A blade of dark purple light, brimming with intense demonic power, plummeted from the sky in an instant.
At the source of that aura was a lithe figure, yet the terrifying pressure radiating from her body belonged to a high-tier classed combatant. The longsword in her hand shimmered with radiant battle qi.
The cunning blade pierced straight through the wyvern's scale defenses and carved downward along a perfect arc.
Boom!
A rain of blood scattered across the sky, and then an enormous sub-dragon's head came hurtling toward the earth like a meteor.
"There really are more enemies!"
A teleportation spell scroll materialized in Borujie's hand, about to be activated immediately.
Dimensional Anchor!!
In that very instant, a dark shape in flight dove downward like a hunting falcon. The flash of light from its wielder's hand struck precisely enough to disrupt Borujie's teleportation spell — the timing was executed to absolute perfection.
"Fourth-level spell! They're already a ninth-level mage!!!"
The shadow seized the high-tier warrior from before and soared upward, revealing a young and striking face — none other than Lei Lin!
The dark purple battle qi instantly cleaved through Borujie's advanced mage armor, tearing a horrifying wound across his body.
Splash! Splash!
Screaming in agony, Borujie plunged into the frigid seawater along with William.
Lei Lin and Isabel, agile as a pair of sea fish, dove into the water right behind them, each locking onto their respective targets.
Rancid, ice-cold seawater flooded in through his mouth and nose, and the searing pain in his chest hit him like a sledgehammer. The shock jolted Borujie — a high-tier mage who had spent his entire life in luxury and comfort — into a desperate struggle.
And when a dark shadow of a soul flickered at the edge of his vision, that struggle reached its peak.
A blood-red glow surged up from the ocean floor. The Demonic Blood Dagger, honed to a terrifying sharpness, sliced through layer after layer of Borujie's hastily conjured spell defenses in succession before sinking into his shoulder.
Feeling as if his life force — and even his Spiritual Power — was gushing out through a breach as wide as a dam, along with the calm expression on the young mage's face before him, Borujie could only laugh bitterly to himself.
A nine-level mage at just sixteen years old. And with such meticulous scheming, absolute composure in the heat of battle — Marquis Louis had truly found himself a terrifying enemy!
Though he desperately wanted to escape and warn his employer, the Demonic Blood Dagger had pierced deep into his body, sealing away every scrap of his Spiritual Power. He could do nothing but struggle weakly with his limbs.
A torrent of spiritual energy flowed along the dagger and into his body, and the sheer euphoria of the sensation nearly made Lei Lin roar aloud.
But he forced himself to suppress the thrill. The dagger never loosened its grip until Borujie had been reduced to a withered corpse.
As a high-tier mage, Borujie's highest attribute was undoubtedly his Spirit. By Lei Lin's estimate, his Spirit stat may well have exceeded 15 — and now every last drop of it belonged to Lei Lin.
Pure spiritual energy, further refined by the Demonic Blood Dagger's conversion, was devoured by Lei Lin with ravenous hunger.
Having already gained experience from his main body's devouring rule, Lei Lin wielded this soul-draining ability with effortless mastery.
Before long, the Chip's notification chimed: [Ding! Main body has undergone a Demonic Blood Dagger enhancement! Spirit +1!]
In Lei Lin's status panel, his Spirit attribute finally broke past the threshold of 10!
The moment his Spirit crossed that barrier, it brought about a strange and immediate change within Lei Lin.
His soul soared upward as if it could perceive an even more fearsome layer of the
"A fifth-tier Weave? What a pity — I can't fully enter it just yet," Lei Lin sighed.
[Ding! Main body Spirit stat has surpassed 10! Weave analysis progress accelerated!]The Chip's notifications continued to ring out, displaying several new status updates.
[Ding! Main body Spirit has broken through! Mage level increased — currently Level Ten Mage!]
[Ding! Main body has advanced to Level Ten Mage. Fourth-level Spell Slots +1, Third-level Spell Slots +1, Second-level Spell Slots +1!]
[Ding! Main body data has changed — re-scanning and collecting!]
Very quickly, Lei Lin noticed his status panel had refreshed: [Lei Lin Farrow — Age: 16 — Race: Human — Ten-level Mage — Strength: 5.2 — Agility: 6.5 — Constitution: 6.3 — Spirit: 10 — Condition: Healthy — Innate Talents: Robust, Encyclopedic — Spell Slots: Fourth-level (2), Third-level (4), Second-level (6), First-level (???), Zero-level (???)]
[Magic Web Analysis Progress: Zero-level Magic Web 100%! First-level Magic Web 100%! Second-level Magic Web 36.29%! Third-level Magic Web 15.50%! Fourth-level Magic Web 1.96%!]
