Quyển 1 · Chương 187: Phản phệ

Grin quiet safely turned inside meditating, while over in the Wizard World, the whole East Coast was awash in surging undercurrents.

Ever since the Faction Assembly, the movements of the Extreme Faction wizards had been almost entirely unhidden—though concealment was impossible anyway, as constructing three medium-sized wizard towers at once alongside massive resource reallocation made the entire East Coast sense that something was amiss.

Although the wizards of the faction kept tacitly tight-lipped, such large-scale maneuvers, combined with the presence of Divination Wizards, made long-term secrets impossible.

Soon enough, the entire East Coast learned of the Extreme Faction's objective.

A brand-new world—more than enough to make every power on the East Coast Grin with envy.

Six-Ring High Tower, the Nature Faction, White House Academy, Doll House, Silent Academy, and the Soul Faction. These six major factions, along with the various forces backing them, began to quietly set their gears in motion.

Welch, the only one who knew the world's coordinates and orbital trajectory, had already fallen into deep trouble.

Inside the Three-Ring Wizard Tower of the Six-Ring High Tower, Welch, Dennis, and Trak—the three pillars of the Extreme Faction—sat together, brows furrowed in worry.

"So, it seems all the other forces have locked their eyes on us?" Dennis was the first to speak, asking Trak in a tone laden with anxiety.

"Indeed. According to the news I've gathered, if it weren't for the fact that most of our faction members are elite figures holding solid ground within major forces, plus the three of us old guys being alive, they probably would have lost patience and struck directly!"

Trak looked grim. The Hand of Dead Souls was a force under his sole command, with its intelligence department entirely in his grip; this intelligence came straight from them, making its credibility exceedingly high.

"The plunder from the Forest Fairy World war gave every faction a taste of the profits. What's more, the world Welch discovered has an orbit in the void that heavily overlaps with the space-time of the Wizard World, holding the potential to build a permanent passage. Though it's just a low-tier world, its potential is immense—it can serve as a cosmic transit station and a springboard to other realms. The East Coast forces will never let this go!" Trak said with a bitter laugh.

Smack! Dennis slammed his hand heavily onto the table, his voice laced with indignation. "Damn it, the news leaked too fast! Those cursed Divination Wizards!"

"It couldn't be helped. To divine our faction's moves, that old guy from the Nature Faction even risked soul damage to perform a divination! Word is he still wants to divine further to see what kind of world we're opening!" Trak said, his expression dimming.

"Sigh! Having a pack of hungry wolves trailing behind us, ready to pounce and tear us apart at any moment, really feels terrible!" Dennis's face grew darker, his tone even heavier.

Welch, who had been sitting quietly to the side, finally opened his mouth.

"Right now, the pressure on me from within the Six-Ring High Tower is also severe. Reallocation of various materials has been restricted. If we hadn't started mobilizing resources from the very beginning, we might not have even gathered enough! Luckily, the toughest phase has passed, and the resources the three of us assembled are enough to build three medium-sized wizard towers!"

Welch spoke unhurriedly, a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes.

"Since the resource mobilization is finished and tower construction has begun, at worst we can just hide in Grin 's territory. Relying on a large wizard tower and our home-field advantage, even if other forces know, there's nothing they can do!" Trak added, equally calm.

The moment the three had returned, they had coordinated resource transfers simultaneously. Using Trak's status as a faction leader for cover, massive amounts of resources were jointly funneled into the Hand of Dead Souls by the trio, then transferred into Grin 's territory, rapidly launching the construction of the three wizard towers.

"Our faction has too few people. Losing even one is a devastating blow. We can't be sure if other forces will unite and use our faction's heritage to threaten us."

Dennis spoke with a stern, solemn expression looking at the two.

"Should we summon everyone in the faction to head straight to Grin 's territory? Let's take a show of hands to vote!"

After speaking, Dennis raised his right hand.

Trak and Welch bowed their heads in deep thought for a moment before finally raising their right hands as well.

Looking at their raised hands, Dennis continued, "Unanimously passed! In that case, once the final batch of materials arrives, I will notify everyone else to hurry to Grin 's territory immediately. Since everyone is a high-level wizard, they can speed up construction!"

...

On the other side, inside a tall wizard tower of the Nature Faction, a Tier 3 Wizard was arranging items, seemingly preparing for some ritual.

Around the room stood several wizards emitting formidable waves of aura. Their robes were a mix of black and white with varying decorations, clearly indicating they belonged to different factions.

"Wizard Rierks, we leave it to you!" A middle-aged man in a black robe with gloomy eyes approached the wizard setting up the ritual and handed over a ring.

A faint ripple radiated from it—it was clearly a spatial storage device.

The wizard called Rierks was draped in a white robe with a head of silver hair and a pale complexion. From time to time, he released chaotic surges of aura that swept back and forth across the room as if uncontrollable—a clear sign of soul damage.

Taking the ring, Rierks retrieved a blue crystal from inside. With just a glance, he swallowed it without hesitation, seemingly unconcerned if the blue crystal might harm him.

As the blue crystal was swallowed, a dark blue glow radiated from inside Rierks. His previously chaotic aura instantly smoothed out, and his pale face regained a healthy color.

After three minutes, the dark blue glow finally faded, and Rierks opened his eyes.

"Pure Soul Crystals... you guys truly are willing to pay up. In your Doll House, there probably aren't many of these left, are there? Andros! This doesn't look like the usual style of you Black Wizards!" Rierks remarked with a touch of mockery.

Evidently, as a White Wizard, Rierks didn't care much for the flattery of Black Wizards.

"However, I've accepted your payment, so I will fulfill my duty. Now, step aside!"

Rierks spoke ruthlessly, his tone stiff and cold.

