"What's going on?"
The Grand Sage was startled, then his body suddenly slumped downward.
Bang! Bang! Numerous iron behemoths collapsed to the ground, the soul flames within their black eye sockets gradually flickering out. After a few seconds, they reverted to their skeletal state.
"Old friend!!!" the Grand Sage let out a wail of grief. His connection with his mount had been completely severed—which meant the soul of the creature that had accompanied him for so many years had been utterly annihilated, no longer existing in this world.
"Who was it???" The Grand Sage's eyes reddened.
The dark wizard and Slyr, meanwhile, exchanged glances with Leilin Farell, both wearing helpless smiles.
"It's you!!!" the Grand Sage's face twisted. "Damn filth! How dare you—"
"Idle words!!!" Leilin Farell's eyes shot out corporeal blood-red light, the crimson glow on his wrists intensifying to its limit. Bang! The warning crystal shattered completely, scattering into a cloud of glistening dust.
"Shadow Domain!"
"Gall of Deadly Poison!"
Dense darkness immediately engulfed the area, and behind Leilin Farell, the massive shadow of a serpent coalesced, faintly forming the visage of a terrifying demon lord.
The vast shadow expanded outward in every direction like a beast devouring all, punctuated by bone-chilling sounds of corrosion and the final, desperate gasps of the dying.
Bang!
Moments later, the black shadow dissipated. The Thirteen Sages of the Iron Crown in the center of the field stood with vacant eyes before quickly toppling over, the very souls within their bodies corroded to nothing by the deadly poison.
"The Demon of Poison!!! It's Leilin Farell, the Demon of Poison!!!"
Not far away, several white wizards who had been preparing to take advantage of the situation watched the wizard bodies continuously corroding beneath the black mist, their faces filled with utter terror.
Although they had heard of Leilin Farell's title as the Demon of Poison, they had never once understood the depth of his horror so profoundly.
"Lei... Leilin, you..."
Not only the dark wizard—even Slyr, looking at Leilin Farell with blood-red light radiating from his eyes, was somewhat stunned.
The Thirteen Sages of the Iron Crown were the stalwart force maintaining this region. Each one's strength was at the peak of First-rank Wizard or above, and the leading Grand Sage himself possessed Second-rank Wizard-level power!
Slyr asked himself honestly—if he were trapped by them, it would be extremely troublesome, and escape would be questionable at best. The terrifying stamina of soul beasts was something wizards, who could only use magic to enhance their bodies, could never match.
But now, the Iron Knight squad that had dominated for centuries—wiped out just like that? And the killer was Leilin Farell, this newly advanced Second-rank?
Slyr rubbed his bald head, nearly convinced he had fallen under the illusion of a Third-rank Wizard.
"Who else is there?"
Leilin Farell's expression was subtly wrong, and he began roaring wildly. The blood-red glow in his eyes swept across the direction where the white wizards were hiding.
"No! He's found us!"
The leading white wizard let out a low growl, and all the white wizards immediately retreated a considerable distance. There was no choice! Leilin Farell's massive area-of-effect poison attack ability genuinely terrified them.
"Haa... haa..."
Leilin Farell's condition at this moment was far from good. Not only did he have several small wounds left by the iron knights' desperate counterattacks, but his face was filled with a crazed expression. Faint white streams of air continuously gushed from his seven orifices.
"Detected: Subject's blood activity exceeding preset threshold! Forcing control protocol engaged!"
Suddenly, a bright blue light enveloped Leilin Farell's entire body. The temperature dropped sharply, and white mist condensed into frost and ice fragments that hung scattered across his form.
"Damn it, emotional instability again!!!"
Under the stimulation of the cold and the Chip's control, Leilin Farell finally regained a measure of lucidity. An alert gleam returned to his eyes.
"I can't keep fighting, or I'll probably fall into a berserk state—mindlessly slaughtering until I drop dead..."
Leilin Farell's eyes swept across the battlefield, taking in everything.
Although walking the path of a Bloodline Warlock had granted him extraordinary power—even after just advancing to Second-rank, he could surpass many veteran Second-rank wizards through his bloodline talent, even killing them and earning a fearsome reputation—the Warlock path, a branch of the ancient wizard tradition, also had several very obvious flaws.
And this emotional instability disease was one of them.
Compared to the rational wizards, Warlocks were far more susceptible to outside influences, prone to falling into extreme emotional states.
And killing and combat could easily ignite the flames of rage within a Warlock's heart, ultimately plunging them into madness, burning away their remaining reason, and leaving them to be swarmed and killed by numerous enemies—or simply collapsing from exhaustion on their own.
"My bloodline is too pure. Once it flares up, even a Calming Potion gets expelled..."
Leilin Farell checked his physical status:
"Leilin Farell. Warlock, Second-rank. Bloodline: Comoin Giant Serpent. Strength: 21.1. Agility: 14.4. Constitution: 27.9. Spiritual Power: 104.3. Mana: 53 (Mana determined by Spiritual Power synchronization). Status: Massive adrenaline secretion. Warlock emotional instability detection match rate: 98.7%. Calming Potion significantly rejected!"
"Chip, implement Plan Three!" After a bitter inward laugh, Leilin Farell immediately issued the command.
"Permission granted. Beginning internal microsurgery coordination with subject..."
The Chip reported faithfully. In an instant, Leilin Farell's eyes turned sky-blue, and icy energy particles began releasing from throughout his body.