Under the tribunal of the Joint Council, the Mist Forest would likely not face annihilation, but a severe loss was almost certain—they might even suffer a punitive demotion of their evaluation rank, costing them a vast amount of benefits!
Not to mention that Leilin Farell, supposedly "gravely wounded," was still here!
Since a mortal enmity had already been formed, the only possible ending was the complete annihilation of one side!
And this was something the other party could not tolerate.
Therefore, they would surely rally every available hand and, while Leilin was still recovering, wipe the Nature Alliance from existence entirely!
And this was exactly what Leilin wanted.
"I deliberately left him a few days to gather his subordinates. Hopefully, he won't disappoint me!" A playful smile curled at the corner of Leilin's lips.
He turned his head slightly, gazing toward the canyon's exit.
"They're here!"
At that moment, outside the canyon, a ring of robed Wizards stood in a circle, their forms clustered around a few central figures.
At the head was a middle-aged man with a sinister face—the very Master of the Mist Forest Academy who had escaped that day.
"Heh heh! Gust, you really let yourself go! Getting badly wounded by a mere honorary professor of some tiny academy?"
This Gust was, of course, his real name, while the "Siss" from before had been an alias.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with Gust was an old man in his fifties or sixties. His wrinkled face bore a hooked, upturned nose, and his narrow eyes glinted with a sharp, predatory light—he looked even more sinister and violent than Gust.
Upon hearing his faintly mocking words, the Mist Forest Wizards around them showed no sign of anger in their eyes, as though they hadn't heard a thing.
The reason, of course, was the powerful energy fluctuation radiating from the old man.
Around him, delicate threads of energy traced patterns in the void. He was clearly a peak First-level
"Had you been the one in my place back then, your fate wouldn't have been any better!"
Faced with the mockery, Gust merely let out a cold snort, still haunted by memories of Leilin's strength.
And the old man, who knew full well how powerful Gust was, let his expression darken. "If that Leilin's injuries have already healed, then I'll need double the payment!"
"Double it is!" Gust gritted his teeth and agreed without hesitation.
"I had to consume an ancient 'Grand Radiance Talisman' just to recover this quickly. It's extremely unlikely the other side possesses anything of the sort..."
This was Gust's confidence in the resources of a mid-tier academy. In his view, what could a small academy like the Nature Alliance possibly have?
"Heh heh! Quite right. Besides, at best he's on your level—how could he possibly withstand the two of us joining forces?"
The old man chuckled darkly.
"Master Academy Head! The signal jamming tower has been fully deployed!" At that moment, a semi-elementalized Wizard approached and bowed to Gust.
"Good! Attack immediately! I want the Nature Alliance Academy struck from the roster of the entire Dark Extreme Region!"
A flash of vicious intent crossed Gust's face, and he swept his arm forward with a sharp wave!
Over a dozen beams of multicolored light immediately shot toward the canyon entrance—every single one a First-level Wizard!
As a mid-tier academy, the Mist Forest had no trouble cultivating or recruiting formal Wizards, and with the long lifespans of Wizards accumulating experience, they had amassed over thirty formal Wizards in total.
This time, Gust had brought more than half of them along.
Boom!
The dozen or so beams of light charged toward the canyon entrance, only to be immediately halted by a shimmering barrier of defensive magic.
"Just a defensive array from a puny little academy! Break!" A piercing roar echoed from within the lights, and then a mass of black radiance coalesced into a titanic war axe, its handle wrapped in heavy black iron chains. The blade glinted with a cold, blinding brilliance.
Crack!
The enormous axe cleaved downward with devastating force!
With a thunderous crash, the entire barrier shattered instantly, fracturing into motes of scattered light that rapidly dimmed and faded.
"We're under attack!"
Xiling, as a formal Wizard, was the first to react. Her face went deathly pale, and a gust of fresh wind carried her to the front of the ice-mountain laboratory.
Whoosh! A flash of black light, and a mole the size of a young boy emerged, its two long, grizzled whiskers trailing across the ground.
"Little Xiling! This time we're in real trouble! If I survive to the end of this, you'd better send me at least ten times the berries you sent last time!"
The mole stroked its whiskers, looking distinctly unwilling.
"Damn it! If I hadn't signed that contract with that old fossil back then, I wouldn't have been forced to defend this place to the death!"
"All apprentices, assemble at my position immediately!"
Xiling had no time even for a bitter smile. Ignoring the mole, she used the magical array to contact every apprentice in the academy.
She knew very well that this assault was almost certainly launched by the Mist Forest!
In battles between formal Wizards, apprentices were nothing more than cannon fodder—there was no point deploying them and suffering pointless casualties.
