Chapter 187 - 372 - 379

Fire Scorpion

Luckily for Leylin and the other judges, they were rank 2 Magi and had a very high status. Even if they were discontent, the audience did not dare show this on their faces, and instead placed their attention on the competition going on.

Leylin's eyes brightened at this moment.

Following his gaze, there appeared a person he was interested in on an elevated stage at the southeast corner.

"Arena 34, the fifth round of the selection! Here are participant numbers 273 and 35!" The announcer was a peak rank 1 Magus dressed in formal Magus attire, his hair perfectly combed.

Almost at the very moment his words ended, a line of fire flashed, and a beautiful woman with a great body arrived at the centre of the stage.

This female Magus had voluptuous, sexy curves and had intentionally worn tight clothing, her chest bursting out of the seams of her clothes. However, she looked a little young, as if she had yet to be of age.

This angelic appearance and devilish, arousing body immediately garnered the interest of the audience.

"Oh, I remember now! She's Fire Scorpion of the western region. She actually came here!" A Magus blurted out, and through many layers, the voice entered Leylin's ears.

"Fire Scorpion?" Leylin was slightly flabbergasted at this nickname.

"Haha, has Magus Leylin gone to the western region before?" Also on the platform, a rank 2 Magus laughed after hearing Leylin's voice.

He had a white cloth wrapped around his head and his pupils were blue. This was the typical style of the western region in Twilight Zone.

This Magus was the leader of a large-scale guild in the western region.

Though the central region was the main essence of Twilight Zone with many highly-ranked Magi, they could not take up all the spots for judging. It was necessary to hand out a part of the seats to Magi of the four other regions.

"Fire Scorpion is rather famous at our side, and it's said she's rather ruthless. She even killed a few of her husbands, which earned her nickname as the Fire Scorpion!"

Without waiting for Leylin's answer, the rank 2 Magus continued, "Actually, if not for her specializing in fire magic, we would definitely call her the black widow!"

"No, I just hear about her occasionally." Leylin shook his head.

What he was focusing on was not Fire Scorpion, but her opponent.

With the impatient looks of the judges on the platform, the opponent who was late had opened up a route for himself and entered the arena.

This was a youth in green Magus robes, a sinister look in his eyes.

"Hmm, this youth?"

Before Leylin could speak, the rank 2 Magus was already surprised.

"What is it? Do you know him?" Leylin asked with a smile.

"Yes! The Magus in green robes is another formidable character known in the western region— Green-robed Carl. How unexpected that they're matched together in the first round!"

The rank 2 Magus also from the western region sighed lightly, as if finding it a pity that these two geniuses were matched so early.

"Green-robed Carl?" Leylin was laughing inside.

Rank 2 Magi were very sensitive to auras. Whoever they met with, if left with a deep impression or memorable aura, the next time they met, it would be difficult for the other parties to conceal themselves.

For this reason, the Magus was confident in his judgement.

However, through his mole, Ernis, Leylin spied on his opponent.

Yes. This Green-robed Carl was, in reality, Longbottom in disguise.

Through the lingering spirit in the notebook in Ernis' hands, Leylin had watched in high definition the real Green-robed Carl being killed by them. He watched as they then skinned the man and, using special magical means, used it to transform Longbottom's appearance.

What was even more wonderful was that Ernis had no idea that he was unwittingly leaking information while he was hell-bent on working for the dark elves. Hence, for any spells that could sense and test one's thoughts, there was no reaction at all, which allowed him to survive.

At this moment, the A.I. Chip sounded.

[Skin Covering spell model has been completely analysed. Inputting into rank 1 spell model database!]

This Skin Covering spell was what Longbottom used to deceive everyone. Though it was only at rank 1, mysteriously it was able to trick even rank 2 Magi.

In addition, this spell did not originate from Twilight Zone, but rather, from a hidden inheritance of the dark elves. No Magi would expect this.

It was a pity that Leylin knew this beforehand, which caused their hard work to be in vain.

Even this spell model had been intercepted and taken by Leylin in secret and, with the A.I. Chip, completed.

If Longbottom knew this, he might really spew out blood.

Leylin had a sick interest in this but held it in.

Sometimes, the fruits of victory would taste better when waited for.

"Who do you think has the larger possibility of winning?" All these thoughts passed through Leylin's mind, but he still continued the conversation with the rank 2 Magus.

"Hm…" The rank 2 Magus muttered to himself and decided, "Though Carl's corrosive spells are renowned, and he possesses a middle-grade magic artifact, Fire Scorpion is a decade older and thus, has accumulated a decade more of experience. In addition, fire energy particles are capable of restraining corrosive-type energy particles, which is very remarkable."

"I think differently. Perhaps that kid called Carl can really create miracles!" Leylin laughed lightly.

"Oh? Can you tell me the reason?" The old Magus looked interested.

"About that, please let me keep it a secret." Leylin rejected with a slight smile.

"You…" The old Magus laughed as well, but gave more attention to arena 34.

Meanwhile, Longbottom who had transformed into Green-robed Carl, was feeling terrified. "Damn it, a rank 2 Magus' gaze swept this location quite a few times. What is it that piqued their interest?"

He quickly considered, "I previously gained much information regarding Carl's habits, and I've even secretly grasped his signature spells. The Skin Covering spell shouldn't have an issue, so what went wrong?"

"No, it's possible that there's nothing wrong. It's just that my battle with Fire Scorpion has attracted their attention! After all, this is still the start. It's very rare that two official Magi get matched together at the start."

Longbottom racked his brains, considering it from all angles. If Longbottom knew everything had happened only because of Leylin's sick sense of humour, he might really get so mad that he would collapse.

This careless attitude of his had obviously enraged the opposing Fire Scorpion.

"Carl, you dare underestimate me! I'll make you pay the price!"

Fire Scorpion was so furious that her face was flushed red, her chest quivering and shaking her breasts, which caused the surrounding Magi to hiss in excitement.

"Fire Scorpion!" Fire Scorpion shouted under her breath, and quickly began to chant in broken sentences and syllables.

Traces of bright red energy particles converged, forming large numbers of little scorpions crawling out from the ground and surrounding Longbottom.

"Rain of Corrosion!" Longbottom chanted in a low voice.

Droplets of green rain fell from mid-air, and every time the droplets made contact with the ground, a faint sizzling sound of corrosion could be heard even as white gases were being formed.

After the white gas disappeared, a deep hole was seen on the ground.

Those fire scorpions were even more pitiful. Clustered raindrops were inclined towards them, and in no time, they had all turned into a pool of pus-like liquid.

"It's appeared! Green-robed Carl's Rain of Corrosion! It's an omnidirectional attack with no dead angles, with an offensive power of up to 40 degrees!" A Magus of the western region who had his head wrapped shouted excitedly.

Whether it was the corrosive raindrops or the fire red scorpions, the moment they reached the boundaries of the elevated stage, they would immediately fall apart due to the layer with translucent defensive ripples, turning into pure energy particles and being absorbed into the spell formation.

This was a defensive and absorption spell formation that was set up under every stage to limit the damage range to within the stage.

"Flames of Rebirth!" At this moment, Fire Scorpion's expression showed her confidence in prevailing.

With her chants, a blue fireball suddenly appeared and exploded in front of her. The small blue flames dispersed like starlight and fell into the liquid on the ground.

*Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!* Like flower petals, blue flames blossomed on the ground, and fire scorpions crawled out once more, spitting threads of fire.

"Rain of corrosion!" Longbottom yelled once again, corrosive raindrops falling.

"It's useless!" Fire Scorpion shot out a spark and revived the red scorpions that had fallen.

"I have more spiritual force than you, and the spell 'Flames of Rebirth' absorb 50% of the energy I've expended from using spells. With such a fierce consumption in our competition, you're definitely not a match for me!"

Fire Scorpion attacked and did not forget to hurt her opponent's morale with her words.

"Damn it!" With the increase in red scorpions, Longbottom's activity scope had been reduced to a corner of the stage, and he looked about to fall off.

"If I didn't have to worry about those rank 2 Magi, I would use my true strength! With just one hand, I can drain you till you become a dried-up corpse!"

Longbottom thought mercilessly. "I can only use that."

He punched his hand deep into the ground, and traces of black liquid appeared from within his arm and entered the surface of the ground.

"Gushing Dark Springs!" A black corrosive fluid first appeared under Longbottom's fist, spreading in all directions like a ripple.

The red scorpions were drowned by the black fluid.

Though Fire Scorpion was expending all her effort on employing 'rebirth of the flames', the fire scorpions that were resurrected were still swallowed up by the black spring.

