Chapter 296: An Attacking Thicket
"Evil Dragon Follower!" Ayrin cried out as he immediately recognized the person's dark purple robes.
"Flaming Evil Eye!"
Without any hesitation, Ayrin shot a Flaming Evil Eye towards the Evil Dragon Follower.
"They've opened at least four arcane gates!" Rinloran shouted. His expression slightly changed as arcane particles began to spew out from his body.
The arcane energy fluctuations radiating from this Evil Dragon Follower's body were incredibly strong. They were undoubtedly stronger than they were.
Boom!
But contrary to Rinloran's expectations, the incoming Evil Dragon Follower let out a tragic cry as he failed to dodge Ayrin's Flaming Evil Eye and fell from the sky, crashing into one of the giant black stones.
A trace of light flashed through Rinloran's eyes as he made a realization and said, "He was already grievously injured."
Whoosh!
Right as Rinloran spoke, another arcane master appeared in the sky above them. But this one was wearing silvery white robes and had a layer of frosty mist around them.
"Eh?"
This arcane master was clearly from one of the various academies of Eiche as a strange glint passed through their eyes upon seeing Ayrin, Rinloran, and Stingham's uniforms. But they didn't ponder over it as they quickly flew to where the Evil Dragon Follower had fallen and plunged their hand into the fallen Evil Dragon Follower's chest. With a flash, the Evil Dragon Follower abruptly disappeared.
Before Ayrin and Rinloran could react, Stingham abruptly shouted in anger, "This guy is stealing our spoils!"
There was a loud tear as an angry Stingham fiercely clawed his way out of the weeds and vines around him.
Rinloran ignored Stingham as he turned his head and looked at Ayrin.
Having inadvertently fallen into the midst of a battlefield which contained so many strong masters, they only had two choices. To fight their way forward or to try and run away while evading everyone.
"Perhaps Teacher Liszt and the others are here?" Rinloran thought to himself.
As Ayrin looked back at Rinloran, he immediately realized what Rinloran was thinking. He vigorously threw his fist into the air as he shouted, "At moments like this, we must fight! This is why we arcane masters exist, after all!"
"Alright!"
A decisive look flashed through Rinloran's eyes as his body flickered and began climbing one of the nearby, mountain-sized stones.
"There are so many powerful fellows here! I will finally be able to exhaust this arcane armor and rid myself of it! And there will be so many goodies for us to take as well!"
Stingham quickly clambered to his feet as he shouted, "Wait up!"
As the two looked down from the edge, a chaotic battlefield unfolded before their eyes.
Countless arcane masters swarmed atop the battlefield amidst a symphony of tragic screams and triumphant shouts. More and more of them fell with each passing moment.
"Evil Dragon Followers incoming!"
Ayrin had only just arrived beside Rinloran and Stingham at the top of the stone when he saw two Evil Dragon Followers appear nearby and begin approaching them.
Wings of green light appeared behind one of them as they flew over at a low altitude. As for the other, a cloud of sand enveloped them as they zigzagged their way over like a massive sandworm.
It was apparent that even in a large-scale battle like this one, the law of strength would be obeyed. The strong preyed on the weak. At most, the more conceited and arrogant teams would only go looking for opponents of comparable strength. No one would go searching for those stronger and send themselves to their own deaths.
As a result, only after the majority of arcane masters and Evil Dragon Followers had fallen would it become clear which side held the advantage.
As the arcane energy fluctuations rippling from Ayrin, Rinloran, and Stingham were not particularly strong, their presence was immediately noted by the two nearby Evil Dragon Followers, who assumed they were easy targets to kill.
For the arcane masters and Evil Dragon Followers present, winning the battle was only one side of the equation. The battle was also an opportunity for them to roam around and slaughter and steal weapons and artifacts to increase their own strengths.
"Hell's Furnace!"
Upon reaching a dozen or so meters away from Ayrin and the others, the Evil Dragon Follower with wings of green light emerging from his back abruptly made his move, invoking a taboo domain skill.
Explosive pops incessantly rang out from under Ayrin, Rinloran, and Stingham's feet as the black stones they were standing on began to burn like charcoal under the influence of the domain energy and emit an astonishing heat. Fiery red flames and thick black smoke began to emerge all around them as well.
It was as if the ground they stood on and the area around them had been turned into one giant melting pot.
Ayrin's hair began to burn and he felt an immense pain from the scorching heat around him, yet he laughed as he said, "Not a bad domain!" and took out the Treasured Book of Sealing.
"Holy Gate of Life!"
"Treasured Book of Sealing!"
Bang!
A strange suction force came out from the book within Ayrin's hands as the Hell's Furnance domain abruptly disappeared.
"How can this be?!" gasped the Evil Dragon Follower who had invoked the skill.
Whoosh!
