Advent of the Archmage - Chapter 225

Chapter 225: A Precarious Situation

Plop, Plop.

The three half-dead ghouls were dragged into the middle of the open space by the scouts.

It was undeniable that the vitality of these ghouls was simply rule-breaking. One of them suffered an arrow through the eye and judging from the severity of the injury; his brain must have been damaged. The other two had their heart completely squashed, and all three of them had Sacred Silver running through their blood. Despite these grave injuries that could kill an ordinary human a hundred times over, they were still breathing and very much alive!

Link came out from his hiding place but still kept his distance from the ghouls. He stood beside a tree around 60 feet away.

Annie walked towards him and whispered while staring at him expectantly, “My lord, what should we do with the three of them?”

As she had mentioned, Your Highness did not exist in the Dark Forest; there were only scouts from MI3. Since Link was now the captain, she had to address him as lord.

If this happened in the past, Link would have felt uncomfortable. However, he was now a true lord of a territory and had many followers behind him. He was already accustomed to the hierarchical system in the World of Firuman

He said, “We have no need for the three of them. Burn them with fire.”

No matter how strong their life force was, burning them to a crisp was bound to work.

The scouts then collected dried branches and piled them up before throwing the three ghouls into the middle. Link then threw a fireball which ignited the flammable dried branches, starting the fire.

Under the intense heat of the flames, the three ghouls instinctively struggled and tried to escape. However, the moment they got out from the range of the fire, the scouts would use wooden sticks to push them back into the inferno. After ten whole minutes when the scouts could already smell the aroma of barbecued meat, the ghouls finally stopped struggling and fell dead.

This kind of life force had totally broken the power balance in the World of Firuman. Only the strength of a Divine Gear could accomplish this.

After dealing with these three ghouls, a scout came to report, “My lord, there is another ghoul lying over there. He is not moving.”

Link naturally did not forget that guy. After all, he personally destroyed his will to fight.

“Let’s go take a look.”

The scouts surrounded Link to protect him and headed towards the ghoul who appeared to have no visible injuries.

Link stopped when they were still 60 feet away from the ghoul. The scouts also became more vigilant and were prepared to guard against a sneak attack from the motionless ghoul.

Annie was slightly worried and asked, “Should we shoot a few arrows to cripple him before doing anything else?”

“There is no need to,” Link shook his head before telling another scout. “Please retreat in case he attacks.”

Link then headed forward himself.

Annie immediately dissuaded, “Link…Sir Mirose, please be careful.”

This was different from the sneak attack before. Link would have no distance advantage walking towards the ghoul like this. Even if it were to engage in a direct battle, the ghoul at his full speed could very likely give Link a mortal injury.

The scouts were also anxiously looking at the Link, afraid that something would happen to him. If he were to die, the six of them would not be able to deal with this ghoul.

Link motioned for everyone to stay calm as he continued forward. The distance between them continued to shorten, 45 feet, 40 feet, 35 feet; Link seemed to have no intention of stopping.

Darco originally had harbored no hope of surviving. However, the Magician had actually revealed himself. Furthermore, he had actually cast no defensive spells over himself. This was a god-sent opportunity!

The will to fight once again burned in his heart, “I might not have been your opponent while you were hiding in the shadows. However, now that you have appeared without any protection, I can always fight you now!”

He tightened his muscles and started accumulating his energy. The moment his opponent was 30 feet away, he would unleash all his energy and smash his head in a single strike! In his eyes, the Magician seemed to be defenseless while brazenly moving forward—33 feet, 30 feet. Now or never!

Roar! Darco opened his mouth and bellowed before hurling himself towards Link.

“Arrogant Magician, Die! Uh…Uh…What is this…What the hell…My stomach…”

After traveling only half the intended distance, Darco suddenly grabbed his throat in pain. A silver ball seemed to have entered his mouth while he screamed his war cry, swirling down into his stomach.

Following which, an unbearable pain could be felt in his abdomen. This was an extreme form of pain, as though countless knives were slashing their way through his body. He could not help but grab his stomach in suffering.

“No! No! I am a Warrior of the Lady of Darkness! I will not be defeated by this pain! I’m going to kill you!” Darco held his abdomen as he walked towards Link in small steps.

He felt as though something had contaminated his blood and his power was drained by this mysterious substance. He was getting weaker every step he took. The moment he took his fifth step, he could not hold on anymore and fell on his knees with a thud. The Magician now stood six feet away from him, unmoving. He could reach the opponent with just another step. Clearly, he needed to just hold on for a while more to defeat his opponent! But alas he failed!

This six-foot distance seemed like an insurmountable chasm at that moment!

Looking at the faint smile on the Magician’s face, a deep sense of frustration and despair overwhelmed Darco. “All my actions were within his calculations. I simply cannot defeat him.”

From the start, he had been suppressed by this Magician. This Magician did not use any fancy techniques. In fact, all he used were ordinary techniques known to most Magicians.

Darco’s confidence was completely shattered.

In order to keep his trump card a secret, Link did not bring out the Burning Wrath of the Heavens Wand. Instead, he took out an ordinary silver wand and activated the Magician’s Hand with a slight movement of his wand. The ghoul was then lifted by his chin into the air.

“Can you understand the common tongue?” Link asked.

The ghoul’s eyes could be seen to avert Link’s gaze. He seemed to be avoiding the question, suggesting that he could understand Link perfectly well.

“What is your name?” Link asked.

There was still no answer.

Link’s wand glowed faintly which caused the little silver ball that the ghoul swallowed to wreak havoc once again.

Darco held his stomach in pain and bent his waist. He rested his head on the ground as though he was begging for mercy and said, “I’ll speak, I’ll speak! I am Darco!”

“Our camp was attacked by the likes of you. We have an extremely strong Warrior called the Dawn Swordsman. You should be familiar with this name?”

This was the reason why Link left this ghoul alive. He needed someone who could give them a lead. From his observations, this ghoul was slightly more intelligent and would thus be easier to reason with.

Darco shook his head, “I’ll not say.”

This sentence had, in fact, revealed additional information. By saying that he refused to reveal any information, it meant that he knew the details regarding Kanorse.

All that’s left was to extract the information from him.

Link turned to look at Annie, “Your Highness, does MI3 have any tools to make him speak?”

Annie winked as she already knew Link’s plans. She then smiled, “I am not very good at such things. But we have loads of these people in MI3; what do you say, Larson?”

A scout walked out, chuckling while playing with the dagger in his hands, “My lord, we would usually cut off the meat from the target’s body piece by piece while making sure that they remain conscious. Of course, if we were dealing with ghouls, we would first enchant the dagger with Sacred Silver. I assume he would have the time of his life.”

Darco swallowed a mouthful of saliva upon hearing those words. He had experienced first-hand the darned power of this silver metal. He could still feel the burning sensation in the abdomen. If that material was used to cut off his flesh…He did not even want to think about it.

Link shook his head and said, “I’m afraid that won’t do. These ghouls have such a strong life force. If we cut them off piece by piece, how long will it take?”

The moment his voice fell, another scout jumped forward and said, “My lord, we have six people over here. If we work together, I’m sure we can cut off all the meat within five minutes. Furthermore, we can experiment if a ghoul can still live after losing all his flesh.”

Beads of perspiration appeared on Darco’s forehead.

Link then made an expression which suggested that he was considering the feasibility of this method. In this period, the perspiration on Darco’s forehead became even more prominent as the stress he was feeling increased exponentially. He feared that the next moment Link spoke, he would be sentenced to this cruel and terrible punishment.

Darco did not dare to take any risks. His psychological defensive barrier had been completely breached and shouted, “I surrender! I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

Link exchanged glances with the scouts. What a perfect cooperation that scared the wits out of this pathetic ghoul.

“Alright. Is the Dawn Swordsman still alive?”

“Yes, he is. However, he is gravely injured and has been brought to the Skeletal Fort.”

“Skeletal Fort?”

Link was familiar with the Skeletal Fort. In the game, the Skeletal Fort was a huge story mission that contained many powerful enemies. The strongest boss in the fort was none other than the wielder of the Divine Gear, the Dark Serpent.

Although the wielder was unable to fully utilize the power of the Divine gear, the fact that the Divine gear was in her hands was enough to make her a world boss.

Link had totally no confidence in defeating her in a direct battle. In fact, Link would be lucky enough to escape alive if he ever faced that person in a battle.

Link then asked in a fearful voice, “What are you going to do to him?”

“Our boss seems to admire him, saying that he is the strongest Warrior on the continent. He has earned the right to receive the blessings of the Lady of Darkness.”

Upon hearing those words, the scouts exchanged glances. They did not know the existence of the Divine Gear and merely felt enraged at those words. However, what Link felt was a chill down his spine.

Ordinary Dark Elf Warriors could already become Level-6 ghouls under the effect of the Divine Gear. If the Dawn Swordsman were to be demonized—what strength would he attain?

Who else could defeat him?

Even Link would not have the confidence of defending against him. It would definitely be a nightmare. The situation was going completely out of control. However, he knew that he had no choice but to do everything in his power to stop it from happening.

He immediately asked, “Where is the Skeletal Fort?”

“No, I cannot say any more. The boss will kill me and enslave my soul…I cannot do this…Just kill me! Kill me now! Ah! Lady of Darkness, I did not intentionally betray you! They forced me to!”

As Darco continued speaking, he became more incoherent in his speech. His expression was dazed, and his tone was showing a hint of madness. He was really going insane.

The scouts from MI3 all had experience in these situations. Upon seeing the ghoul in this state, Larson immediately walked up to Link and said, “My lord, he has been broken. There is no point in doing this any further.”

Link had noticed as well. He then ignited the Sacred Silver within Darco’s body, and thin silver light rays pierced him from the inside out.

Darco then fell to the ground, motionless.

“Burn him, and we will move forward to the Skeletal Fort.”

After which, Link began collecting the Sacred Silver crossbows and fixed them once again to prepare for the next battle. The scouts then started collecting firewood to burn the ghoul.

Quickly, everything was settled, and the scouts were ready to move out.

Link stared at the scouts and said in a low voice, “I have no idea where the fort is, and I cannot guarantee that this mission will be a success. We will run into many enemies along the way. Everyone, are you sure you want to follow me on this dangerous mission?”

“For the Norton Kingdom!” The scouts replied in unison. Their eyes shone with a bladed resolve.

“Alright then, let’s go!”

Chapter 226: A Truly Extraordinary Man

It was late in the afternoon, about four o’clock, and the sky had begun to turn dark. Because of the dense foliage, the Black Forest was now already as dark as the middle of the night. The bushes on the ground rustled, and four pairs of eyes that glowed dimly in red appeared on a clearing in the forest. On the ground, there was a pile of ashes, and among the ashes were four corpses burnt toa crisp.

The biting, cold wind whistled through the trees.

“These were our soldiers,” said one of them.

“The damned MI3 wouldn’t have this kind of strength,” said the other. “Who killed them.”

“They made no attempts to hide their trails at all,” said another one. “Look, here’s their footprints. We should catch up to them and find out who they are. Sino, Finville, both of you come with me. We’ll hunt them down. Alan, go back to the Skeletal Fort and report this to the great leader!”

“Yes, sir!”

The figures split into two directions. One of them rushed into the depths of the Black Forest, while the other followed the visible trails into another direction. About three minutes later, when the dark shadowy figures completely disappeared, a voice emerged in the darkness.

“They really fell for it, Lord Mirose!” said the voice in a hushed tone, suppressing obvious joy.

Soon afterwards, several figures emerged from behind a bush. It was Link and the rest of the search party. They didn’t hurry to leave the spot after killing off the first group of ghouls. The waited nearby instead to ambush the second group of ghouls.

As for the footprints that the ghouls found, it was actually Link who’d left them there and wanted the ghouls to find them. This was a similar technique the Dark Elf Magician Lawndale Markins had used on him previously. Link and the scouts had circled a large area of the Black Forest and then came back to the original spot. That meant that the ghouls who had gone following their trails would eventually come back to this spot.

As for the ghoul who went back to Skeletal Fort, he would lead the way for Link and the scouts back to the Dark Elf’s main lair.

Link looked in the direction of the lone ghoul and smiled.

“Well,” he said, “now we’ve found ourselves a reliable guide.”

His plan was a huge gamble which depended heavily on luck. If the ghouls hadn’t decided to take these actions, then it would all go to waste. But fortunately, these ghouls weren’t that smart, so everything went just as Link had planned.

As he spoke, Link cast the spell Cheetah’s Agility on everyone.

“Let’s go!” he said. “I hope our luck is good enough that we’ll encounter the prisoner’s cart that carries the Dawn Swordsman on our way.”

And so, a group of people began to move as quickly as the wind in the forest. Soon, seven people disappeared into the depths of the Black Forest.

…

When Link and the others in the search party were following the ghoul into the dark bowels of the Black Forest, some of the scouts had been ordered by Link to bring back the captured ghouls to Icy Peak Fortress.

“Open the gates!” the scout yelled outside the fortress wall. “We’ve brought back captured ghouls!”

Ghouls? And captured too?

The guards on the walls were naturally frightened. The news they’d received so far about the ghouls were of how scary and invincible they were. What they’d seen were the Warriors and scouts getting pursued and killed by the ghouls and never the other way around. How was it possible for anyone to ever beat such fearsome creatures? And they’d managed to capture one alive as well?

This couldn’t be…a trap, could it?

The captain of the guards stood at the arrowslit and craned his neck to peer down and look out at the people outside the gates. He saw about a dozen scouts whose attire convinced him that they were indeed members of MI3. There were even one or two faces among them that he found familiar, whom he’d seen only hours earlier as they left the fortress with the search party for the Dawn Swordsman.

They couldn’t be spies working for the Dark Elves.

“Where are the ghouls?” he asked. “Let me take a closer look!” There was still a possibility that these scouts were under the ghouls’ control.

The scouts then raised up the ghouls who’d been tied up like slaves so the captain could see them more clearly.

The captain of the guards leaned over and looked down. Some soldiers were curious too, so they leaned down and tried to catch a glimpse as well.

In truth, a ghoul didn’t look much different from an ordinary Dark Elf, anyway. The only obvious distinguishing feature of a ghoul was the hands. An ordinary Dark Elf’s hands looked similar to that of a normal human being’s, but a ghoul’s hands were full of claws instead of nails.

The captain still looked doubtful, so the scouts raised the ghoul’s hands to make it easier for him to discern them.

After several hours of recovery, these ghouls had regained some vigor and were now struggling to free themselves and were even growling in their deep voices.

“Do you see it now?” asked a scout. “This one had his heart ripped out and completely defeated by the Magician, but these bastards still live on and just refuse to die.”

The guards’ captain had seen everything plainly with his own eyes now, and while he gasped in astonishment, all the doubts in his mind vanished. He ordered the suspension bridge to be laid down.

“Report this to the generals at once,” he whispered to one of the soldiers around him. “Tell them the scouts have captured some ghouls.”

No matter what had been going on lately, this was still great news for the Norton Kingdom’s army.

When the suspension bridge was laid down, and the scouts brought in the three ghouls into the fortress, a large crowd of soldiers began to flock to them. They’d heard news of the ghouls all day every day, but only a few of them had ever seen what a real one looked like. Now that there was a chance, they must find a way to catch a glimpse of them.

Even the captain of the guards came to them. He didn’t care much for the ghouls now. They looked just like normal Dark Elves except with claws on their hands anyway. Instead, there was something more important that he must find out from the scouts.

“Didn’t you go out to search for the Dawn Swordsman?” he asked one of the scouts that he pulled aside. “Why are you here, then? Where’s the princess? Why isn’t she here?”

In these circumstances, it seemed that the likeliest scenario was that the search party encountered the ghouls on their way and managed to defeat them. But at the same time, there must’ve been some fallen scouts who were killed in the process. The fact that the princess wasn’t here could only mean that she died in battle!

The princess was the Iron Duke’s only daughter. If she died in battle, then that would surely create a huge problem.

The scout shook his head.

“The princess is fine,” he said. “She’s gone to save Lord Karnose with Lord Mirose.”

“Lord Mirose?” asked a soldier there. “Who’s that?”

“A Magician!” answered another scout who’d overheard the question. His tone was full of awe and respect. “He’s an extremely powerful Magician!”

“Make way!” shouted a soldier. “Make way for the Grand Duke!”

As soon as they heard the words, the soldiers stepped aside immediately, making a path for the duke.

In fact, the duke hadn’t arrived on his own. The generals, officers, Battle Mages and even the magistrates had followed him along.

For the soldiers, ghouls were merely frightening creatures in the darkness of the forest. They were merely curious to see what these ghouls looked like and that was all. But for those in the upper ranks of the army, these captured ghouls represented an extremely significant sentiment!

Duke Abel pushed his way through the crowd and finally saw the ghouls. He then searched through the group of scouts with his eyes, desperately trying to find his daughter.

But there was no sign of the princess among the scouts. This discovery hit him like a ton of bricks, and he sank into a dark pit of despair immediately. Was his daughter, who was often rebellious and impossibly stubborn, yet ultimately his affectionate little sweetheart, really gone forever?

For a moment, Duke Abel’s eyes turned prickly hot. He found that it was difficult for him to breathe and it felt as if he were about to faint. If his adjutant hadn’t quickly held him, he would have collapsed in the middle of the crowd.

After about ten seconds, the duke was finally able to calm his emotions enough to address the scouts.

“You’ve done an excellent job,” he praised the scouts with a hoarse voice. “Now go get some rest.”

He had no desire to ask them for any details of the battle. It was too soon for him to hear of the brutal way his daughter must’ve died, and he had no intention to shed tears in front of these soldiers.

Fortunately, the scouts fully understood what the commander must’ve felt. One of them quickly stepped up to inform the Duke of what had truly happened.

“My lord,” he said, “the princess is safe. She is now with Lord Mirose, and they are on their way to the Black Forest to search for Lord Karnose.”

“Huh?” replied Duke Abel incredulously. “What did you say?”

“Princess Annie is still alive, my lord,” repeated the scout. “She is still continuing the search and rescue mission. We were merely ordered to send these ghouls back to the fortress.”

Duke Abel heaved a long sigh of relief; then he took in a sweet breath of air into his lungs. Somehow, the world seemed bright and beautiful again. He then let out a full hearty laugh.

“Excellent! Excellent!” he exclaimed. “That is good news indeed! Now, tell me exactly how the battle went. I’d like to know how you captured these damned creatures!”

Then, the same scout began to explain in detail of what happened from the time they encountered the ghouls and the sudden appearance of a Magician, to how they eventually defeated the ghouls and captured them. He elaborated on the Magician’s arrangement for them to bring back the ghouls while the rest went on to rescue the Dawn Swordsman. Not a single detail was left out.

“He was very powerful,” said the scout about Link. “He merely waved his wand gently in the air, and the ghoul’s chest exploded!”

“He had a way to prevent the ghouls from dying,” explained another scout. “Look at this one’s chest. It’s filled with a silvery liquid the Magician called Sacred Silver.”

“He called himself Mirose,” said another scout. “I will respect him for the rest of my life. I feel that every word he said was true.”

“That’s right,” agreed another scout. “I felt like I could die for him!”

The group of scouts spoke simultaneously, and their words got jumbled up until it was quite difficult to make out what they said. But Duke Abel didn’t stop them. He’d grasped the big picture of what had happened in his mind.

A young Magician had suddenly appeared when the search party was in the gravest danger. Then, he managed to kill three powerful ghouls instantly. If he hadn’t heard the story from the scouts’ mouths, he would’ve thought that it was more of a legend and less of a true account of events.

But everything they said was true, of course. And this proved that an extremely powerful Magician had come north. But who was the Magician? Why wasn’t he informed of the fact?

The duke then turned to face the Magician Marco and looked straight into his eyes as if to ask him the question without saying a word.

“My lord,” whispered Marco, “we must speak in private.”

Duke Abel nodded gently before turning back to the scout.

“You’ve all worked very hard,” he said. “Go get some rest. Later, there will be rewards for you. Come, get these ghouls into the chapel and let the priests see them.”

A few soldiers then stepped forward and took the ghouls into the chapel. The scouts were now relieved and happy as they went back to their barracks to get some rest. On their way, they kept talking about what happened in the forest and about that powerful Magician called Mirose.

Duke Abel and the officers all went back to the command hall. Once there, the duke and the Magician continued walking until they reached a private room on the second floor.

“Will you tell me the identity of the Magician now?” asked the duke with a reproachful tone.

“My lord,” said Marco meekly, “it was not my intention to conceal it from you. He only just arrived, so I just found out myself.”

“You just found out?” asked the duke. “You must’ve known at least three hours now. Why wasn’t I informed all that time?” Duke Abel was almost enraged at this point. He was the commander of the royal army, after all. How could he not have been informed of the arrival of such a powerful figure? It was outrageous!

“It was not my intention, my lord,” continued Marco. He knew that he had no other choice but to inform the Duke of the truth now. “It was an order from my mentor, the dean of East Cove Academy. He thought that the less people who knew of this Magician’s identity, the better, because he did not come here to join the army, but was instead on a secret mission…”

Duke Abel waved his hand to stop the Magician.

“Alright, alright,” he said. “Now tell me, who exactly is he?”

“The new baron of the Ferde Wilderness, my lord,” answered Marco.

Duke Abel’s eyes widened, and he went silent for a long while.