After seeing this, Fire Scorpion turned deathly pale.

Finally, the moment the black fluid was about to cover her body, she raised her right arm, "I admit defeat!"

"Hmph!" Seeing this, Longbottom had to give up all thoughts of pursuing the matter despite his unwillingness to do so.

Finals In The Secret Plane

"He actually used up all his spiritual force and formed a corrosive attack able to cover the entire area of the stage!"

The old Magus beside Leylin was astonished as he touched his beard, "Looks like Carl has improved quite a bit! It's a pity that with this method, too much spiritual force is consumed. He's destined not to succeed in the next selection battle!"

"That might not be so," Leylin laughed and pointed in a direction, "Look!"

"Oh?" This rank 2 Magus looked in that direction and laughed, "He actually used a precious spiritual force restoring potion? Such a thing could save his life at a crucial moment!"

In a corner, Longbottom's hands trembled and he almost flung out his potion bottles.

"Again! Again!" His expression darkened.

Leylin snickered in his heart. His own gaze was now at a stage where Longbottom could not discover it, so he constantly attracted the attention of the rank 2 Magi beside him to the fellow, giving him a lot of stress.

Having teased him enough, Leylin did not want to shoot himself in the foot and directed the attention of the rank 2 Magi away. "By the way, are you interested in visiting my laboratory after the competition ends? Nature's Alliance's special fish is somewhat effective for rank 2 Magi…"

At another end, Longbottom sighed, "Then again, Green-robed Carl's original strength loses out to that of Fire Scorpion. Though I tried to conceal it, I still attracted attention. I'll need to be more careful in the future…"

"My apologies, please let me pass!" At this moment, a Magus squeezed in, looking hurried.

"What are you doing?" Longbottom pushed the other person away.

The two were suddenly caught in a daze.

Though they had disguised themselves, Longbottom was still able to recognise Baelin at first glance, while Baelin had also recognised his former buddy.

The two of them stared at each other, but because of some unspeakable reasons on both ends, they silently swallowed their words. They did not attempt to expose each other's identities.

"Number 188! Number 188!" At another end of the stage, the judge was starting to get impatient.

Baelin's body trembled and he hurried on. "I will stop you!" he said softly when passing Longbottom.

"I'll wait and see!" was the immediate reply.

As match after match went on, a few geniuses made a name for themselves, resulting in the adulation of the audience.

Leylin had also picked out a few people. "Lilina from the western region, Haylon of the voodoo marshes, and then Baelin as well as Longbottom and their friends and subordinates will take up the top few spots in this genius Magi competition."

With his knowledge as a rank 2 Warlock, he easily found those so-called 'geniuses'.

Usually, these geniuses would be considered the 'main characters' of the era and were important figures in history. However, such influence was nothing compared to Leylin!

"The champion should be either Baelin or Longbottom." Leylin concluded.

"They really are the converging point of Twilight Zone's forces of destiny. Their strength has risen by so much, and I believe these two have even touched the boundary of the rank 2 realm."

Leylin sighed in awe. With this rate of improvement, even Aaron and the other 'fake' geniuses he had made with his grandpas, leave alone Lilina and Haylon, were left in the dust.

The preliminaries were very quick.

By nightfall, about half out of the numerous contestants who had signed up had been eliminated. Numerous Magi became familiar with some of the great battles here, and some were even turned into videos and supplied to large-scale guilds to pick from.

Baelin and Longbottom, as well as the other contestants that Leylin had thought highly of, had not failed their missions. They passed through the preliminaries, and even earned themselves a reputation.

Amongst the Magi at the competition area, they had become somewhat famous.

"Haylon!" "Lilina!" Carl!" and the like finally reached the ears of rank 2 Magi.

...

"The forces of destiny have converged further!"

While resting that day, Leylin proceeded to a luxurious room that was especially prepared for him and looked out the window at the sky.

In this short period of rest, many events were unfolding.

In a contestant's room, a few black-robed Magi were threatening Haylon from the voodoo marshes, "If you see our young master tomorrow, you must forfeit! If not…"

"Scram!" Haylon raised his eyebrows.

"What did you say?" The few Magi were instantly enraged.

"I told you to scram! Didn't you hear clearly?" Haylon stood up, his eyes now completely red.

Black and red rays of magic exploded from his body.

"There are Magi from large-scaled guilds monitoring this area. You dare-"

These Magi evidently did not expect him to be so stubborn and irritable. The moment there was a difference in opinion, he attacked without hesitation.

*Rumble!*

Several rays of magic burst in the rooms, the stray ripples surging and shaking the surrounding walls till they turned to powder.

"What's going on?" A group of Magi wearing the patrolling uniform rushed over. They represented the dignity of the organisers and were backed by many rank 2 Magi. Since they had such powerful backers, they naturally confident.

The few black-robed Magi exchanged glances and everyone saw the helplessness in their eyes, "Please!"

Meanwhile, they had a deep hatred for this person who was ruining their plans and could not understand the situation.

The youth seemed to sense something and gazed into the distance, revealing for the first time a hint of grief within.

"Seizing the championship is Master's dying wish. Anyone hindering me from achieving it will die!"

...

Under the dim yellow light, Lilina looked at a blue pearl in her hands, seeming undecided.

The light blue pearl was smooth, round and beautiful, with little flecks of gold that formed the image of a palm at the heart of the pearl.

This was the last treasure of her family. However, it also held within it horrific side effects, which was why Lilina was feeling hesitant.

She then thought about the sacrifice of her family, and their current condition.

Though their family was a Magus family, resources were not so easily obtained in the Magus World. With all hopes of revival left to her, her shoulders were weighed down by far too much pressure.

"I must become the champion and lead my family on the road to revival!" Her expression turning resolute under the lights, she pressed the blue pearl to her forehead.

*Sssii!* The pearl merged into her forehead.

A smear of deep blue began to flicker on Lilina's body.

...

"My lady!" Longbottom removed his disguise and gazed at the human figure within the black mist, kneeling deferentially.

"En! Little Longbottom, though you are beginning to carve your own route and have almost reached rank 2, the accumulation that happens with time cannot be overcome so easily." A charming female voice sounded from within the black mist.

"I will now condense all the life force essence of my race onto you in order to help your Life Absorption meditation technique truly break through to the second level."

"Many thanks, my lady!" Longbottom looked ecstatic.

In his mind, he instantly recalled the figure sitting on the platform. "I've finally, finally caught up to you! I really want to see the expression you'll have on your face… Leylin!"

...

"What are you thinking about?"

Aaron watched Baelin, who was standing aside.

"No… It's nothing. I saw Longbottom, and he's changed so much…" Baelin sighed, looking worried.

"Listen to me, Baelin! Longbottom has now completely sided with the dark elves and will cause bring chaos to the human race. Your mission is to stop him. You cannot forget this!" The expression on Aaron's face became serious.

"Yes, I will stop him!" Baelin repeated, strengthening his tone of voice.

Days later.

With the Eternal Light spell as well as strength of the Sun Stones, the area was illuminated.

A Magus wearing the attire of a host first bowed towards the platform, and then announced the schedule for the competition.

"All of you are the best who have gone through round after round of selection! A victor will appear amongst you today, and the top thirty will have the opportunity to choose a guild to enter! This includes any large-scaled guilds…"

The moment these words left the host's mouth, the area was filled with an uproar.

The hundred or so remaining contestants' eyes revealed different emotions. There was passion, contemplation and excitement.

*Cough!* The host coughed lightly, and the area fell silent.

"The competition shall be held here!" He pointed at the stage right in the centre.

A giant spell formation had been set up atop the stage, while crimson runes were spread around. They emanated a strange light that caused one to shudder in fear.

"The finals of the competition will be held in a secret plane. You will be sent to a random location in the secret plane, and there is only one way to win. Defeat your opponents and obtain the points on their amulet!"

The host raised a milky-white amulet that was only the size of a finger with a simple number written on it.

"In the secret plane, there are no rules. Besieges and usage of external items is allowed."

"I would like to remind all of you that even though we will install a spell pattern that will teleport you out the moment you are at the brink of death, there are always accidents. Hence, there is the real possibility of death in the secret plane, and I want you to consider this carefully."

The host spoke indifferently, and a bloody smell assaulted the nostrils. Baelin was surprised. With this lack of rules, it was easy to slip up. Even with the aid, it would be difficult to keep one's life.

After all, the mysteriousness of magic could not be surmised by the regular person. Perhaps there were methods that could forcefully break the life-saving methods the organisers had set up and cause a large number of deaths.

Clash

Although the host talked about potential dangers in the finals, nobody drew back.

