Warlock Apprentice

However, their self-assured speculations did not become reality.

As time elapsed, the acrimony between Trom and the Ocean Troll raged on, yet Trom did not find himself at a disadvantage. Instead, the Ocean Troll’s actions grew increasingly sluggish, until at last, Trom occupied an overwhelming advantage.

When Trom’s foot crushed the other eye of the Ocean Troll, the enormous Ocean Troll cried out in panic and confusion atop the sea, before finally plummeting into the depths in slow motion, leading the onlookers to notice a detail.

The Ocean Troll bore numerous white frost marks on its body.

Its skin was covered in traces of frostbite, and moreover, during the Ocean Troll’s desperate screams, the external audience also observed a significant amount of malignant white frosty breath exhaled from the troll’s mouth.

In other words, not only had the Ocean Troll suffered severe frost damage on the surface, but its insides had also been eroded by the cold.

And the source of this phenomenon was the white mist enshrouding Trom’s body.

Earlier, when Trom shattered one of the Ocean Troll’s eyes, the white mist had slipped into the troll’s body through its eye. Later, as Trom grappled with the Ocean Troll, the white mist around him once again affected the troll.

The alternating internal and external influences were the primary reasons why the Ocean Troll’s movements were increasingly delayed toward the end.

When the Ocean Troll plunged to the seabed, Trom rolled over and landed on a reef. He caught his breath slightly and lifted his head to look at the opposite side.

Having dealt with his own situation, he was unaware of how Onassis was faring.

Upon looking up, Trom was taken aback for a moment.

Onassis hovered calmly above the sea, muttering some incomprehensible whispers to himself, and behind him lay the fragmented corpse of the Ocean Troll, chopped into pieces.

These limbs scattered across the sea, dyeing the azure ocean a vivid red.

The spectators from afar, merely by sight, seemed to scent the intense smell of blood as well.

Clearly, the Ocean Troll on Onassis’s end had also been dealt with. And Trom could tell that Onassis had dispatched his quicker, much quicker than himself.

What slightly surprised Trom was that, after dealing with the Ocean Troll, Onassis did not launch a surprise attack on him.

Just like before, when both Ocean Trolls were focused on him, Onassis had the opportunity to attack him, but he did not do so.

This considerably improved Trom’s impression of Onassis. At least, Onassis seemed to be a person who truly respected a fair duel.

Trom stood up, took a long breath, and said: ”Now that they are dealt with, it’s down to the two of us.”

On hearing Trom’s voice, Onassis slowly lifted his head.

He did not speak, but as he lifted his head, the oppressive clouds suddenly began to drizzle, pelting the undulating sea and generating a relentless pattering sound. Amidst this patter of rain, Trom thought he heard a whisper.

”Every existence is but a law of material and energy combination, and all combinations exist solely to be perceived.”

Trom did not know where the whisper came from, but he vaguely felt that it might be Onassis conveying this message to him via some method.

For, as the whisper gradually faded, Onassis’s figure underwent some eerie changes in Trom’s eyes.

To the naked eye, Onassis seemed unchanged. Yet Trom had a blurry sense that Onassis’s body, while present in this place, also appeared to be amidst the ethereal clouds.

Trom hesitated for a moment, preparing to test the waters.

He slowly gathered the blood energy in his body; as the concentration of his Bloodline increased, the transmutation in his limbs became even more ferocious, and his muscles turned bulkier than before.

This process could have been completed instantaneously, but Trom intentionally did it slowly to signal his opponent—that he was about to attack.

After Trom issued his warning, he bent his body, pressed his limbs to the ground, and sprinted towards Onassis.

With each rise and fall, the tumultuous sea surface and the delicate drizzle were frozen into shape by the white mist swirling around him.

In the blink of an eye, Trom arrived in front of Onassis. Trom leaped high, transforming his hooves into icy blades, and brutally kicked at Onassis.

Crack—

A halo of light flashed over Onassis’s body, dissipating all the force and reflecting it back, causing Trom to roll back several times and land far out on the sea surface. As he fell, a patch of floating ice formed on the sea.

Trom frowned, looking at the still calm Onassis across from him.

The reason he attempted the charge, even though he was well aware it was unlikely to be effective, was to test whether Onassis’s glowing shield could defend against energy attacks.

Before, Trom’s close-quarters fighting mainly relied on his physical strength. When that proved ineffective, Trom considered using energy attacks.

But now it seemed that Onassis’s glowing shield could not only defend against Bloodline Power but also against ice-based energy attacks.

This outcome made Trom’s face sour.

Neither physical matter nor energy seemed to affect Onassis. Could his power truly be insoluble?

What to do then?

Trom knew that if he couldn’t come up with a solution, he only had one option left—to admit defeat.

...

In the judges’ seat, Farina narrowed her eyes as she watched the arena: ”Have you noticed? Onassis has never taken the initiative to attack Trom.”

Angel pondered for a moment: ”Maybe it’s a matter of carrying capacity.”

When Angel mentioned ”carrying capacity,” Hydra, not far away, opened the middle head’s eyes, revealing chilling, sinister vertical pupils that felt alarming. He looked deeply at Angel and chuckled softly, ”The Transcendental Wizard is indeed sharp.”

”I’ve watched many of Onassis’s matches and noticed this point. His power is mysterious, but power surely requires a vessel to reside in, which in his case is his physical body. Unfortunately, his body is not that strong. So even though he can wave the flag of philosophy and secure the high ground in a battle, once he picks up the shield, it becomes very difficult to also wield the spear, unless he expands the carrying limit of his vessel.” Hydra paused for a moment, ”And that is what the Transcendental Wizard referred to as carrying capacity.”

Farina: ”So you’re saying Trom still has a chance?”

If Onassis cannot achieve unity in offense and defense, that would be enough to increase the manipulable space for Trom.

However, Hydra shook his head: ”I don’t think so. For Trom to win, the premise is he must block the spear or break the shield. But both scenarios seem unlikely, and winning is not going to be easy for him.”

Farina turned to Angel: ”What do you think? Does Trom have a chance?”

Angel: ”I agree with the Observer’s opinion, but the game is unpredictable and constantly changing, and currently, I haven’t seen either of them play their trump cards. Perhaps, Trom really has a way to break through the shield.”

”Of course, it’s also possible that Onassis will deal with Trom first by using his spear.”