Rocky lifted his hand high in the air and silently mouthed the incantation. He was casting a "silent spell".

To cast a spell, two necessary requirements were needed. The first was mana, which came from the magical source within the mage. The second was the element, which existed in the external environment. The relationship between the element and mana was similar to that of firewood and fuel - the more fuel there was, the more firewood could be ignited. Beyond these two requirements, there was the chanting of the spell, but for most mages, they could gradually simplify or even omit the chanting through constant practice to achieve the effect of "instantaneous magic".

The inheritors of magic had found another way of casting spells based on this foundation - they did the opposite. Instead of omitting the chanting, they lengthened the incantation. This was the silent spell.

Although this took more time, casting the same spell using a silent spell could greatly increase its power.

A pure white light shimmered in Rocky's hand, growing brighter and enveloping his entire right hand. The unfinished spell he was about to cast was obviously extremely powerful. The increasing brightness meant that Rocky was injecting more mana into it.

His opponent did not want Rocky to complete this spell. A bolt of lightning shot out from the mist like a ferocious blue sea serpent. But in an instant, it was blocked by the warm wind shield that Rocky's left hand had already prepared. While the lightning's power was enough to break the shield, it was meaningless because Rocky's right hand had already finished chanting the spell.

The Flower of Frost!

Centered on Rocky's hand, a huge ice flower with a diameter of over ten meters appeared out of thin air. The sharp ice petals quickly blossomed, covering the sky and blocking the view above everyone's heads. The flames and rain fell onto it, making a series of hissing sounds, and the strong wind even blew away the mist.

This was an undeniably offensive spell, but Rocky used it for defense. There were no rules in battles between inheritors of magic; any means were considered correct as long as they were effective.

The ice flower remained until the flames and rain ended, then it disappeared, turning into faint white ice dust that dissipated into the air.

Rocky turned his head slightly, looking at his opponent who was now exposed in his line of sight due to the dissipating mist. It was a person wearing a black cloak with a smooth mirror-like mask, but they weren't tall. In fact, they seemed smaller and slighter than Rocky, who was already considered small among his peers.

"The probing ends here," Rocky said, while lifting the hem of his dress and drawing out a silver short dagger from his belt. He pointed it straight ahead and said, "Come and take my life, if you can."

His opponent didn't respond. The cloak spread to both sides, revealing a white shirt underneath, and... a silver short dagger at the waist. With a flash, the dagger was already in their hand.

Their weapons seemed identical, but there were still minor differences. Rocky noticed that the opponent's dagger was slightly longer and more slender, indicating a greater emphasis on offense rather than defense.

"Alice, keep a close eye," Rocky said. "His apostle has not appeared yet."

"Don't worry," Alice replied, her fingers moving. Even in the darkness, her sharp nails reflected a cold light. "First tear open the left hand~then tear open the right hand~make a hole in the head~take out the heart~tie the intestines in a knot~put the eyeballs into the ears..."

Alice's voice grew softer and turned into a low murmur. But it was unlikely that anyone would want to hear what she was saying.

With a step, Rocky launched his attack first. Utilizing the speed brought by a large amount of wind element, the tens of meters between them quickly closed in just two seconds. The two silver short daggers collided at high speed, creating a series of sparks in the dark night.

The blades connected briefly, then clashed again. The opponent was weaker in terms of speed and strength compared to Rocky, but their technique surpassed him by far. This made it difficult for his attacks to land, as the opponent cleverly disarmed them each time.

Rocky's mastery of swordsmanship came entirely from the books in the magic tower. Archmages had the habit of collecting various books, especially ancient ones. The older the inheritance, the more likely it was to contain powerful combat techniques. However, Rocky had only studied swordsmanship for five years in the magic tower, and most of his time was spent on mastering magic. Despite his remarkable memory, his understanding of swordsmanship could only be considered superficial. On the other hand, his opponent was clearly a legacy mage who had delved deep into the subject, incorporating precise tactics into each attack.

The difference in combat skills gradually became apparent. Within less than thirty seconds of exchanging blows, the opponent had already launched at least five lethal attacks. Rocky was forced to switch to a defensive stance, thus falling into a disadvantageous position. It was foreseeable that he would be defeated soon.If Rocky were a swordsman right now, he would surely be in a desperate situation, but as a magician, he was not impulsive enough to engage in close combat.

The magic light shone from Rocky's left hand as he cast his spell. This technique greatly honed his ability to multitask, allowing him to wield a sword in one hand while launching magic attacks with the other.

The opponent noticed this, but there was nothing they could do. Although Rocky's skills were inferior, it was not realistic to quickly defeat him.

Magic was unleashed as flames ignited from Rocky's left palm, forming a line of fire that soared into the air and exploded like fireworks.

