CHAPTER 58: CHAPTER 55: ACTUALLY KILLED HIM THREE TIMES

"This should work, right."

Andrew thought.

The moment he struck Hubert, he felt a kind of "slippery and elusive" sensation.

Vaguely, that bizarre feeling of "hitting but unable to kill" seemed to resurface.

Regarding this Flame Realm, after all, he still did not understand enough.

He could probably guess it was some sort of Fire Magic at play, but didn’t know exactly what it was.

Hubert, after all, was Hubert. If it weren’t for his body aging so quickly to the point of near death, Andrew knew it would be difficult to contend with him. The old mage was on a completely different level compared to Cook, Sally, Pete, and Raymond, whom he’d faced before!

"Forget it...

Who cares what kind of Magic you’re using to deflect my attacks!"

Andrew couldn’t figure out where the feeling of "hitting yet hard to kill" stemmed from, so he simply stopped caring.

He was still convinced that as long as he could hit, he could kill.

He unleashed his Finger Power to its fullest, maximizing the power of the "Zero-Distance Water Cannon"!

Even if it meant exhausting his Magic Power—

Winning this battle meant not only passing the "Title Evaluation," but more importantly, it represented truly establishing himself in this Flame Realm, no longer constantly facing the invisible threats from Hubert and the consequent disturbances.

Conversely, if he couldn’t win, there would be nothing much to say; he would probably end up in a situation where he could neither live nor die. Andrew didn’t want that outcome. Compared to that, what was some Magic Power exhaustion? He would even dare to withstand Hubert’s Magma Waterfall if necessary!

At this moment, Andrew looked at Hubert, whose torso he had almost completely obliterated, thinking if this didn’t finish him off, then nothing would.

The "Zero-Distance Water Cannon," filled to the brim with Fire Extinguishing Value, though just one move, had drained all his Water Magic Power within a single breath.

"So please, don’t pull any more tricks! Please!"

Andrew didn’t have any strength left—the Water Magic Power and the stamina from the Water Soul Constitution were all used up—yet in his heart, he still imagined stabbing a little Hubert figure viciously, "Die, die, die, die, die, die...!"

Seeing Hubert lower his head to look at the large hole in his torso, a dazed and confused expression appeared in his clouded eyes.

Though this time the old mage didn’t cry out like he did when he noticed Ivan’s Desolate Beast helper, he was actually even more shocked.

He was so astonished that he was completely speechless.

However, quickly enough, Hubert seemed to remember something and smiled.

"Oh no! Please don’t give me that smile, okay?"

Andrew thought, wondering if there was still some unforeseen variable, and hastily continued to stab Hubert in his mind.

Hubert chuckled softly and said, "You’ve got something, indeed.

But kid, you probably didn’t know, right? My real specialty is the ’Puppet Fire Series.’ I transform flames into Substitute Death Puppets, which give me three chances at escaping death! Otherwise, how do you think I survived when I encountered an accident after breaking through to ’Magic Guide Sorcerer’?"

Opening his mouth wide and looking at Andrew, Hubert laughed heartily, "I’ve used ’Puppet Fire Substitute’ three times to shield me from disasters and avoid death: once during a breakthrough when I got hurt, leaving me with two more chances! So, you think you can kill me just like that? Naive! Arrogant! You brat—gah..."

A chunk of dark red, seemingly mixed with molten lava, blood came gushing from his throat.

Hubert stared dumbfoundedly at the blood he spat out.

This time, the old mage was utterly dumbstruck.

The confusion in his eyes faded, gradually revealing a hint of fear.

"The ’Puppet Fire Series’... ’Puppet Fire Substitute,’ huh? Got it, thanks for the enlightenment."

Andrew spoke up, offering heartfelt gratitude.

Finally, he understood: the reason he felt "unable to aim accurately" and "hitting yet unable to kill" was because of this ’Puppet Fire Series’.

Hubert truly lived up to being a Grand Mage who once touched the level of a Magic Guide Sorcerer.

The "Molten Rock Armor" used by Cook before was also a spell from the ’Puppet Fire Series’, and its power was considerable. Otherwise, Sally might have been killed outright by Ivan’s strike, instead of lying unconscious now but at least still alive.

Nevertheless, Cook’s profound ’Puppet Fire Series’ skills, when compared to Hubert, appeared quite shallow.

There existed Fire Magic in this Flame Realm that offered three chances to escape death.

Andrew thought to himself, I want that too! Is there something similar in Water Magic?

Simultaneously, he felt a surge of relief: luckily, he maintained his composure, storing up his ultimate move until the moment he felt most confident, then unleashing it with full force. Otherwise, Hubert would likely never die, right?

Luckily now—

"Your ’Puppet Fire Substitute’ should have already been triggered." Andrew recalled feeling a "slippery" sensation from Hubert consecutively twice, "But your two chances to escape death should be all used up, in other words—"

Andrew didn’t finish the sentence.

But Hubert already understood, his eyes showing even more intense fear: "In other words, you’ve killed me three times in total? Used up my two chances to escape death, then killed once more?"

"...Uh, it seems that way."

Andrew finally withdrew his finger, scratching his head.

The Puppet Fire Substitute provided three chances to escape death.

Hubert had used it once before, and before being hit by my Zero-Distance Water Cannon earlier, he still had two chances left.

My Zero-Distance Water Cannon first depleted Hubert’s remaining two chances to escape death.

Then it exploded with its final aftereffect, truly extinguishing the old mage’s entire life force.

Indeed, it killed Hubert a total of three times!

This was the true power of the "Zero-Distance Water Cannon" filled with Fire Extinguishing Value!

The Magic’s inherent power, coupled with the enhancement from the Fire Extinguishing Value, along with the natural restraint of the Water Element over the Fire Element, and Hubert already nearing the end of his life (the Puppet Fire Substitute couldn’t prevent natural death due to old age or death from illness)—

Hubert was temporarily still alive, but he was actually already dead.

"Alright, this seems to confirm there really shouldn’t be any further problems."

Andrew thought.

He felt it now, the massive—unprecedentedly massive amount of Fire Extinguishing Value—being realized from Hubert’s body!

Fire Extinguishing Value only appears after the destructive fire has been extinguished.

So that was the best evidence that Hubert’s life force had been cut off.

Even during the most intense part of the battle, Andrew never neglected to collect every bit of Fire Extinguishing Value that appeared.

However, he stayed cautious now, opting not to deal with the continuously emerging massive Fire Extinguishing Value just yet.

"Based on all the novels, animations, and films I’ve seen in my previous life, the villain often desperately tries to pull you down with them in some ’even if I die, I’ve got to take you with me’ sort of way at the end."

Andrew continued to watch Hubert, whose torso was almost gone, life force completely cut off, yet still maintaining a standing posture.

He saw Hubert extend his withered hand towards him, resembling a zombie or evil spirit with his current appearance.

"Andrew, you little brat... you damned kid..."

Hubert’s face was full of unwillingness, anger, resentment, as well as fear, terror, despair.

Finally, he felt the impending presence of death, a fate he had avoided for so many years!

His heart genuinely harbored thoughts of dragging Andrew down with him.

However, in reality, the old mage could no longer see anything.

The act of extending his hand broke the fragile balance of his shattered body.

Under the astonished gazes from all around that seemingly appeared out of nowhere—

Hubert, in front of Andrew, fell to the ground with a thud.

His body could no longer hold itself together without the main structure of his torso, and limbs and head scattered upon the impact with the ground.

Andrew looked down, gazing at Hubert’s head rolling beside his feet, at his face and vacant eyes meeting him, after it stopped rolling.

Finally... he thought, I’ve won.