End of the Magic Era

Xiuban then turned towards Mark Watson with his signature gloating expression.

‘For Lord Xiuban to not run out of luck, I can only deal with you. Don’t blame Sir Xiuban… Who told you to provoke Sir Merlin, such a ruthless person, for no reason? Do you really hate your life?’

“With just you?”

Mark Watson, however, only felt weirded out by the strange gaze of his counterpart.

But he quickly ignored that feeling, because a Peak Expert Swordsman wasn’t worthy of his attention.

Let alone a Peak Expert Swordsman, even a normal Sword Saint wouldn’t be worth his attention.

He could crush those at will…

He suddenly thought, ‘This Mafa Merlin is very interesting, he actually sent such a weak Beastman to deal with me.’

Although a Peak Expert Swordsman was considered decently powerful, he didn’t amount to much in Mark Watson’s eyes.

“What is it?” Xiuban seemed a bit bemused by Marks reaction.

“You seem to be a Raging Flame Beastman captured by Mafa Merlin who then chose to follow him, right?” Mark sneered. “I advise you to immediately leave him. He isn’t worth your time. He’s clearly sending you to your death. It would be better to follow me, since I can help you become a Sword Saint…”

Mark felt that this Raging Flame Beastman was too unfortunate, having no choice but to follow Mafa Merlin.

He could see how poorly Mafa treated that Beastman… It seemed like he was always tormenting him. Had Mark not paid attention to details, he wouldn’t have noticed that he was a Raging Flame Beastman.

If that Beastman chose to follow him, it wouldn’t be long until he became a Sword Saint. Moreover, he might be able to become a High Rank Sword Saint in the future.

It was a waste to leave someone with good aptitudes like this in the hands of the Merlin Family.

“No, no, no, Sir Merlin is treating me well, how could he want to kill me?” The Draconic Beastman was suddenly scared, and he went pale as he denied Mark’s words vehemently.

Even if Lin Yun wanted to kill Xiuban, Xiuban wouldn’t dare to resist, because that would definitely make his death much worse.

‘F*ck, who would choose to follow you! Aren’t you trying to kill me with your words? If Lord Xiuban had even a thought of accepting, Sir Merlin would inevitably sense it with the soul contract and I would definitely meet a terrible end…

‘Fortunately, Lord Xiuban’s willpower is very resolute.’

Unconsciously, Xiuban started developing feelings of resentment towards Mark.

Mark feeling extremely regretful at this moment, thinking that it was quite a shame that he had to eliminate this potential resource. He couldn’t help sighing, “Forget it…”

“…”

Xiuban didn’t have time to leisurely chat with Mark Watson, as he still had Lin Yun’s warning clearly in mind. If he didn’t make that white-robed mage run out of luck, then he would be the one running out of luck. This thought sent a shiver down Xiuban’s spine. He resolved that he would extinguish Syudos sooner or later.

After a roar, Xiuban’s red skin darkened. He even looked as if he was wrapped in flames and was emitting a burning aura as he tightly held Carnage in his hands and suddenly swung it at Mark Watson.

Mark actually shook his head. He had truly overestimated this Raging Flame Beastman who was resorting to just brute force to prevail over his opponent. He didn’t seem to know a thing about martial arts or technique, a complete simpleton. Even if he became a Sword Saint, he wouldn’t be very useful.

Mark tightened his grip on the magic staff and suddenly emitted powerful mana fluctuations from his body. With a gentle wave of his staff, a spark appeared and quickly expanded before turning into Flame Shackles rushing towards the Draconic Beastman with powerful momentum.

In Mark’s eyes, a Flame Shackles spell was more than enough to deal with an Expert Swordsman.

It wasn’t surprising for him to think that way, as the mana of an Archmage was hundreds of times denser than that of a High Mage, and the might of a mage’s spells was based on his mana density.

But then…

Just when that 2nd Tier Spell reached Xiuban, a loud roar echoed and countless runes appeared on his body, instantly absorbing the flames. Xiuban suddenly leapt forwards and was already less than ten meters away from Mark Watson.

