“Hehe… Leylin, it looks like the bad blood between you and the Oakheart Clan is serious. Looking at this latest intelligence report, your territory had been occupied by him and your Magus Tower has been demolished…” Freya smiled as she handed the intelligence report to Leylin.
“It is serious!” Leylin stroked his nose, ”Even their chief died in my hands!”
In his heart, he silently added ‘and a Morning Star’s clone’ next to it. Under such circumstances, if the opposite party were to be polite to him, it would truly be odd.
After moving to the Ouroboros Clan headquarters, over ten days had passed and within this time, many things had happened.
Every territory had its fair share of unceasing riots, and there were multiple forces would invade these areas. Naturally, Leylin’s territory was not spared .
Freya, too, had lost her territory. Hence, she teased Leylin with a bit of schadenfreude.
However, Leylin could sense the fear and restlessness beneath Freya’s smile. This time, the power of the enemy had surpassed the expectations of many. The Azure Mountain Clan was but one part only, there were other more powerful ones yet to show themselves.
The Ouroboros Clan was strong in appearance but weak in reality, and everyone could see it. Hence the minor skirmishes at the borders had escalated to entire territories being taken over.
Even the outer regions of Phosphorescence Swamp were not spared. From time to time, scouts sent by many different powerful families were discovered. Warlocks from the Ouroboros Clan could only rely on the headquarters’ defensive spells as a core, building an extremely narrow defensive perimeter and guarding it resolutely.
Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that if the Morning Star military strength did not make an appearance soon in the Ouroboros Clan, the entire clan could face imminent destruction.
“Over at the astral gate, how is the progress?” Seeing Freya’s strong and obstinate persona, Leylin couldn’t console her directly, as otherwise, he would have hurt her pride. Instead, he changed the subject and asked her a question.
The truth of the matter was, the root of all the problems were the three elders. If they could appear immediately, even if just one of them could show their face in public, not only would the Warlocks of the entire Ouroboros Clan gain confidence from their pillar of strength, the number of enemy scouts would reduce drastically too.
“Some of the Marquises from the technology department have been working for days in there…” Freya smiled wryly.
“But in the end…. Only someone of at least a Morning Star Magus status, can open an astral gate. Otherwise, no one can support the crossover of the body. Forget rescuing them, we can’t even find someone here qualified to open the astral gate…”
Seeing Freya, Leylin knew deep in her heart that she had some disagreements with the Blood Duchess Emma and the other two Morning Star Warlocks. But since she was a student of theirs, she couldn’t say anything.
“You can’t blame our Mentors, the allure of the Purgatory World is simply too huge…” Leylin sighed.
WMW Chapter 494
As The Dark Clouds Draw Closer
There was another concern bugging Leylin.
As compared to the factions that had shown themselves in Azure Mountain City, what worried him the most was still the Magus that had set the trap.
To be able to give up a world coordinate and also successfully entrap three Morning Star Warlocks, he was definitely not a simple person.
Furthermore, if Leylin’s mentor, Gilbert, joined forces with the other two Morning Star Warlocks, they would have a terrifying strength on par with that of a Radiant Moon Magus!
Since the mastermind could successfully scheme against them regardless of that, it was only a matter of time before his actual strength would be revealed.
If the other party came at them openly, the current Ouroboros Clan would not have any strength to resist.
Fortunately, for reasons unknown, he had not taken any other action apart from setting the trap. No one knew what qualms he had, or whether there was something holding him back.
Leylin secretly guessed that perhaps the other party had suffered a violent counterattack when he’d plotted against his Mentor, and thus suffered a hidden loss. He was likely still in the midst of recovery, or else he definitely wouldn’t have let this chance slip through his fingers.
Even so, the pressure the Ouroboros Clan faced was crushing. The tiniest bit more and they would collapse completely.
After parting with Leylin, Freya took a short walk and arrived at a small garden full of white roses.
A distorted human shadow appeared next to the garden. When the figure came into view, a Warlock dressed in a crimson Magus robe bowed to Freya.
“Greetings, chief!”
“Mm!” Freya nodded, “The crisis that the Ouroboros Clan has met with will require the combined effort of many marquises, but Leylin’s team of vassals is really too weak, and they also suffered heavy losses in the previous suppression. I plan to let the Blood Serpent Warlock organisation take over some of their missions!”
After a long silence, Julian then spoke with a hoarse voice, “This… is not in accordance with the rules! Furthermore, the elders…”
“This is an order!” Freya’s voice turned cold, and an aura that was unique to Crystal Phase Warlocks surfaced on her body.
“Yes! Yes!” Julian quickly agreed, but let out a silent sigh.
Even he could see that his chief had feelings for Leylin, but the other party still showed clear signs of rejection.
It would be understandable if Freya had only lent a helping hand once or twice, but she had already done so many times. This problem had left many elders with authority dissatisfied. It was in stark contrast to how Miranda simply gave up on her pursuit.
In ancient Warlock families like Freya’s, even the chief could not go against the opinion of the majority, and had to take the entire family’s opinion into consideration.
