This was also something Ternas had casually made.
Even he had never expected it to come in handy here.
This magical artifact was not particularly powerful.
Its functions were neither numerous nor complicated.
It could only use the magical runes engraved on it, together with the magic crystal inside the artifact, to cast a few very weak spells.
However, when this artifact appeared in the hands of two wizards who were locked in a stalemate, things became different.
There were many factors involved when a wizard cast a spell.
The most important was the coordination between the wizard’s own mental strength and magical power, followed by successfully casting the spell through a wand and incantation.
In other words, all four of these conditions were extremely important.
Of course, some highly skilled wizards with powerful mental strength could reduce certain requirements through their proficient spellcasting techniques.
For example, the wand and incantation could be eliminated, resulting in what people commonly called wandless magic and nonverbal magic.
However, there were two key factors that absolutely could not be avoided: the coordination of mental strength and magical power.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, a wizard could only cast one spell at a time.
But now, the magical artifact in Ternas’s hand had changed that.
This magical artifact replaced one of the key elements of spellcasting, magical power, with a magic crystal.
As for mental strength, it was replaced by the magical runes engraved on the artifact.
The incantation and wand were likewise replaced.
Once all these factors had been fulfilled, a magical artifact capable of casting spells without relying on the wizard himself could be created.
Of course, a magical artifact with such powerful functions was naturally not something Ternas could truly create.
The one in his hands was merely a heavily simplified version of an already simplified magical artifact.
The miraculous artifact described above was still a long way from becoming a reality.
Even so, this simplified magical artifact was still capable of casting some extremely simple spells.
For example, Fireball.
Of course, that was the only spell it could cast.
The magical runes for Fireball happened to be recorded in the Basic Notes on Elemental Magic, which was what allowed Ternas to create this artifact.
Otherwise, he would never have been able to complete it.
But now, this magical artifact was capable of changing the course of the battle.
Ternas gently pressed his hand against the magical artifact.
At the front of the artifact, a horn-like tip suddenly condensed a fireball roughly the size of an adult’s fist.
The power of this fireball was only equivalent to that of a magical projectile.
But under these circumstances, at this particular moment, it was the final straw that could break the stalemate.
Once the fireball condensed, it flew forward in the direction the magical artifact was pointing.
This was another major drawback.
Although the magical artifact did not require mental coordination, it had also lost the flexibility of ordinary magic.
Even spells cast by wizards could not guarantee a hundred percent hit rate.
Mental strength could only provide a very slight degree of guidance.
Still, it could increase the accuracy of a spell to a certain extent.
This magical artifact, however, could only move in a straight line along the direction in which it was pointed.
It would continue forward until the magical power within it was exhausted and the spell dissipated, or until it struck another object, at which point the magical power would erupt directly.
At this moment, this tiny fireball had become the key factor capable of changing the battle.
Perhaps under normal circumstances, the damage caused by a single fireball would not be enough to have much of an effect on an adult wizard.
After all, generally speaking, people who possessed wizarding talent should, upon reaching adulthood, be capable of attaining at least the realm of an Intermediate Mage, while those with better talent could even reach the strength of an Advanced Mage.
At such a level, a tiny fireball would have limited effect on them, even if they did not use magic to defend themselves.
Generally speaking, the damage caused by magic could be divided into two parts.
One part came from the additional damage caused after the magic took shape.
This could be something visible, such as the cutting effect of wind-element magic, the paralysis and destructive power of lightning-element magic, or the burning and explosive effects of fire-element magic.
There were also effects that could not be seen, such as curses weakening a person’s mind and body, or the corrosion and invasion caused by Dark Magic.
The other part came from the magical elements invading the body after the spell erupted.
This was similar to invisible damage, continuously consuming the magical energy within the target’s body.
It could both reduce the target’s magical reserves and cause further physical harm.
As for this small fireball, to be honest, it did not contain much magical energy, and the damage it could cause after taking shape was not particularly great either.
But that was under normal circumstances, when there were no other external factors interfering.
Were the Doreke brothers in such a situation now?
No.
On the contrary, Doreke was currently engaged in a magical stalemate with Ternas.
Under these circumstances, it was easy to imagine what was happening inside his body.
His magical energy was being rapidly consumed every moment.
And it had to be remembered that the spell Doreke was currently casting was the Killing Curse, the most powerful and most evil of the three Unforgivable Curses.
The reason it was called an Unforgivable Curse was not merely because of its power.
It was also the most infamous form of Dark Magic.
The reason it was considered Dark Magic was naturally because casting it required not only a tremendous amount of magical power, but also an extremely high level of mental concentration.
If one failed to meet the requirements, then, as one of the most notorious forms of Dark Magic, its danger was precisely the possibility of severe magical backlash.
And now, the threat posed by this tiny fireball had left Doreke at a loss.
Should he endure the damage from the fireball and take a gamble, hoping his luck would hold and that the impact would not interfere with the continued output of his Killing Curse?
Or should he stop here, terminate the Killing Curse, and look for another opportunity to regain the advantage later?
The two choices were obvious.
In the end, Doreke still lost his nerve.
The backlash from the Killing Curse, the foremost of the Dark Arts, was no joke.
If something went wrong, he could lose his life.