Chapter 116

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Chapter 116: Confused

"You can’t pull it like that," a veteran nearby said. "The more you pull, the deeper it burrows."

He was talking to a very young soldier, who looked like he was the most badly injured among the group, probably the unluckiest one who was always the most favored by mosquitoes. The young guard’s neck was stained with blood, looking quite scary at first glance, as he was pulling hard at the tail of a stubborn leech, trying to get it off his neck. The more he pulled, the tighter the dark green worm curled up, as if burrowing under his skin.

"This is really unbelievable," he muttered. "I’d rather fight a crocodile."

"You must be from the city," joked the colleague with a smile. "In the rivers of my hometown, there are leeches everywhere. When the animals wade through the water, the leeches bite their legs. You just need to shake your skin like this, and the bugs won’t be able to latch onto you."

The soldier clumsily patted his neck, but the leech didn’t fall off. His colleague tried to help, but also failed. They shook their heads, blaming the soldier for pulling too hard earlier.

"It might have already burrowed under your skin," someone remarked.

"Get lost!" the soldier kicked the person.

The tedious journey had progressed to this point, and the atmosphere was no longer as serious. The apprentices whispered to each other, the guards joked about leeches and rats, some even played with fully-fed leeches, rolling the plump bugs into a ball in their hands. Most people had been bitten, not losing much blood to the leeches, but their wounds were difficult to heal, oozing blood and making the previously unscathed group look quite disheveled.

White robe wizards and Wild Wizards both had ways to heal wounds, but now was not the time to use healing spells, just like you wouldn’t use precious bandages for a nosebleed. While magic was powerful, the wizards faced a dilemma: they had limited magic power, weaker endurance compared to past wizards, and needed to save their magic to deal with more urgent situations. For example, Wild Wizard Rudolf was using the Range Water Splitting Technique, leaving him unable to cast other spells and only providing support in this environment. Liandrin Lantern Vine had a spell that didn’t require control after casting, but Bruno still needed time to recover the magic used to cast it.

Wizards are like guns that need to be loaded: they have incredible power, but once they run out of ammunition (magic), they are just a stick on fire.

Tasha didn’t bring priests or witches, just like when she had only brought those indicated by the Hall of True Knowledge when going to the Druid Sanctuary before. Wizards have always been separate from regular people, not having the best relationship with other professions. Tasha was worried that bringing other professions would have a negative effect. She brought some guards, who were regular soldiers, not professionals.

After another stretch of travel, the ceiling became a bit higher.

Above their heads was a gentle slope that gradually rose from about two meters to over three meters, four meters, and five meters, making the ceiling seem more expansive. The vines still hung above their original height, with the light source positioned at shoulder level, making it difficult to see the ceiling clearly.

Bruno cast a Light Spell, causing a small sun to slowly rise like a lit lantern, floating to a height of one to two meters above their heads. "There’s a limited casting range," the white robe wizard said regretfully, squinting as he gazed at the now illuminated ceiling.

There were strange patterns on the ceiling.

Indigo patterns sprawled across the ceiling, displaying a peculiar yet random arrangement, leaving uncertainty whether they were naturally formed minerals or the result of intentional carving. Due to the limitations of the Light Spell, the illuminated orb floated only at a height of over two meters, leaving the higher crevices dark. The wizard and apprentices took out their pens and meticulously copied the patterns on the ceiling.

"Did anyone bring a lantern?" Tasha asked, "I could fly up holding it."

The group exchanged looks, realizing none of them had thought to bring a lantern down despite having magical lighting devices like the Lantern Vine. Some had torches, but many runes reacted to open flames. For safety, it was best not to use them.

"I don’t think it’s necessary to record this." Alchemist Gloria shook her head after a few minutes, closing her book first, "These patterns don’t follow any specific rules; they are just natural formations."

After discussing for a while, the wizards came to a similar conclusion. They believed that they should continue forward to see what lay ahead.

While they were engrossed in their discussion, the surrounding soldiers took a brief break to stretch, move around, and even check each other for leeches. They set off again sooner than expected, and the guards hurriedly resumed their positions, some out of breath.

But breathing like this is too exaggerated.

Tasha turned to look at the soldier beside her, who had just finished relieving himself in the corner and ran back panting heavily, as if there was a phlegm stuck in his throat.