The world of magicians was no paradise. Those who managed to survive this rat race had seen blood time after time again, and were well prepared for such a situation.

The generous rewards that the large-scale guilds offered and the chance to become the inheritor of a rank 2 Magus had convinced them to bet their lives on this competition.

"Good! Since nobody's backing down, let the finals begin!" The host waved his hands.

*Peng! Peng! Peng!* Three giant fireworks flew across the sky like colorful comets, and the music reached fever-pitch.

*Buzz!* Purple energy condensed into the spell formation, constantly increasing its strength until a hole was ripped open in space.

The finalists stepped forward one after the other, receiving their amulets and spell formations before they disappeared with a flash of light.

After the last of them entered the secret plane, a giant curtain of light was formed around the competition area. Their figures blinked onto the curtain, each contestant occupying one of the dozens of square partitions.

They were monitoring every inch of the secret plane, which surprised many of the Magi present.

"Such a clever monitoring technique, and so expensive as well…" Leylin murmured to himself.

He, too, could develop a technique to monitor the whole plane, but it would cost too much.

Even with the leadership of the joint conference and the sponsorship of several large-scale guilds, they could only maintain this technique for a day or they would go bankrupt.

But the result of ignoring such costs and using this technique was rather good. Nearly every contestant could be seen on the screen.

...

"Something's wrong!" Baelin said as he brandished his cross blade.

A sword wave streaked across the air, chopping a giant leech into two. However, the two halves didn't die instantly. Instead, it writhed in the mud and splashed water all over the place.

Being attacked by this leech the moment he was teleported into this marshland gave Baelin a bad omen.

"Be careful, master. I sensed a powerful monitoring ability here!" His armour split apart to reveal an eye. The Bio Boosting armour was communicating with him.

"It's the Okell's Great Observation Spell from the Plant affinity, which uses the roots and vines as transmission channels. If you want to act in secret, my lord, you must avoid any places that have plants in them" it said to him in his mind.

As a Bio Booster, Baelin's gains from inheriting the Bio Boosting armour of an ancestor was not limited to a significant boost in strength. Having the armour with him was like carrying around an old grandpa who would help him with his knowledge and experience.

"No wonder I feel uncomfortable, we are being watched!" Baelin nodded, and left the marshland quickly.

Just when he reached the edge of the marshland, Baelin heard something and pointed his cross blade at the bushes nearby. "Who's there? Get out!"

"Don't! We mean you no harm!" Two Magi stepped out who were similar in appearance.

"Lord Baelin, we were just teleported here." "We are only trying to help any Magi who have fallen into swamps!" "Also, Lord Baelin, we admire your strength from the bottom of our hearts. How could we dare to harm you?"

"Yes! Yes!" The twin Magi spoke one after the other without pause, leaving no chance for Baelin to say anything himself.

In fact, Baelin's power with his cross blade and fleshy armour left deep impressions on the competing Magi. The respect of the very Magi he once feared left Baelin feeling quite smug.

"Lord Leylin should feel satisfied after watching this scene! In fact, Lord Leylin was on the judging platform all this while. Maybe I should find an opportunity to talk to him…"

Baelin venerated his Master from the depths of his heart. Not for a moment would he suspect Leylin of being the traitor among the upper circle of Magi. Had he not been stopped by Vinas, Aaron, and Memphis, he would have gone to Leylin's mansion the moment he'd arrived.

"Haha…Haha…" Baelin stroked his head embarrassedly, a smirk on his face.

Seeing this, the twin brothers glanced at each other, a strange look flashing past their eyes.

"Lord Baelin!" One of them said as he approached him, "Since this place is so dangerous, how about we stick together?"

*Pang!* Just as he finished his words, several green brambles stuck out of the earth, tying Baelin's feet up.

"Now!" he shouted.

"Profound energy blast!" The younger brother standing behind him crushed a crystal rune. Together with a chant, a powerful attack was launched.

A ball of purple liquid, filled with corrosive white bubbles, rushed directly towards Baelin's head.

The twins had gathered intelligence about the awesome power of this armour, so they had aimed instead at Baelin's unprotected head.

The twin brothers' co-ordination was perfect, and their final strike reached an offensive power of around 60-70 degrees! Such an attack could even corrode mountains.

"Haha! Stupid! Even if you are more powerful than us, this is a competition! Why wouldn't we take a gamble?" The elder brother laughed, looking at Baelin with a little excitement.

He was not pleased when Baelin stole the limelight, and this chance for vengeance made him happy.

"Master!" The second before the corrosive liquid ball arrived, eyes arose from every parts of Baelin's armour.

These eyes were smaller, but they blinked with wisdom. Now, they were showing signs of rage.

*Pang!* A membrane of flesh formed like a helmet around Baelin's head, protecting it.

As the profound power blast hit the membrane, Baelin's body was launched backwards. But weirdly, not a drop of blood flew out.

While Baelin was still in the air, his armour changed significantly.

Flashy membranes hardened to form real armour, and the dozens of eyes merged into thirteen big ones that were scattered along it. This terrifying appearance, was the most powerful form of the Bio Boosting armour.

*Bzzz!* The purple corrosive energy still attacked Baelin's body, but it was nothing in front of his armour. There wasn't even a tiny depression formed.

This fact stupefied the twin Magi. They looked at each other, and immediately came to an accord. "Run!"

Magi who could defend against a joint attack of theirs were far more powerful than they could handle. They did not want to be thrown out this easily.

"You!" Baelin was about to blow his top, and jumped forward in a rage.

*Crack!* Pits were formed under Baelin's feet as his jump landed him in front of the twins in an instant.

"Die!" Baelin raised his cross blade. Baelin's strength was already at the peak of rank 1 Magi, approaching the boundary of rank 2. Once he made up his mind, it was easy to kill mere semi-converted Magi like them.

*Pup!* The cross blade ran through the neck of one Magus, then a light came out of his body.

His body was covered by a milky light column, and disappeared immediately.

"You go along with him!" Baelin took no pity on them this time, and shoved his cross blade into the other's heart.

*Peng!* This one disappeared into the white lights as well.

After killing the twin brothers, Baelin took a milky amulet out of his pocket.

*Beep!* After a flash, the number in this amulet turned from 1 to 3. Baelin stared at this in a daze, a wry smile on his lips…

Outside the secret plane, in the middle of the arena.

A light column burst out, an indistinct figure inside it.

"Quick! Medicine!" The host ordered with experience.

Several Magi dressed in milky robes with the symbol of a snake and cross rushed around.

After the light dissipated, the Magus who was eliminated first showed up, his face pale and the wound on his neck bleeding.

"I will stop bleeding first, prepare the life spell!" The medical team consisted of healing Magi, several of whom emitted energy fluctuations at the peak of rank 1.

A milky light bathing him, the wounded Magus was cured and the wound on his neck disappeared.

A second later, his younger brother was also sent out, and the medicine team took care of him as well.

Up in the platform, what happened just now was seen by Leylin, but he had an impulse of cover his eyes.

"Very adaptable, but still stupid! It seems that the years of exile and adventure taught him nothing. Fortunately, I didn't tell anyone that I taught him! What an embarrassment…"

"Look! Haylon and Carl ran into each other!"

"The stars of the competition meet, this should be a good show!" Some Magi smiled gloatingly.

Teaming Up

Leylin turned his attention to another screen.

In the sky above a verdant forest, Longbottom, disguised as Green-robed Carl, had run into Haylon.

These were two favoured dark horses had a large possibility of gaining victory. This immediately attracted attention.

Many contestants had already been eliminated in a short period of time. With fewer participants remaining, the remaining screens had increased in size.

...

Within the secret plane.

"Green-robed Carl?" Haylon glanced at the strange youngster in front of him.

"I'd originally wanted to skip the trouble of defeating you guys one by one, and had decided to wait to make a move and harvest a large number of points at once, but forget it. I'll make an exception for you and take your point right away."

Longbottom looked at Haylon in front of him, a sinister smile on his face. Now that he was getting closer to the goal, he did not have to disguise himself so carefully. His opponent's identity as a genius made Longbottom, who had been born a commoner, feel a sense of disgust.

"You seem to hate me?" Haylon's brows furrowed, "It's alright, anyone who obstructs my path shall die anyway!"

"Jeje, who do you think you are!" Longbottom laughed weirdly, and released part of the bindings on him.

Cold! Powerful!

A berserk wave of spiritual force swept across like a hurricane.

"Peak rank 1?" Haylon's expression that had always been as cold as ice was immediately smashed through.

Longbottom's 'burst' had also caused a frenzy outside the plane.

