'What the fuck?'

'Is this person even human?'

Lynn found it difficult to fathom, but the evidence before him spoke otherwise. As he struggled to regain his footing, his gaze never ceasing in its vigilant scan of the area, he caught sight of a tattered blanket in the corner and hastened towards it without hesitation.

"Hmph" Brenny snorted and glared at the pathetic display of Lynn's figure. He rushed towards him in explosive speed while brandishing his sword.

As Lynn reached the corner, he snatched up the blanket and flung it towards his opponent, obscuring their line of sight. During this brief respite, he did not pause in his incantation, and finally, he took a deep breath and aimed.

"[Frost Blade]"

Lynn held his left hand aloft, aiming at Brenny, and he had become increasingly adept at harnessing the art of crystallizing water. In a flash, another blade of Frost materialized in the void.

However, within the range of his spiritual power, the already scarce supply of hydrogen had been depleted, rendering the Frost blade insufficiently potent to pose a genuine threat to the foe.

Lynn was aware of this limitation, but lacked the means to remedy it, and an ardent desire burned within his heart.

He needed more hydrogen and oxygen...

As this thought crossed Lynn's mind, he felt as if his brain had been struck by a hammer, as if countless silver needles had been driven into it, causing a throbbing pain. Then, his magical power was rapidly depleted, converted into a copious amount of hydrogen and oxygen elements.

At the same time, a peculiar spell was indelibly etched into his mind.

A second-ring magic spell - [Mass Frost Blades]

In a brief moment, several sharp ice blades materialized in front of him, resembling a hail of arrows, shooting out!

As Brenny hacked at the blanket before him, Lynn's sudden assault surpassed his expectations. In a frenzy, the long sword shifted from offense to defense, skillfully evading and deflecting the projectiles. Though the response was nimble, one [Frost Blade] still managed to slip through the protective barrier of the long sword and pierce his abdomen.

Brenny instantly felt a searing coldness, sparkling ice crystals rapidly spreading up along his abdomen.

Being highly knowledgeable about the peculiarities of magic, Brenny dared not be careless in the slightest, grasping the ice blade with his right hand and frantically extracting it! Due to the unique structure of the [Frost Blade], it was deeply embedded in the flesh, and pulling it out with force caused a gush of vivid red blood to flow forth.

"Hnngghh!!"

The excruciating pain caused Brenny to grunt in pain and tremble all over. The wound on his abdomen was already a mess of flesh and blood, and more dangerously, the coldness was spreading quickly.

However, Brenny's ferocity exceeded Lynn's expectations, after realizing that the wound on the abdomen would impact the subsequent battle, Brenny stared at his left metal bracer, heat can be felt from it due to the fireball earlier, and without hesitation, pressed it directly towards his abdomen!

"Aargghh!" "Grrhh!" The burning heat interwove with the blurred flesh and blood, Brenny's blue veins emerged, and he couldn't halt the roars and growls emanating from his mouth.

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Thin plumes of smoke arose from the point of contact, the indistinct flesh and blood had already approached being cooked, no longer did blood flow out, and the piercing coldness also vanished without a trace along with the roasting of the heat...

This horrifying spectacle caused Lynn's heart to skip a beat, whether it was Brenny's ruthless utilization of his companion's corpse to block the [Fireball], or relying on intense heat to halt the bleeding, they both made him realize that this was not someone to be trifled with! Taking advantage of Brenny's distracted state, Lynn unhesitatingly burst open the window and escaped, having lost his protective short sword, he had no chance of victory in the cramped room.

Brenny gazed at Andrei's charred corpse, tightly grasping the long sword and pursued after the wizard apprentice.

....

In the evening, in the slum outside Nordland, two figures chased and fled, traversing through narrow, dilapidated streets.

At this time, the sky had become increasingly dim, one [Frost Blade] after another whizzed by, haphazardly striking the ground and walls.

With each incantation, Lynn's mind would be wracked with agony, but at this point he could afford to give it no further thought. If he ceased casting spells, his adversary would close in and impale his skull with a sword! In contrast, Brenny, who was in pursuit, seemed to have the upper hand. His keen eyes tracked the flying frost blades, and he nimbly dodged them, maintaining a calculated distance behind Lynn.

Brenny was particularly cautious. After all, the slyness of this wizard's apprentice was unparalleled. Whether it was the deceptively arrangements in the room, the sudden eruption of frost blades and fireball spells that injured him, or the bizarre magic that appeared weak but killed Andrei, they had all left a profound impact on him.

Therefore, even though his opponent appeared to be completely spent, Brenny did not dare to act recklessly. Like the most patient of hunters, he gradually sapped Lynn's strength until the prey was felled and dead.

In this way, as they fled and chased, the two became increasingly distant from the city. A noxious odor permeated the air. It was then that Brenny realized Lynn had fled in a panic to the abandoned Lower City District.

The entire Nordland region is higher in the north and lower in the south. The main city is located on the north bank of the Yow River.

Over a decade ago, Duke Nordland, returning from the Holy City, was unhappy with the chaotic, fetid appearance of the main city. He ordered craftsmen to dig a small canal to divert all the artificial waste from the main city to the downstream of the Yow River.

The plight of the impoverished denizens of the Lower City District, dependent on the Yow River for sustenance, was palpable. However, Duke Nordland cared little for the well-being of such lowly folk, and so, over time, the Lower City District became a forgotten, desolate place, inhabited only by a few scavengers.

As he chased Lynn, Brenny couldn't shake the nagging worry that other wizard apprentices might be lurking in this forsaken place. Just as he resolved to end the pursuit with a swift strike, Lynn suddenly stopped in a winding alleyway.

'The concentration should suffice...' Lynn muttered to himself before activating the bizarre runes in his mind, conjuring seven glinting [Frost Blades] from the void.

The exertion of forcibly converting such a large quantity of magic into hydrogen and oxygen came with severe consequences, as Lynn's brain threatened to implode under the strain.

The magic had been pushed to its limits; this was his final spell!

In the next moment, these frost blades automatically split into two groups, randomly shooting forward and blocking all of Brenny's escape routes.

Brenny's face became grave, his eyes fixed on the blades.

Even he couldn't entirely defend against such a large number of frost blade with his injury...

Fortunately, these ice blades seemed to have lost their aim, most of them merely skimming past him, only four aimed directly at him...

A last-ditch struggle? A hint of mockery crossed Brenny's face as he remembered how, during the pursuit, he had discovered that Lynn's magic was not truly creating something from nothing, but rather causing great strain on his spirit...

Clearly, the other man was at the brink of exhaustion.

The corners of Brenny's lips turned upward, his long sword slicing through the oncoming [Frost Blades] with unerring accuracy, a short diagonal upward slash, a tilt of his head to the left, a side step to the right, and lastly one final vertical slash in front.

But he failed to notice a red sphere intermixed with the last frost blade flying towards him.

There was a sharp sound as the sword edge and sphere collided, sending sparks flying.

The bizarre, unfamiliar sensation caused Brenny to hesitate for a moment, before realizing that he had struck a flintstone...?

As sword clashed and flintstone met, sparks of light burst forth in a dazzling display, spreading out like a spider's web.

In an instant, Brenny's mind was filled with an inexplicable sense of dread, his pupils constricted, but before he could react, everything around him was engulfed by flames that leapt and danced.

"BOOOM!!"