Blocked!
Kris seemed not to have expected the opponent to possess such an ability, but his reaction speed was still quick. Seeing his attack fail, he immediately pulled back with the others.
However, Bachler kept his focus on Lucille, who was right in front of him.
"A witch?! I didn't expect that an archaeological team hired by a mere recorder would bring someone like you. Hah~ You clearly have your own agenda." Bachler sneered at Lucille.
As expected, both wizards could see through Lucille's intentions at a glance. Was he after that thing too?
Sean thought back to the magical disc Lucille had shown him earlier, the one he had given to Luke to investigate discreetly. But so far, there had been no progress. Perhaps that thing wasn't even in this town; otherwise, they would have sent it away by now.
Leaving something like that here would only cause more trouble later.
"Hmph, don't lump me together with a murderer like you." Lucille swung her arm, and crystalline formations like alloy appeared around her body, instantly flying toward the opponent's position.
But it was the same move again.
The magic staff was raised, blocking the attack just a few centimeters from his body.
It must be some kind of shield.
Because the moment it was raised, Wang Luo noticed a brief white barrier effect appear over Bachler's head, with some text reading "Shield."
It lasted about two seconds before disappearing, very fast.
Anything with more than three characters, he couldn't read in a single blink... mainly because his ability to see attributes required a brief moment of focus—it wasn't something he could catch with a glance or a quick scan. Otherwise, the text popping up in this world would block his vision entirely.
He needed to concentrate on a specific object.
For example, when he looked at Bachler, focusing his gaze on him would reveal his attributes. The buffs he constantly applied with magic would first show as icons, and only by staring at a particular icon would the text appear.
It didn't take long, really...
It was like picking out a single word from a line of text—less than a second.
But that kind of timing was hard for most people to manage. One or two seconds didn't mean much to many; it was too short to react.
Sean felt it was mainly because he wasn't used to fighting. Every battle made his heart race. Before this, there was no real combat.
Except for playing games in dungeons, yelling into a microphone... and adding some background music. This was nothing like those life-or-death fights!
If one day he could react just by seeing an icon, that would truly be impressive.
Watching the opponent block the crystal attack, his right hand moved...
"Hypocrite. What wizard's hands aren't stained with blood and bones?"
Another cast bar appeared, and it was incredibly fast.
It probably finished in less than a second!
"Dodge!"
Lucille shouted almost at the same time.
Sean felt a hand shove him to the side, and his gaze snapped to the space between Lucille and himself.
Boom!
An explosion erupted in the air between them.
Sean quickly closed his eyes, instinctively raising his hand to shield his face.
A sudden force hit his exposed skin, feeling slightly hot, and his body experienced an odd sensation of being pushed by an invisible force.
But in just a few seconds, he fell into a snowdrift. The cold at his back snapped his attention back to reality... a ringing sound lingered in his ears.
It felt like burying his face in snow for a moment of chill.
"Baron Weigel! Baron Weigel!"
Someone was pushing him from behind. Sean turned around.
It was another girl from the archaeological team. He remembered her name was Gwen, an expert in spotting and setting traps.
He had heard Lucille talk about their team before, mentioning Gwen as a master hunter and an expert in puzzles, mechanisms, and traps. She was from the Amansha people of the western highlands, a race skilled in hunting.
Since archaeological teams often ventured into caves, someone with her skills was invaluable. But in a sudden battle, her role was less prominent, which gave her time to check on him.
"Are you alright, Baron Weigel?"
"I'm fine. I can manage."
Looking at her, he noticed her frown as she stared at him.
He must have been injured on the face. Even now, Sean felt a sharp sting.
"This guy must be a wizard who controls wind elements. Most of his magic has no visible trajectory, making him hard to deal with," Gwen said, watching the battle.
Perhaps due to her keen observation, Gwen had concluded this after watching Bachler cast a few spells.
Wind element? Wind type.
Sean found the classification of wizards' magic baffling—it seemed to cover everything. He had noticed this when Lucille explained magical theory to him.
In his fixed mindset, magic should be divided into elemental mages: fire mages, ice mages, and so on.
His previous life's game classifications were deeply ingrained, making the shift uncomfortable. Yet this world didn't follow that system, even though it mentioned elements.
It was confusing.
His current understanding was that magic relied on imagination, but casting required conditions. Without enough proficiency, even racking your brain wouldn't work. There was also a mana limit, and external aids like incantations and magical items could enhance it.
Sean had shared this understanding with Lucille, but she said it was wrong.
Then she quickly added that everyone's understanding of magic might differ, so he shouldn't give up. As long as he could cast spells, he should stick to his theory—it might even lead to new magic.
That was why Sean found this world's magic system chaotic.
And now, Gwen beside him claimed the opponent was a wind-element wizard!
Boom, boom.
More inexplicable explosions. The opponent's magic had no visible path, and his casting speed was fast—the cast bar didn't even take a second... it was done in a blink.
To interrupt, Sean would have to cast at the same time as the opponent.
But that was risky. Even a 0.1-second delay could mean the blast happening right in front of him.
Feeling the sting on his face, even the aftermath was this severe. Taking a direct hit would likely destroy his body.
When Sean looked at Kris and Manus, he noticed they had another icon besides the [Fatigue!] status.
An arm flexing its muscles!
[Toughness: Reduces damage taken from enemies.]
This was some kind of skill. So melee fighters had their own abilities too.
But even with the toughness effect, both had lost 500 HP each. 500 points—most ordinary people only had 1000. That was half a normal person gone in one hit. How were they supposed to keep going?
Looking at Lucille and Bachler, both wizards were at full health, but their mana was depleting first.
Lucille had less than 2000 left, not fully recovered from the earlier fight with the snow giant, while Bachler still had 3000... That wasn't good news.
The opponent started casting again.
This time, Sean had a moment to clearly see the skill name in the cast bar.
"You shouldn't have come here, witch. Angering a powerful wizard isn't good for a low-tier one," Bachler said with a smile.