Water Mage in the Flame Realm

The tip of his finger suddenly started bleeding.

"Hmm?" Andrew's expression slightly changed.

The bone of his left index finger, which was against the tip of the axe spear, was making a cracking sound as if it was about to shatter under the heavy pressure of the axe spear!

In terms of strength, Capella's power was absolutely the strongest one Andrew had encountered so far, without exception!

The female assassin's absolute strength was said to be stronger than Capella's, but that was due to her advantage at a higher tier.

At the moment of truly confronting the axe spear in front of him, Andrew had no doubt: "When that female assassin was at Tier Four, her strength was definitely not this strong! Or, if Capella is a War God Style character at Tier Nine like that female assassin, then her strength would definitely surpass that of the female assassin by a large margin!"

As for Raymond, Sally, and Fleur, the Flame Warriors he had previously fought with, there was no need to even mention them. Andrew even doubted whether these people and Capella were truly of the same profession, all being Flame Warriors? Because there was such a large gap in strength!

The force was so heavy that, to avoid his finger bones breaking, Andrew had to slightly retract his finger.

He backed up slightly to try and dissolve the force.

But the axe spear immediately encroached further, continuing to press in!

Its power was very strong, but its temperature was not as high as other Fire Element Professionals.

Instead, hidden deep within the "lock" was a peculiar force with a power of "marking."

This power followed the axe spear, passing through Andrew's fingers, then through his arm and shoulder... Taking advantage of the moment Andrew retreated, it drove straight in and finally exploded fiercely deep inside Andrew's body!

At this moment, Andrew's face was somewhat pale, but his eyes were resolute, showing determination and even madness.

This was his difference from Orleans: Orleans had desperately avoided being hit by the "marking" power, but Andrew deliberately showed a slight flaw, feigned weakness, and let the "marking" power rush in, so that he could personally experience and feel it!

After truly experiencing it, Andrew understood—

What the hell kind of "marking" power is this?

This is clearly one of the Eight Strange Fires... the "Fire of Extinguishing"!

With a pure black hue, it doesn't have a particularly scorching temperature.

Like a black hole, it seems capable of devouring everything around it, including flames.

The essence of that marking power was unexpectedly a bit of the Fire of Extinguishing, small in amount but extremely pure!

Andrew knew he couldn't be mistaken, because after defeating Humboldt and taking over his Magic Laboratory, Andrew, with Barbara's assistance, saw a wisp of the Fire of Extinguishing stored in the depths of the laboratory.

In this Flame Realm led by the Magic Guild, aside from the isolation zone, the only "legal" means of extinguishing fire involved having a reserve of the Fire of Extinguishing in each Grand Mage's Magic Laboratory, used for extinguishing fires in case of accidents.

No matter how he thought about it, Andrew never expected that the "marking" power was actually the Fire of Extinguishing!

For a moment, Andrew was filled with incredulity, unable to suppress it with the Water Spirit Technique.

Previously, when discussing the female assassin with Barbara, their conversation once again surfaced in his mind:

"Is it possible that the female assassin possesses one of the Eight Strange Fires? I really hate her, it's a physiological aversion. It seems like I have an instinctive distaste for all four strange fires of the Magic Guild."

"You have such a constitution? This... isn't impossible! The female assassin clearly shows no obvious signs of Dragon Transformation, yet possesses such abnormal speed and strength, maybe she really is... a Flame Warrior fused with one of the Eight Strange Fires?"

If memory serves, at that time Barbara introduced to Andrew a secret project within the Magic Guild attempting to let Flame Warriors obtain one of the Eight Strange Fires. Due to its excessive bloodthirstiness and high failure rate, the project was deemed not worth the cost and was eventually abandoned.

Back then, both he and Barbara agreed that the female assassin might not be a cultivator of the Dragon Transformation Combat Technique, but rather had successfully completed that secret project and fused with some Strange Fire, hence her abnormal strength.

"Then... is it possible for someone to possess two kinds of Strange Fires? While despising her, I also feel a faint sense of closeness," Andrew had asked at the time.

Barbara's response was that it was absolutely impossible.

It is an accepted rule that one person cannot possess two kinds of Strange Fires simultaneously.

Andrew didn't press the issue further.

Even now, deep down, Andrew harbored some suspicion about whether the female assassin possessed both a Magic Guild Strange Fire and a Warm Fire Commerce Association Strange Fire, which might explain his mixed feelings of loathing and faint closeness.

Of course, this was just a small inkling of doubt, which Andrew himself didn't care much about, keeping it tucked away at the back of his mind.

What he confirmed at present was that the secret project combining Flame Warriors and Strange Fires by the Magic Guild was real.

Otherwise, there would be no way to explain why Capella's power at its core would contain the power of the Fire of Extinguishing!

"Is this the reason Capella can defeat Orleans, another prodigy..."

Andrew muttered somewhat dazedly to himself, "Because she is not just an ordinary Tier Four prodigy. She is actually a Flame Warrior with the Fire of Extinguishing!"

In that instant, Andrew's mind was flooded with thoughts—

The female assassin showed no obvious Dragon Transformation signs, possibly never cultivating the Dragon Transformation Combat Technique, with her abnormal strength only due to possibly fusing with a Strange Fire.

But this Saintess, Capella, based on the existing intelligence, is absolutely a practitioner of the Dragon Transformation Combat Technique.

Dragon Transformation Combat Technique, plus the Fire of Extinguishing—doesn't this mean Capella's potential and limits might even be higher than that of the female assassin?

And if Capella possessing the Fire of Extinguishing is indeed related to that secret project of combining Flame Warriors with the Eight Strange Fires, does this mean some groundbreaking progress was made, causing the Magic Guild to revive the project?

Thinking further, the previous collective mutiny of the Flame Warriors, somehow suppressed and appeased by the Magic Guild, might also be connected to this?

In an instant, Andrew thought of many things.

The most crucial point is: why is the attribute of the Fire of Extinguishing "marking"?

Previously, Andrew had fought with Pete, the possessor of the "Shadow Erosion Fire."

While exploring the Underground Space's "Lake of the Ocean," Ivan triggered the "Earth Fire Curse" within the Desert Hunter, and during the process of helping Ivan lift the curse, Andrew witnessed the "Molten Rock Fire."

Including the current "Fire of Extinguishing," Andrew had already seen three of the four Magic Guild's Strange Fires.

But compared to Shadow Erosion Fire and Molten Rock Fire, the Fire of Extinguishing at present seemingly had a fundamentally different nature.

It... even gave the impression of not being a fire at all!

"So-called 'marking' is often to lay a foundation for a forthcoming action, much like when I used 'Tear Stain' to mark the Desert Speaker Rose, it was to ensure I could kill him in battle, denying him the chance to cowardly hide in the desert again."

Andrew's mind raced, a faint feeling of horror lurking within, "The 'marking power' of this 'Fire of Extinguishing,' what also serves as the goal for subsequent actions?"