Leylin shot the man a glance and spoke disdainfully. Though his earlier actions might have seemed reckless, the route had already gone through the A.I. Chip’s meticulous probing and calculations, and he had not triggered any fundamental, large formations.
After all, for ancient Magi, Morning Star was the bare minimum level. How could there not be specific countering spell formations? Those Magi would probably soon be in trouble.
WMW Chapter 531
Carelessness
“Ancient Morning Star Arcane Art — Ocean Crash!”
With a body thousands of metres tall, a monster with the head of a cow, body of a human and tentacles for feet emanated powerful energy undulations.
Behind it, four giant rings of light constantly flickered and fused, and the power of its point mass strengthened immensely from before, forming an alarming spell.
Like an ocean god had been enraged, great amounts of ocean water formed horses, goblins, dragons, and various other ancient beasts, drowning the large spell formation opposite it.
In front of the Morning Star Arcane Art, the large spell formation had broken out a powerful defensive force, but it was still smashed to smithereens, the vast ocean water bringing a great amount of pressure and washing through.
“This seems to be a cultivation base!”
Siebel’s aura suddenly grew unstable before he returned to his human form that would consume less energy. He charged into the spell formation and began to rummage through as he wished.
The Arcane Art left the base in a mess, looking like ruins after the end of the world. Yet, there were still some intact objects lying in the dust and emanating light that attracted hi’s attention.
“This is a Thousand-Eyed Worm Egg. It’s so big, and can practically be exchanged for an astral stone of a similar quality…”
“And very concentrated refined gold. There’s so much…” Siebel’s eyes lit up, cheeks turning a rosy red.
Various famous and also unknown precious materials were lying on the ground like trash. Though many had been destroyed, they were still of high value.
Such enormous wealth was placed before him to be chosen from. Even in his life, this experience was very rare.
“Haha… If I’d known, I would have done this long ago. Though it might affect some treasures, I can save time and attack a few other areas…”
Siebel’s eyes turned slightly red, as he scanned the ground and kept anything of value. He then left, reaching another area.
The surroundings of the large laboratory were flickering with crystal luster, obstructing Siebel like a city wall. At the door, there was a wooden sign that was a warning.
“Grandmaster Nuuk’s Alchemy Laboratory! Do not disturb if you are not supposed to be here! You will bear the consequences!”
“He’s already been dead for over tens of thousands of years. Who are you kidding?” Siebel had originally been surprised by the crimson words on the sign, feeling a chill down his spine, but the harvests he had reaped caused him to get greedy.
“Once I attack this place, I can move on to the core area. The treasures there must be even more amazing…”
Siebel’s expression changed several times, but he gradually made his decision. Rays from innate spells of various ranks lit up from his body.
Of course, he had also set up several layers of defence, with magic equipment that looked like shells covering his body.
“Be ruined! Morning Star Arcane Art— Ocean Crash!”
The azure ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see, as well as the vicious ocean animals, immediately submerged the laboratory in front of him. All sorts of lights exploded, before dying down.
By the time Siebel was done, the laboratory had turned into a large ruins. All the spell runes had either been destroyed, smashed, or had disappeared.
“Haha… As expected! My guess was right!”
The counterattack he had expected did not arrive, and Siebel’s face showed his elation. He first sent a few puppets forth cautiously, and after determining there was no danger ahead, pounced towards the ruins hastily and began to look through it.
Even Morning Star Magi did not get such chances often.
Meanwhile, spilledvarious violent and dangerous reactions were rapidly happening out of sight.
“Determined to be point mass reaction! Judged Morning Star-ranked enemy at area DK-34, activating counterattack spell formation.”
Up in the air in the secret space, large amounts of vacant spaces fused together and formed the strange shape of a crystal ball. At the heart of it was an unusual human in black robes, eyes giving off crimson rays.
Traces of a mysterious aura were emitted along with the control room’s command. In the area above what had been the laboratory, a concealed spell formation began to operate.
“Extrapolating force of point mass. Attribute determined to be: Water. Activating counterattack spell formation. Begin!”
“Hm? What’s going on?” Siebel raised his head, and in that moment, his intuition as a Magus made him feel immensely threatened, some existence was giving him the chills.
“Not good! I need to leave immediately!” He turned into a blue silhouette as he darted out.
However, it was too late. With a terrifying, high-pitched sound, a large, crimson spell formation appeared in the air. Large numbers of runic chains formed a cage, trapping him inside.
“Target confirmed. Beginning annihilation.” The icy, robotic voice immediately gave Siebel the feeling that he was in immense danger. However, as a Morning Star Magus, he would naturally not sit and wait to be killed.
“Ah! You want to kill me, just with this spell formation?” Siebel snarled, body exploding and revealing his true marine form.
At the same time, the enormous undulations from the Morning Star final technique appeared once more.
“Morning Star Arcane Art— Ocean Crash!”
A tremendous ocean descended, and many ancient creatures thundered as they charged straight for the runic chains.
*Weng!* The attacks fell on the thin runic chains, but were not able to cause any damage at all. Large amounts of blue light were absorbed by the chains, causing Siebel’s face to immediately turn pale.
