Not long after leaving the city, another rapid wood moth fell, leaving Ivan with a troubled expression.
“What happened?”
“We lost him.”
After all, their target was an experienced apprentice, the rapid wood moth had to follow the target, conceal itself, and also send part back to report the movements — losing the target was expected.
In the end, the opponent left too quickly and the distance between them remained far.
Heidi took out a beast hide booklet, each page of which recorded a Secret Method Seal. She flipped to one of the pages, where the seal showed subtle movements — it was Wolban’s Secret Method Seal.
In front of everyone, Heidi activated the Secret Method Seal, and the message was clearly transmitted.
“Southeast direction, Sharp Peak, significant discovery, come quickly to assist.”
Besides Wolban’s voice, they also heard other noisy roars of beasts and sounds of fighting, which all indicated that the opponent had encountered a mishap, and the situation sounded ominous.
Combining Wolban’s words, the group exchanged glances.
“When was this message left?”
“Last night.”
The expressions on their faces were momentarily odd.
The Secret Method Seal had a range limitation, only activating within a certain distance. As the message was nearly a day old, whatever was going to happen had surely happened already. If they assumed the worst, then those who were doomed would be doomed.
At this moment, there was no need to rush.
As members of the same academy and the same mission, they were duty-bound and logical to check on the situation.
Using Swamp Forest City as a reference, they were in precisely the southeast direction, indicating that Wolban and his group were likely still not doomed.
“Let’s all go and check it out.”
taking the lead, Heidi started jogging towards the front, followed by the other three.
Under the hazy moonlight, the four of them moved swiftly through the woods.
Far ahead of them at the bottom of a distant peak, Allen was unaware that he was being followed; he had already regrouped with his companions and informed them of the situation in Swamp Forest City.
“It must be that cunning bastard.” Melinda said angrily, as the current situation, while not affecting the bigger picture, signified their loss of control over the city, “Remember, the next time we encounter that guy, we must absolutely crush him to ashes.”
Yosef said, “Why don’t we just kill him now?”
“There are more pressing matters at hand.”
The three of them took Melinda’s lead, as her strength was the strongest amongst them.
According to their initial plan, they intended to use the abandoned laboratory’s defensive array to block the way, then use magicalized wild beasts to exhaust the opponents’ spirit and Mana, finally striking a deadly blow or even capturing them alive.
But the plan showed a slight flaw; the trapped individuals somehow managed to break the defensive array from the beginning, holed up in the laboratory, and reversed the use of the array to protect themselves.
Melinda knew well the defensive array wouldn’t protect the other side, for it was a flawed array. During three specific times in a day, the array showed faults for three minutes, during which the array was as good as non-existent, allowing anyone to enter or exit freely.
In the past half day, they had already launched two attacks using the magicalized wild beasts on the laboratory, inflicting significant injuries on the occupants.
Soon, they would launch the third attack.
At that moment, Melinda’s face changed abruptly, “Damn it! Allen, how do you do your job? Someone has followed us.”
“What? Impossible!” Allen’s eyes widened as his head shook like a tambourine, “I’ve been keeping an eye on our trail, confident that no one was following.”
“They are already here, not just one person. They are headed right this way.” Melinda shot him a disapproving look. He really was more of a hindrance than a help. If not for his still being somewhat useful, she’d sacrifice him too.
“We shouldn’t meet with them yet. Let the gentlemen in the jungle entertain them for a while,”
Keeping an eye on the distance, Melinda vanished with the two of them at the foot of the mountain where many magicalized wild beasts recently appeared.
Elsewhere, Heidi stopped in her tracks, while the others cautiously scanned their surroundings.
“I think we’re in trouble,”
“It seems we’ve found the right direction.”
Suddenly, a large number of magicalized wild beasts emerged all around them, their crimson eyes faintly surrounding them, signaling that the enemy had detected their arrival.
After surveying their surroundings for a few seconds, each of them shook their heads slightly, having not spotted any enemies.
Heidi said, “The more the enemy wants to stop us, the more we need to check out what’s ahead, don’t you think?”
“Exactly.”
“So, we must not hold back. Let’s make it quick and decisive.”
With that, she took action first, pulling a potion out of her pocket to use as magic-casting materials. In the next second, she unleashed a volley of ice spikes from her hands toward a large area in front of them, with the grandiose sweep of autumn winds clearing fallen leaves.
Noticing this scene, Ivan felt profoundly shaken. If it had been him casting, the same spell would have taken at least twice as long. This was indeed an experienced apprentice, with a deep understanding of spells and particles.
While the others engaged the enemy, Ivan was not idle. As an Insect Control Master, battling with controlled insects was a basic operation and his current most advantageous tactic.
Gina released her venomous fire ants. “Ivan, let’s coordinate.”
“No problem.”
With the magic Blackbeard Crown taught by their tutor, both had extraordinary control over their respective swarms, especially when close together, fully revealing this advantage without any concern of disorder among the insects.
It turned out that Gina’s flying ants were indeed more toxic than the freezing water midge, numerous in number, but their drawback was their lack of speed and flexibility, making them easy prey for magicalized birds above, a problem not shared by the rapid wood moth.
Together, one manning the skies and the other the ground, they wiped out many attacking magicalized wild beasts without significant personal drain.
Hawtherley’s methods were equally formidable, specializing in Water-type freezing spells.
Among the four, Heidi remained the most dominant, her supply of potions and spells unending, constantly confronting herds of magicalized wild beasts head-on, leading the others up the mountain peak, fighting their way to its base.
Just like their last encounter, these enchanted beasts got frenzied, recklessly charging until the last one was slain, bringing the battle to an end.
Hawtherley breathed heavily, “Phew, lucky we didn’t encounter any particularly tough creatures; otherwise, it would have been rough.”
This was puzzling; with so many magicalized wild beasts, there should have been one or two formidable ones, yet they encountered none.
“Tough creatures aren’t easy to control,”
“Isn’t it good we didn’t encounter any?”
They had reached the foot of the mountain but saw no trace of anyone. Heidi interrupted their chatter, “Now isn’t the time to discuss this. Everyone use your methods to search, and be careful not to stray too far.”
Sorcerer robes have some effect in concealing one’s presence, which can somewhat prevent tracking spells.
Wolban, who had previously been targeting Ivan, though eager to see the look on his face after being saved, decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to seek him out, neither listening in nor sending rapid wood silkworms flying about, choosing instead to slack off.
Neither Gina nor Hawtherley used any particular methods, only probing around with their mental power, far less effective than when they had been slaying magicalized wild beasts.
Heidi, seeing this, slightly shook her head, pulled out a bottle of black potion, and cast a tracking spell.
A black two-headed hound appeared on the ground, its nostrils particularly unique and conspicuous.
“This must be the best-suited magic-casting material for tracking—blood from the tip of a two-headed hound Mordo’s nose, said to enhance tracking spells by a tier; she just casually brought one out.”
Ivan slightly raised an eyebrow, gaining a new appreciation for Heidi’s extravagance.