It was the young guard from before, his neck was no longer bleeding, but his complexion looked even worse than before. In the light of the Lantern Vine, the soldier’s face was as pale as wax, breathing heavily like a bull, without a drop of sweat on his face or neck. He walked forward calmly, seemingly unaware of the sound of his own wheezing.

The people around didn’t pay much attention, as the sound wasn’t loud, but it was quite noticeable to Tasha’s sharp hearing. The transformation brought to her new body not only wings, claws, and horns, but her senses were far superior to the average person’s. Besides that, there seemed to be some other advantages.

Was it a certain smell? A certain sensation in the air? Or something else? It’s hard to say, the feeling was like sensing a cool breeze coming through a tightly closed window, you don’t know where it sneaked in from. Tasha felt something was off, like a cold hand gently brushing against her nerves.

"Are you okay?" she asked the soldier.

The soldier turned his head, his expression clearly showing surprise at Tasha talking to him. He quickly shook his head, but Tasha felt a sinking feeling in her heart.

The ominous feeling hovering above her head now descended upon her at this moment.

When he shook his head, there was a faint clinking sound in his head – like the sound of liquid splashing against the glass jar when it swayed in mid-air.

The soldier shook his head and tried to say something, but his mouth opened and his tongue didn’t move. Confused, the soldier opened his mouth, and finally his tongue started moving. The piece of flesh inside his mouth stood up like a cobra, with its tip no longer disguised in red meat but appearing dark and ready to strike.

At the same time, Tasha’s foot kicked the soldier hard in the chest, sending him flying out.

The tall figure was kicked towards the ceiling, flying out like a broken kite, away from the crowd. Dark Robed Wizard Miranda’s spell followed closely, "Acid Splash!" With these rapid words of magic, a greenish liquid shot towards the soldier, piercing through his skull.

Unaware guards roared in confusion, then quickly understood the reason for the attack. The soldier’s head deformed under the corrosion of the acid arrow, cracking open to reveal not brain matter, but a pool of pink liquid connected to the "tongue" fast coming out of his head.

Inside the skull, it was red and white like the brain matter, but as soon as exposed to air, it wriggled and lost its color. People realized it was not liquid, but a soft substance like a snail or clay, turning into a colorless transparent something. The "tongue" started losing its color too, the mollusk monster began to descend rapidly, seeming to disappear into the water.

But the mollusk monster began to struggle violently in midair.

The corrosive green arrows burst within the head, splattering acid hit directly, biting tightly into the monster trying to shed its skin like a cicada. The blackened part spread rapidly, reverting the transparent substance trying to blend into the background back to its original form, draining moisture, charring into a pile of waste. This scene was like an unseen lightning strike, before the fall, the unidentified creature residing in the soldier’s head lost its last strength, shrinking into a piece of charcoal and heavily falling into the water.

The gasps from the crowd sounded, Tasha’s senses suddenly expanded around her, her ears catching every breath, pausing in front of another heavy breathing as if there was something stuck in the throat. Tasha jumped up, spreading her wings, diving towards another parasite.

She landed on top of the soldier, whose head had exploded under the impact like an overripe watermelon. The soft-bodied creature inside crawled out first, trying to latch onto Tasha but couldn’t break through the tough dragon scales. Scales wrapped around Tasha’s lower limbs, the mutated claws sinking into the soft-bodied creature, grasping it firmly like an eagle attacking a snake. She tore the creature into two parts, both parts hurriedly escaping in different directions, disappearing into the soil.

Tasha heard the Alchemist suddenly gasp.

"Everyone, duck!" Gloria shouted.

She took out a bag, grabbed a handful of sparkly powder that matched her robe, and scattered it upwards.

The thin wizard’s hand couldn’t throw things very far, and the small powder wasn’t easy to toss, but they shot up into the air as if carried by an upward draft. The sparkles burst open like fireworks, pausing a few meters from the ceiling, as if hitting something.

It wasn’t "as if," it hit something.

The seemingly empty ceiling started to wriggle, colors jumbled, patterns distorted. Tasha felt a strange sense of déjà vu, as if she had seen this sight somewhere before. After a moment, she remembered.

An octopus blending with its surroundings, when stimulated, displays this dazzling yet scary state on its surface.

