"All things considered, Phosphor Swamp is currently safe, but it will definitely become incomparably dangerous in the end..."
Leilin thought with a bitter smile: "It's just... do I have any other choice?"
He was certainly being watched by the Blue Mountain King now. Once he left the Ouroboros Ring, he probably wouldn't survive even a single day.
Compared to the Blue Mountain King's main body—a Fourth-rank Morning Star
The massive gap in rank rendered every possible measure useless.
At this point, the only option was to gamble!
Fortunately, he had already slain the other party's avatar, buying himself and the Ouroboros Ring some time!
Otherwise, if the Blue Mountain King kept causing trouble, the other factions would quickly learn that the Ouroboros Ring no longer had a Morning Star Wizard—and descend upon them like sharks smelling blood.
But now, since Leilin had dealt with the Blue Mountain King, that was likely the reason
What Leilin needed to buy was that window of their hesitation!
"Morning Star! I must advance to Morning Star!"
Leilin gritted his teeth.
"Master! This is everything we've collected!" At that moment, Tinasia approached carrying a transparent box.
Inside the box were scattered fragments of flesh and hair, and even several bloodstained pieces of clothing fabric.
"Good. Your contributions this time will be tallied and distributed as contribution points later. For now, we're going home..."
Before his subordinates, Leilin once again assumed the bearing of an omniscient lord.
...
"Master!"
Returning to his own wizard tower and hearing the Green Elf Tower Spirit's greeting, Leilin actually felt as though an eternity had passed.
The last time he had left was to attend a banquet celebrating Frey's successful advancement to the Crystallization stage.
But who could have guessed that in such a brief span of time, such dramatic changes would occur—even the entire Ouroboros Ring being on the verge of collapse?
The collective disappearance of Gilbert and two other Morning Star Wizards was something Leilin had never anticipated.
And with the loss of their Morning Star-level deterrent force, the Ouroboros Ring immediately began to show signs of instability.
"Tower Spirit, back up all experimental data to the Chip, destroy the originals, and eliminate all test subjects. Extract important resources and prepare them for transport!"
Leilin took a deep breath and issued orders for the critical matters.
"Authorization confirmed. Spiritual Power interface connected. Data transfer in progress!" Compared to human wizards, the Tower Spirit's obedience was second to none, and it immediately began coordinating with the Chip.
In truth, Leilin had long kept backup habits—important experimental data was stored directly in the Chip. The Tower Spirit only held a small portion, and now was the time to fill in the gaps.
But the most critical task was actually the destruction of the test subjects.
Over the past century and more, Leilin had secretly conducted numerous bloodline experiments. If anyone discovered something from those test subjects, his future would be finished.
Clack! Clack!
Under the Tower Spirit's direction, numerous secret doors and tracks opened, revealing hidden compartments and storage cabinets.
Inside, countless Magic Stone crystals and rare items shimmered with dazzling light. Looking at these treasures, Leilin sighed and took out numerous Storage Magical Items to collect them.
He had thoroughly provoked the Blue Mountain King this time, and no longer harbored any hope that his wizard tower would survive.
Compared to the headquarters deep within Phosphor Swamp, his wizard tower would surely be the first to fall. Since he had already decided to take refuge at the headquarters, he naturally couldn't leave these items for others.
Thinking of this, Leilin walked to the room where he had previously received the radiation from the Snake Woman's bone segment.
After a complex and meticulous verification process, Leilin saw the bone segment radiating a milky-white glow inside a crystal ball.
"Chip!" Leilin called out with a complicated expression.
"Beginning match. Data lock unlocking..." Massive streams of data formed two blue trails of light, shooting from Leilin's eyes into the crystal ball at the tip of the mechanical arm.
After a full two minutes of data transfer, a crisp sound rang out, and a small hole slowly appeared on the surface of the crystal ball, gradually widening.
"This Morning Star advancement... most of it will depend on this!"
Leilin sighed and took out a crystal box, carefully storing the Snake Woman's bone segment inside.
He hadn't kept the bone segment on his person before because he feared Gilbert would discover it. But now, with no Morning Star Warlock remaining at the headquarters, there was nothing left for Leilin to fear.
"Teacher, are we really leaving?"
Before their departure, Sluby looked at the black tower and the nearby black fortress, his eyes filled with obvious reluctance.
After living here for over a hundred years, he had developed deep attachments and truly didn't want to leave just like that.
