The Terrifying Seraph

Elves had an exceptionally keen sense, and they placed extraordinary trust in their intuition.

No one knew how many elves had been saved by this wondrous instinct. Perhaps it was the Creator’s favor toward elves that had granted them so many exceptional talents.

In any case, Josh felt that elves were practically a bug of a race. Only Skyrim Province’s elves seemed a little low-grade; elves everywhere else were all so lofty and refined.

Skyrim Province truly seemed to hold some peculiar prejudice against elves. Back when Josh played it, even after installing all sorts of mods, the result still looked like crap. You practically had to put elf ears on a human race character for it to suit Josh’s tastes.

Although Josh had no idea what that female elf looked like, considering how deeply she had attracted Vison, combined with the appearances of elves in this world, Josh figured she had to be quite a beauty.

A lovely face combined with extraordinary talent—Skyrim Province’s elves simply could not compare.

Moreover, the elves of Skyrim Province did not seem to possess any special senses, while the elves of this world did!

Avila gathered enough Battle Qi. Josh’s descent from the air made her feel that this was an excellent opportunity, even though Josh showed no intention of giving up.

She did not understand the actual effects of Josh’s pair of light wings. Even Vison, who had fought Josh before, had not figured out where Josh’s magic power had come from afterward. They had all overlooked those wings, which consumed a tremendous amount of magic power, never imagining that Josh’s light wings could actually recover.

Avila had watched Josh’s previous match against Vison. She knew that Josh had suddenly erupted with powerful, abundant magic power at the final moment, but she had not paid much attention to it. After all, elf rangers naturally countered mages.

In her eyes, Josh descending from the sky was itself a sign.

A sign that his magic power was running low. Avila did not want to let such an opportunity slip away. Honestly, Josh’s tenacity had exceeded her expectations, and her own consumption had been tremendous as well.

Especially when Josh had flown into the air and continuously sought chances to bombard her, she had also kept consuming Battle Qi and magic power, trying every possible way to attack him.

Her magic power output was basically equal to Josh’s. Although she felt that she could win if they continued to wear each other down—

For an elf ranger to outlast a mage would carry no honor at all. Avila wanted to defeat Josh directly and decisively.

If Josh had known what Avila was thinking, he probably would have laughed out loud.

Strictly speaking, Josh’s performance throughout this tournament had really resembled that of a points-grinder. As long as he won, he did not care about anything else.

Facing Avila’s attack, Josh was not afraid in the slightest. On the contrary, he hoped Avila would still have enough magic power and Battle Qi later!

He slightly closed his eyes. Since the transfer point for Josh’s magic was his eyes, others could not easily notice when his magic power surged. But at this moment, Josh knew that if he opened his eyes wide, he would look exactly like a lightbulb!

When a mage rapidly circulated their magic power, their control weakened. At such times, their eyes would shine as brightly as lightbulbs.

It did not affect their vision, but it would alert their opponent. If you were circulating your magic power like that, weren’t you practically announcing that you were about to unleash your ultimate move?

Josh did not want such a ridiculous and awkward thing to happen, so he chose to keep his eyes half-closed, preventing too much of the intense light from leaking out. At least with the Magic Shield blocking it, others could not see clearly anyway.

Josh gathered magic power extremely quickly. This was also related to the fact that all his Magic elements were sealed within his eyes. Furthermore, this spell of Josh’s did not require him to do anything at all—he only needed to release it once, then continuously feed it magic power.

The reason Josh was gathering magic power was simply to raise his Seraph to its current highest rank in one go. If he elevated it step by step from its initial form, someone might notice something. In its most primitive state, the Seraph clearly displayed all four elements!

But once Josh had elevated the Seraph, it was wrapped up tightly. Aside from being able to sense that it seemed to contain some Wind element, all one could clearly sense was the abundant Fire element enveloping its exterior and the dense Water element contained within.

Avila moved incredibly fast. Although she sensed something was wrong, she did not stop.

She was as swift as a streak of light. In an instant, she appeared at Josh’s flank, her right-hand dagger carrying powerful Wind element Battle Qi as she viciously stabbed at him. Josh reacted quickly. Though he was somewhat disheveled, he still stepped back and erected an ice wall before her.

But the next second, the woman appeared on Josh’s other side. At some point, an ice spike had already formed in her left hand. With overwhelming magic power, Avila shattered Josh’s Magic Shield in a single blow, then immediately vanished from where she stood, because Josh’s fire dragon had already roared forth!

Without bothering to wonder why Josh’s casting speed was so fast, Avila reappeared behind him. Josh had now completely lost the protection of his Magic Shield. In her eyes, he was no different from a mage waiting to die in place.

Yet for some reason, the more this happened, the more intense Avila’s unease became!

She gritted her teeth and tried not to let her imagination run wild. In her view, perhaps she had been affected by some special magic cast by this mage. Victory was clearly right before her eyes!

But in the next moment, a wisp of flame suddenly appeared on Josh’s body, and it spread frantically! In the blink of an eye, that wisp had transformed into a sea of fire!

