Death, Trembling, and Fear

Despite the anomaly before her, Isabel remained composed. She watched the shimmering magical effects with a calm smile.

"I think we haven't made things clear yet, young monk."

She licked her lips, a gesture that, when made by her, exuded a captivating charm. Combined with her graceful figure and elegant appearance, it created a perfect blend of composure and lewdness, making her seem like both an elegant lady and a seductive harlot—completely contradictory, a captivating allure of contradiction.

"Everything in the world has a solution, so why don't we use a more peaceful way to solve these problems?"

Li Lin remained completely unmoved by Isabel's allure. Even disregarding the fact that his mastery of charm magic far surpassed Isabel's, rendering him completely immune to her occasional seductive aura, the little guy's flirting skills during his time with Angela far surpassed those of the woman before him. Sometimes, she could even command others to kneel before her and offer them everything with just a glance or a gesture!

Now, in Li Lin's eyes, Isabella's flirtatious and subtle erotic performance was nothing more than an immature prostitute trying to solicit customers for the first time.

"Stop your pathetic performance, madam."

A dazzling array of colors burst forth as Li Lin spoke, illuminating the sky.

I hope you can meet my requirements.

"You!!"

Seeing that Li Lin was completely unaffected, Isabel's expression immediately changed. Facing the beautiful, rainbow-like light that concealed deadly intent, she immediately retreated, her hands making complex hand gestures. Soon, several semi-transparent figures shot out from Isabel's fingertips, roaring and emitting a furious howl that even the living could hardly resist before forcefully flying forward. At the same time, the ground cracked open, and five or six hard, massive skeletons crawled out, attempting to attack Li Lin. However, before the multicolored light, the ferocious undead creatures didn't even have time to pose a thousandth of a threat before wailing and disappearing again, or turning into dust and stones falling to the ground. Their brief survival was enough to withstand this dangerous spell. Meanwhile, Isabel's two soft, white hands flew around, quickly creating layer after layer of protection for herself. The Silence that Li Lin had cast first was completely neutralized by her, posing no threat whatsoever.

The brief exchange of offense and defense lasted only a moment, and almost simultaneously, Isabel and Li Lin raised their hands, pointing at each other.

"Die!"

Powerful magical energy accompanied by the same words emanated from their mouths, but both of them swayed immediately afterward; the energy of "Power Word Kill" canceled each other out, causing no harm. Both were stunned by this. Isabel was surprised that this young mage could use a level nine spell just like her. Li Lin was stunned by the speed at which this woman could cast a high-level spell, almost matching his own spellcasting speed. In fact, Li Lin had specifically prepared this powerful high-level spell from Nia for this battle, but he hadn't expected them to be cast simultaneously, rendering it ineffective.

However, after this brief exchange, both sides calmed down. Since neither could deliver a fatal blow, what followed was a protracted war of attrition. Moreover, from the previous battle, both sides had learned about the other's magical school. Since they belonged to the same school, the upcoming battle would likely become a contest of luck.

It seems that not all high-level mages are idiots these days.

Although Li Lin had revised his view on the decline of mages deep down, what he possessed was not just some ordinary spells.

Just then, Isabel's high-pitched voice rang out as she summoned dozens of undead servants to surround her, acting as both meat shields and henchmen. Facing Li Lin now, the red-robed mage clearly no longer underestimated him. She commanded the banshees and undead to launch a pincer attack on Li Lin, aiming to deplete his magic, while simultaneously making incredibly complex, almost manic gestures. Soon, a powerful spell began to take shape in her hands.

Facing the undead creatures that began to swarm him, Li Lin remained calm. He took two steps back, extended his right hand, and in the instant the magical runes shifted and pulsed, he swung it forward. Instantly, an invisible halo spread out from beneath his feet, extending in all directions. This halo had no effect on Isabel. However, the undead creatures let out sharp howls the moment they came into contact with the halo, then turned back into dust and vanished into thin air.

Those Undeath Returns to Death.

Isabel bit her lip. She was now almost certain that the mage before her, like herself, specialized in charm and necromancy. Because of this, it was nearly impossible to determine a winner in a short time. But clearly, Li Lin had a different opinion. To Isabel's surprise, he stretched out one hand while casually waving the other in the air.

Is he planning to cast two different spells at the same time?