"Peak rank 1? I remember Green-robed Carl is only forty-five years old, right?" A judge wearing reading glasses asked a Magus behind him, "Fano, when did you reach the level you're at?"

The Magus by the name of Fano was an old geezer with a white beard. He looked ashamed as he spoke, "Your subordinate is ashamed. After training hard on the Icy Throne for 70 years, I reached this realm at 115 years old."

"If he studied on his own, this Carl really is a genius!" This judge raised his spectacles, "Run checks on him. If there's nothing wrong, we can consider enticing him into entering our guild."

Leylin, who was also on the judge panel, saw that many of the other judges had sent down the same order and couldn't help but laugh inside.

If this was a few days ago, they might be able to find out about Longbottom, but now? By the time they had run their checks, Longbottom might already have achieved his goal. What use was it then if they found out?

"You're already at the peak of rank 1!" Haylon blurted out, unable to maintain his indifference any longer.

"This is the expression! This is the expression!" Longbottom chuckled aloud, "I want those people who look down on me to realise how wrong they are!"

He laughed crazily, flushing red as if he were sick.

"You're crazy!" Haylon's voice became cold, and large numbers of silver-white light blades appeared from his robes, swirling in formation.

"Go!" Haylon pointed at Longbottom, and the many light blades formed a dense mesh and tried to pull Longbottom in. Meanwhile, he turned into a black shadow and disappeared into the sky.

"You overestimate yourself!" Longbottom snorted coldly, a layer of green mist surging forth.

*Tss tss!* Great numbers of silver-white light blades entered the mist and immediately produced sounds of corrosion, dissipating one by one.

"Come here!" Longbottom's right hand became a phantom image and reached deep into the air.

Next, a black shadow was pulled out from the surrounding space.

Haylon's expression was that of disbelief. "That's impossible. This concealing technique is my master's special technique! How could it…"

"That strong aura of life on you betrayed you!" Longbottom explained, his expression showing his disdain.

Meanwhile, Haylon went limp, as if this was a huge blow to him.

"Kid, you're very luckily. If we'd met earlier, you'd long since have turned into a corpse, but now?" Longbottom halted his intentions of using Life Absorption and turning him into a dried-up corpse.

This was still within the secret plane, and he was being monitored by the Magi outside.

If he hid his true strength, he could pass it off as being exceptionally talented or having gained some inheritance. Whatever it was, Twilight Zone was huge and it was no surprise to have some fortuitous encounters.

However, Life absorption was a dark-elven meditation technique. If it was exposed, the competition would be halted, and he would be faced with several rank 2 Magi who would combine their efforts to kill him.

"But I really don't want to just let you off!" While lifting Haylon, a smile appeared about Longbottom's lips.

This smile was enough for Haylon's hair to be raised, and he immediately thought of using the spell pattern for escape. However, it was too late!

A green light sword ripped through Haylon's forehead, and with the corrosive force invading, he could only cry out miserably.

"Ah…" Amidst the painful screams, Haylon's body was bound in light pillars and transported out.

Longbottom took out his own amulet and saw the number rapidly rise to thirty, and revealed a satisfied expression. After closing his eyes for a short while, he began to hurry towards another location.

*Thud!* Outside the secret plane, Haylon's body fell to the ground, large amounts of black blood flowing out of his orifices.

"His mind has been damaged! Quick, get Master Dojek here!" The healing Magus who came over took a look and quickly shook his head.

A moment later, Dojek narrated something to Leylin and the other committee members at the judging area.

"His sea of consciousness has been destroyed? There's no cure?"

"Yes, Haylon's sea of consciousness has completely been destroyed by a corrosive spiritual force. There is no way to restore it. At most, I can only save his life. From hereon, he can only live on as a commoner…"

Dojek's expression was dim. Haylon truly was a genius, but he had not realised that no matter how amazing the genius, they could fall before they truly matured.

However, his long life had allowed him to experience much, and with a sigh, he left.

Leylin and the committee members had a brief exchange regarding the issue, before they promptly tossed this matter to the back of their minds.

The final competition carried the risk of death! Just crippling a Magus wasn't much.

What they were more interested in were the methods Longbottom had used to heavily injure Haylon before he had been transported out.

"It seems to be a combination spell. By instantly transmitting large amounts of energy particles to destroy the composition of the sea of consciousness…"

There was a flash in Leylin's eyes.

He felt that after large numbers of geniuses had fallen in this competition, the force of destiny shrouding the area had become richer till the extreme.

The surging river of destiny was like a giant gunpowder warehouse. With just a little spark, it would explode violently.

"I didn't expect the three of them to meet. Time for a good show!"

Right after, Leylin realised something else and changed his focus to a screen at a corner.

"Based on the guide of destiny!"

Three voices sounded in unison, with both male and female voices.

Aaron, Vinas, and Ernis who were all training in Sacred Flame, the geniuses Leylin had created himself, finally came together.

If anyone had been focusing on these three Magi, they would realise that after entering the secret plane, they had not fought with any Magi and instead, had been hurrying forward.

Just as they were about to encounter enemies, they could predict and evade them.

Hence, the three somehow passed through half of the secret plane and met at a corner on the plains.

"It's the first time we're meeting in real life! I'll introduce myself. My name is Ernis!" There was a smile on Ernis' face. His gaze swept past Vinas and Aaron, and stayed on Aaron's ring and Vinas' multi-coloured necklace for a long while.

"Aaron!" "Vinas!"

"Are you going to repent for all you have done?" Aaron asked, standing with Vinas.

Though they were competing against each other, he and Vinas were on the humans' side, and had no good feelings towards Ernis of the dark elven camp.

"I'm just used to looking at issues from a different point of view!" Ernis laughed, obviously not wanting to say more.

After all, there was a large group of Magi watching. How could he expose himself?

"Then die!"

Just a moment before, they had speaking nicely, and in the next, Aaron immediately became hostile and attacked.

A silver cross blade hilt appeared in his hands, and was only a third as long as a regular cross blade. It had lost its sword blade and point, but a sharp energy fluctuation burst out from it.

A ray of light streaked through the air, bringing about with it numerous ripples and aimed at Ernis.

Ernis seemed to have predicted it and dodged, looking delighted at the sword hilt in Aaron's hands.

"So you've forged it too! I won't have to conceal anything anymore."

A silver-white slender long sword tip appeared in front of Ernis. The sharpness it emanated was even above that of Aaron's attack.

"Go!" Ernis pointed at Aaron, and great amounts of silver light shot out from the tip of the blade.

Formless ripples collided with the silver light and quickly dispersed, as if nothing had happened.

However, the surrounding grass had become much shorter, cut through smoothly as if it had been sliced through in that instance by some light.

"This is it. All devious plots are useless to us. All we can depend on is solely strength to fight it out!"

Ernis yelled, his sword tip flying into his hands and shooting out great amounts of light.

Seeing this, Vinas sighed and retrieved a silver-white sword blade from behind her back and besieged Ernis with Aaron.

"Hmm?"

The Magi outside suddenly made sounds of astonishment.

"These three middle-grade magic artifacts have reached the peak. Also, why does it feel like the sword hilt, sword blade and sword tip can be combined to create a magic artifact with more power?"

A Clash Of Destiny

"These three are definitely high-level artifacts, to the extent that they can be combined to make a magical weapon!" The Rank 2 Magus sitting beside Leylin guessed.

"I think so too!" Leylin smiled and nodded, his gaze secretly heating up.

In the center of the secret territory, three silhouettes continuously collided fiercely, and the glowing radiance emitted by the magical artifacts in their hands destroyed the meadow around them until it was unrecognisable.

"Kill!"

Aaron and Vinas looked at each other and exerted their spiritual force to its extreme so that the silver sword flew towards Ernis.

"Battle Chain!" At that moment, a different expression flashed across Ernis' face and a black chain covered in black runes flew out from his chest, covering Aaron and Vinas.

"You really thought I was so foolish, eh? One person against the two of you?"

Upon seeing the chain, Ernis finally had a smile on his face, indicating that he had achieved what he had wanted.

"This is the secret weapon of the Haylin Guild. It can bind two semi-elemental Magi for at least 10 seconds. I had never thought that this Magus would be in possession of it. The others will definitely lose!" Some of the Magi outside secret territory could recognize this evil object.

But soon after, they were struck agape.

They only saw Vinas smile indifferently. Another "Vinas" appeared from the center of her body, and the other Vinas, one with a stern and firm aura, charged towards Aaron.

Among the flickering light rays, Aaron, who was bound by iron chains before, was now floating in mid-air and the Vinas-doppelgänger replaced him.