“Ho-How?” Seeing a spell formation like this that could absorb a whole Morning Star Arcane Art, Siebel seemed to have been dealt a massive blow. Were Morning Star not able to do as they wished in the continent? Their Arcane Arts were even more horrifying, so how could this have happened?
Only now did he understand how terrifying ancient Magi were, but it was far too late.
*Xiu!* A giant blue bow appeared, still having some of the power Siebel’s own point mass as it shot out blue flames.
At the heart of the blue flames, there was a unique long arrow, the arrowhead having alarming black threads that distorted time and space.
*Pu!* Like paper being ripped through, his defensive layers were pierced through by the blue arrow, and even the Morning Star Magus’ famed soul force was rendered useless under the black threads.
The giant blue arrow pierced through Siebel’s chest, pinning him to the ground.
“I… will actually here… in the hands of a trap…” Siebel’s expression cycled, and he was unsure if he should laugh or cry.
Though these injuries would cause regular people or even Magi to die straightaway, Morning Star Magi had a vigorous life force and powerful vitality that still allowed them to struggle for their lives for a period of time.
“I never thought I’d die here. Thankfully, I still have the marine tribe’s deity egg and can be reborn.”
Siebel had a wry smile on his face, unwilling to part with the precious items and magic equipment he had found. However, there was no way around it.
The marine tribe’s deity egg was a secret method of the marine tribe Magi to save one’s life, for Morning Stars and above. It was able to separate one’s blood, flesh and soul in the form of a marine egg, and after the fall of the main body, they wo
uld then be reborn in the egg.
As it was part of the Magus, after a period of training, it was possible to even return to the Morning Star realm!
Since it was so valuable, it was obviously extensively sought out. However, due to the limitations of the race, only the marine tribe were able to use it, causing many human Morning Stars to wring their hands in defeat.
Though there were some Magi who had one or even a few clones, if the main body fell, it was extremely difficult for the clone to reach Morning Star and was even considered impossible.
“Collection of soul aura complete. Beginning obliteration of soul brand.”
At this moment, the icy robotic voice sounded once more, giving Siebel the impression that he was really in trouble.
Immediately after, he felt a strange force being transmitted to his body through the bow and arrow, and with the sensing abilities of his soul aura, felt it trace the source and reach a part of the past.
A scene suddenly appeared in his mind. It was that of when he had carefully placed the deity egg in his Magus Tower.
At that moment, multiple black threads were sent out, puncturing the deity egg.
“Oh! Noooo…” Siebel yelled while struggling. He could tell that with the changes in the scene, his original connection with the deity egg had been completely broken, and he would no longer have any chances at rebirth. In that case, if he were to die, it would truly be the end…
“How– How did it become like this?” Large amounts of blood spilt from the corner of Siebel’s mouth, which then turned into blue bubbles that exploded. His eyes closed for eternity.
In ancient times, there were many Magi with clones or those who entrusted their lives elsewhere. The methods were strange and hard to be determined, but many Magi who had participated in the great ancient Magus war had still fallen.
Once the original was completely wiped out, even a Morning Star would be helpless.
*Poof!* A spot of light that was like a morning star emerged from his body and, with the guidance of a stream of astral light, broke through the space and left.
This was a Morning Star Magus’ point mass, holding his soul within.
Based on legends of the ancient Byron Empire, when Morning Star Magi completely died, their soul would return to the astral plane for eternity, floating in the deepest part of the astral plane and waiting for their next chance at reincarnation.
“Point mass discovered! Beginning seizure!”
A few large hands full of black runes emerged from the air and grabbed at the point mass. The formless force immediately spread throughout the area, causing the starlight to turn unsteady.
*Sou!* Taking this opportunity, the large black hands grabbed hold of the point mass, disappearing into the darkness.
WMW Chapter 532
Setup
Previously, hidden in the control room, the scenes of Siebel’s death were displayed on the crystal screen for a pair of crimson eyes.
When the point mass was caught by the person behind this whole situation, the power bar increased by one unit on the side of the screen.
“…” The crimson light in that pair of eyes flickered intensely, but it soon subsided.
The chamber turned deathly silent again. A dark figure stayed at its spot, unmoving, unbreathing.
Meanwhile, news of Siebel’s death swept through the entire ruins like a hurricane.
“What’s this feeling?” Leylin’s face changed the moment the astral plane opened automatically upon Siebel’s death. He felt the fluctuation in the atmosphere of the astral plane and the point mass.
It was the same feeling he’d gotten when he’d killed Cyril, something he’d never forget.
“The death of a Morning Star Magus? The point mass returning to the astral plane?” Leylin mumbled in disbelief.
He took a long breath afterwards, “Sure enough, ancient ruins aren’t this simple. Even this core control room could be a mere disguise, with another true one hidden somewhere else!”
Leylin had gotten this suspicion a little earlier. Even if the old man didn’t have full authorisation, the defence of this place was far too weak. Now, it seemed it was only to be expected if this place was just a ruse that could only control the simplest spell formations.