‘What?’

Mark was stunned. The Flame Shackles that he, an Archmage, had cast, hadn’t had any effect on the Raging Flame Beastman.

‘Wait… Isn’t he a Raging Flame Beastman?’

At this time, Mark suddenly realized that he had made a huge mistake.

He had been in the Raging Flame Plane for a long time and knew that Raging Flame Beastmen were born with extreme fire resistance as well as terrifying control over fire. They could even summon powerful Flame Elementals.

He had truly been careless to make such a mistake.

“Haha, you won’t be so lucky next time…” Mark shook his head. He had to give up on the fire spells, which he was most proficient in, so he started chanting a spell. A cold aura began to spread all over the place. He waved his hand and countless ice fragments formed around him before condensing into Frost Spikes.

The sharp Frost Spikes flickered with blue light as they streaked through the air.

But…

Once again, against Mark’s expectations, Xiuban didn’t bother dodging, yet those Frost Spikes didn’t leave any traces on his body.

At this point, Lahn had a look of disbelief on his face. The Beastman was obviously only a Peak Expert Swordsman, and although he was only half a step away from the Sword Saint realm, this was still far from being comparable to a genuine Archmage.

Moreover, Mark clearly wasn’t an ordinary Archmage. Instant casting a dozen Frost Spikes like that would be enough to make many newly advanced Archmages flustered.

This Beastman didn’t even dodge… This wasn’t logical.

But there was something even more illogical…

After receiving a dozen Frost Spikes, not a single wound could be seen on his body. Lahn couldn’t help but wonder how frightening his magic resistance was.

Lin Yun was the only one still relatively calm and was not surprised by the Draconic Beastman’s performance.

He had personally seen Xiuban’s magic resistance when the latter fused with the Three-Headed Golden Dragon’s drop of blood. Back then, Xiuban had just become an Expert Swordsman, yet he only suffered a nosebleed when taking on a power comparable to that of a Peak High Mage.

And now, the Draconic Beastman was standing at the peak of the Expert Swordsman realm. Mark’s Frost Spikes simply couldn’t injure him.

Unless Mark used a 7th Tier Spell, he would barely be able to inflict superficial injuries.

But he clearly didn’t have enough time now…

Even the shortest 7th Rank Spell would take at least eight seconds to cast, while there was less than a second before Carnage would smash into him, and it could easily crush his body.

“Hell!” Mark cursed, somewhat in a hurry. Although he was already an Archmage and had no fewer than ten defensive spells enchanted around his body, he had no confidence that they would be able to withstand the blow.

Running out of options, he waved his arm and a dazzling light emitted from his magic staff as the mana crystal at the top emitted a fascinating light halo. In an instant, three Ice Walls rose up from the ground in front of Mark.

But…

“Rumble…”

The three Ice Walls immediately shattered as the Draconic Beastman used his incomparably tyrannical power to crush them. They weren’t able to reduce Carnage’s momentum as it smashed into Mark’s chest.

Mark hadn’t been able to react as he’d just finished casting his Ice Walls. He had an extremely complicated expression on his face as he was sent flying by Carnage… It was a mixture of shock, fear, and disbelief. Then, three loud sounds echoed as Mark’s body broke through three rooms before falling on the ground, a few dozen meters away.

“Cough, cough…”

Mark Watson’s face was devoid of blood. He covered his mouth with a hand, but he couldn’t stop more blood from flowing as he coughed. It trickled down his fingers and tainted his white robe. As Mark looked down at his robe, and he couldn’t help feeling lucky. It was quite fortunate that his enchantments had been focused around his chest, or he might have already lost his life…

That power was too frightening…

To Mark, it didn’t feel like he was facing a Raging Flame Beastman, but rather an adult Dragon. His heart was still beating loudly even now.

How could there be such a Beastman in the world?

‘Hold on… That wouldn’t be a Dragon capable of transforming, right?’