Under these circumstances, the captain of this guard squad had only one choice — to flee.
Whoosh! Whoosh!!
The phantoms moved at extraordinary speed, and all of them carried identical energy fluctuations.
With the surrounding Dark Wizards held at bay by his arrow-shooting technique, the captain's figure flickered several times and burst straight through the encirclement.
In the final instant before he escaped, all he could see were several of his own squad members being torn apart by a kaleidoscope of Dark Wizardry.
"Beta, Guoguo… I'll avenge you!"
He clenched his teeth, and a wizardry formation on his body flickered repeatedly, as though some stored spell was about to activate.
Boom!
Right at that moment, several black hands suddenly reached out from the shadows and seized his ankles!
"Think you can get away?"
A cloud of green mist surged toward him at blinding speed, and within it, a colossal figure could vaguely be seen.
The giant extended its right hand directly, reaching for the captain's head!
"Damn it! Here goes!!!" The captain's face flushed crimson. A necklace around his neck exploded, and a powerful magical fluctuation surged outward, taking the shape of a Knight's dragon lance that thrust straight at the giant!
Ssss! The dragon lance sliced through the air, actually producing a piercing sound, and even along the lance's shaft, tiny sparks of fire began to crackle.
Crack!!!
The dragon lance collided with the giant's palm.
Under the captain's shocked and disbelieving gaze, this life-saving spell — one he had paid an enormous price to obtain — shattered inch by inch against the giant's hand.
The giant's palm didn't stop. It closed around the captain's skull!
"Aahh!" The captain screamed as a translucent layer of crystal armor surfaced from his scalp.
Bang!
The giant hand tore straight through the armor, and then the captain's skull was crushed in its grip with a sickening crunch of splintering bone.
Thud! The captain's headless corpse toppled to the ground, red blood streaming from the neck stump, dyeing the earth crimson within seconds.
"Has everyone been rescued?" the giant wrapped in green mist spoke up.
"Reporting, sir! All rescued — three full Wizards, plus thirteen apprentices! Not a single one missing!" one of the Dark Wizards reported respectfully to the giant.
At the same time, near the carcasses of the other two giant-billed birds, the wizards Lei Lin had captured were also freed from their cages.
"Listen up. I don't care who you were before, but according to the established laws and customs of the Dark
A Dark Wizard read the terms aloud in a booming voice before the assembled captives.
Jocelyn and her uncle — both previously captured by Lei Lin — wore ashen expressions. For Dark Wizards like them, being "rescued" by these people was actually worse than being delivered to the White Wizards!
After all, no matter what, White Wizards always kept their word and cared more about their reputation.
But once you fell into the hands of Dark Wizards who were not from your own organization, your fate afterward was completely impossible to predict.
At this moment, however, the seals on their bodies had not yet been lifted — they were no different from ordinary people, possessing magical power and Spiritual Power they could not draw upon, and naturally could not raise any objections.
Across from the giant shrouded in green mist, wisps of dark energy condensed, forming the silhouette of a cloaked figure.
"Well? The count is correct. Where's my payment?"
"Relax! You'll get what's owed!" The giant in the green mist tossed a small black leather pouch to the figure.
The figure caught it, inspected it carefully, then tucked it into his robe with satisfaction.
"Forgive me for saying so — you captured them yourself, then sold the information so we could come stage a rescue. What exactly are you after?"
The giant asked.
The cloaked figure pulled back his hood, revealing a face concealed behind a blood-red mask — this was none other than Lei Lin, disguised as Blood Hand.
And the organization behind this ambush was actually the Hand of a Thousand Leaves — the Dark Wizard group Lei Lin had joined back in the City of Eternal Night.
"Naturally, for two shares of payment! One from the White Wizards, and one from you lot!"
"In any case, once I hand these prisoners over to the White Wizards, whether they live or die is none of my concern. And if they dare shortchange me on my military merits, I'll take my complaint straight to the Senate!"
Lei Lin smiled faintly and pointed at the prisoners, who were reluctantly signing their contracts with bitter expressions.
"Besides, this is profitable for you too, isn't it? I don't for a second believe you'd let these Wizards go free of charge…"
"Ha ha…" The giant nodded in frank agreement, without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
"They're all Dark Wizards, sure, but they're nothing more than small factions or wandering ones. For us, they represent uncontrollable power and unstable elements. No matter how many of this type die, it's of no consequence…"
"Oh, and this time, I want forty percent of the Dark Mandrake — that's the rule!" Lei Lin immediately declared.
Capturing Dark Wizards and then having the giant play the hero to rescue them — that was only part of the plan. Lei Lin's real objective was these resources!
