The hand was not yet done, and the stones and grass were blown away roughly, revealing a barren land.
The black smog lay right in the middle of this area.
“Chi chi!” The smog faced the heavens and bellowed, constantly spewing out black bullets. These bombs that were formed from condensed black fog seemed to grow eyes and sailed through the air in a strange line, accurately intercepting the large hand that burned with black flames.
*Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!*
The black bullets exploded in front of the large hand, but it was clearly ineffective. They were burnt up by the flames, leaving not even a trace on the palm of the hand.
*Whoosh!*
The attack from the black smog was unable to slow down the fiery large hand. Under the astonished gazes of the surrounding members, the black flaming hand grabbed onto the body of the black smog.
“Waah waah!”
The raging black flames covered the body of the black smog in an instant, the smog gradually becoming fainter under the flames. It eventually burnt into white steam and completely evaporated.
The black smog’s figure became increasingly smaller, and within a few seconds, it was half its original size. It cried out painfully, its tentacles involuntarily twitching and even rolling on the ground, but this did nothing to deter the large hand.
The flames persisted and continued to burn away the strange body of the black smog.
Another ten minutes passed, and the entire black smog was completely destroyed by the black flames, leaving behind something that looked like a black pearl.
This black pearl was completely smooth, containing what seemed to be a miniature version of the black smog, constantly changing its shape.
*Thud! Thud!*
The Poison Wyvern in the air had also descended by then, a youthful male Magus jumping off its back. He approached the area where the flames had burnt, retrieving the black pearl.
“A large Poison Wyvern and black flames! There is no mistake, he must be Four Seasons Garden’s ‘Blackfire’ Leylin!”
This team leader smiled wryly. Earlier he had sensed an immense and terrifying spiritual force with a large amount dark elemental energy. It had reached the battlefield and had been observing their every move.
Under the surveillance of this spiritual force, just moving required more energy than usual; it was naturally impossible to even think about escaping or fighting back.
“Blackfire Leylin? Isn’t that the one from our academy who…”
A member nearby held his tongue, his expression revealing his shock.
As Magi of Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, they definitely knew the existence of a potioneering genius who had been involved in a conflict with the Lilytell family and had been subsequently expelled.
Though it was said that he had already advanced to be an official Magus, hearing rumours and actually seeing it for themselves was a completely different experience.
In addition, the strength that Leylin exhibited far exceeded the might that a newly-advanced Magus would normally have. Even old men like them could only sigh in longing at his power.
“It’s such a large area, but we actually managed to bump into him. What luck we have…”
This Magus team leader shook his hand and quickly stood in front of his teammates. “Go! I’ll stall for time!”
“Leader!” “Team leader!”
Several members of the team were reluctant to obey.
Blake disregarded his words and went forward, standing shoulder-to-shoulder by the team leader. “If you’re going to stay behind, then I should be the one doing so. I’m the scout in this group, and it was my fault that we did not discover the enemy…”
However, with Blake’s strength, discovering Leylin was basically impossible. Furthermore, Blake’s detection skills only applied to enemies on the ground. For those who were in the air, it was completely useless.
“Leader!” The other members seemed to be on good terms with their team leader and hesitated, with another staying behind as well.
The other two glanced at each other, erupting with wind elemental particles around them and moving over ten metres in the blink of an eye. They wildly charged forward, seemingly uncaring of their lives.
“Why does it feel like I’m the huge villain here?” Opposite them, Leylin stroked his chin and had the sudden urge to laugh.
It was quite unexpected that Magi from the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy could be so united in a life or death situation like this.
However, even the dark Magi had a few friends they were willing to risk their lives for. Had the team members not trusted each other, then their small team would have perished on its first mission and would not have lasted till this point.
“Magi from Abyssal Bone Forest Academy?”
Upon seeing their strangely familiar black robes, he turned somewhat emotional. Just a few years ago he had been a lowly acolyte who had to be extremely respectful the moment he saw robes that a Magus wore.
But now, whether these official Magi lived or died was in Leylin’s hands.
It felt quite strange to face the reversal like this.