"As expected, leveling up as a mage has a far greater effect on the Magic Web analysis progress!"
Lei Lin studied his latest stats and the Magic Web analysis progress, a satisfied look spreading across his face.
[Ding! Subject's Spiritual Power data has reached a critical threshold, triggering a transcendental reaction. The Devil Blood Dagger's amplification effect on Spiritual Power has significantly weakened!]
"So this day has finally come?"
Lei Lin looked at the Chip's final notification and couldn't help but sigh.
Ten points of Spiritual Power. As expected, it was a critical threshold — after this, the Devil Blood Dagger's effect would be negligible.
This time, killing a high-level mage had boosted his Spiritual Power by 1. Next time, it might not even reach 0.1, and the time after that, perhaps it would drop to 0.001!
"After all, it's just a transitional tool — I can't rely on it too heavily! But next time, I can focus on raising other stats instead, and use the Devil Blood Dagger to push all attributes up to 10 at once! I have a feeling that once every stat reaches that threshold, something truly wondrous might happen..."
When it came to his own instincts, Lei Lin had absolute faith in them.
At that moment, several items on the corpse still glimmered with magical light.
A high-level mage's personal equipment was extremely valuable, and it happened to match Lei Lin's own build perfectly, making his eyes light up.
After stripping Bolujie practically bare, Lei Lin immediately destroyed the body and all traces of it, then surged upward through the water.
"Whew… Even with the power of magic, I'm not yet a divine being — I still need oxygen!" Lei Lin shook the water droplets from his hair and glanced at Isabel, who had surfaced nearby.
"Did you handle it?"
"That noble waste? What difficulty was there in dealing with him?" A brilliant smile spread across Isabel's face.
Since her demonic transformation, such expressions had become rare.
It seemed that after avenging part of her blood debt, Isabel had shed some invisible chains from her very being.
"Excellent! William, Bolujie, Keluo, Qiaodamo — all of them are finished. Now I'm actually looking forward to the look on Marquis Louis's face when he hears the news…"
"That old man won't be alive much longer either!" Isabel delivered her death sentence.
"Exactly. Our top priority now is to rendezvous with the Barbarian Pirates and crush the slave-hunting fleet in one decisive blow — wiping out every last trace of Louis's power on the seas!"
By the time they returned to the Black Skull, Ronald and Robinhan had just arrived with Leylin's subordinates, forming two clearly distinct groups alongside the Barbarian Pirates.
"Hehehe… We meet again, young Master Leylin!"
Madam Tyren swayed the fiery-red tail behind her, greeting them with a smile that instantly eased the somewhat tense atmosphere.
"Speaking of which, I have you to thank for the Tiger Shark's Tear! I never expected that toxin to be so devastatingly effective against the shark pack…"
Tyren's beautiful eyes studied Leylin without pause, as if trying to see straight through to his heart.
"Heh… It was a potion brewed by my mentor. He has extraordinary expertise in both Toxicology and Alchemy!"
Leylin lied through his teeth while subtly elevating his mentor's reputation.
In reality,
Sure enough, when the others heard that the mentor behind Leylin might also be a fearsome poison master, even the other elite Barbarian warriors had a flicker of gravity in their eyes.
They had witnessed the scene earlier — using a single tiger shark as bait, the entire pack had been driven into a frenzy, turning on each other in a bloodbath. Their blood had transformed into a horrifying toxin, one that could even spread!
A toxin specifically designed to target an entire species — if the target were Barbarians instead? Just the thought sent a chill down Tyren's spine.
"Per our earlier agreement! The Black Skull goes to me, the tiger sharks go to you! Any objections?"
Leylin fixed his gaze on Orgod, the Barbarian commander.
At this point, their numbers had dwindled to fewer than fifty, many of them wounded from the earlier battle, while Leylin's hundred elite fighters remained completely unscathed.
However, the enemy's high-tier combatants were clearly still at full strength, leaving the two sides in an even standoff.
"You… are something!" Orgod stared at Leylin, his voice like the grinding of a dozen blades of metal.
"Let's go!"
Orgod's massive figure was the first to depart, followed by the rest of the Barbarian warriors.
"Handsome young master, don't forget about our final agreement!"
Lady Tiren, walking at the very end, gave Leylin a meaningful hint as she departed.
"Rest assured! I've never forgotten!"
Leylin watched them leave the Black Skull, knowing that from this moment on, this massive magewar ship was his exclusive spoil of war!
Moreover, all the other large warships Kro had painstakingly constructed had also been transferred to Leylin's name!