"Quick! Now!" said the two Vinases. The constantly tightening iron chains made the defensive runes on Vinas' body shatter one after another.

"Doppelgänger! Using a doppelgänger to be free from the binds of the chains? This is actually very worthy of study!" a Magus said while stroking his white beard.

Aaron, who saw Vinas vomiting blood, was somehow enraged and charged forth towards Ernis.

It was obvious that Ernis, who was trying to restrain the binds of the chains, had used up a huge amount of his spiritual force and magical power, and was thus unprepared to deal with Aaron's sudden attack.

Aaron's eyes turned red. Drawing the sharp end of his sword, he held the sword's handle and pierced Ernis' chest.

But Ernis did not summon any escaping spell and only had a weird expression on his face, as though he was crying and laughing at the same time.

"What happened? Is there something wrong with the spell? Extract him!" a Magus immediately commanded.

But the characteristic white light had not appeared yet.

"Sigh…" Ernis coughed out a huge amount of blood.

"You…You've won!" Ernis said as he struggled.

"What? Why aren't you escaping?" Aaron asked. He found this all extremely hard to believe.

"Tsk tsk! Why do I have to escape?" Ernis' facial expression changed, as though he had changed into a completely different person.

"Don't… don't kill me!" Soon after, a dreadful expression shadowed Ernis' face.

But following the huge loss of blood, the expression gradually disappeared. And everything eventually returned to its original state.

"You need…. Need to be careful of the black hand behind. My brother, I saw….."

Ernis shuddered and gave the long double-edged sword and calligraphy pen to Aaron. His eyes suddenly turned white and without finishing his last prophecy, he lost his life's aura.

*Peng!* Ernis fell to the ground.

*Kacha!* Aaron felt a mysterious energy emerge from Ernis' body and enter his own as Ernis died. The Sacred Flame rapidly swirled, as if it were absorbing something unknown from his body.

Soon after, he broke through the semi-converted elements and finally achieved the position of a peak rank 1 Magus. But he was not happy at all.

"Let's go," said Aaron, as he helped lift Vinas, who was seriously injured, and disappeared among the milky, white light beams.

The day's events had been thoroughly confusing for him, so much so that he no longer held any interest in the final showdown between Baelin and Longbottom.

Outside the secret territory, Leylin touched his chin as he pondered deeply.

"Schizophrenic symptoms are getting more severe. Signs of benevolence, viciousness, weakness and other personalities along with intense suicidal tendencies are being exhibited! This experiment is a failure! Even if one is alive, it's no use!"

He appeared regretful as such thoughts passed through his head.

Soon after, he then turned to the last screen and said, "Let the first fated confrontation start!"

In the center of the secret plane, a majority of the Magi had already been eliminated. The only two to survive were Baelin and Longbottom, who, combined, had more than forty wounds on their body.

Furthermore, these two people were gradually getting close to each other, on the verge of converging.

"If no mishaps happen, the champion will arise from one of these two Magi. Let us wait and see!" The host excitedly declared as the screens on site constantly fused and finally, the two last huge screens were split respectively on Baelin and Longbottom's side.

The two screens merged, as the two Magi walked closer towards each other. They were going to form a single large screen.

"We finally meet again!" The strong body armour on Baelin had 13 eyeballs with oddly-shaped cyclones on them, as though they were absorbing something from the surroundings.

"Can you stop me?" Longbottom, disguised as the green-robed Carl, sneered.

"Whatever happens, I must defeat you today!" Baelin firmly said with confidence as he pointed his crossbow towards Longbottom.

"Tsk tsk! You know what, Baelin? The more I see you, the more annoyed I get, ever since I saw you at Potter Town!"

At this time, Longbottom said to Baelin: "Why did Leylin choose you the previous time, and not me? What do you have that's much better than me?"

"So you still do care about this!" Baelin's expression darkened upon hearing all this.

The other Magi outside the screens looked doubtfully at the two Magi settle down without producing any energy waves.

"So these two Magi knew each other beforehand?" questioned some Magi as they exchanged doubtful looks.

*Xiu!*

And at this moment, the two Magi in the middle of the screen started moving.

Energy particles stormed forth from their bodies just like a gale, producing immense pressure and causing the airflow around them to reverse.

It was an uncommon sight to see two rank 1 Magi competing against each other in Twilight Zone.

Leylin, who understood and knew these two Magi, naturally knew that what they showed to the public now is far from their true powers.

*Bang! Bang!*

The green and red silhouette continued bumping against each other in mid-air so much that the air around them got compressed and exploded.

"I never thought that you can also enter the Rank 2 Realm!" Longbottom said to Baelin in the midst of the intense battle.

The Magi outside did not notice anything strange with Baelin and Longbottom's first showdown between the screens. Although the energy waves were only at the peak of rank 1, only Baelin and Longbottom, who knew each other very well, could tell the terrifying capabilities of each other!

On top of that, they were able to control these abilities without the slightest spillover and maintained the facade of being rank 1. With this amount of strength, it would be a good showing even for a rank 2 Magus.

"Give it up now, Longbottom!" Baelin said as his willpower decreased a little.

Originally, Longbottom was not someone with such big aspirations and ideals. Furthermore, to even confront face to face with a friend he knew since young, he simply had no strength to do it.

"Give up? I'll give up now!" With a fierce front, huge drops of green corrosive liquid started forming at Longbottom's lower body, forming a whirlpool.

"Whirlpool of Death!"

*Zila!* But this was just the beginning. Longbottom tore open a scroll upon seeing strong energy particles being emitted, provoking the whirlpool to increase in size. This sparked the radiation of a dangerous aura, causing some rank 2 Magi to frown and disperse from the sides of the whirlpool.

"It's the scroll of a rank 2 spell!" cried out some of the Magi, standing outside the battlefield.

This sort of thing was so rare to see. Even if a rank 2 Magus were to create such things, a lot of time and effort is wasted and success is not even guaranteed. Thus, it is rarely seen in the marketplace. Who would've thought that such a precious thing will be in the hands of Carl?

Besides, was it even worth it to waste such a precious thing during this competition?

"To use a rank 2 Magus' scroll for protection now, is it because he has to resort to using all of his strength in a split second?" Leylin said outside the battlefield as he chuckled lightly.

"If nothing untoward happens, the champion will obviously be our Carl from the Western Regions!" exclaimed the rank 2 Magus who had spoken to Leylin previously, as he stroked his beard with a hint of pride on his face.

"Not exactly!" Leylin shook his head. Baelin was a destined child, and he would not lose so easily.

"What now then? Do you want to bet with me?" the rank 2 Magus from the Western Regions immediately said. He was inwardly very worried as he remembered how he was previously defeated by the Fire Scorpion spell.

"No need! I do not have anything good to bet against you, Sir!" Leylin said as he forced a smile and shook his head.

"No worries, we won't bet with money. Just a simple bet of the outcome!" said the Western Region's rank 2 Magus.

Leylin nodded. He knew that these rank 2 Magi have already reached their limits of what they could achieve on the path to becoming a Magus. Thus, they focused all their energies on other areas such as upon younger talents.

This rank 2 Magus from the western region had previously won over him. If Leylin did not win this time, he was afraid of the discomfort that will remain in his heart for a few years.

The enormous and brutal whirlpool continued expanding, like how a monster widens its mouth, and immediately engulfed Baelin.

Upon seeing this scene, Longbottom smiled.

"Die!" Longbottom suddenly charged into the middle of the whirlpool and came out holding a green sword handle.

*Rumble!* The 13 eyes on Baelin's armour started staring and in the middle of the pupil, numerous fine-textured runes shot out, spiralling around Baelin's body and forming a strange pattern.

The runes on the armour started evolving and radiated dazzling rays of brilliance. The whirlpool of death emitted huge ripples of corrosion, striking the armour. Yet, it caused no damage

*Pa! Pa! Pa!*

Baelin roared and the entire whirlpool surprisingly broke apart. Longbottom was not prepared for the sword slash that was aimed at him.

The Conspiracy Unravelling

"Ripple of corrosion!"

A green circular ripple immediately appeared before Longbottom, and shook continuously, as if it was trying to push Baelin out.

However, Baelin's face remained composed, and from his blade large amounts of vertical eye phantoms appeared.

"Bio Boosting armour and sword!"

The sword with the vertical eye phantom gave off rays of flames, and evaporated all the green ripples. With indomitable strength, it directly targeted Longbottom's right chest.

Blood flowed through the corner of Longbottom's mouth, and a long wound opened up on his chest. He flew through the air, and landed on the ground, giving rise to a long trail of blood.

*Boom!* The many soil layers behind him had piled up into a small mountain, and had finally offset the inertia in Longbottom's body, which had caused him to be unable to stop.

