"What's going on?"
The Great Sage was startled, and then his body abruptly slumped forward.
Bang! Bang! Numerous steel beasts crashed to the ground, the soul flames in their black eye sockets gradually extinguishing. After a few seconds, they reverted to their skeletal state.
"My old companions!!!" The Great Sage let out a mournful cry. The bond between him and his mounts had been completely severed—which meant the souls of these creatures that had accompanied him for years had been utterly annihilated, no longer existing in this world.
"Who did this???" The Great Sage's eyes turned red.
And that Dark
"It was you!!!" The Great Sage's face twisted. "You damned scum! How dare you—"
"Enough empty words!!!" Leilin's eyes shot out materialized crimson light, the red on his wrist intensifying to its limit. Bang! The warning crystal shattered completely, scattering into a cloud of glittering dust.
"Shadow Domain!"
"Venom's Core!"
Dense darkness instantly engulfed the area, and behind Leilin, a massive serpentine shadow gathered, vaguely forming the face of a terrifying demon lord.
The enormous shadow spread in all directions like a monster that devoured everything, accompanied by horrifying sounds of corrosion and dying gasps.
Bang!
After a moment, the black shadow dispersed. The thirteen Sages in the middle of the field stared with vacant eyes and quickly collapsed—their very souls corroded away by the venom.
"Venom Demon Lord!!! It's the Venom Demon Lord, Leilin!!!"
Not far away, several Light Wizards who had been planning to take advantage of the situation watched the wizard bodies corroding beneath the black mist, their faces contorted in absolute horror.
Although they had heard of Leilin's title as the Venom Demon Lord, never before had they understood the depth of his terror so profoundly.
"Lei... Leilin, you..."
Not only the Dark Wizard—even Slate, watching Leilin with blood-red radiance pouring from his eyes, was somewhat stunned...
The thirteen Sages of the
Slate asked himself honestly—even if he were trapped by them, it would be extremely troublesome. He might not even be able to escape. The terrifying stamina of Soul Beasts was something that wizards, who could only use spells to augment their bodies, could never hope to match.
But now, the Steel Knight Squad that had roamed freely for centuries had just been wiped out like that? And the killer was Leilin, this newly promoted Second-rank?
Slate rubbed his bald head, almost believing he had fallen under a Third-rank Wizard's illusion.
"Who else is there?"
Leilin's expression had subtly gone wrong as he began to roar wildly, the blood-red light in his eyes sweeping toward where the Light Wizards were hiding.
"Not good! He's spotted us!"
The lead Light Wizard let out a low shout, and the entire group of Light Wizards quickly retreated a considerable distance. They had no choice—Leilin's super-wide-area poison attack was truly terrifying.
"Huff... huff..."
Leilin's current state was far from good. He had several small wounds from the Steel Knights' desperate counterattacks, and his face was filled with manic expression. Faint white mist continuously jetted from his seven orifices.
"Subject's blood activity detected exceeding predetermined threshold! Forcing control protocol to activate!"
Suddenly, a brilliant blue light enveloped Leilin's entire body, and the temperature plummeted. White mist condensed into ice fog and frost particles, scattered loosely across his form.
"Damn it, emotional instability again!!!"
Under the stimulus of the cold and the Chip's control, Leilin finally recovered a measure of lucidity, a glint of clarity returning to his eyes.
"I can't keep fighting, or I'll probably enter a berserk state—mindlessly slaughtering everything until I finally die..."
Leilin's eyes swept across the battlefield, taking in everything.
Although walking the path of the Bloodline Warlock had granted him immense power—enough that, after his recent promotion to Second-rank, he could surpass many veteran Second-rank Wizards with his bloodline gifts, even kill them, and carve out a fearsome reputation—the path of the Warlock, a branch of the ancient wizard tradition, carried several very obvious drawbacks.
And this emotional instability disease was one of them.
Compared to rational Wizards, Warlocks were far more susceptible to external influences, easily falling into extreme emotional states.
And killing and combat could very easily ignite the flames of fury in a Warlock's heart, ultimately driving them into a frenzy—losing most of their reason and being besieged to death by numerous enemies, or simply collapsing from exhaustion.
"My bloodline is too pure. Once an episode starts, even the
Leilin checked his body's condition: Leilin Farell. Warlock, Second-rank. Bloodline: Colmian Giant Serpent. Strength: 21.1. Agility: 14.4. Constitution: 27.9. Spiritual Power: 104.3. Mana: 53 (Mana synchronized with Spiritual Power). Status: Massive adrenaline secretion. Warlock emotional instability disease match: 98.7%. Serenity Potion undergoing major rejection!
