"Respected Lord Gargamel... Cough cough... please accept our offerings"
Jaye, who was at the side, suffered quite a deal from the energy waves. However, she was still better off than the old witch and was somewhat able to stand.
Observing these circumstances, she was partly kneeling in a bizarre position, while tossing a severed Magus' head in front of the black shadow.
"Brass Ring!"
Leylin's pupils contracted as he recognized whose head it was. It seemed that Brass Ring didn't die because of the secret plane's mechanisms after all, but was instead ambushed by the old witch and Jaye.
AD
Right now, Leylin stood to the side with cold sweat forming on his body, not daring to move an inch.
Although the black shadow atop the altar didn't look his way, he could clearly feel an extremely vicious and unyielding spiritual force completely locking him down.
Leylin had a premonition that if he took a single step forward, he would be struck by the full power of the Gargamel!
*Crunch! Crunch!*
Immediately after receiving the head of Brass Ring, whose expression still held traces of disbelief, the black shadow put it into its mouth and started to chew.
An absolutely horrifying grinding noise could be heard reverberating from the top of the skeleton mound.
"Ji Ji!" After the black shadow swallowed the head whole, it gave off a sound of satisfaction. Moreover, a scarlet tongue licked its lips, apparently with a desire for more.
AD
"Ah, a spirit that fulfills the conditions! State your wishes!"
An ancient and cryptic voice sounded directly into Leylin and the others' consciousness, spoken in a language Leylin had never heard before. Strangely, Leylin could understand the meaning of each word that was being spoken.
"I want..." Jaye slowly opened her mouth.
"Let my daughter Jaye come back to life! Give her a new body filled with life!" The old witch, who had fallen to the side, suddenly grew frantic. As she threw herself in front of the Gargamel's shadow, "If you can fulfill my desire, I will pay any price necessary!"
It could be a misperception, but after the old witch spoke of those words, Leylin seemed to notice a hint of... ridicule in the Gargamel's gigantic eyes
"I need... I need more offerings..."
The giant shadow licked its lips, "According to the principles of spirit transformation, a male magus cultivating in the Darkness element is a necessary offering!"
"I got it!" Old witch retrieved a couple of crystal balls filled with spiritual powers, and in addition, pointed towards Leylin.
"As for the offering, it's that Magus!"
As the black shadow stated its conditions. Leylin felt his heart sink as he furiously activated his hastening spells.
His silhouette looked like it was cloaked inside a black tornado as it charged down the hill.
However, the speed of the black shadow Gargamel was far beyond Leylin's expectations.
AD
Facing Leylin's escape, the black shadow simply extended a translucent palm and grabbed!
*Screech!* *Whoosh!*
The black tornado was torn apart, revealing Leylin's body.
Leylin felt like the air was instantly solidifying, and that it was constantly pressing in from all four sides.
In an instant, a band of silver light descended from the sky and coiled around Leylin's waist.
From this band of light emerged an enormous amount of tyrannical spiritual force. The quality of this spiritual force was higher than anything that Leylin had ever encountered before. Just a tiny bit was enough to completely shatter his elemental essence converted spiritual force.
The spiritual force was a fundamental part of a Magus and was also the primer for casting spells.
With spiritual force having been shattered, Leylin naturally could not cast a single spell.
The silver band of light retracted, and Leylin was forced to follow its movements to ultimately arrive in front of the altar. f𝐫e𝘦𝘸e𝗯𝒏𝗼ѵe𝗹． c𝑜m
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Four black shackle-like tentacles emerged from the altar and bound Leylin's limbs tightly together.
The present Leylin's body was spread eagle as he was presented to the black shadow Gargamel.
"Spiritual force materialisation! This evil spirit Gargamel must be at least at the level of a rank 2 Magus!"
Leylin's face was deadly pale as his mind raced, trying to gauge the strength of the black shadow.
At the same time, the A.I. Chip was operating at full speed in order to calculate the energy that the Gargamel was emitting, and from there, predict its stats and weaknesses.
Spiritual force materialisation was an advanced technique that only rank 2 Magi were qualified to practice!
AD
Spiritual force lacked shape or substance, and the various colorful spells that Leylin had seen were actually just the appearance of elemental particles that were in the air. As for the spiritual force, it acted as a catalyst and initiated the process of casting spells. However, all of these things could not be observed with the naked eye.
After a Magus reached rank 2, he could directly draw his spiritual force from his sea of consciousness out into the real world, and materialise it into the most basic energy particle. This was something that could be seen by even the most ordinary person!
When dealing with Magi below rank 2, who were unable to materialise their spiritual force, that ability made it basically impossible to lose!
