Chapter 34 - 33: Destiny is on My Side

Chapter 34: Chapter 33: Destiny is on My Side

"This guy..."

Mage Seda thought again about how Gaode had been his apprentice for so many years, yet only revealed everything today. He had never shown any flaws before. Gaode’s deep scheming and immense forbearance were truly disproportionate to his age, making Mage Seda feel more lingering fear the more he thought about it.

"You truly are full of schemes; you even made me suffer a loss."

Having sorted all this out, Mage Seda suddenly regained his composure.

He spoke into the depths of the black mist where figures couldn’t be clearly seen, "But if you have no other backup plans, this farce ends today.

"You still underestimated my knowledge, and overestimated your Extraordinary Item.

"A 1st Ring Alchemy Creation cannot smooth over the huge gap between you and me."

Mage Seda endured the continuous, intense pain transmitting from his foot and sneered, "Hidden Mist Skill, although a First-Ring Spell, lacks lethality and has significant limitations.

"And coincidentally, I know its limitations.

"It’s time to end this!" Mage Seda shouted.

He reasoned that the cause of this dilemma was entirely due to the existence of this mist, wasn’t it? If he made the mist disappear, everything would be easily resolved. With his Mana depleted and the cover of the Hidden Mist Skill lost, wouldn’t Gaode be entirely at his mercy? And he knew two ways to counter the Hidden Mist Skill.

Strong winds and fire!

There was no Strong Wind Magic among the Tricks, but there was plenty of Flame Magic. And he happened to master one.

A red light flickered in his hand, accompanied by scorching heat. An arrow formed of flames took shape once more. As he swung his arm, it shot out rapidly, turning into a blazing rocket the moment it left his hand.

"Burn away all your mist..."

BANG! BANG! BANG!!!

Before his voice fully faded, an astonishing explosion rang out Tuwu, completely exceeding Mage Seda’s expectations.

Explosions! Explosions!

In the blink of an eye, flames inexplicably burst into combustion in the space centered around Mage Seda. Simultaneously, a high-pressure, high-temperature shockwave formed. The massive shockwave expanded outward, violently slamming into surrounding objects and structures, and Mage Seda was the ’object’ closest to the center of the explosion.

The residual effect of the Shield Skill was instantly destroyed.

The immense impact swept across Mage Seda’s physical body, directly tearing apart the robe on him that served as a First-Ring Extraordinary Item, before ripping into his aged and frail flesh. Meanwhile, the burning flames, mixed with billowing thick smoke, continued their surging momentum without pause. They expanded and engulfed everything in the room, including the mist released by the Hidden Mist Skill.

In merely a split second, the mist from the Hidden Mist Skill was completely swallowed by the flames. With the mist’s disappearance, his obstructed vision finally regained clarity.

The room was now a complete mess.

A layer of smoke permeated the air, and the light twisted in the turbid atmosphere, forming hazy beams that sliced the chaotic scene within the room into irregular patches of light and shadow. The massive pressure generated by the explosion left the walls covered in mottled marks, with an extremely thick crack running straight through an entire wall.

The furniture in the room had all been overturned and damaged by the explosion’s shockwave. Chairs were broken, tables shattered into pieces, and the books on the shelves were blown into paper confetti, with the remnants still burning. Various debris scattered across the floor.

Two figures lay horizontally amidst this total devastation, the clothes on their bodies scorched black and tattered. They simply lay there motionless, their survival uncertain.

It was terrifyingly quiet. Aside from the occasional crackling sounds of the embers, almost no other noise could be heard.

HUFF! HUFF! HUFF!

A moment later, the sound of heavy breathing echoed in the room. Of the two figures lying on the floor, one slowly began to wriggle.

Gaode!

He had regained a sliver of consciousness, feeling nothing but a burning pain all over his body, his limbs feeling incomparably heavy. Using all his strength, Gaode struggled to climb up. Every movement was accompanied by severe pain and gasping.

Even though Mage Seda was at the center of the explosion, and even though he had tried his best to maintain his distance by diving toward the outside of the room the instant it occurred, the room was only so big. The explosion’s shockwave spread so rapidly that he could not avoid being harmed no matter what.

It was a pyrrhic exchange—wounding the enemy a thousandfold, but damaging himself six hundred.

At this moment, it was as if every inhalation required immense effort from Gaode to forcefully drag air into his exhausted lungs. His exhalations were slow and heavy, like an old bellows releasing its final wisp of air, carrying a sense of sluggishness and reluctance.