"You lost!" Baelin landed calmly in front of Longbottom, his emotions complex. There was no visible hint of joy or victory in his expression.

"I lost!" Immediately, Longbottom's face registered his defeat.

*Cough!* He violently coughed out a mouthful of fresh blood: "Bro… Brother Baelin, I have some things regarding my sister that I wish to talk to you about!"

"What about your sister?" Having heard Longbottom's familiar address, Baelin's heart softened. Moreover, Longbottom's sister was his first love!

Baelin could not help but lower his body.

"My sister, she… she…" Longbottom's voice gradually became softer, which caused Baelin to get closer to him.

"She wants you to die!" After seeing that situation, a hint of a maniacal smile flashed across Longbottom's face, and a crystal in his hands was launched like a lightning bolt.

"Not good!"

Baelin's eyes widened, and he unceasingly flew backwards, his Bio Boosting armour continuously adding layers of defense.

But it was too late. A grey ray of lightning detonated in front of Baelin's chest, and smashed the milk-white talisman.

*Boom!* A pillar of light enveloped Baelin, and caused him to disappear from the secret plane in an instant.

*Crash! Bang!*

Baelin's figure appeared at the site of the competition, his face still registering shock and grief. He looked at the charred area above his chest and remained silent.

"Haha! Even though the tactics weren't entirely legitimate, at least I won!" The Magus from the west, who had bet against Leylin, immediately laughed loudly.

"That's right! You won!" Magi were not knights, and did not have to conform to a code of honour. Even though Longbottom's tactics were overboard, and he used whatever he could to obtain success, he was undoubtedly the champion! Leylin naturally had to recognise this point.

What was more important was that there was nothing wagered on this. To concede defeat was nothing much.

Leylin's attitude actually caused these Magi to feel embarrassed.

"Actually, the Magus that you thought highly of was strong too. Not only has he reached the level of a peak rank 1 Magus, he is walking the ancient path of the Bio Booster. If I am right, his armour was inherited from at least an ancient rank 2 Bio Booster. If we were to compare their true strengths, he would still surpass Carl"

"En!" Leylin nodded outwardly, but he did not agree with the claim.

Even though Baelin was strong, Longbottom was not a person to be provoked. A son of destiny just like Baelin, his most terrifying dark elven meditation technique and other secret cards had not been revealed.

Of course, both of them had suppressed themselves for the sake of the Magi who were watching, and Baelin himself had concealed his trump card, the Underground Winter Spider Emperor. Were the two to have battled without considering the consequences, both parties would have equal chances of winning.

By now, Longbottom had finished off the remaining few Magi in the secret plane, dominating his opponents, and the host announced loudly, "The champion has already emerged. He is Green-robed Carl from the west! Let us cheer for him!"

"Carl!" "Carl!" "Carl!""

The Magi present instantly let out cheers of happiness, and welcomed Longbottom.

"What are we to do? Should we openly reveal his identity in public?" Aaron secretly communicated with Baelin.

"No! Not at all! He threatened me earlier on. Should we do so, he will immediately initiate his plot and bring huge amounts of casualties to the Magi present. Before we clearly understand what he's planning, it would be best not to do so!"

Baelin hesitated, and was seemingly indecisive.

Regardless of how they were communicating secretly, the process of the competition had been advancing bit by bit.

"Now, may we invite our champion and the other 30 Magi on stage, for our 9 most distinguished and high-ranked judges to give out the prizes…"

Along with the host's voice and cheers, a stage decorated with gold and silver, bedazzled with numerous rays started rising slowly from the middle of the site.

Other than Baelin, Longbottom, and a few other Magi who held other intentions, the 30 Magi who had obtained a high enough score walked up to the stage emotionally.

To them, this was the pathway to fame, the glorious road to success.

"Let's go. They are actually having us present prizes to them! What a bother, couldn't they just have passed down the prizes?" A rank 2 Magus from the west complained to Leylin.

"This is actually the important stage where budding Magi obtain credit due to their ambitions. Even though it's only a ceremony, it still has to be done!"

Leylin smiled and got up, and went to the golden stage together with the other rank 2 Magi.

"I, Victory, rank 2 Magus and guild leader of Glorious Sword, solemnly announce that this Magus from the west is the champion of this season's young genius talent competition!"

The rank 2 Magus standing in the middle announced, at the same time placing on Longbottom a golden crown encrusted with gems.

"Carl!" "Carl!" "Carl!"

Many Magi were cheering, and bouts of cheers got overpowered by other bouts of cheers.

"Other than obtaining the reward previously, Carl, you have the opportunity to choose a guild to enter! What is your choice?"

Victory had high hopes for Carl, and hence in his voice held a tinge of excitement and pressure, as well as feelings of enticement.

"My choice is obviously…"

Longbottom deliberately hesitated a while and then said, "It's obviously the Dark Elves, you idiots!"

"What?" The jaws of numerous Magi dropped open. They all thought they'd heard wrong.

"Not good, we have been cheated by him!" On the other side, Baelin's face immediately changed, the armour on his body once again surfaced. He had wanted to rush over, but unfortunately, it was already too late.

"Mud membrane!"

A layer of clay-coloured invisible film surfaced from Longbottom's body, with 9 rays of lights shooting out of his body, directly shooting at the 9 rank 2 Magi judges on the stage who had no time to dodge the attack.

*Kacha! Kacha!*

A deep blue ice layer immediately spread out on their body, and caused all 9 Magi to freeze into ice sculptures.

In the ice sculptures, the numerous rank 2 Magi had life-like expressions of anger or fear.

This sudden change had shocked all the Magi present at the site.

"Longbottom! What are you doing! Release Master Leylin now!"

Baelin suppressed the rage within, having seen the ice sculpture of the already frozen Leylin. He had originally wanted to undo his pretense here and give Master Leylin a big surprise!

Furthermore, from the bottom of Baelin's heart, he respected Leylin and had treated him like a teacher. Having seen Longbottom's actions, he instantly felt anger.

"Carl! What are you doing!" The face of the host on the stage instantly became more solemn, a ray of a peak rank 1 energy wave imploded from his body.

*Boom! Boom!*

2 rays of spells attacked the surface of an ice sculpture, yet it was entirely useless, and could not leave any traces on the crystal clear surface of the ice sculpture.

"There's no use, the matriarchs of the dark elves used one thousand years to extract this essence of the cold abyss. Even rank 2 Magi cannot be able to overcome it…" Longbottom's voice was unhurried.

"As for Leylin? I've wanted to kill him for so long! And now, he is finally in my hands. Do you reckon I would easily let this opportunity go by? Haha…"

Presently, Longbottom had removed all restrictions, and laughed hysterically.

*Boom!* A light ray flashed across, Longbottom removed the skin alteration spell on his body, and recovered his original appearance. At the same time, a strong and enormous energy was released from his body like the surging waves of the ocean.

"And this noisy crow, I've borne with you long enough!"

Longbottom lifted his hands and a dark silver spiritual strength exploded. The body of the host, not having time to react, exploded into a rain of flesh.

The Magi standing on the stage immediately retreated, with one of them shouting out, "Solidified spiritual force! Rank 2 Magus!"

"This is the leader of the revolutionary army, Longbottom! I saw his face in a picture once!"

"It's already too late. Attack!" Longbottom shouted.

*Swish! Swish!* Numerous shadows appeared all around the competition site, all tearing apart magic scrolls.

Dark clouds instantly enshrouded the area, and large numbers of tiny spiders were shot out of the dark clouds. The spiders spat out threads continuously, binding up the entire area in a short duration.

From a distance, the competition site that was enshrouded by a white silk wall looked like a giant cocoon.

Baelin's face dimmed, and the aura on his body exploded forth. He treated Longbottom as a rival. "So your target was not only the 9 judges but also all the Magi in this competition site!"

He was secretly shocked. Around 20% of the elite Magi of Twilight Zone were present at the scene, and if they were to all die here, it would be a terrifying blow to the humans.

"Kill!" At this point in time, the black-clothed men hiding amongst the crowd immediately took action, and many more spiders drilled their way through the cocoons, surrounding and attacking the human magicians.

Large amounts of silk wove together into a formation, weakening the human Magi while channeling the strength to their opponents. Immediately, lights flashed and explosions occurred everywhere.

The obstruction made it impossible for the human Magi to escape. Some Magi, eyes turned red, fired off spells in all directions, adding further to the chaos.

Channelling Of Lifeforce

"These aren't just the people of the revolutionary army!" Baelin stared at the many black-robed Magi and his expression darkened.

