Above the mage!

Chapter 610 The Second Guild Badge (Part 2)
In an instant, Ella lost all ability to resist, and her body fell rapidly without her control.

Her hair flew upwards in the wind, and the sky and Gaode's figure in her field of vision began to recede rapidly.

Gao De's eyes, however, were like those of a hawk hunting, never letting up, his offensive like a relentless wave, relentlessly pursuing his prey.

He was very clear-headed, knowing that the reason he was able to gain the upper hand and control of the situation was due to his comprehensive abilities and the magical effects that always exceeded his opponent's expectations.

The ability to sense heat effectively disables a third-level control spell. The [Earthbind] spell, enhanced by the elemental element, is equivalent to casting a higher-level spell.
All of these factors have contributed to our current advantages.

However, the suppression at this moment does not stem from overwhelming force, but is based on the asymmetry of information and the unconventional effects.

The key to defeating a stronger opponent with a weaker one lies in overwhelming them with a flurry of attacks; you must not allow your opponent to regain their footing and regroup after this series of blows and unexpected events.

After all, the gap between mage levels still stands.
Thinking of this, Gao De hovered in the air, his eyes suddenly narrowing.

Deep within his pupils, a faint yet unsettling purplish-black light flickered.

The light did not shoot out, but rather collapsed inward, symbolizing that his enormous spiritual power was being forcibly compressed and condensed into a single point, ready to be unleashed.

That's a sign of highly concentrated mental energy.

The next instant, Ella's pupils suddenly contracted, and her sense of alarm rose to its peak.

A cold, sharp, and malicious invisible cone pierced her mind, chiseling towards the core of her consciousness.

She instinctively activated her mental defenses to resist this sharp thorn.

But the sheer ferocity of this sharp cone far exceeded Ella's expectations.

She felt as if a thunderbolt had exploded in her mind, and countless tiny, sharp thorns raged wildly, tearing at her spirit.

Fortunately, Ella, being a mid-stage third-ring mage, possessed formidable mental strength. Although her spirit was damaged, it could only be considered a "minor injury."

But this sense of relief didn't last long.

Ella could clearly sense a cold, persistent consciousness that followed her everywhere, completely enveloping her mental trajectory, leaving her nowhere to hide or escape.
[Spiritual Thorn]:
You access the mind of a visible creature within your casting range.

The target must resist with their mental power; failure will result in mental damage. Furthermore, you will be able to know the target's location at all times until the spell ends, as long as you are on the same plane.

When you have this information, the target will no longer be able to hide from you.

When Gaode cast [Mind Spikes], his primary motivation was not to strike Ella's mind, but rather to target her with the [Mind Spikes]'s lock-on effect.

Thermal sensing capabilities are ultimately limited in scope and can be interfered with or blocked.

Now, with the "Mind Spike" lock-on, the darkness before them no longer poses any obstacle for Gaode Maps.

In his mind, Ella was like a lantern shining in the darkness, crystal clear.

Ella, meanwhile, was oblivious to the stinging pain in her head and the discomfort of being locked on.

She knew that the most urgent task was to get out of the current predicament.

At the very least, remove the layer of frost covering the body's surface first.

Ella has quite a bit of experience in this regard.

—It was precisely because of her outstanding resistance to cold that she was able to go to sea as a third-ring mage to carry out the task of eliminating Leng Ningxiang.

Therefore, with a thought, Ella released a layer of light and flame from her body, as if she were coated with molten gold, which quickly covered her entire body and began to fight against the frost.

However, the frost she had anticipated melting instantly did not happen.

This layer of frost seemed to be imbued with some ancient power, making it extremely stubborn. Although it gradually melted under the scorching energy of the flames, the process was much slower than Ella had anticipated.

This is the power of the ice magic that Gaode cast under the blessing of Zhenbing magic.

Ella has lost count of how many times she has encountered such "unexpected" situations in her battle against Gao De.

It was the accumulation of so many unexpected circumstances that ultimately led her to her current disadvantageous situation.

This unexpected event, too, brought her new troubles.

Gao De mobilized the True Ice Magic within his body, and a pale blue halo condensed in his palm, ready to unleash the next wave of attack.

With a flick of his wrist, the magical power in his palm scattered like shattered ice crystals, spreading rapidly like a spider web above the sea where Ella had fallen.

Wherever it passed, the sea surface suddenly calmed down, and then countless translucent ice crystal spikes suddenly shot out of the water and wrapped around Ella as she fell from the sky.

These spikes do not grow haphazardly, but rather intertwine to form a cage centered on Ella, following the coordinates locked by the [Mind Spikes].

