Angus finally struck and fought with great speed. The white light radiating on his greatsword flew toward Old Wilson like a venomous snake.

"Whoosh!"

Without mercy, a ray of white light pierced through Old Wilson's black armor. Fresh red blood immediately oozed from the slit.

Old Wilson retreated a few steps and held his hand to the wound. He narrowed his eyes and gave Angus a deadly stare. His armor was manufactured after three years of work, using materials of the highest resistance and could resist almost any kind of spears and swords. Even a Third-level Elemental Swordsman would struggle to break his armor.

Due to this, he was able to fight against the two Third-level Light Swordsmen – Queiro and Lelo – with such ease. This armor suit had definitely proved its worth.

However, this armor could no longer effectively assist Old Wilson in defending from his opponents. Angus' strike had left Old Wilson feeling deeply threatened, which was something that he had experienced in the Slaughterhouse. It was an influential existence extremely on par with a Fourth-level Elemental Swordsman.

The difference between Elemental Swordsmen was indeed very much distinct – First-level to Third-level were beginner Elemental Swordsmen, Fourth-level to Sixth-level were intermediate Elemental Swordsmen, and Seventh-level to Ninth-level were advanced Elemental Swordsmen.

Therefore, even though there was only one gap from Third-level to Fourth-level, it was a massive one.

Angus, who was right in front, ranked somewhere between Third-level and Fourth-level, though infinitely close to Fourth-level as he was extremely powerful. Even with Old Wilson's innate talent and sturdy defensive armor, it was difficult to fight against Angus.

"It seems that I'll not escape from fate today… Tell me, why does the church want my life?"

Old Wilson looked rather savage as he licked his dried lips while he spoke. He had already guessed by now that these people were not bandits but people from the church!

Angus raised aloft the greatsword in his hand, his palms wrapped tightly around the handle. "What's the point of knowing now? Queiro, Lelo, do it!"

Although Angus was, in fact, more powerful than Old Wilson, he chose to not underestimate his opponent. To be safe, he sought assistance from Queiro and Lelo to ensure nothing would go wrong.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, a violent explosion erupted. Countless red flames caught on and scattered around. As the wind blew, the fire which was accompanied by a burning smell drifted along.

"What happened?"

Angus furrowed his brows as he shifted his attention to the direction of the strange noise.

…

"Bang!"

As the low-pitched sound left Merlin's lips, the two fireballs exploded in the speedy flight. The nearest bandit was only half a meter away from the explosion.

The fireballs released by Merlin contained horribly high heat. Although they were only the size of a fist, they were made up of a myriad of compressed Fire Elements.

The fist-sized fireball was able to directly melt an armor made of fine iron. Once blown up, the scattered flames were enough to cause terrible deaths.

Moreover, this explosion was caused by two fireballs at once. The bandits who came galloping at high speed were directly blown up by the two fireballs before they could figure out what was happening. Even the two leading Second-level Light Swordsmen were hit by the unexpected heatwaves and fell heavily on the ground, both gravely injured.

This sudden change had shocked many people. Merlin glanced toward the place where Old Wilson was under siege by the three Third-level Light Swordsmen. Merlin went straight to the old man who was in a hot water.

"The heretic! The heretic! The evil heretic from the Kingdom of Blackmoon!"

Finally, someone recognized Merlin's identity and began to scream in terror.

"The evil heretic that blasphemes against God!" a Second-level Light Swordsman shouted aloud and soon his body was shrouded in an aggressive white light. A greatsword in hand, he charged toward Merlin from behind.

"Fireball!"

Using his Mind Power, Merlin could sense movements in his surrounding without having to turn his head around. Therefore, he quickly released a fireball and sent it across his back.

"Whoosh!"

The speed of the fireball was extremely fast, leaving only a faint trail of red shadow before it slammed into the chest of the Light Swordsman.

The chest of the Light Swordsman could not resist the force of the fireball at all. It melted instantly and burned a bloody hole in the chest of the Light Swordsman.

"Plop!"

The Light Swordsman, not even anywhere close to Merlin, fell directly to the ground, his chest emitting black smoke.

'A Large Fireball next!'

Merlin noticed in his Awareness that the gray horizontal frame representing Large Fireball had turned red. This meant that he was able to release a Large Fireball.

Due to Merlin's recent incessant meditation practice, his progress on Mind Power advanced rapidly. His control of the fireball had reached the point of perfection. For instance, the fireball released earlier was much faster in speed, making it impossible to defend, than that in Blackwater City.

This was the benefit of a strong Mind Power as it allowed better control of spells.

After killing this Second-level Light Swordsman, Merlin raised his head and looked around at the surrounding bandits. Everyone was afraid of Merlin where no one dared to come forward.

Heretic is used to address on a person who represented evil, cruelty, and mastered peculiar power! Moreover, now that they saw the spells released by Merlin with their own eyes, they felt unbelievably and incredibly fearful, hence they dared not come forward.

Thousands of bandits were stunned by Merlin. He looked around and never did he feel more confident than at this moment. He felt "powerful" for the first time.

'Spell Caster is the existence of the world's strongest force!'

Merlin thought of a sentence in old man Etha's Spell Manual, used to describe the Spell Casters. It seemed not far from the truth.

As no one stepped forward, it did not take Merlin long to reach Old Wilson's side. He held the injured old man gently by hand and looked at the three men wearing golden masks.

"Father, leave them to me," Merlin said softly to Old Wilson.

"Spell Caster… I didn't expect to encounter a Spell Caster here. Even though you're just an Entrance-level Spell Caster, that's not something we can deal with. Unfortunately, we didn't bring forth our archers. Otherwise, an Entrance-level Spell Caster will not pose any threat," Angus, who was still wearing the mask, ended his sentence with a long, meaningful sigh.

His tone was full of unwillingness.