"Haha… Of course!" At this moment, Longbottom had no more qualms. "The matriarchs of the dark elves have already infiltrated this area. Not long after, blood will flow, and the dark elves will rule the subterranean world!"

Longbottom's face was slightly flushed.

"You lunatic!" Baelin roared, and charged at Longbottom.

"Life Absorption!"

Longbottom shouted, and a large phantom image of a spider appeared behind him.

Compared to the last few times, the image had become even larger and even held a terrifying aura. From the eyes of the spider, a very human light could be seen, as if it now held an intelligence of its own and had now become alive.

"Aru!" Baelin whistled for a while, and a gold phantom darted out from within a small crack amongst the spectators and dropped to the ground. Its figure suddenly increased in size, and in the blink of an eye, it was two stories tall.

This was a giant, golden Underground Winter Spider. The stripes on its body gave it a very elegant feeling, and the phantom image on Longbottom's back kept snarling, as if its honour was being challenged.

"Underground Winter Spider Emperor! So you are really the sinner responsible for the theft of the sacred creature!"

The cold glint in Longbottom's eyes expanded, and several greyish-green streams of air rose from his body.

"Ah!" "Ah!"

Two short yelps were heard.

These belonged to the two official Magi who were unfortunately struck by the stray streams of air. The moment they had contact with the greyish-green air, their bodies wilted and they turned into dried corpses that had died in an incomparably pitiful manner.

"You dare rob life force that does not belong to you. You'll be devoured by it sooner or later!"

Baelin's expression was dark as he rode the Underground Winter Spider Emperor, looking like a gallant knight.

"How would you understand how brilliant Life Absorption is?" Longbottom merely gave a cold answer to Baelin. Meanwhile, the giant spider phantom image pounced forward, the strange streams of air like black holes that greedily sucked in the life force within Baelin.

Baelin's expression became grim as he patted the Underground Winter Spider Emperor he was on and collided with Longbottom.

The energy particles formed from the clash between two rank 2 Magi created havoc as they sent a few people unlucky enough to be hit by stray particles flying. They were seriously injured.

Within the greyish-green vortex, a knight on a giant golden spider was emanating red light. He looked like an ancient dragon-slaying prince as he charged towards the heart of the vortex.

The battle kept changing location and caused a few stages to be completely destroyed.

At this moment, the nine judges were trapped. The rank 2 Magi were already the most powerful in this entire competition area.

The result of Baelin and Longbottom's match could even decide the life or death of all the Magi here!

Hence, even while battling with the revolution army and dark elves, many Magi tried to spare some energy and watch the battle.

What attracted their interest the most were the nine ice sculptures on the platform!

These Magi knew very well that a small part of their chances of survival depended on Baelin, while most of it depended on whether these rank 2 Magi could break out of their restrictions.

Even Longbottom would be reduced to dust under the combined attacks of nine rank 2 Magi.

"Cough! Wake up, my lords!"

At this moment, light flashed in a corner and a grey-haired Magus appeared.

He mumbled spell incantations, a huge blazing fireball striking the nine sculptures and turning the podium made of gold and silver into a sea of fire.

This Magus despaired as he saw the flames soon dying out under a layer of white frost. Dense icy mist lingered and froze the whole podium into ice and snow.

Meanwhile, not even a corner of the nine ice sculptures had melted.

"What a waste of energy. This is the icy air from the abyss and is a rank 2 spell which can be sustained for a long time." Longbottom watched on and began to laugh coldly.

Without waiting for his orders, a few dark elf special guards in black-robes charged forward and began to battle with the Magus in grey robes. Not long after, a sharp dagger pierced into his chest.

After seeing this, the many Magi who had plans to rescue him all fell silent, putting away all thoughts of rescuing the judges.

Most of them wanted to break away from their opponents and successfully leave this place.

At this moment, the battles in the area became more brutal and intense.

Outside the competition area, everything had yet to die down.

*Teng! Teng! Teng! Teng!*

At the horizon far away, a black line suddenly appeared. It gradually closed in and the two ends began to shrink, and it felt like the line would surround the whole competition area.

When the black shadows came closer, it could be seen that they were actually the elite Underground Winter Spider knights. There were a great number of dark elven Magi, which included multiple matriarchs and even Anya.

"Seal off that area and don't let any human get away" Anya commanded, and then pointed at the cocoon in the middle, a gentle voice transmitted to every knight's ears.

"Fight for Her Majesty!" "Fight for Her Majesty!"

The many dark elven Underground Winter Spider knights cheered and then began their attacks.

"Prepare for Joint Earth Pitfalls Spell! Begin!"

At this moment, brownish-yellow lights flashed and countless depressions appeared in front of the Underground Winter Spider knights. They were like long trenches, with earthen spikes piercing upwards and stopping the knights in their tracks.

There were a few knights who had moved too quickly and fallen into the trench, their chests, arms, thighs, and even faces pierced through like skewered meat. Those who had yet to die kept howling in pain.

Three figures appeared in mid-air, causing Anya to furrow her brow slightly.

"The protectors of the east, west, and south have all arrived. What about that old Guardian of the Realm?"

"I'm right here. I wouldn't need you to worry about me!"

Green light flashed, and the the old protector appeared before Anya. Though he seemed weak and did not have much of an aura, Anya looked as if a great enemy had appeared in front of her.

"I didn't expect you, Anya, to use the dark elves' crown as a means to enter Twilight Zone without letting even the dark elven knights know about it…" He smiled slightly while greeting her.

The crown of the dark elves was a sign of the authority of the Dark Elven Empire. It was also a very powerful magic artifact.

It had a very simple function, which was to conceal the energy aura of a large group of people and their mounts. The key point was that it could turn around the battle. However, every time it's used, it can only be used again after a fifty-year wait, which is why this inherited magic artifact of the magic elves could not be used flippantly.

Now, the dark elven crown could finally exhibit all its strength and shield numerous dark elven armies into the central region, almost wiping out all the Magi at the competition area.

"Except for the protector of the northern region who has died, all of the lord protectors are here. What's this? Do you want to stop me?" A little green vortex appeared above Anya's hands, glimmering with a mysterious light. It attracted the attention of everyone to look at the vortex, which had the intention of sucking human spirits in.

"Protecting Twilight Zone and the human race was our vow when we took on the role as protectors. This is an honour worthy of exchanging our lives for!"

The Guardian's face was filled with layers of wrinkles and he looked about to die of old age. However, his eyes still shone with light.

Anya sensed that, although the life force of the Guardian was like a flame that was sputtering out, it still emanated light and warmth that even caused her to be worried.

The allied Magus army appeared behind these few protectors confronted the dark elves.

"The plan was actually leaked out. Who was it?"

Anya's brows furrowed and then straightened out, "Whatever it is, we've finally restrained your nine rank 2 Magi. There are still many elite Magi and acolytes within the competition area. In other words, we have a sure victory in this war!"

"Attack!" Without waiting for the opposing Magi to finish their preparations, Anya immediately ordered for the dark elven matriarchs to attack.

With a flash of her body, she somehow disappeared from the air and, when she reappeared, she was in front of the Guardian of the Realm.

A fair palm brought with it a terrifying devouring strength and was pressed towards the old man's chest.

"Floating Light!" The light in the old protector's eyes became brighter and he exclaimed.

Numerous tiny rays of light surged out continuously and formed a protective shield in front of him.

The moment Anya's hand made contact with the shield, a low sound was produced, and the ground suddenly trembled, the space even beginning to quiver.

"Old geezer, how much longer can your life force sustain you?"

Anya's expression remained unchanging as she continued her attacks.

A tremendous vortex formed behind her, and any Magus that was sucked into it, turned into a dried corpse in an instant.

"Activating combination spell pattern!"

The expressions of the protectors of the other three regions changed greatly, and as if they had made up their minds. They headed into the skies, shooting out great amounts of green threads that connected with the Guardian of the Realm.

Tremendous rays from light force wrapped around him, and the next time he reemerged, he had already become a handsome and sunny middle-aged man.

If not for the familiar spiritual aura about him, nobody would recognise him.

As for the three other protectors, they began to age visibly.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Anya bit her lips. She could naturally see that the three rank 2 Magi were entrusting their life force to the Guardian. However, this meant that, after today, the four of them would have all their life force consumed and lose their lives.

Fury Overflowing Through The Heavens

"All obstructions are futile! The dark elves will rule over Twilight Zone from today!" Anya mumbled, and a dark grey shadow extended from her back over the area.

Within the dark grey world, the plants and animals were drained of their lives, turning to ashes at a surprising pace.