The mocked Black Wizard merely chuckled, saying nothing as he stepped back to the side.

"Cursed fool! If I didn't still need your divination right now, I would have wiped you out long ago! I curse you to die from the backlash of this divination!" thought the gloomy-eyed middle-aged wizard named Andros, cursing viciously after turning his back!

Of course, he knew he could only say so in his head. As a Divination Wizard, Rierks possessed naturally powerful mental strength, and combined with his background as a White Wizard, his direct combat ability was actually stronger than his own. In a true face-off, Andros had no guarantee of victory.

Rierks soon sat in the center of the room. The floor began to shimmer with blue light as a massive blue-and-white wizard array manifested, covered in complex patterns that, upon closer inspection, clearly corresponded to the stars in the sky of the Wizard World.

"Star Divination Art... As the entities closest to the world barrier in this realm, stars receive the most information from outside the world. This method of divination offers the best chance of foreseeing conditions in other worlds!" The surrounding wizards began to discuss, nodding repeatedly.

The wizard array beneath Rierks rotated in opposite directions inner and outer, with the miniature constellations carved inside constantly shifting positions.

Ten minutes passed, yet the constellations in the room kept changing, and sweat poured like rain down Rierks's face.

"What's going on? Why does divining the state of this world feel like there's a giant boulder standing in the way?"

Experiencing a situation he had never encountered before, Rierks felt his mental strength rapidly draining, gritting his teeth inwardly.

"Whatever, I'll force it!" Rierks shouted loudly, putting all his mental strength into one desperate gamble.

In an instant, Rierks felt his mental strength break through a threshold, reaching an unknown location.

And then!

Rierks felt a surge of heat engulf his entire body as infinite light and heat swirled around him. When he opened his eyes again...

He shockingly saw... a sun!

Immediately after, the sun, sensing someone spying on it, sprouted a tongue of fire and lightly licked his mental strength!

"Ah!"

Rierks felt as if he had been cast into hell—no, not just hell, but a torn abyss of fire.

A fiery inferno.

All he could feel was the terrifying light and heat igniting his soul, preparing to burn it to ashes.

"No!"

Accompanied by a desperate scream, Rierks's physical body, under the eyes of the gathered wizards, began to glow with a golden-red light following his shrieks.

The surrounding wizards instantly panicked.

Dense elemental energy and mental strength gathered rapidly as a massive shield quickly encased Rierks.

One layer, two layers, three layers—every wizard unleashed their protective spells.

Intense light and heat erupted from Rierks's soul as terrifying energy gestated inside his body.

BOOM!!!

Accompanied by a horrifying explosion, the entire wizard tower was flattened to the ground. The self-destruction of a Tier 3 Wizard possessed truly terrifying power.

Blasted by the shockwave, the wizards in the room flew outward in all directions, slamming heavily onto the ground.

...

Pfft!!

A white-robed wizard struggled to his feet from the ground. Though covered in dust and thoroughly disheveled, judging by his aura, he hadn't suffered any severe damage.

Ngoài gã mặc áo bào trắng này ra, những Vu Sư khác từng ở trong phòng cũng đã đáp xuống bên cạnh hắn.

"Chết tiệt, ba món phù khí kích hoạt đều vỡ nát cả rồi! Rốt cuộc Rilks đã nhìn thấy thứ gì mà lại phải chịu sự phản phệ kinh khủng đến thế!"

Vu Sư áo bào trắng chửi thề một câu, trong ánh mắt không giấu nổi vẻ sợ hãi.

Hắn... đã sợ, đã hoảng loạn, bắt đầu suy nghĩ lung tung!

"Chỉ trong chớp mắt linh hồn đã bị thiêu rụi, rốt cuộc là đã tiên tri thấy thứ gì! Cường độ ánh sáng và nhiệt lượng này, tính chất năng lượng cực đoan này, thế giới đối diện kia rốt cuộc đang xảy ra chuyện gì?"

"Ta đã thi triển phù thuật để áp chế loại năng lượng này, nhưng hoàn toàn vô dụng!"

"Quá cực đoan, loại năng lượng này quá cực đoan! Nó gần như bài xích tất cả mọi loại năng lượng khác!"

Tất cả Vu Sư cấp ba có mặt tại hiện trường đều lộ vẻ kinh hãi, dù là những kẻ mạnh hàng đầu ở bờ biển phía Đông, nhưng khi đối mặt với tình cảnh này, họ vẫn không thể kìm nén được nỗi sợ hãi trong lòng.

"Giờ phải làm sao? Còn ép phái Cực Hạn giao ra tọa độ và quỹ đạo thế giới nữa không?" Câu nói của một Vu Sư mặc áo bào đen khiến hiện trường rơi vào im lặng.

"Sức mạnh cấp độ đó, ít nhất cũng phải sánh ngang với Vu Sư cấp bốn đã trải qua hai lần biến chất, chi bằng cứ để phái Cực Hạn làm kẻ dò đường cho chúng ta! Cố gắng tăng cường sức mạnh cho họ, để họ liều mạng sống chết với thế giới đối diện kia đi!"

Theo lời đề nghị của một Vu Sư, những kẻ còn lại đều mở to mắt.

Sau đó, họ lần lượt gật đầu tán thành.

"Được, cứ thế đi! Kể từ hôm nay, mọi người hãy nới lỏng sự kiểm soát đối với phái Cực Hạn, họ muốn huy động tài nguyên gì thì cứ để họ lấy! Dù sao cũng chỉ là làm kẻ dò đường cho chúng ta mà thôi!"

Vu Sư áo bào đen nở nụ cười nham hiểm, như thể mọi thứ đều nằm trong tầm kiểm soát. Những Vu Sư áo bào trắng khác cũng đều lộ vẻ tươi cười.