“I didn’t think he’d come here himself,” he finally said.

In one move, he’d defeated three ghouls comparable to Level-6 Warriors and even possessed the power to prevent the ghouls from dying.

When he thought of it, Duke Abel finally sighed in relief. Now that his daughter was going to rescue the Dawn Swordsman with such a powerful Magician, then he shouldn’t worry too much about her safety anymore.

Still, things were far from safe.

“That young man has an infinitely promising future,” said Duke Abel after a long contemplation. “He cannot die in the Black Forest. We must do what we can. Once we’ve shrunk the line of defense, we must launch a full attack from all fronts!”

“But, my lord, is that wise?” asked Marco, surprised. “The threat from the ghouls are still far from eliminated.”

The Duke smiled.

“It’s only a ploy to distract the Dark Elf’s attention,” he said. “What are you worried about?”

Marco finally understood the duke’s meaning and smiled.

“You’re right, my lord,” said the Magician. “I just failed to understand your true intentions just now.”

Chapter 227: Arduous Progression

The Dark Forest was situated in the North. As they progressed further northwards, the colder the climate became.

Although it was already late spring, the Dark Forest still felt as though it was stuck in the harsh northern winter. The sky was permanently shrouded in dark clouds and snow would float down from the sky ever so often. There was a thick layer of snow on the ground as the chilling wind howled, piercing and cutting the faces of everyone who dared to brave this unforgiving climate.

This was already the third day into the mission. They had gone 186 miles deeper into the Dark Forest and had infiltrated into the heart of the Dark Elves Pralync Kingdom.

The scouts trudged on in the thick snow. The snow was knee deep, and every step was extremely tedious. It took a great deal of effort to pull out their feet from the thick snow.

Under the terrible conditions, the scouts still had to cover their footprints with a branch every step of the way, causing their progress to be extremely slow.

Fortunately, the messenger ghoul was not traveling at a fast speed as well. He also did not attempt to hide his footprints in the snow. Coupled with the fact that Link had locked onto his scent, they didn’t have to worry about getting lost.

As they walked, a scout suddenly let out a low rumble. He had stepped on an empty plot of land and was about to be fall into the thick layer of snow.

“Levitation!”

With a small gesture, a levitation spell was enchanted onto this falling scout, stabilizing his body. The people around then carefully walked towards him and threw him a rope to grab hold of. They then pulled him out from the thick snow.

The sloshing sounds became painfully audible as piles of accumulated snow fell into the pothole the scout had fallen into. Quickly, a hole four feet in radius and 21 feet deep could be seen. The bottom of the pothole was filled with rocks while its sides and top were infested with overgrowth. This vegetation was what held up the thick layer of snow previously, forming a natural trap.

This scout heaved a sigh of relief after reaching solid ground and said with gratitude, “Thank you, my lord.”

Without that levitation spell, he would definitely have broken a bone or two. Suffering that sort of damage in this hellhole was no different from a death sentence.

Link nodded and said, “Be careful.”

Following which, he stepped on top of a rock and cast an eagle eye spell to extend his vision northwards.

Link could see that right in front of them lay a few snow-capped, rugged hills. As he went further north, the trees became visibly shorter in height with half of them being submerged under the thick snow. This then slowly became an open field where vision was unobstructed.

The road in front would become even more difficult. Without the cover of the tall trees, the likelihood of their exposure would increase exponentially.

Furthermore, this was the heart of the Dark Elf Kingdom. Link could not use levitation spells to increase their traveling speed as it would leave magic traces, allowing his opponent to track them down easily. That would be akin to suicide.

After a while, Link had decided on the way forward. He said, “Head this way. Use the rope and tie it around your waist. Chain everyone together so that no one will be in danger.”

“Yes, sir.” The scouts hollered and immediately got to work.

Taking advantage of the time used to tie the rope, Link walked towards Annie and whispered, “Can you still hold on?”

To improve their agility, the scouts usually wore leather armor. Although their current armor had been made deliberately thicker to combat the cold climate of the North, its ability to retain heat was still average at best. Coupled with the harsh chilling wind, the scouts would not be able to last long even with the protection of their Battle Aura.

At this moment, all the scouts wore a pale and weary expression. Annie was especially affected as her petite physique had caused her to be more susceptible to the cold. Her face seemed completely drained of vitality and would shiver form time to time.

“Not a problem…I can hold on,” Annie whispered. It somehow made Link feel even more uneasy.

He then took a look at the other scouts. Although they were in a better state, they still looked extremely tired. In fact, he was also starting to feel the effects of the climate and the long trek on his body. If they continued to give chase, they might even fall to the weather before they meet the Dark Elves.

Unless they were courting death, getting warmth from magic was out of the question. The only thing Link could do was to cast an Elemental Healing spell on everyone from time to time to replenish their energy.

“This is not going to work. We need to find a place to rest.” Link searched the surrounding area but only saw piles of snow and towering trees around. There was no resting area in sight.

“Forget it. Let’s move,” Link said as he was out of options.

The group then continued northwards with several accidents along the way. Fortunately, the rope would prevent the person from falling into the pothole, ensuring their safety.

After half a day, Annie was clearly showing signs of fatigue. She staggered as she walked and seemed to be in a state of semi-consciousness. The only reason she was still moving forward was due to her strong willpower. The other scouts were also shivering uncontrollably from the cold. The person least affected was Link as his magic robe could keep him relatively warm.

At this moment, a small hill appeared in front of them. At the foot of the hill seemed to be a snow covered wooden shed. Link cast an Eagle Eye spell on himself once again to double check his observations.

It truly was a wooden shed. It looked rundown and had no windows at all. However, it should be enough for a temporary shelter.

“Let’s go there and rest for the night,” Link said as he helped Annie along the way towards the shed.

The scouts naturally agreed to his idea and all staggered behind Link as they made a beeline for the shelter.

The trees were getting sparser, causing the group to feel the full effects of the chilling wind. This wind hailed from the northern arctic region, freezing everything along its way.

One could risk getting frostbite if they even opened their eyes fully in this damned hellhole.

Although the wooden shed looked near enough, it still took them half an hour before they reached the shed. Every step took a great deal of energy out of the group.

The wooden shed had a typical Dark Elven architectural design. It was colored in basic dark shades and was strangely contoured. There was even a small skull carved on the door. However, this wooden shed had already been abandoned, and only half the wooden door remained. Half of the roof had also collapsed from the weight of the snow. Luckily, the other half was still holding up strong, offering some protection from the howling wind.

After entering the shed, Link pointed his wand at the corner of the shed and said, “Sanitize.”

Whoosh! A curtain seemed to have flown over the corner, bringing all the dirt and dust together with it. Link then stared at the structure of the wooden shed and used the Higgs Field spell to fix some portions that he was uncomfortable with, reinforcing the stability of this rundown shelter.

The scouts did not idle around as well. There was some abandoned furniture in the wooden shed, consisting of a few tables and chairs. While most of them were already unusable, some of them were still in good shape. They then used the damaged ones as firewood and started cleaning the good ones.

After a while, a fire was started in the middle of the wooden shed. The temperature of the shed immediately rose by a few degrees, bringing much-needed warmth.

A scout even found a broken wok. Link took a look and started fixing it with magic. The scout then proceeded to fill the fixed metal wok with snow to boil a pot of water. Link saw this scene and remembered that he still had some food in his dimensional pendant given to him by Lucy. He then brought it out and split half of it with the scouts. The other half were meat-related snacks which he threw into the wok as part of his meat soup preparation.

Although Elemental Healing could replenish energy, it could not bring the joy and satisfaction that comes from real food. This was especially so when Link’s food looked extremely delicious. He brought out stuff like smoked ribs and spicy lobster, causing the scouts to smile with glee. As they ate, their bodies which were on the verge of collapsing slowly recovered vitality.

Annie hid in the corner as she stretched her hands out close to the fire. Occasionally, she would eat a few snacks, and some vitality gradually returned to her face. However, she was generally still weak.

Link suddenly thought of a snow bear fur cloak in his dimensional pendant seeing her in this state. Though it would be inconvenient to wear it while traveling, it would be the perfect clothing now.

He then took out the coat and placed it gently on Annie. Annie the shot him a grateful smile, the gentleness in her eyes almost overflowing.

Link returned the smile and turned to the scouts before saying, “We are already very close to the arctic region, which lay at the end of the Dark Forest. The Skeletal Fort shouldn’t be too far away now.”

The scouts listened as an oppressive silence enveloped the wooden shed.

The scouts knew first-hand about the insane strength of the ghouls. The ghouls were already scary enough as they were—what would that suggest about the Skeletal Fort which was the base camp of these frightening creatures? Their leader was also residing in that cursed place! Every step closer to the Skeletal Fort was a step towards their demise.

Link continued, “It is getting late. We will rest here for the night and set off early in the morning. If we do not meet the team carrying the Dawn Swordsman along the way, we will grab a stray ghoul from around the Skeletal Fort to extort information.”

“What if the Dawn Swordsman is already in the Skeletal Fort?” Annie asked.

This was a practical question. If the Dawn Swordsman was already inside the enemy’s base, do they continue with their rescue mission? What if he was already demonized to the point of no return?

All of this depended on Link’s decision. All the scouts stared at Link in wait for his answer. His decision would decide the fate of everyone in the wooden shed.

Link fell silent as he chewed on the spicy lobster dish. He felt that the usually delicious meal was not savory at all. In fact, it was extremely bitter and unappealing. This was a difficult decision and a heavy responsibility as it not only concerned the lives of everyone in the shed, but also the outcome of this war.

The scouts waited patiently for Link’s answer.

After ten whole minutes, Link finally came to a decision. He said, “If the Dawn Swordsman has already reached the Skeletal Fort, we will also have to give it our all for the mission. My plan then would be to cast long distance spells from afar to distract the enemy while all of you infiltrate the base to find Kanorse. If he is already demonized by the time you find him, forgo the mission immediately and leave the Skeletal Fort. If he is still alive, rescue him. I will definitely delay the enemy for you.”

The scouts nodded their heads in agreement.

This was an extremely dangerous plan. Both Link and the scouts would be putting their lives on the line for this mission. However, since this was Link’s decision, they would give him their full support.

Annie asked, “Mirose, if the Dawn Swordsman is already demonized, is there any way to save him?”

Link shook his head and said, “If it were an ordinary demonization process, there would still be a chance. However, it is different this time around. There will be no going back. There should be a short period of weakness right after the demonization process is completed. If anyone of you has the chance, kill him using the Sacred Silver.”

The demonization process this time was done using Divine Gear. How could a mortal’s willpower fight against an object of the gods?

This made the atmosphere heavy and depressing.

Apart from the sightings of a few Dark Elves village, they were simply traveling on barren land this whole time. They had found no traces of the Dawn Swordsman or even the trails of the team that was in charge of bringing him back to the Skeletal Fort.

This could only mean two things. One was that they had missed the team that was holding Kanorse in custody. The other was that he had already reached the Skeletal Fort.

Both were bad news.

Everyone fell silent as they watched the crackling flames in their fireplace. After a while, the aroma of the meat soup Link had cooked earlier wafted into their noses. The mood was lifted slightly as they enjoyed the rich, savory broth. Link also drank some to warm his stomach.

Before long, the sky darkened. Link and his fellow comrades had been chasing ghouls for countless days without any rest and were all drained of energy. They leaned on the walls of the rundown wooden shed to rest.

Link felt tired as well. As he felt slightly cold, he curled his body into a ball to retain more of his body heat. However, he suddenly felt his body getting warmer through the night, as though a soft body was snuggling up on him. At the same time, a thick bear fur coat was covered over him as well.

It was Annie.

Link did not reject this act of goodwill in his semi-conscious state. The two of them huddled together and enjoyed the warmth brought about by the fur coat.

It was a silent night.

By midnight, Link suddenly felt a strange magic fluctuation and woke up in shock. His ears picked up sounds of people shuffling through the thick snowfield. The sound grew closer by the minute, seemingly heading towards the wooden shed they were residing in. There seemed to be two people talking in the Dark Elven language.

“It’s freezing! Curse this damned weather.” This was a raspy voice.

“Tch, if you said you were freezing to death in the past, I may have believed you. Now that you have received the blessings of the Lady of Darkness, you are simply making excuses!” Another voice teased.

“Damn you. I am the one carrying this fellow the whole time. Why don’t you try carrying them instead? This damned Warrior is so heavy. I can guarantee you that the armor on their body is at least 220 pounds! Ah! I need rest.”

Link was excited upon hearing those words. A Warrior who was currently being carried by a demonized Dark Elf…Armor weighing more than 220 pounds…It must be an extremely strong Warrior. Might it be the Dawn Swordsman?”

Link was ecstatic. Were they really ahead of their opponents?

Chapter 228: Mortal, You’re Not Qualified to Know My Real Name

 

The scouts in the old shabby cabin had all woken up.

None of them moved, though. They all looked to Link and waited for his orders. Everyone chose to turn a blind eye to the fact that Princess Annie and Link were huddled together in the same snow bear cloak. In a situation where their lives were constantly at risk, it was merely a trivial matter, hardly worth the time to mention.

Annie’s face was flushed, but the light inside the cabin was too dim so no one could really see it.

Link, on the other hand, felt there was nothing to feel awkward about at all as they were only trying to keep warm. After listening to the sounds carefully, he’d determined that there were only two ghouls. He then made the gesture that they’d agreed beforehand was the signal to prepare for battle.

The ghouls weren’t Magicians, so he didn’t have to worry about them sensing the Mana fluctuations in the air. Thus, Link took out his wand, which was now glowing dimly, and cast the Traceless spell which worked on the whole group of people. And so, the scouts instantly vanished from the cabin.

The room now became totally silent. The scouts held their daggers tightly in their hands and waited patiently for the ghouls to arrive. They could clearly hear the voices outside the cabin. The ghouls had sensed that there was something wrong inside the cabin.

“Do you smell that?” asked a gruff voice. “Smells like tasty meat.”

“Wait, it’s not just that,” answered the other voice. “I can smell the stench of humans too! Be careful; I hear an extremely powerful human Warrior had come to the forest.”

The footsteps outside the cabin slowed down almost to a halt, and their voices became very soft. The ghouls were now slowly feeling their way into the cabin.

In that quiet moment, Link saw a notification flash on the interface. He looked at it and discovered that it was a new mission.

Epic Mission Series Activated: Skeletal Fort (Difficult)

First Step of Mission: Rescue

Mission Details: 1. Kill Occult Dark Elves. 2. Rescue the foreign Warrior. The foreign Warrior must live.

Mission Rewards: 100 Omni Points.

The words of the mission were written in a blood red color, and it was constantly flashing too. This gave off a feel of urgency and extreme danger.

The Skeletal Fort was indeed very dangerous. The gaming system didn’t have to use special fonts for Link to realize that. Still, he ignored the danger signs and accepted the mission. Nevertheless, Link found this mission quite puzzling. Rescue the foreign Warriors? Could it be that the one outside the wooden cabin wasn’t the Dawn Swordsman Karnose?

At that point, the soft footsteps had reached the door of the cabin. The scouts inside all raised the crossbows in their hands and pointed them at the old, shoddy wooden door.

Link took out his Mithril wand as well. He focused all his attention and waited patiently for the ghouls to appear.

1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds…Finally, a strongly-built shadowy figure appeared at the door with eyes glowing dimly in red. It was a ghoul!

He glanced around the inside of the cabin and saw no one there. That made him relax immediately, and he turned to his companion.

“There are signs of burning firewood,” he told him, “but no one’s here. Did you see anyone nearby?”

“There’s no one nearby,” answered another ghoul from outside the cabin.

“They must’ve left then.” The ghoul then turned around and was about to leave the cabin.

The ghoul was not paying attention to the situation inside the cabin and had let his guard down. This was an excellent opportunity to attack!

Without the need to wait for Link’s orders, all scouts began to attack immediately!

Catcha! Catcha!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The sound of the crossbows broke through the silence. Then, a holy net dense with arrows rushed towards the ghoul without giving it any room to dodge the attack.

The scouts were only 15 feet away from this ghoul. At this distance, the crossbow would have terrifying penetrative power. Because the ghoul was standing right in the door frame, it was very easy for the scouts to aim precisely at him.

The ghoul’s eyes, heart, neck, and his other vital parts were all struck by at least five arrows.

Within two seconds, this unlucky ghoul was pierced through by 18 arrows. Both of his eyes were struck by four arrows and each of those arrows pierced through as deep as five inches into his skull. They looked like two chopstick holders.

With these kinds of injuries, there was no chance for the ghoul to survive no matter how strong his vitality was. He groaned in pain briefly, and his knees buckled immediately. His whole body was flung backwards by the sheer force of the numerous arrows.

Once he’d fallen to the ground, his body wriggled and jerked slightly although they were closer to convulsions than actual body movements. It was obvious that he was gravely injured and wouldn’t be able to get up and fight anymore.

But there was another ghoul outside the cabin.

Initially, the ghoul was about to follow his companion into the cabin, but he’d been horrified by the unexpected attack. His friend had been killed within seconds by attacks that came out of nowhere.

He’d never seen such a frightening thing before!

“Ahhh!!!!”

The ghoul let out a strange, distorted scream of fear. All of his courage left him in that moment, and he turned around and fled the scene immediately.

But he’d only taken a step when a mysterious force hit his body and made him lose his balance. He was flung out and fell heavily to the ground.

The scouts in the cabin were already chasing after him when they noticed that he was about to escape, but now that they saw him falling to the ground, they wasted no time and took swift action!

They nocked their arrows, shot them, and killed off the already fallen ghoul.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!

The scouts’ aim were all very precise, so even when the ghoul was still falling in mid-air, his body had been struck by a series of arrows. When he landed, he was basically unable to move. His fate was not unlike that of his companion’s.

With the two ghouls eliminated, Link waved his hand at the scouts and ordered, “Burn their bodies.”

The scouts immediately rushed up and plucked out all the Sacred Silver arrows from the ghouls. They then piled up the wooden boards from the shabby cabin and ignited them into a flame. Afterwards, the corpses of the two ghouls were thrown into the fire.

Recently, they’d encountered two waves of attacks by ghouls in the forest, and this was how they always handled their corpses, so they were used to it and could do it quickly and efficiently by now. Meanwhile, Link walked to the door of the wooden cabin and saw the Warrior captured by the ghouls.

Because it was the middle of the night, it was very dark, and Link could barely see that the soldier was clad in an oddly shaped dark armor. The Warrior was very tall, almost seven feet tall, and judging by the curves of the Warrior’s body; it turned out that this was a female Warrior.

Usually, a women’s petite figure meant that they were usually Assassins, Archers, swordswomen or other kinds of fighters that relied on techniques other than brute strength. Very few women had ever become Warriors because it was very difficult for them to advance much in their levels seeing that Warriors tended to rely heavily on pure physical strength.

Yet here was a female Warrior, and she was in fact still breathing. Judging by the way the ghouls were acting, it seemed that they were taking her back to Skeletal Fort.

To have the ghouls be interested enough in her that they were taking her back to Skeletal Fort must mean that her strength was quite impressive. Hence, there was no doubt now that she was a powerful female Warrior. It turned out that she really was a rare breed.

Because she was a woman, Link felt it inappropriate to check her injuries himself, so he pointed his wand at her and cast a floating spell.

The Warrior then floated in the air.

Link then used the Magician’s Hand and carried her from the snow-covered ground into the cabin near the fire.

“Why don’t you go and check her injuries?” he asked Annie.

“Sure,” she answered.

Annie approached the Warrior and noticed that there were traces of blood on her head, so she tried to take off her helmet to check for injuries. Strangely enough, no matter how hard she tried to remove the dragon’s head helmet with two delicate horns sticking out of it she just couldn’t remove it from the Warrior’s head.

“That’s strange,” Annie remarked. Then she carefully examined it and half a minute later turned to Link who was nearby and said, “It’s not a helmet. It’s a part of her body.”

Link was stunned for a moment. Then he noticed how dim the light was in the cabin so he cast a light spell to illuminate the place better so he could see more clearly.

Then he really was taken totally by surprise. He discovered that not only was the helmet-like thing a part of her head, but the so-called armor on her whole body was, in fact, not armor at all.

At a glance, the Warrior seemed to be wearing an elaborate and luxurious scaly armor. But once examined closely, these scales all turned out to be her own skin!

The deep dark red scales covered most of the Warrior’s body. Where there were no scales, the exposed skin still looked quite bizarre. It was red like the scales, yet it shone in the light and had a metallic luster. Link tried patting the skin with his wand and discovered that it made a clanging sound as if it was made of the same material as steel armor.

“What on earth is she?” Annie had never seen such a creature before.

By then, the other scouts had also finished their tasks, so they started walking into the cabin as well. They saw the strange Warrior by the light of Link’s spell, and all found her fascinating and completely unlike what they’d ever seen.

“Look at her head,” said one scout. “It looks like one of those dragons in the legends. Do you think she might be a Dragon Warrior?”

“Now that you mention it,” said another, “that might really be the case.”

“My lord, what exactly is she?” asked a scout.

Link knew exactly what she was. She was from the Dragon Clan. Furthermore, she was not an ordinary Dragon woman at all.

Her scales were fine and delicate, her dragon horns were curved and looked like steel, and her skin had a metallic sheen to it as though it was pure steel. There was no doubt about it—this Warrior was a pure-blood Dragon woman.

