* Bang! *
Under the crashing of the wave, the silver shield seemed to be a reef in the middle of the ocean, not moving the slightest.
After the Fury of the Marsh was over, Bosain was still unscathed behind the shield.
Seeing this, Leylin's pupil shrank.
"A defense type magic artifact!"
AD
As the younger generation hailing from one of the big three families in Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, Bosain actually had a defense type magic artifact.
Leylin clearly understood the difficulty of dealing with it, as he too had a defense type magic artifact, the Fallen Star Pendant. Once the Fallen Star Pendant was activated, Leylin was invincible amongst acolytes.
As for the two opposing level 3 acolytes, they were obviously scared stiff by Bosain's actions. There was actually a moment when they stood still.
Especially the acolyte who signed a contract with the Moonlight Mayfly, he gripped the whistle tightly, disbelief written all over his pallid face.
After the Fury of the Marsh attack, the giant Moonlight Mayfly seemed to have been spent. It continued to hover in midair, yet did not attack again.
[The Moonlight Mayfly's attack can only be used once per day. Following which it has a cooldown period of 20 hours. Also, during this period, it would be in a weakened state!]
The A.I. Chip's voice intoned.
AD
"A good chance!" Leylin's eyes flashed, and two potions, red and purple coloured, flew from his hands.
* Bang! * A red flame with purple smoke exploded on the body of the Moonlight Mayfly.
The huge explosion engulfed the Moonlight Mayfly. From the purple-red halo of the spell, the shrieks of the Moonlight Mayfly could be heard.
After the potion's effect had worn off, the Moonlight Mayfly in midair was in a miserable state. Both its claws were broken, with many holes on its wings. It seemed not to be able to float in the air any longer, covering the distance between itself and the ground rapidly, as if wanting to rest.
"You damned bastard! You actually dare...."
Looking at the Moonlight Mayfly approaching the ground, Bosain roared. The silver shield in front of him then emitted a white light.
The thick shield melted in the light, and silver liquid swirled around Bosain's hands, turning into a silver greatsword.
"Hah!"
Bosain raised the greatsword with both hands and jumped up before slashing down!
* Sou! *
A silver flash of light chopped at the neck of the Moonlight Mayfly who was struggling, and a stream of blood appeared in its place.
The head of the Moonlight Mayfly was chopped off, spraying a large amount of black and purple ichor.
AD
One slash to severe the head! The massive Moonlight Mayfly was actually decapitated with just one slash of Bosain's sword.
"There is even a secondary effect! What a powerful magic artifact! Of course, Bosain's strength is an important factor!"
Leylin gasped in amazement.
"Ah, no!" The moment the Moonlight Mayfly was decapitated, the acolyte let out a shrill cry.
Moreover, the moment the eyes of the severed Moonlight Mayfly's head dimmed, the acolyte's face turned white, and wrinkles started to appear all over his face.
"It seems like it was a life-bound contract he signed. No wonder, despite his average strength, he obtained the loyalty of the Moonlight Mayfly...."
Leylin sighed, "A pity that life-bound contracts are linked with the creature. Once the contracted creature dies, the host will not be able to escape the same fate!"
After the fire in the yellow eyes of the Moonlight Mayfly disappeared, the acolyte panted. At this moment, he was already a white-haired old man and then he fell to the ground, losing all signs of life.
"Ahhh!"
The final remaining acolyte shouted, immediately turned around and ran.
At the same time, a feather was thrown into the air by him. A black flash of light turned the feather into a nighthawk which flew in the air.
"A magic summon, hurry and stop it!" Jayden pointed and several vines immediately gave chase.
"Arrow spell!" Red-haired Shaya shouted, and from her hands, a few bright white-silver arrows shot towards the night hawk.
*Jiu, Jiu!* The night hawk whistled and flapped its wings, moving in a beautiful arc as it avoided the attack from the green vines.
After which, the nighthawk with its razor sharp wings smacked the few silver arrows away.
"It's also a magic creature!"
AD
Bosain's voice weakened.
"We cannot let it relay the news, if not we'll be in a dangerous situation!"
Leylin's eyes flashed, his wrist guard changing shape, turning into a black longbow.
"A.I. Chip! Calculate wind speed, humidity, and trajectory...."
* Chi! * The black arrow flashed across the sky like a lightning bolt, directly piercing the right wing of the night hawk.
With a wail, the nighthawk fell down.
"Nice one!" Bosain shouted in glee. His speed increased greatly, brandishing the silver greatsword.
* Pu! * The silver greatsword produced a white silk net, capturing the night hawk within.
"Go to hell!" The white silk net continued to tighten, finally turning into a ball of blood and feathers.
AD
"We have finally gotten rid of it!" Jayden and Shaya heaved a sigh of relief.