The icicles, which were initially only as thick as a finger, grew rapidly, with translucent frost flowers condensing at their tips, and in the blink of an eye, they grew to more than two meters tall.

The ridges are covered with fine barbs, like a suddenly descending ice crystal forest.

Before Ella had fully landed on the ground, her ankles were simultaneously entangled by three ice thorns. The icy touch seeped into her veins through her skin, dimming the light that had just flared up on her body.

【Overgrown with icethorns】!
Damn it, Ella gritted her teeth, her delicate eyebrows furrowed.

She never expected that Gao De, who seemed so reserved and calm when working with her, would be so sharp and aggressive during the legal battle, giving her no chance to catch her breath.

Fortunately, the moment the icy thorns entangled her feet, the light emanating from her body finally melted away the frost on her skin.

Ella didn't dare to delay and quickly swung the flaming longsword in her hand.

The sword, crackling with scorching energy, slashed toward the ice thorns at his ankle.

scoff!

The flames collided with the ice spikes, instantly melting a patch of ice crystals.

The severed ice shards immediately spew forth even finer ice crystals, as if they were alive, coiling around the ice at an even faster speed, making them even more troublesome than [Thorns Overgrowth].
The bonus to ice elemental spells in "The Secret of Perfect Ice" is already far greater than the bonus to wood elemental spells in "The Scripture of Green Wood Longevity".

Even considering all cultivation methods, the enhancement of spell power in "The Secret Transmission of True Ice" is undoubtedly top-tier (T0).

Faced with these ice spikes that weren't deadly but were incredibly annoying, Ella completely lost her patience.

She is a melee mage, that's true, but that doesn't mean she only knows melee spells.

Given that everyone knows she's a melee mage, it's essential to have one or two hidden ranged attack spells ready.

Under normal circumstances, especially in such a public setting, Ella genuinely didn't want to expose her ranged attack methods.

This is her trump card, a life-saving measure in critical moments.

But now, apart from this one move, she couldn't think of any other way to break the deadlock.

Ella gritted her teeth in resentment, then suddenly raised her free left hand, palm facing forward towards God.

Her red lips moved rapidly, uttering obscure magical incantations, while her fingertips formed three consecutive, complex hand seals.

The moment the gesture was made, a deep purple force field aura erupted.

Within the halo, countless tiny force field threads intertwined and coiled, condensing into a semi-transparent force field dagger in the blink of an eye.

The dagger was about seven inches long, its entire body gleaming with a cold, twilight hue, and its edges flowing with a faint purplish-black sheen.

The blade seemed to be woven from solidified shadows and fragmented golden light. When it was suspended in the air, the surrounding light seemed to be drawn in, forming a faint dark spot.

It had no physical form, yet its sharp edge was clearly visible, and the occasional flash of cold light left no doubt about its penetrating power. The moment the dagger took shape, it seemed to gain its own consciousness, following Ella's will, transforming into a streak of purplish-black light, heading straight for God's face in mid-air.

The streak of light was incredibly fast, emitting a sharp hiss as it sliced ​​through the air. It also strangely absorbed all the light in its path for a short time, leaving behind a twisted purplish-black trail, like a crack that had been forcibly torn open in space.

Its flight trajectory was extremely cunning, precisely catching the gap between Gao De's release of Ice Thorn spell and the complete recovery of his magic power.

This was an opportunity that Ella had been observing for a long time.

What's even more ingenious is that Ella was wielding her flaming longsword, pretending to break free from Icethorn's melee attack, but in reality, her attention was completely locked onto God, thus catching God off guard.

Gao De's pupils contracted slightly; he could clearly sense the dangerous aura emanating from the force field dagger.

It was pure force field energy, without elemental fluctuations, yet it possessed a sharpness capable of tearing through defenses.

He knew the characteristics of force field attacks all too well; this form of energy could directly penetrate the elemental barriers of ordinary protective spells.

There's no way to block it; you can only dodge!
Otherwise, at best you'll be severely injured, at worst you'll trigger the guard badge on your chest, which means defeat.

But this dagger was just too fast!
Comparable to the peerless martial art of Little Li's Flying Dagger in novels, it whistled through the air and closed to within five feet in the blink of an eye.

The purplish-black light reflected from the blade was reflected in Gao De's eyes, and he could even see the fine patterns of the force field energy flow.

Even with the blessing of "Cat's Elegance" and a reaction speed far exceeding that of ordinary people, he could only twist his waist in time and was unable to completely avoid this fatal blow.