As the Evil Dragon Follower fell into a stupor, Rinloran unsheathed the Moon Echo Sabre on his back.
His body began to release a faint blue glow.
The vegetation around him began to quickly wither away, revealing the hard black earth beneath as streams of green air twined around the sabre in his hand.
"Moonlight: Sword of Nature!" Rinloran shouted as he viciously swung the sword through the air.
Rip! Rip! Rip!
Several blades of green swordlight fell directly onto the body of the dazed Evil Dragon Follower, who was unable to react in time.
"Argh!" the Evil Dragon Follower screamed as the swordlight pierced through their body.
"What arcane skill is this, and why hasn't he used it before? It's so powerful!" Stingham exclaimed in shock.
"So strong! Perhaps this is an effect of the Lunar Essence's baptism?" Ayrin excitedly thought to himself.
"What?!" cried out the other Evil Dragon Follower, who was enveloped within a cloud of sand, as they abruptly froze in place.
They had originally believed that their partner's domain was already enough to kill, or at least heavily injure, Ayrin's group, yet in the blink of an eye, his partner was the one who had ended up dying. And his partner was about as strong as him!
"The Treasured Book of Sealing?"
This Evil Dragon Follower must have had good eyesight as he saw the book between Ayrin's hands and immediately identified it as the Melissa's legendary artifact, the Treasured Book of Sealing.
They were abruptly at a loss. They knew Melissa's Treasured Book of Sealing could seal up to three different domains at a time. It was impossible for them to win.
But as they turned head and began to run away, this Evil Dragon Follower screamed out, "This arcane team over here is in possession of Melissa's Treasured Book of Sealing!"
"This guy's running away just like that? Don't run! Come let me rob you first!" Stingham shouted as he immediately began chasing after the fleeing Evil Dragon Follower.
As he chased, he released his arcane particles. But much to his dismay, the moment his arcane particles emerged from his body, he became enveloped by a thicket of rapidly growing weeds and vines once more. In but a moment, he had disappeared, and a small jungle had appeared in his place.
"Another powerful enemy has come!"
At the same time, another terrifying arcane energy fluctuation swept across them, violently disturbing the air around them.
Streams of water began to condense in midair, eventually forming a massive snake which shot towards Ayrin.
An arcane master wearing dark red robes with a sinister expression stood in the mouth of the massive water snake. His greed-filled eyes were fixated on the Treasured Book of Sealing between Ayrin's hands.
"This guy has opened at least five arcane gates!"
"Treasured Book of Sealing: Release Seal!"
As the massive water snake swooped down towards him, the violent gusts of air it generated sent Ayrin flying backwards atop the giant stone he was standing on. But not a single trace of fear appeared on Ayrin's face. Instead, it was filled with a fiery fighting intent as Ayrin placed his right hand onto one of the glowing red crystals embedded in the book's cover.
Boom!
A scorching domain energy erupted outward as even the clouds in the sky began to burn.
The water snake began to steam as it quickly shrunk in size.
"Devouring Black Hole!"
As if he had expected such a scenario, a smug smile emerged on the face of the arcane master standing within the water snake's mouth.
A deep and mysterious looking cluster of black light abruptly appeared before him.
The cluster of black light released a strange energy which invisibly descended over Ayrin.
Ayrin felt a tremendous suction force act on him, causing his body to fly up into the air towards the cluster of black light.
"Shadow Ball!"
Without any hesitation, Ayrin commanded the golden crystal-like shadow ball beside him to shoot forward.
Boom!
The golden shadow ball slammed into the cluster of black light. Although the cluster of black light remained, a look of great shock had emerged in the eyes of the arcane master who stood within the water snake's mouth as his body abruptly stiffened.
Whoosh!
The moment he stiffened, an enormous shadow emerged behind him.
"This… it's you?!" the arcane master screamed in great terror as a hideous look of fear emerged atop his face.
Bang!
As he spoke, a beam of light containing the aura of darkness struck his chest.
"Agh!" He let out a wretched cry as his upper body began to corrode.
"Just what kind of team is this?!"
An almost invisible human figure rose up from the ground.
This arcane master had carefully and silently snuck to the bottom of the rock which Ayrin and Rinloran were standing atop. He had originally planned to launch a sneak attack but stopped upon seeing the other arcane master receive grievous wounds at the hands of Ayrin's group. In this moment of hesitation and shock, he slightly released his cover.
Bang!
At this moment, this arcane master abruptly fell forward as he felt a sharp pain run through his head as if something had hit him hard on the head, causing him to lose control of his arcane energy and completely reveal himself.
It was a short and skinny middle aged man wearing dark purple robes.
He quickly clambered back up to his feet and turned around. He couldn't believe his eyes.
"What?!"
There was nothing behind him other than a large thicket!
"He still hasn't discovered me… I can secretly attack him at least once more…"
Indeed, the thicket was none other than Stingham.
