Dago stood silently, watching the Black Robe Wizard who seemed very interested in him.
In Dago's Detection Art vision, the wizard's mental fluctuations were clearly stronger than his own; he was at least a high-level Level 3 Apprentice Wizard.
He tentatively asked, "What is Blood Food?"
The Black Robe Wizard, with a look like he was staring at a dead man, said, "Blood Food is a sacrifice offered to the Dark Blood Council."
After saying this, he subtly curled his lips, then suddenly aimed his spinal staff at Dago, and an shadow energy orb once again converged and shot towards him.
Dago compressed a minute Air Bullet under his feet with his mental power, propelling himself away and barely dodging the energy orb.
The shadow energy orb directly struck the spot where Dago had just stood, making little noise but instantly corroding a large patch of ground, visibly sinking it.
Dago watched the large sunken area with some trepidation.
He had witnessed this corrosive energy spell before, used by the previous Black Robe.
However, the same spell released by an intermediate Apprentice Wizard and a high-level Apprentice Wizard had vastly different power.
Quickly getting up, Dago and the Black Robe Wizard exchanged a gaze across the distance.
The latter's mental power remained firmly locked onto him; clearly, the Black Robe Wizard intended to kill him.
Dago's mind raced, his eyes flickering as he considered his next move.
With his current total mental power, he could still cast four Ice Crystal Cannons. Could he only gamble that the wizard couldn't defend against them?
Deciding to act immediately, Dago quickly condensed ice elements, forming an Ice Crystal Cannon, and shot it straight towards the Black Robe Wizard.
The Black Robe Wizard sneered upon seeing it, quickly chanted a spell, and waved his bone staff...
Before him, a two-meter diameter circular blood mirror materialized. The mirror did not reflect reality but rather several distorted, struggling souls.
The Ice Crystal Cannon, carrying unparalleled might, crashed directly into the blood mirror. With a crack, countless fissures appeared on the mirror's surface where the dark blue projectile struck.
Just as Dago thought the Ice Crystal Cannon would continue its advance as usual, he saw the distorted, struggling souls within the blood mirror extend their hands from the cracks and grasp the Ice Crystal Cannon.
"Sizzle!!!" The ice elements on the Ice Crystal Cannon and the Air Bullet at its base were continuously eroded and dissipated by the vengeful spirits.
By the time the vengeful spirits completely vanished, the Ice Crystal Cannon also lost all momentum and fell to the ground, shattering into fragments.
The Black Robe Wizard looked at Dago with some surprise: "Such an impressive ice-element wizardry. It seems Moluo Ke was killed by you. If I had been careless, I might have fallen to this wizardry as well."
At this moment, Dago was close to despair.
Was this the strength of a Dark Blood Council Black Robe Wizard, skilled in combat and strife?
Dago again applied a tiny amount of compressed air to his feet, using the recoil to jump several meters away and then rolling a few times on the ground.
The distant Black Robe Wizard was watching him coldly, his eyes revealing an icy indifference, as if he were looking at a desperate fleeing insect.
He was chanting a new spell, uttering strange syllables one after another.
In Dago's Detection Art vision, he saw large quantities of shadow energy particles converging normally onto the wizard's bone staff; a super-powerful spell was brewing.
"I can't let him cast this spell, or I'll most likely die."
Dago's pupils sharply contracted, and a voice screamed at him in his heart.
"I must interrupt his casting."
He quickly made a decision in his mind.
He abruptly wiped the mixture of dirt and sweat from his face, gritting his teeth, his pale, handsome face looking somewhat disheveled.
"Whoosh~~"
Dago quickly chanted, and an Ice Crystal Cannon once again appeared before him, then, following his mental command, it shot out rapidly.
The moment the Ice Crystal Cannon burst forth, Dago's body stumbled backward uncontrollably.
His remaining mental power was running low.
The Ice Crystal Cannon, carrying terrifying power, stirred up a fierce wind from the ground, howling as it charged towards the Black Robe Wizard.
Just as it was about to strike its target, the Black Robe Wizard, who was focused on chanting, raised his eyelids to face Dago's attack.
A thick, dark green energy torrent, as wide as a barrel, poured out from his bone staff, colliding head-on with the Ice Crystal Cannon.
"Boom!"
The massive energy torrent corroded the Ice Crystal Cannon into dust, and the scattered ice element energy formed snowflakes that fell from the sky.
Detection Art gave him a cryptic message: High-level Apprentice Wizardry, Corrosive Torrent.
Using the micro-control technique of the Air Bullet, he narrowly dodged the residual Corrosive Torrent...
The Corrosive Torrent struck the Treehouse Stronghold's wooden fence, instantly corroding and collapsing it.
Following the collapsed wooden fence, Dago used the micro-control technique of the Air Bullet to jump out of the Treehouse Stronghold.
Outside the stronghold, he saw Old Marico and Serena standing dozens of meters away, looking at him worriedly, not yet having run far.
His heart was burning with anxiety, and he yelled at the top of his lungs, "Run!"
The next second, the Black Robe Wizard who had walked out locked onto him with powerful, icy mental energy.
The wizard mockingly said, "You little insect are still thinking about other insects. Don't worry, I'll send them down to keep you company soon."
Dago's heart sank, and he decided to gamble his life.
Just yesterday, the skill "Air Bullet" on his system panel, his most frequently used attack skill, had undergone a transformation and improved.
He had tried casting it during the night but ultimately failed due to insufficient mental power; this wizardry required a huge amount of mental power from the wizard, which he currently lacked.
Dago steeled himself, pulled out the last bottle of silver-white Mental Potion he had, uncorked it, and poured it into his mouth.
The silver substance entered his Spiritual Space, transforming into mental droplets that merged with his soul form. A massive amount of mental power overflowed from the deep blue aura in Dago's eyes, emitting a blue light.
He endured the head-splitting pain caused by mental power overload, raising his hands towards the sky.
At this moment, Dago's expression was distorted and twisted, his eyes glowing intensely with blue light, his forehead covered in bulging veins, and his long hair, draped over his shoulders, billowed without wind.
He focused entirely, enveloping a large volume of air with a massive mental membrane, compressing it frantically towards his hands, emitting a low, rumbling sound of air.
The Black Robe Wizard naturally wouldn't just stand there watching Dago cast such a grand spell. He hastily raised his bone staff, aimed it at Dago, and began chanting the Corrosive Torrent spell again.
Just as he was about to finish chanting, vine-like tendrils, resembling pythons, had grown from under his feet and were tightly coiling around him, interrupting his casting process.
Serena, who had appeared a dozen meters away, had cast a Vine Technique on him.
The Black Robe Wizard's gaze, like that of a furious beast, turned towards her. He quickly aimed his bone staff at Serena, chanted a spell, and prepared to blast her with a corrosive energy orb.
The scene returned to Dago. Above his raised hands, a rapidly shrinking, dazzling white-glowing core of fire was forming.
It continued to shrink until it was about the size of a walnut, then stopped...
Inside the core, energy convection churned, and the temperature was extremely high. The surrounding space was distorted by the heat, like a miniature sun.
Dago snapped back to reality and saw the Black Robe's bone staff aimed at Serena. He used his last shred of mental power to hurl the core of fire towards the Black Robe Wizard.
The Black Robe Wizard instantly sensed something, turned his bone staff back towards Dago, and upon seeing the core of fire, his eyes became instantly fixated, even stopping his chanting.
His face showed a look of profound bewilderment and regret, as if he had witnessed something impossible, an embrace with death.
He involuntarily uttered, "It can't be The Pinnacle of Art, impossible."