Advent of the Archmage

Underground Palace

The crisp voice rang across the underground palace, "Mission complete. Threat eliminated."

Nana's slender blade pierced through Link's chest as fresh blood poured out of the wound caused by the pale blue sword. Link held Nana's blade in his hand as he weakly smiled.

"Just a bit more, heh."

The next moment, Link became an elemental phantom image together with Celine, who was still airborne, and Vance's skull and headless body, who was in the middle of casting a spell. At the very last moment, Link made use of his fast reaction speed to avoid Nana's fatal attack and decisively activated his Dimensional Jump spell to escape.

This magic puppet was way too scary. It was impossible to defeat her even when the three of them joined forces. They could only escape and come back after formulating a more detailed plan.

After a light sound, the three of them disappeared from the underground palace. Nana was surprised at this turn of events. This was the first time she encountered such a peculiar situation since she was created. She stood there motionless for a few seconds before speaking with the crisp voice, "Confirm that the threat is still not eliminated. Target has been marked. Starting pursuit."

A sound of an air blast could be heard, and the next moment, she had disappeared from her location and appeared at the entrance of the hall. Another loud air blast echoed through the underground palace and Nana had begun her pursuit.

On the cliff outside the underground palace, Link, Celine, and Vance appeared out of thin air.

This was Celine's second time experiencing the Dimensional Jump spell. She managed to recollect herself quickly enough. However, Vance was still experiencing some dizziness as his skull rolled about on the ground. If not for Link's quick reaction, his skull might have already fallen off the cliff.

Picking his skull up and placing it back on his body, Vance creaked his thousand-year-old bones and finally regained his soberness.

He immediately asked, "That was a Legendary spell?"

"Sort of." Link nodded.

Vance gasped and said unbelievably, "I have heard that you are the Chosen One. It seems like they were not lying."

Link smiled bitterly and said, "Let's not mention this for now. I feel that we are still not out of danger."

As he spoke, he covered his wound with his hand and started concentrating water elements to seal his wound in ice. Although the wound did not damage any vital organs, it severed a few blood vessels and was extremely painful.

After the sealing was complete, Link cast an Elemental Healing spell on himself before drinking another high-level healing potion. That was when he was finally satisfied with his recovery process. He now merely had to find a priest when he got back to the Girvent Forest for a complete recovery.

The moment he felt safe, Celine immediately pointed to an area below the cliff and screamed, "Look, it's that magic puppet!"

"I knew it!" Link was almost speechless and stood up, "We cannot defeat her now, let's go!"

Link was not going to overestimate his abilities once again. Vance and Celine were similarly horrified by the extent of Nana's power and naturally did not have the confidence to win in another fight. They hence agreed to escape together with Link immediately. However, the magic puppet was traveling way too fast. It was impossible to outrun her on ground. Link then asked Vance, "She can't fly can she?"

Vance smiled bitterly and said, "Probably not. I did not give her that ability. But who knows?

"Then let's fly."

Flying spells were something that Link had in his arsenal. He summoned a Storm Eagle.

Storm Eagle spell

Level-5 Ordinary Spell

Cost: 100 Mana Points for summoning, 10 points per second afterwards.

Effect: This is an extremely fast flying spell.

Link originally learned this spell so as to travel faster while he was rushing from one location to the next. Three seconds later, a pure wind elemental giant eagle appeared in front of them.

"Hop on." Link mounted the eagle. Upon seeing that Celine was about to fly with her own wings, he said, "Celine, conserve your energy."

"Alright." Celine then landed gently on the eagle's back. The last to mount the eagle was Vance.

The eagle howled and spread its wings majestically. It then jumped into the air and immediately flew in the direction of the sea.

This was not Link's choice. While the storm eagle was fast and could cover over 1000 miles in an hour, Link was still not confident that they could shake off a magic puppet whose top speed was at 2000 feet per second.

"Let's hope that the puppet doesn't go that fast in the water." Link smiled. To think that two Level-6 and one Level-7 professional would be thoroughly defeated by a human-made object—this was more than just embarrassing.

After flying for merely a few seconds, Vance reminded, "Link, faster! She is catching up to us!"

Link was still trying to get the giant eagle to speed up when he was shocked by Vance's words. He looked behind him and saw that Nana was already on the cliff. She then leaped off the cliff decisively and charged straight towards them.

Using her top speed of 2000 feet per second, her leap was almost like a cannonball. The distance between both parties was rapidly narrowing.

However, the magic puppet was unable to fly. It was clear that she was traveling in a parabola curve. Link then commanded the storm eagle to make a sharp turn. Within a second, the beautiful, young puppet reached a distance close enough to launch an attack. However, as she could not turn in mid-air, she was just about to miss her chance.

