on their faces.
First, a faint rumbling came through the ground. Then the three wizard apprentices in the Ice Mirror vanished in an instant.
"Let's go."
Alice, who had been deep in thought with her eyes closed, shot forward, with Leo right behind her. It looked as though they would not only obtain three academy badges this time, but might even gain something extra.
In fewer than ten breaths, the two reached the top of the mountain crevice, where they could see five wizard apprentices locked in a chaotic battle nearby.
Sure enough, the three wizard apprentices from Heluoluo Academy had ambushed other wizard apprentices here.
The two wizard apprentices surrounded by the three had large patches of blood on their bodies. The three hidden Heluoluo Wizard Academy apprentices had definitely succeeded in their surprise attack.
The two were already at an absolute disadvantage. By Leo's estimate of the battle, they would surely die here in about six breaths.
Their academy badges depicted a mysterious pair of slightly parted lips, the emblem of Whisper Secret Realm Wizard Academy.
They were two beautiful women with shapely figures. Even on Earth, they would have been beauties unrivaled across the globe, certain to attract countless male admirers.
But now, their exquisite faces and finely sculpted figures served no purpose whatsoever. The three Heluoluo Academy wizard apprentices struck ruthlessly, every attack aimed at blasting them to pieces.
This was no longer the beginning, when they had just entered the competition grounds. Every wizard apprentice who had survived a year possessed some special abilities.
If the battle between the five dragged on, the fluctuations in their auras would definitely draw other apprentices to investigate. At that point, no one could predict the outcome.
Such things had happened before. Three months earlier, Leo had witnessed a massive melee involving more than a hundred wizard apprentices. It had begun with nothing more than a prolonged fight between two apprentices, which had drawn wave after wave of apprentices coming to investigate.
Alice had led Leo far away to hide at the time, and they had still nearly been caught up in it.
That massive melee had ended with only five wizard apprentices escaping, all gravely wounded. Leo did not know whether they had survived afterward, but he certainly did not fancy their chances.
Leo and Alice waited quietly, stealthily raising their staffs. They were waiting for the two wizard apprentices from Whisper Secret Realm Academy to die.
The moment those women died would be the moment the three Heluoluo Academy wizard apprentices relaxed the most.
It would also be the best opportunity for Leo and Alice to strike!
"Heh heh heh, not bad. I actually hooked three."
Just as the two beautiful wizard apprentices from Whisper Secret Realm Wizard Academy were about to lose their lives, and Leo and Alice were about to strike, a voice suddenly came from the sky, interrupting the slaughter on the battlefield.
The instant the voice rang out, the battlefield fell silent. The three wizard apprentices from Heluoluo Academy immediately abandoned the two academy badges that had been almost within their grasp. Instead, they quickly gathered together, cast three defensive spells, and looked warily up at the sky.
Someone had approached them without a sound, and from the sky at that. The three Heluoluo Academy wizard apprentices looked worse than if a family member had died.
At the same time, Leo and Alice also looked toward the voice. A wizard apprentice had appeared in midair at some unknown point, floating there with a staff in hand and watching the battle below with a mocking smile.
It was as though what was happening below was not a life-and-death struggle, but a splendid theatrical performance.
Wizard apprentices were not yet strong enough to resist the gravity of the Wizard World, so ninety-nine percent of them fought on the ground.
Normally, only level one formal wizards possessed the ability to fly.
But an extremely small number of wizard apprentices practiced special spells that allowed them to break through the usual limitations and fly while still apprentices.
The wizard apprentice who had now appeared above the battle was one such apprentice!
What terrified the three Heluoluo Academy wizard apprentices below even more was that he released his aura without any attempt to conceal it, utterly unconcerned about attracting the attention of other apprentices.
An apprentice like this was either a fool or someone with extraordinary confidence in his own strength. The one before them was clearly the latter.
His aura was stronger than that of any other apprentice. This was a top-tier wizard apprentice!
When Leo saw that face, his pupils trembled as though struck by an earthquake. His calm expression instantly twisted into a savage grimace, and even his carefully concealed aura began to waver and faintly leak out.
The shadow beneath his feet twisted into all manner of shapes, as though it had been formed from a demon that was now awakening to seek its lunch.
Alice looked at Leo in surprise, not knowing why he had suddenly begun to lose control. This was the first time Leo had ever been like this.
Was it fear?
A little.
Was it killing intent?
That too.
Was it hatred?
That seemed to be there too.
All kinds of complicated emotions emanated from Leo. With so many emotions tangled together, even Alice could not tell exactly what was wrong with him.
Without even noticing it himself, Leo tightly gripped his staff with the hand curled inside his wizard robe. He stared unblinkingly at the figure in the sky, as though he wanted to engrave him into his bones and never forget him, even in death.
He knew this wizard apprentice.
Or rather, how would he dare forget him?
This was the wizard apprentice who had brought him endless suffering back then.
The humans from Earth huddled in corners, shivering; the randomly selected test subjects; his fellow humans attacking one another...
Himself, stripped of his moral principles, and that altar that drained life force...
His most painful memories, his most desperate moments...
It was all him. It had all been caused by this wizard apprentice flying in the air!
He was the very wizard apprentice who had personally thrown Leo onto the altar back then!!!
Leo had not asked about him over the years, as though he had long since forgotten those painful memories. But only Leo himself knew...
Only he knew...
How many times this wizard apprentice's face, and the mocking smile upon it, had been the nightmare that left him afraid to sleep.
How many times, deep in his heart, he had secretly resolved that he would take revenge, that once he became strong, he would definitely take revenge.
But now, when the man truly appeared before him, Leo found that he was still that weakling who had been thrown onto the altar.
Merely by flying through the air, the man had already placed himself beyond defeat.
That terrifying aura was also on par with Alice's.
The gap between them seemed unchanged from when he had been thrown onto the altar...
Leo could not control his aura. Mana rampaged through his body, and strength instinctively began to fill him. His swelling muscles pushed against his wizard robe.
It was the instinct of a body refinement wizard apprentice to automatically enter a combat state in a crisis.
The stones beneath his feet began to fall under his changing strength. His heavy breathing through his nose gave him the urge to charge straight up and fight, regardless of victory or defeat.
The fluctuations in Leo's aura drew attention on the battlefield. The five wizard apprentices on the ground had not expected another wizard apprentice to be hiding so close.
Even with a top-tier wizard apprentice watching from above, they still could not help looking toward Leo's position.