Pureblood Dragon People were no different from real dragons. The only difference was that when Dragon People were born, they were turned into humanoids by a magical process and were fated to keep that form for the rest of their lives. The Dragon People were very powerful Warriors and were roughly on the same level as high-level demons!

What Link found curious, though, was that from what he knew, Dragon Warriors lived in a hidden world called Dragon Valley and they rarely if ever entered this world at all. So how did this Warrior end up in the Black Forest? And how did she get herself captured by the ghouls?

“She really is a Dragon Warrior,” said Link with a nod.

The Warrior’s body didn’t look as if she suffered many injuries. There were some wounds, but they were all shallow and not life-threatening, except for the one on her head. When Link raised her head and examined it carefully, he found that the wound was on the right side of the back of her skull. The wound was dark and swollen, although there wasn’t much blood flowing out. It must’ve been the result of being hit by a blunt weapon, probably one of the ghoul’s hammer.

Judging by her breathing pattern which was smooth and strong, Link knew that the Dragon Warrior’s life was safe, so he started to cast spells to heal her.

He first cast Elemental Cure, then took out a bottle of high-grade medicinal potion. He then let Annie open her mouth before he slowly poured the potion into it.

Gulp gulp gulp…

The Dragon Warrior instinctively swallowed the potion. This meant that her injuries really weren’t that serious.

After that, Link stood up and told everyone, “We’ve killed the two ghouls here, so we must leave this place now.”

As he spoke, he cast a spell to make a stretcher out of the wooden planks found in the cabin. Then, he placed the Dragon Warrior on it and ordered two scouts to carry her as they moved to a new place. They left the wooden cabin while carefully covering the footprints they left in the snow.

“Follow me,” said Link. “There’s a huge boulder over there. We can find shelter from the cold wind there.”

The boulder was about half a mile away, and just as the group had walked about a third of the way, the Dragon Warrior suddenly coughed gently. Her breathing then turned rapid, and her body slowly began to move. She was waking up.

Only a little more than ten seconds later, the Dragon Warrior opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was how unfamiliar her surroundings were. Then, she noticed that she was carried on a stretcher by a few human beings while a young man whose attire looked as if he was a Magician walked beside her.

It was a bizarre scene for a Dragon Warrior.

The last thing she remembered was that she came to this forest by the orders of the Queen who commanded her to investigate the power imbalance in the forest. She then encountered four ghastly beasts that kept refusing to die no matter how much she attacked them. Then, after a long battle she finally defeated them and was about to escape, but four more of the same beasts had found her, and she was overpowered and knocked unconscious.

The problem was, shouldn’t the Black Forest be the Dark Elves’ territory? How could there be humans here? Besides, these humans don’t seem to be all that strong. Yet, how did they save her from those ghastly things?

A flurry of questions swirled around in her head. She was about to open her mouth and ask them but was stopped by the young Magician.

“This isn’t the right time to be talking,” he whispered. “Take some rest for now. We’ll talk once we’ve reached a safer place.”

“I can walk,” she said. She’d collapsed because she’d been too tired. But now that she had recovered some of her strength, there would be no problem for her to walk now.

She then struggled up from the stretcher and managed to get on her feet. She still felt slightly dizzy, but it wasn’t too bad that it would affect her movements. She then followed the scouts quietly all the way.

Just then, a notification popped up on the interface.

Rescue Mission Completed.

Player rewarded with 100 Omni Points.

Second Step of Skeletal Fort Mission Activated: Get Assistance.

Mission Details: Acquire the support of the Dragon Warrior.

Mission Rewards: 100 Omni Points.

With Link’s current strength, 100 Omni Points was just an average amount, neither too much nor too little. He didn’t know the true strength of this Dragon Warrior, so he wasn’t sure if it was worth it. But, he trusted that the gaming system must have a good reason to turn it into a mission.

It was just like in Gladstone when the gaming system would guide him step-by-step. In the end, he managed to complete a mission that at first seemed impossible to accomplish.

Right now, Link had decided that he would attack Skeletal Fort, so he accepted the second step of the mission without any hesitation.

Then, he turned to the Dragon Warrior.

“I’m Mirose,” he said. “What’s your name?”

To his surprise, the Dragon Warrior just glanced at him for a few moments without answering.

“Mortal Magician,” she said, “you’re not yet qualified to know my real name. But since you’ve saved me, you shall call me Felina.”

Chapter 229: Your True Identity

 

The group quickly reached the bottom of the cliff.

This cliff was six feet tall and had a three-foot depression. The depression managed to shelter the ground below from snow which left a hollow center, forming a natural snow cave. It was a good place to temporarily hide from the chilling wind.

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief when they finally entered this warm haven.

Felina then finally got a chance to ask the burning questions in her heart. She went into an outburst, asking a series of questions, “Where am I? Who are you guys? Where are those bastards?”

Link naturally answered them in order.

After listening to the narrative, Felina stared at the humans around her in disbelief, “You people merely have a Level-4 Battle Aura. Look at your weak physique! Furthermore, your Battle Aura could at most support five battle skills. And this Magician over here, although you are Level-6 in strength, it seems impossible for you to deal with two of those monsters at once. Don’t you think?”

She had personally experienced the battle prowess of those creatures. They were unusually difficult to deal with and simply would not die even after countless mortal wounds had been inflicted on them. They would be up and about in a few minutes after being gravely injured.

They were clearly only Level-6 in strength. However, they were able to completely destroy her, a young genius Warrior of the Dragon Clan. How could these weak and messed up human beings defeat them when she couldn’t?

Annie was immediately infuriated. This Dragon Warrior had been arrogant from the very beginning and seemed to be bent on calling them mortals and derogatory terms that were hard on the ears. Now, she was even questioning their combat strength. It was time for her to fight back.

“You underestimate us. Sir Mirose had once destroyed three ghouls in less than half a minute’s time. The two ghouls who managed to capture you were also defeated by us in less than 20 seconds. Their bodies still lay in the wooden shed we were residing in just now. If you don’t believe us, you can turn back and take a look with your own two eyes!”

The scouts also started defending themselves.

Originally, they had a good impression of the female Dragon Warrior due to her gorgeous battle armor and good figure. However, all she said were words of despise and distrust. It was the last straw when she started questioning Sir Mirose’s power.

“The princess is right. You can look down on us, but not on Sir Mirose! He was the one who saved your life just now!”

“Doesn’t the Dragon Clan know the concept of gratitude?”

“I am a mortal alright. But you were captured by the ghouls as well. How strong can you be!”

Everyone started criticizing Felina’s arrogant behavior. She then fell silent before apologizing, “Alright, I should not have said those words. I am sorry. But I am still curious—how did you guys do it?”

Annie was just about to speak when she seemed to remember something. She then turned to look at Link who gave a nod of approval.

Annie then brought out her dagger which was treated by Sacred Silver and said, “Do you see something different on this dagger? There is Sacred Silver on its surface, which can thoroughly destroy the regeneration abilities of the darned ghouls. We are also in possession of these crossbows, also treated with Sacred Silver. It can fire ten Sacred Silver arrows in four seconds. Furthermore, we have a powerful Magician with us. Now, do you think we have the power to defeat the ghouls?”

Felina observed the Sacred Silver weapons with interest. These silver weapons seemed to be enveloped in a sharp, brilliant force of light. It was peculiar, warm, yet aggressive.

She then nodded. “If Sacred Silver is truly the answer to these…ghouls, then I believe that you guys can defeat them. I once again apologize for my actions. Thank you for saving my life.”

Now that Felina’s arrogance was kept in check, Link said, “As far as I know, Dragon Warriors rarely communicate with the rest of the world, unless something peculiar is happening. If you trust us, perhaps we may be of help.”

His mission was to successfully get Felina’s assistance.

Although he could capitalize on the prideful nature of the Dragon Clan to demand her of her assistance in return for saving her life, it would definitely leave a bad impression on Felina’s side. This was hardly what Link wanted; he wished that the other party would offer to help on her own accord.

He thus had to build some sort of bridge between them.

Upon hearing these words, Felina hesitated.

If this happened when she first arrived in the Dark Forest, she would definitely sneer and give them the cold shoulder. She might even look down on them and head into the Dark Forest alone. However, now that she had seen the true terror of this hellhole, a few reliable partners would be extremely helpful.

This group of humans just saved her life and seemed to have the tools to deal with the ghouls. They could be of some help along the way.

However, she still could not put down her pride, “My mission is extremely dangerous. You guys might lose your life over it… wait a minute.”

She then got an idea and stared straight at Link before asking, “This place is the heart of the Pralync Kingdom. Isn’t the Norton Kingdom at war with the Dark Elves now? Since you guys are here, might you be on a mission? Maybe I can help as well.”

It was the truth the Link had saved her life. She would have a peace of mind if she could return the favor.

Upon hearing these words, the scouts were elated. Link was simply euphoric; it seemed like this Dragon Lady had a much better personality than he imagined.

He then added, “The Dawn Swordsman Kanorse had been captured by the Dark Elves. We are originally here to rescue him. However, the chances seem to be slim.”

As he explained, Link started smiling bitterly, and the scouts around him also had a grave expression on their faces.

“Dawn Swordsman? You mean the strongest Warrior in the Norton Kingdom, Kanorse?” Felina was shocked. Although the Dragon Clan kept themselves hidden from the rest of the world, they were still concerned about the important events that were happening, including the emergence of outstanding talents amongst other races. The Dawn Swordsman was one of those people.

He was only thirty-five years old but had already attained the strength of a Level-8 professional. He was rightfully termed as the strongest Warrior in the Norton Kingdom, or even the entire human race. He was indeed a rare talent.

Even the prideful Dragon Clan was surprised at the growth of the Dawn Swordsman. In fact, Felina had been craving to challenge the Dawn Swordsman while she was trapped inside the Dragon Valley. She had always hoped to one day complete with this said genius and determine who was stronger once and for all.

To think that he would be captured; are the ghouls really this strong?

Link nodded to confirm her suspicions, “I think that no one else can be termed as a Legendary Warrior in Firuman.”

Felina was truly taken aback. Her eyes naturally emitted a silver radiance; hence, one could easily notice whenever she blinked her eyes. However, her eyes at that time were unblinking and wide opened. She was finding it difficult to accept.

“Even he was not able to stop the ghouls?”

Link continued, “That is not true as well. He was only captured after facing an army of them. We have discovered that he was sent to a place called the Skeletal Fort. Following which, an extremely powerful and evil being there will demonize him, turning him into something like a ghoul. If I am not wrong, they probably captured you for the same reason.”

“Skeletal Fort?” Felina stared at Link. Link’s words had sent shivers down her spine.

“Yes, the base of the Dark Elves houses the boss of the ghouls. Her power…I’m afraid it has gotten to point where mortals cannot hope to comprehend.”

“Strength that cannot be comprehended? Immortal ghouls?” Felina seemed to be absorbed in her thoughts. She mumbled, “If the Dawn Swordsman were to be demonized, that would be a nightmare…The ghouls are already so strong; what kind of power could their boss possibly have? How could this world have such terrifying power?”

No one told her the answer. Link and the scouts remained silent.

Felina did not expect her questions to be answered as well. She had somehow deduced her own conclusion, muttering, “The queen had mentioned that a destructive power was upsetting the balance of this world. She had sent me to the mortal world to investigate this matter. This Skeletal Fort should be the source of that power! Ghouls should not have existed in this world!”

Link listened, and when she reached the part about the ghouls, he gave a helpless sigh. Ghouls really should not exist in this world, but alas, that was the power of a Divine Gear.

The World of Firuman was using its power to reject the presence of this Divine Gear. In order to maintain the stability of this Divine Gear, the Dark Elves sacrificed at least one hundred thousand lives!

Suddenly, Felina stared at Link. “Do you know the exact location of the Skeletal Fort?”

“I roughly know the coordinates. In fact, we were planning to infiltrate into the enemy’s base after a night’s rest,” Link answered.

Felina’s eyes widened yet again at this brazen declaration, the silver radiance in her eyes shining brilliantly. She said, “Going straight into the base to rescue someone? Just the few of you? Isn’t this a suicide mission?”

Annie then said, “The Dawn Swordsman cannot be demonized. We have no choice but to do our best to prevent that from happening.”

Link then laid out his hands helplessly and said, “There is never a choice in wartimes.”

Felina then sighed and shook her head once more. “This mission is bound to fail. I shall not even talk about the few of you. You guys are far too weak. And you, Magician Mirose, unless your combat powers can match up to the Demon Slayer, I suggest that you forgo this mission. Don’t sacrifice your lives in vain.”

Her words seem a little strange. What did she mean by matching up to the Demon Slayer? Who is this Demon Slayer?

Link was slightly confused by those words. He felt as though he had heard this title somewhere before, although he could not exactly remember who it was referring to.

This was understandable as well. After defeating Tarviss, he had been extremely busy with either his magic research or the development of his territory. He paid no attention to other people’s evaluation of his achievements. While the title Demon Slayer might seem familiar, he did not make the connection to himself.

On the other hand, Annie’s eyes widened with glee. She then said to Felina, “You are saying that if the Demon Slayer was present, we might have a chance?”

Felina nodded. “If he was indeed here, coupled with my Level-7 strength, it might be worth a try.”

Upon hearing those words, the remaining scouts sighed helplessly. The Demon Slayer was a noble with his own territory. He was also a Master Magician of the East Cove Higher Magic Academy. A person of his status and position would definitely not risk his life to come to this hellhole.

One could only hope for such miracles in their dreams.

However, Annie’s eyes glowed even brighter as she turned to look at Link. This gaze was so hopeful that Link felt slightly disturbed by it.

“Who is the Demon Slayer?” Link asked as he felt something was amiss.

“He is none other than the lord of the Ferde Wilderness,” Annie said excitedly.

“Oh…” Link patted his forehead and suddenly understood the situation. To think that they were referring to him all this while. When the title Demon Slayer came out of the mouth of a Demon Warrior, he immediately associated it with some sort of heroic and historical figure. He had never thought it would be him.

Since Felina had already mentioned it herself, Link did not wish to conceal his identity anymore. He turned to Felina and said, “I think I can give it a shot.”

“This is not funny, Magician,” Felina frowned as she sneered.

Link smiled and said, “Mirose is only my alias. My real name is…Link Morani.”

The scouts swallowed a mouthful of saliva upon hearing those words. Annie stared at Link with pride written all over her white and pretty face. This young man was a hero in her heart.

Felina then opened her mouth and was once again in shock. It took her a while before she continued, “No wonder…So it is you after all.”

It all made sense why they could deal with the ghouls. She was just thinking how such a powerful human Magician could appear out of nowhere without the knowledge of the Dragon Clan.

The Dawn Swordsman was the strongest Warrior in the human race, and Felina still had the guts to challenge him to a battle. However, she had no intention of doing so if she was facing the Demon Slayer. This was because he had once defeated Tarviss. She would not have been able to defeat Tarviss even if her strength doubled.

The moment she said this sentence, a glow appeared in Link’s field of vision. It was a mission.

Step Two: Completed.

Player Omni Points +100

Step 3: Stealth or Force?

Task: Break through the obstructions of the Dark Elves and reach the Skeletal Fort.

Mission Reward 1: 100 Omni Points

Mission Reward 2: Elemental Affinity Bloodline (Note: Under the effect of this bloodline, all elemental spells cast by the user will have their strength increased by 50%)

Link sighed and once again accepted the mission.

Chapter 230: Pinched to Death

 

There were two types of white color in the area between the northern polar fields of the Black Forest, each distinct from the other. One was the bright and clear white, a color of purity. This was found in the snow of the North. The other was the dull white color that came with a touch of blood, like that found in bones. And the Skeletal Fort was fortress made up purely of piles of bones.

Whose bones?

Well, the great leader would tell you that as a tribute to the Lady of Darkness, the Skeletal Fort contained the bones of at least 20,000 souls. These souls were all burned to release an infinite amount of power. Their bones and skeletons were then preserved and used to build a white fortress with the length and width of 160 feet and the height of 160 feet as well.

And at the top of the fort was a bony, white hall.

At the head of the hall was the Skeletal Throne made of ivory, mammoth’s tusks. Whenever there had been any major events, there a shadowy figure would appear on the throne enshrouded in a black flame.

And right now, it was one of those times where an important event had occurred.

On the Skeletal Throne sat a graceful shadowy figure, and at the same time, a sweet and pleasant voice floated in the hall.

“There’s a big mouse in the forest,” said the voice, “and I don’t like it at all. Right now, the mouse has brought its friends too close to the fortress, yet none of my cats could catch them yet. Bruttan, Maule, will both of you be willing to catch these mice for me?”

Bruttan, a Level-7 demon was more than 13 feet tall, and his skin was black and thorny with a dagger-shaped horn on his head. He wielded a pair of giant swords each about ten feet long. He used to be a Warrior guarding the Magician Aymon’s fortress. After the god-level device, Dark Serpent came to this world, he became the Warrior guarding the Skeletal Fort by Aymon’s command.

Maule, a Black Dragon Warrior with Level-7 strength, possessed amazing stature and was no less powerful than a demon. His swordsmanship was almost perfect, and he was the Skeletal Fort’s main Swordsman.

Upon hearing the order, both of them bowed respectfully at the throne and said, “As you wish, Messenger of Darkness!”

Just as they spoke, there came a sudden loud scream from outside the hall.

“Ah! Aaaah! Kill me! Just kill me!!!!”

The voice carried a great amount of strength behind it, enough to shake the entire Skeletal Fort. Even Bruttan and Maule’s faces showed a trace of uneasiness.

The source of the scream that rattled the fortress was the top human Warrior, the Dawn Swordsman Karnose who had just been captured and brought into the Skeletal Fort.

Only the dark shadowy figure on the Skeletal Throne remained unaffected.

“Oh, it seems that dear Karnose is not happy,” said the figure. “I must go down there and comfort him. Both of you may leave now.”

Then, the shadowy figure stood up, and her slender waist twisted like a snake as the figure walked slowly and casually down to the dungeons under the Skeletal Fort.

Bruttan and Maule looked at each other for a moment then turned around and left the hall. When both of them reached outside the Skeletal Fortress, there were 40 ghouls behind them, along with more than 200 scouts from Death’s Hand and close to 3000 soldiers.

“Maule, we’ll get half of the soldiers each,” said Bruttan. “Let’s see who catches those mice first.”

“Hahaha, alright,” replied Maule, “but what would the winner get?” in his eyes, Bruttan was nothing but a brute. Without his strength, he was basically useless. It’d be fun to see such an idiot lose to him.

“Well, let’s see…” answered Bruttan, squinting at the Dragon Warrior as he considered the matter. To be honest, he’d never liked the bastard. “If you win, then I’ll always obey you from then on. But if I win, you don’t have to obey me; I just want to give you a big old slap in the face.”

“Good! It’s a deal!”

The two then divided the soldiers among themselves equally and parted ways.

…

Just a mile outside the Skeletal Fort, there was a slightly elevated mound in the forest where its peak was covered completely with snow. Link, the Red Dragon Warrior Felina, Annie, and the rest of the scouts all huddled together inside a makeshift igloo made of snow. They poked a hole through the snow and observed the movements in the Skeletal Fortress from there.

“So many bones! And so many guards!” exclaimed Annie, hardly able to contain her shock. The actual sight and scale of the Skeletal Fort had totally exceeded her imagination.

The surrounding area around Skeletal Fort was very flat, and there, one could clearly see more than 10,000 soldiers spread across the plains. Although each soldier was only comparable to a Level-1 Warrior, once their number reached 10,000, they were nevertheless a fearsome force.

“These soldiers won’t leave,” whispered a scout. “We can’t possibly sneak into the fort.”

There were just too many of them. And the closer they got to the Skeletal Fort the more heavily guarded the area was. Even if they used an invisibility spell to sneak into the place, they might still bump into a soldier who would then expose their presence.

At the moment, Bruttan and Maule stepped out of the fort in front of everyone.

“Link,” Felina whispered. “They must’ve sensed that we’re here and sent a team out for us. We could soon be discovered here.”

There were just too many people on their side. There was no need for any fancy searching techniques al all with that many people. All they needed to do was search every inch of the land, and there would be no way for Link and the rest to stay hidden.

They’d been staying in the same place for more than half an hour now. Link had mostly been silent all this while. Then, suddenly, he spoke up.

“Karnose still maintains his conscience,” he whispered. “He hasn’t been completely transformed by the occult yet. He can still be saved, but we must rescue him soon.”

“But how?” asked Annie.

Felina only shook her head.

“Things have gotten to a more frightening point than I’d expected, Link,” she said. “I don’t think we can save him.”

Link pretended he didn’t hear it. He knew that it wasn’t that the Red Dragon Warrior was unwilling to rescue Karnose, she merely didn’t believe that they would succeed. If he could show her a plan that might work, he was sure that she would join in.

“We’ll use the old plan,” said Link. “I’ll attract the Skeletal Fort’s attention, and you’ll sneak into the Skeletal Fortress and rescue the man. Felina, you must go too, but you’re too strong so they might slow you down. You should act alone.”

Felina bit her lips and furrowed her brows in doubt.

“This plan is too risky,” Felina said. “There’s still that ghoul leader in the fort. If we don’t tempt the leader out, we’ll have no chance at all.”

