494 - 502

Chapter 494: Dangerous Operation (1)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

"I only have one choice, don't I?" Angele shrugged. "I don't want the Dark Wizard Tower to take over my homeland."

"I'm glad that you can make the decision so fast." Prince Evil Dragon smiled. "What about the contract you signed with the Dark Wizard Tower—will that be a problem?"

"It won't be a problem. The contract stated that I need to work for the organization if I'm enjoying the benefits it provided. I'm not getting anything from the Dark Wizard Tower so I don't have to work for it. Alright, I'll be leaving now, it seems like someone else is visiting you." Angele stood up and straightened his back.

"Close the door for me."

"Sure, no worries."

Angele stepped out of the cave and was about to close the door. He saw a man in a gray robe walking in the hallway.

The gray robe glanced at Angele and lowered his head.

Angele narrowed his eyes, he noticed that the man had pale skin, a pair of sharp eyes, and golden eyebrows.

They walked past each other. The gray robe entered the cave and closed the door. The stone cave was completely sealed after the door closed.

Angele stopped and thought for a while. He shook his head slightly and walked to the exit.

He walked down the long dark tunnel and a bright exit appeared in the front.

Outside the exit was a cliff of a mountain and the ground was covered with broken pieces of red stones.

Angele stood on the cliff and overlooked the area.

On the yellow plain under the dark sky, a large army wearing white outfits lined up on the ground and there were soldiers merging into the army. They looked like two long white lines.

There were white griffins and black eagles in the sky. They were rotating in a triangular formation and each of the flying mounts was at least seven meters long. The knights on their backs were wearing light armor and holding dragon lances that were more than ten meters long in hand.

Strangely, the flying mounts were all holding irregular crystals in their sharp claws.

"They're already gathering the army…" Angele overlooked the soldiers.

There was a wizard with white hair standing in front of the formation, he was holding a white basket that was full of flowers in his hand. He grabbed some pink petals and threw them to the knight that was standing in front of him.

The knight kneeled and the two metal wings on his back opened. The metal wings were swinging like real wings, it almost looked the wings were part of his body.

The knight was wearing a sealed helmet and heavy armor. He looked like a war machine, he was almost five meters tall even when he kneeled.

*Brrring*

A long and deep sound made by a bell echoed in the air.

The flying mounts that were rotating in the sky broke the crystals they were holding into pieces. The crystals turned into black petals and started falling.

The petals landed on the soldiers' shoulders and hands. The looked like plain decorations on the white armor the soldiers were wearing.

*KA*

The silver knight slowly stood up and drew his greatsword, raising it to the air.

"Victory to us!" A deep and loud noise came from his helmet and it echoed in the whole area.

"Victory!"

"Victory!"

"Victory!"

The army got noisy as all the soldiers raised their long swords and shouted.

*WOO*

It sounded like someone blowing a large horn.

The knight raised his head and looked at the gray sky. A team of enormous red eagles that were surrounded by small eagles was flying in the sky. There were so many of them they looked like a red cloud.

Each of the large red eagles was over 300 meters long, they looked like heavy fortresses that were flying in the air.

Angele by the entrance of the cave and looked at the red eagles. He was a bit excited.

"The guardian beast of the Sky Lord and Prince Evil Dragon's Giant Knight Legion. They're ready for the final battle."

Some of the black petals were blown to Angele by the wind.

He grabbed one of the petals and noticed that the petal was releasing some strange energy waves that were trying to enter his body.

Angele dropped the petal and looked to the right. There were several gray robes with arms that looked like eagle wings landing on an empty platform.

Their arms returned to normal after they landed safely on the surface of the platform.

A female gray robe noticed Angele's presence and glared at him, but she did not do anything. She just led the team into the cave by the platform.

Angele was not concerned, he jumped down and turned into a ball of dark flames, flying down to the left.

The flames rotated around the mountain and landed on a pile of stones.

On the empty ground by the stones, the woman in white armor was checking the campfire that had already extinguished. It seemed like something was buried in the ashes of the campfire and she was trying to pick the thing up.

The dark flames landed behind the woman and turned into Angele.

"So, what do you say? Just give me your concept gear," Angele spoke.

The woman did not turn her head around.

"You're daydreaming." She was removing the skin of the food in her hand. She took a big bite and started chewing it.

The woman's white armor was dirty, it was covered with dirt and dust. Also, she tied her long black hair up and Angele could easily see the grease on her face.

The food the woman was eating looked like sweet potato and the fragrance permeated the air.

Angele stood behind the woman and remained silent.

"I'll die sooner or later, right?" The woman finished the food and turned around.

She stared at Angele in the eyes and started mocking him again. "I can't cast spells anymore and my body is weakened. I'm just a mortal now. You can rape me, torture me, or just do whatever you want. I'm prepared."

"Well, sounds good." Angele was a bit surprised. He thought for a while and took out a finger-long test tube from the black mirror that was hanging on his belt.

There was a white egg-shaped ball inside the test tube and that was it.

Angele unsealed the test tube carefully and took out the white ball.

He looked at the woman. "Eat it."

The woman grabbed the ball and swallowed it without asking any questions.

"You'll force me to eat it if I refuse so I'll just do it myself." Her brow furrowed after swallowing the ball. "It's sweet but the aftertaste is strange."

"You'll know what it does later. I made it not so long ago." Angele shrugged. "Let's go. I need to join an operation. The war is still going on."

They walked to the top of the mountain.

"The Giant Knight Legion and the guardian beasts are here. There must be different legions in different areas. Have you finished the rune circles I asked you to prepare?" Angele wondered as he climbed up the hill.

"It's done. You can check my memory, right? Why don't you just check it yourself," the woman responded.

"Becky, that's the name you used in the last 200 years. I'll just call you that," Angele said without turning his head around. "You're right, we are just chess pieces in the war between the Dark Wizard Tower and the wizards of central continent. I never thought you'd hate me so much. Without that competition, things would be much easier for us."

"I understand what you're trying to imply." Becky wiped her mouth but her pretty face was still dirty. "It doesn't matter now."

Angele smiled and continued, "You tried to suicide 13 times but you never succeeded. It's the power of the bloodline, you won't be able to do anything."

The two kept advancing through the broken pieces of stones.

"You know everything, yeah." Becky shrugged and mocked him.

"Your concept gear is valuable to me." Angele smiled and stopped talking.

They remained silent as they advanced.

Minutes later, a flat platform appeared ahead—there were around ten people waiting on the platform. They were wearing black or white robes, but none of them had any badges on them.

An old man that was standing by the edge of the platform glanced at Angele and said, "Alright, two more."

The flying beasts in the sky were still roaring, the beasts and the griffins were also making noises.

The other people on the platform were not concerned, they were chatting or meditating on the ground. There were also several people just checking the surroundings.

Angele walked to a less crowded area with Becky.

A man and a woman with red hair were chatting on the right. The man glanced at Angele and it looked like he was surprised.

"Are you from the Elemental Hand?" The man wondered.

Angel was a bit surprised. "Sorry, you're?"

The man walked to Angele and smiled. "I'm from the St. King Mountains and I'm here to help the alliance. I thought it would take the members of the Elemental Hand a while to arrive."

"St. King Mountains?" Angele had heard of this organization, it was one of the strongest organizations in the west. The members of the organization were good at energy modification and tracking spells. Their modified fire rune circles were famous and the organization communicated with Elemental Hand a lot. The Watchers used to visit St. King Mountains from time to time.

The man with red hair smiled and said, "My name is Justin and this is Monteria. She's a Fire Raven." He introduced himself and the woman to Angele.

The woman nodded and smiled, but did not say anything.

"As a Fire Raven, Monteria's throat is different, so she won't talk," Justin explained.

Angele nodded. "I understand. The Fire Ravens have different throats than normal creatures. It's fine."

They had a short conversation and traded information about their organizations. Angele already knew what Justin was implying.

They were all rank 4 wizards and they should help each other in the operation. Angele was not concerned, he needed more information anyway. The two wizards were talking to each other like they were old friends. They even talked about spell modification.

Becky was resting on the side with her eyes closed. Monteria was just listening to their conversation with a smile on the face, she remained silent.

Half an hour later, three more people appeared on the platform. Two were male and the other was a female. One of the men was half-naked, he was wearing a bone helmet and a leather skirt. There were some complicated tattoos that looked like totems on his face.

The man glanced at the group and his sight fell upon a female black robe that was standing alone on the platform.

"Fiona, I didn't expect to see you here. What did Prince Evil Dragon offer you?" he questioned in a deep tone.

The woman named Fiona was reading a brown leather book. She raised her head and looked at the man after hearing his words.

"Anchura? I thought you were hunting the black-striped rhinos on the ice plain."

Chapter 495: Dangerous Operation (2)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

Anchura sneered and glanced at the wizards again; his sight fell upon an old man with a cold expression on the face.

"It's you!" Anchura's voice was a bit shaky, he released a strong energy wave and it seemed like he was trying to attack the old man.

*BAM*

The old man remained calm, he created a shadow of a purple leopard, blocking the energy wave.

The left-over energy wave was spreading to other wizards.

The other wizards' expressions changed, they knew how strong the energy wave was.

"Calm down, young man. There's no point to do this here," the old man spoke in a deep tone, but the voice sounded like it was that of a little girl.

