In the blink of an eye, the balance of their standoff was shattered.
The one to strike first was none other than Sefina, who appeared to be at a complete disadvantage.
Her right hand pointed the Ice Wand straight at Rofilia, magic fluctuations just beginning to ripple—but her left hand moved even faster toward her waist—
Sefina drew her pistol!
Without the slightest hesitation, Sefina squeezed the trigger.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
A series of crisp, ear-splitting blasts tore through the silence atop the mountain. The specially crafted Alchemical Bullets shot toward Rofilia’s vitals at a speed almost impossible for the naked eye to follow.
Sefina’s intentions were clear: take advantage of her opponent’s unfamiliarity with “non-magical” weaponry to launch a surprise attack and seize the initiative.
However, Rofilia’s reaction far exceeded all expectations!
It was as if she had already anticipated this move. The moment before the gunshots rang out, her wand-wielding right hand barely even moved—only her fingertips gave the slightest flick.
“Boom—!”
A thick Earthen Bulwark erupted almost out of nowhere from the ground before her, rising just in time to block all of the bullets with unerring precision.
“Puff, puff, puff—”
The bullets embedded themselves deep in the hard, enchanted earth, kicking up a burst of dust, but not penetrating even the slightest bit.
The surprise attack had failed.
A trace of gravity flashed through Sefina’s ice-blue eyes, her brow knitting slightly.
Rofilia’s voice, still cold and clear, came through the wall of earth with a note of understanding:
“I’ve long heard, Miss Holmes, that aside from magic, you also command a certain peculiar hidden weapon—one that’s incredibly fast and quite deadly. It seems the rumors are true.”
Clearly, her intelligence on “Holmes” was both thorough and meticulous.
Though her shot had missed, Sefina didn’t pause for a moment!
Almost as soon as she saw the earth wall rise, the Ice Wand in her right hand erupted in a dazzling blue light!
A complex ice magic array was instantly drawn beneath her feet, water vapor in the air converging and compressing wildly!
Sixth-tier magic, [Spear of Frost].
As the spell formation took shape, a massive spear radiating an intense chill formed in an instant.
With a shrill cry that tore through the air, it shot at the earthen wall like a comet striking the moon.
“Boom—!”
Under the impact of the magically charged ice spear, the Earthen Bulwark shattered as easily as if it were made of paper, bursting apart into countless fragments of stone and earth.
The spear’s momentum did not falter, trailing a freezing tail as it stabbed straight for Rofilia’s face.
But Rofilia was not simply on the defensive.
While Sefina had been preparing [Spear of Frost], the ancient wand in her hand began to glow with a blue-green light, and an even larger, more intricate wind spell array flickered into existence behind her.
Facing the deadly spear that burst through the wall, Rofilia’s expression remained unchanged. With a gentle flick of her wand, she responded.
Sixth-tier magic, [Wind Blade Tornado], unleashed in a flash.
In an instant, countless ferocious green wind blades appeared from thin air, spinning and swirling at high speed, instantly forming a miniature tornado of immense cutting power that met the [Spear of Frost] head-on.
“Hiss—!”
The sharp screech of friction and slicing filled the air.
Both were sixth-tier spells. There was no clear elemental advantage between wind and ice, yet the result was completely one-sided.
That spear, which could pierce through a wall of steel, was shredded and torn apart like fragile glass within the howling Wind Blade Tornado, breaking into countless sparkling shards of ice that scattered in all directions.
The difference in magical power was laid bare in that instant.
Sefina’s spell had been effortlessly broken by Rofilia’s spell of the same tier, simply through greater power and control.
A chill ran through Sefina’s heart, but her actions didn’t falter for even a second.
She raised her pistol again—“bang, bang”—Alchemical Bullets howled toward Rofilia, trying to disrupt her casting rhythm, even if only for a split second.
But Rofilia handled it with astonishing ease.
She stopped the bullets with a casual spell, then flicked her wand toward Sefina’s feet.
“Boom—”
The ground beneath Sefina’s feet seemed to vanish in an instant.
A circular pit, about two meters wide and equally deep, suddenly yawned open below her.
To alter the terrain so precisely in such a small area—this was the pinnacle of earth magic mastery!
Suddenly, Sefina lost her footing, her body lurching as she fell. All her offensive and defensive movements were thrown fatally off-balance.
Rofilia seized this fleeting opportunity—her wand’s tip flashed with icy light, and a fifth-tier spell, [Frost Bind], was cast almost instantaneously.
A wave of freezing cold, like a white shockwave, struck Sefina as she plummeted downward!
“Crack—”
An unbearable chill exploded out, ice forming over Sefina’s body at a speed visible to the naked eye. In the blink of an eye, the silver-haired figure was frozen completely into a massive block of ice.
With a dull “thud,” Sefina crashed to the bottom of the pit, still encased in ice.
Was it over?
Rofilia’s sharp gaze swept the bottom of the pit, but the next instant, years of battle-honed intuition screamed that something was wrong.
That block of ice… was too “clean.” The figure frozen inside seemed to lack a certain trace of real life, and the freezing process itself had been oddly smooth.
Not the real body! It was a Doppelganger Spell!
“Damn!” Rofilia’s mind sounded the alarm. Without thinking, she unleashed a surge of magic behind her, forming a thick magical shield as she spun around.
Sure enough!
Not far behind her, the true “Holmes” had already appeared without a sound.
Sefina’s wand was raised high overhead, a more complex ice-blue magic array swirling, radiating a bone-chilling cold that made the air itself shudder!
Sixth-tier magic, [Absolute Zero Prison].
As Sefina finished the spell, an endless wave of cold burst from the array—not targeting Rofilia directly, but instantly enveloping a vast area around her.
The air seemed to freeze solid. The ground was covered in a thick layer of solid ice, and countless sharp icicles erupted wildly from the void and the earth, forming a massive, hellish prison of ice.
It was a spell combining both area control and lethal force.
For the first time, a genuine flash of surprise appeared in Rofilia’s eyes—but it was gone in an instant.
Facing this meticulously planned, all-or-nothing strike, she demonstrated the terrifying power of an eighth-tier mage.
Rofilia swept her wand in a fierce arc. The deep violet gem at the tip glowed, fire elements roaring to life, displacing the wind magic from moments before. A blazing red magic array bloomed beneath her feet.
***
The next moment, a torrent of lava-like flames, like a volcanic eruption, surged forward to meet the encroaching [Absolute Zero Prison].
Sixth-tier magic, [Scorching Flame Torrent].
“BOOM—!!!”
Ice and fire. Absolute cold and scorching heat. Two spells of extreme opposites collided in a cataclysmic explosion.
White frost and crimson flames intertwined, consuming and obliterating each other. The resulting shockwave shattered and hurled nearby rocks in every direction.
A vast cloud of steam billowed up, forming a dense, blinding fog.
Sefina bit her lip hard, her face paling. She had thrown everything she had into her ambush, only for it to be countered in mere moments by a spell of the same tier.
This was becoming a real problem…