"Sure, it's my honor to be able to spar with High Priest Gergila." Lin Li didn't think that Gergila had any ulterior motives, nor did he think that there was any need for him to scheme against him. Hence, he simply nodded and agreed to Gergila's request.
In the arena, 24 quaint stone pillars slowly rose around the venue, and the dense mageweaths on the stone pillars also emitted magical light. Soon, a transparent magic shield covered the venue. Lin Li and Gergila were already standing in the middle of the arena, each holding a staff while waiting for the defensive mageweaths to be fully activated.
The arena was silent, and the Werewolves, Vampires, and Dark Mages were all staring at the center of the arena with excitement and silence. High Priest Gergila's battle was something that they rarely got to see. In the past, only their respective disciples were qualified to watch the sparring between the high priests.
As for the young human mage, they had also heard that he was a distinguished guest invited by High Priest Sendros, the owner of the Tower of Dusk in the Breezy Plains, and a rather powerful Legendary-mage. Although almost everyone in the Darkness Shrine was in disbelief after hearing the news about Lin Li and the Tower of Dusk, they had no choice but to turn their suspicions into curiosity when it came to the chief high priest, Sendros. They wanted to see what was so special about the young mage that Sendros valued.
On the viewing platform in front of the arena, the remaining four high priests were chatting softly with some trepidation. Did Gergila really just want to exchange actual combat experience? That was part of the reason, but not the whole reason. As the high priest of the Darkness Shrine, how could he really want to spar with a distinguished guest of the Darkness Shrine just because he was itching for a fight?
"Zoquila, is it really okay for Gergila to do this? Sendros warned us, "the Vampire priest Culostein said worriedly. Although the five high priests were also members of the Darkness Council, they were both respectful and fearful of Sendros. In particular, when they thought about the means Sendros used to deal with those who violated his rules, even the cold-blooded Vampires couldn't help but feel a chill down their spines.
"Well, it's just an exchange of experience. It's not something rude. Besides, Master Felic did it willingly. Sendros shouldn't blame us, right?" Zoquila's face was covered under the large hood, and no one could see his expression. However, his tone revealed his inner uneasiness.
"Don't scare yourselves. We're doing this for the sake of the Darkness Shrine. Besides, can't you tell that Mage Felic seems to be looking forward to such an exchange? What's so good about the Black Temple? We're doing this to satisfy him, "Poladio said nonchalantly.
After thinking about it carefully, Pladio felt that there was some truth in what he said. Although Sendros's means were terrifying, he was not an unreasonable person. At this thought, the high priests finally relaxed a little and turned their attention to the center of the arena. At this moment, the magic defense of the arena was fully activated. After exchanging a few pleasantries, the two people in the center of the arena finally moved.
Neither Gergila nor Lin Li activated their respective Magical Domains. After all, it was just a sparring session, and they weren't really going to fight to the death. Lin Li really treated it as a sparring session, and although Gergila was dissatisfied with Lin Li's answer to his question, he dared not ignore Sendros' words.
However, in Gergila's opinion, it wouldn't be too difficult for him to defeat the young Mage Felic even if he didn't go all out. Just because one's magic theory was good didn't mean that one could use it well. Just because one's mana was almost limitless didn't mean that one could use it in the right place. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many battles in this world. Everyone would just sit together and compare their magic theory and mana to determine the winner. As for those adventures, no one could say for sure how much of the details were true and how much was false.
Besides, the environment of the Darkness Shrine itself was similar to a Darkness Domain, and the strength of the believers of Darkness had been greatly improved. Gergila, who was proficient in Dark Magic, naturally benefited more. Gergila was originally already level-23, and with the help of the environment of the Darkness Shrine, he would probably be able to contend with a level-24 powerhouse. Gergila felt that the only thing he had to do was to protect Mage Felic's pride so that he wouldn't lose too embarrassedly. After all, Sendros had said that he couldn't be rude to Lin Li.
"Mage Felic, be careful," Gergila reminded him. He then pointed the staff in his hand forward, and a Shadow Twining spell was shot at Lin Li's feet.
The originally flat ground under Lin Li's feet immediately began to ripple, as if the ground had turned into black water. Next, black tentacles that looked like pythons darted out of the black ripples on the ground and wrapped around Lin Li's body.
Hearing Gergila's reminder, Lin Li almost couldn't react in time. Is this a new tactic? Although it's just a sparring session, there's no need to be so polite. Lin Li gently tapped the Helios' Scepter on the ground, and a circle of flames immediately spread out in a ring-like shape with his body as the center.
The Resistance Ring of Fire was a very effective magic spell that mages used to deal with the situation of being besieged. The black tentacles that were entangling Lin Li were pushed away by the power of the Resistance Ring of Fire in the blink of an eye, and quickly melted while burning. After casting the Ring of Resistance, Lin Li immediately retaliated, and waved the Helios' Scepter without stopping. A pillar of thunderbolt condensed in the void, and blasted towards Gergila's head.
Gergila wasn't surprised that the Shadow Twining spell didn't work. If Lin Li didn't even have that ability, he wouldn't have been valued by Sendros. Hence, after casting the Darkness Twining spell, Gergila moved quickly while casting the Darkness Guardian spell on himself. He seemed to have become a shadow. At this moment, the thunderbolt in the sky also fell, but it passed through Gergila's body and hit the ground hard, causing countless gravel to be stirred up.