Anchura stared at the old man. "You robbed my merchants and took my Life Grass… I didn't expect to meet you here. Who're you anyway!"

The old man lowered his head and did not respond. It seemed like Anchura feared the old man, he calmed down and sat down.

Angele checked the left-over energy wave in the air and his expression changed.

'Such a strong energy wave…'

Justin noticed what Angele was thinking and explained, "They're the strongest wizards here, Fiona the Shadow Hand, Anchura the Barbarian, and the old man. I don't know anything about the old man, but the shadow leopard easily blocked a top-level rank 4 wizard's energy wave."

Angele nodded. "You're right, the energy waves the three wizards released were extremely strong; if they actually cast spells, they could easily change the outcome of a small battle, and with their final trump cards…"

"It's normal. Anchura is one of the strongest barbarians, famous for what he did during the Giant War around 300 years ago. Fiona eliminated the strong beings of other realms multiple times and was awarded the Purple Badge by the three lords. Also, she was the only one with the title Chaos Slayer in the area." Justin was familiar with the situation and kept explaining.

"I've heard about the Purple Badge—only people who contributed the most in wars will be awarded the badge, but Chaos Slayer… Did she eliminate the creatures from the Chaos Realm?"

"No, the creature she eliminated was not from the Chaos Realm but the Confusion Realm. I heard that the creature teleported to the wizard world by accident and already slaughtered a whole empire in the west when we received the information." Justin lowered his voice.

Angele nodded, he learned about the situation through the books, but it seemed like Justin knew more about the details.

Angele had a general idea about Anchura and the old man's power level after checking the energy waves they released. They had similar power level as Viss, they were strong rank 4 wizards.

The situation was the same for Angele if he did not use his final trump cards. However, he was not sure how strong Fiona was, but she was at least at the same level as Anchura and the old man.

Angele was a bit anxious when there were three people that had the similar power level as him in the team.

He separated the rank 4 wizards into 4 categories using the information he collected.

The mid-level rank 4 wizards were normal wizards who reached rank 4 after practicing for hundreds of years.

The high-level rank 4 wizards were wizards like Viss.

The top-level rank 4 wizards were wizards like Anchura, Fiona, and Angele. Also, the rank 4 wizards with strong Legacy Magic Circles were also top-level rank 4 wizards, like Vivian.

The strangest rank 4 wizards were wizards like Becky, her strongest ability could deal over 7000 degrees of damage. If Angele did not have the strong illusion ability and Becky was too angry during the fight, Angele might lose the battle since he had no way to handle such strong damage.

Angele turned Becky into his inheritor because he wanted to learn more about her power and her concept gear.

Several minutes later, two more people arrived at the platform and there was a total of 21 rank 4 wizards here. Most of them were mid-level rank 4 wizards and were much stronger than the wizards who were below rank 4.

The old man by the edge stood up after he counted the numbers. "Alright, I'll activate the portal since we're all here, what do you think?"

No one said anything. The old man nodded and raised his right hand, pressing down. It seemed like he pressed on something invisible and the object made some loud noise.

A golden rune circle appeared on the platform; there were countless lines in the complicated rune circle. The light released by the rune circle was eye-blinding.

The old man shouted; his feet turned into black tree roots and rooted on the golden rune circle.

*BAM*

After the noise, the whole platform was covered with golden light and Angele could not see anything.

He grabbed Becky and stayed away from the others. The only thing in his sight was the golden light and the noise that sounded like a strong wind blowing.

The feeling was similar to the feeling he had when he was teleported to the Soul River Realm.

After about ten seconds, the golden light disappeared from his sight.

There was a large black cave in front of him. He could see the red light dots that looked like tiny red eyes flashing in the cave.

Angele and the other wizards stood in a well and the white light coming from the top surrounded them.

He was at the edge of the light since he kept a distance from the other wizards.

"Watch out!"

Justin's voice suddenly came from the left, Angele noticed that his body was brushed over by some chilling wind and it seemed like something was charging to him.

"Becky!"

*BAM*

Becky suddenly appeared in front of Angele and blocked the attack, but she was blown away by a strong force.

*BAM*

Becky hit the wall of the cave and blood was spurting out of her mouth. Her left arm was twisted at a strange angle.

The chilling wind approached Angele's back again.

Becky's body disappeared from the wall and blocked the attack for Angele again.

*CHI*

Her stomach was penetrated by an invisible claw and she grabbed the claw tight.

"Great!" Angele pointed at Becky and released two balls of flames. The fireballs turned into two lion men and jumped to the area in front of Becky.

The sharp claws of the lion men grabbed the invisible creature that attacked them and started pulling at it hard.

*BAM*

After the noise, the two lion men with the same power level as rank 3 wizards were blown away by the creature. The creature pulled its claw out of Becky's body and disappeared into the air.

Angele's brow furrowed; he looked at the other wizards—they were all attacked by several invisible creatures and he saw another creature disappearing into the air.

None of the wizards was injured, they were just surprised.

"Green, are you alright? How's your servant?" Justin walked to Angele and asked, he was holding a red crystal wand in hand.

"I'm alright and my servant can recover from the injury fast." Angele shook his head. "I think I've seen the creature somewhere…"

Anchura snorted and stepped forward. A red eye appeared between his eyebrows and released a ray of red light, brightening up the area.

Under the red light, one of the invisible beasts suddenly groaned; its voice sounded like it was from a cat.

A piece of flesh that was covered with blood dropped to the ground and melted like a candle. The flesh turned into a small pool of blood within seconds.

"The Blood Throne! This is the Blood Throne!" a wizard shouted. "Those are the invisible blood beasts!"

"The Dark Wizard Tower is planning something big. They are trying to summon the Blood Lord through the Blood Throne."

"Damn, this is a dimension fissure. Now we're in trouble!"

The wizards' expressions changed.

"Calm down!" Fiona stepped forward with the leather book still in hand. The black robe she wore was quite revealing. "It's just the Blood Throne, not the Blood Lord. Blood Lord was the strongest ancient wizard and I doubt he is as powerful as in the ancient times."

The old man that fought with Anchura also stepped forward. "The Dark Wizard Tower hasn't taken over the Blood Throne yet, since we entered the fissure with no problems. We'll defeat the wizards from the Dark Wizard Tower and seal this dimension fissure before it's too late."

"Master Simon is correct." Fiona nodded. "Follow me, everyone. I can sense the remaining dimension wave here. It's left by the members of the Dark Wizard Tower."

She left the light first and walked to the deep cave.

Anchura and Simon followed after Fiona. The rest of the wizards started moving as well.

"Anyway, we should just follow Fiona for now," Justin told Angele in a low voice. "Let's go."

Angele nodded and glanced at Becky.

The wound on Becky's stomach already recovered. Her face was no longer pale and she was trying to fix her arm.

*Crack*

Becky stood up and glared at Angele after the noise.

"Let's go."

Angele smiled. "Thanks for the help, I'm counting on the defensive power of your concept gear." He sent the words using energy particles.

Becky sneered. "And the strong recovery ability of your bloodline, right?"

"You're an inheritor of my bloodline, you should take the hit for me." Angele patted Becky's shoulder and started advancing.

Chapter 496: Dangerous Operation (3)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

The two followed after the wizards and started advancing.

The cave was spacious and the chilling wind lowered the temperature of the whole area. The ground was bumpy since it was covered with broken pieces of stones and ice.

*PA*

One of the wizards flicked his finger and a golden light ball appeared over his head. The ball had the size of a basketball and it was floating in the air.

The whole area was brightened up as the light illuminated the wizards' bodies.

Fiona glanced at the light ball. "The healing light, huh? It's creative that you used it as a source of light."

The wizard's brow furrowed but he did not respond to her words.

Angele could feel the warmth of the red light and felt much better in the wind.

The team advanced at full speed for a while and warmth returned to the area. They turned left and suddenly saw bright white light ahead.

The exit of the cave was about 100 meters away and that was where the white light came from.

Simon, who was in front, raised his hand and stopped the team.

"Wait please, there are unknown creatures ahead and I need to apply something to you."

He took out a yellow bag from the pouch and opened it slowly. Simon grabbed some yellow powder and sprinkled it into the air.

The powder turned into shiny yellow dots in the air and dropped to the ground.

Angele was a bit surprised, he noticed that his body was changing.

Raising his hand, Angel noticed that his body turned translucent.

"Let's go." Simon sent the words through energy particles and started moving again. The rest of the wizards followed after him.

Angele was walking with Becky and Justin. They stepped out of the cave and entered a spacious dark hall. The walls of the hall were decorated with silver patterns and badges.

There were long white dining tables in the center of the hall with candle stands with lighted candles on top of them, but the hall was big and the yellow light from the candles was dim.

There were people sitting around the tables, but none of them was moving. The people were wearing different outfits, their gender and age varied.

There were silver plates and silverware on the table, it almost looked like they were having dinner.

The hall was deadly silent and none of the wizards said a word after entering the hall.

Anchura snorted and tried to grab one of the long tables.

Nothing happened.

He was a bit surprised. Gentle yellow light appeared on his right palm.

*CHI*

Two yellow light balls were released and hit the table hard.

The yellow light balls sank into the table without making any noise.

*Birrrrin*

It sounded like there were bells being rung in the hall.

Suddenly, all the people around the tables started moving their arms. They grabbed the silverware and naked human bodies appeared on the dining tables.