Freya’s actions had already aroused a certain degree of discontent in the family, but was suppressed by her promotion to the Crystal Phase.
However, Julian had a feeling that if Freya continued, the accumulating dissent would one day burst forth.
Judging by her attitude, though, would it be possible to change her ways?
Julian shook his head and forced a smile, then bowed to Freya and vanished into the sea of flowers.
……
In the depths of a white canyon, a team of Warlocks were hurrying through the steep mountains.
These Warlocks were all clothed in crimson Magus robes, with the Giant Kemoyin Serpent motif on their collars. A platinum-haired high-ranking Warlock led the way.
*Shoom!* At that very instant, a crooked shadow shot out from the side of the cliff like an arrow, right into this Warlock’s hands.
“Be alert!” Kemoyin’s Scales appeared on the bodies of the numerous Warlocks as a mode of defence. Assuming their various positions, they emitted an aura that was full of solemn determination; evidently, they were elites with rich experience who have been fighting for a long time.
“It’s a shadow snake messenger from our family, cancel the alarm!” The platinum-haired high-ranking Warlock furrowed his brows and quickly shouted to the rest. The entire troop was tranquil again, and they slowly started to continue walking.
“They actually want us to offer support to Enforcer Leylin’s vassals?” Upon recalling the content of the message, the leader of the Warlock team seemed gloomy. He was, of course, unhappy about his chief’s actions.
But looking at the authoritative imprint on the back that reflected the family chief’s position, the leader gritted his teeth and yelled out, “Turn around, we’re going to the Teal Tusk Highlands, and fast!” He was still dreadful of the consequences of disobeying orders and betraying his family
Although they questioned why their leader suddenly gave such an order, their pleasantly compliant nature allowed this small team to
make a full turnaround within a few minutes, and they continued to rush off in another direction.
“Hehe, found the Blood Serpent Warlock organisation!” At this moment, the immature voice of a young boy sounded out, causing the team leader’s expression to change drastically.
“Who’s there?”
The Magi under him immediately broke into formation, with many of them already holding on to multiple magical items for attacking purposes.
*Bang!* The rock wall at the side blasted open, and a gigantic flowering plant emerged from within.
This flower was about 5 or 6 meters tall, its sepals full of sharp buckteeth. It suddenly spread open its petals, and with its huge mouth similar to that of a beast from the ancient times, it swallowed a Warlock who couldn’t dodge in time.
“AHHH…” He let out a distorted, muffled shriek. The innate defence of the snake scales seemed to have no effect on the corrosive juices in the stamen. Through the translucent petals, the Warlocks could see their comrade’s scales corrode, then quickly soften and reveal his skin and muscle tissue…
*Bang! Bang! Bang!* Before they could rescue their comrade, more carnivorous flowers suddenly emerged from the rock walls, and started attacking them.
“A military troop of carnivorous plants, it’s…” The expression on the platinum-haired team leader’s face changed drastically. Before he could even exclaim, a carnivorous flower that was more than 10 meters tall bore out of the ground and appeared in front of him in a flash.
On the stolon of this carnivorous flower was the face of a little boy, and it seemed that the voice from earlier was his.
“Innate spell— Toxic Bile!” The team leader gritted his teeth, and venomous gas immediately diffused out into the air.
“It’s useless! We have already made special improvements through several mutations targeted at awakening the ability of self-control, just to counter your poison and scales!” A grin spread across the boy’s face. The humongous carnivorous flower ferociously opened up and countless minute pollen grains scattered onto the ground.
The Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlock’s expression changed rapidly. He could clearly sense that the venom in the air had been neutralised by the pollen from the carnivorous flower.
Not only that, once a single pollen grain landed on him, his scales instantly started to soften.
“Haha… Kill! Go on, kill! After today, the Ouroboros Clan and the Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlocks will become a thing of the past!” The boy cheered, while more and more carnivorous flowers started to emerge from the soil and the walls, drowning out the members of the snake bloodline Warlock organisation.
The colourful lights of spells exploded, and finally, all was silent again…
……
On the other end, in a small and prosperous town.
The shadows of many densely-packed sails appeared all of a sudden in the sky.
Numerous huge ships soared through the air like dark clouds, blocking out all the sunlight and casting large shadows on the earth, as darkness enveloped the entire town.
“What’s going on?” The Kemoyin Warlock in charge of guarding the place walked out and his jaw instantly dropped.
*Boom!* The gigantic cannon stowed at the front of the fleet started to rumble, and terrifying energy waves immediately wreaked havoc throughout the town.
In that instant, the entire city was filled with terrorised cries as blood and fire flooded the land.
The ever-plentiful city that had always been under the protection of the Ouroboros Clan was suddenly drowning in calamity. Those who could not escape in time turned into ashes under gunfire, average humans and low-ranking Warlocks alike.
After a round of bombardment, numerous silhouettes appeared beside the fleet, and descended to clear out the remaining few high-ranking Warlocks.
“No Warlock that belongs to the Ouroboros Clan will be spared!” A crippled male Magus who was propping himself up with a wooden leg gave an order, his eyes boiling with hatred that he did not even bother to mask. His face was filled with numerous scars and was badly disfigured.
