Advent of the Archmage

The three Level-9 Nagas did not split up nor did they come looking for link. They just stood where they were, along the main road to the light wall, obstructing the way and waiting to see who might turn up. They held their unique triangular spears in their hands.

The Nagas were fast and strong, and their attacks were unpredictable. Link had to be careful when dealing with even just one Naga. Now, there were three watching each other's backs. Furthermore, they didn't need to win, just draw out the battle.

As they occupied the main road, they had a wide and unobstructed vision of the entire area. Anyone who wanted to sneak past them would have to make a large detour and end up wasting even more time. If Link had come alone, he definitely wouldn't have been able to deal with this barricade. Thankfully, he had Elin with him.

Elin said, "Lord, I'll use a spirit attack. Hopefully, it'll create an opening."

Link shook his head. "It's no use. These Nagas didn't appear here naturally. They were summoned. For them to be summoned, they must have traveled through the void, and all creatures that can do that have very strong spirits."

It wasn't just the Nagas who were like that. The demons were like that too. One time, Eleanor met a low-level demon in the Girvent Forest. The demon had managed to thwart all her spirit attacks.

"Then what do we do?"

Link thought for a moment before coming up with a plan. He took out his magic notebook and flipped to one page. Pointing at the spell structure inscribed in it, he said, "Let's use this spell."

Elin studied the spell structure and noted. "It uses a reflection to create an illusion of us while hiding our actual position. Then… what happens?"

Link continued with his explanation. "After that, we will trigger these grenades to explode," Link said, drawing out the set of Yabba grenades he had gotten earlier. He combined the explosives into a bundle and threw them into a simple hole he had dug with his foot. "Later, when the enemy reaches this spot, use the Magician's Hand to trigger these grenades to explode, got it?"

"Yup," Elin nodded. It was very simple.

"Alright then, let's choose a suitable spot, hmmmm…. There!"

The spot Link chose was 210 feet away from the grenades. It was also behind a small stone cottage which provided cover from the grenades' explosions.

"Okay, let's begin."

Link once again opened the magic notebook. Elin directed her Mana according to the spell structure she saw in the notebook. After the spell structure was completed, as before, Link took over part of the control of the spell and began to control the oscillating frequency of the Mana.

After half a minute, strange things started to happen.

The air surrounding Link's body rippled, and the vibrations gently extended out to an area of 300 feet before stopping.

The whole process resembled the ripples that would result when somebody touched a big water balloon, except now, the whole space had become a big water balloon. It rippled violently for a moment before slowly calming down.

On the surface, there was no change in the space around Link, and everything seemed normal.

Being at the center of it, Link and Elin weren't affected by the vibrations and in fact couldn't feel a thing. Outside, the three Nagas blocking the road immediately noticed the abnormality.

"Look, there he is!" one Naga shouted and pointed to the corner.

"He came over to us! Get ready, this guy can't be easy to handle."

"He has drawn his sword. This guy is strong. Don't let him take the initiative!"

One of the Nagas bellowed a war cry. She rushed forward while her body was enveloped in deep red Battle Aura.

"Haaaa!" She screamed. Her body stretched back unbelievably, bending like a big bow drawn to its limit. Twang! Her body suddenly rebounded back, and the spear in her hand was flung towards Link as though shot out from a bow.

Whoosh! The spear flew so fast that it was almost invisible. On its body, the deep red Battle Aura rotated, forming into threads of silk-like red strands that were spinning unbelievably quickly. Each of these strands emanated terrifying power.

Whoosh. It was like the spear was surrounded by a tornado. Everywhere the spear passed, it dragged rubble and stones into the air along with it, flying towards Link.

In an instant, the spear reached "Link.""Link" ducked to the side. CRACK! There was a loud sound as the spear penetrated deep into the ground. The spear continued burrowing downwards like an earth dragon, throwing up dirt and rubble behind it until it reached a depth of 60 feet. Finally, it stopped.

What shocking power!

This was not all.

When the first Naga threw her spear, the other two Nagas rushed forward in a coordinated attack. They split to the left and right, reaching Link about half a second after he had avoided the spear attack.

Both Nagas stabbed their spears towards "Link," who had ducked to the ground earlier.

Swoosh, swoosh. That was the sound of the two spears cutting through the air. However, clearly, the spears had hit nothing but air.

"Where did he go?"

"What?"

The two Nagas exchanged a glance in confusion at first, which was soon followed with horror.

Behind the corner 210 feet away, Link told Elin, "Now!"

Elin had been waiting for this moment. The moment she heard Link's command, she used the Magician's Hand to activate the grenades hidden in the ground.

