End of the Magic Era

This was definitely an existence with the strength of an Archmage.

Lin Yun didn’t dare to hold back and directly cast an Ice Wall.

But Kane was too fast. Raging flames appeared in front of Lin Yun before his Ice Wall even formed. An explosion echoed out as the Ice Wall bust open. Rushing through the ice shards, Kane’s Elemental Incarnation wasn’t slowed at all, and the flames enveloped Lin Yun.

In the mist formed from the melting of the ice shards, Lin Yun only had time to cast Ice Armor before another deep explosion rang. In that split second, Lin Yun felt as if he had been hit by a meteor as he was sent flying.

After hurtling several dozens of meters away, Lin Yun crashed onto the ground.

He felt as if every bone in his body had shattered, as if his internal organs were on fire. He wanted to get up, but moving made him feel a sharp pain in his chest, and immediately afterwards, he spat up some blood.

As Lin Yun wiped off the blood at the corner of his mouth, his pale face was somewhat frightening, but strangely, he was actually smiling despite being in this state.

‘Turns out it’s like this…’

Lin Yun understood.

Why would Kane say that he would give him a fair fight?

After all, the fighting power that Kane displayed was definitely that of a peak Archmage. That Elemental Incarnation wasn’t something that could be withstood by a 5th Rank Great Mage’s Ice Armor.

But Lin Yun withstood it.

No, no, this wasn’t Kane being lenient.

Rather, just as Kane said, he had a chance at a fair fight.

In fact, the instant he cast that Ice Armor, Lin Yun had felt that the power that he had released was far stronger than that of a 5th Rank Great Mage… It was a hundred times to a thousand times stronger. But everything had happened too quickly, so Lin Yun hadn’t been able to react before being sent flying by the raging flames…

After regaining his bearings, Lin Yun finally realized what had happened.

Indeed, this was the fair fight Kane had talked about.

In this world created by the Book of Death, he already possessed the power of an Archmage!

“Human, you are truly overestimating your abilities…” In his Elemental Incarnation state, Kane was made up of raging flames, and within his mocking tone was an indistinct trace of disappointment.

“Haha, don’t you think that this is too early to draw such a conclusion?” Lin Yun stood up from the ground and looked at Kane while exuding endless self-confidence.

“Good, then show me your skills!”

Just as Kain said those words, the raging flames were roused. He only took one step, yet the Flame Path was already burning under Lin Yun’s feet, while the surroundings within a kilometer had already turned into a sea of fire. Moreover, Kane was still chanting his incantation and Lin Yun felt as if a mountain had been smashed as the earth shook and the black wasteland suddenly split open.

In a flash, a thick pitch black smoke could be seen covering the sky as lava started flowing above the ground. Kane had actually summoned an active volcano!

“Day of Destruction!” Lin Yun was startled. This Kane was truly troublesome. He actually used a legendary 8th Tier Spell!

At this time, he couldn’t care about keeping Elemental Incarnation as a last resort. He quickly incanted and turned into a mass of raging flames, wanting to borrow the sea of flames under him to escape with Flame Flash.

But before he could cast Flame Flash, Lin Yun suddenly noticed something strange.

As an 8th Tier Spell, Day of Destruction already approached the Extraordinary realm’s strength, it was not an exaggeration to describe it as calamitous. Any regular mage would choose to escape when faced with such power.

The obvious first choice for escaping would be to use Flame Flash while in the Elemental Incarnation state, and the sea of fire brought about by Kane’s Flame Path should be the only way out.

This was inevitable…

The question was, what was behind this inevitable attack?

Kane was the Incarnation of the Book of Death, so how could he make such a novice mistake, leaving his opponent an obvious escape route? He first used Flame Path to make an endless sea of fire and then followed up with Day of Destruction, this 8th Tier Spell that would normally leave no way out. Wasn’t it simply telling him, “Come here, fall into my lap.”