"Chip, activate Protocol Three!" After a bitter internal laugh, Leilin immediately issued the command.
"Acknowledged. Permission granted. Commencing internal microsurgery in coordination with host..."
The Chip responded faithfully, and in an instant Leilin's eyes turned sky-blue. Ice-cold energy particles began releasing from throughout his body.
"What's wrong with him! Attack!!!"
The few Light Wizards who had been pursuing from a distance also noticed Leilin's unusual state. The lead Light Wizard's face lit up with delight as he waved his sleeve, and countless flying insects converged into half a human face, swooping toward Leilin.
"Courting death!"
A nameless fury rose in Leilin's heart once more, but under the compulsion of the cold, it was quickly suppressed.
His right hand slashed downward viciously! An invisible, transparent ripple spread outward like a wave across the void.
The invisible ripple instantly collided with the sea of insects.
Bang! The half-human face froze in mid-air! Then large numbers of insects dropped directly to the ground, their compound eyes ceasing to rotate, their bodies going rigid, and quickly beginning to rot.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Like rain, masses of insects fell continuously from the sky, forming a small patch of grey droplets.
The invisible toxin seemed to travel through the nebulous spiritual power connection, directly corroding the wizard's own body.
The wizard who controlled the flying insects stumbled back several steps, dense black serpent-patterned markings spreading across his face, still spreading further.
"Quick... protect me and get me out of here!" Only now did the Light Wizard leader regret his greed. Even Leilin in his abnormal state was not someone he could handle.
"Think you can leave!!!" Not far away, a savage grin tugged at Leilin's lips. The black bracer on his wrist exploded, the dark halo stretching and morphing until it took the form of a composite longbow.
"Venom's Core!!!"
Leilin activated this Second-rank innate spell once more. His right hand drew the bowstring, and he loosed it toward the fleeing Light Wizard!
Twang!
The bowstring vibrated as an invisible arrow of venom shot across the sky in an instant, leaving trails of distorted space in its wake.
Along its path, the ground turned scorched black, plants withered and died, tracing a distinct arrow trajectory.
"No! You can't kill me! My father is—" The fleeing Light Wizard was terrified beyond words, but then his body shuddered and his expression changed drastically.
Crack! The clothing on his back tore apart, revealing a translucent hand.
This hand, the size of a normal person's, grasped fiercely at the transparent venom arrow!
Bang! An invisible shockwave rippled outward, and the surrounding wizards, faces filled with terror, retreated as the toxin spread.
"The protection of a Third-rank entity?" Leilin watched from nearby, his killing intent intensifying. "No one can save you today!!!"
He drew the bowstring again. Buzz! Buzz!
Amid the vibrations, the venom arrow locked in stalemate with the translucent hand suddenly exploded, transforming into countless smaller needle-like projectiles that blasted in all directions.
Tssss! The translucent giant hand was riddled with holes in an instant and collapsed completely. From within came the furious roar of an elderly wizard.
That Light Wizard, his face filled with disbelief, toppled stiffly to the ground.
On his back gaped a massive explosive wound. His vaunted innate defense had not blocked a single fraction of it.
"You! You actually killed him! His father is a Third-rank existence!!!"
Even Slate's voice trembled.
But Leilin, still under the influence of his Warlock bloodline, gave no consideration to any of that. He whipped his head around, his cold gaze fixing directly on Slate.
Slate shuddered from head to toe, and only then did he remember his life was still in the other's hands. A bitter smile appeared on his face: "Fine! I'm just saying—do whatever you like!"
A flicker of hesitation and struggle crossed Leilin's face, and then a thick shroud of black mist enveloped his entire body.
Whoosh!
The black wind howled into the distance, vanishing from sight within a few blinks.
"That demon has finally left!" Slate and his partner exchanged glances, looking down at the gravely wounded Ariste with bitter smiles on their faces.
"What do we do? Jonar is dead! Lord Avik will never let us off!"
Meanwhile, the Light Wizards collectively let out grief-stricken howls.
"Kill those Dark Wizards! Avenge Jonar!"
One of the Light Wizards glared at Slate and his companions, hatred etched across his face.
Slate tensed, instantly standing shoulder-to-shoulder with his partner as a ring of energy particles materialized around them in defense.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
But in that very instant, every wizard present was horrified as the intense toxins began flaring up once more.
During Leilin's earlier rampage, every wizard present had been at least somewhat affected by the Colmian Giant Serpent's venom, making it extremely difficult to purge.
And the Light Wizards, affected through Jonar's proximity, suffered even more severe injuries.
The two groups stared at each other for several moments before finally departing in frustration, the conflict left unresolved.