Chapter 45: Thieves vs. Mages 4

Kent looked at the dagger embedded in the tree trunk, and a chill ran through his heart.

At that moment, he realized just how close he had come to death.

The way he had reacted just now was almost like a soldier on a battlefield—fire the weapon, then immediately evade.

If the opponent had been any other mage, that attack would have already left behind a corpse.

So when he heard Dark Blade’s remark, Kent replied angrily:

“Go to hell.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a series of wind blades appeared in his hand.

Occasionally, a fireball was mixed among them.

At the same time, Kent kept moving constantly.

After all, Dark Blade still had another dagger in his hand.

“Monster!”

Dark Blade cursed loudly.

Then he rolled sideways and used the cover of the bushes to instantly enter stealth.

He hid inside a cluster of bushes and began treating his wounds.

Kent was completely stunned.

One moment, Dark Blade had been standing right in front of him.

The next moment, the man had simply disappeared.

Kent immediately found a large tree and leaned against it.

He carefully observed his surroundings.

At the same time, he took out a magic core and pretended to absorb it to restore his magical power.

Watching Kent’s movements, a strange smile appeared on Dark Blade’s face.

Slowly, Dark Blade moved around several bushes and began approaching Kent from the left side.

He was extremely careful.

With every step, he carefully examined the ground before slowly placing his foot down.

This allowed him to avoid stepping on fallen leaves or dry branches that might create noise.

“Hm? What is that?”

Kent’s eyes moved constantly as he searched his surroundings.

Then, under a ray of sunlight, he suddenly noticed a faint flash.

Kent immediately focused his attention and continued observing.

Soon, he understood.

That was the thief.

Wherever there was sunlight, those places that reflected a faint blue glow would move slightly.

After thinking for a moment, Kent immediately realized what it was.

Magic crystal powder.

The powder he had scattered earlier had stuck to the thief’s clothes.

Kent thought carefully.

Then he decided to take a risk.

He would wait until the thief came closer before launching his attack.

Because a thief in stealth was actually at their weakest.

They could not circulate battle energy, which meant they would not produce any battle energy fluctuations.

However, to make the thief lower his guard, Kent decided to put on an act.

“Come out! Come out, you coward!”

Kent shouted angrily while continuously releasing wind blades and fireballs in all directions.

The surrounding bushes suffered terribly.

Branches snapped.

Leaves and plants were blasted apart everywhere.

However, Kent’s true attention was not focused in front of him.

It was behind him.

About five meters behind Kent, several beams of sunlight were slanting down through the gaps between the trees.

Kent deliberately attacked the branches and bushes there with exaggerated force.

He acted impatient and frustrated.

At the same time, he kept moving around.

Seeing this scene, Dark Blade was not alarmed.

Instead, he became excited.

The sounds of broken trees and crushed bushes perfectly covered his footsteps.

More importantly, the little mage seemed to have almost exhausted his magical power.

Dark Blade noticed that Kent’s face had already turned pale.

That was a clear sign of magical exhaustion.

Dark Blade had already moved behind Kent.

The distance between them was only ten meters.

There was a large tree nearby.

Dark Blade decided to move even closer.

Five meters.

That was the perfect distance.

At that range, he only needed a light leap to reach Kent and slice apart the head of this hateful mage with his dagger.

But Dark Blade had no intention of killing him so quickly.

No.

He planned to properly “take care” of this little mage.

“Anyone who dares to intercept a merchant ship belonging to the Alliance Empire will be shown no mercy.”

On the riverbank, everyone was lying face down on the ground.

Above them, a middle-aged man hovered in the air.

A terrifying aura erupted from his body and shot into the sky.

Under that overwhelming pressure, everyone present was forced down onto the ground, unable to move.

The moment the middle-aged man finished speaking, Kote rushed out.

However, Kote was already covered in blood and filth.

His magical companion, the Wind Serpent, was completely fine. The only sign of injury was that its spirit seemed somewhat weakened.

Kote walked toward the five powerful opponents who had fought against them earlier.

Then—

his sword flashed.

One strike after another.

The heads of those five once-feared high-level professionals fell to the ground.

The powerful figures who had once stood above ordinary people died just like that.

“The remaining people will be sent to the mines.”

The middle-aged man’s expression was extremely gloomy.

“Where are those two little fellows, Kweilin and the others?”

“Reporting to the Grand Elder, they successfully broke through the encirclement. They escaped in the direction of that forest.”

