Isabel raised her right hand with her palm facing upside.
"Yaomuse…Tera…The Ice Devil!" She invoked the incantation in a low voice.
A small blue vortex slowly appeared on top of her palm spinning, with a red spot of light flashing in the center of the vortex.
The dim light illuminated Isabel’s pretty face. She grabbed some red dust from the pouch by her belt and sprinkled it onto the vortex.
*CHI*
After the dust was poured into the vortex, the air flow changed and the dust turned into three, small triangular crystals.
The three crystals formed a circle above her palm and started spinning.
Isabel raised her hand and threw the three spinning red crystals toward Angele.
Angele raised his arms. Within seconds, a two-meter-long silver bow was conjured in his hands. He carefully attached the bowstring to the bow and a long black arrow made out the negative energy particles appeared on it quickly.
The three red crystals quickly flew to the tip of the arrow and rotated several times, it almost looked like they stuck to the surface of the tip. The black arrow looked elegant and mysterious with glowing crystals on its tip.
Angele raised the bow and aimed at the sky.
*CHI*
The arrow was unleashed from the bowstring.
A blue wave slowly spread into the air as Angele lowered his longbow.
On the sea, the female Dark Wizard screamed and started running backward after realizing she was being attacked.
The arrow soared through the air and caught up with the woman in a black robe. Suddenly, the arrow turned into a humongous silhouette of a centaur. The centaur roared and charged toward the woman.
The distorted centaur shadow was about two meters tall. It had long gray fur and white skin, two long white horns on its head, the torso of an adult human male, and the lower body of a strong stallion. In its hands were two flamberges. The eyeballs that should’ve been there were replaced by two small spheres of blue flame.
"Ice…" The blurry centaur shadow shouted in an ancient language.
*BOOM*
The distorted shadow powerfully struck the woman.
An intense white glow flashed in the air. Unprepared for it, Angele reflexively closed his eyes in response. Then, he saw the left side of the female Dark Wizard’s body frozen, while her body’s right side was engulfed in dark flames—a scene with such contrast that looked horrifying and strange.
Layers of glowing barriers surrounded the woman’s body: black ones, red ones, and green ones. More than ten barriers were trying to subvert the damage dealt.
The frozen area on her body expanded and eventually stopped the flame from burning continuously.
The woman raised her head and groaned.
Angele stood on the deck and shook his head. "It’s over," he muttered.
Isabel walked to Angele and showed a big smile to him.
"Your archery skill is impressive, and the energy arrow is powerful. With the help of my ice buff spell, it broke two of her barriers easily…" Isabel stared at the female Dark Wizard and spoke light-heartedly.
"Her mentality wave is packed with evil. We warned her already, but it seems like she fears those merfolk Wizards more than us." Angele nodded. "Isabel, the spell you cast is called Ice Devil, right? I’m surprised that this woman had so many layers of barriers."
"Yeah, that was unexpected." Isabel responded in a low voice, "That woman has a bunch of low-level enchanted items and tried to activate all of them to help herself defend against the arrow, but it was just a waste of time and mana."
"That was 15 layers of barriers from the enchanted items. However, they were too weak…" Angele pursed his lips. "She’s burning the negative energy stored in her body to resist the ice damage. I doubt she can survive this time…The necromantic negative energy is strong indeed, but the side-effects will be severe." Angele recalled the way he used the necromantic energy particles not so long ago. Although he controlled the amount and time, some of his organs were still permanently damaged.
It seemed like this woman had a lot of negative energy particles stored in her body.
The woman on the sea was still struggling. She turned around and charged toward the merfolk Wizards.
The water under her feet froze as she advanced.
The merfolk Wizards had serious expressions on their faces. The old leader glanced at the ship and shouted in a language that Angele could not understand. He was not sure if the old Wizard was talking to him or the woman.
The female Dark Wizard did not seem to care. Her face was completely contorted due to the intense pain coming from her body.
*BOOM*
The woman exploded as she got closer to the merfolk Wizards.
Her body broke into pieces like ice shards, splattering everywhere.
The ice shards vanished into the air and turned into dark bloody mist amid Angele’s sight. The mist surrounded the area around the merfolk Wizards. They had not expected the woman to turn back on them before dying.
