“What… What kind of magic is that?”

In the direction of the Mage Guild.

A mage felt the rapidly approaching cold wave and stared blankly at the ice corridor that appeared in the sky. He took a deep breath, and when he exhaled again, he could see his breath. Then, his body turned into a snow-white ice sculpture; there was not a hint of pain on his face because his life had ended before he could react.

“Everyone, quickly, use fire-elemental magic!”

When they saw their companions turned into that state, the other mages quickly reacted. They immediately raised their staffs and began to chant, “Fire elements that wander between heaven and earth, please listen to my summon and condense into fireb.a.l.l.s that can shatter the earth! Silver-tier magic, Consecutive Exploding Fireb.a.l.l.s.”

They had summoned fireb.a.l.l.s the size of a washbasin. It split from one into dozens of b.a.l.l.s, each surrounded by purple flames, and shot forward in an attempt to block the incoming cold wave. However, something shocking happened; after the fireb.a.l.l.s entered the cold wave's range, they were immediately frozen into ice cubes.

That was the first time everyone had seen a frozen flame, and they were all dumbfounded.

Audrey and Ron were the only ones who could maintain their composure in the crowd. Audrey reached out and touched her cheek as she muttered softly, “Pride is a Great Sin Mask. I'll activate my immunity ability.”

Her originally beautiful face suddenly changed as her face rippled like water.

As the leader of the Demoness Bandits Gang, Pride had her own mask. She did not usually wear it because her mask was transparent.

As the head of the seven deadly sins and the strongest original sin, Audrey had two powers—judgment and immunity.

For judgment—if she decided that the other party was guilty, then a single touch would injure the other party; they would suffer great pain, no matter who they were. As for the immunity ability that she wanted to use, it allowed her to be immune to any non-fatal injuries.

“d.a.m.n it; I can't partic.i.p.ate in that kind of battle at all. It's good enough that I can protect myself—Wolf Transformation!”

On the other side, Ron also had his way of preserving his life. He stabbed the long blue knife in his hand into the earth and laid flat on the ground. The muscles on his body expanded under his ferocious expression; first, they grew bigger, and then silver-white fur appeared on his skin.

In just a minute, he had transformed from a human into a giant wolf. He was a few meters long, and his ice-blue eyes were filled with indifference. The cold current that washed over him was repelled by the fur on his body.

Ron could transform into an ice field magic wolf because he was a demihuman. He was immune to high-tier frost magic.

The two leaders had their own methods to survive the fight, but the rest of their followers were not so lucky.

Twenty mages who stood at the front held their staff as they prepared to cast fire magic to ward off the cold. However, they were frozen in ice sculptures before they could do that. Even the mercenaries who were responsible for guarding them were turned into popsicles.

“The ancient flame illuminates the world; the scorching sun dispels the eternal night. Great G.o.d of Fire, I am Antonio, and I sincerely pray to you; please grant me the power to burn the world and everything in it! Platinum-tier fire-elemental magic, Sun Disc!”

The astrologer's beard fluttered in the wind as he cast an earth-elemental platinum-tier spell with one hand and summoned a rock giant to replace the previous one that had been frozen into a giant block of ice. He fought with the Primordial Demoness as he raised his staff with the other hand and activated the platinum-tier fire-elemental spell.

The Golden Flash's Absolute Zero spell was a fusion spell, and it was a superior variant of ice, a fire element. The essence of a fire element was to control temperature. The fire was to raise the temperature, and ice was to lower it.

After the astrologer released the spell, a huge disk phantom appeared behind him; it continued to rotate. If one looked carefully, one would see that that disk was engraved with countless tiny magic runes. The overall composition was the same as the real sun; it emitted a high temperature that melted everything.

Ice and fire.

The extreme temperature and absolute zero collided—it instantly distorted the s.p.a.ce and created a ma.s.sive explosion.

The area within a hundred-meter radius of the astrologer's feet was swept flat, and the entire ground dropped by a centimeter. The mercenaries and mages nearby were all thrown backward. Those who were lucky enough to put up a magic barrier or combat aura s.h.i.+eld in advance could still keep their lives; those who were unlucky exploded into a b.l.o.o.d.y mist in mid-air.

Boom!

A huge mushroom cloud rose from the ground. The two giants that were fighting each other, the Primordial Demoness's projection and the huge rock giant, were separated due to the explosion.

The astrologer stood in the center of the explosion; he wiped his darkened face as he panted heavily and complained in a low voice. “I have to admit; I have been staying in the Temple of the Stars for too long. My strength had deteriorated! I didn't have such a difficult time when casting two platinum-tier spells in the past.”

The explosion had injured him slightly. The mages and the mercenaries focused their attention on him; he could not lose his dignity in front of them as he was the most respected mage in the kingdom. He used his staff to summon some water to wash the black stains off his face. Then, he endured his fatigue to cast another spell at the Blackmoon Castle in the distance.

“Platinum-tier water-elemental spell, Sky River Arrow Rain!”

Another heavy rain of arrows rained from Blackmoon Castle's skyline.

However, his opponent would not be outdone. The Golden Flash roared and spat out nine thick light pillars. It was the platinum-tier spell—Ninth-level Blazing Heavenly Dragon Breath. It swept across the earth and left a long ditch in its wake; it also took a few mercenaries and mages who could not dodge it in time.

“Platinum-tier fire-elemental spell, Sun Disk!”

“Platinum-tier ice-elemental spell, Absolute Zero!”

“Platinum-tier dark-elemental spell, Black Hole!”

“Gold-tier spell, Consecutive Bullets! Petrification Magic Eye, Death Ray, Humanoid Auto Mine Giant!”

One spell after another boomed across the area. They collided with each other and lit up the sky, but the sound continued to boom.

“Audrey…”

Ron had transformed into an ice field wolf. His beautiful fur fluttered in the wind as his narrow eyes stared into the distance. His fanged mouth said, “What are we doing here?”

He was there because Audrey had promised to hire him to protect the mages with a large sum of money. He did not think that the battle with Blackmoon Castle would be that intense. Even if it were to get serious, hundreds of people would have rushed at the other group as they shouted and fought against each other; they would see a sea of blood. However, with the astrologer, it seemed like a different kind of battle.

The astrologer and the mysterious platinum-tier mage in Blackmoon Castle had been fighting with platinum-tier spells since the beginning. One of them would cast a spell, and the other would respond in kind. It was like a turn-based game; it was very harmonious.

However, there was a problem with that.

Ron did not know how many people Blackmoon Castle had lost. Half of the people he had brought with him were almost dead. He had wanted to show off his manly charm in front of Audrey, so he had brought all his elites; all of them were bronze-tier warriors, and there were a few silver-tier warriors among them.

“Captain Ron, save me!”

“I don't want to die yet!”

Screams continued to echo from behind them. There was no difference if they were bronze or silver-tier in that battle. They could only try to hold on to something so that they would not be sent flying backward. If they did, those violent energy fluctuations would kill them.

They would be fine if they were careful with the aftershocks of the battle. However, the Primordial Demoness' projection, who was fighting against the rock giant, occasionally glanced at them. A few of his subordinates would be petrified, and the rock giant would also accidentally step on his men during the battle.

No matter how strong the astrologer's men were, they would not be able to keep everyone safe under such circ.u.mstances.

Ron looked at the scene behind him; he felt somewhat helpless. If it were not for the astrologer who had cast the spell, he would have cursed too. Did they mean to kill those from Blackmoon Castle or his men? He wondered if Audrey was unhappy with him; perhaps she had joined forces with the astrologer to destroy his forces in Monte Town.