“I know,” answered Link. “But this is the only feasible plan we have. Well, we don’t have much time, the Black Dragon Warrior will soon get here. All of you, get ready to sneak into the fortress. I’m leaving now!”

“Link…. Be careful!” Annie urged.

“Wait!” Felina stopped him. “They’ve got too many people with them!”

Link ignored her. He jumped out of the snow igloo without a single hesitation and walked away without hiding his own Mana. He first cast the Cheetah’s Agility spell then another spell to make his weight as light as a feather. And so, he almost flew all his way down from the mound.

On his way, a red glowing aura surrounded his body, followed by the Flame Controller’s robe and his Burning Wraths wand.

He would be facing countless strong enemies soon, so he must utilize all his powers and all the help he had.

Right now, he had 300 Omni Points and a 6100-point maximum Mana limit. His Mana recovery rate could be as high as 220 points per second. With the aid from the Flame Controller’s robe, the Burning Wraths of the Heavens wand, the Light Rune Stone, the Red Dragon Queen’s Blessings, the Dimensional Scroll and the Prophetic White Stone—he had enough tricks up his sleeve to perform a symphony of magic!

The Black Dragon Warrior Maule could sense Link’s presence immediately. He erupted into a big laugh.

Well, look at that, he thought. I’ve found the mouse first. Get ready to be my slave, Bruttan!

He then unleashed his Battle Aura in an explosion and charged towards the target at full speed.

There was only one target, and his Mana showed that he was just a Level-6 Magician. Maule was sure that he could easily cut this mouse up into pieces alone without anyone’s help!

“Hahahaha! Prepare to get a taste of my swords!”

The swords in Maule’s hands began to be enshrouded in a black flame. It was his inexhaustible Black Dragon Warrior’s power. The invincible body of the Dragon People gave him the supernatural strength that allowed him to squash all his enemies in battles.

Link didn’t have a single thought of retreating. Instead, he sped up even more, and the distance between him and the Black Dragon Warrior closed in ever more quickly.

On the peak of the mound, everyone else was covered in a cold sweat, especially Felina. She knew very well how powerful that Dragon Warrior was. He was a full level higher than Link, and he was followed by countless ghouls, Assassins, and soldiers right behind him.

This was like one single man facing off with an entire army. There was no doubt in Felina’s mind that Link would soon be dead.

In the blink of an eye, the distance between Link and the Black Dragon Warrior was already less than 300 feet.

The black flame on the Black Dragon Warrior intensified. The moment the distance between them reached 200 feet, Maule would unleash a burst of his Battle Aura instantly. It didn’t matter whether it would hit the target or not, he just wanted to interfere with the Magician’s spellcasting. His Battle Aura was inexhaustible anyway, so he didn’t have to worry about wasting it.

Unbeknownst to him, Link had already outpaced him.

At the distance of 300 feet, he’d done two things. Firstly, he’d activated the Clear Thoughts effect from the Flame Controller’s robe. With Clear Thoughts, in five minutes he would recover about 2000 Mana points, which would then allow him to cast spells at their full power. Secondly, he’d activated a special effect from his wand, the Burning Wraths of the Heavens, that was the Flame Torrents! The Flame Torrents consumed 1500 points of Mana, and it allowed instantaneous spellcasting of any fire elemental spells below Level-7, while also increasing the spell’s power by 300%. To recharge it, he must cast spells of Level-5 and above at least ten times.

But Link’s wand was already charged at the moment, so he could instantly activate the first Flame Torrents now to boost his first spell.

Boom!

A giant hand appeared in the air, and each finger was about three feet thick and 15 feet long while the whole hand was about 30 feet long!

This Titan’s Hand was boosted by the Flame Torrents, and its power was 300% higher than usual. It was also enhanced by the Burning Wraths wand’s effect and had a further 150% boost from there. In total, the Titan’s Hand was 450% more powerful than usual.

When a Level-6 spell’s power was increased 4.5 times its normal strength, it would be comparable to a Level-7 spell. This made the flames of the giant hand turn blue, but because Link had controlled its power to prevent it from exploding, the brightness of the Titan’s Hand’s flame was not that intense. In fact, it now merely had the sheen of metal.

The fire elements in the spell now looked like they were made of metal elements. This showed just how compacted the spell was!

The moment it appeared, it transformed into the shape of a fist immediately. Its surface now emanated a blue light so bright that you couldn’t look at it directly. Then, in the blink of an eye, it traveled across 300 feet and crashed into Maule.

Wow, what fast spellcasting speed! Maule thought in amazement as his Battle Aura burst was unleashed.

Bang!

The Titan’s Hand was slightly impeded by Maule’s burst of Battle Aura, but the fiery hand did not collapse at all because the burst of Battle Aura had hit the part of the fist where its structure was most stable and solid. Furthermore, the Titan’s Hand’s own power was equivalent to that of a Level-7 spell, so it was impossible for Maule’s Battle Aura which was also at Level-7 to destroy it in one move.

And thus, Maule’s only chance at defeating Link had come to pass.

In the next moment, he was hit by the Titan’s Fist squarely. There was a loud boom as he was hit by the brunt of the impact. Maule only had time to explode his Battle Aura to protect himself, but it was completely insufficient as he was sent flying a few feet backwards.

In that process, Maule’s Battle Aura received crucial damage and was momentarily at its weakest point.

And that was when Link hit him again with an even more powerful attack. He took the chance when Maule was still in mid-air and changed the Titan’s Fist back into the Titan’s Hand and caught up with Maule immediately. The giant hand now held Maule in its palm and increased its temperature to its highest extreme.

This was Link’s signature attack, and no one had ever been able to survive it!

“Ah…Gah…How…How did…” Maule couldn’t even finish his sentence before his whole body was turned to ashes by the Titan’s Hand’s scorching temperature.

Everyone else watched in awe at the scene that just unfolded.

It was as if Maule had only been pinched gently by the fiery hand. But in no time at all, the proud Warrior’s life was pinched out of his throat and turned instantly to ashes.

Could he be that powerful? Felina stared at the scene in a daze. She knew that there was a disparity of power between Link and herself, but she never expected the gap to be so big—even though she was the Dragon Clan’s most talented Warrior!

There on the mound, a powerful opponent was killed within seconds. Link couldn’t help but burst out laughing. He watched the ghouls, Dark Elves, and skeleton soldiers rush up the hill towards him. He kept the strengthened version of Titan’s Hand under his complete control and rushed forward without the slightest hesitation.

This Black Dragon Warrior was only his appetizer!

Now, let the real battle begin!

Chapter 231: Listen to the Cackling of Fireworks

 

Twenty ghouls rushed forward up the hill.

Unfortunately, they had no experience in dealing with the Titan’s Hand spell. Coupled with their low intelligence, they rushed forward in close proximity of one another, forming a cluster and rendering them easy targets of the spell.

“Titan’s Fist!”

The Titan’s Hand which just exterminated a Dark Dragon Warrior immediately turned into a fist, and with the sound of a loud explosion, the fist charged mercilessly towards the formation of ghouls.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A series of collision sounds could be heard. The ghouls were all at Level-6 and simply could not withstand the impact of a Level-7 spell. They were thus instantaneously knocked into the air by this terrifying impact.

This scene was somehow similar to something one could see in a bowling alley. The moment the ball hit the pins at the end of the lane, the pins would scatter in all directions from the heavy impact.

Whoosh. In mid-air, the Titan’s Fist once again turned into a hand and started grabbing all the ghouls in the air. The moment it captured a ghoul. It would release a high-temperature heat wave to instantly melt those damned creatures.

“Ah! Oh my god! Arrghh!” Cries of despair rang through the snowfield.

At that moment, Link was truly using his full power.

In his eyes, time seemed to be moving slower than ever. The ghouls who were knocked into the air were moving slowly through the atmosphere as though they were helium balloons, allowing him to take his pick as to which one he wished to burst first.

Under the effects of such focused and high-speed spellcasting, Link’s eyes became a lot brighter and incomprehensible. A closer look would reveal a faint silver glow that surrounded his pupils. This was the brilliance of the soul that had escaped the chains of the physical body after the soul operated at its maximum capacity.

From other’s perspective, they could only see the many after images of a blue, giant hand 150 feet away. The speed at which the hand was moving was way too fast for the naked eye to capture. The hands even looked unreal, and through this tangible deception, the hand was destroying ghouls at a speed no one could ever have imagined.

Within three seconds, the after images suddenly disappeared and formed back into an unmoving one floating in the air. The ghouls who were knocked into the air also never landed back onto the ground again. They were all turned to ashes in the short period of time while they were airborne.

You seem to be proud of your strong life force? What about your unlimited supply of Battle Aura? I can simply burn you to ashes with temperature that can even melt metallic substances!

After the extermination of these ghouls, the ordinary scouts of the Death Hand were next.

These were elite scouts that were all at least Level-4 in strength. This was an extremely strong army by any standards. However, in the face of a terrifying Magician, they were all as helpless as a crying infant.

“In the name of the Lady of Darkness, this is not happening!”

“This is not possible! How can a human attain such strength!”

“Run! We are no match!”

Their leader Maule was already dead. They had also witnessed the Magician exterminate the Warriors blessed by the Lady of Darkness. These ordinary Dark Elves had lost all will to fight and ran for their lives.

On the other hand, the skeleton Warriors only retained their most basic cognitive skills and knew not what fear was. They hence continued charging up the hill in mechanical movements.

After eliminating the ghouls, Link was extremely relieved. He had placed great emphasis on exterminating the ghouls. If the fight got protracted and he did not manage to kill all of them, the result of this fight might have been entirely different.

However, these ghouls had already become a thing of the past.

After killing these darned creatures, Link then withdrew from his extreme spellcasting state and canceled the Level-7 Titan’s Hand spell.

This was not due to the strength limitations of the spell, but due to its insane mana consumption. During the battle just now, Link’s peak mana consumption shot up to 220 Mana Points per second and 55 Mana Points per second on average. If Link continued using the spell, he would only last for around two more minutes.

Despite the disappearance of the Titan’s Hand, Link continued to cast spells. He pointed the wand towards an escaping Dark Elf Scout and shouted, “Flame Blast!”

The Flame Controller Magic Robe increased the spellcasting speed of his fire elemental spells by 50%. His Burning Wrath of the Heavens Wand would increase his elemental charging speed by 200%. The combined effects of these two pieces of equipment gave Link an amazing spellcasting speed even without the Domingo Crystal.

It merely took 0.7 seconds for the Level-4 Flame Blast spell to take form. An incandescent fireball more than four feet in diameter emitting a blinding light then appeared.

“Explode!”

The 150% power boost to the Flame Blast spell was significant. The strength of the Flame Blast spell now was comparable to the one he released in Gladstone when under the effects of the Magical Murmurs potion.

In an instant, the fireball flew into the center of the group of Dark Elf scouts

Boom!

An earth-shattering bang reverberated through the snowfield. Unbridled flames and visible heat waves swept through the area where the explosion occurred. The thick layer of snow on the ground was also flung into the air together with pieces of severed limbs torn off from the great impact.

The Flame Blast spell was still a terrifying offensive spell even though the spell was considered somewhat low for a Magician of Link’s level.

Link’s control over his Mana Points had already improved vastly from his time in Gladstone City. He only used 260 Mana Points in comparison to the original 320 Mana Points when casting a Flame Blast spell of the same scale of power.

This single blow at least sent half of the Dark Elf scouts into oblivion.

Link the checked the remaining Mana Points in his body. He estimated that he had 5100 Mana Points left, which was a sufficient amount for any battle. If he merely cast Flame Blast spells, he should still be able to release 20 of them.

He then stared at the distant Skeletal Fort and thought, I don’t believe you can still feel safe in the fortress after I made such a commotion.

He then moved forward and threw a Flame Blast spell while traveling.

Boom! Another earth-shattering explosion echoed through the open terrain. Anyone within a ten-mile radius should be able to hear such a loud, disturbing noise.

The Dark Elf Scouts were basically exterminated. There were only a few of them left surviving. Even then, those who survived had already lost the will to fight, merely yelling and fleeing crazily into the distance.

As the skeleton Warriors saw this horrifying scene, all of them started charging towards Link. This included those that were originally guarding the Skeletal Fort.

This then created lots of unguarded spaces at the boundary, giving an opportunity to infiltrate the previously impenetrable fortress.

On the hillside, Felina then whispered to the scouts, “I’ll set off now; follow behind!”

Link had already done what he could. She would not pull him down.

Annie then exchanged glances with the scouts and nodded, “Let’s go. We will act as well.”

The scouts then crawled out stealthily from their hiding spot and snuck into the Skeletal Fort.

On the side of the battle, Link was running to prevent himself from being surrounded by the skeleton Warriors. At the same time, he fired Flame Blast spells at spots where the skeleton Warriors were clustered together.

Boom! Boom!

Every ten seconds or so, a Flame Blast spell would appear and shatter hundreds of brittle skeletons Warriors.

This was not all.

Link was not only attacking the skeleton Warriors but also closing the distance between himself and the Skeletal Fort. He appeared to be charging straight towards the base camp.

This clear movement of aggression could be easily seen and even heard by the people around.

Demon Warrior Bruttan was one of these people. He had witnessed the entire battle scene from afar on top of a slope.

He had seen the hyperactive Maule who had just made a bet with him being reduced to just a pile of ash. He also saw the Magician kill 20 ghouls, a terrifying group of opponents that even he would have problems dealing with, in less than five seconds. The Magician was slaughtering the Dark Elves and skeleton Warriors as though they were livestock.

This was simply incomprehensible.

“Should I interfere?” Bruttan questioned himself. A few seconds later, the answer appeared in his mind, “I would rather not. I will definitely die if I charge forward right now.”

However, that was not a choice as well. If the bratty young girl in the Skeletal Fort were to see his nonchalance, he would still be in trouble. He then quickly thought of a plan and shouted to the ghouls and Death Hand scouts beside him, “This Magician is way too arrogant, to think that he would dare to attack the Skeletal Fort. Let’s go and kill him!”

He brandished the sword in his hand and pointed it in Link’s direction.

The ghouls and Dark Elves behind him exchanged glances. They had also witnessed the entire battle scene and knew first-hand the inhuman strength of this human Magician. Wouldn’t it be suicide to charge forward?

However, the leader had already charged forward. They had no choice but to follow as much as they didn’t want to. After a while, though, they all felt something was amiss. The leader seemed to be running slowly today. They could actually keep up with him easily. This was strange. Oh, he’s running slowly to avoid fighting the Magician…thought the scouts.

No one exposed Bruttan’s dirty trick and simply followed behind him, heading slowly but steadily towards the Magician.

…

The Skeletal Fort

In the musty dark hall in the basement, a shadowy figure of a graceful snake seemed to be entwined with a human man of a strong build. The man was stripped completely naked, and his limbs were constrained by ropes, hanging star-shaped from the wall.

The figure slowly crept along the man’s body as a sinister but gentle voice constantly sounded, “Kanorse, listen. Someone is setting off fireworks. Those pathetic mortals have come to send you off.”

Kanorse wheezed and panted heavily. His eyes were blood red, and a myriad of ominous black aura seemed to be drilling in and out of his body, looking as though countless small black snakes were crawling all over him.

Upon hearing the detestable sound, he shook his head slightly to remain conscious and spoke with a muffled voice, “I will not yield! I will never give in and become a demon! I will never…never…”

“Oh. Haha! What a foolish mortal. You really think that fireworks boy will be able to save you? No, no, soon his soul will become a beautiful display of fireworks as well.”

As she spoke, she slithered down from Kanorse’s body and headed towards the exit of the hall.

When she exited the hall and walked up to the first level of the Skeletal Fort, she raised her voice slightly and hollered, “My dearest, are you hungry?”

Sssssss

A venomous hiss replied to her bewitching voice. Following which, a giant black-scaled snake at least three feet in width and 80 feet in length slithered out from the dark corner of the hall. The moment the giant snake reached the figure, a blinding brilliance shone from its scales. By the time this light dissipated, a black whip with a snake head at its tip had appeared in the hands of the figure.

Wielding the whip, the figure headed straight for the entrance of the fortress. It was then she saw a black-robed Magician awaiting her arrival.

The black-robed Magician sniggered upon seeing her and said, “Master, the person outside is the Demon Slayer.”

“Oh, Talon, are you sure?”

“Definitely. I have seen him in combat during his fight with Tarviss at the East Cove Higher Magic Academy. I am extremely familiar with his magic fluctuation.” The person talking was Blood Demon Talon, the escaped prisoner from the Tower of Azula.”

“Are you confident in defeating him?” The figure asked.

“Previously, I wouldn’t have been able to. However, now that I have received the blessings of the Lady of Darkness, coupled with the power of this powerful magic staff, I am more than confident in doing so.”

“Alright then. Go ahead while I offer support from the fortress.” The figure smiled at Talon with an alluring expression.

“Wait for my good news!”

Upon saying that line, a blood red miasma enveloped Talon’s body. He then flew at breakneck speed out from the Skeletal Fort.

The figure watched as Talon prepared for battle, moving to the rooftop of the Skeletal Fort for a better view.

Upon reaching the rooftop, she saw the ball of blood red miasma already a mile away from where she last remembered. It was rapidly closing the distance between itself and the Demon Slayer.

She then sniggered, and she said, “Oh mortal, you have always overestimated your abilities. I shall wait and see which of you two is stronger, and more suitable to become my humble servant.”

Her voice was still as bewitching and dreamy as ever.

Chapter 232: The Showdown Between the Master Magicians (Part 1)

 

On the icy fields in front of the Skeletal Fort.

When the dark red fog appeared, Link had stopped using his Flame Blast spell.

He’d now cast a total of five Flame Blasts, consuming about 1800 Mana Points. Because of the Clear Thoughts effect from his robe, his Mana was constantly recovering. Thus, his Mana was now at 3600 points, slightly more than half of what he started with.

The dark red fog moved quickly towards him, and it caused a mysterious fluctuation in the air as it traveled across the distance.

An Occult Magician! Link realized. A very strong one, too! At least Level-7!

The thought had just popped up in his mind when the dark red fog reached about 400 feet away from him and condensed into a blood-red, shadowy figure. The figure condensed even more and eventually became solid. It was now a person wearing a black robe.

In that process, Link could feel that there was an explosion of Mana like a lightning flash in the sky. Immediately afterwards, a blood-red light ring appeared in front of the black-robed figure.

As soon as that happened, alarm bells rang in Link’s mind.

It’s a Level-7 spell, and it’s extremely dangerous!

Link knew that this must be something the opponent unleashed using special magic gear, possibly a tremendously powerful wand!

The blood-red light ring rapidly expanded in the air. In less than half a second, its diameter had reached about 15 feet. Furthermore, a large number of silky strands of blood appeared in the air surrounding it at the same time.

Link was alarmed at the sight. He’d recognized this spell now. At the same time, a notification popped up on the interface showing the spell’s specific information.

Blood Rays

Level-7 Master Spell

Mana Consumption: 3900 Points

Effects: Creates a terrorizing light ray with a diameter of three feet and the range of 500 feet. This ray of light will circle around the spellcaster once and shoot out towards the target. Unless the target has the protection of an anti-magic shield that works against spells higher than Level-7, then the target will be disintegrated into a fog of blood.

(Note: You can’t escape from this spell!)

Had Link been a Warrior, he would definitely turn around and flee by now. He’d run as fast as possible until he escaped the range of 500 feet from this Magician, then he’d be safe.

But he was a Magician.

If it had been a few months ago, Link would be utterly helpless against this spell. The only way out would be to use Dimensional Jump and escape. But now, he was a full-fledged Master Magician.

Within seconds, Link had found a way to deal with this frightening spell. He focused his attention and entered the spellcasting state. Then, he pointed his wand at the space in front of him and chanted, “Spatial Distortion!”

Spatial Distortion

Grade-less Dimensional Spell

Mana Consumption: 230 Points

Effects: Distorts the space and diverts the movement direction of all types of physical materials or energy forms.

(Note: Mortals, if you value your life, don’t bother trying to understand the principle underlying this spell.)

This was Link’s own dimensional spell. The principle around this spell was derived from his own space-time thesis and Vance’s notebooks. On the surface, it didn’t seem complicated at all. But, any ordinary Magician would melt their brain if they attempted to understand the complex theories that made this spell possible.

The Mana in Link’s body quickly surged into the wand and took the form of an extremely intricate and mysterious spell structure. At first glance, this spell structure might even seem simple. The Mana it consumed wasn’t all that much either, nothing more than a normal Level-4 spell. This made it possible for Link to complete the spellcasting within 0.01 second.

Then, as his intention directed it, the spell structure began to oscillate at high speed.

A strange occurrence then followed. In the oscillation process, no elements responded to the spell structure at all—no basic elements, no light elements, no dark elements nor any secret elements were reactive to this spell structure.

Immediately afterwards, the air in front of Link appeared to change. No—a more accurate way to describe it was that the light in front of him was twisted, and at a glance, there seemed to be a giant lens in the space in front of Link.

In the instant when this lens appeared, the Blood Ray struck it.

“Ah!!!!”

There was a roar of anger, and the thick ray of light shot out and hit Link’s body.

The greatest advantage of using a light spell was that its speed was basically as fast as the speed of light. Once it was aimed and shot out, there was no way for the target to dodge it.

But precisely because of that speed, though, it was difficult for such spells to be controlled after it was cast. The aim must be locked before the spell was unleashed because once it’s out, it would be impossible for the spellcaster to control it.

