"That's..."
Darlenlei watched the several streaks of light chasing each other not far away, feeling herself tense up: "Soul Slayer cultists!"
What appeared before Darlenlei were none other than Soul Slayer wizards.
They all wore blood-red, wide-sleeved robes, with an inverted silver cross pattern on the back. A white skull sat at the center of the cross, its eye sockets filled with void-like darkness that seemed to be sneering coldly at Darlenlei.
This was the standard attire of Soul Slayer cultists, and from these wizards, Darlenlei could sense powerful traces of elementalization: "At least half-elementalized wizards, and that leader... he..."
Almost at the same moment Darlenlei was observing them, the Soul Slayer leader abruptly turned his head. A pair of eyes that seemed to radiate terrifying silver light made Darlenlei nearly collapse to the ground: "A... a second-level
"Don't worry! It's fine!"
Just as Darlenlei's legs were about to give out, her shoulder shifted and her body was lifted by a tremendous force. Then Leilin's gentle voice reached her ears.
There seemed to be a powerful infectious quality in Leilin's voice, helping Darlenlei recover from the icy numbness that had seized her hands and feet.
"Thank you!" Darlenlei glanced at Leilin beside her and suddenly felt much more at ease.
In her view, with someone as unfathomably powerful as Leilin by her side, even the Soul Slayer Cult might be possible to escape from safely?
Once her mind was calm, Darlenlei finally had the spare energy to take in other things.
At the very front, being chased by the Soul Slayer cultists, was a young man with sky-blue eyes and brown hair. Energy particles nearly substance-like in density surrounded his body, helping him boost his speed and deflect attacks.
"Peak First-level! At least 75% elementalized! Who is he? And why is he being hunted by the Soul Slayer Cult?"
A flicker of doubt crossed Darlenlei's eyes.
"You can't escape!"
At this moment, the Soul Slayer second-level Wizard let out a low shout. Silver spiritual particles gathered, forming a silver whip tens of meters long yet impossibly thin.
Crack!
With an elegant flick of his wrist, the silver whip straightened in an instant, its tip lashing directly toward the back of the fleeing wizard.
"Falling Star Pendant!" the young wizard shouted, and a layer of dark crimson light suddenly emerged from his body, vaguely forming the shape of an illusory suit of armor.
Crack! Bang! A muffled sound came from behind as the dark crimson illusory armor shattered. The young wizard's face flushed red.
But the silver whip also paused for a moment, allowing the wizard to sprint toward the entrance of Inboll town—directly toward Leilin and Darlenlei.
"Don't think a mere mid-grade Magical Item can save you!"
Seeing his confident strike dodged, the second-level Wizard's expression grew even more sinister. Distorted skeletal phantom images materialized around him, emanating an aura of despair and profound darkness.
"Sir! My lord! Let's go quickly!" Darlenlei, facing the fleeing wizard head-on, could almost make out every pore on his face. Behind him, the mass of Soul Slayer cultists glowed with blood-red light in their eyes, appearing almost berserk. She tugged urgently at Leilin's sleeve.
"Go? Why should we go?" Leilin smiled faintly. He had only used his Soul Bloodline sensing before without personally intervening, wanting to test the other's strength and luck.
Now, after the test, this little fellow's strength was passable and his luck was quite impressive, making Leilin nod inwardly in approval.
This still-fleeing young wizard was naturally the Farell family bloodline that Leilin had sensed—a branch from one of his siblings. From the young man's facial contours, Leilin could even faintly discern traces resembling Viscount Farell and even himself.
"Damion has already made contact with him? He even gave him my Falling Star Pendant!"
Leilin stroked his chin. The magical item that had just projected the dark crimson illusory armor was precisely the exquisite dark red cross pendant hanging below this young man's neck, adorned with small gemstones—none other than the mid-grade Magical Item, the Falling Star Pendant, that Leilin had crafted himself on the South Coast!
After his advancement to the second level, mid-grade Magical Items no longer had much effect on him, so he had given the Falling Star Pendant to Damion, hoping the latter would pass it on to an outstanding young Wizard of the Farell family.
It seemed Damion had completed this task quite well.
"Leilin, sir, could it be... the person you've been waiting for is him?"
Darlenlei pointed at the wizard fleeing in their direction with a sudden realization: "He's a member of your family, so you came here specifically to rescue him?"
"Something like that!" Leilin raised an eyebrow and glanced toward another direction in the sky, a playful smile tugging at his lips: "It's really lively here today!"