"I knew it." Angele sneered and watched the merfolk Wizards get trapped in the mist. "The woman carried some evil enchanted item with her and triggered it right before she died."
The merfolk Wizards’ bodies and their dolphin-like mounts started melting in the blood mist. They turned into strange, dark red liquid within seconds that looked like slimy wax.
After the blood mist was blown away by the wind quickly, the only thing Angele could see was a hint of red mixed in the blue water.
Isabel turned to Angele and stared at him.
"We’re getting close to our destination. What’s your plan? Still want to join the Six Ring High Tower?"
She started questioning about Angele’s future plans after the elimination of the threat. It seemed like Isabel had no interest in the incident’s background.
"Yeah, that’s my only choice now. I must find the item I need." Angele nodded. "Six Ring High Tower is my best bet, but before that, I need to have some rest."
The conversation ended here.
The ship was now approaching the dock. However, the people on the ship were still shocked. The way Angele and Isabel took out the female Dark Wizard surprised them. Even the rank 3 Wizard apprentice envied the two formal Wizards’ power, yet at the same time, he feared how they dealt with matters. The sailors distanced themselves from the two, as they didn’t wish to offend them in any way.
The ship remained in silence. The people were now just preparing to dock. Ten minutes later, the sailing speed began decreasing.
Angele saw people standing by the shore. In front of the crowd, several Wizards of Light were standing amid them, looking at the arriving ship. Behind them, there were many fully armored guards.
"They’re my family members." Isabel had no expression on her face.
Angele nodded but did not respond.
Isabel must have already sent messages regarding the situation to her mother as they got closer to the island and Wizard of their family were sent to the dock to welcome Isabel’s return.
Wizards had their secret means of transmitting messages to others without being noticed.
The ship slowly docked by the shore. Isabel stepped forward and waited for the sailors to drop the ladder.
She turned around and glanced at Angele.
"Contact me with the sigil." She sent the message using energy particles and carefully climbed down the ladder.
The two Grand Knights bowed to Angele and followed after Isabel.
Angele walked to the railing and looked down.
Isabel was talking to the Wizards of Light in a low voice.
"Uncle Daeron, why are you here? Did my mother send you?"
A middle-aged Wizard of Light with a large nose glared at Angele with his brow knitted.
"Miss Isabel, your mother is not happy with what you did this time… You boarded the ship and went to a ruin without permission. This is not going to end well for you."
"I’ll explain to her myself, don’t worry." Isabel responded in an emotionless tone, "Let’s get back to the castle first."
"Sure." Daeron nodded. "Was that Wizard Green on the deck? Why are you two staying together? You didn’t mention this part in the message."
Daeron probably saw Isabel talking to Angele earlier.
"Well, he’s the first friend I made. I don’t think I need to report everything to you." Isabel stared at Daeron.
Daeron pursed his lips and was about to say something else, but Isabel turned around and walked straight to the carriage parked by the street.
He looked at Angele again and narrowed his eyes.
It was hard for a Wizard to reach the next stage as the chance of failure was high. He knew Wizards like Angele were all having trouble advancing to the next stage.
Most of the Wizards from other areas stopped progressing after reaching the Gas stage, and without the support of a large organization, barely any of them could advance to the Liquid stage.
Wizards had long life expectancy, but it did not mean they would not die from trying to advance to the next stage. Some important resources were just difficult to acquire.
However, for the Wizards with pure bloodlines in Nola, advancing would be much easier. There were plenty rare resources for them to purchase, and the families would try their best to support the inheritors.
Daeron assumed that the Wizard named Green would stay at the Gas stage for more than a hundred years and the chance of him advancing was low. Isabel only needed about ten more years to reach the next stage and become a Crystal stage Wizard. After reaching the Crystal stage, it would be possible for her to try to advance to the next rank. Rank 2 Wizards were extremely rare nowadays.
Daeron shook his head. The gap between Green and Isabel was huge. It would get even larger as the time passed. After Isabel reached the next stage, she could spend hundred years doing experiments and researches, but by that time, Angele probably had already passed away.
He knew Isabel was attracted to the Wizard Green. Sadly, it would be hard for them to become close friends. Isabel would have to inherit the family after reaching the next rank.