Asher Versus The Protector Mages

'Found you.'

Asher narrowed his eyes on the leading fourth-stage Guardian mage right after the orb within him felt a strong signal from that direction.

The mage felt Asher's gaze on himself and he immediately frowned. A bad feeling suddenly crept up on him. Although he didn't know, the mage was suspicious of the object he had with him.

'He couldn't have known about it? Right? Unless he's here for it?' The mage grimaced.

"Didn't you hear the question? Who are you?" One of the other protector mages shouted.

"Forget about it. Since he doesn't want to speak, we will make him talk. Attack him." The leading mage said.

He had a bad feeling about Asher and this was mostly due to the fact that Asher had dared to face them alone despite being outnumbered.

"Ha!"

The other mages followed the orders and fired spells at Asher.

There were originally six of them but one was killed by Fenrir. Another had been taken down by Asher just a while ago, leaving behind only four of them. Although their numbers were down by roughly 33%, their battle strength wasn't affected as much.

While the two third-stage Guardian mages attacked from their positions, the other fourth-stage Guardian mage charged towards Asher. None of them believed that the first wave of attacks would take him down so the fourth-stage Guardian mage's intention was to utilize the opening created by Asher being forced to dodge to land an attack.

'I need to wrap this up fast.' Asher's eyes flashed with blood light.

Boom.

The spells of the two mages, both of the fire element, struck the spot but Asher's figure was nowhere to be seen. Even the fourth-stage Guardian mage didn't manage to catch his silhouette.

'How is that possible?' The mage thought.

Meanwhile, Asher had appeared behind the group from a blind spot, ready to make his move. What the group had seen and attacked was a clone of his, similar to the one he made when he fought Aurora.

'I can't use both my elements at the same time to prevent any risk, so there's only one option.' Asher's eyes gleamed as he waved his hand at his target; one of the third-stage Guardian mages who was too focused on the spot his clone previously stood.

A long shard of ice, the size of a short sword, shot out from his hand and stabbed towards the mage. Unlike regular ice magic including the one Asher usually used, it didn't have an azure coloured hue but was instead deeper and darker; just like the colour navy blue.

At first, a barrier appeared around the mage and stopped the ice sword, but it only lasted for a second before the attack broke through it and stabbed the mage.

"Ahh!" The mage yelled only for a second before his body went cold, in the most literal sense, and fell to the floor with a crack.

If one could turn the body around, they would notice that a part of the mage, especially the forehead, had a crack on it as if he were a damaged sculpture.

'Dark Ice.' The two fourth-stage Guardian mages, who were more knowledgeable than the others, recognized this element at a glance and frowned.

Like the Earth and Metal elements, the Ice element had its own derivatives. In most cases, having a derivative of an element didn't directly increase one's strength but this was only when considering the 'common' derivatives. In the case of certain derivatives like the Silver and Gold forms of the metal element, one's power was directly affected by them.

One of the Ice element's derivatives and the one which directly increased one's strength was Dark Ice.

Dark Ice possessed a much more extreme level of cold than the regular ice element. One could even say that it was the epitome of frost and the representation of the lowest level temperature could reach due to the influence of magic. At its starting phase, Dark Ice possessed a navy-blue colour and was already far below the average sub-zero figures of ice; usually at least below -35 °C (-31F). The darker the ice got, the colder and more advanced the Dark Ice derivative was until it reached the limit known as Black Ice.

As of now, Asher's derivative was at the entry phase but even so, it was still incredibly more powerful than the regular ice element which was why the two fourth-stage Guardian mages had frowned. Derivatives that directly boosted one's strength were never to be underestimated and the Gold element, which had propped the Castellan household for over a hundred years, was a perfect example.

"We need to take him down quick and fast. Don't give him time to think." The other fourth-stage Guardian mage said.

The leading mage didn't refute him as he was aware that that was indeed the only way for them to win.

The man-in-black, aka Asher, had been taking them one at a time. If they continued with their current strategy, their loss would only be a matter of time. The only way to win was to press Asher and force him to create an opening that they would utilize to win. While it sounded similar to their last attempt, it wasn't exactly the same. In this case, the fourth-stage Guardian mages would be the ones leading the attack.