The people sitting around the tables varied in gender and age, but their skin was clean and elastic.

They started cutting the naked bodies on the table and blood dripped down the table. The noise made by the forks and knives echoed in the hall.

Anchura's expression turned serious.

"Fiona, are these the Blood Tables?"

Fiona's expression turned serious as well, she nodded. "I think they are. Watch out everyone, stay away from the tables. The people sitting at the tables are monsters that look like human beings. There is nothing inside their bodies. They'll never stop eating because they want to fill up their bodies with blood and flesh."

"They are empty inside, huh? Let me give it a try." A female black robe stepped forward and released two red centipedes that had the size of a human's arm. The centipedes tried to bite the monster that was the closest to the team.

*CHI*

With a noise, the two red centipedes went through the monster's body; it almost looked like they pierced through an illusion. The female black robe thought she was seeing illusions.

"Come back!" The female black robe asked the two centipedes to come back.

"Sorry." She looked at Fiona and nodded. It seemed like she was upset that her spell did nothing to the monster.

Fiona nodded. "Spells and physical attacks will not work, I assume. Be careful, everyone. We can pass through the tables without getting hurt. The Blood Tables won't attack for no reason."

"Sure, we'll do as you said," a wizard agreed.

The rest of them had nothing else to say, they followed after Fiona and started passing through the tables.

Angele was at the end of the team. His brow furrowed as he glanced at the monsters that were sitting around the tables.

The monsters sat around the table and kept sending human flesh into their mouths. Their bodies looked human, but there was no eyeballs in their eye sockets. They were moving like robots.

Blood spurted out of their eye sockets as they sent the flesh into their mouths and dripped down their chins.

Simon sent words through energy particles again. "Be careful, don't get too close to the tables. You'll be captured and turned into their food. You won't be able to talk or move when you're on the table, you will only be able to watch the monsters devour you. It's not about your power level, the power of the tables is similar to the realm power and it's nearly impossible for you to escape."

The wizards stayed alert after hearing these words, they were carefully traveling by the tables.

The gaps between the tables were only several meters wide. They could not hear the people chewing and the only noise was in the hall was made by the silverware.

"Wait!" a wizard suddenly shouted. "I know this man! It's Ash, I fought with him just several days ago!"

He pointed at a naked man that was being devoured on a table.

The wizards all looked at the table the male wizard pointed at. They looked at the man that was lying on the table, half of the man's body was already eaten by the monsters.

"Vella, are you sure? Ash is a captain of the Dark Wizard Tower, it's impossible for him to die here," a wizard with a beard interrupted.

"I'm sure he's Ash." The face of the wizard named Vella turned pale.

"I almost cut his left ear off during the battle. Take a look. The wound was left by my energy wave so it won't heal fast."

Angele looked at the dead man on the table, there was a red scar on his left ear and a pattern that looked like fish with a pair of wings on the back flashing by the scar.

"Wait, are the monsters eating the wizards sent by the Dark Wizard Tower?" Someone joined the conversation.

"It's possible," Simon spoke in a deep tone. "The Blood Lord is not known by all the wizards and the Blood Throne is a restricted area. This is a place from the tales and anything can happen."

A male wizard stepped forward and questioned, "Our goal is to make sure that the Dark Wizard Tower can't summon the Blood Lord. Should we retreat if all the wizards from the Dark Wizard are killed?"

"Yeah, let's head back to the cave." Fiona stopped the other wizards who were trying to join the organization.

The team started heading back to the cave quickly.

"Wait, the gap between the tables is getting smaller!" A wizard warned.

Angele heard these words and quickly checked the surroundings using the biochip.

"You're right, the tables are moving!"

"Are you sure? Maybe we didn't pay enough attention when we were trying to travel through them," Justin wondered.

"I think the tables are moving." The female wizard with Justin joined the conversation; she was speaking Metia. "Sorry, I was trying to find a way to speak Metia using the information Justin sent me."

"No worries. The problem is…" Angele pointed at the last four tables in front of the team.

The gaps between those tables were extremely small, they would have to lean to the side, but they would touch the monsters' bodies if they did that.

Two white robes stood in front of the gaps, they exchanged their opinions and tried to fly past the tables. The two wizards floated in the air with the help of energy particles.

However, they fell to the ground after just one second and did not move an inch in the air. The wizards on the floor caught them so they did not touch the monsters.

"It won't work. You can't fly over the Blood Tables. I've read about it in the books." Fiona scrunched her eyebrows and stepped forward.

She was at the front of the team when they left the cave, but she was at the end of the team at the moment.

"Create golems and ask the golems to throw us over. Can someone give it a try?" Fiona questioned as she glanced at the wizards.

"Let me do it." Anchura hit the ground with his palms but nothing happened.

"No, there's no stone element here." He stood up.

The other wizards tried to create golems as well. "No, nothing works. This place is so strange!"

"My teleport spells are not working."

"It seemed like our spells are restricted or weakened here." Simon found a black cane and informed the team. "I suggest that we don't cast any strong spells here or something unfortunate might happen. This place is designed by the Blood Lord after all."

The wizards calmed down after hearing those words.

Angele tried to summon the lion men, but nothing happened. It felt like he was expelled from the dimension fissure temporarily when he was in the hall.

"Let's walk through the gap one by one. Stay alert and walk fast!" Fiona advised.

There was nothing the wizards could do, so they had to follow Fiona's instruction.

Nothing happened. Justin passed through the gaps without any problem. Angele and Becky were the next.

Angele's brow furrowed, he looked at Becky. "You go first."

Becky snorted and stepped forward. She passed through the gap without any problem.

Blue light dots flashed in front of Angele's eyes. He did the calculations and walked to the gap.

He carefully leaned to the side so that he would not touch the back of the monsters. Suddenly, someone tapped on Angele's back. He turned his head around and saw one of the monsters was smiling at him as the blood dripped down its chin.

Angele jumped forward and rushed through the gaps quickly. He drew the scimitar and slashed backward without looking.

*PA*

His scimitar went through an invisible force in the air and the noise sounded like he was hitting a wood plank.

"What happened?!"

"Something is trying to grab my hand!"

The wizards that had not passed the gaps yet all cast strong spells to block the invisible forces that were giving them trouble.

Chapter 497: Dangerous Operation (4)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

"Ah!" Suddenly, a female wizard's right arm was pulled off by the invisible force. Her arm flew to one of the tables and was quickly consumed by the monsters.

However, there was no blood leaking out of the female wizard's wound.

"Move now! My arm will grow back!" the female wizard shouted.

The rest of the wizards quickly rushed through the gaps and returned to the team.

Angele turned his head around and gave the tables a cold look.

"Why me?" Angele had no idea why the incident happened. The other wizards had no problem passing through the gaps, but one of the monsters tried to communicate with him when it was his turn.

"Was it a coincidence?" Angele had never experienced something like this before.

"Don't worry, it's just a coincidence." Justin patted Angele's shoulder.

Monteria looked at Angele and her brow furrowed. "Green, your soul is stronger than other wizards', I think. From the information I collected from a ruin, I learned that those monsters would treat you differently based on the strength of your soul."

"My soul?" Angele understood the situation quickly. His soul was the combination of the negative emotions from about half a million of souls, purified by the woman he captured from Soul River Realm.

"Is it a good thing or a bad thing?" Angele wondered.

"It's great if it's a bad thing," Becky mocked. "I'll be free if you're eaten by those monsters!"

Angele was not concerned, he observed the tables again but could not detect the invisible forces anymore. The wizards who were injured recovered quickly.

The team returned to the cave without any problem.

Fiona, Anchura, and Simon were having a discussion; it seemed like they reached the agreement. Simon looked at the wizards and started talking, "We're not sure if the Dark Wizard Tower has already initiated their plan successfully, so we think that we should keep exploring. If you don't want to proceed further, you can stay in this cave."

"We're here because the alliance promised us something and I don't think we should quit." The old man who activated the portal stepped forward. "We're all strong rank 4 wizards of the central continent, no one will stop here because of fear."

"You're right, but this is a dangerous place and we should plan it out." The female wizard who just lost an arm joined the conversation. Her arm already grew back, but was soaked in sticky liquid and looked disgusting. She was swinging her new arm when talking.

"We have a strong team here and there's no point for us to stop. Fiona, you're the strongest wizard here and you're known for your knowledge, what do you think?" a wizard questioned.

Angele just stood there and listened to Fiona, Anchura, and Simon's conversation. It seemed like they wanted to become the leaders of the team.

He joined the operation because he wanted to collect the souls of rank 4 wizards while destroying the trump card of the Dark Wizard Tower. The souls of rank 4 wizards could be turned into the masked men who could block fatal attacks for him. He lost one masked man during the fight against Becky and needed to create a new one as soon as possible. The souls of rank 4 wizards were perfect for his plan.

The wizards in the team were all strong. When a fight broke out between the wizards from the Dark Wizard Tower and the wizards in his team, it would be a life or death situation so he would have the chance to collect their souls.

However, he had not collected any soul yet. He scanned the dead wizards on the tables using the biochip and the dark mentality, however, those wizards' bodies were empty—there was no soul in them.

The monster tried to communicate with Angele because it noticed that Angele was trying to find the souls of the dead wizards.

Angele had collected the soul of a rank 4 wizard—the soul was so strong that it had the same energy as 2000 normal souls. He needed ten more souls of rank 4 wizards to meet the minimum requirement of the ritual.

