"Fire rain!"
From atop the Venom Wyvern's back, Leilin's calm voice rang out.
Immediately, another enormous black fireball materialized above the stronghold. Plop! The fireball burst apart, splitting into countless specks of black flame that spread outward like rain.
Sizzle!
One of the apprentices surrounding Nis had a speck of flame graze his shoulder. Before he could even utter a single word, he was reduced to a pile of white ash within the flames.
"R-run!" The Lilitel Family apprentice's voice was warped by fear.
Swish swish swish! The apprentices who had been surrounding Nis scattered in panic, dodging the falling fire-specks as though they had seen ghosts.
Sizzle! A speck of black flame landed on the silver thread that had been restraining Nis.
In an instant, the Magical Item twisted and warped within the black fire before finally melting into droplets of silvery-white liquid that dripped onto the ground.
Under the rain of black fire-specks, scores of apprentices were turned to ash without even the ability to resist.
The surrounding buildings blazed with raging flames, instantly becoming a sea of fire under the bombardment of fire rain.
"It's... it's Leilin!"
Nis whispered, and then she saw a speck of black flame flying toward her.
"Hmm?" Leilin, hovering in the sky, caught a glimpse of a somewhat familiar figure from the corner of his eye.
"It's Nis!" Leilin thought to himself. With a subtle adjustment of his control, the black fire-speck shifted slightly in trajectory, whizzing past Nis's hair.
"Who dares attack Black Bone Forest's stronghold?"
Several dark figures rushed out. One of them rapidly chanted a few incantations, and an inverted bowl-shaped green barrier of light materialized in midair, blocking the descent of the black fire rain.
Drip! Drip! Drip!
Countless specks of black fire rained down upon the barrier, slowly burning into it.
The
"I've got you!" Another Wizard beside him immediately began chanting, and a layer of blue ice spread across the barrier in an instant.
Green, blue, and black light entangled together, erupting skyward before plunging back down, tearing a massive tornado across the ground.
When the tornado subsided, both Wizards wore ghastly pale faces—they had clearly taken a severe beating in the clash.
But by then, no one was paying them any attention.
"Incredibly powerful black flames! And this Venom Wyvern! You're 'Black Fire' Leilin!"
A Wizard who appeared to be the leader had recognized Leilin's identity.
"What? That's him!" "Leilin!" "The genius who defected?"
An uproar immediately erupted among the survivors.
"You're all... Wizards of the Lilitel Family, aren't you?" Leilin clasped his hands behind his back. "Don't bother denying it! I can smell your nauseating bloodline stench from this distance!"
"And what if we are?" A silver-haired Wizard stepped forward. "You dared to kill our Grand Elder's only grandson. I've already sent a signal to him—just wait for your punishment!"
"You've already notified him? Good! Wonderful!"
This reaction clearly caught the silver-haired Wizard off guard.
Leilin then continued: "Since you've already sent the signal... then there doesn't seem to be any reason for you Wizards to remain!"
Hearing Leilin's words, the Wizards present felt a sudden chill in their hearts, an overwhelming sense of impending doom.
"Shadow Domain!" Countless shadow tentacles extended from the darkness beneath Leilin's feet, stretching to the horizon and completely blotting out the sunlight over the entire area.
"Watch out!" The opposing Wizard leader could only let out a shriek before a flash of black light and a crimson hand pierced straight through his chest, tearing out a still-beating bright red heart.
Under the assault of the crimson hand, these Wizards' innate defensive spells were as fragile as paper.
"He... he killed the leader!"
One of the Wizards, watching Leilin's demonic silhouette, broke down screaming and fled without looking back.
"Lum, come back!" the surrounding Wizards shouted, but it was already too late.
Within the shadows, Leilin seemed to dissolve into a speck of dust, merging with the breeze and instantly drifting behind Lum. His crimson hand clamped down directly over the man's head.
BOOM!
A layer of blood-colored flames immediately erupted across Lum's body, reducing a full Wizard to ashes in an instant.
Ordinary First-level Wizards, when facing Leilin, were as helpless as children—it was merely a matter of moments.
Whoosh whoosh!
Leilin suddenly raised his head, sensing something in the distance.
From the distant horizon, a gleam of silver light shot toward them like a sword.