Kote immediately answered.

The Alliance Empire had an Elder Council.

And this man was the Grand Elder.

Unless the empire faced a matter of life and death, the elders of the council rarely interfered with the political affairs of the Alliance Empire.

He was also a tenth-level legendary mage.

“You are responsible for cleaning up the remaining enemies.”

“Meet me in Zenan City.”

“The reinforcements will arrive soon.”

“This matter must be investigated thoroughly.”

“As for the Thieves’ Guild... I will personally question them.”

After giving his orders, the Grand Elder immediately moved toward the forest at incredible speed.

“Closer... closer...”

“Only one more meter.”

Dark Blade stared at Kent, who was getting closer and closer.

In Kent’s hand was a wind blade.

Dark Blade was no longer surprised by it.

Because that wind blade had already remained in Kent’s hand for more than half a minute.

“Hey! How’s it going, buddy?”

Just as Dark Blade was about to deliver the fatal strike, he suddenly saw Kent turn his head around.

With a cheerful smile on his face, Kent casually said those words.

Dark Blade froze for a brief moment.

And in that instant—

he felt a sudden chill in his chest.

The next second, a large amount of blood burst out.

Dark Blade’s stealth state immediately collapsed.

He pressed a hand against his chest and slowly fell to the ground.

His eyes were filled with disbelief.

Kent looked at Dark Blade lying motionless on the ground and finally let out a sigh of relief.

To be honest, this entire situation happened because Dark Blade had been far too confident in his stealth ability.

If Dark Blade had been even slightly more cautious, he definitely could have avoided Kent’s attack.

After all, whenever a mage released a spell, there would always be a magical fluctuation.

Kent had noticed this weakness.

That was why, at the exact moment he released the wind blade, he deliberately spoke toward Dark Blade’s direction.

Those words distracted Dark Blade’s attention for a brief moment.

But then again, if anyone else were in Dark Blade’s position—a fifth-level thief facing a young mage—they would never have taken the opponent seriously.

Who could have expected that Kent’s mind contained the soul of an adult from another world?

And even more absurdly, that he was a monster capable of instantly casting a first-level spell while only being a first-level mage?

For ordinary first-level mages, casting a spell required not only a certain success rate but also at least two seconds of chanting.

This was not because ordinary mages were lazy or lacked effort.

It was because they were limited by their magical power and spiritual strength.

Normally, a first-level mage could cast at most around twenty spells before exhausting their magical energy.

Even a second-level mage would need at least two days to fully recover their magic power.

Furthermore, after completely exhausting their magic and spiritual energy, mages would suffer symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, and nausea.

But what no one knew was that Kent had mastered his spells after only two practice sessions.

And during those two sessions, he had released nearly four hundred spells.

What kind of concept was that?

The amount of practice Kent had completed would have required an ordinary mage more than two months.

However, ordinary mages would never willingly waste their magic power like that.

With that much time, they would rather meditate, gather magical energy, and strive to advance to the next level as soon as possible.

This was exactly what Dark Blade did not know.

If he had known the truth, he would have hidden in the shadows and waited for the perfect opportunity to assassinate Kent.

Or he would have simply returned and retrieved his hand crossbow.

But unfortunately—

Dark Blade did not know.

“What did you say?”

Kent slowly walked over.

At this moment, Dark Blade was already coughing up blood.

His mouth opened and closed repeatedly, as if he wanted to say something.

Kent approached him.

He kicked away the dagger lying nearby.

Then he leaned closer and asked:

“What?”

“Hehe... it depends on your luck.”

When Kent finally stood in front of him, Dark Blade suddenly laughed.

Then he said a sentence that Kent could not understand.

The next moment—

Kent felt a terrifying surge of magical energy.

His expression changed.

This is bad.

Without hesitation, Kent rolled across the ground.

“How could there be such a powerful magical fluctuation... and it’s spatial magic?”

The Grand Elder was flying above the forest.

From a great distance, he had already sensed the presence of Kent and Kweilin’s group.

However, the sudden surge of magical energy that shot into the sky disrupted his perception.

The powerful spatial magic fluctuation immediately caught his attention.

The Grand Elder quickly changed direction and arrived at the scene.

What he saw left him slightly stunned.

The ground was covered with broken branches and crushed bushes.

There were traces of blood scattered everywhere.

A dagger was still embedded in the trunk of a tree.

And surrounding the entire area was the intense magical residue left behind by spatial magic.