Advent of the Archmage

Link made the correct decision in an instant. He had just escaped from Morpheus' murderous plan but was in no position to be relieved or to even worry about his injury. He swept his gaze across the hall and hollered, "Jacker, Anderson, resume the attack on the Elemental Puppet!"

Everyone had left their original post following his injury, but Link was clear that their greatest threat was still the Elemental Puppet. Jacques was nothing but a chess piece in Morpheus' elaborate plan.

After Link escaped the ambush, Jacques had outlived his usefulness. Morpheus, on the other hand, was a powerful Legendary Magician. Even if only a part of his power was present in the form of a puppet, he was still extremely dangerous if not dealt with in time. It would only take him a matter of seconds to do something unexpected.

The fact that Link was alive and still energetic enough to give commands put Jacker at ease. Although he was fuming with rage and desperately wanted to grind Jacques into minced meat, upon hearing Link's command, he immediately commenced the assault on the puppet.

Anderson also charged forward before exclaiming, "Link is such a tenacious young man! To think that he can still remain conscious after such a serious injury!"

Previously, Anderson did not think highly of Link. This was not because of his suspicions of his magic, but due to Link's tender age and frail physique. He felt that any brandish of the sword would scare the wits out of this young man.

He thus never understood why Princess Annie held Link in such high regard. Link was a genius Magician, but similarly, there were many other genius Magicians in the palace. As the princess, there was no reason to give Link this much support. But now, it all became clear to him.

He was ashamed of himself. If he were to be met with such circumstances, he would definitely have been defeated!

Also, after looking at the way Link responded to the crisis, he was convinced that he would even suffice as an opponent to Link in a battle.

Morpheus, on the other hand, was perplexed. "How can this be possible?"

To think that his ambush was foiled. Even though the opponent was physically damaged, he was still fully conscious.

And as long as a Magician was conscious, his battle prowess would not be affected.

"No wonder this Magician could defeat Andy and Felidia. He wasn't just lucky."

This was not the first time Morpheus met a valuable opponent, however, to be defeated by the same bunch of rookies twice in a day—that was a first.

Absorbed in his thoughts, he momentarily forgot that he was in the heat of battle.

His loss of concentration gave Jacker a chance to charge into the Elemental Puppet with full force. Boom! The puppet sauntered unsteadily backwards from the impact. Anderson immediately followed up with a heavy sword attack, successfully damaging the neck of the puppet and aggravating the previous injury by another two inches.

This swing of his blade also destroyed the rune formation of the Elemental Puppet!

The Elemental Puppet stopped in its tracks and light began spilling out of the cracks in its exterior. The granite on its body began to fall off, signaling that there was a problem with the rune formation that controlled its movement and maintained its form.

After a few violent spasms, the puppet's arms hung lifelessly from its body and the black aura surrounding it completely dissipated. It was now merely an ordinary rock.

Morpheus' Elemental Puppet was now destroyed!

But the disintegration of the puppet continued. This might be due to the heated battle which completely destroyed the integrity of the rocks itself, previously held together only by Morpheus' Legendary power. All that was left in the end was a black crystal the size of a fist.

The black crystal was inconspicuous—other than Link, no one noticed its existence. They were all more concerned with Jacques' betrayal. His sinister voice had also been completely cut off.

Lucy took advantage of Jacques' foot injury and unleashed a flurry of nine slashes at Jacques' heart. The Gale Sword was light and almost weightless, and on top of Lucy's rage, the insane slashing speed was something Jacques couldn't defend against. It was barely a second before his heart was thoroughly punctured.

After completing her mission, Lucy dashed towards Link and held him in her hands, "My lord, how are you feeling?"

She undressed Link without hesitation to reveal the injury underneath. "My lord, how can it be!" Lucy covered her mouth with her hands, tears flowing out of her eyes.

It was a three-inch-long injury across Link's abdomen. Under the effect of the Battle Aura, the surrounding flesh was also thoroughly destroyed and blood was gushing out of the wound. To a common soldier, this was definitely a lethal wound.

This was also an internal injury and there was no way to stop the bleeding. They could only watch as Link's life slowly slipped away.

"But my lord is only 17 this year!" Lucy sobbed uncontrollably.

Jacker, Anderson and Gildern also fell silent at the sight of the wound.

Their experience was telling them that Link could not be saved.

On the other hand, Link was amused by their reactions, "What's up with all of you? I'm not dead yet. Lucy, this is merely a small wound, stop crying!"

"What?" Lucy looked at Link with puffy eyes. This was merely a small wound? She could not understand.

Link placed his hand gently on his wound and started concentrating Mana. A white light enveloped his hand—this was the precursor to the Level-2 Blizzard spell.

Of course, Link was not planning on using Blizzard on himself, he was simply using this spell to accumulate water element particles.

By maintaining the spell at this precursor state, water elements surged continuously to the wound and turned into ice. After around 30 seconds, Link removed his hand.

He had frozen the entire wound and even the area surrounding it, effectively stopping the bleeding process. As the tissues and nerves were also frozen, he could barely feel any pain.

Naturally, this was only a temporary measure, with serious side effects on the body. But that would not be a problem. As soon as he returned to River Cove Town, he could be treated with Divine Healing spells. Such wounds were nothing compared to the healing prowess of a priest.

Link stood up and tried walking for a few steps. His abdomen area still felt slightly uncomfortable, but the feeling of his energy constantly being drained due to heavy bleeding was gone.

"Feels good," He smiled at the rest of his squad, "Look, merely a small wound."

He also cast an Elemental Healing spell on himself which would rapidly replenish the blood he had lost. Apart from looking slightly pale, one could tell that Link was fine.

"I could probably last three days in this state," Link said as he smiled. Although he was out of danger, his abdomen area and the organs around it had completely lost its function. He would not be able to ingest any food, though he could replenish his energy simply by casting Elemental Healing on himself again and again.

This was unimaginable on Earth, but in the World of Firuman, anything was possible.

The squad was at a loss for words. Have you ever seen someone who could still joke and move around after being stabbed in the abdomen? Even though they were already used to Link's strange tactics, this was way too amusing.

But they were extremely relieved. Lucy wiped her tears and blushed. She did not expect herself to lose her usual calm demeanor.

"Alright. Let us check if the path is unsealed now that the puppet is defeated," Link laughed.

Almost immediately, Link saw a message from the game system.

Mission: First step Escape.

Player rewarded with 30 Omni Points.

Next Mission: Search for the Cliff of Howling Winds (Uncompleted)

That's 30 more Omni Points in the bag. Link was satisfied.