Three Abyss Mages appeared in Nolan's field of vision, one of them being a Hydro Abyss Mage, floating with an elemental shield in front, followed by an Cyro Mage.
It was dragging an unconscious Pyro Abyss Mage by its foot, flying along the ground.
Are they worthy of being called monsters? Even though they have intelligence, they are still rather indifferent emotionally. Didn't they see that the mask of that Pyro Abyss Mage was about to be knocked off?
Nolan silently complained.
What pleasantly surprised Nolan was that this Cyro Abyss Mage, perhaps due to having a companion, hadn't activated its elemental shield.
Most likely, its shield couldn't cover two Abyss Mages.
This gave him an opportunity. Since the Pyro Mage seemed knocked out by the downpour brought by the Stormterror, all he needed to do was to ambush the Cyro Abyss Mage.
With that, it would be three against one, or rather, with Oz, it would be four against one, giving us the advantage!
The Abyss Mages were getting closer and closer, leaving him with little time to think.
Seeing their somewhat less vigilant demeanor now, Nolan stayed motionless, patiently waiting for the Abyss Mages to approach.
Gripping the Dull Blade tightly, he stilled his very breaths as the shielded Hydro Mage drifted past, mere inches from his concealed position.
Inches behind followed the Cryo Mage, obliviously towing its fallen comrade Pyro Mage.
Nolan's energy focused, using his max-level sword skills to channel all his strength into his hand. In the next moment, the sword silently pierced through the side of the Cyro Abyss Mage's head, like silver frost breaking through space.
Instantly, it pierced through the Cyro Abyss Mage's head from the side.
The foot of the Pyro Abyss Mage slipped from its grasp, landing on the ground with a faint thud. The body of the Cyro Abyss Mage trembled twice, trying to turn around but suddenly lost strength and fell to the ground.
[Defeated A Powerful Enemy, Obtained 1132 Adventure EXP.]
Nolan's eyes widened slightly at the resounding EXP gain notification. Even with the element of surprise, besting such a foe conventionally would have proven immensely arduous.
After all, it was an Abyss Mage worth over a thousand experience points.
It might not even break through its shield. He only had one Fire-Infused Arrow left, and no more elemental potions.
Was the fickle hand of fate already turning against them on this accursed day?
"Who dares?!"
The commotion of assassinating the Cyro Abyss Mage was quite loud and easily noticed by the nearby Hydro Abyss Mage. It turned its ethereal body around, looking at the fallen Ice Mage with anger in its voice.
"You damn human! I'll tear you apart!!"
It glared at the visible Nolan, feeling extremely angry, not because of the death of its comrade.
But because As an elite operative handpicked by the Prince for this vital mission, to have such a grievous lapse of awareness that allowed some measly human so near...
If it also hadn't activated its elemental shield for some reason.
Would it, like the foolish Cyro Mage, suddenly be killed by humans?!
Nolan didn't have time to finish off the already unconscious Pyro Abyss Mage. He immediately took two steps back, understanding that his swordsmanship would be futile without breaking the Abyss Mage's Hydro Elemental Shield.
"Die, insect!"
The Hydro Abyss Mage waved its staff, and a water ball slowly condensed in front of it, then "poofed" towards him.
This speed was within Nolan's reaction range, easily dodged with agile movements.
The water ball hit where he had stood, turning into a puddle that seeped into the ground.
Seeing this, the Hydro Abyss Mage, seemingly more annoyed, quickly began hurling water balls at Nolan, who had no intention of directly confronting it.
He was waiting, biding his time!
"Midnight Phantasmagoria!"
A raven shimmering with purple lightning streaked towards the Abyss Mage, bolts of lightning striking it.
The water elements on the elemental shield began to react and rapidly deplete against the lightning elements.
Unfortunately, FIschl's elemental burst didn't last long, and soon the elemental energy was depleted.
After the raven passed through the Hydro Mage, Fischl emerged from her fusion with Oz, appearing next to Nolan.
"Oh, this elemental shield is really troublesome!" Oz the raven complained with a somewhat perplexed tone.
Seeing Fischl and Oz suddenly appear, the Hydro Abyss Mage didn't panic. Instead, it smirked and said:
"I knew you humans were cunning. Even those who haven't mastered elemental power dare to attack us - of course, you'd cower behind stronger allies!"
Its mocking taunts dripped with smug disdain. "Did you naively believe you could fell me with such an amateurish gambit as before? I'm afraid you underestimate the preparations of we Abyss Mages, kekekeke!"
"What?"
A slightly surprised expression appeared on Fischl's fair face.
Nolan, looking at the very proud Hydro Abyss Mage, suddenly thought of the water balls that had been attacking but never hit them before.
Alarmed, he quickly pressed his hands on Fischl's fair arm. While feeling the soft touch, he pushed her away with force and said:
"Watch your step!"
"Kekeke, it's too late!" The Hydro Abyss Mage had long prepared a magic spell in secret, smirking again. "Drown in the water!"
