"Is this really necessary? Lifting an entire manor just to track me down? Seems a bit over the top," Alex muttered, watching the unbelievable sight unfold.
Before long, the entire mansion hovered more than a hundred meters above the ground, resembling a rundown city floating in the sky.
From above, horned basilisk glared down at Alex with bloodshot eyes, clearly exhausted and unhinged from a previous mental attack.
He looked like a man on the edge of madness.
Alex couldn't help but smile wryly at the other's desperation.
Destroying his own home just to hunt him down?
This wasn't a game anymore, it was a serious showdown.
Realizing tricks wouldn't work, Alex decided it was time to face the enemy directly.
He quickly unfurled his flying cloak and soared into the sky to confront horned basilisk.
As they faced off, Alex's mind raced.
After their earlier encounters, horned basilisk probably wouldn't use the clone technique again.
But what was this magic shield surrounding him?
It seemed to completely nullify any magical damage and its aftereffects.
Figuring out its nature was crucial.
The constant barrage of rune tricks was making Alex's head spin, so he pulled out a vial of Felix Felicis and drank it, calming his nerves and sharpening his focus.
Meanwhile, horned basilisk studied Alex coldly, mocking him but no longer underestimating his opponent.
'This kid knows a spell that can boost speed to the extreme.'
'Even though my body reacts faster and I'm stronger than Pete, I might not be able to keep up with his speed.'
Both were preparing for a battle where wit and power would clash head-on.
'If you try to use gravity directly against him, not only will you waste your magic power for nothing, but you might also scare him off! Plus, the alchemy snake the kid holds seems to be able to absorb magic power straight away. So, using a clone to fight him could just drain my magic pointlessly.'
Seeing this, Horned Basilisk lifted his head and cast a cold glance at the rundown house he was holding up.
"He's forced me into this, so I don't mind breaking this place. It's just some Muggle stuff that doesn't really matter, as long as my vault stays safe."
The reason Horned Basilisk lifted the house so roughly was his anger toward Alex.
He wanted to catch him quickly before Alex could try to steal or wreck his treasure.
"Scatter for me!" Horned Basilisk snarled at Alex, then pointed his wand upward.
Soon, a crashing sound echoed from above.
Looking up, Alex saw cracks spreading all over the rocky mansion held by Horned Basilisk, as if it might collapse at any moment.
"Not good!" Alex gasped, realizing, "Is he planning to use the house above him as a weapon?"
Without hesitation, Alex shouted, "Voltbrand, Fulmen Tempestas!" and charged at Horned Basilisk, slashing his sword rapidly.
The air was sliced by countless streaks of magic sword light, swirling together into a fierce silver storm that roared with power.
What surprised Alex most was Horned Basilisk's reaction.
Instead of dodging like last time or fighting back, Horned Basilisk simply stopped midair and used his body along with a magic shield to block the attack.
Almost a hundred thundris tempest Sword energies hit the shield like a perfectly organized traffic flow.
The force of the sword energy exploded into a violent roar on impact, while the thundris tempest spread out in a grid around the shield, causing continuous destructive damage.
If this had been an ordinary wizard, a single strike would have shattered the 'Protego.'
But when thunder was involved, the risk was huge, even a powerful attacker could be wiped out in one hit, and there were countless factors behind such an attack.
Yet, something shocking happened.
The magical shield covering horned basilisk looked like a calm pool of water, with every slash and electric shock sending violent ripples across its surface.
No matter how intense the reactions were, the sword's energy couldn't break through the shield, nor could it even move horned basilisk an inch.
"FiendFire Ardor!" Alex shouted, realizing that his [Fulmen Tempestas] attack was useless.
He wondered if the shield could also counter his [Thundris Tempest], so he quickly switched to the blue Fierce Flame.
Moments later, a massive aura of blue Fiendfyre appeared, forming a giant dragon that roared as it crashed down on horned basilisk.
Still, horned basilisk didn't flinch, it remained perfectly still, letting the Fiendfyre engulf it and turn it into a blazing fireball.
But after a while, the Fiendfyre, which barely burned the shield, gradually died down.
The protective barrier rippled in arcs and rotated steadily counterclockwise.
As it spun, the fire shrank smaller and smaller until it vanished completely.
"What on earth is this?"
Alex stared at the magic shield in disbelief.
This was beyond anything he'd ever seen.
What kind of shield could be this strong?
To put it in perspective, Alex had already used up nearly two full tubes of his magic power, around 800 lumen points.
Thanks to
His strong will, his body hardened by thundris tempest, and the powerful weapon [Destroy] amplifying his magic, his attack was insanely powerful.
Normally, an ordinary wizard would need over 2,000 lumen points to cause the same damage.
With that much magic, the regular Protego would have been destroyed a hundred times over, but this shield wasn't just strong, it was defying all logic and common sense.
It was completely unnatural.
Even the magical world's knowledge couldn't explain what was happening.
Alex's mind raced as he tried to find a weakness in horned basilisk's shield.
From what he could tell, his attacks weren't breaking through the defense at all; in fact, facing horned basilisk felt almost impossible to win against.
Thanks to the Felix Felicis potion coursing through his veins, Alex's thoughts were sharp and fast, sparks of ideas colliding as he searched for a breakthrough.
"There are two main things that affect magical strength: the amount of magic power you have, and your emotions and willpower," he muttered to himself.
"Horned Basilisk is pretty worked up emotionally right now, so maybe that affects the shield a bit, but it can't be that big of a factor."
"As for willpower..."
Alex thought back to what he'd observed in Pete and Snidget over time.
"His willpower isn't strong at all, not compared to me, or even Nathan and Bob.
Those guys actually dare to fight, but this guy?
He's scared to death and calling him determined would be a joke."