“Those damn bloodline bastards don’t even deserve to be alive…”
Following his command, the resistance in the battlefield intensified, but all that anyone could do was to struggle in the face of death.
After purging the resistance, it was time for a feast, one of plundering and venting their anger.
But even in a situation like this, the commander’s face remained cold and indifferent, as though he never saw it at all.
……
Such scenarios continued to play out in the Ouroboros Clan’s territory, and even started to inch closer to Phosphorescence Swamp.
The atmosphere at headquarters was gloomy due to the huge war.
In one of the rooms in the headquarters of Warlock City, a faint warm glow flickered. A group of Magi gathered around a circular black medieval table.
They were all Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlocks, and the aura exuded by every single one of them was highly terrifying, even exceeding the threshold of the Crystal Phase.
Leylin was among them, scanning through his companions— there were more than ten of them.
These people made up the entirety of the Ouroboros Clan’s upper echelons, and they were of the highest ranks apart from the three Morning Star Warlocks. Their decisions would represent the entire Ouroboros Clan!
Lucian and Freya were also among them. Upon seeing Leylin, they nodded in acknowledgement, but anxiety was written across their faces.
A red-headed Warlock stood up, propping himself with his hands on the table, and roared loudly, “Only yesterday! In a mere 13 hours, the attacks we have suffered have surpassed the sum of all the damage we have ever sustained! The Blood Serpent Warlock organisation, the Black Iron Warlock organisation and the castigators have all been razed to the ground! Even Greenflame City that guards our Phosphorescence Swamp has fallen to the hands of our enemy!”
He slammed the table, causing the tabletop to shake vigorously. Leylin could feel his wrath through the vibrations.
“It won’t take long until we’ll be able to see them within the vicinity of the city! Even small fry like the Arm of Vengeance will start hunting us down. Damn it! These were people I could have wiped out single-handedly in the past!”
With that, opinions started to fire across the table, rage filling the air.
WMW Chapter 495
Opening
Leylin watched the performance of these Warlocks, indifferent to it all.
In fact, it was very clear to them that small organisations like the Arm of Vengeance were being used as scapegoats by the hidden forces.
Were Gilbert and the rest to appear, they would just throw out these scapegoats to suffer their wrath, without caring for their life or death.
And even if these small organisations were to find success, they wouldn’t end up with much resources. They could only give the majority of the resources to their backers. Thus, these forces could reap the benefits without getting their own hands dirty. It was a great deal indeed.
Although these Warlocks were completely aware of this, they only dared curse these small organisations that had gone insane in their desire for revenge, but did not dare touch the existence in the background. In the back of their minds, even though they lacked Morning Star forces on their side, they definitely did not have the guts to provoke those acting behind the scenes. To them, on their side, they would not have the guts to challenge the masterminds.
“Never mind that. This place is soon going to become a battlefield, so every one of us must take up our responsibilities. Do you all agree?”
“Agreed!” “Agreed!” “Agreed!” Numerous high ranked Warlocks nodded one after another.
“That’s great, we still have the two Kemoyin Gargoyles and the spell formation left by the elders. We can still handle a Morning Star Magus if we activate everything… We just need to persist for a period of time, then the three mentors will be able to
return from the astral plane!”
The red-haired Warlock was still trying his best to boost the morale, and hence he maintained the delusion.
After he spoke up to that, everyone’s sight immediately shot to an old Warlock who was wiping his spectacles with a white handkerchief.
This old Crystal Phase Warlock was the head of their technical department, Schadt.
Schadt put on his spectacles with a bitter laugh, “Our tests have confirmed that the elders really did open the astral gates and entered another world. However, we couldn’t confirm that it’s the Purgatory World. However, we’re trying really hard to calculate the coordinates. I just need ten days… No! Five! We’ll have it in five!”
The expressions of the numerous Warlocks dulled when the reply they got wasn’t the one they wanted.
The red-haired Warlock forced a smile, and immediately began to assign missions as a leader, “Marquis Schadt, continue to study the astral gate. Headquarters will allocate resources to you as you wish. You have to rescue our three Mentors!”
“I will!” Schadt nodded. There was a great scholarly temperament to him as he still seemed like nothing had happened even in this kind of critical moment .
“Next, Marquis Lucian…” There was pride in the tone of the red-haired Warlock when he heard the other party agreeing to his orders.
Although he was the first disciple of the Grand Elder, his authority was not much greater than that of the remaining Marquises present here. But now, when the circumstances required the presence of a powerful leader due to both internal and external pressures, it seemed like he could try to take control!
“Very well! Next…” The Warlock started to assign missions to everyone. Finally, it was Leylin’s turn. “Marquis Leylin, it’s no problem if I leave you in charge of the defense of the West Zone of the city, right?”
“Sorry, I do!” Leylin raised his hand up. He’d heard from Lucian about this Warlock before, although he hadn’t met him in person many times. He was Faisal, and he had held power for a long time in the Ouroboros Clan. Right now, it seemed that even in all this confusion, his first thought was of grasping power.
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