Long Hao Chen slightly lowered his brows and without trying to dodge, he approached the[Ice Ball] intending to meet with it head on.

However, as if it knew what Long Hao Chen was trying to do, the [Ice Ball] suddenly sank. With a cracking sound, the attack targeted the ground. A blue halo of light immediately covered an area of a 0.66 meters (2 Chi) circumference, and Long Hao Chen's charge was interrupted simultaneously.

With a chilling sensation on his foot, his steps halted. Long Hao Chen's body stumbled as if he had lost his balance.

Lin Jia Lu's face revealed a smile filled with self-confidence as she chanted another incantation, and a thin blue light enveloped her. This was the second step mage spell [Ice Mantle].

But her smiling face quickly became filled with surprise.

Long Hao Chen had arrived before her in an instant, and suddenly a golden radiance appeared below her with a cracking sound. A layer of the ground unexpectedly froze below his foot before being broken by his foot stepping on it, making his body return to a steady state. He resumed his charge but his speed, surprisingly, was not dramatically reduced, but instead, increased tremendously.

His hand began executing a [Thorny Charge], preparing to pierce the cover of ice with a stab.

A third step Knight!

Regardless of whether it was Lin Jia Lu or the two retinues, all of them became flabbergasted. To be able to use the Sacred Light element internal spiritual energy was something only a third step knight was capable of. Was this youth, who looked like he was probably not even 15 yet, unexpectedly already a third step knight?

"Puu, puu, puu... "A series of sounds of something hitting ice echoed.

Although Lin Jia Lu was extremely frightened, she did not stop her actions.

Nonetheless, an [Ice Ring] made of white colored ice appeared all around her body and Long Hao Chen's formidable thrust merely pushed her back.

The ice element spell, [Ice Ring] was the most commonly used spell by mages to deal with close combat vocations. Even without using her magic wand, Lin Jia Lu could still cast the spell swiftly and consistently; it was well suited to her title as a genius.

Long Hao Chen, who was just released became startled. He realized how different fights were against a mage compared to those against a warrior.

At that very moment, ten icicles rose at lightning speed by his side, blocking his route from the left as well as from the right. The frozen air made Long Hao Chen feel a chill, he felt as if the speed of his internal spiritual energy had somewhat slowed.

Lin Jia Lu's forte was her calm mind. She was almost equal to Li Xin. What she didn't know was that, although this little fellow was a third step knight, she would not necessarily be a match for a person as gifted from the Heavens as him.

From the point of view of Li Xin who was standing at the other side, it appeared that while being caged, Long Hao Chen would definitely be restrained by ice magic, thus reducing his combat ability, and even before he could escape from the barrier around, Lin Jia Lu would have probably beaten him.

However, at this moment, Long Hao Chen had already jumped up.

"This silly kid." Li Xin could not help but whisper. While dueling a mage like her, why did you jump up as you are still within her range? Isn't that making yourself a perfect target? Lin Jia Lu's purpose when casting [Ice Cage] was to make him jump up: it seemed that he really didn't have any experience in combat against a mage.

Seeing the boy leaping into air as she expected, , Lin Jia Lu showed a knowing smile. She started bombarding Long Hao Chen with [Ice Balls] aimed straight at him. She was already going easy on him. Had she not used the first rank [Ice Ball] but the second rank [Ice Edge] or [Ice Cone] instead, the attack would have been really more powerful.

However, the next move of Long Hao Chen surprised once again the audience.

Long Hao Chen's body emitted a layer of pale-gold aura, which spiraled upwards. He held the heavy sword using both hands to lift it over his head, setting off a golden aura that added a kind of divine feeling to his already handsome face.

Every single [Ice Ball] that was flying at Long Hao Chen disappeared 0.3 meter (1 chi) away from him. Even the cold air that each of them released was unable to pass through this golden aura.

[Lightning Cut], two words instantly popped up in Lin Jia Lu's mind. Her smile immediately froze. She then cast another [Ice Mantle] without hesitation.

Long Hao Chen dropped down from the sky. Brandishing his heavy sword, the pale-gold aura suddenly became more intense, forming a 33-centimeter-wide (1Chi) light-edged blade around the sword.

[Lightning Cut] was a third step knight skill practised by both Retribution Knights and Guardian Knights and consumed 50 units of spiritual energy. By withdrawing sacred power from the body, one can condense it into a blade to attack enemies. The attacking distance and power are proportional to one's own level of spiritual energy.

This was the first long-range offensive ability relying on internal spiritual energy that knights could use. Even though it consumed the same amount of spiritual energy as [Shining Solar Cut], its power was comparatively a lot less. The reason was that [Lightning Cut] was a long-range ability that could be used as both an offensive and a defensive measure.

Even so, only Genuine Knights who were fifth ranked or above could use [Lightning Cut] to its full extent. As a knight ranked up and had more spiritual energy, the power of the skill also increased.

The golden blade of light collided against the ice shield as a snapping sound rang out. The [Ice Mantle] instantly broke, and simultaneously the blade of light emitted by [Lightning Cut] also disappeared.

Long Hao Chen's actions did not stop at that. As soon as he landed on both of his foot, he immediately initiated another charge towards Lin Jia Lu.

As she realized that her [Ice Mantle] had managed to block the [Lightning Cut], Lin Jia Lu felt relieved. She thought to herself, Fortunately, this kid's spiritual energy level isn't that high. Otherwise, it would have been hard to stop that one attack. I've underestimated him.

However, as she blocked the [Lightning Cut], another smile appeared on Lin Jia Lu's face; she once more cast [Ice Ring] to stop Long Hao Chen's assault.

Since [Lightning Cut] consumed 50 units of spiritual energy, it was obvious that this kid did not have much internal spiritual energy left, so as long as she could stop another one of his attacks, his loss was confirmed.

, the [Ice Ring] appeared in a blink and Long Hao Chen's stance suddenly changed. His right foot strongly stomped on the ground, interrupting his charge and stopping him, as he lifted the heavy sword up in front of him.

[Ice Ring] split around Long Hao Chen; however, he was not pushed back this time. A pale-gold-colored layer of light now encroached his entire body.

The heavy sword arrived, gently stopping right above Lin Jia Lu's shoulder.

Hiss~~~, Lin Jia Lu's retinues both gasped almost at the same time. Lin Jia Lu, who was prepared to continue also froze in space.

Although Long Hao Chen's heavy sword did not hit her, she could clearly feel the touch of its divine aura. 1

"Sister Lin, please give in." Long Hao Chen took a few steps back, standing there with his sword withdrawn.

"Impossible, This is simply impossible. Even fourth step vocations would be temporarily pushed back when facing against my [Ice Ring]." Lin Jia Lu had a look of disbelief on her face. Looking at Long Hao Chen, her smile from before had changed into a shocked look filled with incomprehension.

Lost. Being Hao Yue City's genius female mage and losing to someone so much younger than her, how could she continue to live without feeling ashamed?

Even though she had been lenient to the boy by not using any magical equipments, she had lost even with the strength of a third step, sixth rank mage.

It wasn't only Lin Jia Lu herself; even Li Xin was puzzled at what had happened. Only, because she knew more about Long Hao Chen than Lin Jia Lu did, after a brief moment, she had come to an understanding.

[Divine Obstruction]. As soon as Lin Jia Lu used [Ice Ring] for the second time, Long Hao Chen had used [Divine Obstruction].

1. This part feels dirty; the author may have set this up on purpose