This idea greatly alarmed Isabel. Not to mention that multitasking is a difficult research topic in any field, even if it were possible, the ability to simultaneously manipulate two different powers is a major enemy of mages, and a single mistake could lead to complete collapse. This legendary skill can only be achieved by Arcane Mage, and she never expected that this young mage in front of her could do the same thing.

As it turns out, even a high-ranking mage like Isabel was no match for an arcane Arcane Mage in terms of casting speed. Just as she had condensed her energy and was about to cast it, Li Lin had already stretched out his hands, and two powerful spells shot out simultaneously from his left and right hands, using the power of spell incantations and magical runes to reach their targets.

Faced with the onslaught of magical energy, Isabel was no longer able to mount any countermeasures. She could only helplessly cancel the violent energy she was about to unleash, retreating rapidly and praying that the energy shield on her body was worthy of the "shield" in its name.

Soon, two spells of different attributes struck Isabel's body simultaneously. Her shield flickered slightly before disappearing due to overload, while the other spell, although it hit her directly, did not cause any abnormalities.

"Um?"

Noticing this, Li Lin raised an eyebrow slightly, and a not-so-good thought surfaced in his mind.

Driven by their own ulterior motives, both sides initially planned a swift victory, but the current situation could easily drag them into a protracted conflict. Neither wanted to do so. Isabel wanted to leave, but Dimensional Lock had been installed throughout the area, making escape virtually impossible unless done on foot. If the city guards discovered the anomaly, her whereabouts would be exposed, jeopardizing their plans. Li Lin, on the other hand, didn't want to prolong the conflict; after all, he didn't like revealing too many of his secrets to the living.

Neither side wanted to drag out the time, but both were well aware that they were about to face a protracted battle, even though this round of attack and defense had actually taken far less than five minutes.

However, as Li Lin raised his hand again, Isabel finally lost her composure. She stared in astonishment at the magical light emanating from his hand, as if only now realizing who she was actually fighting.

"Who are you..."

Before she could finish speaking, a bright, dazzling beam of light shot down from the sky, striking Isabel hard. It shattered her remaining protective spells and struck her body. This time, Isabel screamed. She opened her mouth wide, feeling the warm, positive energy invading her body, burning her soul like magma.

"Assimilating to the immortals is indeed a good idea."

Seeing that the spell had taken effect, Li Lin breathed a sigh of relief. His men continued casting spells, and soon, the magical form full of positive energy transformed into a restraint, imprisoning Isabel.

Li Lin walked up to Isabel, gazed at the beautiful and charming woman before him, and shrugged slightly.

"I must say, you've given me a lot of fun, but unfortunately, your immunity to negative energy has exposed your weakness... Madam, as a mage, you shouldn't reveal your strengths too quickly in battle, because that also means revealing your weaknesses."

"You, who exactly are you...?"

You're asking too many questions.

Li Lin lowered his eyes and looked at the ground.

Dead people don't need so many questions.

Then, he extended his right hand, his index and middle fingers touching, and a black light flashed. Li Lin didn't say a word, and simply inserted his right hand into the female mage's soft abdomen.

Blood gushed from the wound that Li Lin had forcibly opened. Due to pain and instinctive reaction, the female mage screamed loudly, her limbs contracting and trembling involuntarily. She twisted her beautiful, slender waist, trying to escape Li Lin's hands that were deep inside her. But Li Lin ignored Isabel's agonizing screams. He patiently "explored" the female mage's body for a while before withdrawing his hand. Between his blood-stained fingers, a diamond-like crystal emitting a dim, blood-red light floated there. Strangely, countless tiny blood vessels were connected to it, rupturing with each of Li Lin's thrusts, spurting out new blood.

"You... please... don't..."

Seeing this, Isabel's eyes turned to horror and astonishment. She didn't even have time to guess how Li Lin knew about the thing inside her body. Right now, she was feeling again the fear of impending death that she hadn't felt for decades.

"I told you, the dead don't need to talk so much."

With that, Li Lin squeezed hard, crushing the crystal completely.

"Clap."

The shackles of positive energy vanished, and the female mage's body fell to the ground, her eyes wide open, revealing fear and despair. Her once alluring red lips were now slightly parted, slowly spitting out bright red blood. Li Lin took out a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped the blood from his palm, and then casually tossed it, landing squarely on Isabel's unseeing face.

Flames then rose.

In just a few seconds, the once powerful Red Robe Mage was no longer a part of this world.