"You won't escape! No one the Soul Slayer Cult wants dead has ever gotten away!"
Accompanying the second-level Wizard's declaration-like voice, the distorted skeletal phantoms around him suddenly floated upward and shot forward, transforming into several white bone chains that instantly locked onto the young wizard's ankles.
Bang! The wizard lost his balance and crashed to the ground, looking utterly wretched. Bloodstained bandages were visible on his chest, clearly showing he had sustained serious injuries during the earlier chase.
"Run? Go on, run some more!"
The second-level Wizard approached the fallen wizard with a dark expression, looking down at him from above.
"I told you, no one the Soul Slayer Cult wants dead has ever escaped! You're lucky—our Cult Master will personally receive you, extract your soul, and roast it over flames for a hundred years..."
"Kill... kill me!"
The fallen wizard struggled to turn over, letting out a muffled breath. All hope had vanished from his eyes.
The prolonged chase, combined with the suppression from various factions earlier, had left him exhausted in body and spirit: "I'm sorry, Grandfather Damion! In the end, I still couldn't avenge you..."
"Lock him up! Be careful!" The Soul Slayer second-level Wizard ordered the cultists behind him, then swept his gaze toward Leilin and Darlenlei at the entrance of Inboll town.
Darlenlei's aura was clearly that of a recent novice, and Leilin, concealing his presence too well, was also dismissed as a minor character by the second-level Wizard.
"Kill them. Extract the souls of all the townspeople. We finally made it out—should bring something back..."
At the leader's command, the Soul Slayer cultists immediately responded in unison, advancing toward Leilin and Darlenlei with malicious intent, blood-red light flickering in their eyes like predators who had spotted delectable prey.
"Le... Leilin, sir! You're very strong—you can definitely defeat them, right?"
Darlenlei retreated repeatedly. Every single Soul Slayer cultist facing her was at least half-elementalized—completely overwhelming her.
"No rush! Not everyone has arrived yet!"
At this moment, Leilin spoke calmly.
"Not everyone? Hasn't arrived? What do you mean?" Darlenlei's face had turned deathly pale.
"Heh heh heh! This female wizard has fine flesh! Nice and tender!" One of the Soul Slayer cultists sniffed, a savage grin spreading across his face.
"Her body you can do whatever you want with, but her soul must be extracted intact. A formal Wizard's soul is still worth quite a bit—could be exchanged for many points..." A gaunt old man added with a cold laugh.
"I..." Tears welled up in the corners of Darlenlei's eyes. She was an orthodox White Wizard. At
"Stay away from me!" Darlenlei cried out in despair, like the final bleating of a helpless lamb—only further stimulating the appetite of the hungry wolves.
"Rest in peace!" Just as the Soul Slayer cultists were about to strike and Darlenlei's eyes were filled with hopelessness, the entire air seemed to freeze.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Piercing sounds of explosive air shot over from the direction of Trilliones City, accompanied by terrifying waves of force that directly parted the clouds on both sides.
A point of white light grew increasingly dazzling on the horizon, eventually forming a somewhat illusory world of holy light.
An unprecedented pressure bore down, causing Darlenlei to collapse directly to the ground. Her chest felt impossibly heavy, and even breathing became extremely difficult.
The Soul Slayer cultists surrounding her also fell one after another. The second-level Wizard's expression changed drastically as he stared at the dazzling white light world, his face grave beyond measure: "Holy Light Domain! A third-level Wizard!"
Before the illusory holy light world, a wizard had appeared at some unknown moment, with vast amounts of sacred light forming illusory scenes behind him.
"Ivick of Trilliones City! Your presence here—are you trying to break the balance of the South Coast?"
The Soul Slayer wizard demanded coldly, though every wizard present could hear the weakness behind his bluster.
A third-level Wizard! In the South Coast, that was the pinnacle of existence! And Ivick himself was among the top even among third-level Wizards, furthermore responsible for guarding Trilliones City—the stronghold of the White Wizards. He was absolutely one of the White Wizards' supreme leaders!
A figure like this—a mere second-level Soul Slayer Wizard could be killed on a whim, let alone the fact that relations between the two sides were already extremely tense, practically outright enemies.
"Scram!"
To the second-level Wizard's questioning, Ivick responded with a single cold word.
"You!" The Soul Slayer second-level Wizard's face flushed crimson. In the end, he gritted his teeth: "Take him! Let's go!"
"You may leave. But leave him with me!" Ivick pointed at the wizard on the ground.