"Swish."

As soon as Runic Magic Circle enveloped the high platform, violent fluctuation of Wind Elements immediately emerged on Merlin's body. This was the effect of Gale.

Like a ghost, Merlin's silhouette rushed forward to Wizard Loan within seconds. The moment Merlin opened his hands wide, a massive Thunderbolt Net fell from the sky.

Merlin performed his best at first strike without giving Wizard Loan any chance.

The expression on Wizard Loan's face turned solemn as he looked at Thunderbolt Net that fell from the sky. A glow flashed in the air, and a Spell Scroll appeared in his hand.

"Another Spell Scroll?"

Merlin frowned slightly. These Spell Scrolls did not come at exuberant prices. Some common First-level Spell Scrolls only cost between fifty to a hundred contribution points.

Merlin had thought of purchasing some Spell Scrolls before, but to him, fifty to a hundred contribution points were considered a dear amount. Besides, with his current strength, First-level spells would not be of great help to him. The spells he had constructed, when released in strengthened version, would almost be as powerful as the common First-level spells.

"Guardian Monument!"

Wizard Loan instantaneously released the spell within the Spell Scroll. Guardian Monument was a First-level Earth-type spell. When released, numerous mystic stone monuments were immediately established around Loan, surrounding him completely in a circle.

Although it was Earth-type spell, its protection was effective from all direction. Even Merlin's Thunderbolt Net that fell from the sky could not harm Wizard Loan.

Merlin did not hesitate despite knowing Wizard Loan possessed Spell Scroll. Red flames appeared in his hands, as dozens of Fireballs arranged in a line flew toward Wizard Loan. It made a spectacular sight.

"Bang bang bang."

Each collision caused Wizard Loan's Spell Scroll to quiver but did not manage to break it down completely.

"Large Fireball!"

At this moment, Merlin finally cast strengthened version spells. More Fireballs were released, but this time, among these fist-size fireballs were four massive group of fireballs that emitted terrifying temperature. Judging by their sizes, it was evident that these four group of fireballs were different from the usual ones.

Wizard Loan's expression finally changed. He actually felt threatened by these massive fireballs.

"Earth Cage!"

Wizard Loan finally cast First-level spell that he had constructed, and it was one of Binding type. Back then, Wizard Holmes had exchanged for this spell in Resource Tower and its binding effect was indeed great.

Wizard Loan had constructed two First-level spells, and one of them was Earth Cage.

"Verbroom."

In an instant, a large number of Earth Elements were gathering rapidly. A huge cage began to form around Merlin, and he was trapped in it with no escape, just like what happened to Dark Vampire Bat before.

"Bang bang bang."

This was Merlin's Fireball smashing aggressively on Wizard Loan's Guardian Monument. It was beginning to falter and looked like it was about to collapse at any moment.

However, a khaki light flashed, and not only did Guardian Monument not collapse but it was restored to its original condition. Merlin's four groups of massive fireball could not even break through Guardian Monument. It showed evidently the effectiveness of this First-level Defensive spell.

Merlin had thought about this before. In the future, if he planned to select a First-level Earth-type spell, this Guardian Monument was definitely among his options.

"It's not easy for Merlin to escape from Earth Cage now that he's bonded. Wizard Loan's definitely going to win this match."

Wizard Nasha shook her head ever so slightly. Although Merlin had Six-Elemental spells, it was expected that Merlin would not rival Wizard Loan who had constructed two First-level spells and also possessed Spell Scroll.

Wizard Leo remained silent, although hints of worry and concern filled his face.

"Bright Wind!"

The corner of Wizard Loan's mouth curled up into a smile as he saw Merlin bonded by Earth Cage. The victory was near. He eagerly released yet another First-level spell, which was Wind-type Offensive spell – Bright Wind.

"Whoosh."

Bright Wind, like an arrow with a pointy front, flew toward Merlin without hesitation.

"Cracks."

All of a sudden, the entire Earth Cage froze. Its outer layer was covered with thick layers of ice crystal. By doing so, the entire Earth Cage had been connected as a whole.

Any attack at this time would crash the entire Earth Cage.

"Bang."

Previously, Merlin's spells had pretty much weakened most of Earth Cage. Besides, Merlin's ingenious release of Large Frosts continuously had frozen the entire Earth Cage as a whole. In other words, Bright Wind cast by Wizard Loan would eventually be attacking Earth Cage.

Under the attack of Bright Wind, thick layers of ice crystals shattered into pieces, even the sturdy Earth Cage disintegrated completely.

With a loud crash, Earth Cage smashed to the ground and Merlin appeared out from it. He was barely injured despite looking slightly pale.

"Change danger into safety, that's an interesting method to break Wizard Loan's Earth Cage!"

Wizard Nasha initially thought this was the end for Merlin, but she never expected Merlin to escape Wizard Loan's Earth Cage using such a clever idea. This also displayed his nimbleness of mind in dealing with emergencies.