BOOM! The simultaneous explosion resulted in an earth-shaking sound wave. The explosion also emitted blinding white light, flames, and a shock wave that threw up gravel and dirt in all directions, enveloping the two Nagas within.

Eight bombs, each with a strength of Level-5, had simultaneously exploded. Although in terms of absolute strength, these bombs weren't very strong, the knockback from the explosions was very strong.

The two Nagas were protected by their red Battle Auras and were shielded from the heat of the explosion. Nonetheless, even though they had defended themselves from the heat, they were still thrown back by the shockwaves.

Link had already calculated the direction that the Nagas would be blasted towards. They would land in an abandoned row of houses, and by the time they reached back about ten seconds later, they would be too late.

The first Naga who had thrown the spear was a little slower to react. She was a distance away and wasn't directly hit by the explosion from the bombs. Nonetheless, before she had time to react to the sneak attack, a human figure rushed out from an alley.

The figure was moving extremely quickly. In the blink of an eye, it was in front of her, swinging its sword towards her neck.

It was Link.

This Naga had thrown her spear and now had no weapons. Being attacked by Link, she instinctively retreated.

Link pursued at full speed.

Between the one retreating and the one advancing, it was obvious who held the advantage in terms of speed. Link easily caught up to the retreating Naga and slashed downwards with his sword. Without any weapons to defend herself with, she had no way to block. Her arm was immediately hacked off.

"Ahhhh!" The Naga screamed in pain. However, there was no one around to save her. Her two companions were thrown far away by the bombs. The rest of the Nagas had broken into Lariel City and were in an even lesser position to help her. There was no chance of her escaping.

After chopping off the Naga's arm, Link changed to using the blunt side of the sword and slammed it hard against the Naga's forehead.

Crash. A muffled sound, the Naga jolted as her eyes turned white and she crumpled to the ground.

Link grabbed the Naga and headed back to the side alley. When he reached the alley, he stretched out his hand and grabbed Elin who was waiting there for him, placing her back onto his shoulders.

Running in the alley for a while, Link spotted a crack in the ground leading into an underground passage. Without any hesitation, Link jumped into the passage, which was about 30 feet deep. He ran for another 150 feet before throwing the Naga to the ground.

"Elin, Light spell," Link instructed.

Here, Link was not worried about other Nagas attacking. The passage was very narrow. Even if there were a hundred enemies, they would have to face him one-on-one and could not surround him with their numerical advantage.

Therefore, this place was safe.

Whoosh. The Light spell illuminated the whole passage, allowing Link and Elin to see the Naga's body carefully.

The Naga had similar facial features to humans. However, their features were much sharper. For example, their eyes were thin and long, and their eyebrows were sharp. The lips were thin as well. The most defining feature would definitely be their long, sharp tongues, which looked sharp enough to slice through paper.

As for body figures, they were way better than humans.

The proportions of the Naga's body were extremely shapely. They had a beautiful waist, big breasts, lovely thighs and long legs, just like the most beautiful celebrities on earth. Their clothing was also extremely revealing, covering only their breasts and their groin. The style was similar to that of Amazon female warriors.

However, these were merely their external features. Ultimately, they were servants of the God of Destruction. If one were to fall for them or have any feelings for them, one would soon discover what true despair was.

Link tapped the face of the Naga with his sword. Feeling the touch of the cold blade, the Naga woke up.

She looked first at her missing arm and then at Link. Suddenly, she moved, swinging her leg to kick at Link.

Swish. Link swung his sword and cut off the Naga's leg.

The Naga snorted as it came to terms with its present situation. She glared at Link and said in spite, "Warrior, your victory is only temporary. Soon, you will begin to realize the taste of destruction!"

"Destruction? That is exactly what I want to ask you about." Link said as he pointed his sword at the snake's neck.

However, in the next moment, the Naga did something that left Link and Elin in shock.

The Naga's mouth started to fill with blood until it was overflowing. Along with the blood, there were internal organs and bits of other things. With her final breath, the Naga gasped in a voice that reeked of blood, "Human Warrior, wait patiently. Soon, you will see the most terrifying future!"

After that, the Naga's head slumped, and she was dead.

Link checked the Naga's injuries before saying gravely, "She forcefully destroyed her own organs from the inside.

"Are they that cruel even to themselves?" Elin was at a loss for words. How much pain would you feel if your internal organs were all destroyed? She couldn't even begin to imagine it.

Link looked at his mission status. It was still incomplete. That meant that he was not yet able to recover his ability to use spells. With a gloomy expression on his face, he stood up and said, "We won't get anything else from this Naga. Let's go, we must continue on."