Alas, Colin's plan was a completely overt scheme.
If Colin was merely a First Rank Advanced Wizard capable of summoning a Second Rank Basic Level Fire Element,
then even if Joyce did not take the Mercy Potion, his chances of winning would have been at least seventy percent,
taking the Mercy Potion, it would be a hundred percent... the absolute gap in strength eradicated any possibility of a miracle occurring.
However, Colin was a Second Rank Wizard.
At least a Second Rank Basic Level Wizard.
Otherwise, if he had cast so many cross-rank witchcraft spells, the magic power inside him should have been exhausted by now rather than him appearing so effortlessly as he did!
Moreover, Colin could even summon a Fire Element almost at a Second Rank Advanced level.
Thus, the gap in their powers was instantly reduced to almost negligible.
So, even though Joyce had realized Colin's plans by then, he had no power to resist.
He tried his best to eliminate the Fire Element and indeed succeeded.
But before he could attack Colin, the latter had already summoned a new Fire Element and fortified it.
If Joyce briefly escaped the Fire Element, Colin would cast the control witchcraft again.
Under the enhancement of the Mercy Potion, it would take just one or two seconds for Joyce to break free.
But one or two seconds were also enough for the Fire Element to catch up and entangle him again.
Thus, twenty minutes passed in a flash, and the effect of the Mercy Potion ended.
The strange green glow on Joyce's body extinguished like a candle in the wind.
He stopped in despair at his spot and could only watch helplessly as the Fire Element turned its hand into a blade, chopping off his head.
The residual flames, tinged with green, spread from the broken neck towards the head and body.
Colin exhaled softly, landed on the ground, and slowly approached Joyce's corpse.
The blizzard disturbed by the battle quickly resumed its ferocity after the battle ended, and Colin summoned a Fireball to dispel the darkness and maintain visibility.
Hiss.
At that moment, a faint sound resembling a leak came from the direction of Joyce's body.
At the same time, the pale green flames burning on Joyce's body either due to the blizzard or some other reason, gradually extinguished.
Colin stopped walking and cautiously approached Joyce's body with the Fire Element.
After some probing and finding no danger, Colin fortified himself with Defensive Witchcraft and moved forward to inspect.
At first glance, in the light of the fire, there was nothing unusual about Joyce's decapitated corpse.
The residual flames from the Fire Element's attack, before extinguishing, had spread to the chest of the corpse, almost charring it extensively.
Such an injury would have been difficult to survive even for Colin despite his Strong Life Talent.
After all, Joyce's head was still lying elsewhere.
Thinking this, Colin walked over to where Joyce's head lay.
Upon a clear view, his pupils involuntarily contracted slightly.
A dead man's head wasn't usually shocking, but the expression on Joyce's head was extremely eerie.
Joyce's eyes were open, lips slightly parted, his gaze calm yet conveying a trace of mercy.
It was like those compassionate Buddha statues he had seen in temples in a former life!
They, too, wore expressions of neither sadness nor joy, as if showing mercy to all beings.
Colin's brow furrowed deeply.
This eerie expression was clearly not voluntarily made by Joyce, it must have been influenced by an external force.
However, while Colin was deep in thought, a Silent Shadow suddenly appeared in front of him, reporting something.
Colin's eyebrows raised in confirmation as he said,
"You're saying that Ancient North Village is being attacked by Ice and Snow Monsters?!"
After getting a confirming reply from the Silent Shadow, Colin didn't think further.
He quickly packed up anything valuable from Joyce's body and hurriedly headed back to Ancient North Village!
That Ice and Snow Monster dared to come back!