He barely managed to prop himself up into a sitting position with his arms, then shakily stood up. After staggering to his feet, Gaode used his formidable willpower to temporarily cast aside his injuries and pain. He moved his weak, powerless legs, inching step by step toward the other figure lying in the room before crouching down.

"Why... why..."

Mage Seda actually still had breath left and had recovered a bit of consciousness. Upon his Detection of Gaode approaching, he tried to lift his finger. However, after several strenuous attempts, he failed. His lips merely trembled, emitting a faint sound.

Compared to Gaode, the injuries Mage Seda suffered were far more severe. His body was covered in clothing fragments mixed with flour and bloodstains. His skin had sustained extensive burns, showing varying shades of charred black and inflamed red. Some areas of skin had even peeled off from the intense heat, exposing the pinkish wounds underneath. Mage Seda’s eyes were currently revealing a mingled emotion of agony and incomprehension.

"This is my backup plan," Gaode grinned happily, displaying his most unbridled smile since coming to this world. "You also underestimated my knowledge."

That night, he had woken Amy up and entrusted him to help buy an item in the city; it was precisely the flour he threw out alongside the acid flask.

A dust explosion.

The amount of flour dust contained in every cubic meter of air must not exceed 9.7 grams. As long as the concentration of flour dust in localized air reaches this threshold, and encounters a fire source of sufficient Strength, an explosion can occur!

In his previous world, this was common safety knowledge known to all. But in this world, rarely anyone knew of it.

After Gaode learned the effects of the Hidden Mist Skill, he knew that relying solely on the synergy between this Magic and the Demonization of the Hidden Mist Fang would absolutely not be enough to defeat Mage Seda. He was younger than Mage Seda and had better physical fitness. The problem was, whether in his past life or present, he had never learned hand-to-hand combat. Facing an Elder Mage who had mastered Close Combat Magic, that slight physical advantage could never offset the edge that Magic could provide.

It wasn’t until he noticed that the Hidden Mist Skill could be blown away by strong winds and burned away by flames that his plan fully took shape.

Gaode gambled on the high probability that Mage Seda knew the method to break the Hidden Mist Skill, and he was certain that Mage Seda possessed a Flame Magic. Knowing the countermeasure and possessing Flame Magic, Mage Seda would have no reason not to cast it to break his Hidden Mist Skill.

All Gaode had to do was scatter flour beforehand in the enclosed space of the room, increasing the dust concentration in the air before Mage Seda could cast his Flame Magic. This was Gaode’s final layer of scheming!

He had done his utmost and left the rest to fate.

This so-called fate was whether or not Mage Seda actually knew how to counter the Hidden Mist Skill. If fate was not on his side, Gaode would only have one last resort left: relying on the Demonization of the Hidden Mist Fang to fight Mage Seda tooth and nail in a brutal melee.

Even in that worst-case scenario, the flour wouldn’t be completely useless. The flour sprinkled on Mage Seda would allow Gaode, whose vision was hindered by the mist, to better pinpoint the Elder Mage’s location.

However, there was no need to consider any of this anymore. Because fate was with him!

While laughing brazenly, Gaode had already raised the Hidden Mist Fang high in his hand.

SQUELCH!

Blood splattered out, sprinkling onto Gaode and mixing with the blood flowing from his own wounds. Just like the night he assassinated Elan, Gaode thrust the Hidden Mist Fang into Mage Seda’s chest and pulled it out, appearing exceptionally practiced.

One strike wasn’t enough.

He pulled out the Hidden Mist Fang and stabbed again. Then he pulled it out and stabbed once more. Back and forth, over and over.

"By... what... right..."

Mage Seda’s breath grew increasingly feeble. Staring at Gaode with his eyes wide open, his lips trembled as he intermittently spat out an incomplete sentence. Before his words could fully end, his head tilted to the side, completely devoid of vitality.

Although it was incomplete, Gaode knew exactly what Mage Seda wanted to ask. He used his last shred of strength to focus his attention on the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow.

Origin:

0th Ring—[Human] (2/7), [Gray-eyed Mouse] (Used), [Dark Swamp Crawler] (Used), [Wolf Rat] (1/7).

...

Seeing the (2/7) after [Human], Gaode grinned, feeling reassured enough to answer Mage Seda’s question.

He answered the corpse on the ground that barely retained a human shape anymore:

"By what right?

"By the right that my life was picked up for nothing in the first place, while yours was yours to lose. When it comes to risking our lives, how could you possibly outplay me?"

The one to walk out of this room alive would ultimately be him.

As the taut breath he had been holding in his heart finally released, Gaode could no longer control his consciousness. With a loud THUD, his body collapsed to the ground once more, falling completely unconscious.