Chapter 375 Spatial Slash!
The level-five wizard, clad in a dark red robe, frowned as he looked at the wreckage of the roving warrior, now reduced to black slag, on the ground.
His experience told him that such a creature with an overly simple body structure was most likely an artificial creation.
After he destroyed the second shuttle, he was basically certain that his location had been exposed.
Now that we've been exposed, it's no longer appropriate to continue hiding.
The level 5 wizard's mental energy surged, instantly enveloping himself in three layers of shields with different attributes.
After completing his defense, he lifted his feet off the ground, preparing to quickly ascend and escape the area that might be surrounded.
Just as he was about to rise, a faint, ripple-like abnormal fluctuation came from a space about a kilometer to his side.
"Spatial teleportation? Or concealment?" Alarm bells rang in the mind of the level-five wizard.
As a level 5 wizard, he was exceptionally perceptive of spatial fluctuations and also had a certain understanding of spatial knowledge. He immediately realized that an enemy was approaching using spatial means.
He remained calm, his extensive combat experience allowing him to make the most rational response—on the surface, he maintained his ascending posture, but secretly he had already mobilized his mental energy, and a fourth-circle sorcery called [Spatial Freeze], specifically designed to counter spatial movement, was ready to be unleashed.
Now!
At the highest point of the spatial fluctuation, he suddenly mobilized his mental power to lock onto the source of the fluctuation, and the tip of his staff burst forth with a silver-gray light.
[Spatial Freeze] Like an invisible spider web, it instantly enveloped that area!
He was very confident that as long as the other party appeared from that position, even if it was just a brief pause, it would be enough for his subsequent witchcraft to defeat the other party.
Sizzle—!
However, almost at the same instant that [Space Freeze] took effect, a teeth-grinding, ear-piercing sound, like cloth being forcibly torn, came from behind him!
The three carefully arranged shields around him, especially the outermost force field shield, were flashing wildly and their structure became extremely unstable!
"Behind me? How is that possible?!" The fifth-level wizard's hair stood on end instantly, and a chilling sense of despair rushed up his spine to the top of his head.
He wanted to dodge, wanted to turn around, but in order to accurately release [Spatial Stasis], his mental energy and body were in a brief "recovery" state, and he didn't have time to react effectively!
Puff! Puff! Puff!
The triple shield was easily pierced and torn apart like paper in the face of absolute power and bizarre attack methods!
The next instant, Jemin's figure appeared behind the level 5 wizard like a ghost, without warning, as if he had always been standing there.
His right hand remained in a forward thrusting posture, with fine black cracks from cutting through the space still visible on the edge of his palm.
[Space Slash]!
This attack, generated by the spatial shearing force during the phase shift, ignored conventional energy defenses and precisely pierced through the level 5 wizard's shield, robes, and the flesh and blood beneath them.
A huge, perfectly smooth wound appeared in his back!
Following closely behind the [Space Slash], Jemin's hand, like a sharp blade, pierced through the gap in the defenses, striking the wizard in front of him head-on.
The hand that pierced through the entire body still clutched the other person's still-beating heart!
"Ugh...!" The level 5 wizard's body stiffened abruptly as intense pain and a feeling of weakness from rapidly losing life force struck him simultaneously.
Jemin remained expressionless, clenching his fist tightly!
Pfft!
The heart, containing immense life energy, burst open in his hand like a ripe fruit.
He immediately pulled his arm out, drawing out a spray of hot blood.
The level-five wizard staggered and fell to his knees.
He covered the horrific hole in his chest with both hands, breathing heavily, his face turning deathly pale.
Feeling the emptiness and excruciating pain from the loss of his heart, he struggled to lift his head and glanced at Jemin behind him, whose breathing was steady and whose wizard robes were barely stained with blood. A bittersweet and relieved look flashed in his eyes.
"I... lost," he said hoarsely.
A shattered heart is only a minor injury for a level 5 wizard; he has several ways to sustain life or even rebuild the heart.
But he knew very well that the difference in skill was obvious: his opponent was able to break through all his defenses in such a bizarre way and deliver a "fatal" blow when he was most vigilant.
I am only alive because the other party followed the rule of "stopping when it's too late".
Jemin's face returned to its harmless smile, and he gave a slight bow to the defeated level five wizard as a sign of courtesy between fellow disciples.
Then, his figure flickered, and he disappeared from the other party's sight as if he had merged into the air, leaving no trace.
Despite the excruciating pain and weakness, the level-five wizard carefully sensed the area where Jemin had disappeared, his mental energy meticulously combing through every inch of space like a comb.