A moment later, the light column had reached Link, and it inevitably fell into the distorted space.

Then, something peculiar happened.

Once the Blood Ray entered the lens, the originally straight ray of light suddenly bent and took a turn around Link’s body. Although the scene looked shocking, Link was actually completely unharmed.

The Bloodmage Talon was surprised for a moment and couldn’t understand what he saw. He thought that maybe Link had used a teleportation spell to send the ray of light away, but he’d never expected Link to directly break down his attack like that.

But this is a Level-7 spell! Talon thought. How did he…? Could it be…a spatial spell?

As a Master Magician, it wasn’t difficult for Talon to see through Link’s tricks.

Of all the types of spells, only one kind could be used against spells of any level.

It could deflect any spells no matter the level, with the same amount of efficiency. For instance, even if Talon cast a Level-8, or even a Level-9 spell at Link, as long as it was a light spell, it would always get bent and distorted away from Link.

That was what set spatial spells apart from the rest.

This kind of spell was so powerful that every Magician dreamed of mastering it. Alas, these types of spells were notoriously difficult to master, difficult enough that it would make most Magicians give up!

So far, the only spatial spells that normal Magicians could master were those used to create storage gear, such as storage rings and storage pendant and so on. Yet, those that could be used in battles were of such high difficulty that you would have to be an unrivaled genius to be able to grasp its principles enough to learn it properly. So, as soon as he saw Link used this spatial spell, Talon immediately discarded his underestimation of the Magician in front of him.

It was no exaggeration that people called this Demon Slayer the true successor of the Legendary Magician Bryant!

At this point, Talon had completely condensed into his human form. He stood about 300 feet away from Link. This distance was the range limit for normal Magicians. If he took a step backwards, he’d be able to dodge the opponent’s attacks. If he took a step forward, he’d be able to kill the opponent directly with his attacks.

He began to carefully observe Link, looking for another opening to attack him. His mind was so focused and preoccupied that he didn’t have time to cast a defensive spell to protect himself. This was because the moment he did so Link would immediately attack him and force him into a defensive position. That would give Link the upper hand.

Talon knew that he still had a huge advantage over Link. The Skeleton Warriors were still surrounding Link and attacking him tirelessly. This meant that his attention was diverted, and there was always a chance that he would make a mistake as he fought off the Skeleton Warriors. And when that happened, Talon would pounce on him immediately!

On the other side, Link was also observing Talon.

The Magician in front of Link had eyes that glowed red. His whole body was clad in a black robe, and the peculiar wand in his hand shone with a strange green glow.

The singular wand had a cat’s eye stone on its tip, and this stone was carved into a face that was screaming in horror. The green glow was from the eyes of this face.

Link recognized this wand. He locked his gaze with his opponent’s every move, and the Glass Orbs kept emerging non-stop from the tip of his wand, crushing the heads of any Skeleton Warrior who dared to approach him. At the same time, he opened his mouth to utter the opponent’s wand’s name.

“The Century’s Nightmare,” Link said, “the Soul Taker’s Wand.”

Link had dealt with Morestern before. His wand, the Night’s Stare, the Dark Arbiter’s Wand, was the third most powerful epic-quality dark magic wand. But this wand, the Century’s Nightmare, was the fifth.

Judging from this fact, the Magician was able to quickly cast a Level-7 spell earlier because of this wand.

“Demon Slayer,” sneered Talon, “you have a big reputation yourself.”

As he spoke, his eyes still carefully observed Link’s movements, waiting for him to make the tiniest mistake as he unleashed his Glass Orbs.

Link didn’t rush, though. He was as calm as ever, and he was waiting for an opening to attack his opponent as well. He then took a glance at the Skeletal Fort behind the black-robed Magician.

“There’s someone extremely powerful in that fort behind you,” he said. “Why didn’t they appear? Why did they send such a weak opponent like you to fight me?”

Talon was stunned and angered.

“When you bite the dust by my own hands,” he threatened, “then you’ll see how weak I really am.”

At that moment, Talon suddenly noticed a movement in the corner of his eye. His eyes shone immediately when he discovered that it was Bruttan, and he was rushing towards them. In no more than half a second later, Bruttan would be joining this battle.

When that time came, there would not be a chance for this Magician to defeat both of them at once!

“You are strong, I’ll give you that,” said Talon with a smirk. “But you made a grave mistake in coming alone. You will meet your end soon, Demon Slayer!”

But just at this point, something unexpected occurred.

Link suddenly made a mistake. The Glass Orb that was supposed to crush a skeleton soldier’s skull had missed the target, and in the end, it only broke the skull in half. The Soul’s Flame inside the skeleton’s brain was not extinguished, so the skeleton managed to break through Link’s line of defense.

Link seemed to panic, and that’s when Talon’s eyes lit up.

Now was his chance!

It was a rare opening, and as long as he managed to cast a spell before Link, he would surely kill him. Almost subconsciously, Talon’s Mana surged into his wand, and he prepared to cast a spell.

But just at this moment, Talon suddenly noticed a smile in the corner of Link’s lips!

He was taken by surprise, so his movements slowed down by a fraction of a second.

Was that mistake deliberate? Talon wondered. Was that a trap? Or does he have another trick up his sleeve?

Doubts and hesitations were hazardous to a Magician when they were in battle, especially when both sides were Master Magicians.

No one knew what spells the opposing Magician would cast next. Sometimes, even when one Magician clearly had the upper hand, they could still be toppled and defeated at the very last second.

Link’s strange smile had made Talon hesitate, and he suddenly didn’t want to take any risks. He could just wait a dozen or more seconds, and Bruttan would be there. Then, he would certainly defeat Link with half the risk and effort.

He must be patient.

But could Talon afford to hesitate at such a crucial moment in the showdown between two Master Magicians?

Chapter 233: A Duel Between Master Magicians (Part 2)

 

A person who had become a Master Magician by virtue of their own efforts was definitely someone to be feared. They would by no means be an easy opponent!

Blood Demon Talon was an old undead magician who had lived for hundreds of years. He had accumulated many battle experiences over the years. In the face of such a veteran combat Magician, Link dared not make even the slightest mistake. He might be defeated in the next second if he was careless!

Similarly, Blood Demon Talon was also wary of Link’s actions.

The moment he showed hesitation in attacking Link, he knew that he had made the wrong move!

This guy is truly sinister. This is his real killer move!

Due to his slight hesitation, he had unconsciously lost a bit of his control over the Mana surging through his wand. This energy would then descend into a state of temporary stagnation. In the Magician world, this phenomenon was commonly termed as Mana Inertia.

He would then have to wait if he wanted to use this Mana again.

For a Master Magician, the time taken for the state of Mana Inertia to pass was merely less than a tenth of a second. However, in this one-tenth of a second where Talon was experiencing a delay, Link seized an opportunity to attack!

To be precise, this opportunity was created by Link himself.

The Glyph of Soul trembled slightly and resonated with Link’s magic fluctuation. In an instant, the Titan’s Hand appeared and charged towards Talon at full speed.

Talon gritted his teeth disdainfully as he knew that his hesitation had cost him his offensive advantage. He had now gone the defensive side of the battle.

However, he did not panic, he thought, Bruttan is close by. It will be less than ten seconds before he arrives. I can do this.

In the face of the merciless Level-6 spell, the Titan’s Hand, Talon decided to make a swift retreat instead of fighting it headlong. At this moment, the perfect distance he had deliberately kept between the both of them since the beginning of the battle had shown its miraculous effect.

He was 300 feet away from Link, and a spell like the Titan’s Hand was considered to be a long-distance controlled spell. Usually, a distance of 300 feet would be the limit of such spells. He merely took a few steps backwards and was safely out of the attacking range.

As Talon retreated, he had already recovered from his state of Mana Inertia. He still chose to fight with a conservative strategy. Instead of aggressively trying to destroy Link, he cast a defensive spell on himself.

As time was tight, the defensive spell he cast was not an exceptionally powerful one. It was only Level-4 in strength and was not meant to defend against Link’s trademark spell, the Titan’s Hand. It was merely to protect him from the magic shockwaves that would occur from the casting of a powerful Level-6 fire elemental spell.

Bruttan, you have to hurry!

Talon was looking at the tall and powerful demon from the corner of his eyes this whole time. It was clear that the other party had noticed the opportunity and was running at full speed. However, he was still too far away.

Talon continued to retreat while he started charging a spell in preparation for a counter attack. This was not meant to defeat the opponent, but to instill fear in him to buy him time until Bruttan arrived.

It could be said that Talon’s reaction to Link’s attack was flawless. It would be near impossible for any Magician to take him down quickly if he had this type of awareness in battle. They might even be defeated while thinking that they still had the advantage if they were not careful.

However, something out of the ordinary still happened.

At this moment, his opponent cast a spell that was completely out of his expectations.

“Dimensional Jump!”

Link multitasked and made use of the in-game system to activate the Legendary support spell while controlling the Titan’s Hand.

One thousand and eight hundred of his precious Mana Points were instantly used up by the in-game system. With a light humming sound, a white light enveloped his body before he disappeared from his current spot.

Talon was slightly shocked at this action but rationalized Link’s actions; this guy was not stupid after all. He knew that his situation was desperate and decisively escaped. However, how far can you go with this spell? You are still dead!

Another light humming sound could be heard, and a white light appeared once again. This time around, the white light did not appear in the distance as Talon predicted, but merely 90 feet behind from Talon, exactly at his blind spot.

Talon merely felt a slight magic fluctuation behind him and suddenly felt fear in his heart. He had not yet understood what just happened.

His instinctive reaction was to turn and look behind him. And it was this instinctive reaction that cost him his chance of escaping.

Link had lost all connections with his Titan’s Hand spell while he was casting the Dimensional Jump spell. He knew that the Titan’s Hand should be in the midst of disintegrating at this point. However, the disintegration process would take time as well. In an instant, after Link teleported himself, he would regain connection with the Titan’s Hand. However, at this moment, the Titan’s Hand had already completely disintegrated. It was impossible for Link to form it back up again.

But this was not what Link was aiming for all this while. It was not the spell he needed, but the fire elements that made up the spell. This would greatly reduce his spellcasting speed for the next Titan’s Hand as he saved the time needed to accumulate elemental energy!

Glyph of Soul, magic resonance, Titan’s Hand!

Within 0.1 seconds, a whole new Titan’s Hand appeared in the air. From an outsider’s perspective, it was as if the disintegrated Titan’s Hand was immediately formed into a complete one again out of thin air.

Furthermore, Link was merely 90 feet away from Talon at this point. The question of spellcasting distance ceased to exist.

Not good! Talon did not expect such a resolute attack from Link—using a teleportation spell commonly used for escaping as an offensive one instead. Is he truly not intending to run away?

It was true that Link now had no chance of escaping. However, before he would meet his doom, Talon would very likely be killed first!

“Damn it! This crazy bastard!” Talon still had one triumph card left. This triumph card lay in the powerful wand he had in his hand. He shouted, “Scream of Fear!”

Scream of Fear

Level-6 Spell

Cost: 1950 Mana Points

Effect: Deals heavy psychological damage to all enemies within a 270 feet radius. The effect of this spell depends greatly on the willpower and mental strength of the targets.

(Note: Do not use this spell on opponents with extremely strong willpower.)

A dark purple light started spreading in all directions with Talon as its focal point. The Skeleton Warriors around Talon were naturally unable to withstand this strong psychological impact, and the Flame of Soul immediately extinguished from their eyes, rendering them into a pile of brittle bones.

Well, this was the unintended side effect of the spell. Not a big deal.

In Talon’s mind, Link would at the very least be slightly affected by this spell and lose his concentration for a moment. This would likely lead to a rebound of his Mana or even the disintegration of his spell, giving him an opportunity to retaliate.

However, nothing went according to his plan.

Talon had once again made a mistake. In fact, he should not have used spells that targeted a person’s mental well-being in these crucial circumstances. There were simply too many variables in these spells, especially when he did not know the exact mental strength of his opponent.

He had witnessed Link’s perfect control over a Level-9 spell. If a Magician was able to control such a powerful spell just shy of Legendary status, naturally, they must have had a strong soul and willpower.

It was not that Talon did not remember this scene. The fact that Link had consecutively exceeded his expectations in this short battle had already completely destroyed his usual combat mentality.

That was the reason for all his mistakes.

When the dark purple light passed through Link’s body, Link merely felt a slight impact on his brain as though he were hit on the head by a small object. There seemed to be no other effects as he continued focusing on his Titan’s Hand spell.

Boom!

This attack hit Talon from a higher angle, smashing him right into the thick layer of snow on the ground. The snow was instantly melted by the Titan’s Hand and crushed Talon’s body all the way into the ground.

Talon was merely a Magician. Although his body was slightly more resilient than ordinary humans, it was hardly enough to withstand the full impact of a Level-6 spell. His body exploded like a bubble upon the heavy impact and was immediately roasted into a crisp by the heat of the Titan’s Hand spell. Following which, Link saw a translucent light ball appear from Talon’s body which quickly flew away in the opposite direction.

“Is this the physical manifestation of the soul?” Link frowned. The traveling speed of the soul was way too fast. Link was not fast enough, nor did he have the time to pursue it. This was because an extremely powerful demon was quickly closing in on him; Bruttan was now 600 feet away.

At this moment, Link had less than 1000 Mana Points left in his body. However, he still had 300 Omni Points, which would be more than enough to deal with this hideous demon.

He turned to face the demon as the tip of his wand glowed in a warm light. Link was waiting for his opponent to rush in before he made the first attack. However, something peculiar happened. This demon stopped in his tracks and started retreating. The ghouls and Dark Elf Scouts behind him followed as well, instinctively walking backwards.

It was a funny sight as they stared warily at Link while the retreated. They continued this way until they covered a distance of 300 feet, before turning their backs against Link and running for their lives.

The Dark Dragon Warrior was already defeated, and Blood Demon Talon had already become a pile of barbecued, minced meat. They were both defeated in an instant. They would only continue charging forward if they were masochists.

Link merely laughed and did not give chase to this group of jokers. He simply turned and looked at the Skeletal Fort.

“Auselia, you can’t just ignore this. Am I right?” Link chuckled.

Auselia was the name of the wielder of the Dark Serpent in the game. Link believed that in the World of Firuman, it would be no different.

In the Skeletal Fort,Auselia seemed to have felt Link’s gaze. She stared at Link from a distance and said, “The Demon Slayer…He is even more perfect than I have imagined.”

She lowered her head as she caressed the whip in her hand, before gently whispering, “My darling, you should be very satisfied with his soul. Am I right?”

Ssssss. The whip in her hand gave a sinister hiss. It longed for such a delicious and powerful soul.

“Then, I will capture him personally!” Auselia smiled bewitchingly.

Upon saying those words, she stood up and walked towards the edge of the rooftop. She did not stop when she hit the edges. Instead, she merely continued walking and took gentle strides across the atmosphere.

She did not cast any spells in this whole process. She simply levitated gracefully in the air, seemingly taking a leisurely stroll through the park. However, she was, in fact, heading towards Link at an insane speed.

Compared to the Magician right in front of her eyes, the Dark Dragon Warrior, Blood Demon Talon, Demon Bruttan, and even the Dawn Swordsman paled in comparison. She would gladly give them up.

While she was in mid-air, Auselia turned to look at the Skeletal Fort. She could feel the presence of a few outsiders in her territory. She then sneered, “Magician, are you attracting my attention so that your companions can save the Dawn Swordsman? That is a pretty good idea, although it may be a tad too naive.”

Chapter 234: If You Can’t Fight, Flee!

 

Good. Now Link had lured out Auselia, the guardian of the god-level device. Felina and the rest should have no problem-saving Karnose in the fortress.

Just as Auselia walked out of the Skeletal Fort, there was a notification on the interface.

Mission Completed: Sneak in or Storm in?

Player is rewarded with 100 Omni Points.

Player receives the Elemental Affinity Bloodline.

Fuse Bloodline now?

Link did not answer the gaming system at once, as he thought of the terrible experience he had with body transformation previously.

He watched the looming figure of Auselia.

“How long would the transformation take?” he asked the gaming system.

Half an hour.

“Not now, then,” answered Link, as he began to retreat.

Right now, Auselia’s strength was far beyond Link’s current powers to fight, so he decided to run for now.

But of course, in order to ensure that Felina would successfully rescue the Dawn Swordsman, he must not run so fast that Auselia couldn’t catch up to him…Well, forget that. It was clear as day to Link now how frighteningly fast Auselia was!

Link thought of an idea.

“Increase maximum Mana limit,” he instructed the gaming system. “Use 200 Omni Points.”

Not only that, but Link also took out the high-grade Mana potion and gulped it all down. Right now, his Mana had increased to 4135 points. Then, Link unhesitatingly activated the Dimensional Jump.

He’d now burned 1800 Mana points in one move. White light began to enshroud Link’s body, and an instant later, he was half a mile away from where he stood.

He looked back and saw how Auselia’s figure had shrunk to a barely visible dot in the vast white snowy field.

Without wasting a second, Link continued to run.

“Lightweight!”

“Cheetah’s Agility!”

With the aid of these two spells, Link jumped down from the top of a snowy slope, and he then floated in the air like a feather. After drifting like that for about 100 feet, his body started to drop. But just before he landed, he gently tapped against the snowy ground and that gave him the momentum to float further. And that was how Link managed to flee without leaving a trace of his footsteps on the snow.

His speed was still quite fast at almost about 70 feet per second. Still, it was far from quick enough. From what he’d seen, Auselia was as fast as the Wind Tiger at about 650 feet per second. Compared to that, his speed was like that of a crawling turtle. She would catch up to him soon enough.

As expected, when Link finally reached the bottom of the slope which was about 650 feet away, ten seconds later, Auselia was already waiting for him there.

“Why are you running, Link?” she asked with her enchanting voice. “Don’t be afraid of me. I won’t hurt you.”

Auselia’s voice gave Link goosebumps all over.

In the game, although her real name was Auselia, no one called her by it. She was more popularly known as the Serpent Lady. It was said that there were many players who were charmed by her voice. Some even got turned just by listening to her speak, while others were enticed by the way she twisted her slender waist as she walked. Many players even created fan videos with lewd contents with titles like, “The Day the Serpent Lady and I F*cked.”

But that was just the game players’ craze which Link himself had never taken part in. Especially now, when the Serpent Lady was trying to drag him back to the fort to transform him into an occult being. The only sensation her voice triggered in him was dread and loathing. He wanted nothing more than to get as far away from this woman as he possibly could.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to run away from her now. Even if he summoned the Storm Eagle, he wouldn’t be able to fly that far away since his Mana was running low.

But Link still had some tricks up his sleeve.

He watched Auselia slowly and casually walk down from the snowy slope. He then took out the light rune stone that Herrera gave him. This rune stone contained an immense force. Judging from its aura, Link estimated that it should have the same power as a Level-7 spell. However, even this was far from enough to injure Auselia. Without some cunning adjustments, it probably wasn’t enough to even slow her down.

After taking out the rune stone, Link still didn’t use it straight away. First, he cast another spell–Spatial Distortion!

About 0.1 seconds later, a spherical lens with a diameter of about 6.5 feet appeared near his body. It looked just like a giant transparent glass marble.

That was the first step in Link’s strategy.

Then, Link activated the light rune stone.

The light energy that it contained was triggered, and a white light suddenly appeared on the surface of the rune stone. It expanded and then erupted, but just before the eruption occurred, Link quickly threw the rune stone into the giant distorted space beside him.

Once the rune stone reached the center of the sphere of distorted space, a bright explosion of light appeared. But what was strange was that the light was distorted and trapped inside the space, never escaping from the sphere. If the rays of light were conscious, they would think that they were traveling in a perfectly straight line, but to those observing from the outside, the light was actually just circling around in that closed sphere of distorted space.

The reason for this was simple—the space within that sphere had been bent into a ring!

At that moment, it seemed that the sphere was barely emitting any light, so it looked just as transparent as before and just as harmless.

On the snowy slope, Auselia kept on walking leisurely. She didn’t think much of Link’s actions as she thought that they were far too weak to pose any threat to her. In her eyes, right now it was just as if her little pet was playing with its toy. There was no reason for her to interfere with its games at all.

But soon enough, it didn’t look so innocent to her anymore. The transparent ball near Link only gave off a faint light, and it looked harmless right now, but that was exactly why Auselia was stunned. Light energy was one the most difficult forces to control in the world. Once it was unleashed, there was no turning back, nor was there any way to control its path or behavior. But this Magician in front of her was using his dimensional spell to control the power of an immense source of light energy as deftly as a horseman would tame a wild horse with a bridle!

That just demonstrated astonishing wit and power!

“Ah…what an exquisite, beautiful, innocent and wise thing you are, Link,” she said. “But, I’m afraid your playtime is over.”

As she spoke, Auselia’s speed suddenly accelerated to full speed and her outline suddenly become hazy. She then moved so fast that she seemed more like a streak of light as she rushed towards Link.

Link just stood there not moving at all. His eyes suddenly focused and turned extremely dark. He was now entering the spellcasting state.

At that moment, everything in the world seemed to move at a glacial speed, including Auselia, whose speed at the time was so fast that normal people wouldn’t be able to see her clearly. But, she still wasn’t the fastest opponent that Link had ever fought against. Auselia’s speed was, in fact, only half as fast as Nana’s.