Now, this place was their only slim chance of survival!
A glimmer of hope flashed in Xiling's eyes, and she began sending voice transmissions into the laboratory: "Lord Leilin! It's the Mist Forest Wizards! They've actually dared to violate the Joint Council's regulations and launch an unauthorized assault on another academy's stronghold!!!"
But to Xiling's surprise, there was no response from inside.
It wasn't until she had transmitted a third message—and was on the verge of breaking through the ice—that Leilin's voice finally came: "My healing is just barely short of completion! If I'm interrupted now, I'll likely suffer an immediate backlash..."
"How much longer do you need?" Xiling clenched her handkerchief tightly.
"Ten minutes!!!" After a brief silence, Leilin's voice came again.
"Understood! I will buy you that time!" Xiling took a deep breath, turned to the assembled apprentices, and cleared her throat.
"As Academy Head, I order you—defend this place at any cost! I know it's a lot to ask, but with the array's help, all I need is for you to hold for ten minutes!!!"
"Yes, ma'am!" "We'll fight them to the last!"
After a moment of stunned silence, the apprentices erupted in shouts. Obo and Illya were among them.
They understood all too clearly what fate awaited them if the academy fell today.
"Good! Activate it, Grandpa Xiding!!!"
Xiling drew a deep breath.
"Fine, fine—really can't stand you young people!" The mole shook its head, then suddenly threw itself flat against the ground!
Black light burst outward instantly, tracing a colossal magical symbol across the earth.
And a layer of defensive barrier surged upward, merging with the original great magical array to form a tight shell around Leilin's laboratory.
Bang! Bang!! Bang! Bang!!
By now, the enemy Wizards had already broken through to the buildings. Apprentices who hadn't managed to evacuate in time met gruesome ends.
A young boy was sliced in two by a blade of light, his upper half still shrieking in agony.
A female apprentice didn't even have time to cry out before a green sphere descending from the sky corroded her into a puddle of blood.
More apprentices were simply buried beneath buildings demolished by the massive magical bombardment, dying without a sound.
Through the magical array, Xiling witnessed it all, and two streams of tears flowed ceaselessly down her cheeks. These were all the future seeds of the Nature Alliance—her life's work!
"Found it! Over here!"
The barrier here was noticeably thicker than elsewhere, immediately drawing the enemy Wizards' attention. Within moments, over a dozen beams of light had encircled the area, the vague silhouettes of different figures visible within.
Snap! Xiling hurled a communication device onto the ground.
"The signal's been cut! Hold on!"
She pressed both palms flat against the barrier, pouring her Spiritual Power and magical energy into it without hesitation.
The other apprentices did the same, though their Spiritual Power was still pitifully weak. The instant contact was made, several apprentices went deathly pale, as though struck by a sledgehammer.
"Boom!"
Neither side wasted words. Over a dozen beams of multicolored energy lashed out simultaneously, slamming directly into the array.
Bam! A wave of apprentices collapsed to the ground, many falling unconscious. Xiling barely managed to remain standing, though she swayed unsteadily on her feet.
And when she saw the two figures standing behind the mass of Wizards, utter despair spread across her face.
The elapsed time had not yet reached half of what Leilin had requested, but the two peak First-level Wizards across from her had already stripped away every shred of her will to resist.
Behind Xiling, within the laboratory, Leilin waited in silence, his expression as cold and detached as ice.
"Almost time?" he murmured.
In truth, Leilin could have intervened earlier. But he had sat watching, determined not to act until the Nature Alliance had suffered devastating losses.
As for the apprentices who died? In Leilin's mind, they weighed no more than a few grains of dust!
As long as it left the enemy with indelible evidence, what did a few dead apprentices matter? Besides, these apprentices had all been cultivated by Xiling's hand—when the time came to seize complete control of the Nature Alliance, a purge would be necessary regardless.
And now, the time had come.
With Gust and his forces having wrought such destruction upon the Nature Alliance, even if Leilin were to annihilate them in one fell swoop, he would have a legitimate pretext.
Though this pretext wasn't worth much, having one was still better than none! The value of the dead apprentices and the destroyed resources lay precisely here.
"Academy Head Gust! Why? Tell me why!"
Xiling withdrew her hands and sat watching as the defensive array crumbled under the relentless assault of the enemy Wizards. The guardian creature was sent flying with blood spraying from its mouth. A bitter smile appeared on her face.
"Profit! Everything is ultimately for profit!"
Gust's voice was icy, devoid of any human warmth, his gaze sliding past Xiling's beauty as though she were made of air.
"You were in my way, and I'm simply removing the obstacle. That's all."