Not having high hopes for Vay, Angel naturally shifted his focus to the apprentice duel and placed his hope on Kaier.
Unlike the Black Earl, Angel had no intention of testing his descendant at this crucial moment.
After all, Kaier is the one who convened the expedition. If he wishes to proceed deeper, Angel certainly intends to support him fully.
Based on the current situation, if Vay loses the battle, Kaier will likely engage consecutively against the four apprentices on the other side.
The seemingly most mysterious opponent is the Shepherd, a rhythm apprentice of the air element. Yet, Angel worries least about the Shepherd, because he plans to have Speedy accompany Kaier onto the stage.
Admittedly, such out-of-discussion methods might seem somewhat shameless to Dox.
How could an Official Wizard lend their elemental partner to someone else as an Out of Discussion tactic? If you did that, wouldn’t the witch and the grey merchant on the other side also be able to loan their elemental partners to other apprentices?
Although Dox misunderstood that Speedy was his elemental partner, the other thoughts were quite normal.
Angel would naturally never do such an open act; he is an Alchemist, and what he has the most of are various alchemy materials and semi-finished products. He just needs to give Speedy a shell and inscribe a warding magic pattern to conceal its identity.
Moreover, elemental partners have a mental link with their owners during battle, but Speedy is not Angel’s elemental partner, at most a subordinate. So it has autonomy, and in a fight, it doesn’t fear exposing its relationship with Angel.
With Speedy’s assistance, Kaier should be able to defeat the Shepherd.
Among the remaining three, Fenmo is relatively easy to deal with. As an apprentice of the Illusion Series, Angel, being a wizard of the Illusion Series, has too many tools to break through Fenmo’s illusions. As long as Kaier isn’t deceived by illusions, with Speedy and his own abilities, he can defeat Fenmo.
The Magic Elephant is a Bloodline Wizard, which is a bit more troublesome. However, a Bloodline Wizard in the apprentice stage is not entirely unstoppable. Kaier is a Space Series apprentice; perhaps what Jun left behind can help him.
Lastly, there’s the Shadow Entity.
Although Kaier has repeatedly stated that if he went first, the situation might be different, Angel feels Kaier is too optimistic. The Shadow Entity can certainly prolong the battle but may also have short-term explosive tactics.
Besides, the Shadow Series has the strongest ability to evade damage, so Kaier doesn’t have a clear advantage against it.
Using the Out of Discussion means provided by Angel, Kaier should still be able to win, but it might be quite strenuous.
Is there a way to allow Kaier to win easily?
Angel contemplated as his gaze slowly turned to the shadow on the ground... Earl Mi.
He didn’t plan to send Earl Mi to the arena; instead, he suddenly remembered something. He still has a Shadow Demon in hand; it was previously given to Earl Mi for training. Perhaps he could let the Shadow Demon take the stage?
Just as Angel was about to communicate with Earl Mi to see if the Shadow Demon was feasible, the voice of the Wise Sovereign suddenly reached his ears.
It wasn’t the transmitted voice of the Wise Sovereign, but the announcement of the duel result proclaimed by the Wise Sovereign.
Angel instinctively looked up.
He had been prepared for Vay’s defeat, but when he looked at the arena, he was shocked to see... there was only one person standing—the victor, Vay!
Beside Vay, a gigantic Earth Spike had pierced through the Shadow Entity’s abdomen, lifting it high.
Dripping blood fell from the Earth Spike, proving the Shadow Entity was its True Body, not just a shadow.
The winner of this duel... Vay?!
Angel’s eyes flashed a moment of astonishment but quickly controlled his expressions.
He had been considering how Kaier could achieve victory and hadn’t been focused on Vay’s battle. How did Vay win? How did he turn disadvantages into advantages?
With questions in mind, Angel began to examine his memory.
Although he had been thinking about other things, his eyes had not left the arena. So by recalling his shallow memory, he could review what had happened earlier.
As montage-like scenes flashed by, Angel finally saw the process of Vay’s earlier fight.
...
The time went back to three minutes ago.
The petrified skin on Vay’s body had become mottled and was nearly half cracked. Cracks oozed with fresh blood continuously.
At this time, Vay’s body had hardly any place that was intact.
Moreover, from the cracks on Vay’s back, white tufted structures began to grow. These tufts were the budding entities following the fungus invasion.
These mycelial buds, using Vay’s body as a cradle and feeding on blood and mana, began to proliferate crazily within a short span.
If not quickly blocked, these tuft-like mycelial buds would grow uncontrollably until they drained all of Vay’s flesh and blood.
The only comfort was that this fungus invasion was not like the ones nurtured by the Misty Goldlady, as it did not invade the Mind Space or the Land of the Soul. So even if all his flesh was lost, Vay would still have a glimmer of hope.
Vay’s current condition wasn’t good; besides the bleeding and fungal growth, he felt dizzy and was stumbling.
He had stopped resisting the invasion of the fungus in the mist and wandered like a zombie within it.
His actions seemed disorderly, but from his repeated resistance, it was guessable what he wanted to do next.
Vay should have decided to risk everything, refusing to seek a safe zone and instead directly confronting the Shadow Entity.
Just as Angel speculated, if Vay could seize a single opportunity, perhaps he could change the battle’s outcome.
However, Vay’s tactics were understandable to an outsider, and the Shadow Entity in the battle could understand them too.
Therefore, the Shadow Entity ceased sneak attacks, moving away from Vay instead.
The Shadow Entity moved freely in the mist, sensing Vay’s presence, but evaded him thoroughly to prevent Vay from pinpointing its position.
Now, the Shadow Entity only needed to wait for the mycelial buds to spread and could easily secure victory.
Vay wandered further away, while the Shadow Entity retreated further, with no intention of getting close.
However, at this moment, the Shadow Entity’s gaze slightly tightened.
Vay was actually taking potions!
Earlier, due to the Shadow Entity’s intermittent attacks, Vay hadn’t had time to employ his money power, but now, as Shadow Entity was not attacking sneakily, Vay had the leisure to take potions.
The Shadow Entity watched helplessly as Vay took potions to recover while forcibly tearing off the tufted structures from his skin.
Although this didn’t prevent the expansion of the mycelial buds, the potion Vay took was exceptionally effective. Even if unable to directly remove the mycelial buds, it achieved a perfect balance with them.
In this balanced state, Vay was almost at normal combat proficiency.
Though the cost was substantial, Vay could endure.
Seeing Vay’s condition improve, a slight annoyance flared within the Shadow Entity. However, it restrained this impulse, refraining from reckless attacks.
If the situation drags on, the Shadow Entity won’t suffer losses, but Vay’s potions would eventually run out.
That’s the Shadow Entity’s current thought—stay put, await changes.
But soon, the Shadow Entity’s plans shifted.
Because Vay walked himself into a dead end...