Above everyone’s heads, the huge soft-bodied creature began to wriggle, unable to continue camouflaging due to the Alchemist’s powder. Indigo patterns spread across its soft body, moving with its actions, causing some soldiers to break out in a cold sweat as they realized the tentacles hanging down were only a few steps away from their heads, blending perfectly with the background in the dim light, making them almost unnoticeable.

Looking around now, the air was filled with tentacles. They felt as if they were beneath a giant jellyfish.

The guards yelled in fear and attacked the mollusk monster’s tentacles with all kinds of weapons. Swords slashed at the semi-transparent limbs, but the soft and gross things just bounced back like slippery vines. Long weapons poked upwards, piercing into the monster’s body like stabbing into a swamp, only semi-transparent liquid flowing out. Someone screamed in horror as they realized that what was flowing out was not the monster’s blood, but a part of its body.

In other words, the thing was climbing towards them along the weapons.

"Drop your weapons, get down!" Tasha shouted sternly.

Most people quickly lay down, while the short skeleton soldiers ran around attacking the descending tentacles, sometimes getting caught by them. The wizards stood firm, chanting incantations and making complex gestures, appearing calm as if there wasn’t a deadly transparent web descending above them. Tasha circled above them, wielding dual blades and sharp demon wings on her back to cut off and ward off the tentacles, as if the wizards trusted her, not allowing a single tentacle to reach their heads.

The first big fireball rose, cast by Bruno’s apprentice Laurien, a direct disciple of the white robe wizard who currently only knew this spell and was particularly skilled at it. The powder of a ruby scattered in the air, conjuring a large fireball that crashed into the mollusk monster, bringing a large area of charred remains upon extinguishing. Miranda’s acid arrows followed suit, with corrosive effects spreading a few meters in diameter before gradually ceasing. The Undead Sorcerer’s spells were not limited to just one type; crocodile bones gathered along the way transformed into sharp bone spears, piercing into the mollusk monster…

The radiance of Black Magic and white magic continued to shine one after another, both capable of feats but unable to prevail. While they inflicted considerable damage, the scars were quickly engulfed, something thick and gooey on their heads like a very solid mud, wounds disappearing once absorbed into the body. Tasha noticed a piece that had been cut off crawling back, merging back into the tentacles and swiftly returning to the main body.

"Link established!" Rudolf’s voice echoed in the ears of all spellcasters.

Wild Wizard Rudolf did not engage in combat; he maintained the Range Water Splitting Technique while, following the previously devised emergency plan, began preparing a spell known as the "Antoine Conference Table." This spell could establish a mental link channel among the Professionals within range, allowing them to communicate quickly.

"Is that a liquid-crafted creature?" Rudolf said.

"Silly, that’s a Fluid Guard!" Miranda’s voice sounded angry even through the connection, "It’s a special type of guard that ancient wizards liked, called a Mage Tower Guardian. They can eat flesh and reshape themselves. Our group didn’t find a treasure room belonging to a dark-robed mage long ago, it was a sealed Mage Tower from an even earlier time!"

Long ago, the White Tower Wizard found an Ancient Mage Tower that had lost its owner.

"I get it!" Gloria said excitedly, "Even though the outer door is still being built, inside, the space has already been partially broken open by the dimensional rift spell! The sub-space where the Mage Tower should be sealed after the magic environment dried up, it has been forcibly torn open and stuck halfway onto the Primary Material Plane. The Mage Tower is caught between the sub-space and the Primary Material Plane, like a collapsing column, preserving some of the magic environment in the collapsing triangle zone – the magic environment here has not just been restored in recent years, it has always been like this – that’s why the Fluid Guard can still be active!"

"Thanks for explaining the background in this urgent situation," Miranda said irritably.

"Fluid Guard is a creation of pure Black Magic," Bruno said, "It should have a strong reaction to white magic, but right now, its reaction to both black and white magic is almost the same."

"A new version?" Miranda said uncertainly, "Fluid Guard has been lost for hundreds of years, I’ve only read about it in books."

"But look!" Gloria said, "The rune that’s currently active is clearly a branch of modern alchemy’s white magic, right?"

Tasha looked up, and once the Fluid Guard’s disguise was gone, the indigo patterns on its body started moving, the lines deepening and lightening, as if constantly disappearing and reshaping.

"White magic runes can’t possibly coexist with the Fluid Guard!"

"Fluid Guard can’t attach white magic rune!"