Similarly, behind Leilin, even Gubler and Pike—though they had obeyed Leilin's orders and packed all their belongings—wore the same look in their eyes.
"We must leave!" Leilin answered with absolute finality. "You all know what the situation is like. Apart from the headquarters, nowhere is safe..."
Pike and the others nodded with grave expressions. Though they didn't yet know about the three Morning Star Wizards' disappearance, the earlier chaos alone had been enough to terrify them for a long while.
Wizards who lived to three or four hundred years were all shrewd people. They could naturally smell something extraordinary in the recent events, which was why they fully supported Leilin's decision.
Glancing at the apprentice who still seemed somewhat confused, Leilin shook his head, stepped forward, and patted his shoulder: "We will definitely come back! I promise!"
"Mm! I believe you, Teacher!" Sluby nodded vigorously, while Pike beside him showed a bitter smile on his face.
...
Deep within Phosphor Swamp.
Countless sulfur-scented bubbles rose from the depths of the swamp and formed green flames in the air above.
The Warlock city standing at the center of the swamp was as busy as ever, with even more people than before.
It wasn't just one or two noble families with superior bloodlines who had sensed the danger—even before the borders had grown unstable, many marquises and earls had already transferred their families and vassals here, creating an even more prosperous market.
As for their territories, they didn't worry about them at all.
In the eyes of the exalted Warlocks, common folk were like grass on the ground—no matter how much was cut, it would stubbornly sprout again come spring. With a slight tax reduction, they would flourish again within a few decades.
Moreover, neither the attackers nor the defenders cared about these common resources, so the people often maintained decent living conditions, barely different from before the war.
What pained the Warlocks far more than their subjects were their castles and wizard towers.
Warlocks like Leilin, who had built their wizard towers on their own territories, would surely be heartbroken after this war. No matter who the enemy was, they would certainly show no mercy to these structures. Once a Tower Spirit was bound to its master, it could never be reassigned—destruction was the only path.
"Hehe... Leilin, the Oakheart family seems to harbor considerable resentment toward you. Look at this latest intelligence—your territory has already been occupied, and even your wizard tower has been demolished..."
Frey handed a piece of intelligence to Leilin with a cheerful smile.
"Considerable indeed!" Leilin rubbed his nose. "Their patriarch died at my hands!"
Inwardly, Leilin silently added a Morning Star avatar to that count.
It would be strange if the other party treated him politely after something like that.
More than ten days had passed since relocating to the Ouroboros Ring's headquarters, and during that time, countless events had unfolded.
Trouble was brewing across every territory, and numerous factions had invaded. Leilin's territory being seized was merely one example among many.
Even Frey's own territory had been lost, which was why she tried to make light of things and tease Leilin.
But Leilin could still detect the fear and unease hidden beneath Frey's forced cheerfulness.
The enemy's combined strength this time had exceeded many people's expectations. The Blue Mountain family was only part of it—more factions lurked beneath the surface.
The Ouroboros Ring's outward strength masking internal weakness was visible to everyone. The situation had already progressed from border skirmishes to territories being occupied by unknown forces.
Even outside Phosphor Swamp, the spies and scouts of various factions could be spotted from time to time. The Ouroboros Ring's Warlocks could only rely on the headquarters' several Defense Magical Arrays as their core, establishing a few narrow defensive lines and holding on desperately.
But anyone with eyes could see it: if the Ouroboros Ring's Morning Star combat strength failed to appear soon, the entire Ouroboros Ring might face the crisis of annihilation.
"How is progress on the Star Gate?"
Seeing Frey's stubborn posture, Leilin couldn't go up and comfort her directly—that would wound her pride. So after a moment of silence, he asked instead.
In truth, the root of all their problems lay with the three elders. If they could appear immediately—or even just one of them showed up in public—not only would all the Ouroboros Ring's Warlocks regain their backbone, but the probing attacks from outside would decrease considerably.
"Several marquises from the Technical Division have been staying there day and night..." A bitter smile appeared on Frey's face.
"But the result... the Star Gate requires at minimum a Morning Star Wizard to activate it. Otherwise it can't support physical passage, let alone any rescue operation. We can't even find someone qualified to open the Star Gate on our end..."
Seeing Frey like this, Leilin knew that deep down she resented Blood Duke
"We can't blame the teachers for this. The allure of the Inferno World is simply too great..."
Leilin sighed.