Those powerful spell formations that had the power to suppress Morning Star Magi, and were even strong enough to kill them, were all hidden somewhere in the dark.
Leylin looked at the old man who was lying on the ground with sympathy when he thought of this.
It was obvious that his ancestor was of little importance in Scarlet Crescent, he had not even gotten a single bit of information about such matters.
“Anyway, all these things is none of my business. I’ve gotten what’s important, and therefore, it’s time to leave…” Leylin smiled, then flipped open the pale yellow notebook.
Even if the old man’s ancestor did not have much status, they had been very careful and had even noted down a secret passageway for the sake of their descendants. It allowed Leylin to leave Scarlet Crescent directly without returning through the original route, which greatly reduced the level of danger.
“If this works out, the mission this time will truly have gone perfectly!”
Leylin rubbed his chin, “The others only know that I have entered the ruin, but they don’t know what I have gained, there’s still room for manipulation.”
At the bottom of his heart was an idea about how to break apart the bloodline shackles, a gift from the ancient Wisdom Tree. This was priceless information for bloodline Warlocks.
Because of this, Leylin had to safeguard the secret, or else he could be rejected and even persecuted by the bloodline Warlocks.
“The timing’s just right. I know Siebel’s dead, but the rest of the Morning Star Magi aren’t aware of this, which means he can be my scapegoat!”
Leylin could not help but sneer as he thought of what he saw in the core control room earlier on.
The other Morning Star Magi did not have the spell formation of this control room to monitor the entire ruin. At most, they only knew that one Morning Star Magus had perished, but they would not know which one it was.
In this case, it was possible for him to disguise himself as Siebel, it wasn’t like the dead could talk.
“Transfiguration! Projection Technique!” With a thought, Leylin’s aura changed, becoming similar to Siebel’s.
But this was far from enough. His cover would be blown the moment a Morning Star Magus scanned him with soul force.
“I planned to use this for research or just to sell it off. Who knew I’d be using it now…” Leylin flipped his palm, revealing a translucent test tube. There was a tinge of blue blood in it, emanating light.
This was the blood Leylin had extracted from Siebel during their fight.
“Conceal the bloodline! This is going to remove all light and resist detection…” Leylin spoke in a half-singing and half-chanting voice.
These were Arcane Arts that the A.I. Chip had deduced from the inherited memories of the bloodline.
It enabled one to use the bloodline of the target, covering up their own aura and imitate the energy fluctuations on the target. Soul force would be unable to detect it.
Moreover, this was a long-lost arcane art of bloodlines. Leylin had witnessed it when he’d awakened his own Kemoyin bloodline. Other Morning Star Magi would definitely not have thought of it.
The spells sounded out as the test tube opened up in tandem with Leylin’s incantation. The blue blood drifted into the air, turning into a hazy shadow that enveloped Leylin.
In the blink of an eye, Leylin looked as if he changed into another person. Not only did he have the same look as Siebel, even his aura mimicked those of the marine tribe.
It was so much so that the energy fluctuations of a Magus were emitted from him, as opposed to those of the vastly different Warlocks.
Even the Radiant Moon Magus of Jupiter’s Lightning would find it hard to recognise him unde
r such circumstances.
“Ma– Master?”
The old man who sat on the ground saw Leylin changing completely into someone else, and he could not help but stutter.
Leylin soon turned and looked at him, a trace of hostility flashing in his eyes.
……
Tremendous golden flames crackled and melted the void within seconds, clearing out a path of lava.
A blonde-haired middle-aged Warlock walked out with both hands behind him, followed by the phantom of a humongous golden lion.
“Right here! This is the first location where the energy fluctuations of a Morning Star Magus appeared. The core control room must be nearby!”
His brows furrowed while he glanced through the scenery on both sides. Looking at the huge depression and the remaining seawater, he frowned.
“Was I too late?”
*Bang!* Just then, the core control room nearby exploded, and a ferocious blaze engulfed everything.
The Warlock snorted with disdain, and a huge amount of fire was absorbed by the phantom at his back in an instant. His powerful soul force scanned around and discovered a blue figure immediately.
“Are you still trying to leave?” He smiled sarcastically, while a ray of golden lightning shot out immediately from the phantom behind him, quickly arriving at the blue figure.
“Arcane Art— Myriad Waves!”
An illusory domain in the form of a blue ocean was emanated from the blue figure, and a large surge of waves rushed ahead to form a huge wall that shielded him.
*Ka-cha!* Golden lightning split the waves apart, revealing the original form of the trembling fellow.
This was a giant who was a few meters tall, covered in blue skin. The inhuman aura was obvious.
“Marine Giant Siebel? Indeed, he was the fellow guarding this region, and one of the first to enter the ruins…” The middle-aged Warlock nodded, then he saw Siebel’s figure flicker before he fled quickly.
“You can’t escape!” Wayde, the Radiant Moon Warlock followed after him right away. As the blue giant was the first to reach the core control room, he must have gotten lots of treasure. Just the structural plans of the ruins would have him green with envy.
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