"Wilting Domain!" Anya shouted in a low voice, and within the domain, a circle of grey light exploded from the bodies of the Underground Winter Spider knights, allowing them to be even bolder and fiercer.

As for the enemies that had been affected by the domain, they soon found their bodies aging and their life force disappearing.

"A false domain! Anya, from beginning to end, you've always been ahead of me."

The protector who looked like a middle-aged man sighed, and then shot out large amounts of gold light that were like a giant sun.

The two domains collided against each other, and the air seemed to shatter, causing tremendous spatial distortions and then exploding.

On the ground, the Magi used the trenches as their first line of defence. However, the dark elves were still proceeding with their attacks. In that moment, the area was filled with the scenes of war.

The Magi spent all their energy here, and did not have any to spare to break the giant cocoon and save the others.

The large white cocoon was standing proudly, and even if magic were to brush past it, it remained unharmed, displaying its immense defensive ability.

Even if there were stray streaks from the battle between the rank 3 Magi causing it some harm, there would be multiple little spiders crawling up and spitting out threads to patch it up.

Such a powerful regenerative ability caused the Magi within and outside the arena to feel despair.

"Haven't you found it yet?" Vinas glanced at Aaron.

They now had their backs against each other. Parts of the silver-white Meteor Sword floated, withstanding the attacks surrounding them from the Magi of the revolutionary army, dark elves as well as countless little spiders.

The situation on the battlefield was what Longbottom's side intended it to be, and it was progressing in a way that benefited them.

Not only were the nine strongest rank 2 Magi restricted, many people from their own side had also snuck in. Under the unexpected attack that nobody could have responded to in time, many Magi died in their comrades' arms.

In addition, within the competition area, Longbottom had also arranged for something.

"Not yet!" Aaron smiled wryly, "Longbottom's conspiracy is too complex. He actually used himself to draw our attention, and left the key to the battle on the battlefield itself."

He brandished his sword hilt, and great amounts of sharp white lights severed the threads in the air.

"It's very difficult to identify these threads, which are spread out all over the area. The moment they wind around the body, they will consume spiritual and magic force, which is used to complement the running of the spell formation! To break this spell formation, we need to find the very center of it!

"But I can't see it in my predictions!" Aaron's expression was incomparably dark.

"Grandpa Merlin, what's going on?"

"Seems like an even more powerful Magus is using the power of destiny to conceal the important part. To be able to hide it from your prophecies, it must be a powerful person, at least at rank 2. I even suspect it could be a rank 3 dark elven matriarch personally doing this!"

Grandpa Merlin's voice was serious.

"Then we can only search one by one at the places where energy converges?" Aaron's expression was serious.

He suddenly raised his sword towards the right.

*Weng!* White light blades streaked through the sky, and a dark elf's face showed his disbelief as he was slashed into two. The badly damaged corpse fell to the ground, large amounts of fresh blood and multi-coloured intestines flowing out.

Chaos! Aaron thought that this was utter chaos!

Many Magi of the revolutionary army, dark elves, as well as summoned creatures all battled in the giant area, and there were even a few Magi secretly taking revenge on their rivals. These bloody battles caused the situation to become even more chaotic.

At the very centre, Baelin was riding the Underground Winter Spider Emperor, he and Longbottom in the middle of the final showdown.

The energy from the battle between the two rank 2 Magi overflowed everywhere, and the surrounding Magi automatically avoided them.

Not far from the battlefield, nine ice sculptures stood tall. Despite the stray waves from the battle between rank 2 Magi, none of them were in the least bit hurt, creating a stark contrast between them and the complete disorder in the surroundings. There was even a circle of dried corpses around them, and they were the Magi of Twilight Zone who had wanted to secretly unseal the rank 2 lords.

"Even with an ancient inheritance and an Underground Winter Spider Emperor with the strength of rank 2 as your magical pet, you still can't win against me, because trash will always be trash!"

At this moment, the rank 2 battle was nearing its end.

Longbottom's face was filled with black gas, and the phantom image of a spider behind him rushed into his body.

"Ah!" His expression began to distort.

"All living things disintegrate, and return to earth!"

A great dark chilly aura shrouded the area and it became deathly quiet, as if they had entered apocalypse.

Longbottom was suddenly like the grim reaper, dancing with precise steps as he strolled to Baelin's front.

"Seal!" With a palm strike, Baelin was sent flying while coughing blood, and he then stood atop the Underground Winter Spider Emperor's head.

*Chi chi…* The Underground Winter Spider Emperor Aru made sharp sounds that could be of fury, or terror.

Immediately after, it saw Longbottom produce a black metal bottle with a thin mouth aimed at it. A feeling of an imminent catastrophe filled its heart in that instant.

"How dare you fail to appreciate the matriarch's kindness! The great Matriarch couldn't be bothered to deal with you, which was why she got you to stay in the holy land and be a sacred creature. How dare you betray your own race!"

Longbottom looked pleased at that moment, especially when he saw the urgent expression on Baelin's face as he spat out a few more mouthfuls of blood. Feeling like he had wreaked vengeance on Baelin, he was especially thrilled.

Threads of little runic chains extended from the mouth of the bottle and then covered the body of the Underground Winter Spider Emperor.

"Aru!" Baelin yelled hurriedly. Through the long time they had gone on adventures together, he had long since considered Aru a companion he could trust. Now that it was gradually being sealed, he was extremely anxious.

*Pu!*

In that moment, however, he suddenly collapsed and spat out a huge mouthful of greyish-green blood.

Longbottom's power full of perishing and withering had invaded his body, and was continuously devouring his life force.

In this situation, even the Bio Boosting armour found this a thorny issue and without more time, it could not dispel it.

Baelin could only watch as Alu's body shrunk until it was sucked into the metal bottle.

"Did you see that? This is what happens to all that have helped you before, whether it's Leylin or this Underground Winter Spider Emperor!"

Longbottom's voice was clear and cold as he sealed the bottle and then kept it in his bosom.

He unhurriedly walked to Baelin's front, "How is it? Are you unable to move? My Death Decay isn't so easy to withstand!"

*Boom!* He gave Baelin a flying kick, pushing him tens of metres away, his face dragging and forming a giant trench.

Even with the protection of the armour, Baelin also flushed red and then paled, and what followed was the sound of bones breaking.

The Bio Boosting armour also produced a groan, indicating it could not bear this.

"Wh-Why?"

Baelin looked at Longbottom, gritting out the words through his teeth.

"Why?" Longbottom went forward and stepped on Baelin's face, pushing his head deep into the ground.

"You're asking me why?" There was a sinister smile on Longbottom's face.

"Why were you the one chosen by the Baron? Why were you the one to work at Blazing Hammers? At the end, why were you the one chosen by Leylin?" Longbottom snarled.

"So- So you still minded all these…" Baelin coughed and was stepped on once again ruthlessly, taking a mouthful of soil.

"Exactly. I minded all this, but it doesn't matter to me now!"

Longbottom began to laugh maniacally. "The Magus Leylin who looked down on me, and you, who has been snatching away my opportunities, are now lying like dead dogs in front of me! I once swore that I would make anyone who scorned and humiliated me pay the price, and now, both of you are left. Let me see, should I first take care of Leylin or you… Oh, right! I heard you have a wife, right? I heard it's a missus born in nobility. Don't worry, I'll take care of her well."

"You- You dare…"

Baelin was so furious, the veins on his face popped up, but he was then stamped on viciously....

"What do I do? The child of fate is now fated to lose!"

Aaron struck and fended off the attack of a dark elf, but there was also an injury from a corrosive spell. The corroded flesh was constantly expanding.

"In the prophecies, I do not see any hope of him turning the tides!"

"There's definitely hope! It is every Magus' power and duty of Twilight Zone to look to the light in the darkness. Humans of Twilight Zone will definitely survive, and the glory of Magi will remain eternal!"

Behind him, Vinas muttered, and a misty-eyed look appeared in her expression.

"What's going on? Did you predict something?"

Aaron was startled, and he sensed the person beside him collapsing.

"What's wrong?"

Aaron immediately turned back, and what he saw caused his eyes to widen.

Vinas lay down weakly, and there was a sword tip glimmering with silver light in front of her chest. It had already pierced into where her heart was.

"You…you… why? I'll treat you right now!" Aaron felt two bouts of heat flowing below his eyes.

"No! Don't!" Vinas extended her hands filled with blood and resolutely stopped Aaron.

"Only by my death and allowing Sacred Flame to unite, as well as gathering all the parts of Meteor Sword, can you put up a fight with Longbottom!"

"No, no, no! There must be a way! There must be another way!" Aaron's hand trembled, and he began to roar.