Although this speed was still frighteningly fast, even Nana had never been able to launch a sneak attack on Link, so what chance did Auselia have?

Link’s gaze was fixed on Auselia, and his spirits were calm. At the same time, he controlled the distorted space which helped him compress and control the light energy within it.

The process lasted for about half a second; Link knew that he’d reached the crucial point while Auselia was now only 100 feet away from him.

“Go!” shouted Link.

In that instant, the trapped light energy suddenly found a spot where it could escape the distorted space, and immediately, all the energy that was entombed inside now surged out through this small aperture.

In Auselia’s eyes what she saw was this: Link held a wand in his hand, and in front of the wand was the giant crystal light ball. In the center of this ball, there was a purple light. When viewed from the side, this purple light didn’t seem all that bright, but it did look compressed. Auselia had thought that this light didn’t pose any threat at all because the power that she sensed from the light ball didn’t feel that intense. But when this purple light hit her body, she could feel that it was extremely hot. She instinctively put up a Level-7 dark energy light shield.

She knew that this light wasn’t bright because it was infinitely condensed and focused. When viewed from the side, it looked quite dim, but when viewed directly, it was bright enough to blind the observer’s eyes. `

Buzzzz!!!

The ray of light penetrated through the Level-7 shield as if it was as thin and fragile as a soap bubble.

Bamm!!!

Auselia’s forehead was directly struck by the ray of light, creating a fist-sized hole through her skull. Because of this, she lost her balance immediately and was flung out away from Link. When her body was still in mid-air, Link clearly saw a black film of light around her body which kept her protected. Link knew that even with a hole through her skull, Auselia would still not be dead. The forces from the god-level device still protected her. Auselia was the Dark Serpent’s puppet now, so she wouldn’t be defeated quite so easily. With Link’s current strength, there was no way that he could destroy this layer of defense around Auselia’s body. Link estimated that even the presence of another Legendary Magician wouldn’t guarantee that they’d be able to defeat Auselia.

Through the black film around her body, Link could see that the hole in Auselia’s skull was rapidly healing and growing into new pieces of brain, muscle, blood veins and so on. This great leader of the ghouls had ten times the recovery rate compared to normal ghouls. Even a hole through her skull was just a small injury because she was no longer an independent life form. She was now a slave to the god-level device’s!

Nevertheless, Link’s attack still had an effect on her. She would experience severe headaches and be in a confused daze for a while. Judging from the speed of her wound’s healing, it would probably take Auselia a minute to regain her senses.

This was the golden opportunity to reactivate the teleportation spell.

Buzz…

A white light enveloped Link’s body, and he vanished from the spot. A moment later, he reappeared, but he didn’t escape further south. Instead, he was now at the Skeletal Fort’s gates.

Auselia would soon regain her senses, so Link rushed into the fortress while killing off the Skeleton Warriors he met on the way.

“Felina!” he shouted. “Annie! Larson! Get Karnose and come out now!”

Three seconds later, Link saw Felina rush out from the great hall on the first floor. She led the way wielding her weapons which were two giant dragon claws, and behind her, Annie and the rest followed. Annie and the other scouts were supporting Karnose who seemed to be enshrouded in a layer of dark energy.

Karnose seemed to maintain a shred of consciousness, but his eyes were red, and his body twitched unnaturally from time to time. It seemed that he was in a terrible condition.

Seeing that, Link felt a foreboding sense of danger. But now, there was no time left to dilly-dally, so he cast a Flame Blast at the hundreds of Skeleton Warriors.

Boom!!!

The Skeleton Warriors were all crushed to pieces, and Link rushed forward to join up with Felina and the rest.

Once he reached them, he immediately took out the Dimensional Scroll from Eleanor.

“Follow me, everyone,” he whispered. “We must leave here through another realm!”

Realms could be understood in earth terms as dimensions. There were many dimensions in the universe, some expanded infinitely, some constricted themselves to form loops. Generally, humans could only survive in expanded dimensions, and those were the fundamental dimensions of our world.

A Magician, on the other hand, could enter looped dimensions as well, and these were known as the alternate realms.

In theory, there was an infinite number of alternate realms. Not all of these realms were suitable for life, though. In fact, only about ten of them were conducive to life.

But to enter an alternate realm, one would need a key.

The Dimensional Scroll that Eleanor gave Link was one such key. With it, one could then enter the realm of the soul. It could be very dangerous there, as you would see dead wandering souls, nightmarish creatures that devoured souls and so on. Nevertheless, right now this dangerous place was better than the real world where Auselia was pursuing them.

After all, entering the realm of the soul was the only way Link and the rest could escape from the Skeletal Fort and return to Icy Peak Fortress.

The rest of them who weren’t Magicians didn’t completely understand these concepts about alternate realms or dimensions, though. The scouts were completely flummoxed; Annie could understand parts of it, while Felina was completely familiar with it. She was the first person to respond to Link.

“Understood,” she said with a nod. “Bring us in then!”

Link nodded then activated the Dimensional Scroll.

A soft whoosh followed, then the entire scene before them changed in an instant.

The rough terrain of the surrounding didn’t change much, but there was no more Skeletal Fortress, no more cold wind, and no more snowy fields. The countless Skeleton Warriors had vanished as well, but everything was replaced by a huge city.

The city was full of people who looked like the Icefield Barbarians judging by their appearances and attire. Their expressions were very odd. They looked numb, their eyes were blank, and they walked around aimlessly. They even ignored Link and the rest when they walked past them.

The strange thing was that all their scalps were burnt or scalded.

“What kind of a ghostly place is this?” asked a scout.

“This is the Skeletal Fort in the realm of the soul,” whispered Link. “These are the souls that hadn’t been swallowed by the Dark Serpent yet. Let’s move quickly now; we’ll take a detour to the North. Be careful not to let yourself be seen by the Dark Serpent.”

Auselia herself was not so frightening, what was frightening was the god-level device in her hands, whose attacks could easily pass through the barriers between different realms, so they must always be cautious.

Chapter 235: Soul Realm

 

Auselia could return to the Skeletal Fort anytime. The Divine Gear that she wielded indeed possessed terrifying power. Link and his group hence ran at full speed within the Soul Realm.

Two minutes later, they had successfully gotten out of the heart of the chilling and brutal Pralync Kingdom.

However, this was still less than a mile away from the Skeletal Fort. This distance wasn’t far enough as they could still be easily located by the Dark Serpent. They had to keep moving forward.

“Speed up! Pick up the pace!” Link urged.

However, the others seemed to be struggling. They were not even traveling faster than an ordinary human.

“Link, my Battle Aura seems to be depleted,” Annie said with a frown.

“My feet feel like lead. How can I only have such little strength?” Felina said as she trudged forward with Kanorse on her back. This would be an easy feat in the Physical Realm. However, in the Soul Realm, she felt completely exhausted after carrying him for only a short distance.

Link kept his gaze in the direction of the Skeletal Fort as he explained, “The change in the realm means a change in the principles and laws of the world. In the Soul Realm, the dominant physical force that we are used to will be suppressed. Instead, the power of the soul which we often overlook in the Physical Realm will be greatly magnified. In the Soul Realm, as long as one holds on to hope and faith, he will be granted unimaginable power.”

Everyone was confused with Link’s speech. They exchanged glances and saw the perplexed expression on each other’s faces.

They could understand each and every word. However, when they were linked together to form a sentence, it seemed like some indecipherable code. This was embarrassing.

When Link got no reply, he turned around to see the dazed expression on everyone’s faces and patted his forehead apologetically. He then decided to demonstrate it directly, “Watch carefully!”

Following which, they could see streaks of white light enveloping Link together with a dome of mild flame surrounding his exterior body. This was not a blinding brightness, but a mellow and gentle hue that extended to a foot around Link.

Before this, everyone was preoccupied with escaping and did not seem to notice this phenomenon. They now realized that Link was not the only one with this special veil over him. Every one of them possessed it as well, although none of them had a hue half as bright as Link’s.

After some sort of comparison, among the eight of them, Link had the strongest glow, followed by Felina, who had a veil almost half as bright as Link. The third was Kanorse, although Kanorse’s situation was slightly strange.

He was enveloped in a layer of greyish light instead. Closer inspection would reveal a few black snakes slithering in and out of his body. It looked extremely sinister.

Link explained as he ran forward, “This is commonly called the Light of the Soul. The stronger the soul, the brighter the brilliance, and thus the stronger you will be in the Soul Realm. Kanorse’s situation…doesn’t look too good.”

Felina nodded in agreement as she was the one carrying Kanorse this whole time. She said, “His body feels ice cold, and I can vaguely hear a sinister hissing sound coming from his body. I’m afraid he is close to becoming completely demonized.”

Hearing what the people beside him was saying, Kanorse unexpectedly spoke. He muttered in an extremely weak voice, “No, I can still hold on…he will not swallow my consciousness…ah…”

If he was still half-conscious, that meant that there was still hope.

Link stretched out his hand and leisurely fished the heavy and well-built Kanorse from Felina’s shoulders. The ease at which he did the action made Kanorse seem as light as a balloon.

Everyone was dumbfounded at this action. What terrifying strength! After all, Link was a Magician. After being with him this entire mission, the scouts had a good understanding of his power and his physical strength. He definitely did not possess enough strength to lift Kanorse with such ease.

“Now you see. This is the power of the soul. I did not use much strength. I simply thought that I wanted to bring him over, and I imbued that action with enough trust and willpower. Following which, I was able to bring him over easily.”

The scouts still seemed to be confused over this strange phenomenon, while Annie and Felina seemed to be thinking about something.

After a few seconds, Felina similarly stretched her hand and took over Kanorse from Link’s shoulders. She seemed to be doing it with relative ease as well. She then laughed heartily and said, “I see what you mean now. Magician, you are indeed really knowledgeable.”

Link nodded, “That is correct. Alright, we need to speed up. Trust me, all of you will be able to do it!”

These scouts were all elite scouts from the Norton Kingdom. After two successful demonstrations, they were able to achieve some sort of success with movement within the Soul Realm and were able to pick up the pace. This was especially so for Annie. Her speed in the Soul Realm was even faster than her top speed in the Physical Realm, allowing her to trail behind Link and Felina with ease.

“This is amazing.”

“How interesting.”

“Hey Magician, if I believe that I am able to fly, will I really be able to fly in the Soul Realm?” Felina asked.

Link shook his head and answered, “That would be difficult. The laws of physics that bound the Physical Realm also apply to the Soul Realm. You would be able to fly if you believed hard enough, but it would come at a great cost. There is a limit to the power of the soul as well. Alright, we have to speed up, the master of the Skeletal Fort should be catching up soon.”

They then began their escape with solemn expressions on their faces.

After half a minute, everyone suddenly felt that their hearts were especially heavy, as though a large stone was placed upon it. They then looked upwards and saw that the original grey sky had turned a few shades darker. The more terrifying thing was that their speed seemed to have decreased greatly, their legs feeling as though they were trudging through mud.

“What is happening?”

“How is this possible?”

“Is it here?” Felina turned to look at Link.

Link had a serious expression on his face as he turned to look at the sky above the Skeletal Fort. The rest followed his gaze and were horrified at what they saw.

A black-scaled anaconda at least 15 feet in width and more than 600 feet in length had appeared in the sky. It seemed to be levitating in the sky as though it was weightless.

The brilliance on its body was even more terrifying. From afar, it looked as though its body was encircled in pitch black flames from hell. Under the influence of these flames, the skies within a ten-mile radius had all turned many shades darker.

It looked as though the end was coming!

At this time, they were only a little more than a mile away from the Skeletal Fort. They could still clearly see the actions of this giant anaconda. Instead of chasing after them, the giant anaconda made a sucking action the moment it opened its mouth.

Immediately, they saw many souls flying towards the terrifying mouth. Although these souls looked emotionally numbed, they still gave a desperate scream of despair when they knew what was going to happen to them.

This was the cry of the soul and was especially traumatizing to an ordinary human. The scouts were completely heartbroken by the scene, and even the Dragon Warrior Felina went pale from the heart-wrenching scene.

Annie asked Link in a trembling voice, “Why is it devouring souls?”

Link signaled for everyone to keep running as he explained, “I have injured the wielder of the Divine Gear, Auselia, just now. In order to rescue Auselia, it had consumed some of its internal power. For a Divine Gear to maintain a stable presence in the World of Firuman, it needs to have a constant supply of energy. Alas, souls are the largest and most efficient source of energy one could ever find in this world.”

Link decided to stop hiding the facts and came clean with what he knew.

The moment everyone heard this speech, they all staggered and tripped over their steps.

What did they just here? Divine Gear? Isn’t it just a giant snake? Since when did it become a Divine Gear? What is their correlation?

Felina was as shocked as any one of the scouts. She suddenly remembered something and spoke with a voice that trembled violently, “The Dark Serpent…The weapon of the Spider Queen, Lolth? Oh, God of the Dragons, bless me, no wonder it could destroy the balance of the world! It is a Dark Divine Gear. To think that I am fighting against a Divine Gear—I must be mad!”

This was an even greater blow to the scouts. They had always thought the person in the Skeletal Fort was merely an extremely powerful Magician. They had never imagined it would be a Divine Gear at work.

Thinking back upon their actions of infiltrating the Skeletal Fort, everyone felt a chill down their spine.

“What do we do now? We will not be able to defeat the Divine Gear. We will not be able to escape,” a scout cried in despair with a hint of whimpering in his voice.

Everyone looked at Link. The Magician who had gotten them safely out of many predicaments and seemed to be extremely knowledgeable was their last source of hope.

Link still had a calm expression on his face and not a shred of doubt could be seen. This was massively reassuring.

He spoke calmly and said, “Don’t panic. There is nothing to fear. Although it is a Divine Gear, it is still merely a weapon and has its limitations. Look at it now; it seems to be alive in the Soul Realm, devouring souls like no tomorrow. In fact, it is merely a projection of the Divine Gear in the Physical World. Most likely, Auselia is currently using the weapon to absorb souls. Most importantly, she doesn’t seem to have noticed us yet.”

The Divine Gear was indeed strong. However, Auselia was not. The Divine Gear could bestow Auselia with many powerful skills, but it would not be able to increase her intelligence. This was Link’s chance.

After hearing Link’s words and making sure that the Divine Gear was merely absorbing souls while staying stationary, they managed to somehow suppress their feelings of fear.

Link then clapped his hands and encouraged, “Alright, we simply have to keep running until we are out of danger.”

There was nothing more to say, and they ran for their lives at top speed.

Link followed behind the group and would look behind him from time to time to glance at the Dark Serpent’s movements. As he watched, an in-game message appeared in his field of vision.

Triggering Epic Series Mission: Skeletal Fort Step 4

Mission: Escape

Content: Escape from Auselia’s pursuit; Kanorse must stay alive and remain conscious.

Reward 1: 200 Omni Points

Reward 2: Level-7 Glyph of Soul

Two hundred Omni Points was not much. However, the Level-7 Glyph of Soul was extremely enticing. Link had once enjoyed the convenience that came with the Glyph of Soul and simply could not give this up. He accepted the mission without any hesitation and continued to run.

After two more minutes, he realized that the Dark Serpent in the sky had already stopped the devouring of souls. It started looking around and after ten seconds or so locked its gaze in Link’s direction.

Link was horrified. Could he be exposed? However, it did not take him long before he realized what was happening. The Dark Serpent was not looking for him, but Kanorse. Kanorse was enveloped in the power of the Divine Gear, allowing the opponent to locate him easily.

In other words, if they did not dispel the snake venom in Kanorse’s body, the group was akin to holding a torch in the darkness. They would never escape Auselia’s pursuit.

This was horrible!

However, more horrible things started happening—the Dark Serpent in the sky started moving towards them!

Felina also realized the peculiar actions of the Dark Serpent and could not help but cry out, “It is coming towards us—such insane speed! What do we do?”

This was a Divine Gear. They had no intention of going up against it in a direct battle.

Link had naturally realized this as well. In fact, he had found more details, saying, “Don’t panic, it’s not the end yet. We are in the Soul Realm, and the opponent is unlikely to know where we are. Look at it; it is still looking for us!”

Everyone immediately looked over, and sure enough, the Dark Serpent was slithering around in the air without any direction. Although it was traveling in the correct general direction, it would sometimes make a wrong turn and was not exactly advancing towards them.

“Alright, we are heading north right now. We have to run at full speed. The moment we go past the Dark Forest and reach the Ice Peak Fortress, we will have won the battle!”

Everyone was excited at the thought and followed Link’s footsteps. They made a detour before heading north.

In the Soul Realm, they were progressing at a much faster pace. They could cover 150 feet per second. As the distance between the Dark Serpent and the group widened, they regained confidence and their ability to run at an even faster speed. After running for more than half an hour, the Dark Serpent was already completely out of sight.

Link encouraged, “See, the Divine Gear is not as terrifying as we thought.”

Upon seeing this scene, everyone heaved a sigh of relief and moved even faster forward.

After another hour, they had already covered over a hundred miles and were well into the Dark Forest. Many trees appeared in the Soul Realm, and in addition to the fact that there was no snow on the ground, the surface of the trees was also emitting a faint light. It looked almost exactly the same as the Physical Realm, only a bit dimmer.

Suddenly, Felina came to a stop and gasped, “That is weird; did you guys see a shadow run past?”

Chapter 236: The Alternate Black Forest

 

In the alternate Black Forest of the Soul Realm, the light was dim, yet the trees were glowing faintly. When one stared into the distance, everything merged into a muddled haze, and there was no way to discern anything clearly at all.

After hearing what Felina had to say, everyone stopped in their tracks and looked around suspiciously.

Just as the crowd was on alert, the strangest noise emerged out of nowhere.

“Caw caw…Caw caw caw…Hahahaha…”

It sounded like someone was laughing…and it sounded as if the monster that was laughing was standing right behind them.

Everyone was shocked. Link was no exception.

Swoosh! Clang!

Everyone pulled out their weapons and held them tightly in their hands. They stood in a circle with their backs against each other and their eyes facing the source of this bizarre laughing noise.

Link cast an Illumination spell, although its effect was very weak in the Soul Realm. The brightness of the spell was less than one-tenth of its original and wasn’t much brighter than a firefly.

Link tried to improve things by focusing all his attention onto the spell.

Get brighter! Get brighter! Get brighter! he chanted in his mind.

Then, a strange thing happened. The light seemed to hear Link’s thoughts and quickly got brighter. Soon, the magic light was bright enough to illuminate an area with the radius of about 20 feet. Further in the distance, it looked as if a thick fog blanketed over everything, turning the surroundings into a single blurry picture.

“Do you see anything?” asked Link. He was looking left and right trying to catch anything out of the ordinary. Still, he couldn’t find anything.

“No.”

“I don’t either.”

“That’s strange,” said Felina. “I clearly saw it just now. It was about seven feet tall, it had a large head, and it moved at lightning speed.”

“Are you sure you didn’t just imagine it?” asked Annie.

“Are you doubting a Dragon Warrior’s eyes?” retorted Felina coldly, displeased with Annie’s question.

Link believed that Felina saw what she thought she saw.

“Which direction did you see it?” he asked. If it had been other people who saw the dark shadow, Link would probably suspect that they’d made a mistake. But Felina was a Level-7 Warrior; there was no way that she would make such a silly mistake.

Felina pointed to a bush nearby that was more than three feet high.

“Over there,” she said. “I saw it stand by the edge of the bush watching me in the corner of my eye. But the moment I turned to face it, it ran away.”

Link directed the ball of light towards the bush that Felina had just pointed to. The area around the bush then became illuminated, and everyone’s eyes turned to its direction to observe its surroundings.

“I don’t see any signs of anyone passing through here,” said Annie a few minutes later. “What about you guys?”

“Me neither,” answered the scouts, all shaking their heads.

Things seemed to get stranger now. Based on Felina’s descriptions, the shadowy monster had a large head and moved at a fast speed. It was impossible for someone like that to leave absolutely no trace behind.”

“But that’s impossible,” said Felina, flummoxed. “I did see it very clearly. How could this be?”

Link sensed that something was not quite right.

He couldn’t find any explanations for what was happening. He’d entered the alternate realm before in the game to complete some missions, but each time the journey was brief and uneventful. Simply said, he’d never experienced anything quite so odd as the situation they were currently in before.

He just didn’t know what to expect here anymore. What creatures dwelled in this realm? What would happen to them? He just didn’t know. He had a vague feeling that they were being watched by some creature, but he had no idea how to deal with it.

If they continued this way, Link feared that something bad would happen.

Link looked up at the sky again through the gaps between the branches and leaves. It was dark and gray, and he could feel a certain pressure which indicated that the Dark Serpent still followed them; it was not that far behind.

This completely crushed their decision to use this path to return to the physical realm from here.

“Let’s move closer together,” he said after considering it for a while. “Make sure none of us get separated. Felina, you walk in front, I’ll walk in the back, and Annie, you and the rest walk in the middle.”

The Soul Realm might contain some kind of power that affects the mind. Among them, he and Felina possessed the strongest souls, so they would be the most resistant to that kind of influence. It was wisest to let the scouts walk in the middle.

Everyone nodded silently and adjusted their formation, then continued their journey.

As they went deeper into the Black Forest, the trees got denser, and the forest got darker and darker. If it wasn’t for the faint glow that the trees emitted, the wouldn’t be able to see their own fingers stretched out in front of them.

