The man in the black windbreaker who faced the Petrifying Gaze head-on suddenly faltered, and a layer of grayish-white stone skin emerged across the surface of his body.
Crack! Crack!
His entire body transformed into a massive stone sculpture, with fine powdery dust continuously drifting down from it.
"Frost Blades!" Under the control of the green-skinned barbarian Wizard, the multitude of bladed weapons coalesced into a tornado-like vortex, enveloping the stone sculpture within, as teeth-grinding sounds rang out without cease.
After a brief moment, the ice blades dissipated, and the original stone sculpture had vanished entirely, replaced by a scattered pile of rubble.
"It's finally over!" The green-skinned barbarian Wizard let out a sigh of relief.
"No! It's not over yet!" Kasha said with a bitter smile.
Then, the green-skinned barbarian Wizard watched in horror as those fragments of rubble exploded outward, revealing flesh and blood within.
The numerous pieces of flesh sprouted tentacles, coalescing together to reform the previous man in the black windbreaker — not even a single crack marred his coat.
"Oh! Damn it!"
The green-skinned barbarian Wizard cursed aloud, "Where in the world did you run into this freak?! It's not only immune to Wizardry attacks — even physical attacks are completely useless against it!"
"I don't know!" Despair was written plainly on Kasha's face.
After entering the Quickflow Ancient Castle, she had barely penetrated a few floors before being targeted by this black-coated man. Her subordinates had been lost one after another, and now it seemed the chances of survival were slim to none.
Even the last green-skinned barbarian Wizard pursuers, driven by the crushing pressure of imminent death, had been forced to join hands with her to fight this thing.
But now it seemed they were nearly out of options.
……
"Scree! Scree!"
An ear-piercing cry rang out, followed by an all-encompassing wave of shadow and darkness, accompanied by howling winds.
A terrifying Blood Condor — its wingspan wide enough to blot out sky and sun — descended upon the center of the massive mountain range that resembled a honeycomb, plunging directly into the largest and highest cave.
From somewhere on the mountainside, Leylin's eyes glowed with a faint blue light.
"Departed at 4:47 PM, returned after an interval of 23 minutes and 45 seconds!"
At this moment, he was meticulously recording the Blood Condor King's travel data, and after several days of observation, he had gleaned a few useful findings.
The Blood Condor King here was at least at the Crystal stage — its enormous physique alone, not to mention the terrifying Spiritual Power that coiled around it, was enough to thoroughly extinguish any thought Leylin harbored of seizing it.
Moreover, the Blood Condor King accepted offerings from the entire Blood Condor flock. Every day, large numbers of Blood Condors brought food back to the cave, so there was no need for it to venture out and hunt at all.
Therefore, it rarely ventured out during the day, unlike the ordinary Blood Condors Leylin had encountered before, which spent half their time soaring through the skies.
But at this time every afternoon, the Blood Condor King would invariably leave for a while — presumably to patrol its territory.
This was the opportunity Leylin had been waiting for all along.
"Blood Condors truly live up to their reputation as ancient creatures with the peculiar gift of sensing bloodline items…" Leylin sighed softly.
This time, apart from the Blood Condor King's cave which he dared not peer into, he had also ventured into the nests of several ordinary Blood Condors, and found a great many bloodline items useful to warlocks.
The combined value of everything he had found was staggering — even if his teacher, Grand Duke Gilbert, had come in person, he would have been stunned.
"Everything, absolutely everything — it all comes down to tomorrow!"
Leylin gazed at the cave at the summit, then melted into the darkness.
……
The next afternoon.
With a piercing cry, the enormous Blood Condor King set out once more. Its colossal black shadow was cast upon the ground, forming a vast pool of darkness, while terrifying waves of energy swept outward, intimidating every other high-energy creature that dared covet this territory.
"Now!" Leylin's gaze sharpened.
"Shadow Lurk!" "Shadow Secret Art!" In an instant, his figure vanished, disappearing into the crevices of shadow, shrouded in a thick blanket of dark mist.
Relying on the concealing effect of the spell, Leylin groped his way toward the innermost cave.
"Inside the Blood Condor King's nest, there are two Blood Condors that have already reached the Liquefaction stage standing guard! Whenever the Blood Condor King goes on patrol, they serve as the sentries!"
Leylin lay flat against a protrusion of black rock, studying the two massive crimson figures within the cave, his brow furrowing slightly.
"With my current strength, I could barely handle a single Liquefaction-stage Blood Condor, but it would definitely cause a commotion! When that happens, the entire flock could converge to surround me — and it's entirely possible that the Blood Condor King might suddenly return!"
Leylin stared at the two crimson silhouettes that stood like sentries, gritted his teeth, and crept closer.
Two Liquefaction-stage Blood Condors together were far beyond what he could currently handle, but the detection abilities of high-energy creatures were not necessarily as sharp as those of human Wizards — and that was his opportunity.
He had already spent too much time here; Leylin couldn't afford to keep waiting.
Even if it meant taking a risk, he was going to try.