To their astonishment, they found that the place was as calm as if nothing had happened, with no spatial disturbances remaining and no energy dissipating.
“I…can’t understand it at all…” He sighed helplessly, his face full of frustration.
In the wizarding world, not understanding someone's methods often means there is an insurmountable gap in the relevant knowledge.
He had to admit that he was completely defeated by a wizard who was two levels lower than him in terms of understanding and applying spatial knowledge.
He used his mental power to manipulate his body, and the huge penetrating wound in his chest began to writhe and heal at a speed visible to the naked eye, and even his heart regrew back.
After his injuries had mostly healed, he shook his head, struggled to his feet, and prepared to fly back to the palace.
Since we've already lost, there's no point in staying here.
However, the moment he had this thought, and before he could even muster his mental energy, the scene before him suddenly blurred and changed.
Once his vision cleared, he was back in that magnificent hall.
He knew that it must have been the wizard Norn who had teleported him back after confirming his defeat.
He looked up and noticed that the atmosphere in the hall was somewhat subtle.
Most of the wizards' attention was not on him, the loser who had just returned defeated, but rather on the several huge light screens floating above the hall.
The light screen clearly displayed the battles taking place in various parts of the competition area.
The most eye-catching and attention-grabbing feature was the central light screen that tracked Jemin's movements.
Inside the hall, only the images of interwoven energy on the light screen and the occasional low murmurs could be heard.
The wizards present were known outside as geniuses, with incredibly sharp eyesight.
Jemin's lightning-fast attack and concealment, though seemingly simple, actually contained a level of skill that even these well-informed high-level beings found astounding.
"He can multitask, simultaneously maintain two continuous spatial spells acting on himself, and also distract himself by manipulating the decoy's fluctuations to launch precise attacks..." A third-generation disciple with white hair and beard muttered to himself, his face filled with disbelief.
For a wizard whose mental strength has been honed through countless trials, simply multitasking is not a difficult task.
Simultaneously handling multiple tasks and constructing multiple magical models is a required course for many elite wizards.
While casting spatial magic is complex, there are quite a few people present who are proficient in this art and can do it.
But to combine these two things—to continuously maintain multiple high-consumption, high-precision spatial spells in a fierce battle, ever-changing environment, and to do so on a "high-value, high-interference" target like oneself—is simply inconceivable!
The reason lies in the terrifying "computing power black hole" characteristic of spatial magic.
Space is one of the basic frameworks that constitute a plane, and its rules are complex and subtle.
Any form of magic involving space, from the most basic "teleportation" to the advanced "space jump," requires massive real-time calculations to locate coordinates, stabilize channels, and resist the "resilience" of space itself and external interference.
The computational workload increases exponentially as the effectiveness of the magic increases.
The continuous casting of spatial magic, especially magic like [Phase Shift] and [Spatial Stabilization], which requires constant maintenance of the effect and even dynamic adjustment of parameters as the wizard moves, is a bottomless pit of computational power consumption.
Unlike one-time attack spells that end after being cast, these spells require a continuous investment of mental energy for precise control.
More importantly, when spatial magic is applied to the caster, its computational complexity increases dramatically as the wizard's own energy level rises!
Because a wizard is a huge collection of energy and mass, the spatial disturbances and computational loads that need to be countered in order to safely and stably embed such a “giant” into phase space, or to build a stable spatial force field around it, are directly related to the wizard’s own size and energy level.
It can be said that the computational power consumption of continuous spatial magic applied to oneself is calculated based on a certain percentage of the wizard's own energy level!
The higher the level, the more terrifying the consumption!
For those exceptionally gifted geniuses, with their superior mental control and computational abilities, they might be able to manage to maintain two spatial magic spells that enhance them simultaneously by "multitasking."
But to spare a third part of one's mind to precisely control another independent spell is simply wishful thinking—at least before the seventh level of the soul's essence has undergone a leap, it is almost universally acknowledged to be impossible!
However, Jemin did it.
"Tsk tsk, Clark, your apprentice... he's a bit strange." Wizard Augusta nudged Clark beside him with his elbow, his tone full of amazement. "What he just did... could you do it?"
Professor Clark gave him a blank look that said, "What a stupid question you asked," and didn't say a word.
But Augusta immediately realized that even Clark himself might not be able to do it.
In fact, not only Clark, but probably none of the level six wizards present could have done what Jemin had just done.
"Unless... I give myself another head. But this little guy doesn't seem to have any signs of physical modification..."
He immediately became even more interested in Jemin on the screen, stroking his chin and marveling at it.
(Bonus chapter today, one more chapter)
(End of this chapter)
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