The leading mage alongside his teammate immediately charged towards Asher. Including the time they fought the Zeta, this would be the second time these mages showcased their full prowess, but was however the first time they did so against a human since their arrival in the Manchurian forest.

Unlike before, their auras were on full blast with pressure oozing off their bodies, with every step they took, the mages covered one metre. Even though they had yet to arrive, the pressure Asher felt from them was quite intense. The duo were giving it their all right from the start, leaving no path for escape.

Seeing two fourth-stage Guardian mages rush at him, Asher didn't fret despite his level being lower than theirs. Instead, he steadied his breathing and held his aura back as he prepared to clash with them.

Even though he had the memory of a previous life, Asher was still an early-rank third-stage Guardian mage facing off against two early-rank fourth-stage Guardian mages. That was a difference of a full stage. What's more, his opponents were experienced graduates of the First dawn academy. If Asher didn't take the fight seriously and lost focus amid the battle, it wouldn't be a lie to say that he could end up dying.

The first to arrive was the leading mage who attacked with a ferocious bearing. He first cast a spell when he was a few feet away before coating his arms with a purple fire spell. As it turned out, he also had a derivative of an element except his was just a change in colour with a slight increment in power that wasn't so obvious.

"Die!"

The spell arrived first and was in the form of a fierce fire snake. The fire snake was about three metres long and half a metre wide. It wasn't very realistic in appearance but the heat from it was too excessive for a normal human being to bear.

At the same time, the other mage cast a spell that made earth walls appear around Asher, locking him in place for the purple fire snake to devour.

Asher frowned behind the mask but didn't become anxious. While the attack was indeed deadly and possessed enough power to kill him, that was only on the condition it could hit him.

'Swift Steps.'

Asher moved with a small gust of wind and dodged the attack.

'Wind element?' The fourth-stage Guardian mage who was charging towards him thought, but felt something was off about it. It wasn't exactly like the wind element he knew.

Right after dodging the attack, Asher went straight for the leading mage who was charging at him.

Asher extended his right arm downwards and formed a spear made out of dark ice which he thrust at the man.

'Damn it.' The mage cursed and used both arms to block the hit.

Creak.

A slight sound came from the dark ice right after it was blocked by the mage. It didn't break yet but was already damaged.

'Hmm? How come?' The mage thought.

His eyes flashed as a thought crept into his mind.

The mage immediately lifted his right, still coated with the purple flames, and struck at Asher.

Asher hurriedly retreated before swinging the spear towards the mage. In turn, the man re-directed his fist to the spear in a smooth motion, almost as if he had been waiting for it.

Bang.

The spear immediately broke apart after coming into contact with the fist as raging energy from the fist-flame combo spread through it and wrecked it apart. Asher didn't hesitate to create some distance from the mage right after that happened.

"As I thought. You're not even at the fourth-stage. You are a third-stage Guardian mage; maybe at the mid-stage or so. And here I was thinking this would be a tough fight." The man grinned.

"What did you say?"

His partner behind, as well as the last surviving third-stage Guardian, were shocked.

"He's nothing more than a third-stage Guardian mage. He only utilized the element of surprise and a few tricks to take down the others before. Apart from his Dark Ice derivative, that is his strong point, he's nothing more than a fledgling." The leading mage smiled.

"You guys stand back. I will handle him myself."

"Are you sure you are not underestimating him?" The other fourth-stage Guardian mage asked.

"90%." The leading mage replied.

"Make it fast." The partner replied and stepped back right after.

If the man had said 100% instead, he wouldn't have done so. For a third-stage Guardian mage to attack them -two fourth-stage Guardian mages and three peak-rank third-stage Guardian mages-, the cloaked man (Asher) was either stupid or had something to rely on. The Dark Ice attribute was good but it still wasn't enough. It could either be that he had some other secret weapon or was trying to hold them back for reinforcements, hence why he had replied as such.