"What a waste of time, what a pity." The mages watching from the sidelines gasped when they saw this, and even the guardian deacon sighed softly.

He witnessed Gao De's complete dominance over Ella throughout the game, and even felt anxious for Ella at one point.

But at this moment, the outcome of this battle is no longer in doubt.

However, in his opinion, Gao De's performance was already amazing enough to push Ella to this point.

The other mages who were watching the battle also breathed a sigh of relief.

As fellow guardians of the temple, their fates were intertwined, and they certainly didn't want to see Ella lose this French duel and hand over the temple's badge.

In the fighting arena, a glint of determination flashed in Ella's eyes, and a cold smile curled at the corner of her lips.

She was extremely confident in her trump card.

This force field dagger is her specialty spell; combined with mental lock, she has never missed.

In her view, no matter how many tricks Gaode has up his sleeve, he can't escape being hit at this moment.

As a second-ring mage, Gao De's ability to suppress himself throughout the entire process and force out all his trump cards is already an immense honor.

But Ella's pride would never allow a second-circle mage to take the spell badge from her.

"It's over," Ella murmured to herself.
The next instant, the dagger was already upon him, its sharp tip less than a foot away from Gao De.

Off the field, some people were already shaking their heads, believing that this exciting duel was about to come to an end.

The next thing to happen should be the Guardian Badge being triggered.

Ella thought to herself.

However, another unexpected event, and also the last one, occurred in this French battle!
Suddenly, a cloud of pure white mist burst forth from Gao De's body. The mist was so pure that it contained no impurities, like the frost that had solidified on polar glaciers.

The mist seemed to have a life of its own, spreading out with lightning speed and completely enveloping him in a short time.

It formed a fog cloud with a diameter of more than ten feet, and tiny ice crystals flowed along the edge of the fog.

Then, something truly astonishing happened:

The silvery-white mist suddenly contracted, transforming into a slender stream of light that instantly vanished from the spot, carrying Gao De's figure with it.

The purplish-black force field dagger lost its target, and with a sharp hiss, it swept across the spot, striking nothing.

"Where is everyone?!" Ella's delicate brows furrowed, her eyes filled with disbelief and confusion as she subconsciously looked around.

Not only her, but all the spectating mages had this question in their minds at this moment.

Countless eyes, like searchlights, frantically searched every corner of the fighting arena for Gao De's figure.

It's actually not that hard to find.

Thirty feet away, silvery-white mist reappeared out of nowhere.

Gaode's figure emerged from the silvery-white mist.

"What kind of magic is this?!" The guardian mage watching the battle fell into a deathly silence for a moment, and then burst into a thunderous uproar.

They were by no means eccentric; everyone who could enter the Etheran Magic Hall was an elite proficient in magic. But at this moment, every one of them had a face full of shock and confusion.

Even the elderly guard of the museum stared wide-eyed at Gao De's figure.

"Instant teleportation! How could a second-ring mage cast a spell with such an effect?"

In his century-long career as a mage, he had never heard of any second-circle spell that could achieve instant teleportation.

Could it be some kind of special skill?!

He subconsciously made a guess.

All the mages present were elite mages, and the reason they couldn't recognize the spell that Gao De was casting was quite simple.

What he released was the True Ice spell, 【Stealth Step】, which only those with the True Ice bloodline can awaken and cast.

The Iceborn race has always lived in seclusion in the frigid north, isolated from the world.

The Zhenbing bloodline is extremely rare among the Iceborn, with only one in ten thousand. Even within the Iceborn, very few mages have ever seen the true form of Zhenbing magic, let alone mages from the outside world.
But that's not the point right now.

The key point is that Gao De, who has just appeared, already has a new magical light condensing in his hand!

[Shattering Sound Waves]!
With a flick of his finger, Gaode unleashed a highly compressed sound wave that was visible to the naked eye.

Wherever the sound waves passed, the air was violently disturbed, rippling like water waves and emitting a muffled hum.

Ella, on the other hand, had only just found Gaode's location and was still in a daze.

hum!
By the time she realized what was happening, the sound waves were already sweeping towards her.

Almost at the same instant the sound waves arrived, the guard badge on Ella's chest suddenly burst into a dazzling golden light.

A thick energy shield, as solid as a city wall, instantly formed, enveloping her entirely.

Ultimately, all the sonic energy was successfully blocked by the shield.

The golden light flickered a few times and slowly receded, and although Ella's face was pale, she was ultimately unharmed.

However, the French Bulldog's game was over the moment the badge was triggered.

Winner: Gao De!

(End of this chapter)