Mage's Profound Truths

Chapter 27: Fierce Battle (Part One)

Jia also stopped walking, turned around, and said in a low voice, “It’s like this, Mr. Aita actually gave me something. At first, I didn’t know what it was. When I got back yesterday, I opened it and found a message from Mr. Aita asking me to pass the item to you.”

“Mr. Aita’s item is with you?”

Merlin stared directly at Jia and continued to ask, “Where is it?”

“I hid it in a secret place. Come with me.”

With that, Jia turned and left.

Merlin narrowed his eyes, watching Jia’s back, but in the end, he still followed behind her.

Just as they walked out of the small building, Moss came forward and asked, “Young Master Merlin, do you need a carriage?”

Merlin waved his hand and said, “No, I’ll be out for a while. Wait here.”

Seeing that Merlin was going out with a beautiful woman, Moss tactfully stopped asking questions and returned to the carriage.

So Jia and Merlin walked through several street corners and finally arrived at a pleasant courtyard.

“Let’s go, the item is inside.”

A subtle glint flashed through Jia’s eyes as she led Merlin into the courtyard.

The courtyard was very empty, with only a few bare trees, but the absence of snow on the ground showed that someone regularly cleaned it.

There were several stone steps in the courtyard. At the top was a large door, seemingly the entrance to a living room.

The door was tightly shut. Jia walked to the front of it, then suddenly turned and frowned, saying, “Merlin, the item is inside. Why did you stop?”

Merlin stopped walking, glanced at the closed door, and suddenly smiled.

“Jia, how many people are in the house?”

Jia was slightly stunned, but still answered calmly, “This is one of my secret hideouts. Only I know about it.”

“Is that so? Then let me try something.”

As soon as he finished speaking, two fireballs appeared beside Merlin, quietly floating in the air and radiating terrifying heat.

“Lord Lorin, attack now!”

Jia immediately shouted and quickly retreated into the house. However, Merlin was faster. The two floating fireballs, guided by Merlin’s will, shot toward Jia, trailing black smoke.

“Bang! Bang!”

One fireball directly struck Jia’s thigh. She seemed prepared and used a small shield to block it, but the explosion's force still sent her crashing into the house. Her fate was unknown.

The other fireball hit the sturdy main door, and the intense heat burned a large hole through it.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”

A series of black bolts shot out from inside the house. They were short, numerous, and clearly not arrows but fired from crossbows.

The bolts were extremely fast and numerous. Nearly ten came at once. Inside Merlin’s mind, his spell models trembled violently, and two more fireballs appeared.

Merlin quickly leapt back, and the two fireballs exploded in an instant. The powerful blasts shattered the incoming bolts, which fell to the ground in pieces.

The courtyard fell silent again. Merlin watched the house cautiously. A figure slowly stepped out and stood on the stone steps, looking down at Merlin from above.

“To think you discovered us… Was it a flaw on our part, or did Jia mess up?”

The smoke and dust dispersed, and Merlin could clearly see the figure on the stone steps—a middle-aged man of about forty, nearly two meters tall, with a burly build and a full beard, holding a greatsword in his hand. His entire body exuded a powerful sense of oppression, like a dormant beast.

In Merlin's sea of consciousness, the magic model was absorbing the surrounding fire elements with full force. Just now, he had already cast Fireball four times, and the gray bar had turned red, indicating that he could now trigger Great Fireball.

“Jia deceived me, but haven’t I also used her? Her words were full of loopholes. Back in Teacher Aita’s cottage, the reason I didn’t kill her was simply to let her lead you all out.”

“Although the Church of Light is very dangerous, they won’t pay attention to a small place like Heishui City, so I will be safe. But you all are different. You know my identity, and that is a huge threat that must be eliminated!”

Merlin’s tone also turned cold. In fact, he had already seen through Jia’s lies back in old man Aita’s cottage. However, if he had killed Jia back then, the people of the Blackmoon Kingdom behind her might have traced it back to him.

So Merlin temporarily spared Jia, using her as a pawn in a counter-plan, intending to capture everyone behind her from the Blackmoon Kingdom in one net.

The bearded man’s face remained calm as he said indifferently, “Young spellcaster, you are indeed clever. But you spellcasters are all the same—arrogant and self-important. Especially that old fool Aita, who disobeyed my orders. For the sake of a magic tool, not only did he leave Heishui City on his own, but he also secretly took you in as his disciple. Hmph, lucky for him he died early, or I’d have shown him that spellcasters are nothing!”

The bearded man's aura surged again, and the overwhelming pressure rushed toward Merlin. This sense of danger made Merlin realize that the man was no ordinary elemental swordsman—he was likely above Level 3.

Moreover, from the man's words, Merlin sensed that he held deep dissatisfaction toward old Aita, even harboring a deep prejudice against spellcasters.

This was someone who held deep hatred for spellcasters.

“Teacher Aita is not someone you can compare to! Enough talk, let’s fight and see!”

Merlin stopped wasting words. With a slight flick of his hand, a fireball whooshed through the air toward the bearded man.

Before the fireball could reach him, the bearded man suddenly stomped the ground, as if shaking the entire courtyard. In an instant, raging flames surged up around his body.

The flames were half a meter high, distorting the air itself—this was a powerful Level 3 Flame Swordsman!

This was Merlin’s first time seeing a Level 3 Flame Swordsman. The strongest elemental swordsman he had seen before was Borg, who came to Heishui City with Mage Jason from the Church not long ago. But Borg was only Level 2, far weaker than this man.

“Heh, a Level 0 spell—Fireball? Young spellcaster, let me show you the power of a Flame Swordsman controlling fire. Flame s***h!”

The bearded man raised the greatsword in his hand. He seemed completely unafraid of the scorching fireball and brought the sword down with a fierce s***h.