Chapter 1389: Intruders
The journal was virtually the last hope for Archmages who couldn't break into the Heaven Rank. Not all the people could resist such temptation. At least 50 percent of the hopeless level-9 Archmages would try to study the journal, and 30 percent of people would do experiments…
The Heaven Rank mages were the minority in Noscent. There were 100 times more level-9 Archmages who were unable to break into the Heaven Rank.
There were also the mages who had run out of their potential after breaking into the Heaven Rank, and couldn't make any progress for hundreds of years. It was a good opportunity for them too.
The Plane of the Undead was already connected to the Leviathan Plane. Transforming into a lich at this moment meant that it would be easy to enter the Plane of the Undead. They could even help undead creatures attack the Leviathan Plane, and then claim a turf in the Leviathan Plane as a lich with a dominion.
Could they resist the temptation of becoming a flawless, immortal lich?
It wasn't hard to infer that a lot of people would surely do experiments…
After they held the ceremony, they would be transformed into liches as Dereksey's clones. Dereksey didn't have to arrive in person at all. He could easily rally a huge army of liches even though he was tens of thousands of kilometers away.
It would be very easy for the powerful army of liches to establish a massive army of the undead. They could simply release Undead Plague, a level-9 spell, and all the creatures in the city would be transformed into liches…
Lin Yun felt cold sweat on his back when he thought of that. If the war in Dirty Blood became fierce, and most forces were fighting there, it would be terrible if hundreds of liches appeared in the rear with an ocean of undead creatures.
Lin Yun frowned, and wrote a letter regarding the matter. He then sent it out with magic. Agalon was in the Plane of the Undead at this moment, but there was no telling where he was precisely. He didn't dare to send the letter to Agalon directly, fearing that someone of the Plane of the Undead would intercept it.
He sent the letter to Gandaph, who was influential enough to unveil the scheme and warn everybody.
The Bloody Lich was causing trouble in the dark, and the Holy Light Alliance was adding to the trouble. Lin Yun hadn't contracted Agalon yet. He didn't know the plan for arranging the Hexagonal Array or defeating the undead creatures just yet.
Lin Yun put away Edward's alchemy journal, and considered how he could recover faster. He didn't really have half a month.
While Lin Yun waited for updates from Xiuban, Reina, and Gandaph, and continued doing research, a few Heaven Rank mages were flying towards the floating island that Lin Yun was on.
"Edward has perished. That annoying guy never returned after occupying the small city. He has suddenly perished. There's no telling which family conquered his city."
"Edward was in control of the Seiro Family's resources in this place. We must get his alchemy journal too. Edward has been studying what we found in the relics. He must've found something important…"
A frost mage who had blue eyes solemnly made his speculation. Another mage who was apparently from the north of Sten nodded.
"Indeed. Edward must've found something important. Then, the people in the desert noticed him. They might even have got it. We need to go there immediately. Edward is dead. His city must've been occupied…"
"Whoever insults the Seiro Family will pay a heavy price!"
On the other hand, Lin Yun had never investigated the force behind Edward. He had never heard about the Seiro Family before. It was from the Sten Kingdom, and wasn't qualified to approach the Dirty Blood, which meant that it was a trivial family. Even though Lin Yun had been significantly weakened, he never paid much attention to the matter.
On the other hand, there was news on Xiuban and Reina. There were Ladder Ancient Trees across the Leviathan Plane, and it was very easy for them to find anyone. It took them only two days to find Xiuban and Reina. They claimed that they had delivered the message to them.
Tens of thousands of kilometers away from Lin Yun's city, in a stretch of mountains, Xiuban was holding a half-roasted beast, and enjoying its meat with Carnage on his shoulder while he gritted his teeth, and gazed at the tree that was hundreds of meters tall.
There were trees of different sizes everywhere around the gigantic tree. Based on the roots of the tree that grew out of the ground, they were actually all from the giant tree in the center. This entire forest was actually just one tree…
An old face appeared on the surface of one of the trees, and stared at Xiuban.
Xiuban raised Carnage and smashed the tree. The old face on the trunk was shattered into pieces.
After shattering the tree, Xiuban looked around, and bit the meat brutally before he cursed.