'It's great that I asked Becky to prepare the rune circles so I can collect the souls. The final war between the alliance and the Dark Wizard Tower will start soon…' Angele thought.

'However, Prince Evil Dragon will not go all out before we can destroy this Blood Throne thing…'

Fiona, Anchura, and Simon finished their discussion. They walked around and tried to find another path in the cave.

A wizard took out a fist-sized beehive. Countless insects flew out and spread into the whole cave quickly.

Some wizards sat down with their legs crossed; it seemed like they were searching the cave using their force fields.

One of the wizards suddenly opened his eyes and shouted, "I found a path here!"

Under the light of the golden ball, the wizard rushed to the right side of the cave and several wizards followed after him.

They quickly found a window that was sealed by ice on the wall.

"It's a window. We can leave the cave through the well and check the surroundings," a wizard suggested.

"Good idea."

Fiona remembered something. "We forgot the simplest thing. Let's head back to the well."

The team walked for about ten minutes and returned to the well.

The wizards stood in the light and raised their heads.

"Good! We can leave the cave through the well." The wizards flew into the air.

Angele grabbed Becky and floated in the air as well.

He flew for around 20 meters and left the well. He landed by the well without any problem.

The team realized that they were on top of a gray mountain in the midst of a dark stone plain.

Angele looked at the dark plain and saw an enormous green vine connected to the sky.

The green vine looked like the Sky Tree from the legends. The vine struck into the clouds, its surface covered with green leaves and colorful flowers.

The clouds were dark and he could see blue lightning in the sky.

*Rumble*

The lightning was followed by loud thunder.

Angele glanced around and noticed that there was no building or human being around. The only things he could see were hills and the eye-catching green vine.

The team was about ten kilometers away from the vine and no animal could be found on the plain.

The wizards left the cave one after one. They wizards were all surprised by the vine. They remained silent and they observed it using their own methods.

Fiona, Anchura, and Simon did not say anything. They just stared at the vine and the wind was the only thing making noise in the area.

The wizards started moving several minutes later.

A wizard crouched, he grabbed some mud from the ground and tasted it.

"There's been no living being here for over 3000 years. I can't taste anything." His brow furrowed.

"There's no death energy in the air, so there shouldn't be any undead creature in the area," the other rank 4 wizard spoke with his eyes closed.

The wizards all had strong talent abilities and secret spells. They analyzed the situation of the plain.

There were only plants in this realm and the plain was so quiet that it felt a bit strange.

The team discussed for a while on top of the mountain and decided to head to the green vine.

Angele followed the team and listened to Justin's explanation.

"This is not a realm, but a dimension fissure that is very close to the wizard world. This is where the Blood Throne is located, but the place shares similar realm rules as the wizard world. Although I don't know what the vine does for the Blood Throne, it's not a decoration. This might be the entrance to the core of the throne," Justin spoke in a low voice.

"That vine looks ridiculous," Monteria interrupted. "I'm not surprised by its size, but by the energy wave it's releasing. Did you notice that? The vine is not alive. It might be an object that looked like a vine and I think it might be a building."

"Huh? You mean the plant is not releasing life energy?" Angele wondered.

"Yeah." Monteria nodded. "I was born in a forest and I'm very sensitive about the life energy of the plants. I noticed that something wasn't right when I saw the plant."

"Watch out!" someone in the front of the team shouted.

*BAM BAM*

The wizards separated into two groups after the explosion and Angele could see the scene in front of them clearly.

Several human-shaped creatures were hugging a male wizard tightly, releasing dark energy waves.

*BAM*

The wizard disappeared with the creatures with a noise.

"Residents of Ash! Stay away from them or you'll be dragged into an unknown realm!" Fiona shouted. Intense blue flames appeared on her shoulders and illuminated the Residents of Ash that were trying to capture another wizard.

The creatures were formed by gray ashes. They groaned and exploded, turning into a pile of ash and dropping to the ground.

Simon released some tiny purple flies that rushed into those creatures. The flies exploded and it seemed like the Residents of Ash mistook the flies for their targets

Countless Residents of Ash appeared on the ground and jumped to the wizards.

Angele, Justin, Becky, and Monteria gathered together.

"I can handle it!" Justin spoke in a low voice, he stepped forward and threw a triangular silver badge into the air.

The silver badge exploded and turned into a silver vortex, releasing countless translucent shadows. The shadows charged toward the Residents of Ash and hit them hard.

Strangely, the Residents of Ash ignored the shadows and did not take any damage.

"They're soulless." Justine's expression changed. He took something out of his pouch and threw it into the air. Also, a pattern that looked like a burning flame appeared on his face.

The item disappeared before Angele could see what it was.

*WOO*

The closest Resident of Ash was ignited and slowly melted. The other Residents of Ash were also caught in the fire. They melted and turned into piles of black ash.

"I almost missed." Cold sweat appeared on Justin's forehead. He looked at Angele and Monteria. "Sorry, I had to use the Void Flame. It seemed like Residents of Ash had high resistance against energy attacks. The Void Flame was probably the most convenient thing I had."

Monteria scrunched her brow and nodded. "I didn't know you have Void Flame, Justine. It's great that you solved the problem, otherwise it would be an issue."

Chapter 498: Dangerous Operation (5)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

The wizards did what they could to stop the Residents of Ash; however, three wizards were captured and teleported to an unknown realm.

Angele could hear the wizards breathing heavily, it seemed like they used a lot of mentality.

"Have some rest, everyone. I'm certain that our teammates won't die easily even if they were teleported to an unknown location." Fiona's expression turned serious. She created a chair using stones and sat down. She started meditating after closing her eyes.

Anchura glared at Simon and sat down with his legs crossed; he started meditating as well. Simon was not concerned, he walked around the team and checked the remains of the Residents of Ash.

Angele, Justin, Becky, and Monteria were sitting together. The formed a small group, Angele's eyes were still open, he was observing the wizards.

The wizards were staying with the people they knew. Some were meditating with defensive barriers around their bodies and some were having conversations. Angele noticed that one of the groups was quite eye-catching. They were wearing long gray robes, staying at the edge of the team.

There were three wizards on the ground and Anchura was right beside them. They blurred their faces using special techniques and were wearing long wizard hats.

Angele glanced at the group without being noticed and recorded the energy waves they were releasing. He thought that something was a bit off with that group; however, Fiona and Simon did not pay any attention to them.

"When will you release me?" Becky's voice came from the right. "You know how strong I was. I can offer you more help than the other wizards."

Angele looked at Becky. The woman was sitting on the ground, playing with black sand with her fingers.

"I didn't force you to stay with me. It's the power in your body that makes you follow me," Angele responded in a deep tone.

"Whatever!" Becky was a bit anxious. "You're right that my damn power is forcing me to follow you."

She looked at Angele and suddenly changed the topic. "What's the thing you asked me to eat?"

"Take a guess." Angele smiled. "It won't do anything bad to you."

"It won't do anything good to me, either." Becky snorted.

Angele was not concerned; although he could control Becky's body, the woman still had the concept gear, and she could say whatever she wanted. Angele just wanted to make sure that Becky could still activate the concept gear when necessary.

The woman sounded like she did not care, but she feared death with Angele's bloodline in her body and she would not say anything that might get her killed.

After about half an hour, the team started moving again. There were 17 wizards left.

They did not encounter any other problems, but it took them around two hours to reach the vine. It seemed like the road was longer than Angele had expected.

"Let me see if there's any trap." Fiona jumped to a large stone and opened her mouth several minutes later. "Make sure that we can observe the vine from different angles. I'll go to the front side, anyone else?" She looked at the wizards.

Simon stepped forward. "I'll go with you."

Two more wizards stepped forward and joined Fiona's group.

Anchura shook his head. "I'll take a different angle, who wants to join me?"

Four wizards stepped forward—three of them were gray robes, and two more wizards also joined Anchura after them. Anchura's group was the biggest, there were seven wizards in his team.

Angele, Justin, Becky, Monteria, and two more wizards had not expressed their opinion yet.

The two wizards Angele had never talked to were both female and they stepped forward when Angele was hesitating.

"We'll take the opposite side. It's fine, right?" The woman that talked was around 20 years old, wearing a long white robe with a belt on the waist. Her outfit was different from other female wizards' and Angele noticed that she was wearing tight silver armor inside the robe.

Her skin was elastic and it looked like she was from a noble family based on the way she talked.

Also, the woman braided her blond hair, which trailed over her shoulders. She had a pair of blue eyes and looked elegant with the long silky gloves she was wearing.

Justin and Monteria exchanged eye contact, they decided to join the woman's team.

Angele smiled and decided to join the woman's team as well.

The other woman was chubby and there was a pair of metal hammers on her back. It seemed like this woman respected the woman that was talking.

Fiona glanced at the six wizards. "Alright, we'll separate into three groups and check the vine using spells. Any questions? If not, let's start moving!"

Anchura snorted, it seemed like he did not like the fact that Simon joined Fiona's group. He walked to the left side of the vine with his group members.

"Let's go!"

Anchura's group disappeared by the edge of the vine.

"Let's get moving," Simon suggested. Fiona nodded and walked to the front side of the vine. "We'll take care of this area."

One of the male wizards in Fiona's team hesitated for a second and walked to Angele.

He was staring at the noble woman.

