Volume 5: Protracted War Chapter 45: The Pyromantic Mage
I was the only Undead wizard who entered the top 256 among those who participated in the individual competition. Qingwu Feiyang, Qiu Shui Changtian, Tianxing and others were eliminated one after another. Although they could also summon terrifying giant bear knights and had powerful undead pets, their weaknesses in professional skills limited their performance in the individual competition. As long as they were capable, the opponents would not give us, the Undead wizards, any time to cast "Undead Summoning". They would attack with all their strength from the beginning, and if they made a mistake, they would end up in regret. After only two rounds of competition, almost the entire army was defeated, ranking last among all combat professions - even thieves, for the first time, had two people enter the top 256 with high-quality equipment and powerful props. This further confirmed the view shared by many critics that necromancers are not good at single combat. Many people's eyes are now focused on me, the only one left. More and more players are attracted to watch my game, to see if I, the necromancer with the greatest reputation and artifacts, can create a myth and eventually be named one of the "Top Ten" - of course, this result is definitely not what Hua Mantian wants to see. He set such high odds for me, which will definitely cause him to suffer heavy losses.
In the third round, the opponent randomly chosen by the system was a fire magician from the Western Continent named Saint Germain. His pets were a level 5 three-headed flame wolf and a level 7 earth fire dragon. The combination of a magic dragon and a level 5 magic pet was quite powerful. The seeded player was ranked higher than me and entered the top 100. The fire magician could exert higher attack power and damage effect with the fire pet. In addition, the holy magic staff in his hand, which weakened the target's fire immunity by 30%, was the "Fire Staff". The general equipment and props that could reduce fire damage basically could not play their due effect. In front of his powerful attack power, they could only be roasted into charcoal. It was said that his opponent in the previous game had been equipped with a piece of armor made of unicorn scales, but it was not fire-resistant enough and still failed. He also has a nickname called "Fire Mage", which means that he is as fiery as fire, has a hot temper, has a tough fighting style, advocates offense, believes that "the best defense is offense", likes to launch an all-out attack to suppress his opponent, and fights with a desperate attitude every time.
If it had been any other opponent, perhaps Saint Germain would still be able to continue to advance with his powerful fire magic attack power. Unfortunately, his opponent in this round happened to be me, who had the "Phoenix Feather Cloak", and was destined to experience a fierce offensive battle. This fireproof equipment, which cost me tens of thousands of gold coins and owed me many favors, was carefully made to enter the "Hell Volcano", one of the four forbidden areas of the "Dead Space". Because it was mixed with a phoenix tail feather whose effect was second only to the unicorn horn, and at the same time added a skill of "Fire Feather Barrier", the fireproof performance was further enhanced. Like Saint Germain's "Fire Staff", it was also at the holy level, and from the perspective of the effectiveness of the equipment, it had a certain advantage. In addition, I had the artifact "Touch of Death" known as the "Magician Killer". The outside world unanimously commented that as long as Saint Germain could not quickly break the defense of the "Phoenix Feather Cloak" at the beginning of the game, I would most likely win this game. This is the biggest weakness of extreme magicians who choose to use magic of the same attribute to attack pets. Although the attributes between humans and pets are compatible, the growth rate of pets can be accelerated, and mutual cooperation can exert more powerful attack power, which is superior to hybrid magicians in many aspects. However, once the opponent is equipped with powerful equipment that is immune to this type of magic damage, the combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced, and it is not as adaptable as hybrid magicians.
At the beginning of the game, of course, I went out to fight wearing the "Phoenix Feather Cape" returned by Yue Linglong. I did not use "Pet Summoning" first like in previous games, but immediately activated the "Fire Feather Barrier" to maximize the fireproof effect, and then used the "Three Shields to Protect the Body" to further strengthen my own protection ability. Then, I ignored the slight damage caused by the "Exploding Fireball" attack of Saint Germain's harassment nature, and began to quickly use "Summoning the Undead". Two terrifying giant bear knights appeared beside me. They did not take the initiative to attack, but under the protection of the "Fire Feather Barrier", they began to accumulate power and prepared to use "Flash Combo" to quickly rush to Saint Germain and give him a fatal blow. Although before this, because he could not dodge defense, the Terror Knight himself might suffer more serious injuries, but with the protection of the "Fire Feather Barrier", it is estimated that there is a greater possibility of hard-working. As long as he can persist until completing a "Flash Combo", even if he sacrifices himself, it should make Saint Germain pay a heavy price. Two black warriors were also summoned at the same time, whose duty was to protect the two terrifying giant bear knights. They were even willing to use their bodies to take attacks for them to ensure that they would not suffer too serious damage before they had fully accumulated their strength.