"Damn you, bastard, you cannot intimidate me. Come out! Just come out!"
A few seconds later, the same ancient face appeared on the trunk of a tree nearby, and still gazed at Xiuban as if it were just a sculpture.
Raising Carnage, Xiuban shattered the tree where a face had popped up.
An hour later, Xiuban had smashed all the trees within three kilometers into pieces. There were broken pieces of wood everywhere. After he just shattered a gigantic tree, the same old face surfaced on the trunk of a tree that was two meters thick…
Xiuban breathed heavily with bloodshot eyes. He ruthlessly dropped the half-eaten meat in his left hand, and held Carnage with both hands, attacking the trees nearby.
After smashing the tree where the face had popped up, he didn't rest at all, but crazily attacked all the trees within his eyesight. He didn't stop until he broke hundreds of trees. All the trees within a radius of several kilometers were shattered, as if some ferocious beasts had ravaged them.
All of a sudden, at the edge of the area that was full of broken pieces, the old face appeared on a tree that hadn't been broken yet, and it stared at Xiuban without moving.
Xiuban was almost driven crazy. He wouldn't have cared even if he had to fight a strong beast, or confront an army of the undead on his own. However, he felt he was going crazy when this old face just stared at him without doing anything…
Throwing Carnage to the ground, Xiuban gritted his teeth, and sat with bloodshot eyes, gazing at the old face with widened eyes.
"Damn it, let's just have a competition. Whoever talks first will be the loser!"
The forest fell quiet. Xiuban stared without saying a word, and so did the old face on the trunk. Half an hour later, the old face suddenly opened its mouth.
"Merlin is waiting for you."
Then, the old face spouted a piece of wood that marked the rough direction.
Xiuban laughed and jumped from the ground. He waved Carnage, and shattered the tree in front of his eyes.
"Idiot, you talked first. You're the loser! Idiot! Hahaha…"
Xiuban didn't stop dancing and laughing until several minutes later, when he finally realized what the tree said. He hurriedly found another tree and patted it.
"Hey, idiot, where are you? What did you just say? Sir Merlin is waiting for me? Where is he? Damn it, get out and explain yourself…"
He patted for a few minutes, only to see no reaction. Finally, he jumped to the broken pieces on the ground, and searched for a couple of minutes. Then, he found a piece of wood whose patterns were sort of a map. He could vaguely see a spot of light on the wood.
Even Xiuban could understand that it pointed out the direction for him.
Holding the piece of wood, and looking around at the scene that seemed to have been ravaged by a beast, Xiuban mumbled awkwardly, "Damn, why did Sir Merlin send such an idiot to find me? He's so stupid. It took him so long to say that one sentence. Have I accidentally killed him?"
Mumbling for a moment, Xiuban quickly fled with Carnage on his shoulder, as if he were a thief. Half an hour later, the ancient face appeared on one of the trees, and spoke another hour later.
"What a stupid beastman. I haven't even finished yet. Why are you already gone? What a hasty guy…"
On the other hand, the information Reina received was quite normal. As a dragon, she had inherited knowledge concerning those special ancient lives who were most famous for their slow speed of speech.
After receiving the information, Reina flew towards the small city where Lin Yun was at according to the direction.
Xiuban and Reina were on their way, but it would take a lot of time to cover a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers even if they flew all the way. At this moment, the people of the Seiro Family had arrived.
Two of the Seiro Family's mages were in the Heaven Rank, and the last was a level-9 Archmage. They didn't directly fly towards the floating island. Instead, they entered the city on the ground, and secretly came to the alchemy store that had a teleportation array.
"A level-9 Archmage and a lone mage? Are you kidding me? A wounded, lone level-9 Archmage killed Edward?"
In the store, Kevin Seiro almost broke the neck of the director of the store after hearing the report.
The director, with cold sweat on his forehead, pointed at the alchemy array above his head and the teleportation array that had been destroyed in fear. "Sir Kevin, every word I just said is true. Edward wanted to catch lone mages, preferably light mages or fire mages. But no light mages here are alone. We could only catch a fire mage.
"We lured a level-9 fire Archmage here. He was suppressed in this alchemy array. There was no telling what evil sorcery he used, but he summoned three wicked plants that swallowed the blood of the poor lads.
