Chapter 1228: Section 1229 Zefara
Dust settled, and the group of Apprentices looked at Angel, who had appeared before their eyes, with a mixture of confusion and shock in their gaze.
This sudden pressure was an indiscriminate, all-encompassing assault, and they too were enveloped within it, unable to move. Yet this golden-haired youth, not only fearless in the face of pressure, could still fight so effortlessly under those terrifying vines?
All the Apprentices, watching Angel descend from the sky, were curious about his identity.
After landing, Angel hadn’t paid any attention to the Wizards Apprentices around him but instead shook his arm with a peculiar expression on his face.
The reason for his odd expression was due to the fact that he hadn’t completely dodged the vine’s stinger earlier. A couple had pricked his arm during his fall, and he still felt a bit of a sting.
But as much as it hurt, after checking, there wasn’t a single wound on his arm. Even the places that had been pricked only showed a small white dot, with no piercing.
“After the enhancement of my body, even my skin has thickened?”
Angel could feel that the force behind the puncturing was extremely strong; had he sustained such a blow before, not only would there be a wound, but it could have even pierced right through him!
This was the first time he had a true experience of the changes in his physical body.
An attack from a Wizard Level adversary, and he had actually withstood it? His previously uneasy heart regained much of its confidence in an instant.
Unbeknownst to others was the change in Angel’s mood.
At that moment, everyone heard the sound of something tearing through the air from above, and Angel looked up to see a figure swiftly approaching from the east.
The source of the overwhelming pressure that shocked them originated from this figure.
As he drew closer, except for Angel and Greerwu, everyone else felt the pressure intensifying around them.
Angel didn’t know why he was suddenly under attack; he had initially thought that someone had discovered him and his presence had attracted the attention of some great power.
But when he saw the true face of the newcomer, a flicker of confusion crossed Angel’s eyes, followed swiftly by what seemed to be a recollection.
The newcomer was a face he was not unfamiliar with.
He was a middle-aged man of average height with a slim build, dressed in a dark green checkered suit, with slightly curly hair and a face that was longer than that of an average person’s, with sunken cheeks, holding a thin vine cane.
This was the only Wizard from Gravity Forest who had followed their group when Angel had retreated from Ashenrock Giantstone with Sinafa.
Angel remembered that his name was Zefara, an Official Wizard.
Zefara’s origin from Gravity Forest caused Angel’s expression to instantly turn cold, and a flash of realization crossed his eyes. Angel was naturally well aware of the relationship between Sanders and Gravity Forest; when he was in Lassudral, the people from Gravity Forest had ambushed him, and if he hadn’t fortuitously ended up in the Underground Path of the Void Tower, he might have died there.
Angel had previously been indifferent to Gravity Forest, but the moment they threatened his life, he immediately marked them as enemies.
This time, Zefara was likely targeting him because of his identity—unable to confront Sanders, they went after his disciple instead.
But how did Zefara know his location? Angel’s gaze swept across the scene.
Not far behind him was the trembling girl who looked timid and scared, while directly in front of him was that group of about a dozen Wizard Apprentices.
Within this group of Wizard Apprentices, Angel saw someone in a green tree-patterned wizard robe.
A person from Gravity Forest? Angel raised his eyebrows.
Seeing this Wizard Apprentice, Angel finally understood why Zefara was here; it was probably this person who had informed him.
By now, Zefara had already floated to a spot not far from Angel.
Zefara didn’t immediately take action, instead looking at Angel with a hint of suspicion. He remembered that Angel seemed not to have been affected by the pressure shock before, and the vines he sent to attack had apparently caused Angel no harm.
Why was that? Despite the energy readings indicating that Angel was just an Apprentice?
Zefara was a cautious man and chose not to rashly advance in the face of strange occurrences.
However, he didn’t rush in, and Angel, forming a standoff with him, instead took the initiative to strike first.
Angel bent his knees slightly, charged up from the ground, and the earth cracked open fiercely. With a thunderous roar, a large crater appeared where he had been, and like an arrow released from a bowstring, he surged toward Zefara.
His speed was extremely fast; before Zefara could even react, Angel was already near him.
Zefara was equally surprised by Angel’s unprovoked attack, but he didn’t take it lightly, as Angel’s momentum inexplicably caused his heart to throb.
With a single thought from Zefara, a Spell Technique model, etched into his Witchcraft Slot, emitted a green glow.
Almost in the blink of an eye, a Vine Shield, wrapped with vines, materialized around Zefara.
Faced with this clearly extraordinary Defense Spell, Angel didn’t hesitate in the slightest, maintaining his velocity and not even flickering in his gaze as he continued the assault.
In a flash, a succession of punches and kicks fell upon the Vine Shield.
At first, Angel felt the Vine Shield made of vines was extremely hard, but after a few hits, he noticed that the shield began to dent…
While Zefara had raised the shield, he had begun to prepare the Man-Eating Vines’ Feast.
As for Angel’s strikes, he paid them no mind. His Vine Shield, whether facing energy attacks or physical strikes, had an extremely strong warding effect. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have chosen the Vine Shield as his first Witchcraft Slot for becoming an Official Wizard.
