Chapter 23 : Scorching Fireball

Taketori was revived inside the newly pitched tent.

The moment she stepped out, she spotted the other players.

“Why are you still here?” she asked, startled.

The boss fight wasn’t over yet, and all their gear had been left behind in that hellish place.

The female player with the hunter class shook her head and pointed toward the strange magical circle on the ground.

“That building is gone.”

Taketori followed her finger and was left dumbfounded.

The area was empty—nothing but the magic circle remained.

So it was a one-time dungeon after all?

***

Amber City.

Atop the Spire Bridge.

Li Wen kept the enemy occupied with words even she didn’t believe, trying to buy time as she thought up a countermeasure.

To be honest, Li Wen had already confirmed the enemy’s position.

He hadn’t moved an inch since his initial casting.

That meant either her words had stirred a hint of doubt—or he was simply that confident.

There was also a third possibility: it was a trap, and the enemy was just waiting for Li Wen to walk right into it.

Of course, Li Wen wasn’t about to fall for that.

Her invocation magic was directional—it only worked on targets within her field of view or within her perception.

Otherwise, this stalemate wouldn’t have dragged on for so long.

The advantage of directional spells was that they were hard to dodge.

But if she couldn’t even glimpse the enemy’s silhouette, there was no chance of hitting him.

The fire mage, however, was a different story.

Most of his spells, aside from the Elemental Shield, were either area-of-effect or projectile-based—non-directional magic.

That gave him a massive advantage.

No wonder he had learned “White Fog,” a spell that shrouded the battlefield in a thick mist.

It was certainly effective.

But it wasn’t enough to suppress Li Wen.

She possessed an extraordinary trait: Shadow Reversal.

When shrouded in shadow, her presence diminished by 50%.

Inside this fog, the fire mage had no hope of locating her exact position.

So, whose advantage was the fog really bolstering?

Hard to say.

But one thing was clear: to break the stalemate, the fog had to disappear—either dispelled by the fire mage or left to fade on its own.

Li Wen wasn’t worried.

The fire mage had been hit by a poisoned arrow.

He wouldn’t last long.

After a quiet pause, the fire mage finally replied,

“You’re right. We don’t really have any deep grudge, but… how do I know you’ll truly pretend this never happened?”

“I mean, you’re a warlock skilled in curses—what do a few lives mean to you?”

As soon as his words fell, Li Wen heard the sound of flames crackling.

The next moment, the white fog dispersed.

Both Li Wen and the fire mage appeared at once, no longer concealed.

Li Wen instantly cast the Dark Word Curse she had prepared beforehand.

At the same time, the fire mage, now with her location confirmed, launched a fireball.

Both attacks landed.

The difference?

The fire mage was directly struck by the curse, while Li Wen, having cast her spell first, hit the ground and narrowly dodged a direct hit from the fireball.

Scorching, chaotic air exploded around her.

Li Wen could already smell the acrid scent of burning flesh—death brushing close.

Fortunately, a protective shield activated on her body, blocking part of the damage and restoring some of her health.

Remaining HP: 44%.

And that was after preemptively using her invocation spell.

Had she not, even if she survived, the sheer heat would’ve left her paralyzed.

The fire mage wasn’t doing much better.

The Dark Word Curse landed squarely, and he had no means of dispelling it again—his ring required a three-day cooldown between uses.

Now cursed and poisoned, his already deteriorating condition worsened.

He was temporarily blinded by the curse but could still sense that his spell hadn’t killed her.

Was this really the end?

No.

It couldn’t be.

Dark, tainted blood oozed from his mouth, nostrils, and even his pores, but he merely grinned—madness glinting in his eyes.

The Moonlight Elixir—a forbidden potion ranked high on the Kingdom’s Prohibition List—was one of the most dangerous enhancers known to mages.

Once consumed, it rapidly restored mana and temporarily elevated a mage’s casting tier.

The price?

A mage could only consume it once in their lifetime.

Once the effects faded, they would be unable to cast magic for ten full days.

The mana rush was one thing.

What truly mattered was the tier boost.

A first-tier mage could suddenly cast second-tier spells at no cost—or even use rituals and scrolls to cast third-tier magic.

That kind of leap was terrifying.

The fire mage felt a surge of unprecedented power welling up inside him.

The sensation overwhelmed even the pain of his curse and poison.

With a flick of his fingers, he felt he could kill anyone—even those ancient scholars in the Secret Institute.

The Moonlight Elixir was notoriously addictive.

A second dose would cause a mage to explode instantly.

The fire mage crushed his cravings, barely resisting the temptation for more.

Just then, the blindness faded.

He locked eyes on Li Wen and coldly drew a scroll from his robes.

“To think you forced me to this point… what a disgrace.”

Flames flared behind him as he activated the scroll.

He could feel mana surging like a tidal wave.

Tier-Three Magic: Scorching Fireball!

Wild, frenzied fire elements swirled and converged into a crimson sun behind the fire mage, blazing with devastating heat—as if it could reduce the entire world to ash.

Li Wen stood quietly.

That last curse had consumed the last of her mana.

Now, she had nothing left to counter such overwhelming power.

Was she truly out of options?

Li Wen turned her focus inward—to her traits.

Blood of the Fire Candle—a rare ability that let her substitute health for mana in emergencies, allowing her to cast spells from the Radiant spectrum.

But even that wouldn’t change the situation.

The enemy’s spell was a third-tier bombardment, powerful enough to demolish the entire stone bridge.

He clearly had no intention of letting anyone survive.

And all Li Wen had left was her invocation spell.

She had disrupted his earlier cast with a surprise attack, but this time, he was ready.

A simple curse wouldn’t stop him now.

Not to mention, the spell he was using was a wide-range attack.

Blinding him to break his targeting wasn’t going to work either—he had already accounted for that.

Why else would he choose such an overwhelming spell?

It seemed there was only one path left for her—give up, accept death.

After all, she was still a player.

Death simply meant starting over.

But was that really acceptable?

Not to Li Wen.

She was a regressor.

She had prepared so much, and came so far.

To fall here, unable to even take down a first-tier mage?

That—she absolutely could not accept.