Without hesitation, Bayou expended 50 mana to cast a curse upon the remaining five dwarfs.

The first tier curse magic had but one effect, corporeal affliction, akin to a debilitating weakness.

Fatal only if the target was already near death.

The five dwarves staggered, coughing blood, their faces paling just as Bayu prepared to finish them.

A gust of wind howled behind her.

"Clang!" she whirled, blocking the spiked mace with her side, skidding back several steps across the ice.

Retreat.

Leave this outsider to me.

The dwarf leader barked.

The remaining five scrambled toward their lizards, desperate to flee.

Woo woo.

A hauntingly beautiful flute melody drifted through the air.

Instead of fleeing, the lizards inexplicably turned, charging straight toward Bayou.

The dwarves leapt from their mounts, scrambling to escape.

Bayou materialized behind one, her side slicing effortlessly through his armor.

A spear of dark magic impaled another while the ice surged up to encase a third.

The last two dwarves froze as Bayou appeared before them, weapons trembling in their hands, nowhere left to run.

As the two dwarves advanced, their leader followed closely behind.

Charging towards Bayou, Bayou met them headon, merely brushing her small hand against the two dwarves, igniting them in despair before encasing them in ice.

These nine dwarves possess strength ranging from level one to level three, categorized as novice leaders, while Bayu had already reached level six, making their defeat astonishingly effortless.

Below the clashing sounds of weapons echoed continuously and Xiaoi and Shua riding a griffin in the sky wore a bewildered expression.

Witnessing Bayou unleash her full power for the first time was utterly astounding.

Xiao and Shua stowed her flute and silently prayed for Bayou.

Recognizing the formidable strength of the final dwarf wielding a spike club.

Chapter 146.

Pseudo domain.

Half-step King leveled the dwarven leader, gazed upon the lifeless bodies of nine fallen dwarves, his heart swelling with rage, yet rendered helpless.

For he could not possibly obstruct Byou, utilizing his teleportation skill, Bayou relentlessly tugged at him.

However, in order to swiftly eliminate these dwarves, he had resorted to an array of spells, depleting his mana to half its capacity.

Just as Bayou contemplated deactivating his pseudo domain to conserve mana given its continuous consumption, he observed the dwarven leader s armor radiating a cerulean luminescence while electric arcs began to emanate from the wolf tooth club.

He wielded an electric field saturated with lightning elements enveloped the surroundings sending tingles throughout by us body a domain no a pseudo domain.

As the dwarven leader swung his club, the electric surges intensified, his armor crackling with energy, Bayou met the oncoming strike with his blade.

Feeling the numbing jolt course through his arms, nearly dislodging his weapon, he staggered backward, unwilling to endure another direct confrontation with the dwarven leader.

The electric elements were undispelled.

With each engagement, the accumulation of electrical energy within him grew, threatening to render him completely in sensate.

Bayou began to leap and dodge, evading the leader s attacks.

Aware that sustaining the domain was exceedingly mana draining and would not last long.

It was a contest of whose mana would be depleted first.

Unexpectedly, the dwarven leader, empowered by his domain, commenced ranged assaults with bolts of lightning, prompting by you to retaliate with ice pillars erupting from the ground, neutralizing the electric strikes.

Bolstered by the domain, the leader s speed surged, nearly matching by s usual swiftness.

Yet by s ability to teleport kept him ahead.

Alien, the dwarven leader bellowed in fury.

Bayou, ever the epitome of politeness, responded with a casual remark as they continued their relentless chase.

As the two persisted, Bayou sensed a decline in the electric elements in the air, surmising that the dwarven leader s magical energy was nearing exhaustion.

Suddenly halting, Bayou countered with a scythelike strike, black flames colliding with blue lightning, forcing them both to retreat a step.

Bayu noted that the tingling sensation in his arm had lessened considerably.

Nevertheless, he was not merely toying with his opponent.

Every encounter was born of necessity.

His entire being was still tinged with numbness to the extent that pinching his thigh yielded no sensation.

As fate would have it, the dwarf he had previously encased in eyes rather than slaying outright perished moments ago.

Bayou gained 120 experience points and having nearly maxed his experience from his earlier skirmish with the soldiers of the Gata Empire, the demise of these dwarf leaders was fortuitously sufficient.

With only this 120 points remaining, he leveled up, witnessing a comprehensive enhancement of his attributes.

However, leveling up did not restore his condition or eliminate adverse effects.

Despite the lingering effects of the paralysis from the lightning, Bayou felt no discomfort.

His instinctive reactions remained intact, and the electrical incapacitation did not diminish his combat prowess.

The dwarf chieftain harbored a delusion.

He suddenly sensed that this foreign woman before him had grown slightly stronger in strength and quicker in reflexes.

Why did her cheeks flush crimson as they clashed? The chieftain couldn't fathom it, for he felt no attraction to human women, preferring instead the sturdy bearded damsels of his own kin.

To him, human females seemed far too frail.

I should thank you for the paralysis.

Bayou sneered inwardly, swinging her sythe with force to repel the chieftain.

Countless ice pillars rained down upon him, only to be shattered by his spiked mace.

Something felled off.

This is definitely his paralysis effect.

No mistake.

She had tried poisoning him earlier.

Useless.

First tier curse magic proved ineffective against foes of higher rank.

and her intermediate frost spells barely phased him.

Now her only remaining weapon was dark magic.

Yet without the ability to manifest a domain, it was a frustrating limitation.

At that moment, the dwarf chieftain s lightning domain flickered on the verge of collapse.

Seizing the opportunity, he withdrew it entirely, channeling every ounce of electricity into his mace.

The blue arcs crackling along its surface deepened into violet, surging thicker and more violent than before.

Though the absorption seemed slow, it happened in an instant.

Bayu wasn't foolish enough to stand and take the blow, she relied on her agility to evade.

Then, without warning, the chieftain drew a flint lock and fired.

Damn it, a cheap shot.

Even if firearms were weak against armored opponents by us flesh and blood body, couldn't he afford to ignore the threat? She teleported aside, narrowly dodging a bullet.

But the Chieftain s veins bulged as he stomped, shattering the ice beneath him.

In a flash, he lunged, his mace wreathed in violet thunder, aimed straight for her face.

Bayou had barely landed from her teleport when he was upon her.

No time to blink, let alone evade again.

Desperate, she raised her sythe to block.

Crack! The impact sent her weapon flying.

At the last possible moment, she conjured a dark barrier around herself, though it shielded her from direct harm.

The sheer force hurled her backward like a ragd doll.

Above, Xiaolinua gasped, watching Bayou take the full brunt of the strike.

Panicked, she urged her griffin into a dive, intent on rescuing her.

Please don't let her be hurt, Bayou crashed onto the ice, fracturing its surface upon impact.

The dark barrier spared her external wounds, but agony seared through her body.

Her insides churned, her throat filled with a metallic tang of blood, and her arms lay numb from the violet lightning as paralysis.

Gritting her teeth, she twisted weakly.

The battlefield around her was scorched by lightning, save for the small, untouched circle where she lay.

The dwarf chieftain, however, had no intention of granting her respit.

Victory was within his grasp, and hesitation was a luxury he wouldn't allow.

Seizing the opportunity once again, a powerful strike was aimed at Bayou.

This time, Bayou deafly teleported away, positioning herself next to the fallen scythe.

Grasping the weapon, she felt her attributes doubling as the sensation of paralysis began to dissipate.

In the sky, Xiao Yianua let out a sigh of relief.