“Do you want to stop resisting, or should I make my move?” Leylin asked indifferently.
The moment those words were uttered, the situation could no longer be changed.
“We’re going to go all out! Go!” The team leader showed his firm stance as he yelled.
*Ka-cha!* There were suddenly two more long ice blades in his hands mercilessly slashing towards Leylin!
Tentacles also formed under Blake’s feet, squirming and extending till they shaped into a large hammer.
The hammer was lifted high and ruthlessly slammed towards Leylin.
The last Magus used a few support spells on his comrades and set up a large rock shield in front of them.
“Quite a compatible combination! It’s a pity that it’s useless!”
Leylin evaluated, seeming to be making no move. From his figure, innumerable shadow tentacles suddenly emerged.
These shadow feelers seemed to be like plant roots, spreading all over in large quantities till they practically blotted the sky.
The world suddenly became dark and gloomy.
“Shadow Domain!”
Leylin whispered, and his body became a black figure, dissipating into the air.
*Boom! Boom!*
The ice blades and huge hammer struck the floor, leaving behind two huge holes with traces of green smoke emitting around them.
“Take care of our defense!” The team leader roared.
“It’s too late! Within the shadows, I am everywhere!”
Black light flashed, and Leylin’s figure appeared behind the rock shield.
Chapter 219 – Total Captivity
As he watched the enemy Magus in charge of defense, Leylin raised his right hand and tapped.
*Weng!*
Countless black figures emerged from the shadows, overlapping with each other as they continuously multiplied. With the accumulation of the shadows, a small light appeared in front of his finger that formed a small-scale vortex that seemed to be able to suck one’s spirit in.
In front of Leylin, a layer of greenish-gray iron covering instantly appeared on that Magus’ skin.
This was ‘Iron Skin’, an innate earth element solidification spell that rank 1 Magi liked to use.
*Ripple!*
Leylin’s finger seemed to be moving extremely slowly, though in actuality it was approaching very quickly. As he tapped the Magus’ Iron Skin, the sound of rippling water could be heard.
In front of Leylin’s finger, the Magus’ Iron Skin peeled off bit by bit like snakeskin. A look of incredulity appeared on the Magus’ face, and after having been quickly tapped on the forehead by Leylin, his eyes rolled back and he fainted.
“Laura?!” The team leader was furious.
Shortly afterwards, a scroll appeared in his hands and Blake, who was to one side of the leader, produced a small shield the siz
e of a palm.
Immense energy waves were emitted from these two items, indicating that they were ready to be activated at any moment.
“You two can attack me together!”
Facing this sight, Leylin simply smiled and clawed with both hands.
*Tssss!*
Black streams of air were emitted from his fingers, and each of the ten black streams was like little snakes as they surrounded these two Magi.
Where the two Magi had previously stood, two black cocoons could now be seen. From these cocoons, the occasional snake-like hisses could be heard.
Seconds later, the black mist dissipated, leaving behind two Magi that had fainted on the floor.
There was a layer of vague imprints that were like black snakes wandering back and forth across their faces.
*Pak!*
After taking care of these three Magi, Leylin willed the shadow vines obstructing the sky to withdraw back into his shadow.
“I feel it now! With the constant stimulation from my bloodline, my control over the darkness is becoming increasingly stronger!”
The darkness in Leylin’s pupils became deeper, and he appeared to be intoxicated while deep in thought as he mumbled to himself.
After handling these three Magi prisoners, Leylin waited another few minutes.
*Zoom!*
Two unidentifiable human figures were flying across the ground, dashing towards Leylin rapidly. Even Leylin was only able to see after-images.
*Thud!*
The two black figures were carrying something on their shoulders and came to Leylin, throwing the things on their backs onto the floor.
“Master!” Number 2 and Number 3 knelt on one leg, greeting him.
“In accordance with your orders, we have caught all of them. None have escaped!”
The two Magi that had escaped just now were currently lying on the ground.