"There is also this one!"
* Chi La La! * The thicket parted and Roth's figure appeared in front of the party. Only now his appearance had taken a drastic change.
His right arm was blasted off, revealing many white tentacles. Half of his face was also strewn with green scales.
As for the tentacles on his right arm, it was holding onto the head of the last acolyte who escaped. The head wore a frightened expression!
"A mutation experiment? And it is so thorough!"
Leylin and the other three were shocked.
Although level 3 acolytes can enhance their own body and transform it to a certain degree, an acolyte's spiritual force was still far beneath that of an official Magus. Many high-grade ingredients and knowledge weren't enough, so more often than not, forcefully enhancing the body would result in an irreversible damage.
However, Roth's current state showed that he was extremely sane.
* Sou Sou! * White tentacles continuously retracted back into his body. Very soon, Roth took on a half-naked appearance, returning back to his regular form.
Roth swung his right arm, tossing the acolyte's head onto the floor and smiled widely.
"Now, the inconveniences have all been disposed of!"
"Indeed!" Jayden looked at Roth, "We have already been friends for two years. Although I knew your mutation talent is rather high, I never expected that you have already contained the physical transformation aspect!"
Roth looked at the other four and shrugged his shoulders. "acolytes must also have their trump cards, shouldn't they?"
"Alright! Even though we annihilated the opponents, to prevent any unforeseen circumstances, we had better hasten the exploration and leave this place..."
AD
Bosain suggested as he placed the magic artifact back in his robes.
"Indeed! The other party could have revealed their location to someone else. We have to hurry and look for the remnants in the Zither Moon Mountain Plains!"
Leylin also agreed.
"Alright, let us set off immediately!"
Jayden nodded his head and was about to lead the party away.
"Wait a minute, I even found this on his body!" Roth smiled and handed over a pale yellow scroll over to Jayden.
"This is..." Jayden opened it and his expression looked extremely unpleasant as if it belonged on a corpse.
"A.I. Chip, record!" The moment Jayden opened the map, Leylin immediately ordered the A.I. Chip to record it.
From the geographical drawing, the map depicted the Zither Moon Mountain Plains. Moreover, among the signs of the dark forest, there was a thin red line which extended from the Zither Moon Town entrance to the depths of the mountain. It stopped at another marking which showed a cliff. Moreover, at the bottom of the cliff, there was the name 'Dylan Gardens"
"Did the purpose of the other party coincide with our exploration?" Leylin asked suddenly.
AD
"Indeed!" Jayden nodded vigorously, suddenly turning impatient. "Damn it, I don't know how many leads this remnant owner created. Let's hurry, I don't wish to see a remnant that has already been scoured clean!"
Leylin inwardly saw the light. What the great Magus Serholm left behind was an inheritance. He definitely wished for someone to discover and continue his legacy. Hence, he left behind many leads.
At this moment, Leylin could already confirm that the clues Jayden had belonged to the inheritance of the great Magus Serholm!
As there was a possibility that someone else might be there before them, the five of them proceeded with their journey, their hearts heavy and their complexions reflected their uneasiness.
However, they moved quickly, and in a few hours' time, they had already entered the depths of the Zither Moon Mountain Plains.
At this moment, the mountain was extremely different from when they had first stepped into it.
The change in the vegetation here was to an extreme. If the Zither Moon Mountain Plains border had normal plants growing, right now, what they saw in front of them were some relatively bizarre species of plants.
The most common plants were a species of big shrubs that were white in colour and their leaves had a strange spiral form.
Every time a gust of wind blew, the sea of shrubs would move with the wind, producing a sound similar to playing the piano keys.
* Ding Ding Dong Dong! * The piano-like sounds was extremely chaotic. Leylin became aroused, feeling a need to recklessly charge forth! 𝑓𝒓e𝑒w𝑒𝒃𝑛𝒐𝘃ℯ𝙡. c𝚘m
AD
"Careful! This is the Piano Key Bush. The noise it makes can attract regular humans. Even an acolyte would be somewhat affected!"
Leylin warned, "Earlier, the missing people from the Zither Moon Town could very well have been attracted to these sounds, entering an illusion and dying in heat...."
After which, Leylin withdrew a few potions from his bag and distributed it to Jayden and the rest.
"This is a tranquilizing potion that I have brewed, it can resist such effects!"
Jayden, Roth, and Shaya looked at the test-tube in their hands and drank its contents after tasting a little of it.
As for Bosain, he shook his head to refuse, directly returning the potion to Leylin.
"I don't need it!"
Leylin shrugged his shoulders and led the way at the front.
On the later parts of the exploration, there were traps with poisonous gases and ambushes. This was the reason a Potioneering acolyte was needed — to counteract them.
This was also the reason why Jayden asked Leylin to come.