Hahaha…Hahahahaha…

Just when they least expected it, the laughter was heard again, and it almost gave them a heart attack.

Soon after, in the middle of the party, a scout called Eric suddenly turned around and stared into the dense forest then smiled.

“Oh, Ally, my dear daughter…” he murmured. “You’re still alive! Ally…”

He was about to walk away from the rest of the group and into the depths of the forest.

The other scouts hurried forward and pulled him back while shouting his name.

“Eric! Wake up!” they yelled. “Eric! Eric! Get it together!”

They slapped his face as they shouted his name, but the scout didn’t respond to them at all. The eerie smile remained on his face; it was as if he was in a state of bliss.

After a while, his body no longer moved, then a faint shadow slipped out of his body which then flew quickly into the forest, vanishing from their view. When they looked at Eric again, they found that he’d stopped breathing.

“He’s dead,” said Larson. He looked at Link with eyes full of horror.

The expressions on the other scouts were no different.

The whole forest turned dead silent for a while. This realm had now gotten even scarier than they’d expected.

“That’s what it looked like!” Felina shouted suddenly. “The dark shadow I saw earlier moved with the same speed as the shadow that came out of Eric’s body!”

Felina’s voice helped Annie regain her senses. She then carefully inspected the direction the shadow moved earlier.

“There’s no sign on the ground at all,” said Annie.

“Was it Eric’s soul just now?”

“He was murmuring the name Ally just now,” said Felina. “Who’s Ally?”

“Ally is the name of his dead daughter,” answered a scout who was Eric’s friend. “She’d fallen into the river and drowned because of Eric’s negligence. He’d always blamed himself for her death.”

“Then was it Ally’s voice just now?” asked Felina. “Or was it something else that pretended to be Ally to lure Eric?”

The scouts all stared at each other, each imagining scarier things in their heads.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” said Felina to Link. “What should we do now?”

Link frowned deeply now. He looked up into the sky and saw that it had become dark and heavy with clouds. Nonetheless, the pressure he felt from the Dark Serpent was much relieved from what he felt before. They must be quite far away from the Dark Serpent now. This made Link decide to take out the Dimensional Scroll again.

“I don’t think we should stay long in the Soul Realm,” said Link.

He then directed his Mana into the scroll, and a mysterious aura emanated from the scroll and spread out into the surroundings. Then, just as a drop of ink spread in a glass of water, the world gradually turned brighter, and the colors became more vivid. The white snow appeared, and the frigid wind began to whistle through the air.

Even though they knew that they were still in the Dark Elves’ territory and were still chased by someone with a god-level device, the sight of this familiar realm made everyone heave a sigh of relief.

“God of Light!” shouted one of the scouts suddenly, “we’ve entered the Dark Elves’ mass grave!”

Because of the ongoing war, the Dark Elves’ graveyard had a large number of corpses that were just dumped here to rot. Some of them were humans, and some were Dark Elves, while hanging from the trees were many executed human soldiers.

A gust of wind blew through, and it brought with it the unbearably rancid stench of decaying corpses.

“This is a cursed site!” exclaimed Felina with a scowl. “Let’s get out of here now!”

Naturally, there was no reason to stay in this place for long. After identifying the right direction, they then continued to journey south. However, not long afterwards, Felina suddenly began to tilt her head as if to listen more carefully to a sound in the air.

“Link, listen!” she whispered. “Someone is chasing us. They’re very fast, and judging from the footsteps, I think there must be about 30 of them.”

Link cast the spell Civet’s Ear on himself and tilted his head to listen as well. Seconds later, he turned back to Felina and the rest and frowned.

“This is bad,” he said. “By the sound of their footsteps, they must all be ghouls. There’s one demon Battle Mage with them as well. They must’ve discovered us. I think the mistress of Skeletal Fort must be among them too.”

Link’s outstanding memory meant that he could recognize the same person again after only hearing their footsteps once. That was how he knew that the demon was the one who had previously retreated on the fields near the Skeletal Fort. Even though he wasn’t the most courageous fighter, the demon was still at Level-7, so he mustn’t be underestimated.

“We are about three miles away from them,” said Felina. “With the ghouls’ speed, I’m afraid it’s too late for us to run.”

There were seven of them. Link didn’t have much Mana left, and although Felina was a Level-7 Warrior, she was still outnumbered. The four scouts were all Level-4 Assassins, so they were no match for the ghouls. Karnose, on the other hand, was on the verge of transforming into a demon. Not only was he unable to fight, he was dead weight at the moment.

It seemed that they were cornered into a dead end in this realm!

“We’ll enter the Soul Realm again,” said Link after some contemplation. “Once we’ve evaded them, we’ll come back. That’s the only choice we have.”

Everyone looked at each other and nodded silently, resigned to their fate.

Link once again took out the scroll, triggered it with his Mana, then the world’s color faded again and transformed into the dark, gray and creepy alternate Black Forest.

“Let’s move as fast as we can to get as far away from the ghouls as possible!”

…

In the Black Forest of the normal realm.

Auselia who was chasing Link and the rest at full speed suddenly sensed something. She stretched out her hand to stop the ghoul beside her from moving.

“Those mice have run into a hole again,” she said. “This isn’t fun anymore.”

“What should we do then, Messenger of Darkness?” asked Bruttan.

Auselia went silent for a while before answering.

“I need a Magician who can enter the alternate realm,” she finally said. “We’re only about 50 miles away from the Black Lake. Why don’t you go back to Horton Tower and fetch me Master Aymons? I need his wisdom.”

“I’ll be on my way immediately!” answered Bruttan eagerly. He knew that Auselia was unhappy with him, so he must show his enthusiasm now. After receiving the order, he quickly turned around and rushed towards the Black Lake.

Auselia stared at the Black Forest in front of her and pursed her lips. She seemed to have gotten into a gloomy mood.

“My precious,” she whispered as she gently caressed the whip in her hand, “I’m very sorry, darling. I haven’t gotten you a fresh soul yet. But don’t worry, it won’t be long now. Yes, it will soon come to pass.”

…

At the same time, a solitary young lady walked along the southern border of the Black Forest. She had a pair of pure and bright eyes, and her facial features were exquisite. She wore a lovely sleek blue dress, and she had a small sword on her waist. She stood at the edge of the Black Forest and looked up at the tall spruce of the forest. Suddenly, she stopped moving completely.

“Master’s information is lost, re-testing…Testing failed…”

The expression on her face was dull and emotionless. Soon her crisp and toneless voice emerged again, “Enable probability analysis…Start fuzzy tracking…”

After a pause, the young woman rushed into a direction in the depths of the Black Forest.

She was very fast, and after moving only about 10 feet, there was an explosion in the air. Then, the young woman disappeared into the forest. Wherever she passed, the birds flew away, and the small creatures hid in their burrows and nests as if a ferocious beast had just crawled past.

Chapter 237: May The People Who Love Me Suffer No Despair

 

Not long after entering the Soul Realm again, Link felt his heart palpitating at an insane rate, as though he was being targeted by a ferocious beast.

This was the premonition of a powerful Magician.

Something must have gone wrong, Link thought.

The Dark Forest in the Soul Realm appeared as sinister and gloomy as before. The usual cool forest breeze, cheerful chirping of the birds as well as the majestic growls of the beasts were absent. The forest seemed dead and silent.

Looking at the road ahead, Link knew that he had to do some preparations to add one more trump card to his hand.

He then checked his current status. He still had 200 Omni Points and an Elemental Affinity Bloodline that he still had not activated.

The Omni Points should definitely be kept for extremely crucial moments. However, the Elemental Affinity Bloodline would be a convenient and useful buff for any battles ahead. All elemental spells he cast would have their power increased by 50%, and while this would not work as well in the Soul Realm, it would have a pretty decent effect in the Physical Realm.

The only problem with this was the great pain that accompanied the transformation process. This pain would render him completely incapacitated.

As he was hesitating, an in-game message suddenly appeared in his field of vision: Pain can be reduced by extending the time required for the transformation

Oh? There is such a choice? Link was tempted and asked, On the grounds that it wouldn’t affect my thinking processes, how long would the transformation take?

Two hours.

Confirm transformation! Link thought.

Upon giving approval to the in-game system, Link felt a sharp pain shot through his entire body. It was as though a pebble was grinding all his organs with just the right amount of force to cause extreme discomfort.

When this feeling first struck Link, he was breathless and almost lost consciousness. It was only after ten minutes that Link slowly grew accustomed to the pain.

It was still an acceptable level of pain similar to when he overdosed on the Mana Recovery Potion. Link tried not to focus on the pain and observed his surroundings instead.

As he was not paying attention to his surroundings previously, he did not realize that they were now within a cloud of thick fog. The visual obstruction of the mist, coupled with the natural dim lighting of the Dark Forest, caused their vision to be limited to a nine-foot radius.

“Look, there is a dark figure in the mist!” A scout suddenly pointed at the area beside them and shouted.

Everyone immediately turned to that direction and could clearly see a dark figure skidding past them at an incredible speed.

Felina’s description was correct. The figure was indeed around six feet tall and had a strong physique. It was also extremely fast.

Link also saw the creature; he probably saw it in greater detail than everyone else. In his eyes, this figure had a pair of glimmering golden eyes. It was human-shaped with claw-like hands and a long slender tail behind its back.

It really is a Nightmare Beast!

Link had seen similar beasts in the game before. He remembered these creatures were termed as Heart Demons in the game. Although they did not possess strong battle capabilities, their auras had an extremely peculiar and powerful property. Under the effect of their auras, people would lose their rationality and would easily fall into the soul trap they had carefully prepared. The victims would then become the delicious meal of this Heart Demon.

The best way to deal with these creatures was to travel in groups. If they looked out for one another, the chance that they would fall into such traps would greatly decrease.

However, this Heart Demon had just eliminated a scout using its sinister tactics. It must be an extremely powerful one. They still had to be wary of it.

Link then immediately shouted, “Don’t panic! This is a Nightmare Beast. Sacred Silver weapons are equally effective against it. Prepare yourselves and commence attack the moment it appears!”

Everyone’s confidence was bolstered by Link’s words. Their greatest fear was their lack of knowledge of this mysterious creature that dwelled in the Soul Realm. Now that Link had already analyzed the situation and even provided them with the means to deal with the creature, the fear in their hearts had mostly dissipated.

The mist became thicker as they progressed forward. Before long, the visibility in the area was reduced to a six-foot radius.

They huddled together so as to not get lost in this dangerous place. They continued in this state for around half an hour before another accident happened.

Kanorse, who had been lying on Felina’s shoulders all these while, started roaring loudly. His roar was strange, sounding extremely violent and ferocious, as though he were an unrestrained beast.

Claws had grown from his usually cleanly trimmed fingers, and as he frantically struggled to get out of Felina’s grip, the sharp claws grazed Felina’s back a few times. The sound of claws scratching against bare flesh was extremely unnerving.

“Ah!” Felina could not suppress Kanorse’s strength any longer and screamed in pain. She then instinctively threw Kanorse off her back. The moment he made a hard landing on the ground, he growled ferociously at the group before preparing to flee into the forest.

However, after just a few steps, he placed his hands on his head and knelt on the ground before bellowing, “No! No! I will not fall! I am Kanorse! The strongest Warrior!”

He had obviously reached his limit.

Link immediately rushed towards Kanorse and handed over a bottle of liquefied Sacred Silver to him while he was still conscious. He then shouted, “Drink this! Now!”

Using Sacred Silver to suppress the powers of darkness was an extremely devastating method. Link would not have used it if it were not the last resort.

Kanorse grabbed the bottle as though it was his saving grace and gulped it down without any hesitation.

The moment the Sacred Silver touched his mouth, it started sizzling and white mist could be seen appearing from his mouth. Kanorse then started howling in pain while he continued to pour the remaining Sacred Silver into his body. By the time he was done, the flesh around his mouth had already been completely corroded by the Sacred Silver.

It did serve its purpose after all.

The dark aura that was surrounding Kanorse had diminished greatly, and the blood red hue covering his eyes seemed to have faded as well. However, the Sacred Silver had also destroyed his body.

He became extremely weak and laid helplessly on the ground as he stared at the sky, muttering, “Oh God of Light, please save my soul! Please!”

As he repeated the lines over and over again, two streaks of tears rolled down his cheeks. The strongest Warrior in the World of Firuman was broken. He did not want to fall to the dark side. He definitely did not want to become a ghoul that would kill off many people of the human race. But he was going to lose it soon!

Everyone stayed silent while Annie walked up to Felina and prepared to bandage her wounds.

Kanorse’s outburst had left a deep cut on Felina’s back. Her armor was already stained with blood by the time Annie reached her side.

“Hold on, use the Sacred Silver dagger to first cut off the surrounding flesh,” Link ordered.

Felina knew that this was to prevent the dark forces from infecting her mind as well. She hence endured the pain while Annie started working on the wound upon Link’s instructions.

Fortunately, Annie’s actions were quick and finished the treatment of the wound in less than five minutes.

“Thank you,” Felina whispered.

She felt no anger looking at Kanorse, who was now lying powerlessly on the ground. Instead, her heart was filled with pity and regret that such a genius was about to fall to the dark side.

She shook her head and said to Link, “I’m afraid Kanorse will not be able to make it back to the Ice Peak Fortress. Even if he did, they might not be able to dispel the dark forces in his body. Am I right?”

This was the truth. Everyone fell silent, and Kanorse’s face sank.

Previously, he was clueless about the powers of the Divine Gear and thus had the confidence to go against it. However, his confidence and beliefs as the strongest Warrior in the World of Firuman were now slowly collapsing.

Kanorse turned to look at Link as he spoke with a hoarse voice, “Magician, kill me. Don’t let me become a monster.”

Everyone stared at Link, waiting for him to come to a decision.

The main goal of their mission was to rescue Kanorse. However, they had now reached their limits. Unless a god descended on the world, there was no way to change Kanorse’s tragic fate. The only way they could prevent the situation from getting worse was to kill him on the spot.

Link stayed silent. Unless he was really left with no choice, he would never give up on Kanorse.

However, how should he dispel the dark forces corroding his body?

He set his sights on the 200 Omni Points he had left. In order to suppress the demonization process of the Divine Gear, the spells of mortals would be useless. The only spells that would work would be Legendary spells.

Two hundred Omni Points would be enough to purchase a Legendary spell. Link clearly remembered one that could be used to dispel the dark forces while he was playing the game. The only problem would be his Mana Points. He was now left with 1500 Mana Points and would not be able to cast the spell even if he purchased it.

What should he do?

Link opened the list of spells that he could purchase in his mind and found the Legendary spell card he was looking for, glowing radiantly in many different colors.

Forbidden Mystery. Great Purification

Level-14 Legendary Spell

Cost: 140 Omni Points

Mana Cost: 11000

Effect: Dispels all dark spells and forces within a 3000-foot radius.

The insane Mana Cost of this spell made Link shiver in fear. His Maximum Mana now was merely at 8100 points. He would still be 3000 Mana Points short even if he was at his best.

It was impossible for him to activate this spell.

What should he do?

“Ah!! I cannot hold on anymore!” Kanorse once again bellowed. The effect of the Sacred Silver was truly short-lived. It merely lasted for a few minutes before the deadly poison of the Dark Serpent started raging in Kanorse’s body once again.

His eyes became blood-red and dark runes could be seen circling within them. The claws on his hand were also growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

“Kill me! Kill me now!” Kanorse looked at Link, as though pleading him to end his life.

Clang! Felina brandished her Sacred Silver dagger and walked towards Kanorse before placing it right under his chin. She then looked at Link and said, “Magician, we are running out of time!”

Link was still hesitating.

The strongest human Warrior, Two Saints of Mankind, Legendary Swordsman, the Pillar of the World of Light—all the accolades that Kanorse would be conferred with in the future flashed across his mind.

“Link!” Felina urged. She was about to lose her grasp over Kanorse.

“Master!” the scouts shouted.

“Kill me! Stop hesitating! Quick!” Kanorse spoke in a muffled voice. He could feel his consciousness being consumed by a giant snake.

Link gave a long sigh and walked up to Kanorse before kneeling down on one knee. He then placed a hand on Kanorse’s chest and whispered, “Warrior, hold on, I will dispel it for you.”

Although this was a curse from a Divine Gear, its power would definitely have been suppressed by the laws of the World of Firuman. If Link were to use a Legendary spell, it should be enough to dispel this wretched dark force.

Link decisively bought the Level-14 support Legendary spell.

“Link, you are not joking, right?” Felina asked in disbelief.

While Link was the strongest combat Magician in the human race, he was still a mortal. How could he say that he can dispel the power of a Divine Gear?

Link then gave a reassuring smile and said, “Don’t forget that we are in the Soul Realm. As long as you believe in your actions, anything can happen!”

If they were in the Physical Realm, he would never be able to cast this Legendary spell with his current strength. However, they were in the Soul Realm. As long as he had enough conviction, he would be able to do whatever he wanted.

Many thoughts flashed through Link’s mind.

Will I be able to cast it? Yes, I can! My soul is comparable to that of a sacred soul! Link thought.

There is no free lunch in the world. There is bound to be massive side effects using the power of the soul to cast a Legendary spell. The question is if it is worth it.

Link asked himself an extremely tough question. The essence of this question was simply, For what reason do humans live?

Many faces flashed through Link’s mind. Celine, Eliard, Rylai, Herrera, Jacker, Lucy and many others he had met on his journey.

May the World of Firuman never descend into darkness. May the people who love me see no despair! This was the answer Link found.

He could never support the entire World of Firuman with his own power. The world was made up of many different creatures and races. Fighting this war alone would never work.

Link made this choice not merely based on his emotions, but also his wisdom.

After Link went through this introspection process, his conviction became exceptionally firm.

The next moment, a multi-colored brilliance appeared on his body. Following which, this brilliance extended through his entire body, almost making him look sacred.

A few moments later, this brilliance descended onto Kanorse, who stopped his mindless struggle almost instantaneously.

Kanorse opened his mouth and took a deep breath. His eyes were wide open, though out of focus. He felt as though he had seen the light. Countless blessings of light were raining down upon him from the void of this world.

In an instant, his agitated heart found respite.

The multi-colored brilliance continued expanding with Link as the focal point. It rushed past Felina’s body and through the scouts.

In this brilliance, the thick mist was completely dispelled. The Nightmare Beast that was hiding in a corner disintegrated into a cloud of green smoke. His scream of pain soon followed.

An extremely strong energy wave seemed to surge through the Soul Realm and expanded in all directions. The creatures of darkness within the Dark Forest were frantically escaping the area.

Even if I have to give everything I’ve got, I will continue on the path I have chosen!

Link felt immense pressure and pain on his soul but chose to ignore them all and continued on his Great Purification spell without hesitation.

Amongst this endless brilliance, Felina’s eyes widened and looked at Link in disbelief. She understood that this power had exceeded the limits of a mere mortal.

Annie stared at the pained expression on Link’s face and wept while trying to stifle her cries.

The remaining scouts were already kneeling on the ground from the impact of this spell. They felt as though they had seen the incarnation of God.

…

Dark Forest, Physical Realm.

Aymons had arrived at Auselia’s side. He was casting the Realm Conversion spell at the moment when he suddenly halted his actions. The spell he was casting was interrupted as well.

“What happened?” Auselia asked.

Aymons shook his head. “Nothing. I felt slightly flustered for a moment. It must have been my old age.”

He then continued casting the spell.

Five seconds later, the surrounding world seemed to be robbed of its vibrant colors. Auselia, Bruttan and the group of 30 ghouls were all transported to the Soul Realm.

Aymons did not enter the Soul Realm together with them. His voice rang through the atmosphere, “Your Highness. You will be able to stay in the Soul Realm for three hours. Three hours later, you will be automatically transported back to the Physical Realm. If you wish to return before that time, please call my name.”

Chapter 238: You’ve All Been Very Naughty

 

The glorious aura filled the sky for five seconds. After that, the brilliant light slowly dissipated, leaving only Link’s figure.

Link knelt on the ground. On the interface, rows and rows of notifications popped up. Once he took a glance at them, he realized that they were all reminders from the gaming system.

Player begins to burn his soul. Emergency protection started.

Clearing all reserve Omni Points…Begin consuming 500 reserve Omni Points.

All Omni Points consumed.

Elemental Affinity Bloodline transformation suspended, converted into 350 Omni Points. Begin consuming Omni Points.

All Omni Points consumed.

Player currently has 200 Omni Points. Begin consuming Omni Points.

All Omni Points consumed.

Purification spell completed. All reserve energy from gaming system consumed.

After reading this series of information, Link felt the emptiness in his body which was bereft with Mana and heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he’d only consumed the reserve energy, and his soul did not suffer any damage. Link regarded this as incredible luck.

“Link, are you alright?” asked Annie with a worried tone.

Link turned around and saw the concern in Annie’s face which warmed his heart.

“I’m fine,” he said. “But I can’t cast any high-level spells for a while.”

In fact, he still had about 500 points of Mana, but considering the strength of their enemies at the time, this amount of Mana was basically useless.

Felina walked over to him too, and she looked quite alarmed.

“Was that a Legendary-level spell?” she asked.

“Perhaps, I’m not sure,” answered Link. “It was a spell that I created when I was learning magic.” It was something that he just couldn’t explain, so he just had lie about it.