Several injuries that were so deep that bone could be seen on the bodies of the Magi. They were extremely pale, which was a result of extreme blood loss. It was not difficult to imagine that these wounds were the result of a fierce battle.
“Good! You did well!” Leylin expressed his approval towards his subordinates.
These two Magi were newly advanced, and thus the weakest amongst the Magi. Numbers 2 and 3 were able to defeat them because of the immense power of Branded Swordsmen, a subdivision of the ancient Magi.
Perhaps, this was the obvious result of the large consumption of potential and vitality from Number 2 and Number 3.
To obtain power, Leylin had no choice but to speed things up and carry out many taboo methods on their bodies. This allowed them to break through their limits and become Branded Swordsmen in a short period of time.
Because of this, their vitality was being consumed at a faster rate. Based on the A.I. Chip’s calculations, they only had two more months to live.
“Bring them along. Let’s go!” Leylin heaved a sigh of relief as he pointed at the five Abyssal Bone Forest Academy Magi lying on the ground.
He still had many questions that could only be answered by these people.
In addition, it was no simple task to obtain official Magi slaves and guinea pigs.
Leylin still had many ideas and conjectures regarding Branded Swordsmen, and he needed to test it on these Magi.
After all, in ancient times, Branded Swordsmen were a subdivision of the official Magi, not Knights!
Hence, with Grand Knights as guinea pigs, Leylin still felt he was lacking something even with the help of the A.I. Chip. In the end, all he produced was Numbers 2 and 3, who were incomplete versions of the Branded Swordsman.
This could be due to their lack of the tremendous spiritual force that Magi possessed, which resulted in Number 2 and 3’s difficulty in manipulating the elemental particles in the air. It was several times more difficult than predicted by the A.I. Chip.
Leylin considered some scenarios and then brought the five Magi to a secure hidden area. After interrogating them, he immediately began to verify his doubts regarding Branded Swordsmen.
Leylin only dared to be so unscrupulous because this was a time of war and he was doing this to those from the enemy camp.
If not, using official Magi as guinea pigs would most certainly result in society’s displeasure, and he would receive negative repercussions.
……
On a high ground filled with white flowers.
In the thick fog, a large castle that looked like an upside-down cone existed.
This castle only had one point that was connected to the ground, and yet it was able to support the main body of the castle on top. Looking at it gave one the misconception that the world was upside down.
It seemed like this castle was normally upright, but someone had turned it upside down.
In the walkway paved with white marble, an old woman with a head of silver hair was carrying an oil lamp, ambling slowly.
*Ka-cha!* A metal door with blue electric currents sparking on the surface was pushed forward.
*Tssss!* Large amounts of icy white gas began to condense as they came into contact with the outside. It filled the walkway behind her with a layer of white frost.
The old lady walked in the house, which was practically a world of ice and snow. It was below 0 degrees, and if one were a regular human, it would be impossible for them to stay here for more than a few seconds.
In the heart of the house, tendrils of white vapour constantly emanated from two ice coffins.
Through the translucent coffins, one could see a burly man in one, and a girl lying quietly in the other.
Both of them had their eyes tightly shut, a look of pain and signs of struggle flashing across their faces occasionally. Each had a rune with a snake wriggling about on their neck and right hand.
“Sorry for the trouble, Doctor Hyder!”
The old woman got out of the way, and a Magus with a head of silver hair came from behind her.
This Magus looked to be very old, with wrinkle after wrinkle heaping on his face. However, his eyes were bright and he had a benevolent smile on his face.
“Curses are a very troublesome part of spells. They involve many strange and cruel things and Magi in the south coast who know this type of magic are scarce. I can’t guarantee anything other than that I’ll try my best.”
Hyder, a Magus specializing in healing, did not immediately approach the patients, but first spoke to the old woman.
“You are an expert in this field. If you are unable to solve this problem, then I don’t even know who I should approach.”
She gave a bitter laugh.
“Alright! I’ll give it my all!” Hyder nodded. Usually, he definitely would not take on such jobs. Not only were they dangerous, it was easy to offend the Magus who had produced the curse.
Warlock of the Magus World 1-596 Page 168