Beneath the city wall, Rosen kept a tight focus on the two men, ready to react at any moment if they made suspicious moves.
Of course, before combat began, he also hoped to uncover their identities.
When they didn't respond, he asked again, "Who do you work for?"
The two seemed confident of victory and were in no hurry to attack.
The blood-eyed man let out a raspy, hissing laugh like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.
"I'll tell you since it makes no difference - we are the disciples of the Winter King."
The Winter King? Never heard of him.
But disciples meant he was likely a god.
Rosen steadied himself: "No wonder things have been strange, there's an evil god behind this!"
Luckily the Third Golden Law protected the Golden Land against common evil spirits posing as gods.
Else, just the name would have made Rosen flee immediately.
He asked again, "Why did you kill people at the south market?"
"Our king awoke hungry, and urgently needed mortal blood. We didn't expect you mortals to kick up such a fuss over it, truly ignorant!"
As he spoke, the blood-eyed man pulled out a vine-like whip from behind.
The whip glowed with bloodlight, growing brighter towards the tip, droplets of blood endlessly falling as if real.
"Boy, I sense the pure power within you, a gift from fate for my master."
'Crack! Crack!'
He lashed the air, creating sharp cracks, bloodlight splashing. Wherever it landed, the soil liquefied into sticky, deep red mud like congealed blood.
Rosen's heart stirred.
'Materialized from behind, the whip's real. But the bloodlight's magic, staying on the whip yet able to splash off.'
Serendis taught countering composite attacks - tricky for novices lacking comprehensive defenses.
Luckily, Rosen knew two types - flame barrier against spells, repulsion field against physical attacks.
As he thought this, Rosen kept conversing.
"You're not the mastermind, only accomplices! Who is the mastermind?!"
All clues indicated a shapely noblewoman. These two couldn't pretend to be her. Likely her subordinates.
'Hahaha~~'
"Why don't you ask our master yourself?!"
Before his voice faded, the blood-eyed man struck first.
With a flick, he scooped some mud, lashed out at Rosen in a flash.
The mud scattered into a bloody rain around Rosen, while the whip blurred towards his chest.
The grey-robe didn't stay idle.
He crouched, shoving both hands into the ground, bulging it rapidly toward Rosen's feet.
Something sped underground toward Rosen.
Facing the joint attack, Rosen's mind focused intensely.
The repulsion field was already active, the flame barrier swiftly casting.
Just before impact, the air around Rosen shuddered loudly.
The repulsion field triggered against the mud, blowing the scattering drops back.
However, neither the whip nor its spraying bloodlight were affected at all. Like specks of smoking sulfuric acid, they still rushed at Rosen.
Rosen was shocked: "The whip's an illusion?"
He had misjudged!
Luckily, preparations were ready.
Seeing impact was imminent, his body suddenly glowed with a thin yellow light layer.
Extraordinary Tier 3 Spell: Flame Barrier.
The improved barrier appeared in under 0.2 seconds, its power immense - able to withstand low-tier pinnacle attacks a month and a half ago.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Now, with Rosen's arcane power at low-tier, the barrier's strength had also greatly improved, nearing mid-lower tier levels.
In other words, any magic below mid-tier would have difficulty breaking through.
Next, the bloodlit whip met the flame barrier.
'Crack! Crack! Crack!'
The energies collided violently with rapid bursts, piercing white flashes like electric arcs.
A moment later, ripples appeared on the barrier but it held firm without shattering.
The scattering bloodlight ignited into fiery specks, flaring brightly before vanishing.
The blood whip burned swiftly like a lit fuse toward the blood-eyed man's wrist.
"Such strong magic power?!" The whip-wielder was greatly surprised.
The whip neared low-tier pinnacle, a composite attack he thought sure to succeed. Yet it was blocked by a mere apprentice, unbelievable!
For Rosen too, it was his first real spell confrontation, making his heart pound wildly.
Actual combat differed greatly from virtual machines, the pressure multiplied tenfold. His simulated mastery now barely reached proficiency.
Luckily, it was enough.
The opponent left no time to rest, as the bulging ground already reached Rosen's feet.
"Die!" The grey robe man grinned hideously.
His strike was even stronger than the blood-eyed man's, while Rosen's barrier was barely holding up.
This would be the finishing blow!
On the rooftop, Serendis' heart tightened, preparing support magic.
But just as cracks appeared without the ground fully rupturing, another change happened.
Suddenly Rosen's figure blurred, rapidly shifting 8 meters in a flash from stillness to nearly low-tier pinnacle warrior speed before abruptly stopping.
Extraordinary Tier 4 Spell: Lightning Rush!
The abrupt movement seemed like teleportation.
Right after Rosen escaped, the ground exploded violently, spewing a giant python-thick mass of intertwined blood vines!
Unfortunately for the grey robe man, this explosive strike hit only empty air.