The casting speed of "Summoning the Undead" was much slower. By the time I finished, Saint Germain had already summoned two pets while harassing me. The first summoned earth fire dragon had recovered its ability to move and rushed towards me with big strides. As it paused from time to time while running and emitted a faint red light from its body, bunches of "underground fire pillars" as thick as bowls erupted from the ground. Before one bunch disappeared, another one was born. Each bunch lasted for about half a minute. Almost all of them were targeting me, because they had to cover the summoned undead creatures in the "Fire Feather Barrier" and had to distract themselves from casting "Pet Summoning". I couldn't dodge effectively, so I had to be in a sea of rising fire. Although I didn't suffer too serious damage under the protection of the "Phoenix Feather Cloak", the attack power of the seventh-level magic dragon was also extraordinary. It was continuously increasing the load of the "Phoenix Feather Cloak". If I couldn't get heat dissipation recovery, I would still suffer from the burning flames blindly. I guess I couldn't hold on for too long.
As Saint Germain and the Three-Headed Flame Wolf joined the siege on me, the situation became increasingly urgent. I was almost surrounded by flames and seemed to be taking a one-sided beating. I was unable to fight back for a while, but I remained unmoved. According to the established strategy, I summoned Taotao to help me. Since I had already cast the "Summoning of the Undead", unless I planned to use the "Magic Storage Ring", I could only summon another pet, and Taotao with the Hellfire attribute was obviously more suitable for fighting in the raging flames than Red Star.
When the fire- winged ghost horse Taotao appeared, it continuously launched attacks from mid-air with its "Piercing Horns". Its fire-attributed physique, coupled with the "Flowing Fire Armor", did not cause much damage to it from fire magic, which caused Saint Germain a lot of trouble. He was forced to dodge from time to time, and even had to rely on the body of the Earth Fire Dragon for cover to get rid of Taotao's attacks. Although it was rumored that Taotao's strength was not inferior to that of a seventh-level magic pet, in terms of real ability, there was still a certain gap compared to the magic dragon of the King of Warcraft, especially in terms of attack power. Its skills were a little weak, and it was not suitable for a head-on confrontation with the Earth Fire Dragon. In this way, the attacks I received were weakened a lot. At least the Earth Fire Dragon was restrained, forcing it to retreat and participate in the defense, so that it would not run to me so arrogantly and wantonly spit out "Fire Dragon Flame" - this is a powerful skill of the magic dragon, and its power is even greater than Taotao's "Fire Roar", but it cannot reach far, and can only spray out three or four meters at most. It is a medium and short-range attack skill, and it is also what Taotao is most concerned about. If it is sprayed, it will not only be hurt, most of the "Flowing Fire Armor" will be blown off, but it will also slow down its movements and the recovery speed of the "Flowing Fire Armor".
Even with the protection of the "Fire Feather Barrier", under the vigorous attack of one person and two pets, the two weaker black warriors were reduced to ashes in the flames one after another because they had to cover their teammates. The two terrifying giant bear knights who were unable to move while accumulating strength had also suffered heavy damage, and several parts of their bodies and mounts had begun to carbonize. If it weren't for Saint Germain's rapid loss of mental and physical strength under the entanglement of the "Touch of Death" that I activated, and his efforts to kill me first to get rid of the threat, all attacks were launched with me as the center, they would definitely not be able to support it. Alas, I still underestimated the ability of the Earth Fire Dragon and the "Fire Staff". If it weren't for the "Touch of Death" that forced Saint Germain to take the initiative to attack and patiently hold on, it would really take some effort to get rid of the opponent.