"Aria, I thought you would…" He tried to ask a question.

"I changed my mind," the woman named Aria interrupted. "Do you want to join my group of Fiona's group?"

"Aria, we had a plan, right? You said that…" The man noticed that Aria was getting impatient before finishing speaking.

"Fine… I'll join your group." There was a bitter smile on his face. "I'll do anything for you."

"No one forced you to join my group."

The man followed Aria, but kept a distance from her.

The man also dressed like he was from a noble family, it seemed like he knew Aria.

"Carol and the other wizard were teleported by Residents of Ash, but she had a one-time portal and they can teleport back to us. It'll take her around half a day to prepare the portal so we should probably wait for them," the man spoke in a low voice; however, it seemed like he was not trying to hide the contents of the conversation.

"A one-time portal? That's a rare item." Justin stepped forward and joined the conversation.

"You can only find the portal in the Golden Flower Empire of the east. Are you from Golden Flower Empire? Oh, sorry, I'm not trying to interrupt your conversation."

He clapped his hands and leaned to the left. It seemed like he was trying to show his respect.

The man and the two female wizards did the same thing.

"You're right. We're the royal wizards of the Golden Flower Empire."

"Let me introduce ourselves. My name is Miray and this is Aria, we're both nobles of the Golden Flower Empire." The man smiled, but he did not introduce the other female wizard to Justin.

Justin introduced himself and Monteria.

"This is Master Green from Elemental Hand." He then pointed at Angele.

"You can just call me Green." Angele smiled and stepped forward. "This is my servant." He pointed at Becky.

There was a polite and gentle smile on Miray's face. "Alright, it's great to meet you. We need to wait for our friends, but I'm not sure if…"

"I'm fine with that." Angele shrugged. "The mission will be easier if we have more people in the group."

"That's right. We don't mind waiting for a bit." Justin nodded after he talked to Monteria. "But we can go to the vine and check the situation first."

"Fine…" Aria was impatient. She started moving to the vine right away.

The vine was more than 30 meters wide and its body was completely green. Fiona and Anchura's groups already disappeared. It seemed like they activated a stealth technique and started climbing the vine.

Aria walked to the right side of the vine and grabbed a leaf.

"Huh?"

"What happened?" The rest of the group approached the vine as well.

Miray walked to Aria and whispered something to her ear. It seemed like they were excited about something they found.

Angele, Justin, Becky, and Monteria kept a distance from Aria and Miray.

"Let's go take a look too," Justin suggested.

Angele nodded, but he did not say anything. He walked to the vine with Becky, Monteria, and Justin.

He grabbed a green leaf carefully as well.

The leaf was hard and inelastic.

Blue light dots flashed in front of Angele's eyes and his brow furrowed. He released the leaf and tried to burn it using some dark-red flames.

However, nothing happened.

Angele waved his hand slightly and the color of the flames changed from dark-red to gold gradually.

The temperature of the flames was so high that Angele's body almost blurred.

Justin and Monteria were testing the leaves and the branches using their own methods. They were surprised by the golden flames released by Angele and stepped away.

Miray looked at Angele and said, "It's weaker than the Void Flame but the strength of his flame was incredible,"

Angele did not say anything, the flames slowly disappeared from his hand and he stared at the leaf with his brow furrowed.

The leaf and the branch that connected to it were not damaged at all. He could not even find any burnt mark on the leaf.

Chapter 499: Dangerous Operation (6)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

He glanced at the other wizards. The golden flames were created using pure Fire energy particles and had no special effects. Most of the strong wizards could accomplish that.

However, Angele released more energy particles than he needed intentionally. After the energy particles contacted the other wizards' bodies, he could use the biochip to analyze their power levels.

Justin and Monteria had the same power level as Viss.

Miray had the same power level as Justin; however, Aria and the other female wizard were mid-level rank 4 wizards. They were much weaker than top-level wizards like Justin and Monteria.

Angele did not take their trump cards into consideration as he had no idea what they were carrying.

He lowered his hand and took one step back. "It's weird. The vine's resistance is ridiculously high."

The other wizards all did their tests and they all had serious expressions on the faces.

Monteria was holding a purple dagger and still trying to engrave something onto the surface of the vine.

"Wait a minute, I'm still working on the fire. My dagger was infused with mixed dragon blood and it can deal poison damage," she explained in Metia.

She kept engraving on the surface of the vine, but nothing happened.

Monteria remained calm. She put the purple dagger away and took out a wavy red dagger with a golden handle from the pouch. She started engraving on the vine again.

"This one is infused with 1263 types of spices using a special technique. Also, it was kept in a volcano frog's body for around 90 years. My strength will be greatly increased when I'm holding the dagger in my hand."

The wizards around were surprised after hearing these words. The golden dagger had to be a rare weapon made of special materials.

*CHI*

Green dust dropped to the ground—the dagger successfully scratched the surface of the vine.

"Finally. My strength is equal to the strength of 30 adult men combined with the dagger's buff." Monteria collected the dust using a small test tube and put it into her pouch.

Her pouch was also made with special material. The pouch was half a meter long, its size was relatively large and it could hold a lot of items.

"The strength of 30 adult men? If you can utilize the power of the dagger, you'll have a similar strength level of a rank 4 wizard with body modification spells," Aria interrupted.

Angele stepped forward, he was interested in the dagger. "I modified my body and I also have the strength of 30 adult men, but the only thing you need is a dagger. Is there a chance that you can sell the dagger to me? I'm interested."

He was not completely lying, Angele's body was strengthened due to the true form; however, in the wizard world, his strength was capped at around 30 points.

When stamina was not taken into the count, the buff of the dagger helped Monteria reach the same strength level as Angele, but the other mid-level rank 4 wizards that had similar strength levels with body modification techniques might be slightly stronger than Angele or Monteria.

"Sorry, I don't think I'll ever sell it, and I assume your development is not focused on the strength." Monteria smiled. "I've seen a rank 4 wizard that focused on strength smash the ground using his fist. He had the strength of 45 adult men."

Angele smiled but did not respond.

"Let's make a campfire and study the vine. We'll be climbing for a while if we want to reach the top." Justin pointed at the ground and created a ball of fire. Dried branches appeared under the fireball and became fuel for the campfire.

Justin stopped controlling the fireball and sat down by the campfire.

They remained silent after testing the vine. They sat around the campfire and started meditating.

Angele noticed that Miray and Aria looked concerned when he said he had the strength of 30 adult males. It seemed like they thought Angele was lying.

Angele sat by the campfire and made it look like that he was meditating.

'Zero, check my current condition.'

'Analyzing… Attributes slightly increased… Adjusting…'

'Completed. Here are your current attributes.'

'Angele Fenrir Rio: Strength 32.2, Agility 11.5, Stamina 28.0, Mentality 344.8, Mana 310.2. Gene limit not reached. Status: Unknown.'

'So, my strength increased by 2, but my agility is still the same. My mentality is now over 300, which means Nightmare Realm is getting closer. I have the heat aura but I don't have the realm power. If the realm power of Nightmare Realm can handle the realm power of the wizard world, my stamina and strength will increase by at least 20 points,' Angele thought. 'My physical power will be the same as a strong rank 4 wizard even with the realm power and the heat aura. My high attributes are no longer an advantage in battles against top-level rank 4 wizards.

'If I can infuse my body with light… I can only do it twice before I faint even with my high mentality. My right arm will be turned into the light form and I can hit one target within 100 meters. However, if my opponents underestimate my power, I'll be able to eliminate two strong enemies. Also, I have Becky…'

With the trump cards, Angele had the same power level as Fiona and was slightly weaker than Becky when he fought with her. Becky attacked Angele's illusion because she failed to calm down during the battle. The woman would not be captured so easily under normal circumstances.

If Angele let Becky control her own body, she would have the same power level as Fiona, but some of her abilities would still be restricted.

'In conclusion, Aria is as strong as me. Without the realm power and trump cards, I'm just a mid-level rank 4 wizard,' Angele thought.

The wizards sat around the campfire and remained silent. The fire was the only thing making noise. There was green smoke rising into the air.

Suddenly, an intense fragrance that smelled like grapes permeated the air.

The wizards all looked at the source of the fragrance.

Aria was pouring some translucent liquid on her palm from a purple bottle. Her brow furrowed as she noticed that the wizards were staring at her.

"It's just perfume, what's the problem?"

"Nothing." Miray smiled and closed his eyes again.

The other also closed their eyes.

It was getting dark outside and the fire was almost extinguished.

Angele opened his eyes and picked up a dried branch, he started poking the campfire.

Suddenly, he noticed that something was off.

The smoke from the fire was no longer rising to the air, it turned into a small ball above the campfire.

*Roar*

The smoke ball turned into the head of a wolf and tried to bite Angele's neck.

The wolf head was about one meter wide, it charged to Angele but was blocked by an invisible barrier.

*BAM*

Angele's face turned pale, he blocked the attack but was still blown away by the impact.

The wolf head decided to attack other wizards after its attack was blocked.

Three enormous shadows appeared in the sky, each about ten meters long. The shadows were brightened up by the light from the fire and Angele noticed that the shadows were actually three black dragons.

The mouths of the dragons looked like tentacles of octopuses, they were trying to grab the wizards using their tentacles.

Angele had no time to check other wizards' condition, he took a deep breath as one of the dragons charged at him.