"The real one's here!" Leilin smiled faintly and thrust both hands toward the sky.
All the shadows that had blanketed the area retracted into Leilin's hands, condensing into a hovering dark sphere. A powerful wave of energy swept across the entire battlefield in an instant, and a violent storm stripped the top layer of earth from the ground.
"Stop!!!" A voice of fury and shock rang out from the distant silver light.
But Leilin was utterly unmoved. He hurled the sphere in his hands forward.
The sphere, brimming with destructive energy, arrived before the remaining Wizards in utter silence.
Under their horrified, desperate gazes, the black sphere rolled forward slowly and inexorably. Whether they cast their spells or relied on their innate defensive Wizard arts, everything was swallowed by the sphere.
Finally, the remaining full Wizards were also crushed beneath the sphere, leaving behind a massive trail of destruction.
"I will kill you!"
With a furious roar, the silver light accelerated several-fold, and Leilin could even make out the figure of an old man with silver adornments on his face.
"
"ROAR!"
Hulk let out a roar that sounded like a challenge, beat his wings, and swiftly departed the scene.
Swish!
The distant silver light arrived a few seconds later, revealing the figure of an old man in a silvery-white formal robe.
The old man stared expressionlessly at the stronghold, now reduced to ruins. His robes billowed without wind as rings of violent metallic particles surged and flickered behind him.
"You won't escape! This time, even if I have to chase you to the ends of the earth, I will kill you!"
A flash of silvery-white metallic light, and the old man vanished without a trace, his voice still echoing in the empty air.
……
More than ten minutes passed.
Rumble! From within the ruins, a mound of earth rose up, and moments later, a creature resembling a stitched-together abomination emerged.
"That just now... was that Leilin? I can't believe it! He's already become such a powerful full Wizard..."
Nis stared in the direction Leilin had departed, muttering to herself.
Because Leilin had deliberately steered his attacks away from her, and because she possessed decent magic resistance, she had come through the terrifying assault with nothing worse than a few torn garments—no serious injuries at all.
"A full Wizard..." A look of unmistakable envy appeared in Nis's eyes.
To undo the flaws in her own body, she would need to reach the rank of full Wizard herself, so she could make precise adjustments to her own form and ultimately restore her normal appearance.
"Someday! I'll reach that level too!" Nis clenched her fist, her eyes blazing with determination.
Rumble!
Just then, a nearby wooden building collapsed with a tremendous crash, revealing the figure of an apprentice beneath the wreckage.
Nis walked over with some curiosity and came face to face with that Lilitel Family apprentice.
However, compared to Nis, this apprentice had been far less fortunate. He had lost a hand and a leg, and a massive gash in his abdomen had spilled his intestines onto the ground. He was groaning weakly.
"You! Come here!" The apprentice's eyes lit up upon seeing Nis.
"What is it?" Nis walked up to him, her face expressionless.
"You filthy, wretched apprentice, you're... not entirely useless! Q-quickly... take me back to the family estate, and I'll give you something worth your while as payment..."
The apprentice spoke in halting, broken sentences, his face twisted with contempt—as though letting Nis so much as touch him was an immense honor for her.
But Nis stood there like a wooden post, motionless for a long time.
"You—" The apprentice's face flushed red. He pointed at Nis, about to say something.
Snap!
With his movement, a red mineral dropped from inside his robes and rolled across the ground.
And after seeing the mineral, Nis's gaze seemed to grow even more dangerous.
"You! What are you going to do?"
The apprentice, who had been so arrogant moments ago, finally sensed the danger. A flash of panic crossed his face before he straightened himself up again. "Don't tell me you're going to raise a hand against me? You'd better think carefully—I'm a Lilit—"
BAM!
Before the apprentice could finish, a green corrosive orb struck him in the head, dissolving more than half of his skull.
Looking at the corpse sprawled on the ground, Nis stepped forward and picked up the red mineral.
"I was simply following your earlier orders—to aim for your face, sir! Young master of the Lilitel Family..."
The expression on Nis's face was deeply strange—part fear, part relief...
……
On a wide, open stretch of gravel ground, Leilin stood silently at the center, as though waiting for someone.
The Venom Wyvern Hulk had been of no use in a battle of this magnitude, and Leilin had sent him back.
Suddenly, Leilin raised his head, sensing something approaching.