One of the reasons that made Spell Caster powerful, apart from knowledge in constructing Spell Models, or having tremendous Mind Power, was the ability to cast spells sensibly.

Merlin utilized Frost to freeze Earth Cage. That was a great manipulation of all the features of Frost, thus temporarily defusing the crisis.

Wizard Loan's face turned ugly. He did not expect Merlin to use a mere Frost to break his Earth Cage, and even took advantage of Bright Wind to crash down Earth Cage.

"Wizard Loan, I've broken your Earth Cage. It's my turn now!"

A brilliance flashed across Merlin's eyes, and Darkness Elements fluctuated slightly around his body.

"If I can bind you once, I can definitely bind you twice. Earth Cage!"

Wizard Loan took a deep breath to calm down his emotions, and once again released Earth Cage.

"Swoosh."

But Merlin's silhouette suddenly disappeared at an unbelievably great speed. It was extraordinary. Within seconds, he reappeared behind Wizard Loan.

Earth Cage was not a wide range Binding spell; hence, Wizard Loan would not be able to bind Merlin down if he had cast Gale.

"Dark Mist!"

Right away, when he came to the back of Wizard Loan, Merlin cast Dark Mist not only once, but three times.

A massive mist appeared, covering almost the entire high platform. Those common Entrance-level Spell Casters were not able to see the situation happening within Dark Mist.

Only those Spell Casters with powerful Mind Power could witness clearly what was happening inside.

It was complete darkness inside the mist, but Wizard Loan was not afraid. All around him was still guarded by Guardian Monument. Besides, he had constructed two First-level spells. His Mind Power was not weak and it was nearly compatible to the level of that like a Second-level Spell Caster. Due to these reasons, Wizard Loan was not frightened of Merlin's Dark Mist at all.

Therefore, Wizard Loan laughed. "Dark Mist doesn't work on me at all. Wizard Merlin, don't waste your Magic Power."

"Is it so?"

Merlin's voice was erratic. He used Gale to constantly change his position because he knew that Wizard Loan was definitely trying to locate him using Mind Power. Once targeted, Wizard Loan would definitely bind him down using Earth Guard without hesitation.

"Dark Mist!"

Merlin once again released Dark Mist. Wizard Loan had his brows knitted together, then shook his head slightly as he spoke. "Wizard Merlin, even if I can't locate your position, your Magic Power is going to get exhausted if you keep this going on. Dark Mist doesn't work on me…"

Before he could finish his sentence, the expression on Wizard Loan turned grave. When this Dark Mist enveloped him, he instantaneously felt something was wrong. His head went a little bit dizzy, and then, even his immense Mind Power seemed unable to break through this layer of mist.

"What happened? How could the power of Dark Mist suddenly increase tremendously?"

Wizard Loan was getting nervous. He realized this Dark Mist that Merlin had just cast felt really strange.

"Game over!"

An indifferent voice sounded in his ear. Immediately, several groups of large fireballs, and thunder rays as thick as fingers, as well as a chilly sensation that seemed to be able to freeze everything all gathered together and rushed toward Wizard Loan who was already looking a little stunned.

"Boom!"

The sound was so loud it was almost deafening. Thunderous roars, fireball explosions, accompanied by broken stones that were actually shattered pieces of Wizard Loan's Guardian Monument sounded in the air.

"Phew..."

Merlin did not continue attacking but dispelled Dark Mist. Wizard Loan also came to in an instant and stared at Merlin with eyes filled with desolation.

"I lost!"

Wizard Loan appeared unusually calm. His Guardian Monument released using Spell Scroll was shattered down by Merlin. In other words, he was defeated. Without protection from Defensive spells, there was no way he could defend himself from Merlin's terrifying attack that resembled a mighty, violent storm.

Merlin felt a chill in his body. He had been careful and cautious before and did not dare to cast strengthened version of Dark Mist because he did not know what kind of spells were up in Wizard Loan's sleeves. After all, this strengthened version Dark Mist had almost become his strongest trick. Even the silver-haired old man whose Mind Power reached the peak of a Second-level Spell Caster also fell into Merlin's strengthened version Dark Mist and was eventually killed.

Since the construction of Dark Mist, Merlin had defeated many strong opponents using this spell. Dark Mist was no wonder one of the most bizarre spells among Zero-level spells. It was worth for Merlin to have spent so much Mind Power into constructing its Spell Model.

The Spell Model of Dark Mist was very complicated. Generally, very few Spell Casters could successfully construct a spell like this. Merlin could not have constructed it successfully without the help of the Matrix.

Such a complicated Spell Model indeed had its own unique features. Among Merlin's current six Zero-level spells, there was no doubt that Dark Mist was the most effective and most powerful. Its strange feature also made it hard to defend against. Without sufficient Mind Power, once enveloped within, one would completely lose any form of resistance.

Merlin left the high platform right after he defeated his opponent. After all, he had exhausted a lot of Magic Power earlier. He needed to prepare himself to perfection, so he waited quietly for the winner of the other high platform to emerge and to eventually fight the final round against him.