The three of them on the eagle heaved a sigh of relief. This puppet had an overwhelming speed and presence. Even Link felt pressured when fighting against it.

However, something strange happened.

The magic puppet threw something into the air. Link observed the whole process carefully and realized that it was a large stone. As the stone flew into the air, the puppet's body made a sharp turn in mid-air! She then flew at top speed towards the eagle!

The hell? She made use of momentum and physics? This puppet is ridiculous! Link thought.

Momentum was one of the three standard laws of energy conservation on earth. Rockets made use of these theories in order to fly in a vacuum. These laws applied to the World of Firuman as well. When Nana threw a rock in the opposite direction of where she wanted to go, it was as though a rocket jet had been activated. Naturally, her body would veer towards the direction opposite of where she threw the rock.

This was an unexpected turn of events. As Nana closed in on the three of them, Link was at a loss for what to do. They were about to collide headlong.

Everyone was speechless. How could this puppet be so ruthless!

Link was the first one to react. He immediately canceled the storm eagle spell and grabbed Celine by the waist. He then raised his wand and cast a Vector Resistance Field spell onto Nana.

Vector Resistance Field was a Level-1 spell. It was a low-level spell and was not all that powerful. However, there was an occasion for every spell, no matter how useless it might seem. This Vector Resistance Field spell was near perfect for this situation.

The atmosphere blurred for a moment as the forcefield crashed into Nana from the side.

Nana was extremely fast on the ground. However, she had just used the stone in her hand and was in mid-air where there was no friction for her to capitalize on. She was thus unable to avoid this spell and suffered the full force of the collision.

The puppet then veered slightly to the side while Link made use of the opposing force of the impact to glide past Nana.

Both of them then crossed each other in mid-air as the distance between them once again widened.

Nana was out of options this time around as she fell helplessly into the sea. Link then once again summoned the storm eagle while in mid-air before commanding it to catch Vance, who was currently floating casually using a levitating spell.

With a loud splash and the crashing of waves, Nana fell into the sea. The three of them watched in fear from the eagle's back.

"Will she still be chasing us?" Celine asked, still in shock from the previous encounter.

"I have no idea. I indeed set her to endless pursuit mode the previous time though…" Vance was completely confused. Four hundred years ago, he was only a little wary of Nana's power. However, he could not bear to destroy this product that he spent so much time constructing as well. He hence commanded Nana to go into a deep sleep. Little did he know that 400 years later, not only did she awaken, she had also evolved to a point where he could not even retaliate in a direct battle.

Vance felt extremely dumb to have created a magic puppet that he could not control.

Link looked at the seabed and carefully observed the ripples on the surface of the water. He then sighed and said, "The endless pursuit mode is still ongoing. She is still running while under the water. Vance, we seemed to have been marked in a way that she can locate us no matter where we go. Do you know what kind of marking it is?"

"I do. But it is impossible to remove it." Vance awkwardly smiled.

"Why do you say so?"

"The marking is on you. When Nana pierced her sword through your body, the metal particles on her blade entered your bloodstream. These particles are extremely small. The only way to get rid of it is to drain all of your blood."

Draining blood? This was not earth where one could get a blood transfusion anytime they wanted. This meant that they only had two choices now. The first one was to run for the rest of their lives until the puppet malfunctioned. The second was to destroy the puppet.

As for escaping from her pursuit, that would be impossible.

"Why not the both of you leave while I lead her into the Norton Military Fortress?" Link said. He could not defeat this puppet alone. However, he believed that the power of the entire army would be enough to suppress her.

"It wouldn't work." Vance smiled bitterly.

"Why?" Link was confused.

"She is not just a simple-minded puppet. She is extremely intelligent and can determine danger. She will never enter the fortress alone. Unless you are prepared to spend your entire life in the army, she will definitely find a chance to face you off in a direct battle." Vance hated how well he designed this puppet. To think that he would be unable to find a flaw in this design.

Perhaps there was one in the past. However, in the 400 years when he was away, this flaw had probably already been covered up by her evolution.

"Are we really going to live our lives on the run?" Celine could not believe that this was how she would die.

Vance fell silent and looked at Link. Link knew exactly what Vance was thinking.

"You want me to use a Level-9 spell to deal with her?"

It was definitely possible to use a Level-9 spell to destroy the puppet. However, it was wasteful and extravagant to waste a Level-9 spell on an artificial being.

"I don't think there are any other alternatives," Vance sighed.

"No, let me think about it." Link started recollecting the battle scenes in detail, hoping to find a flaw he could capitalize on.

Using his eidetic memory, Nana's actions replayed in his mind like a movie scene. After around half a minute, Link's eyes lit up.

"I've got it!"