After all, for Magi who could materialise their spiritual force, their condensation of spiritual force far surpassed that of a rank 1 Magus. With the weak spiritual force of a rank 1 Magus, it was impossible to hold out against attacks produced by the spiritual force of a rank 2 Magus, which resulted in the situation where a rank 1 Magus' power was nothing compared to that of a rank 2 Magus.
The silver band of light that the shadowy Gargamel used was a materialisation of spiritual force that could be seen in the real world!
"A rank 2 Magus? To think that the contingency plans that I had the A.I. Chip prepare in case of an emergency would have to be used now..." Leylin's thoughts whirled about as he turned to watch the witch carefully.
"Can you tell me the truth now?" Leylin's voice was muffled as if he had lost all hope. "After all, we're still allies!"
"Other than the agreement on the making of the potion and how we were to divide them, there wasn't any condition that said we couldn't injure one another!"
The old witch was still trembling incessantly as if she was about to topple to the ground and die any second. At the same time, however, she was extremely zealous, and her cheeks were flushed.
AD
"I'm willing to do anything for Jaye, much less sacrifice an ally like you that has wicked intentions!"
"Jaye! She's your daughter?" Leylin stared blankly. Immediately he turned his head towards Jaye, the black-cloaked person.
Jaye nodded her head and removed the black gown she wore.
A translucent image of a girl appeared in front of Leylin. The image had the appearance of a very young and pretty woman, and on her pretty face, one could still see some traces of how the old witch looked when she was in her youth.
"Spirit bodies?" Leylin was stunned once more. He thought back to how Jaye had been silent the entire time, and how she even wore a thick pair of gloves. Of course, there should also have been other secret methods that were used, or else Leylin and Brass Ring, who had spent some time with her, would have discovered the abnormalities of Jaye's body long before.
"My poor daughter permanently lost her physical body after an accident during an experiment. All that I can do is to constantly transfuse spiritual force into her and prolong the amount of time that she can stay in this world..."
The old witch's eyes were glazed over as if she was reminiscing the past.
"Even though Jaye is already dead, I have never given up on my wish to bring her back to life! By a stroke of fate, I remembered some materials about the ancient Spirit Slaying Sect that I had obtained when I was young. Their spirit transferring technique is definitely able to resurrect my daughter and help her regain a physical body!"
"So you've been collecting spirits and continuously trying to unseal this Gargamel?"
Leylin coldly inquired.
"That's right!" The old witch frankly admitted to it. "It is also thanks to your potions. Without them, Jaye's spirit would not have been strengthened enough to allow her to withstand the transfer..."
It seemed that all of the Tears of Mary potions that the old witch had received from Leylin had gone to Jaye.
As a result, Jaye's spirit was able to increase from that of an ordinary person to the level of an official Magus.
"Also, in order to summon the Gargamel and resurrect Jaye, a few conditions need to be met!" Having planned this for decades and on the verge of seeing it succeed, the old witch was obviously in the mood to say everything that was on her mind.
For some reason, the shadowy Gargamel did not make a move, and just waited as she spoke.
AD
"I need to initiate the process of summoning the Gargamel through the use of an official Magus who meets several stringent requirements, such as those in terms of aptitude and physique. In order to resurrect Jaye, these are the offerings required. Do you know how long it took me to look for you two offerings? Do you have any idea how long I waited for this moment?"
The old witch's expression became crazed. Without even waiting for Leylin to speak, she thundered, "53 years! To fulfil these conditions, I waited 53 whole years!"
"In these 53 years, my darling Jaye suffered a lot...sob...sob... "
At the climax of her narration, the old witch's tears flowed down her face, while Jaye stood silently to one side.
"All of my efforts have been rewarded. Now, my beloved daughter, Jaye, will be resurrected!!"
Leylin silently listened on. Now, all was clear to him.
Leylin was not angry about the fact that he and Brass Ring would be offerings.
He'd never thought himself to be treasured by the heavens, where he would somehow be able to profit from unfortunate situations or turn misfortunes into blessings.
Since he could scheme against others, others could obviously do the same.
All he could do was to consider all of his options in advance and make sure that every step went as perfectly as was possible. This was so he would not be schemed against or made use of.
AD
"Honourable Gargamel, based on the rules for replacement, I present to you this Magus as an offering. In return, I want you to help my daughter regain a physical body."
The old witch was gasping for breath as she placed several bizarre items on the altar while she made her request.
"This replacement is allowed!"
From under the skull mask that the shadow was wearing, it seemed to be looking at Leylin and the others with a faint trace of mockery in its expression.
The old witch who was kneeling on the ground, as well as Jaye, who seemed confused, did not notice this.
"As much as I want to stay behind and watch the show, I'm sorry!"
Leylin grinned as the large arm of the Gargamel approached him.