The wings and the mouth of the dragon filled up Angele's sight.

"Becky!" he shouted and a white shadow appeared in front of him, charging toward the octopus dragon.

*BAM*

The white shadow hit the dragon's head; however, it seemed like there was an invisible barrier between the two and they both hesitated.

Angele got the chance and disappeared into a ball of fire. He decided to keep some distance from the dragon.

*CHI*

It sounded like clothes being ripped apart. Becky's left arm was bitten off by the dragon and swallowed right away.

The woman's eyes rolled up and she fainted.

Angele quickly caught the woman. He noticed that her body was a mess and her white armor was soaked in blood.

He shook his head as he looked at the woman who fainted.

"Sorry, I had no choice," he muttered. Angele looked at the octopus dragon, it seemed like the dragon lost its balance after the impact.

"It's great that I had a servant," he said. Angele thought he made a right decision.

Becky slowly woke up, she did not hear Angele's apology but she heard the second sentence Angele said. She was enraged by his words.

They had no time to argue as the dragon charged at them again. Angele's body was restricted by an invisible force field as the humongous shadow was right above his head.

"Becky! Now!" Angele shouted and used Becky's body to block the force field.

Becky noticed that the disgusting tentacles were in front of her face again after she woke up.

"I'll kill you sooner or later!" she shouted like crazy.

Angele quickly escaped the force field and raised his right hand. A large stone pillar penetrated the dragon's stomach and blew the dragon away.

He chanted the incantation and created two meters tall lava ball when the dragon was recovering.

The cracks on the surface of the lava ball were filled up with golden lava, its temperature extremely high.

The area around Angele was smoking and the stones all turned red. The smaller stones pieces exploded and turned into dust.

"Go now." Angele pushed the lava ball forward.

*WOO*

The lava ball disappeared into the air.

*BOOM*

Red light struck into the air as the ball exploded. However, the dragon was not eliminated by the explosion. The dragon's skin was slightly damaged and Angele could see the burnt marks on it.

'The lava ball is upgraded with my rank 4 power but it's only good for an area attack.' Angele's brow furrowed, he noticed that a similar force field appeared on the left.

"Becky!"

The woman blocked the force field again, but her injured body could barely handle the impact. She was blown away again.

Justin witnessed the scene and his face twitched. It seemed like he felt sorry for what Angele did to Becky.

"Left!" Angele shouted again.

The woman appeared on his left again but she was blown away right away, leaving a large hole on the ground.

*WOO*

Angele heard that the dragon that attacked Aria was groaning.

That dragon's wings were damaged. It flew into the air and disappeared into the sky.

The other two dragons retreated as well after the first one disappeared.

Justin finally finished his incantation, it took him around eight seconds to finish the preparations with Monteria protecting him.

His ears increased in length and turned red. Opening his mouth, he released a ray of red light, striking a dragon's tail.

*CHI*

*Roar*

The dragon groaned again and increased its speed.

The red ray returned into Justin's mouth and his ears returned to normal.

*BAM*

Part of the dragon's tail fell to the ground and gray smoke splashed in the air. The tail looked like a large version of a lizard's tail and was still twitching.

Angele looked at the other wizards. Becky and Angele had trouble fighting the dragon, but the other wizards all successfully defeated the other dragons.

Miray did most of the work as there were still strong energy waves surrounding his hands. The golden electric sparks were slowly disappearing from his palms.

Justin and Monteria revealed their power. They were having a short conversation regarding the battle, it seemed like they were trying to improve their teamwork.

Angele and Becky were surprised by the attack so he had no time to cast spells. Also, Becky could not control her body, so she failed to react as well.

Angele tried his best to dodge the dragon's attacks and the whole thing ended before he did anything.

Without the heat aura, he had the power level of a mid-level rank 4 wizard, but with the aura and his trump cards, he would be a top-level rank 4 wizard. However, Angele felt that someone was observing the team from the shadows, and he decided not to reveal his true power.

As he expected, no one was observing them anymore after the ambush.

Chapter 500: Elites (1)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

"What was that?"

"Octopus dragons. The name fits their appearance, right?" Justin answered Aria's question.

They walked to the damaged dragon tail and observed it carefully. The tail was about two meters long and still twitching.

Justin and Monteria crouched, they tried to cut the tail into pieces. Aria, Miray, and the other female wizard were talking on the side.

Angele checked the area on his left and walked to Becky, who was lying by the campfire.

"Are you alright?" He crouched and patted Becky's face.

The woman turned her head around as she did not want to see Angele's face.

Angele shrugged, stood up, and checked Becky's wounds. The wounds were healing quickly, it would take her about ten minutes to completely recover.

*WOO*

Red light suddenly flashed on his right arm.

Angele raised his hand and checked the five scorpion-shaped patterns on his arm. Two of the patterns were glowing.

'Two of the signs are completed.' He lowered his hand.

The five scorpion patterns represent the five signs of the lords. Each of the signs could absorb 6000 souls and the scorpion pattern would glow when the sign was full.

Two of the signs were glowing, which meant that he had collected 12000 souls.

'It means the war is intense.' He pressed on the glowing patterns and the glow quickly disappeared.

The team sat down and rested for a while. They walked to the right side of the vine when the sun rose.

The surface of the vine was bumpy and it looked like a cracked stone pillar.

Miray, Aria, and the female wizard floated in the air. They jumped up using the branches as stairs.

Justin and Monteria decided to fly using energy particles.

Angele exchanged eye contact with Becky. Becky grabbed a branch and jumped up. Angele followed after her.

"Watch out for the wind. The wind is strange here!" Justin warned.

Angele grabbed a green branch and was about to jump up. However, the chilling wind was brushing over his body and it felt like being stabbed by daggers.

Also, he noticed that there were translucent human shadows mixed in the wind. The shadows rotated around Angele; they were the source of the cold air here.

"Hurry!" Angele shouted and started climbing at full speed. His body was surrounded by red glow, which increased the temperature around him.

It was a rank 2 spell named High-Temperature Light. The heat from the light drove away the shadows and Angele finally caught up with the other wizards.

The team disappeared into the clouds that surrounded the vine slowly.

Several minutes later.

The campfire had already been extinguished but it was still smoking. The smoke slowly turned into a gray-robed man on the side.

The gray robe raised his head and looked at the vine.

"They're all climbing up the vine," he spoke in a low voice. "They separated into three groups and started climbing at different time. We can take them out one by one."

"No." A middle-aged woman's voice echoed in the air. "We can attack them when they reach the top. They have more wizards than us. Fiona, Anchura, and Simon are the biggest threats."

The man's brow furrowed. "If the monsters are still here, we'll have a much easier time."

"It's too late. Does the leader have a plan for us?" the woman questioned.

The gray robe took out a jade stone that had the shape of a crescent moon. He threw the stone forward and it exploded, creating a light screen in the front.

On the screen, there was a bald man staring at the gray robe with a blank expression on the face.

"What happened? Is there a problem? I'm busy right now. Go straight to the point."

"I understand." The man created a blue barrier to block the sound and opened his mouth. "Duke, we tested our enemy and I'm afraid that we're not strong enough to take them out. Do you think we can activate that item?"

"You need to accomplish the mission, you should figure out if you should activate the item or not by yourself. I'll give you the right to do that," the bald man responded in a deep tone. A middle-aged woman wearing a black military suit interrupted before he could say anything else.

"Wait." The bald man waved his hand.

"Master, the commander of the Wooden Dragon Legion is ready. You just need to give the order."

The bald man looked at the woman and asked, "How are the dark knights?"

"They are having trouble. If the intel is correct, the guardians of Sky Lord have already destroyed their formation," the woman responded.

The bald man thought for a while and ordered, "Ask Hocus Legion to assist the dark knights; where is Alice now?"

"It'll take her two days to reach the battlefield."

The bald man's brow furrowed, it seemed like he was trying to figure out a plan, but realized that the gray robe was still waiting for his orders.

"Elite Team One's mission is to eliminate as many alliance elites as possible. You should at least eliminate their strongest wizards and activate the Blood Throne through the blood ritual so our main force will have nothing to worry about."

"Yes, Master." The gray robe nodded.

"Alright then. Don't disappoint the empire." The bald man disappeared from the light screen.

The jade stone returned to its normal shape and returned to the gray robe's hand.

He put the stone into his pouch and spoke with a low voice, "We can complete the mission without any problem with the right the Duke gave us. We can ask someone strong for help when necessary and we don't have to activate the item."

"You're right. This is the major goal of Elite Team One. I wonder if Elite Team Two and Elite Team Three are doing well. We'll win the war easily if everything is going well," the middle-aged woman spoke.

The gray robe smiled. "Alice is almost here. She and her servant will put an end to this war. We will conquer the entire central continent!"

"True." The woman chuckled. "I'll go prepare for the operation."

"Sure, I'll help you." The gray robe turned around and disappeared into green smoke.

　　******************************

Three days later.

The golden light of the morning sun illuminated the surface of the vine.

The vine looked like branches that were being tied up; there were gaps between each of the branches.

Three small black dots were climbing up the vine. Each of the dots was actually several human beings that were trying their best to climb the vine.

The third black dot was Angele and Becky. Angele was wearing a black robe and Becky was still in her white armor.

Angele grabbed a green branch above his head and inhaled deeply. He raised his head and noticed that he still could not see the top of the vine.

