Chapter 121: Mission Accomplished

"Seris, how are you feeling?"

Ingramore walked up to Seris, looking at her with concern.

Seris seemed to have been drained of her last ounce of strength, her entire form appearing utterly listless. By forcibly using the Dream Halo against that Level 3 wizard apprentice, she had suffered immense backlash. Fortunately, at that critical moment, the Level 3 apprentice had only managed to break free from the illusion and lacked the capacity to launch a counterattack; otherwise, Seris would have been reduced to a simpleton.

"I'm alright..." Seris, supported by Ingramore, gritted her teeth and forced a smile.

"Let's not waste any more time. We must complete the mission."

Ingramore glanced at Lin Wei.

Lin Wei nodded and approached the temporary communication crystal. The massive green sphere emitted a magnetic field with an unfathomable, constant pulse.

"Once this is shattered, the central base of the Fang Blood Shadow will certainly sense it. I expect pursuers will arrive shortly," Lin Wei said to Ingramore. "Be ready. We must flee the moment the crystal is destroyed."

"Understood." Ingramore hoisted Seris onto his back.

Lin Wei examined the temporary communication crystal closely. "Judging by its appearance alone, the material seems quite fragile, as if it doesn't even possess the hardness of stone..."

Without even invoking his wizard power, Lin Wei struck it with his elbow.

*Crack, crack!*

As Lin Wei expected, fissures immediately appeared across the green sphere.

*Crash!*

The green crystal shattered instantly into fragments of various shapes and sizes, falling to the ground in a scattered mess.

"Go!"

Lin Wei and Ingramore quickly retreated from the spot.

...

At the central base of the Fang Blood Shadow, in the tactical command center, a wizard clad in black and red robes sat with his eyes closed in meditation. Faint, dark smoke emanated from his body, swirling and coiling, refusing to dissipate. At times, it morphed into twisted human faces; at others, it blossomed like fireworks.

Suddenly, the wizard snapped his eyes open, a terrifying glint flashing through them.

He appeared quite young, perhaps around twenty, yet his gaze was incomparably weary and profound. Within a breath's time, a young woman hurried into the room.

"My Lord!" The young woman’s tone was laced with panic.

"Speak," the black-and-red-robed wizard replied, his expression indifferent.

"The temporary communication crystal at the westernmost point has been destroyed..." The young woman spoke with little conviction, seemingly afraid of incurring the wizard's wrath.

Upon hearing this, the wizard did not fly into a rage; instead, a hint of interest colored his tone. "Did not every guardian carry the contingency measures I prepared? Could it be that a formal wizard has intervened?"

The wizard naturally did not believe that Keebler, the formal wizard on the opposing side, would personally involve himself in such a matter. He was merely curious if his own methods had truly been dismantled by mere wizard apprentices.

"Every crystal guardian carried your contingency, yet the enemy still succeeded..." the young woman said, steeling herself. "Based on the traces detected at the scene, the attackers were two Level 3 wizard apprentices and one Level 2 wizard apprentice."

"Oh?" The black-and-red-robed wizard smiled, showing no trace of anger. "What were the casualties?"

"Everyone guarding the temporary communication crystal... they are all dead." The young woman dared not look up, her entire body rigid with tension.

The wizard sighed and began to shake his head slowly, like a bobblehead.

"A pity..." He continued to shake his head, though it was unclear whether he lamented the loss of the communication crystal or the lives of the fallen apprentices.

"My Lord!" The young woman knelt on the ground, her forehead pressed firmly against the floor. "This was entirely due to my failure in coordination and planning. I beg for your punishment!"

She could no longer endure the oppressive atmosphere. She knew deep down just how terrifying the man who appeared so serene before her truly was.

"No, no, no..." The wizard waved his hands dismissively, then rose to help the young woman up. "This is not your fault. It is not your fault at all..."

The wizard stroked the young woman's cheek with his fingers, a warm, gentle smile on his face.

"Youth is a wonderful thing..." he muttered, feeling the smoothness of her skin.

"My Lord..." The young woman was at a loss.

The wizard sighed again, withdrew his hand, and asked, "The checkpoints along the line... those guards..."

"I will surely punish them severely!"

The young woman, sensing a chance to prove her stance, spoke with stern severity.

"No!" The wizard corrected her tone. "That is not their fault. No one could have foreseen that two Level 3 wizards would attack this time. You must understand, on this battlefield of Lake Segavie, apart from myself and the wizard Keebler of the Shadow Forest, the highest combat power is that of a Level 3 apprentice!"

"Child, you must learn to be forgiving..."

The wizard's face remained youthful, yet he radiated the benevolence of an elder.

"Yes, my Lord..." The young woman trembled. The wizard's behavior today was far too abnormal; his kindness felt unsettlingly strange.

"Go now. Do not pursue anyone's faults," the wizard said, waving his sleeve.

"This subordinate withdraws." The young woman suppressed her emotions and slowly exited the room.

Watching the young woman's retreating figure, a flicker of nostalgia crossed the wizard's eyes.

"The conflict is beginning to intensify, is it..." he whispered to himself. "When I was last on the battlefield, I was only a Level 2 apprentice... War is so cruel; there ought to be more warmth in it..."

...

At the first checkpoint of the Fang Blood Shadow:

"Leslie, you seem off tonight. Not just you, those other guys seem out of sorts too," a wizard apprentice asked Leslie, gesturing toward several others.

Those apprentices were the very ones who had been caught in the Dream Halo along with Leslie earlier.

"Hmm..." Leslie did not continue. He also felt puzzled. He felt as though he had forgotten something of great importance tonight, but no matter how hard he tried to recall it, it was to no avail.

"Leslie, this won't do! You need to pull yourself together. If the enemies from the Shadow Forest launch a sneak attack, you'll be completely defenseless!" the man continued to nag. "Besides, if the Lord sees you like this, he will certainly..."

Just as Leslie grew annoyed, the voice abruptly ceased.

He looked up and saw a thin red line appearing across the forehead of the man who had been speaking.

*Splatter!*

The next instant, the man's body split clean in two!

"Enemy at—" Leslie was about to pull out his communication device, but he felt a chill in his chest, and his consciousness began to blur.

In a daze, Leslie saw a vast, white, desolate world once more.

"I think... I remember now..."

Leslie’s body collapsed with a heavy thud.