“I’m sure it was,” insisted Felina. “I’ve seen Legendary spells, so I would know. I never expected a mortal to be capable of such force!”

The scouts nodded eagerly. They knew nothing about Legendary spells, but from what they saw–how the darkness of the realm of the soul was dispelled, how the sky was now cleared and how the white fog that blanketed everything was now gone–if that wasn’t Legendary, then what was?

Link couldn’t say anything in response. He merely stretched out his hand and shrugged.

“Oh…” Karnose’s voice alarmed everyone. It seemed that he was waking up.

The purification spell had been successful. The signs of dark magic and the dark forces had been purged from his body, and the claws on his hands had vanished. Even the blood in his eyes was now gone.

But the powerful divine source of the dark energy was evident when they saw that although it was expelled from Karnose’s body, it was not destroyed. It merely turned into a pool of black liquid on the ground near the Warrior.

This black liquid would even move. Parts of it even took the form of a snake and would move threateningly as if it was ready to attack anyone at any time.

Naturally, everyone stayed away from this black pool of liquid. Felina stretched out a hand to Karnose to help him up, but Karnose didn’t seem to need any such assistance. He leaped up to his feet with surprising agility, almost as if he’d never been injured.

Then, he turned to Link and with his fist on his chest, gave Link a formal Warrior’s bow.

“Master Magician,” he said, “thank you for saving me. From now on, for as long as I live, you may summon me any time you wish, and I will fight for you!”

Just moments before, he was desperately hopeless. But at the very last moment, he saw the infinite brilliance of the glory of light. It was as if the heavens extended a giant hand down to him and plucked him out of the dark abyss.

He could only repay such kindness with his own life.

But Link merely responded with a wave of his hand and a cynical smile.

“I’m afraid you spoke too early,” he said. “We’re still trapped in the Black Forest, and the Dark Serpent is still following us close behind.”

Karnose’s face turned grave and serious. He looked around and only saw the Assassins’ daggers and the Red Dragon Warrior’s dragon claws. He couldn’t find a sword anywhere.

“If only I had a sword to fight with,” he remarked.

“What?” exclaimed Felina, glancing at the Warrior up and down. “Are you strong enough to fight now?”

Karnose nodded.

“The dark forces may have controlled my body,” he said, “but it had also repaired my injuries. Now that I’m purged of all the dark forces and all my injuries healed, why can’t I fight? Although my Battle Aura isn’t at its strongest yet, I’m sure I can kill a few ghouls now.”

Link’s eyes suddenly lit up. Karnose was a Level-8 Warrior. With his strength, they could probably get out of the Black Forest now.

Moreover, he did have a sword with him—the Storm Lord’s sword. He was just about to grab its hilt and hand it to Karnose when a voice interrupted him.

“Stop!” said the sword’s voice. “He’s not worthy of me yet!”

Can’t you let him wield you for a while? Link asked. Only until we escape the Black Forest. Or are you afraid of the Dark Serpent?

“Me?” retorted the sword. “Afraid of that snake?”

Then what’s wrong with letting him wield you for a while? Link asked.

“You don’t understand,” replied the sword. “It’s not that I’m afraid of fighting against the Dark Serpent, but I’m not suitable for it. I’m too weak now, but the Dark Serpent is infinitely strong. The moment I come in contact with it, I’ll be smashed to bits.”

Link thought this argument made sense. He dismissed the idea of lending the Storm Lord’s sword to Karnose, but there was another idea in his mind.

Link still had 500 points of Mana left. It wasn’t enough for him to fight himself, but it was sufficient for him to use Higgs Field to conjure up a sword using the Khorium in his storage pendant.

With this idea in mind, Link took out the materials from his storage pendant and turned to Karnose.

“I’ll make you a sword,” he said. “Tell me the kind of sword you’re used to. Wait, we can talk while we walk.”

Karnose saw the Khorium in Link’s hand, and his eyes lit up. Khorium had excellent resistance to strong forces. Even without any magic fixed to the sword, one that was made with this material would be a good weapon on its own.

“I like a single-handed sword…” he began, “Well, one that looks like this sword on your waist would be good enough, but it would be nice if it was slightly longer…Yes, exactly this size!”

As the Warrior described his ideal sword, Link was using the Higgs Field to create one with Khorium right before his eyes.

“I’d like the hilt changed a bit, yes…just like that,” Karnose continued. “I’d like a sharp axe at the back…and the blade should be thicker, and it should be serrated here…That’s good, yes. Just like that! Excellent!”

Ten minutes later, Karnose held the sword in his hand and tried swinging it in the air. He smiled with satisfaction.

“Judging solely by how it feels in my hand,” he told Link, “this sword that you hurriedly created in a few minutes is the best sword I’ve ever used!”

Felina glanced at him.

“Link is the most famous enchantment master in the continent,” she told him. “Such a simple creation would, of course, be an easy task for him.”

As she spoke, she showed the defensive bracelet that Link made to the Warrior.

“Look,” she said. “I’ve got one of his creations too. A friend had brought it back to me from the mortal realm as a gift.”

Link didn’t expect his reputation in the art of enchantment to spread so far that it reached the Dragon Valley and even became Felina’s treasured possession. It was indeed an honor.

“We don’t have much time,” said Link, smiling. “If we are lucky enough to escape from this place and return to the Norton Kingdom, I’ll create a magic sword for you, one that’s much better than this.”

“You will?” asked Karnose, his eyes shining, although he suddenly smiled cynically moments afterwards. “But I’m afraid I don’t have enough gold coins to pay you…”

“I’ll persuade King Leon to reward you,” said Link, still smiling. “so don’t you worry.”

There was no incident along the journey as they walked on.

With the powerful Warrior Karnose here among them, the scouts were relieved. Even Felina was visibly more relaxed. They continued their journey for more than half an hour until Link suddenly felt something awry. He looked up into the sky and raised his eyebrows.

“Something’s not right,” he said. “They’re chasing after us…and they’re very fast!”

There were no more signs of the Dark Serpent in the sky, but that heavy black aura kept extending towards them constantly.

After a few moments of careful observation, Link finally understood what was going on.

“Auselia has entered the Soul Realm,” said Link. “We can’t stay here. Let’s get out immediately!”

Everyone nodded silently.

Link took out the scroll and activated it with some Mana. After a while, the world transformed from the grays and blacks to more colorful tones. The chilly wind and the white snow once again reappeared.

Link cast the Level-2 Cheetah’s Agility on himself.

“Quickly! Move at your full speed!” he shouted. “We’ve reached halfway, another 150 miles and we’re safe!”

As long as they entered the Norton Kingdom army’s fortress, Auselia would then be forced to stop. Her god-level device might be able to kill thousands, but there was one huge flaw—the natural world rejected this device, so the more energy it consumed, the more unstable it became. Once it reached its limits and had insufficient energy, it would just pop out of existence.

When that happened, there wouldn’t be much that the Dark Elves could do except cry about it.

Everyone knew this was the critical moment, so they ran wildly and as fast as their feet could take them. Although Link had cast the Cheetah’s Agility spell on himself, his speed was still much inferior to the scouts’ and even slower compared to Felina and Karnose’s speed. The two Warriors each lifted one of his arms and carried him through the forest, pushing him forward at incredible speed.

They must’ve been moving at half a mile per minute.

They ran this way for a full hour before Karnose and Felina stopped almost at the same time.

“She’s caught up with us,” said Felina, looking back at the dense forest behind them. She sighed, thinking that it must be time for them to fight to the death.

“Ha! I guess it’s time for my sword to drink some blood!” said Karnose, not feeling a trace of fear. He’d seen and experienced so much by now that he understood that as a Warrior, his aim was not to live long, but to die with honor and dignity!

Honestly speaking, Karnose was quite a decent man, after all. His face was firm and not bad looking, and his whole body was shrouded in a strong masculine aura. With this look and that spirit, any maiden in the kingdom would gladly throw themselves into his arms.

Another talented genius with handsome looks, thought Link, slightly bitterly. What a cruel world.

Link remembered that he didn’t have much Mana left so he would be quite useless in combat.

“They’ve got many ghouls on their side,” said Link. “I’ll stand by and try to pin them down for you.”

He then spent 60 points of his Mana to cast a single target Traceless spell and found a place to hide. Although they seemed to have fallen into a desperate situation, he would never give up easily.

No one knew what would happen in the future. But if they persisted, even for a second longer, there was always a chance that things could take a turn for the better. Many miracles had occurred in this world, and they always happened at the very last second!

Annie cleaned her dagger solemnly and applied the anti-freeze grease on her crossbow. She gently blew off some dust from the crossbow and smiled. This was probably going to be her last battle. To die with Link, Karnose and Felina would be the highest honor as a fighter!

All the other scouts were in silence. They began to check their weapons as well, and they started to find a good spot to hide, getting ready to ambush the enemies.

They were proud to have persisted to this stage as they fought against a god-level device. There was nothing to regret now.

After about a minute or so, a figure shrouded in black flames appeared. It was the guardian of the Dark Serpent, Auselia.

She had 50 ghouls behind her, along with the Level-7 demon Warrior, Bruttan.

Their force was immensely superior to Link’s group. Both Felina and Karnose went slightly pale, but they looked at each other and Karnose simply discarded all his worries and laughed.

“Let’s see who kills the most ghouls!” he shouted.

“Hahaha! You’re no match of mine!” said Felina, playing along with it to give herself more courage.

Auselia noticed Karnose then.

“Ah, look at you,” she said with that sickly-sweet tone of hers. “Karnose, Link… you’ve all been very naughty. How could you break your promises to me?”

Chapter 239: What is This Thing?

 

You would never understand how terrifying Auselia was if you had never faced her in a battle!

When you were going up against her, the immense pressure from the Divine Gear would be enough to make anyone kneel on the ground in awe. Even powerful beings like Felina and Kanorse felt that their hearts were especially heavy upon seeing her, as though a huge stone was crushing their willpower.

“Go, my servants, teach them a lesson!” She hollered.

Auselia did not go onto the frontlines. Instead, she stood cautiously at the back while ordering the ghouls to charge forward.

The ghouls were extremely fast, especially when they were charging forward. They could cover a distance of 250 to 300 feet in one second. Ordinary people would only be able to see a phantom of their true body.

In the past, the ghouls had made use of this advantage to kill many human soldiers. However, things would not go so smoothly this time around.

By the time the fastest ghoul reached the halfway mark, an air ripple had already appeared beside them. This air ripple was six feet wide and 15 feet long, appearing out of nowhere.

Boom! Boom! The ghouls were completely unprepared for this attack. The fastest ghoul lost his balance and flew out of his charging trajectory.

He then proceeded to knock at least five other ghouls out of their trajectory as well.

Following which, the sounds of arrows being fired from the Sacred Silver crossbows rang through the atmosphere. The scouts had already cooperated with Link for a few times and had developed some sort of chemistry with his battle tempo. They would seize the perfect opportunity to fire a burst of arrows, bringing down the ghouls who were knocked into the air by Link’s attack.

The moment these ghouls fell to the ground, they were already seriously injured and had lost their speed.

“Kill them all!”

Kanorse’s ability to capture the perfect opportunity to strike was also extremely useful in this situation. Half a second before the first ghoul touched the ground, he had already started charging into the heart of the battlefield. By the time the ghoul landed and was struggling to get back up on its feet, Kanorse was already brandishing his sword in front of them.

With a clean swing of the blade, the ghoul’s head was mercilessly severed.

The ghouls had an extremely strong life force. However, that was under the premise that their entire body was more or less intact. Without their heads, the main organ for their cognition and coordination, they were immediately rendered useless.

Kanorse’s body was like a whirlwind. He spun his body as he dodged the attacks while accurately severing the heads of the ghouls that came his way.

His movements were extremely coherent. The dodging and attacking moves smoothly interlinked with one another, forming a graceful war dance.

His Battle Aura skills were near perfect as well. Before he swung his sword, there was no hint of Battle Aura on it. It stayed this way even after he swung it. It was only until the moment when the sword made contact with his opponent that he unleashed his Battle Aura, erupting his energy instantaneously.

This Warrior knew how to accurately manipulate his energy while conserving it at the same time!

Within three seconds, Kanorse swung his sword five times. There were no fancy sword stances or skills involved, but it was exceptionally effective. He beheaded one ghoul with every swing of his sword and executed all the ghouls that were thrown his way.

“Tsk tsk. Kanorse, you truly are a perfect Warrior.” Auselia’s eyes shined upon looking at the way Kanorse fought. She then turned to Bruttan and said, “Dear Bruttan, please stop his naughty tantrum before he causes any more trouble.”

Bruttan nodded as his demonic Battle Aura erupted. His body was immediately cloaked in a layer of dark flame, and the two nine-foot-long swords in his hands became two pillars of pure dark energy.

“Die, Warrior!” This giant launched an attack towards Kanorse.

However, when he reached the halfway mark, a crimson figure blocked his way. It was the Red Dragon Warrior Felina.

She was originally more than five foot seven in height, already an astounding height when compared to a female human. Furthermore, she packed a strong physique to begin with. When she stepped in front of Bruttan, she had somehow raised her height to a massive ten feet five and enveloped herself in a crimson Red Dragon Battle Aura. She charged forward as she flung her dragon claws in rage, leaving strikes of fiery red shadows in its wake.

“Demon, your opponent is me!” After increasing in size, Felina’s voice also became exceptionally bright and loud.

Bruttan was taken aback and immediately blocked the attack with his sword.

Clang! Two loud, metallic collisions could be heard as the conflicting Battle Aura clashed into one another. Bruttan and Felina then both took a step back. They seemed to be on equal footing.

Auselia stared as her eyes grew even brighter, “Another powerful Warrior. It seems like it’s harvest day.”

At this moment, it seemed like they reached a stalemate.

Kanorse had completely sealed off the ghouls while Link constantly interfered with the battles using his Vector Field spells. The scouts, on the other hand, were picking up the loose ends while Bruttan was caught up in a tough fight with Felina.

The two Level-7 Warriors seemed to have endless Battle Aura. They constantly released their Battle Aura without any thoughts on conservation. Many times, a ghoul crept closer to give some assistance to Bruttan. However, before he could render any help, he was heavily injured and blown away by the explosion of Battle Aura, some of them even had their body parts severed from the terrifying shockwaves.

After a few tries, even the ghouls gave up trying to intervene in this absurd battle.

On the other side, Kanorse was killing the ghouls with extreme efficiency.

Previously, when he was fighting against the ghouls, no one dared to provoke him and ran away as soon as they saw him on the battlefield. However, these ghouls were now rushing straight towards him.

Naturally, he would crush them under his overwhelming power.

The ghouls were beheaded in a systematic manner as though they were just sent into a slaughterhouse. Their heads rolled about lifelessly on the floor while their headless bodies still twitched and flailed about on the ground, reeling in from the shock of getting beheaded. This scene was a testament to the power of the strongest Warrior of the human race.

Within one minute, Kanorse had beheaded 15 ghouls. That was an average of one ghoul every four seconds.

This was an astounding result, and all the scouts around him stared at this scene in awe. They had already depleted all their arrows and were now guarding Kanorse’s back with the Sacred Silver dagger in hand.

Kanorse, on the other hand, knew that this was not purely due to his strength. He knew that the reason he could kill these ghouls with such ease had a lot to do with the elusive magical force field that would appear from time to time.

While these forcefields seemed inconspicuous, it would often be cast at the most appropriate time, affecting the ghoul’s sense of balance in the air. It could even be said that the ghouls were often sent flying right into his blade.

The situation seemed extremely optimistic. However, Link, who was currently hiding in the shadows only felt despair and anxiety. His gaze was fixed upon Auselia, who had not made a move up till now. He was thinking of countermeasures in his mind.

However, he had almost exhausted all his options. Link was not a god and was close to his limits.

Is this the end? Link frowned tightly.

However, he suddenly heard the rustling of leaves in the distance. He then paid closer attention, and after listening for a moment, a smile emerged on his face. Vance that old bastard…To think that he would do this without first discussing it with me. I will have a good talk with him after I get back.

Since a powerful aide was coming, the only thing he had to do now was to stall time.

Auselia had also realized the reason for this stalemate.

She sighed, “This is not good. My dear servants will be killed if this carries on. Dear Link, it seems like I have to personally discipline you.”

As she said these words, she turned her body to face a tree at the side of the battlefield, chuckling, “Are you going to come out yourself, or do I have to personally drag you out?”

Link’s Traceless spell had completely no effect on Auselia, the wielder of the Divine Gear. However, he most certainly would not surrender. He turned his body around and hid behind another tree.

“One small sapling will not be enough to defend against my baby.”

Auselia smiled once again as her figure vanished from her location instantaneously. The next moment, she had already appeared at the edge of the tree, flinging her whip menacingly. She then set her gaze in Link’s direction before lashing out an attack with full force.

There was nowhere to hide from the attack of a Divine Gear!

Clang! A figure suddenly appeared and blocked the Dark Serpent’s attack. It was Kanorse. He had rushed back in the most crucial time and defended Link against Auselia’s assault.

However, he had also paid the price for his action.

The Khorium sword in his hand was extremely sturdy. However, it was still material from the mortal world. After blocking this attack, a series of spider web-like cracks appeared on the sword. It seemed like it would shatter anytime soon.

Kanorse stared at his sword in shock and quickly turned to look at Auselia, focusing his gaze on her. While putting up a guarding position, he said, “Sir, please leave, I will block her!”

“Block me? What qualifications do you have?” Auselia laughed as she lashed out another attack.

Kanorse lifted his sword to block the attack.

With a crisp metallic snap, the Khorium sword was immediately shattered into fragments. The whip then continued on its trajectory with full power, landing right on Kanorse’s body.

Kanorse immediately vomited a mouthful of blood before his body jerked violently. He then collapsed weakly to the ground. Just one attack from the Divine Gear brought him to the brink of death.

“Dear Kanorse, you are too annoying; I have to punish you slightly.”

Auselia smiled as she lashed her whip. With this action, the tip of the whip transformed into the head of a snake. The snake then opened its mouth and revealed its poisonous fangs, glistening dangerously in the dark. It then charged straight towards Kanorse.

“Demon, you still have to get past me!” With a loud bellow, Felina freed herself from Bruttan’s grip and charged straight towards Auselia from behind her back.

Swish! Auselia immediately retracted her whip. This speed was extremely fast.

Felina was taken aback by this reaction speed and immediately raised her dragon claws to protect herself.

Clang! The dragon claws shattered into pieces followed by Felina’s scream of pain. Her hands were drenched in blood and trembled involuntarily from the impact.

Felina lost all her combat abilities in one single strike.

Bruttan arrived soon after. He sung the giant sword in his hand and with a muffled bang, the sword landed right on Felina’s head. Felina then vomited blood from the heavy impact before losing consciousness.

The scouts were horrified at this scene and instinctively decided to retreat and defend their stronghold. However, while the ghouls were unable to deal with Kanorse, they could totally deal with the Level-4 scouts. In a matter of seconds, the scouts were all tragically defeated by the ghouls, and they lay on the ground weakly. No one knew if they were still alive after the brutal assault. Annie was the only one lucky enough to rush to Link’s side before the ghouls got to her.

Upon seeing this scene, Link helplessly sighed and said, “Let them go and I will go back with you.”

“Oh? Give me a reason to.” Auselia stared at Link with interest.

Link the calmly said, “The Dark Serpent can make me your servant. However, it would also remove any shred of intelligence and rationality from my brain. If you let them go, I will swear in the name of the Lady of Darkness to serve the Dark Elves.”

“Oh? That is a wonderful idea.” Auselia was clearly intrigued.

If a Magician were to become her mindless servant, he would truly be quite useless. However, if the other party voluntarily agreed to serve her, the Dark Elves would gain a Magician with almost infinite potential. To get a Magician of this caliber in exchange for the lives of a few Warriors was indeed a good bargain.

Kanorse roared, “No, Master! You cannot do this!”

Annie had the most extreme reaction. She took out the dagger and was prepared to drive it right into her heart. Link would no longer have any reservations if all of them were dead.

It would definitely be a catastrophe if Link were to become a Magician for the Dark Elves. Compared to this, her life meant nothing.

However, when she was only halfway through her suicidal act, Auselia prevented her from doing so.

Auselia gently grabbed Annie’s hand as she said, “My dear, you cannot die. If you die now, Link might not be willing to go with me anymore.”

Annie stared at Link with a tear-stricken face as she shook her head.

Kanorse stared into the sky and slammed his fist onto the ground with all his remaining energy as he roared. His voice was filled with helplessness and pain.

However, Auselia was only concerned with Link. This Magician was a perfect specimen. If such a treasure could belong to the Dark Elves, it would be her greatest harvest.

“Swear it.” Auselia stared at Link keenly.

“Let them go first!” Link’s voice was calm, and his face showed no signs of fear. No one could guess what he was thinking.

After ten seconds, Auselia finally decided to agree to Link’s conditions. As long as this Magician was willing to return with her to the Skeletal Fort, she would be satisfied. She then stared closely in case Link had other tricks up his sleeves, “Alright…”

Before she completed her sentence, a young girl wearing green battle armor with exquisite features appeared in the Dark Forest. A crisp voice emerged from her body, “Master discovered…Master Danger Rating: 5 Star. Commence rescue mission!”

“What is this? A magic puppet?” Auselia was taken aback.