He then looked down and saw a sea of white clouds. The white clouds looked like balls of cotton that were connected to each other.

Blue light dots flashed in front of Angele's eyes.

"We already climbed over 10000 meters…" he said with his brow furrowed.

"Let's find a place and have some rest." Aria sounded tired. "I need to prepare a rune circle. They are ready and they'll teleport to us."

"Sure," Justin agreed.

Angele agreed with their decision as well.

They started moving toward each other and found a large branch on the vine. The branch looked like a platform that could fit more than ten people.

Aria and the other wizards jumped toward the branch and landed on the platform. They started preparing a rune circle that would help weaken the chilling wind.

Angele and Becky jumped onto the platform as well.

Justin took off his hood and removed the ice shards from his long robe. "The higher we climb, the stronger the wind. The temperature is also much lower than before," he said while cleaning his robe.

"Well, it's common in the sky." Angele chuckled. "The problem is the wind elementals. Wind and temperature are nothing when compared to them."

"Wind elementals…" Justin's expression changed as he heard these words. "You're right, they'll stop us from climbing if we want to cast a spell or check the surroundings under these circumstances… They might even drag us down the vine."

"The first several wind elementals we encountered were weak, however, the wind elementals we met last night were strong." Miray joined the conversation. Aria and the other female wizard were still drawing runes.

"The stronger the wind elementals, the lower the temperature will be."

"Well, their appearance also changed. They looked like children at first, but they look like muscular men now…" Aria sounded disappointed.

"Damn! Again…" Miray's expression turned serious and he released countless white strings that flew to the branches around. His body was stabilized by the strings.

Angele had no time to check on others. He grabbed an arm-sized branch using one hand and grabbed Becky's arm using the other. He heard people screaming and laughing when he stood steady in the wind.

A group of muscular men with translucent bodies charged at the team. They were flying at full speed while shouting and laughing.

*BAM*

A muscular wind elemental passed by Angele and hit the left side of his body.

*BAM BAM BAM*

Becky and Angele were hit multiple times by the wind elementals.

The wind elementals were too weak to damage the wizards' bodies, but Angele could feel the chill that was trying to invade his body.

Another group of wind elementals appeared and charged at the team at full speed. However, this group looked a bit different, their bodies were almost solid.

Chapter 501: Elites (2)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

"They're here again! Watch out!" someone shouted.

Angele had no time to respond; his expression turned serious as he looked at those wind elementals.

"Damn, they are not wind elementals, they are wind demons!" Justin shouted anxiously. "Everyone, prepare for battle!"

The wizards' faces all turned paler hearing the word.

"I've only heard about wind demons from the tales!" Aria sounded nervous.

"Penetration! Penetration! Penetration! Penetration!" There were strange expressions on the wind demons' faces. They charged toward the wizards as they yelled, "We'll penetrate all the holes!"

Reminder: the wind demons all looked like adult men with muscular bodies.

"Ah!" Monteria blushed and screamed. She quickly put her hand on her butt. She stared at the wind demon that was rotating around her.

The wind demon was chuckling and shouting, its shape shifting. The wind demon looked like a muscular man the last second, but it could turn itself into wind the next second.

"I hate the ancient wizards who created the wind demons!" Aria was also screaming.

Angele dragged Becky to the side and tried to fight off the wind demons that were charging at them using his fists.

"Wind elementals have high resistance, but you can handle the wind demons using spells!" he advised.

The wizards all put up defensive spells or barriers, however, the wind demons were attacking them from strange angles. With the strong chilling wind blowing over their faces, the wizards almost forgot that the wind demons were creations of human beings and their magic resistance was much lower than the wind elementals'.

The wizards were being chased around by the wind demons when they heard Angele's words. Miray was no longer behaving like an elegant noble. He covered his butt with both hands and stayed behind the blue energy barrier he created, checking the surroundings constantly.

"Let me do it!" Monteria was enraged, she took out a hexagonal crystal from her pouch. The crystal had the size of a fist; she threw it at the wind demons.

*BAM*

A large ball of black clouds exploded and surrounded the wizards.

"Dark Cloud Ancestor! Heed my call!" Monteria was shouting like crazy.

The dark clouds gathered and formed a giant that was over 30 meters tall. Angele could only see the upper body of the cloud giant—the bottom half of his body was completely covered by the clouds.

Monteria pointed at the wind demons.

"Dark Cloud Ancestor! Kill those wind demons!"

"Yes!" Dark Cloud Ancestor answered and tried to grab the wind demons.

"Run!"

"Retreat!"

The wind demons were moving at full speed, they disappeared from the area within seconds.

The wizards were a bit speechless.

"That speed…" Angele's head ached. He would only be able to catch the wind demons when he was in the light form. According to the information collected by the biochip, the wind demons were traveling at 10000 meters per second.

The wind weakened as the wind demons left.

Monteria's eyes were red and there were tears in her eyes. The Dark Cloud Ancestor was still in the sky, waiting for her next order.

"Those creatures… Damn… They're so disrespectful!" Aria walked to Monteria and hugged her. "They already left, calm down."

There was a bitter smile on Justin's face. "I didn't expect you to summon Dark Cloud Ancestor here... I would cast a strong spell too in that situation…" He hated the wind demons as well.

"Who created those sick wind demons? Why did they do that?" Miray was still covering his butt with hands. "I'd cast a strong damage spell if Monteria didn't summon Dark Cloud Ancestor." He looked at the other female wizard in the team, but it seemed like the woman was not concerned.

Miray then looked at Justin and Angele.

"Let me explain." Angele released Becky's hand; the woman was so scared that her face turned white.

"I heard wind demons were created by an ancient wizard named Ohalla in a lab accident. Ohalla was an evil wizard, he was trying to create a strong being using the evil thoughts of humans. Sadly, he failed the experiment."

"Which means, the wind demons are wind elementals with the evil thoughts of human beings?" Aria was speechless.

"Well, if you think about it in a different way, he succeeded." Angele shrugged. "Wind demons are always horny, but they are void creatures and can block mid-level spells easily. Also, they move so fast that they can't be captured. If we can take control of the wind demons and equip them with weapons, they'll become the best assassins in this world."

"Well, you need to find a way to control them first," Justin interrupted. "I also read about the wind demons, but they're just trouble to me."

"There's a way to stop the wind demons," Angele continued and the wizards all looked at him.

"What?" Monteria questioned, she was still blushing and it seemed like she really wanted to kill the wind demons.

"A force field that is extremely strong. Wind demons will be in trouble if a force field could slow them down. Their bodies and souls are pure wind energy. Wind energy needs to keep moving, the wind demons will lose the ability to move or think if the wind stops. In other words, you can kill them using force fields that can slow them down or stop them from moving," Angele explained.

"You know a lot," Miray praised. "I've never read about the information you mentioned, even in the royal library."

"You're weak, but you do know a lot." Aria was not being polite. "We all know a force field or two that can slow them down, but how strong does the force field need to be?"

"In terms of radiation energy, your energy level needs to be around 1000 degrees," Angele answered.

"A force field with 1000 degrees of radiation energy? We're not talking about Legacy Magic Circle, right?" Aria rolled her eyes.

The incident made the team grow closer and the wizards engaged in more short conversations. People would show their true thoughts during a crisis and they had a much easier time communicating with each other.

Dark Cloud Ancestor would last for three days, so they could rest without worrying about anything.

Aria was still preparing for the portal, she needed to set up the coordinates for her friends.

In the afternoon, the wizards had some snacks and desserts. Aria decided to prepare the coordinates after the food break.

Aria and Miray stood in the center of the rune circle. They stood opposite each other and closed their eyes with a golden circle in hand.

They started chanting the incantation using a language that Angele had never heard of, however, he could understand what they were saying. It was a strange feeling.

"The lord is here. Gather. Void!" The golden circle in their hand started glowing.

The golden light was getting more and more intense. The wizards could barely keep their eyes open.

Seconds later, the light disappeared and two more white robes appeared in the circle. It was a man and a woman; they were also holding a golden circle in hand.

"Thanks," the female white robe spoke in a deep tone, she sounded like a leader of a group.

They turned around and Angele glanced at them.

The woman had an attractive body, she was wearing a ponytail. There was a cold expression on her average-looking face.

The man had a pretty face and clear skin. It almost looked like he was made of jade. The man was tall and looked depressed for some reason.

The two white robes noticed the Dark Cloud Ancestor. Justin and Monteria started talking to them, but Angele and Becky just stayed on the side. They were still resting.

The team checked their equipment and started climbing again. Their speed increased after the two white robes joined them. Dark Cloud Ancestor made sure that no wind elemental or wind demon approached.

Two days later, they finally reached the top of the vine. It was a spacious platform.

The platform was smooth like a large piece of emerald and there was a vase-shaped black stone pillar that was about two meters tall in its center.

Fiona and Anchura's groups were already there, but they found a group of strangers on the opposite side. It was a group of strong wizards wearing long black robes with golden edges. They were confronting Fiona and Simon.

Angele could detect the remaining energy waves in the air, it seemed like they already had a battle.

Fiona's expression loosened after she saw Angele's team. "Attack them! They're elites of the Dark Wizard Tower."

Monteria gave an order Dark Cloud Ancestor and attacked the wizards of the Dark Wizard Tower. The rest of the team also cast spells, there were colorful light rays flashing in the air.