What was terrifying was that the flames did not spill outward. Instead, they completely gathered around Josh’s body, then continued growing larger—growing wildly larger!

Avila’s Battle Qi-coated dagger could not stop. She sensed the terror of those flames, but inertia and the force of her own charge made it impossible for her to alter her movement in that split second. Still, she had no intention of changing course. In her eyes, this was merely another Magic Shield. She could still leave whenever she wanted.

"Bzzzt!"

Wind-attributed Battle Qi, carrying immense cutting force, viciously pierced into the flames covering Josh’s entire body. Just as she had thought, the flames seemed to be another Magic Shield, and her attack failed once again.

She did not sigh. After fighting Josh for so long, she had become used to such fruitless results.

Avila intended to pull free and leave immediately. Standing before a mage was an extremely dangerous thing, after all. But what she never could have imagined was that no matter what she did, she could not pull her dagger back out!

Faced with this bizarre situation, Avila did not dare keep worrying about her dagger. She had to be wary of Josh’s counterattack.

She immediately widened the distance between them, but to her surprise, Josh did not seem to have any intention of attacking her at all. The prince from Augustus still had his eyes half-closed, seemingly doing something unknown.

Josh truly had no intention of attacking Avila. At that moment, he was focused on controlling his magic power. Although he found Avila’s retreat somewhat regrettable, he did not react much. Even if he did attack, he might not be able to hit her. It was better not to waste the magic power.

Fully focused on controlling his magic power, he had now been completely swallowed by flames. His actions left every spectator present puzzled.

Why had he suddenly stopped in the middle of the fight? Was he planning to defend like this the whole time?

"What is His Highness Josh doing?"

"No idea. Maybe he’s preparing some large-scale spell? His Highness Josh’s magic is terrifying."

"Yes, terrifying. Didn’t he directly destroy an arena before?"

"Wait—good heavens! What is that?"

"Damn it! Wh-what is that?"

The spectators had been discussing their confusion, but in the next instant, Josh’s transformation left every one of them dumbfounded!

It was not just them. Even Black and the others were startled by what Josh had created!

Wh-what was that thing?

The flames that had originally spread across Josh’s body suddenly underwent a massive change. Their color gradually faded, while distinct human features began to emerge! Facial features, a body, even hair slowly took shape!

The transformation seemed to last a long time, yet it also seemed to happen in only an instant. Amid everyone’s horrified expressions, those blazing flames had completely transformed into a giant nearly twenty meters tall, with no lower body!

The giant had a clearly visible face identical to Josh’s, a body, hands, and even hair!

But everyone could sense that all of it had been formed from Fire element!

Josh stood within the giant’s body. He slowly opened his eyes, as though declaring that the giant was Josh himself. At the same time, the giant opened its eyes in sync with Josh.

In an instant, violent and intense magic power spread throughout the entire arena. Even the arena’s defensive barrier trembled beneath that terrifying magic power, and many people saw fine cracks beginning to appear across it!

This defensive barrier was a magical barrier designed to withstand attacks below the Seventh Tier. It had been specifically set up for contestants around the Sixth Tier.

Yet now, the barrier was actually trembling and cracking! At once, a terrifying thought arose in everyone’s minds!

"C-could it be that His Highness Josh had been concealing his strength until now?"

"H-how is that possible?"

"Look at that barrier! His Highness Josh is using power beyond the Sixth Tier!"

"Good heavens, just who is His Highness Josh?"

The spectators were shocked beyond words. Josh had given them too many surprises, too much to marvel at, and too many shocks along the way, but never before had he made them think, This guy isn’t even human.

Too terrifying!

Not only were the spectators left dumbfounded by Josh, but the several emperors were much the same!

Black even swallowed hard. He knew his son was a four-element mage, but the kid had never used it. He had thought Josh simply could not do it, yet now the boy had suddenly pulled this out on them!

Bonnot and Ilka were much the same. They stared blankly at Josh. Finally, Ilka could no longer bear it. He turned and snarled viciously at Black, "You bastard, Black! What kind of monster is your son? He isn’t a mage with opposing dual elements at all! He is… forget it. I’m coming to see you tonight, and you’d better give me an explanation! You’d better tell me clearly too—what exactly is that thing?"

"That… I don’t know either." Black sighed. So it had been discovered after all. What Black did not know was that Ilka had already noticed something wrong when Josh used the Elemental Light Wings.

"I think you should wait until he finishes the match, then ask him properly."

Borot could not understand what those two were talking about, but he could not be bothered to care. He thought this match was truly interesting.

Meanwhile, Josh in the arena had no idea what he had done. Using the Seraph once after so long made him feel incredibly refreshed. He did not even notice the barrier constantly cracking.

He casually pulled Avila’s dagger from the flames and tossed it toward her. The dagger landed exceptionally precisely before Avila’s feet. Josh revealed a faint smile.

"Come on. The appetizer is finished. It’s time to enjoy the main course."

Thanks to readers Huang Xiyun, reader 20170423150808650, the Lonely Silent One, Old Fish, and Qingyang Daoist for the tips~ Thank you~ Thank you!