Chapter 007: The Gap

While the opponent was summoning those elemental creatures, Du Fan quickly placed several wind shields around himself and cast a series of supportive spells such as agility, strength, and mental fortitude. In this situation, every extra spell made a difference—far better than doing nothing at all.
Finally, Du Fan cast a levitation spell, causing himself to float slowly in midair. This would consume some of his magic power, but his opponent was a mysterious shaman priest. If he fought on the ground, his mobility would be severely restricted. But if both of them floated in the air, the difference wouldn’t be so great.
“Come on…” Du Fan sighed lightly. “Let me see just how powerful your shamanic magic really is.”
The shaman priest let out a strange laugh. “Cute little guy, you’re quite interesting to me. But I have to tell you that with your skills, you won’t be able to see much. Maybe your teacher could detect something, but tell me, who exactly is your teacher? I really can’t think of any mage on this continent who would let their student practice both magic and martial arts. Hmph… Don’t you know? Practicing both is nothing but a joke!”
“Never mind. It’s useless talking to you… Anyway, you’ll be dead soon. Dead people know too much—it’s not beneficial…”
The shaman priest seemed to sigh softly. With a wave of his hand, the black bird beneath his feet suddenly opened its beak and spat out a stream of black mist!
Du Fan frowned. Waving his left hand slightly, he created several more wind shields that spun around him, while the light combat energy on his body burned brightly.
At that moment, the black mist reached Du Fan’s face. Without hesitation, he swung several Holy Light Cross Cuts, forming a crescent-shaped arc that blocked in front of him.
Based on Du Fan’s assumptions, the black bird was likely composed of dark magic elements, so holy magic and light combat energy should have some restraining effect on it. Even though his own strength was far inferior to the opponent’s, it should at least allow him to hold off for a while.
As Du Fan had predicted, the black mist was halted by the arc of light combat energy and couldn’t move forward for a moment.

Seeing the black bird’s attack blocked, the shaman priest sneered and said, “A sneaky little brat—quite skilled, I’ll give you that! But I wonder what you plan to do now?” With a wave of his hand, the black bird rushed at Du Fan with a howling sound this time. Du Fan forced a wry smile; if he were hit, he’d end up as grilled meat! Though he thought this, he mobilized all his mental energy and darted sideways. He managed to dodge the attack by flying to the side, but he was drenched in cold sweat. After avoiding this attack, Du Fan felt even more frustrated—there was no doubt that the gap between him and the shaman priest was enormous. Ignoring Oscar on the ground, he quickly cast a speed spell and flew in another direction. The shaman priest watched Du Fan’s actions and merely sneered, “Want to run? Too late already!” He stamped a few times on the black bird’s back, instantly increasing its speed several times over as it rushed toward Du Fan. Although Du Fan had used his floating spell to the fullest, it was still a low-level flight magic, so its speed was limited. Coupled with his limited magic power, he was caught up by the shaman priest in just a few moments. The shaman priest sneered a few times, then gently clasped his hands. With that motion, a stark white flame appeared in front of Du Fan. Du Fan abruptly stopped to avoid crashing into it. But before he could feel relieved, the white flames seemed to have a life of their own and rushed at him. Realizing he couldn’t escape now, Du Fan frantically summoned his combat energy to form a protective barrier around himself. Moments later, the white flames surged forward. Du Fan felt a heavy weight on him—he could clearly sense his magic power draining rapidly, even his light combat energy seeming to be corroded. Was this what witchcraft was?! A chill ran through Du Fan’s heart. He tried to throw out his last magic scroll to save himself, but at that moment, the shaman priest pointed at him lightly and recited some strange incantations before shouting, “Go!”

Du Fan saw only a black mist that seemed to take the shape of an arrow shooting toward him. He tried to dodge, but it was already too late—the arrow pierced through the combat energy surrounding Du Fan and merged into his body. Du Fan felt as though he had suddenly been thrown into ice water, his whole body freezing over. Though this sensation lasted only a moment, he continued to tremble uncontrollably. The magic energy that had vanished quickly disappeared even faster. In less than a moment, Du Fan felt utterly empty inside, yet his body grew heavier, before crashing violently to the ground. All of this happened in the blink of an eye. By the time Du Fan regained his senses, he was almost on the ground. He managed to gather some combat energy, spotted a set of vines in the garden, and grabbed hold of them. Only after feeling a tremor throughout his body did he slowly come to a stop. Holding the vines, Du Fan felt uneasy. He couldn’t help but look up and saw that the shaman priest was still floating in midair, seemingly with no intention of chasing after him. “Little guy, what? Is that all you’ve got?” the shaman priest sneered. “I was expecting you to bring me more fun. If you’re already useless after just a few attacks, what am I supposed to do? Better restore your magic quickly and fight again. From what I know about you Rolandians, you must have something to restore your magic, right? Although I drained all your magic with that attack, I’m sure you still have some way to counter me.” Du Fan snorted and slowly released the vines, letting them fall to the ground. “You’re just fighting me with your summoned beast—what kind of skill is that?” “What, you’re not convinced?” the other replied indifferently. “Then I won’t rely on a summoned beast to fight you. But what can you do?” With that, he waved his hand slightly, and the black bird beneath him slowly disappeared, while he himself descended rapidly to the ground. It was then that Du Fan could clearly see his mask—covered in various paints, with only two black holes where the eyes should be, making it impossible to see what was inside. The shaman priest, seeing Du Fan’s gaze, smiled slightly and said, “What, so curious about what’s beneath my mask? Then show me what you’ve got and peel it off yourself, how about that?”

Du Fan grunted in silence, but his left hand already clutched the magic scroll hidden in his sleeve, waiting for the right moment to deliver a fatal blow to the shaman priest. The shaman priest waited for a while but saw no sign of Du Fan attacking. With a soft sigh and a strange smile, he said, “Kid, my patience is extremely limited. It seems you’ve run out of options too. A level-four mage trying to fight me? Even if you’re skilled in both magic and combat, it’s still a joke. I’m sorry, kid!!! Though you’re quite interesting, we’d better never meet again…” As he spoke, the shaman priest gently folded his hands, and a trace of blood-colored light appeared on them before disappearing quickly. He pointed at Du Fan, and a drop of crimson emerged from his fingertip. That drop accelerated rapidly, less than half a meter away from him, and a burst of black flames erupted from it, resembling the flames of hell. Du Fan frowned but didn’t retreat. Instead, he stepped forward and unleashed several wind blades. Though not very powerful, their sheer number blew the flames aside. The shaman priest was momentarily surprised and murmured, “Instant casting? No, is it that magic wand? Kid, it seems you do have some decent skills after all!” Du Fan gritted his teeth and remained silent. He rushed toward the shaman priest, wielding both Silver Moon and Phantom simultaneously. With his movements, a wind blade and a holy light cross-cut appeared, charging at the shaman priest. The shaman priest simply stepped back a few times to avoid the attacks, his expression even more peculiar. “Can combat energy and magic be used at the same time? How interesting. When did the people of Roland learn such techniques?” Du Fan still stayed silent, spun around, and vanished in an instant. When he reappeared, he was behind the shaman priest, delivering a silent sword strike this time. Unexpectedly, the shaman priest sighed again and said, “Huh… You know this technique too. It must be the swordsmanship of the Holy Church, right? But it’s useless!” As he spoke, the shaman priest casually waved his hand, and a stark white flame appeared behind him. If Du Fan had managed to strike him, he would likely have been burned to ashes as well.