The ambush failed, he was greatly shocked.
"Not afraid of snapping your neck accelerating like that?"
Gaining speed wasn't difficult for mages, but explosive speed was.
It wasn't lacking power, but body toughness. A slight mistake could shatter the neck vertebrae, or the eyes could pop out if the body stopped but eyeballs didn't.
But no time to ponder amidst the fierce battle.
Missing its target, the python vine lashed wildly, whipping back toward Rosen in a piercing gust.
At the same time, the blood-eyed man conjured a new blood whip, lashing forcefully at Rosen again.
Unlike the previous attacks, this was a joint strike, extremely difficult to evade.
On the rooftop, Serendis' mind tightened again, gathering power for support spells.
Just then, an almond-sized yellow dot of light appeared, shooting swiftly and soundlessly like lightning toward the grey-robed man.
Extraordinary Tier 2 Spell: Magic Missile
The grey-robe had stood up by now.
With 5-star casting, he was prepared to counterattack.
While manipulating the python, his other hand swung forth, conjuring blood vines from the ground that swiftly wove into a net, one meter before him.
In the heat of battle, he reflexively estimated the missile's power based on experience, thinking one meter's safety.
The next moment, the yellow light struck the vine net.
'BOOM!'
The missile exploded into a seventy to eighty centimeter fireball, visibly rippling outward.
The fierce flames easily tore through the vine net, slamming into the grey robe man's chest through the one meter distance.
'CRACK!'
A clear bone crack sounded as his chest dented visibly, body warping sharply into a C-shape. On his protruding face, the eyeballs bulged out.
'Pew~~'
He violently spit blood, blasted over three meters back crashing heavily into the stone wall, before limply sliding down.
Over a meter away, the missile's shockwave alone was enough to blast him to death!
This scene gave Serendis and the blood-eyed man the same thought.
"Such strong power!"
Serendis was surprised, the blood-eyed man felt fear.
The master said an apprentice, how could his missile be so terrifying?
This power reached at least mid-tier already right?
Luckily the blood-eyed man was battle-hardened too. Though shaken, the blood whip still went forward.
The conjured python was physical, having lost control but still sweeping toward Rosen with remaining force.
"Die!"
Whether from fear or anger, the blood-eyed man roared.
Just before impact, Rosen's figure blurred again, rapidly shifting another 8 meters at the last moment to dodge both strikes.
'Boom!'
The python whip struck empty air and collapsed.
'Pa!'
The blood whip only lashed air, drops blocked by the barrier without injuring Rosen.
The blood-eyed man was baffled.
"What spell is this?!"
"Is this guy's body magically enhanced?!"
Such explosive speed wasn't impossible with magic, just basically mid-tier, even high-tier capabilities.
Absolutely not something an apprentice should have!
At this thought, the blood-eyed man shuddered as a terrifying possibility occurred to him.
"Could he be...not an apprentice but a mid-tier mage?!"
The shocking thought jolted his mind, making his hair stand on end.
"Impossible! Mid-tier mages have at least 6-star casting minimum. This guy can't even dual cast, at best 4-star. Not the same at all!"
The insane situation frazzled his mind.
But Rosen gave no time to think.
Channeling his meager remaining power into his staff, he condensed another missile blasting at the blood-eyed man.
Having seen its might, the blood-eyed man didn't dare be careless.
Unable to think much, he suddenly glowed with a dark red radiance - the Winter King's spell 'Winter's Blessing'.
That wasn't all.
Under the threat of death, his casting broke through from 5-star to 6-star!
Dual-casting!
Quickly retracting the blood whip, he spun rapidly around himself, laying a perimeter barrier of intertwined whip, bloodlight, and mud.
Almost instantly, the missile smashed heavily into the outer barrier.
'BOOM~~'
Another freakish explosive strike!
The seventy to eighty centimeter firewall easily shattered his defense, pounding into the dark red glow.
The red layer shook violently, flickering before disintegrating into specks.
Terrifyingly, even after breaking two barriers, the blast still retained undiminished force!
This remainder rammed into the blood-eyed man's chest.
'Pew~~'
He spit blood again, blasted back stumbling three steps before sitting heavily.
One thought dominated his mind: "What freak missile?! What freak apprentice?!"
Before recovering, his ears caught another piercing sound.
The next moment, blood flowers burst all over from dreadful pain, nearly knocking him unconscious.
It was Rosen's arcane pistol, he wanted the man alive for interrogation.
But an accident happened.
The fallen man's body suddenly convulsed violently before 'BANG' - exploding gruesomely from the inside-out into a bloody mess.
The horrifying scene shook Rosen's heart, before he quickly realized.
"The mastermind silenced him!"
Another thought swiftly followed.
"The mastermind is nearby!"
"No, she's been watching all along, maybe already recorded by my adventure log!"