A flickering red flame shot forth from the large ruby at the tip of the staff. Every inch of its path was swept by extreme heat, reducing every blade of grass to ashes and even causing nearby stones to begin melting. The fireball's temperature exceeded seven thousand degrees, because it instantly carbonized all the small trees in its path. The incredibly high temperature even penetrated Punk's "secondary mage armor," making him experience unbearable heat.
The fireball spell raced toward the gathering place of the undead at an incredible speed. In just a few moments, it reached the area between the group of undead and exploded, engulfing everything nearby. The red flames revolved and burned on the ground like a raging storm.
The entire undead forest was bathed in light. Every creature within the small forest, including the skeleton soldiers in the distance, stood still, staring blankly in the direction of the mini firestorm. They were shocked and trembling, experiencing the instinctive fear that every creature feels when confronted with the power of absolute destruction and might.
It took dozens of seconds for the blazing flame to extinguish. The undead skeletons, upon contact with the fire, were instantly reduced to ashes, leaving nothing behind. Their bones, equipment, and the corpse of the female priest were all vaporized in less than five seconds by the terrifying firestorm. Even the ground melted under the intense high temperature, turning into glass that reflect a cold light in the gloomy weather. "The power of the trainee level spell was definitely two or three times greater than a missile." Punk though while enduring the discomfort brought by the surrounding hot air. Many areas on the ground were still red like melting iron.
"This is power! It represents the mighty power of destruction; this is knowledge! The magical knowledge to control destruction," Punk sighed as he gently rubbed the still-warm ruby on the head of his staff.
After polishing the already shiny and spotless ruby, Punk turned around and left the glassy area, filled with nothing but the hot air. Now, he would explore the secrets of this unusual grove and collect his well-earned spoils.
The closer Punk got to the center of the forest, the stronger the aura of death became. It even started to condense into a grey mist. After some time, the concentration of the death energy became so great that even Punk's "secondary mage armor" began to struggle to keep it from reaching his body.
Punk found the skeletons in robe wandering in the woods. Although these skeletons' frames were mottled and cracked, Punk still felt the residual soul energy on them. This indicated that the two mages were certainly trainee-level powerhouses during their lifetimes. Even though they had transformed into mere skeletal remains and were now aimlessly wandering in this desolate forest, the quality of the robes they wore exceeded Punk's expectations.
It was just too intact, except for the loss of magic effect due to the undead's erosion; there was almost no other damage.
The surrounding skeleton soldiers' bones remained undamaged; some of the soldiers hadn't even drawn their swords. In this central area, there was no evidence of a battle, neither on their bodies nor in their equipment.
Now Punk was even more confused than before. It stands to reason that the soldiers at the centre should have fought more brutal battle than the rest, and the traces of the fight should also become more apparent. But the situation with this undead army was just the opposite.
It seems the battle at the outer area was harsher than the center area. The mages seemed not to have taken any action.
But somehow, both the outer soldiers and the inner circle of the mage lost their lives. Such a strange occurrence can only happen if there was a situation where the enemy was overwhelmingly strong. This implies that the battle was so short that the soldiers in the inner circle perished before they even had the chance to draw their swords.
Punk stooped down and retrieved a small piece of a dead branch for "the system" to analyze.
"Analysis result: The death energy completely neutralized the life energy of the branch within six seconds, resulting in 100% cellular destruction."
"Sure enough,"
Punk discarded the branch, letting it fall to the ground, where it shattered into pieces of wood.
"The death energy here isn't of natural origin. It was entirely generated by a spell."
Punk straightened his waist and began to think about it seriously. The existence of this undead forest was already very shocking, and now whoever caused this can also kill trainee level mages within seconds. And even after almost a month, the excess death energy didn't disappear.
This was undoubtedly the result of a formidable technique wielded by an official-level powerhouse. Furthermore, from his inherited memories, Punk knew that a spell with such devastating power and wide-ranging effects was considered powerful even amongst formal-level spell.
Punk suddenly remembered the corps of dead soldiers he seen outside the woods; it seems that about one-third of the skeletons have a faint strip of cloth on their shoulders; Punk thought it was some kind of custom in the Kingdom of Camos. But now, it appeared to be a form of marker used to distinguish the enemy from allies. Due to the binding of the dye and the influence of the death energy, the patterns and colors had faded away over time. At that moment, Punk had been more concerned with handling the enemies and the troublesome female priest, so he hadn't paid much attention to these minor details.
But after thinking about it carefully, it became evident that the Camos soldiers who perished outside had met their end at the hands of each other. There had originally been two opposing armies. As for why they were all wearing the same uniforms, Punk truly didn't know!!
Punk now can only guess what happened in this small forest.
"The two Camos Kingdom armies met in this small forest. Maybe one of them was a fake army, or maybe both were real army but split up for some reason; perhaps even both were fake, and they just happened to meet here. Most likely, one party was chasing the other. Anyway, they fought in this small forest. When the battle was halfway, a formal-level mage suddenly arrived and used this AOE spell for a specific purpose. The elemental energy spells killed one team or both armies entirely.
Regarding why the most powerful unit in this army, the mage regiment, did not make any move, it could be due to the mages needing to control the enemy or concerns about collateral damage, among other reasons. Anyway, when the official level powerhouse came, they didn't even have a chance to make any move."
"This damnable affair is really messy; it even involves the official level powerhouse. I don't know how there is an official level powerhouse in such a humble little wasteland? and above all else, a rare mage!"
""In any case, whether these events are part of a conspiracy or mere coincidence, they have nothing to do with me."
Punk has made up his mind; when he goes back, he will say that he killed a few undeads from a distance, took a few pieces of equipment, and ran back after mapping the coordinates.
And if they ask any other question? he didn't know what to do, so he didn't pay much attention to this matter after recording the coordinates. Punk wasn't even sure if the mage Union, who paid very little attention to this matter, will even choose to come over and check it after getting the coordinates.
After figuring out his return plan, now more relaxed, Punk looked at the robed skeletons, who were still wandering in a daze, with slight joy in his heart.
"Finally, it's time to open the treasure box I am longing for!"