However, the holy-level "Phoenix Feather Cloak" that I invested a lot of money to make did not let me down after all. It protected me from the scorching fire. The two broken Horror Giant Bear Knights finally gathered enough strength, and launched a "Flash Combo" at the same time, heading straight for Saint Germain. At the same time, Taotao launched a desperate charge without caring about his own safety, and landed beside him under the fierce attacks of the Earth Fire Dragon's "Fire Dragon Flame" and Saint Germain's "Exploding Fireball", and used kicks, horn spikes, and body collisions to entangle Saint Germain as much as possible, not giving him a chance to avoid the "Flash Combo" of the two Horror Giant Bear Knights.
Facing the Terror Knight's most powerful skills, the distance of ten to twenty meters was closed in an instant, and repeated attacks were launched around Saint Germain. Because of Taotao's life-threatening entanglement, it was quite difficult for him to dodge and he had to bear most of the attacks. Even with the protection of "Fire Spirit Shield" and "Fire Clothes" skills, he could not avoid being hurt. The continuous attacks made it impossible for him to use defensive skills in time. Even with two pets coming back to help urgently, his relatively clumsy skills could not completely dodge the fearless and suicidal attacks. He was repeatedly injured, and coupled with the interference of my "Underworld Curse" and "Ghost Fire", the speed at which "Touch of Death" absorbed his mental power and consumed his physical strength was aggravated in the chaos. His performance became worse and worse, and the fate of the tyrannical "Fire Mad Mage" was doomed to failure.
Saint Germain is indeed very strong, and it is a pity that he was eliminated so early. I can only blame him for being unlucky to meet me, who has the best fire-avoiding equipment in the world. There are already several offensive "Fire Staffs" in the world, but only one "Phoenix Feather Cape" has been successfully made so far. The key is that Phoenix tail feathers are not so easy to obtain. Even if you kill the sacred beast Phoenix, you may not be able to obtain an intact and usable Phoenix tail feather. The Kirin horn, which is more effective than the Phoenix tail feather, is even more difficult to obtain. There is only one Kirin, and there is a certain chance that it will drop after killing it. This is a cruel game. Whether you have strength depends on your opponent. In a strong dialogue, one side will always be eliminated.
It was somewhat surprising for outside critics that an undead wizard like me could enter the top 128 in the individual competition, but it was reasonable when you think about it carefully. In addition to my own strength, it was also related to the opponents I met in the first three rounds. Except for the elf archer Dae Jang Geum who had a dual-sensitive pet and a "pseudo-artifact" and posed a greater threat to me, the other two opponents were implicitly restrained by me. The situation was in my favor and I was lucky. Xue Wuxia was a bit unlucky. In the third round, he met his old rival, the Angry Swordsman Yamato Spirit. Yamato Spirit possessed a level seven magical beast, a stone ape, whose ability was not inferior to Xue Wuxia's purple electric magic leopard. As an earth-type magical beast, it had a certain restraining effect on lightning-type magical beasts. Even with the help of the little golden frog, he still couldn't gain any advantage in the battle. In addition, Yamato Spirit himself was slightly stronger than Xue Wuxia, and was equipped with lightning-proof props with good performance, which reduced the damage of lightning magic. However, his equipment was not as good as that of his opponent. After a hard fight, he was finally defeated and failed to advance to the fourth round.
Afeng encountered another dragon knight. The opponent's strength was not very outstanding. He relied on two "heart-protecting bronze mirrors" and the sharp weapon "Returning Dragon Spear", all of which were top-level celestial weapons. They were not much inferior to holy weapons. He was not at a disadvantage in equipment. He finally defeated the opponent and advanced together with me.
By the fourth round of the individual competition, only 128 players were left. They were all elites among the elites. Even if some of them had some luck in their promotion, they were all very strong to win three games in a row. Supreme Honor, Dragon Travels the World, Desert Eagle, Holy Heaven, Yamato Spirit, Singing with Wine, Fearless Warriors, Angels on Earth, Silence of the Lambs, White Clouds, Romantic Cherry Blossoms, Watching with Cold Eyes… all of them were famous top players. It can be said that everyone has the strength to win the "Top Ten". As the competition progresses, there are fewer and fewer players, and they may encounter them in the next round at any time. In order to increase the chance of winning the "Top Ten", I can only pray to avoid these "strong men" as much as possible, save my strength and fight with my opponents in the competition for the top eight - by then, I should be facing masters among masters, and there will be no luck.