What Zefara hadn’t expected was that Angel’s presumptuous attacks, which he had dismissed as desperate, were causing him significant trouble—
Angel’s movements were extremely fast, completing several attacks in an instant. It was these attacks, aimed directly at the Vine Shield, that caused his perfect defense shield to begin to dent and even crack!
Zefara was shocked. How could the Vine Shield be broken so easily?
Zefara was well aware that even when facing Wizards of the same level, the Vine Shield could withstand attacks for a considerable duration. It was because of the support of the defense shield that his other attack methods, which were mostly complex spell technique models with slow construction speeds and high attack strengths, could be utilized.
As such, facing Wizards of the same level, unless they were Bloodline Wizards, he had a decent chance of victory.
As for Bloodline Wizards, Zefara had his ways to deal with them. The first witchcraft slot he constructed during his Apprentice stage was a trick for speed enhancement, and he also possessed items capable of Restricted Space Displacement. He would never let Bloodline Wizards get close to him!
But Angel’s attack was almost comparable to Bloodline Wizards of the same level!
This left Zefara no time to react, and the Man-Eating Vines he had originally planned to summon… The shield broke before they could materialize.
Zefara knew he had miscalculated his strategy. If he had categorized Angel as a Bloodline Wizard, he wouldn’t have been so careless, constructing the Vine Shield and not fleeing, instead, stopping to construct the Man-Eating Vines.
A strategic mistake led to a series of bitter consequences!
Once the defense shield cracked, Zefara immediately reinforced it with several layers of defense spells, while also launching a few counterattacks against Angel. However, both attack and defense were tricks that could be released instantly.
The tricks released by an Official Wizard were incredibly powerful in their own right.
At least, a regular Wizard Apprentice, even a Half-Step Wizard, would likely sustain some damage from them.
But to Zefara’s surprise, Angel showed no intention of resisting, continuing his phantom-like assault on the subsequent defense spells.
Against non-spell technique level defense spells, they could not withstand Angel’s attacks for even a second.
And those attacking tricks, when they hit Angel, left only a few white marks but had no other effect.
In the blink of an eye, a fist carrying immense force appeared before Zefara’s eyes.
Zefara’s reaction time was extremely fast, and he was a decisive person. With a flash of energy, his vine staff suddenly disassembled!
The Bursting Vines, nurtured within the staff, manifested without warning.
The moment the fist fell, the Bursting Vines emitted a strong energy fluctuation, enveloping the sky in a red glow, followed by a thunderous explosion that turned everything blindingly white for a moment.
When the light faded, onlookers looked up to see a torn Space Rift in the sky.
And Angel’s figure had disappeared.
As for Zefara, he was found dozens of meters away, his forehead covered in sweat, staring at the distant Space Rift, his heart still grasped by lingering fear.
“He should be dead, right?” Zefara thought with a trace of luck, not expecting that he would have to use one of his trump cards in the end against a Wizard Apprentice. Fortunately, the result seemed to meet his expectations.
While Zefara was thinking this, a sudden sense of crisis flashed through his mind.
A cold wind struck from behind.
Turning around, he saw an unscathed Angel appearing behind him, revealing a cold smile towards him.
The next second, a black boot kicked directly at his neck.
The tremendous force caused a cracking sound in Zefara’s neck, and the next second he turned into a “meteor,” harshly smashing into the ground.
The place he smashed into was exactly the area filled with dense ash fog.
After a thunderous noise, a surge of death energy spread out, but much of it still entered Zefara’s body.
Angel descended from the sky, appearing expressionless, yet his blood seemed to roar and boil within.
Angel had always speculated that his physical strength might have reached the standard of an Official Wizard, but he had never had the opportunity to test it until now, finding it to be much stronger than he had imagined.
It was a night-and-day difference compared to the past.
When Angel landed, the surrounding Apprentices scattered, realizing that the one who defeated Zefara couldn’t possibly be a Wizard Apprentice, but rather a concealed Official Wizard!
Without any oppressive force to bind them, they fled one after another, no longer concerned with their original target.
Angel, however, did not pay attention to these individuals, instead, continuing to focus his gaze on Zefara.
At the moment, Zefara lay in the midst of the death energy, looking in bad shape. However, as an Official Wizard, it was highly unlikely that he would die so easily.
Previously, the main reason Zefara fell so easily to him was that Zefara didn’t understand the condition of Angel’s body and was caught off guard, resulting in a strategic blunder. If Zefara had time to recover and strategize for another battle with Angel, it would be much harder for Angel to win.
Therefore, Angel planned to take out Zefara while he was still being eroded by the death energy.
However, just as Angel was about to advance, a strange laughter suddenly came from behind him.
Piercing, shrill, it sent shivers down one’s spine.
Angel turned sharply and saw that the one laughing was the little girl who had been chased by the group of Apprentices earlier.
In the instant Angel turned, the little girl’s hand transformed into a large hand full of spikes, stretching instantly, directly lunging for Angel’s heart!