"Sir Edward was swallowed by the bloody vines too. That wicked man was truly terrifying. Fortunately, he probably didn't want to get himself exposed. That's why I was able to escape."
"Then, the teleportation array was ineffective. That evil mage must be on the floating island up above!"
Kevin sneered.
"Edward was an idiot. He was weakened during the study of alchemy. A Heaven Rank mage, yet he was killed by an Archmage. It's truly a disgrace to the Seiro Family."
"Let's go and tear that evil mage into pieces. He's just an Archmage. He must've killed Edward using a sneak attack. Now, let's show him what a real Heaven Rank expert is capable of. No schemes work in front of absolute strength…"
Kevin led the other two people of the Seiro Family out of the alchemy store. He unleashed extraordinary power, and resisted the no-fly array, soaring straight from the ground to the floating island that was hundreds of meters high.
After landing on the platform on the floating island, Kevin stared at the mage tower in the center and laughed. He then said to the young level-9 Archmage by his side, "Cage, ask that goddamn evil mage to get out and meet me. I can give him a chance to explain so that he can live a few minutes longer."
Cage nodded, and rushed to the gate of the mage tower excitedly.
Kevin has brought me on this trip. He's also asking me to knock on the door for him. It seems that he's determined to groom me. Considering the chaos in the Leviathan Plane, it's a great opportunity to make an accomplishment. As long as I win enough interests for the Seiro Family in the Leviathan Plane, I will be able to enter the Seiro Family's leadership after I return to Noscent.
Maybe if Uncle Kevin is in the mood, he'll recommend me for an even more important position. I must thank this evil mage for that…
"Fool, get the hell out in 10 seconds, or you will regret everything you've done!"
Standing at the entrance of the mage tower, Cage roared loudly, but the mage tower was dead silent, without any response.
Kevin frowned, and walked to the gate. He chanted a short spell. Dense patterns appeared on the surface of the gate, but it didn't open as expected.
"Cage, move aside. Let's break in, and let the evil mage know that he will only die a more miserable death if he tries to resist."
As Kevin chanted the spell, the power of frost covered the gate. Gradually, the mana waves on the gate slowly dispersed, and it became a complete gate of ice.
Cracks appeared on the gate. Kevin pointed his staff on the gate, and the gate fell apart into countless pieces of ice.
"Uncle Kevin is getting even stronger. It only took you a few seconds to break the gate of a mage tower. I wonder when I could be as strong as you…" Cage remarked in admiration, and Kevin smiled proudly.
"Stop wasting time. Let's go and torture that evil mage!"
They went all the way up inside the mage tower. The defenses that Edward had set up were no problem for Kevin at all. He soon reached the alchemy lab on the top floor.
They opened the lab's gate, and saw Lin Yun, who was conducting an experiment.
There were skulls, cores of ghosts, and a beating vampire's heart…
A bunch of undead materials were laid on the table. The soul fire was even burning in one of the skulls.
"You're indeed an evil mage as I expected. Now, I will give you a last chance. Surrender your everything and repent before the great Seiro Family. Then, I may grant you a quick death!"
The moment he arrived, Kevin had released his extraordinary aura, which suppressed everything around him, and resisted potential ambushers.
However, Lin Yun didn't seem to feel any of it. He frowned, and continued conducting his experiment.
Kevin sneered and stood at the entrance of the alchemy lab. He didn't proceed any further.
Evil mage, do you think I'm as stupid as Edward? Who knows whether there are evil traps here? However, as long as I release my extraordinary power, nobody will be able to trap or ambush me.
That goddamn Archmage must be preparing to ambush and infuriate me. But unfortunately, I'm not as dumb as Edward. A lion will try its best even if it's just hunting a rabbit.
That evil mage seems to be an alchemist. He must've found what Edward got. There must be a great secret in all this. Otherwise, he wouldn't be conducting the experiment so hastily here…
"Cage, break the evil mage's limbs and tie him up. I'm going to give him a good treat!"
Cage was thrilled. He had nothing to worry about when two Heaven Rank experts were behind his back. However, when he crossed the gate and walked to Lin Yun, green vines suddenly grew underneath his feet, and thorny vines tied him up. His rune shield didn't work at all.
To be continued