‘Damn, too sly…’

After Lin Yun angrily cursed him in his mind, he forcibly scattered the Flame Flash elements and chose not to retreat, but to actually to go forward, using the speed produced by Elemental Incarnation to start climbing to the top of the erupting volcano.

“Ah?” Kane was puzzled by Lin Yun’s unexpected action, but then, he increased the output of Day of Destruction. Flaming rocks and lava surged, turning the black wasteland into a cataclysmic scene.

Meanwhile, Lin Yun used a shocking speed to climb to the top. An Archmage’s Elemental Incarnation was completely different from a Great Mage’s. Lin Yun’s form was now just like that of a Flame Spirit, completely looking like burning lightning.

His entire world seemed to sway as thick smoke formed a cloud in the sky, with raging flames almost igniting the entire sky as huge, flaming rocks rolled about everywhere. Lin Yun was almost crushed a few times. As the lava was flowing down, Lin Yun seemed to be walking on a tightrope. If he wasn’t cautious, he would fall into a deep abyss of defeat.

But Lin Yun didn’t plan to retreat.

He was like a Flame Spirit, finding a gap between the flowing magma and flaming rocks, using his extreme speed to reach the top.

Because this was his only opportunity.

Kane’s Day of Destruction had sealed his escape. Flame Flash, Spatial Folding, Flight, Tunnel… All methods below the Extraordinary realm had already been taken into account by Kane. It could be said that Kane had an answer to all of those. As long as Lin Yun made a move to escape, he would immediately fall into Kane’s trap.

This was the frightening part about the Book of Death.

Lin Yun remembered what Bane wrote in his diary in his later years. His greatest regret was that he had never been able to break the true secret of the Book of Death. He had always felt that the Book of Death’s complete form was very likely to be one of the first two books born with the world, the Book of Laws recording all spells in the world.

Naturally, this Book of Death was far from its complete form.

Not to mention its complete form, the current Book of Death was far from the one Bane spent millennia on, or else Kane wouldn’t have just shown abilities at the peak of the Archmage Realm, but rather, the power of the Extraordinary Realm.

But Bane’s guess made a lot of sense.

It could be seen from the current Kane; although he was only the Incarnation of the Book of Death, what he displayed in this battle really was a frightening scheme. He used Elemental Incarnation, Flame Path, and Day of Destruction to make an almost inescapable trap.

This wasn’t something an ordinary mage could do.

Even Lin Yun, who came from the end of the magic era, didn’t have such ability. True, Lin Yun had incomparably advanced magic knowledge, and he truly did possess casting abilities far surpassing any ordinary mage, but in the end, Lin Yun was only a human. He wasn’t an ice-cold machine. As long as one was human, they would make mistakes, they would overlook things, they would never be like this Kane, computing every detail, every possibility, and then building a near-perfect trap.

But, being good at planning wasn’t the most important thing, as long as one was good enough at destroying.

Lin Yun was like that. After avoiding the fiery rocks, stepping on the gaps within the lava, and moving across like flaming lightning, he finally reached the top of the active volcano. This was the place where the power of the Day of Destruction spell was the densest. All fire elements were gathered in this area that was less than ten meters wide. Any random eruption had the strength of a 6th Tier spell at the very least. The frighteningly high temperature was enough to melt steel in a second. The pitch-black poisonous fog present everywhere was something even a Dragon couldn’t resist.

Lin Yun could stand here only because of his Elemental Incarnation form.

The Elemental Incarnation of a peak Archmage already was a pure Elemental Spirit. Although it couldn’t withstand the might of Day of Destruction directly, it still had some immunity to the poisonous fog and the high temperature.

But naturally, it wouldn’t last long…

Maybe ten seconds, maybe a handful.

If Lin Yun couldn’t deal with it now, then there would be no need for Kane to make a move as harsh environment of the volcano would be enough to make Lin Yun fall and remain in this black wasteland forever.