Black strings, red clouds, ice snakes, and other strange things were flying at the members of Dark Wizard Tower. The exploding energy particles turned the platform into a mess and the wind was extremely strong.

Fiona and the other wizards started attacking as well. It seemed like they were following someone's command. They released several blue plates—ice wolves jumped out of them, charging at the enemies. More than 30 ice wolves appeared on the platform within seconds.

The ice wolves could release ice rays through their mouths and there were ice flames burning on their claws. Their enemies would freeze if they were attacked by the ice flames.

Angele activated the stealth technique and stepped back with Becky. He released several rank 2 lion men, but he was glancing around the platform. It seemed like he was looking for something.

Chapter 502: Elites (3)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

The strong wizards of the Dark Wizard Tower stepped forward and tried to handle the attack. Raising their left arms, they blocked all the spells using the black plates they created. Some of them summoned black bats and eagles to defend against the ice wolves.

Fiona and several other wizards flew into the air, they were trying to stop the strong wizards of the Dark Wizard Tower. They were not casting spells with long incantations and would stop if the opponents' spells were about to be completed. It seemed like they knew how to counter each other's spells.

The fight between strong wizards looked more peaceful than the wizards on the ground.

Angele and Becky were still hiding by the edge of the platform. Angele released several weak lava balls and it looked like they were fighting two black eagles.

There was no point for Angele to reveal his true power at the moment. Their team was winning the battle with the buffed Dark Cloud Ancestor. The wizards of the Dark Wizard Tower had to cast multiple defensive spells to handle the attacks of the cloud giant.

Also, there were more wizards on Angele's side and Angele assumed that they would win the battle without any problem.

"Just give up! You'll lose sooner or later!" Simon shouted in the sky.

"Naive!" A high-pitched voice echoed in the sky. "Help us now! What're you waiting for?"

An enormous white cross flashed in the sky; the tip of the cross stabbed into Simon's back.

Anchura sneered and lowered his hand. "I've been waiting for this moment."

The wizards from the alliance were surprised by what Anchura did. The wizards of the Dark Wizard Tower caught the chance and injured several of their opponents.

Simon's head was pierced by a ray of red light and he fell to the ground.

Anchura was still attacking the wizards from the alliance. He created another white cross in his hand and aimed at Fiona, who was still fighting. The black robes around Anchura all charged at the wizards from the alliance, their fingernails covered in red glow.

Angele was also a bit surprised, he knew that members of the Dark Wizard Tower were waiting for something to happen, but he did not expect to see Anchura betray the alliance.

"Well, it's not going well, I guess…" Becky laughed.

"You'll probably die here," she said and jumped forward, blocking an attack from the eagle.

Angele did not respond to her words, he took out some blue crystals and held them in his hand. He started moving on the edge of the platform.

He glanced at other wizards in his team and noticed that they were also trying to hide. The battlefield was in chaos and strong wizards were not paying attention to the weak wizards.

"Watch out!" Fiona suddenly shouted in the sky, she threw her book into the air and pages quickly fell off the book, surrounding her in the center. Fiona disappeared into the sky after the pages left her body.

Suddenly, all sounds disappeared from the platform. The wolves, the explosions, and the spells were no longer making any noise.

Angele noticed the change immediately on the edge of the platform; after the noise disappeared, he heard some gentle music that sounded like it was from a harp echoing in the sky.

The music was slow and gentle, it was making people sleepy.

Angele looked at Justin, Miray, and Monteria, they all looked sleepy. It seemed like Aria did not notice the change and already fell asleep.

The woman with a ponytail was trying to help Aria. She stood in front of her and blocked several wizards using a bronze shield, shooting golden daggers at the enemies.

"It's Eternal Dream!" Justin shouted at Angele, but the only thing the latter could hear was the music. He had to observe Justin's mouth carefully to figure out what he was saying.

'Eternal Dream…' Angele's expression turned serious. The music would slow down the energy movement and make every living being in the effective range fell asleep.

Angele looked at the wizards in Fiona's team, they were eliminating their enemies one by one. They were probably ready for the Eternal Dream since none of them looked sleepy.

The wizards of the Dark Wizard Tower were finished off quickly, only six of them were left after about ten seconds.

Some of the wizards from the alliance also died. Only three wizards were still alive in Fiona's team.

Angele noticed that he could no longer hide. Members of his group were hiding most of the time and none of them was injured. He suddenly realized that he had to do something.

A red balloon appeared at where Fiona was at when Angele was still thinking. The balloon had the size of a fist when it appeared, but its size was increasing quickly. The balloon had the size of a human's head several seconds later.

*BOOM*

The balloon exploded and a white doll with blond hair appeared. The doll was moving its neck and arms slowly, it looked like a robot that needed oiling.

Angele noticed that the doll's lips were moving, it seemed like the doll was trying to talk, but no one could hear it in the Eternal Dream.

The doll's expression changed, it looked a bit impatient. The doll opened its mouth and started screaming.

The doll's voice was getting louder and louder in the music. It sounded like a girl that was screaming in a high-pitched tone.

"Ah!"

Finally, the sound returned to the platform after the doll's voice got louder than the Eternal Dream.

"You can't escape from Alice!" The doll stopped screaming and a mysterious smile appeared on its face.

Fiona reappeared in the sky and her face turned pale. She stared at the doll with a surprised look on the face. It seemed like she was wondering how the doll broke the Eternal Dream.

"Retreat!" she suddenly shouted and disappeared into a ball of white smoke.

Angele had no time to check on the others. He turned around and disappeared into flames as well.

A ball of flames appeared in the sky and Angele recreated his body. He floated in the air. White light flashed beside him and Becky appeared.

Angele saw some purple light flash in the sky—it was the woman with a ponytail; she helped Aria and Miray escape. The five wizards exchanged eye contact, but no one said a word. They all started flying in the opposite direction of the vine.

The white clouds below them looked like cotton, but none of the wizards was trying to fly into the clouds.

　　***********************

On top of the vine.

Alice landed on the platform slowly and the wizards of the Dark Wizard Tower quickly walked to her.

"Eliminate all the wizards that escaped the platform. They must die here! I'll take care of the woman, she has the Eternal Dream and there'll be nothing you can do."

Balls of gray smoke landed on the platform, turning into three human beings.

"Master, sorry, we're late."

Alice shook her head. "I wouldn't reveal myself if they didn't have the Eternal Dream. Our members died because of me."

She thought for a while and continued, "Fiona is a problem, but I think there's another strong wizard that was trying to hide his power. Any volunteers?"

"I'll go." One of the men from the smoke stepped forward.

"Be careful, that one should have the same power level as Fiona, I think he's also carrying secret items. The alliance didn't put random people into their elite team, that man must be an important member to them," Alice warned.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of him," the smoke man responded.

Alice looked at Anchura as she said, "Good. Who'll track the weak ones down? I think they teleported to the area above the clouds."

"My pleasure." Anchura smiled, he almost sounded like a different person in front of Alice. "It's a pity that I can't eliminate Fiona by myself."

"You can have her leg if you're fast." One of the wizards chuckled.

"That'd be great."

"Alright." Alice clapped her hands. "Let's move everyone. Just use the portal we built."

"Yes, Master."

*CHI CHI*

The wizards of Dark Wizard Tower all disappeared from the platform.

　　*****************************

Golden sunlight illuminated the sea of white clouds.

There were five small dots flying over the clouds. They looked like five flies that were flying over a peaceful sea.

Angele leaned forward, he was flying at full speed with red glow surrounding his body.

"How's the situation?" A female voice echoed in his ears.

"Good, I'm not injured," Angele responded using energy particles. "What about you? Is Aria alright?"

The woman with a ponytail scrunched her brow. "I fed her the pearl potion and she should be waking up soon, but…" Her sight fell upon Miray.

The upper half of Miray's body was soaked in blood, it seemed like he was severely injured. The white armor on his body was glowing; it seemed like he was being healed by the armor.

Miray noticed that Angele was looking at him and smiled. "I was backstabbed by a wizard, but my core is not injured."

"It's great that you're doing fine. The problem is how we return to the safe area," Angele spoke in a calm tone. "We need Fiona to activate the portal, but—" He stopped for a second. "A strong being is tracking us down, we need to separate into two teams here."

Miray and the woman with a ponytail also noticed the energy movement behind them.

"My name is Mira and I'm his sister. We'll contact you if we can survive the attack," the woman quickly introduced herself and sent her communication rune to Angele.

"Sure." A rune that looked like a white flower appeared on his left hand. He also sent his communication rune to Mira. "Good luck."

Mira checked the communication and said, "Good luck to you too."

They exchanged eye contact and flew to the opposite side. There was no point to stay together in this situation.

Angele remained silent as he traveled thousands of meters. Becky was the only living being around him.

"What're you planning?" Becky questioned in a cold tone. "You're here to kill the elite members of the Dark Wizard Tower, right? You didn't do anything during the battle and then you decided to leave the team."

Angele did not respond to her words. There were blue light dots flashing in front of his eyes.

He finally stopped after flying for several minutes. He floated over the clouds and looked back. 'He's getting closer.'

Angele looked at Becky and said in a deep tone, "I'm counting on you."

Becky thought for a second and shouted, "Damn it! Using me as your shield again?! Just kill me!"

"Come on, you're my best partner." Angele patted Becky's shoulder.

"You…!" Becky gritted her teeth.