After all, watching such enormous quantities of resources slip right under his nose every single day — if Lei Lin didn't have ideas of his own, how could that be possible?
"Of course! That's the rule of the Hand of a Thousand Leaves — whoever provides reliable intelligence and information gets a forty percent cut…"
The giant nodded. "Do you want the materials directly, or Magic Stones?"
Without waiting for Lei Lin to answer, he continued: "If you want materials, you can carry off two crates of Mandrake petals right now. If you want Magic Stones, we'll have to sell them first — the price isn't guaranteed, but it definitely won't fall below eighty percent of market value. On top of that, I take a ten percent handling fee!"
"Magic Stones. But I'm in urgent need of them right now, so I need an advance. Settle it now, and you can take another ten percent!"
Lei Lin thought for a moment. The Dark Mandrake was no longer of much use to him, and the magical marks on it were a bit troublesome. What he really needed was that ancient teleportation magic circle he'd discovered last time — it required a massive amount of Magic Stone essence as a power source.
So right now, he desperately needed Magic Stones — large quantities of high-quality Magic Stones!
"Oh?" The giant eyed Lei Lin with some surprise. "Looks like you're a bit strapped for cash recently. No matter — let me cover your share out of my own pocket as an advance!"
After all, all the resources were right here. There was no way the giant could lose out, so he was happy to play the magnanimous one.
With that, the giant handed Lei Lin a thick stack of Magic Stone crystal cards.
"Mm! The numbers check out!" Lei Lin counted them through, then said to the giant: "I'll be pulling out of there in about four days. But there might be some resistance, so I'll need your help!"
"No problem!" The giant grinned with a chuckle.
"I'll have the nearby Hellfire Lava Legion take up an attack posture! And our people inside the White Wizard Alliance will also lend you a hand…"
Lei Lin gave a slight nod.
In truth, the moment he had discovered he was assigned to a position flanked by Black Wizards on three sides, he had contacted the giant immediately.
Through the giant's connections and influence, the Black Wizards across the line had been persuaded to slow their advance.
As a result, the opponents Lei Lin had been dealing with during this stretch were mostly wandering Black Wizards and apprentices — at most, a handful of minor factions. Not a single major Black Wizard power had shown its face here.
Otherwise, with Lei Lin holding this position for over half a month and news of Black Wizard losses trickling out continuously, how could it not have drawn serious attention?
"Mm! With the military merit you've accumulated this time, you should be assigned to a fairly important position once you return. Don't forget our agreement…"
The giant waved a hand, and the Black Wizards loaded the seized supplies onto enormous land lizards before departing the scene at speed.
At the same time, the green mist shrouding the giant's surface grew ever denser…
"I know!" Lei Lin pledged.
He had long been prepared for this.
Having accepted the benefits offered by the Black Wizards, he naturally had to pay the corresponding price.
"You are a Black Wizard forever — I hope you keep that firmly in mind…" The giant's voice faded to nothing, and then the green mist dispersed all at once, leaving behind only the solitary silhouette of Lei Lin standing in contemplation.
……
"Wizard Lei Lin! This is your transfer order! In recognition of your outstanding performance in District Thirteen, the Alliance has specially awarded you a commendation! Furthermore, you are being reassigned to Alliance Headquarters…"
A wizard dressed in black formal attire was speaking to Lei Lin with unmistakable deference.
Though they were both official Wizards, he kept his posture exceedingly humble.
What a joke! The man standing before him was Lei Lin — a ruthless figure who could handle even semi-elementalized Wizards with ease! How would a freshly promoted Wizard like him dare cause even the slightest offense?
"Mm! One moment — I'll head out as soon as I've finished packing!" Lei Lin said with a smile.
"Take your time! There's no rush!" The wizard hurriedly waved his hands.
Lei Lin nodded and called over Number Two and Number Three, who had always kept a low profile and hidden their true strength. After tidying up the bedroom, he gathered all the apprentices in the castle and completed the final handover ceremony.
"Leaving at last!"
Before departing, Lei Lin turned around one more time to take a last look at the castle.
The surrounding sea of dark mandrake flowers had been completely harvested, leaving nothing behind but bare, white ground.
Yet this place was still surrounded on three sides by Dark Wizards. If anything unexpected happened, it would almost certainly be the first location to be attacked.
"All I can do now is hope that the scrolls and potions I left for George will be enough to keep him alive!"
Getting both George and Celia transferred away from here would require him to pull some strings back at headquarters.
Lei Lin had already made up his mind — if it wasn't too much trouble, he would lend a helping hand. After all, they were old acquaintances and friends, so he might as well do what he could!
But first, he needed to return to headquarters and report in before he could try to make that happen.