With a flash of the staff's magical light, the water that had intentionally infiltrated the ground with the earlier water ball attacks gathered, forming a huge water vortex that suddenly rose and swallowed the two of them.
This astonishing turn of events was too fast to react to. When they came to their senses, they were already underwater!
"Miss, Sir Nolan!"
Oz the raven exclaimed, looking at the water sphere that almost occupied the entire tunnel.
Because it could fly and was a bit away from the ground, it was fortunate to evade being swallowed by the water sphere. It looked at the two submerged in the water sphere and quickly understood.
It couldn't rush in to save the two directly, or it would likely get trapped too.
To prevent the two from suffocating underwater, the only way was to defeat the Hydro Abyss Mage and cut off the power source maintaining the magical water sphere!
"Kekekeke! Foolish humans, you face one of the Abyss Order's elite - an operative whose guile and prowess earned the Prince's own commendations!" The Mage's mocking laughter echoed hollowly around them, refracting through the rippling aqueous barrier.
"His Highness himself entrusted me to lead this crucial operation to subjugate that stupid dragon! You truly believed some childish ploy could avail you before my incomparable mastery?"
The Hydro Abyss Mage became more and more agitated as it spoke, evidently reminded of how the petty human trick had successfully taken down one of its companions.
Just as it was about to launch magic to accelerate the suffocation of the two humans, suddenly its water elemental shield flickered, emitting a burst of lightning.
"Damn you! You little black bird!" The Hydro Abyss Mage retorted at Oz, who kept spitting out magic bullets of thunder.
The thunder bullets and water balls collided midway, canceling each other out.
"Release them at once, fiend!"
Oz, flapping its wings, unleashed a barrage of attacks at the Hydro Mage.
Feeling the rapid depletion of its water balls against the attacks, the Hydro Abyss Mage realized that if this continued, it would be drained of strength by the black bird.
With this in mind, it suddenly disappeared in place, magically blinking outside the cave. It wasn't trying to escape because if it got too far, it wouldn't be able to maintain the water sphere trapping the two humans.
Unlike the Pyro Abyss Mage needing to dodge the rain, as a Hydro Abyss Mage, it actually expended less magic in a rainstorm, given the abundant water elements in such an environment.
If the Cryo Abyss Mage hadn't died, this heavy rain would have been the perfect auxiliary combat environment for it, freezing enemies with a single strike.
Oz noticed the Abyss Mage's appearance outside the cave and swiftly flapped its wings to pursue it.
Submerged in water, Nolan felt every inch of his skin chill. Fortunately, he had grown up in the countryside, where there was a river nearby. During summers, he often played in the water with his friends.
Of course, adults from the village were always supervised, as children couldn't play by the river alone.
Anyway, he learned to swim at a very young age, so being trapped underwater by the Abyss Mage didn't panic him too much.
Fischl was in front of him, her golden hair floating in the water as if weightless, her purple-black interwoven skirt also lifted by buoyancy.
Her wet black stockings clung to her soft legs, and her snow-white skin was faintly visible.
Her right eye, not covered by the eyepatch, met Nolan's gaze. She blinked, slightly puffed her cheeks, and occasionally let out a bubble from her closed lips.
Shaking her head to indicate she was fine.
Indeed, as an adventurer, not being able to swim would be unacceptable.
After confirming the status of the two, Nolan swam towards the edge of the water sphere, trying to break free.
Somewhat regretfully, the water sphere was indeed entirely water. The Dull Blade could easily pierce through it, just like stabbing from underwater to the surface.
But when Nolan tried to reach out, he was blocked by a water-blue magic array.
It was no accident; it was undoubtedly the cunning of the Abyss Mage.
The goal was to prevent them from breaking free. Moreover, Fischl didn't dare to guide the lightning elements underwater. After all, it would cause an electric reaction with the water elements, potentially electrocuting them.
If their bodies were paralyzed, losing control of their breath-holding actions, they would inevitably inhale water, which would be troublesome!
In this regard, this Hydro Abyss Mage, both in terms of intellect and strength, was more formidable than other mages Nolan had encountered before. It seemed that the Abyss Order didn't send a weakling to attempt to control the Stormterror.
Now things were in trouble; if this continued, they would soon suffocate.
Relying on his robust physical fitness and the blessing of the "Abundant Life" specialization, Nolan could barely hold out for a little longer.
But even though FIschl was a holder of the Vision and was powerful, breath-holding was related to lung capacity and physical endurance.
Although she hadn't reached the second ascend yet, in terms of breath-holding, she might be a bit better than ordinary people, but she might not be able to hold out for long.
In this situation, they could only wait for Oz to defeat the Hydro Abyss Mage as quickly as possible, or hope that Ellin would come and pull them out from the outside.
Two minutes later, Nolan didn't feel much discomfort, but the bubbles leaking from Fischl's tightly closed lips had visibly increased.
However, her expression remained calm, indicating that she should be able to hold on easily.
At this moment, Ellin, deeper inside the cave, also noticed their predicament and cautiously approached to avoid detection by the Abyss Mage.
(End of Chapter)
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