Inferno Rain!

The mirror-like mask reflected the flickering flames in the air, but Rocky's opponent remained calm, continuing their attack with even more ferocity. Their dagger strikes were relentless, leaving no room for hesitation and seemingly indifferent to their own life and death, forcing Rocky to constantly parry with his sword.

Was this person trying to end it all together? Rocky was confident that he could hold them off before the magic hit them. However, if Inferno Rain did not cause fatal damage, then it would be Rocky who would die in the next moment.

Rocky didn't want to take the risk, so he chose to retreat. He swung his mithril short sword in a wide arc and then jumped back. In mid-air, he clenched his left hand, and all the flames were seemingly drawn towards his opponent.

It was only at this moment that Rocky finally realized he had been tricked, but it was too late. Because of his retreat, his opponent was able to calmly unleash their magic to create magic shields, one after another, blocking the Inferno Rain. Warm Wind Shield, Flowing Water Shield, Earth Prison emerged successively, not letting any traces of the flames slip through. The dust was blown away, and his opponent remained unscathed.

It turned out that their previously frenzied attacks were all just acting, their only purpose was to make Rocky wary and retreat. What a clever tactic, because even if Rocky had another chance, he would still choose to give up.

The opponent must have dealt with inherited magicians before; they were well aware of the psychological weakness of inherited magicians - being too cautious.

And until now, his opponent, as an inherited magician, had not yet used their exclusive spellcasting technique. Rocky had to take it seriously...different from someone like Michian, this person was calm, ruthless, decisive, cunning, powerful. Undoubtedly, they were a true inherited magician, all factors could be their weapon.

"It seems like a formidable opponent." Alice couldn't help but take pleasure in his misfortune. "Rocky, can you beat him? Should I come and help?"

"Shut up and do what you need to do." Rocky didn't turn around or dare to turn around. In a battle against an inherited magician, any carelessness could be fatal. Alice must not participate in the fight. Such a powerful inherited magician must have an apostle to complement them, and he didn't want to be ambushed.

The opponent made a move again, but it was not the expected attack. With their exclusive spellcasting technique and apostle still undisclosed, they chose to retreat. Facing Rocky, they slowly stepped back and, at the same time, released the Mist Weaving spell. The white mist spread out from them, and the figure wearing a black cloak gradually disappeared into the mist.

Rocky did not pursue, but he also did not relax his vigilance immediately. He stood for a while until Alice sensed that the opponent was indeed far away before turning around.

He sat back in the back seat of the alchemical motorcycle and glanced at Eric. "It seems your family's backup won't be coming."

The motorcycle started and descended along the mountain road until Alice, with keen eyes, noticed a large number of corpses in a forest.

Rocky walked among the bodies, paying no attention to the strong smell of blood. He reached out and examined a few of them.

These people were dressed in the standard military uniforms of the Reles Empire, wielding standard-issue firearms, but none of them had any military ranks. The crest of the Celine family was pinned on their collars and left chests, clearly indicating that they were the backup personnel mentioned by Eric.

Each of them died in a "magical" manner, with obvious signs of magic used to kill them. The killer, except for the black-cloaked magician with a mirrored mask encountered earlier, was someone different.

The driver did not get out of the car, his gaze darkly staring in their direction.

"Damn it." Eric covered his mouth and nose with a scarf, his expression serious. "This guy is so powerful, he single-handedly wiped out the sixty-person clan guard squad...not even one survivor!""It makes sense," Rocky wasn't surprised by this, "A legacy mage, with the cooperation of apostles, launching a surprise attack on a group of ordinary soldiers who haven't received anti-mage training. This kind of result is not too surprising."

"Magic is indeed a power that transcends logic," Eric sighed.

Rocky didn't say anything, but patiently walked past each corpse, picking up the military rifles left by the dead to examine them. Occasionally, he would also flip through the ammunition packs on their belts. His deep blue eyes narrowed slightly, as if pondering something.

"What are you looking for?" Eric was somewhat puzzled, "Don't you think it was done by that mage?"

"It's definitely him, the spell traces are too obvious. I can even determine which magic he used before and after," Rocky shook his head, "I just think these soldiers were too careless. They didn't even bring a single anti-magic bullet and instead brought a lot of shrapnel bullets. Did they think they were going to deal with another unit? Within the capital city, there wouldn't be such a blatant assassin... With this kind of configuration, let alone sixty men, three times the amount would still be completely wiped out."

"Rocky..." Alice frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm hungry. Let's go back quickly. If we don't eat supper now, we'll have to wait until breakfast."

"..." Rocky was somewhat speechless, but considering that Alice had chased after the alchemy motorcycle all the way from the capital city, it was indeed tiring. So he nodded, "Then let's go back."