Lin Li's eyes narrowed slightly. The Darkness Guardian was a Legendary-level defensive spell of Dark Magic, and its effect seemed to be somewhat similar to the Void of the Stars. Of course, it was actually far inferior. It was said that mages who mastered the Void of the Stars could place their bodies and souls in the void, and would no longer be harmed by magic and sharp swords in the world. In fact, under the effect of the Void of the Stars, the caster would become an existence that didn't belong to Anril for a certain period of time, and naturally wouldn't be harmed by the power of mortals.
The Darkness Guardian made the caster's body turn into a shadow, which had a high immunity to physical damage and elemental magic damage. No one had ever seen a shadow being split apart by a sword. Besides, the Darkness Guardian had another characteristic, which was that it could allow the caster to move freely in all kinds of natural shadows. If they were in complete darkness, it would be similar to teleportation.
However, the greatest weakness of the Darkness Guardian was that it would greatly reduce the caster's resistance to Holy Light Magic. Even if the caster had Legendary-level strength, he would probably be hurt by the lowest-level Holy Light Magic under the Darkness Guardian. Hence, generally speaking, Dark Mages would never use the Darkness Guardian when fighting with the clergy of Holy Light, as that would be equivalent to putting one's neck under the opponent's blade.
When Lin Li was in the Brilliance Shrine, he had not only read the Light Bible of the Brilliance Shrine, but also received personal guidance from Pope Rosario. Hence, he was not inferior to the clergy at all in terms of Holy Light Magic. According to Archbishop Englos and the other archbishops, Lin Li's attainments in Holy Light Magic were enough for him to become a cardinal.
However, Lin Li did not use Holy Light Magic in the face of Gergila's Darkness Guardian. One of the reasons was that they were in the Darkness Shrine, after all, and using Holy Light Magic would easily incur the hatred of others. Another reason was that it was a sparring session, after all, and the goal was not to win. Hence, Lin Li didn't want to end the battle too quickly. Besides, using Holy Light Magic in such a sparring session would more or less be suspected of cheating. Even if he won, it would be an unfair victory.
If I don't use Holy Light Magic, do I really have no way to deal with you!? Lin Li smirked and quickly dodged to the side to avoid the Shadow Thorns that were shot towards him. At the same time, he raised the Helios' Scepter while chanting a spell. The gem on the top of the scepter suddenly emitted a dazzling magical ray of light. All of a sudden, the temperature in the arena plummeted to the extreme, and snowflakes condensed from the void. They shone brightly and drifted down, turning the arena into a world of ice and snow. It was not Lin Li's Frost Domain, but a level-22 Ice World, which was similar to the Thunderbolt Catastrophe. It was a domain-level ice magic.
"He's already using a magic of this level at this juncture. Does he really have infinite mana?" Gergila was not the only one who was shocked. The four high priests who were watching from the sidelines were also shocked. In theory, a mage of a certain level would have the ability to use magic of a certain level. Since Mage Felic was a level-23 Legendary-mage, it was not surprising that he could use level-22 magic. However, that did not mean that he could use magic of the same level casually like throwing fireballs, especially when it was a domain-level magic. The mana consumed would definitely be enough to drain a level-22 mage instantly. Even for a level-23 mage, it would definitely be a huge burden.
However, the four high priests could tell that Lin Li seemed to be very relaxed when he cast the magic, and did not even pause when gathering mana. In other words, the mana required for the level-22 magic was completely released by Lin Li in an instant. He did not gather it in his body before releasing it. Based on that alone, the four high priests began to believe what Sendros said about the young mage having infinite mana.
At this moment, a priest of the Darkness Shrine ran to the stands, and after bowing, he said to the four high priests, "High Priests, the chief high priest invites you to go and see him now!"
"What!?" The four high priests immediately stood up in shock. Although they had already thought of a reason to deal with it just now, they were all nervous again when they heard that Sendros wanted to see them. Of course, Sendros wouldn't really swallow them alive, but he would definitely reprimand them.
"Did he only ask the four of us to go and see him? He didn't mention High Priest Gergila?" Zoquila asked the priest of the Darkness Shrine after calming himself down, seemingly having thought of something.
"Yes, the chief high priest only asked the four of you to go and see him. He didn't mention High Priest Gergila," the priest of the Darkness Shrine hurriedly answered.
"Zoquila, what do you mean by that?" the heavy-armored knight Nostaro asked Zoquila in a muffled voice.
"It's nothing, it means that the chief high priest might have already acquiesced to the matter here. Otherwise, he should have called Gergila over instead of letting them continue to spar in the arena," Zoquila explained to Nostaro and the others after heaving a sigh of relief.
Even an ordinary Mage Tower would be monitored by a crystal ball, not to mention the Darkness Shrine. It could be said that any movement here would be immediately displayed on the crystal ball at the core of the Darkness Shrine. Although Sendros couldn't possibly stay in front of the crystal ball all the time, anyone would go and take a look at the arena when the strongest magical defense was activated. If Sendros was really dissatisfied with the behavior of the five high priests, he could have stopped the spar with Gergila immediately, instead of just asking Zoquila and the other three to go over.
After hearing Zoquila's explanation, the other three finally heaved a sigh of relief. However, it was obvious that they would definitely be reprimanded. It was just a matter of severity. The four high priests looked at the arena, only to see that the two of them were casting all sorts of magic spells. They had no idea how Sendros would deal with Gergila. Hence, they had no choice but to sigh in their hearts and leave the stands together.
In the arena, Gergila had no idea that his four companions in the stands had already been reprimanded by Sendros, because the opponent in front of him made him unable to pay attention to anything else. He had already felt that the young mage was not bluffing at all. Apart from the level-22 Frozen World, he had also cast a series of terrifying spells that consumed a lot of mana. If it were an ordinary level-23 Legendary-mage, he would probably not have been able to hold on for a long time.
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