Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)

Chapter 71: Flame Shield

No wonder that woman was the leader of the merchants. On Planet Norma, mages were considered a privileged class and were regarded as better than normal people.

That instance caused the two of them to lose spirit for a moment; the rest of the merchants quickly wielded their blades and rushed forward. Gu Xiaoyue snapped back immediately, and started to fire off her energy bombs again. However, the enemy started to get smarter and they split up, avoiding being caught in the blasts. The two sides were separated by less than twenty meters; it was impossible to clear out everyone with just the spells from the two of them.

Lu Renyi was still shooting off errors, but he eventually could not hold back the poison in his body and lost the strength to use his bow. The others continued to pull out those who were not conscious out of the cave. Looking at the situation at hand, they started to get anxious as well.

“Monitor! Why don’t we…we leave first!” One of the girls clenched her teeth and finally uttered the words that everyone else wanted to say, but did not have the heart to.

If the ones who could still move retreated immediately, there was definitely the possibility of getting out alive, but Xiao Lin had no way to conclusively gauge how many of their teammates were still alive, so retreating could very well cause the test to fail completely, leaving them not even able to complete the compulsory tasks.

Under the light of the torches, Xiao Lin only had a few seconds to consider their next step. He raised his head and looked at the woman with the flame shield. He breathed in before saying solemnly, “Gu Xiaoyue! Leave the cave with everyone else!”

The ones who were not heavily poisoned and were still conscious showed a despondent look on their faces. That decision could be considered the obvious choice to save the others, but to those that were being sacrificed, they would definitely not be thankful to Xiao Lin because of that.

However, they suddenly widened their eyes in disbelief when they saw that not only did Xiao Lin himself not retreat from the cave, he even rushed forward.

[Replication skill, activate!]

[Target acquired!]

[Currently analyzing target skill]

[Flame shield, Black Iron-rank spell. It has F+ rank defensive capabilities when facing ice spells, and F- rank defenses when facing water and earth spells. To everything else, it has F-rank defenses. At the same time, it will inflict F-rank fire damage on the user.]

[Spell evaluation at F+, Replicable Skill!]

At that time, Xiao Lin was so excited, his heart almost jumped out of his chest, the first step of his gamble had succeeded and the Norman woman’s spell was within his replication capabilities. The instructor said that the task had its difficulty tuned down to protect the new recruits, so the spell could not possibly be that high ranked. He guessed it right, and the flame shield was an F+ ranked Black Iron spell.

[Skill replication success!]

“Flame Shield!” Xiao Lin did not hesitate as he used the spell, and a flaming red rectangular shield appeared in front of his chest. The shield was about as tall as a person, and there was a burning flame on the surface that completely blocked the front.

As Xiao Lin rushed to the very front, now also a very threatening mage, the armed merchants immediately made him the biggest target and turned their attention to him. The flame shield suddenly appeared, and the intense fire burnt everyone who was nearby. They did not even have any basic defenses, let alone anything to stop the damage from the spell.

He could hear cries of misery as about five or six of the merchants that rushed at him were forced to retreat from the flames. They tried to attack him from behind, since the flame shield’s protection and damage was only in the front, which was the spell’s greatest weakness. Otherwise, the spell that could both attack and defend would not be only F+ ranked.

Xiao Lin did not give them the chance, and when all the ones in the way retreated, he bit down on his cheeks and forced himself to withstand the dizziness as he shouted and ran forward.

He had already used three ice bullets, and now he was using a Black Iron-ranked spell; he was already mentally at his limits. He could not even use any more ice bullets. If he even thought about using his wand to cast a spell, the pain in his brain could probably cause him to faint on the spot.

Xiao Lin did not hesitate as he threw away his wand and pulled out his dagger. The Norman woman was right in front of him, and she had a look of terror and shock on her face. She frantically raised her palm up and unleashed two fireballs. However, to Xiao Lin who also had a flame shield, the fireballs could not face up to the F-rank defenses of the fire shield, only dispersing against the shield.

The flame shield was good for defending against spells, but could not protect against physical attacks. The two of them ran into each other head to head, and the two flame shields collided, producing intense heat and letting out a spray of sparks; even the Normans nearby could not help but avoid them.

Xiao Lin thrusted his dagger in his right hand toward the woman’s chest. The tip of the blade pierced through the flames, but was avoided by the woman, only wounding her shoulder. The flames very quickly caused Xiao Lin to temporarily pull back his dagger.

The Norman woman shouted out in pain, and Xiao Lin had already bitten his lips until they were bleeding, but both of them stubbornly held on as the devastating flames started to cause fire damage to the both of them. Two spells of the same rank were colliding, causing the magic power within to rapidly disappear.

Boom!

The two of their flame shields seemed to disappear at the same time; Xiao Lin and the Norman woman were sent flying by the explosion caused by the spell disappearing. Xiao Lin’s clothes were already mostly burnt to a crisp, and his skin had bright red burn marks. However, it was not nearly as painful as he expected; even he would never have thought that the Fire Chicken that Department Head Song fed him a month ago to earn him LV1 Basic Fire Resistance would prove to be so important.

Xiao Lin’s wounds were much lighter than the Norman woman. He hurriedly got up and picked up his dagger from the ground. He rushed forward and held the blade in front of the Norman woman who had numerous burn wounds.

The woman tried to struggle very intensely, but the fire damage she had sustained caused her wear a painful expression. Large patches of snow-white flesh were exposed on her body, but Xiao Lin did not have the mood to stare; he did not dare have any compassionate thoughts at the moment.

“Shut up! I’ll kill you if you move!” Xiao Lin shouted. It was a pity that the woman could not understand him, and only started to struggle even more. Xiao Lin was furious and raised his blade, hitting her right on the head with the hilt. The woman let out a frustrated sound and her body went limp. Xiao Lin held his finger to her nose and let out a sigh of relief. Thankfully, she was still alive.

“@#￥%…&;” The rest of the merchants said some words furiously, itching to run forward, but Xiao Lin’s blade never left the woman’s throat.

“Gu Xiaoyue! Tell them this woman is still alive. If any of them dare to walk any closer, I can’t guarantee her life!”

Actually, Xiao Lin did not need to say anything. Gu Xiaoyue had already guessed his plan and speedily used the words she could grasp to relay the message.