The white robe wizard and the black robe wizard on the scene said in unison. After they finished speaking, they looked at each other, then raised their heads to look at the ceiling, suddenly realizing.

"I see, that’s why the pattern on Fluid Guard is still visible when it’s invisible." Miranda exclaimed.

"Upon closer inspection, it is indeed a white magic rune, just too obscured to be seen clearly. It needs to reshape to be discovered… This is a disintegration spell that gains energy through consumption! Oh, this fits perfectly with Fluid Guard!" Bruno exclaimed, "It’s not a single entity, but a battlefield!"

Fluid runes and indigo runes are fundamentally different, in fact, they are enemies.

The wizards of the White Tower obtained the ancient Mage Tower which belonged to ancient wizards, and they tried to dismantle it. The symbols of the White Tower Wizard were attached to the Guardian of the Mage Tower. The former consumed the energy of Fluid Guard, the latter relied on the reshaping of flesh and blood from creatures that entered through the sub-space breach to rebuild itself. After losing their masters, the battle between the two never stopped, continuing endlessly until today.

Among these outsiders, a rare large group of flesh and blood bodies entered here, and Fluid Guard urgently needed to consume something to gain the upper hand.

"In this way, we just need to let that rune win!" Gloria said excitedly.

"The Disjunction Rune is highly complete. The two are evenly matched, and a simple amplification spell can enable it to succeed." Bruno explained, "And the disintegration spell attacks the core, the most dense area of the rune is Fluid Guard’s core."

"We need to freeze the Fluid Guard spell to control the flow inside, then strengthen that rune when it can’t move," Miranda said. "Anyone able to enhance a spell from more than five meters away?"

All the wizards fell silent for a moment.

"No, we need a conduit," Bruno shook his head. "Can Dolores’ undead servant climb up there?"

"No," the Undead Sorcerer said briefly, as another skeleton was crushed. Her frail body swayed slightly, held up by an apprentice to prevent her from falling.

"I can," Tasha said.

The wizards’ minds worked as well as their spells. Leading a group of wizards through dungeons, they solved problems quickly and efficiently. Tasha only needed to fill in the gaps and provide extra firepower.

The final plan was decided in just a few seconds.

The Antoine Conference Table channel fell silent again as the wizards chanted spells in unison, their slim fingers cutting through the moist air. The last Skeleton Soldier crumbled under the tentacles, and the accomplished Undead Sorcerer fell back, caught by the apprentice and they both collapsed to the ground. The soldiers lying on the ground watched in horror as the ceiling, devoid of Skeleton Soldiers and numerous spells, seemed about to lower an unstoppable transparent web.

The cold underground waterway chilled once more, and frost appeared in the air.

Different kinds of freezing spells from various magic schools were cast at the same time – ice beams, frosty shackles, icy runes… They intertwined on the ceiling, creating a sudden winter scene. The flowing ceiling was unexpectedly frozen, like a river hit by a sudden frost, turning the water into ice. The huge Fluid Guard still moved stubbornly slowly, very slow, slow enough.

Tasha paused in mid-air for a moment, then abruptly shot upwards.

She dove into the Fluid Guard, or rather "kicked in." Her agile demon wings allowed her to twist and turn in mid-air, claws ready. Her dragon claws dug deep into the frozen soft mass of the Fluid Guard, which was moving too slowly under the freezing effect, unable to supply in time or turn into liquid to escape from Tasha’s grip.

The sensation was like driving an ice pick into solid frozen ice, Tasha’s claws pierced straight to the highest point, the core, where the runes were concentrated.

What harm could two claws do to the Fluid Guard? It was like trying to kill an elephant with a needle, even if the sharp claws were as sharp as daggers, without a handle to penetrate, it was just that. So her role was not to harm, on the contrary, this attack was to "strengthen."

The target of the claws was not the Fluid Guard, but the Disjunction Rune.

What if the casting distance was not enough? It’s okay, just stack the spell effects on a medium. All spellcasters had made a beginner’s pact with Tasha, under the pact’s connection, she was an excellent magic conduit for them.

Earlier, Tasha briefly paused in the air, the wizards’ amplification spell covering her during this time. Now she had successfully reached her destination, infusing the power of the amplification spell into the runes.

The Disjunction Rune, which had battled with the Fluid Guard for centuries, suddenly shone brightly, its shattered runes exploding like overfed seaweed, spreading out explosively.