Chapter 217 – Black Smog

Black Smog

“Three spirits in one body! I never expected to see Magi still practicing this ancient technique, and actually succeed!”

Leylin’s expression showed his shock.

However, from the simulation from the A.I. Chip, Leylin now had a better idea of the level of his strength.

Currently, Leylin could be said to be at the peak of rank 1, where dealing with a semi-converted Magus was as easy as chopping vegetables.

However, if he were to compare himself to genius Magi—such as Caesar—who had already met the requirements to advance, he was still weaker.

Fortunately, Magi like Caesar weren’t common on the south coast.

His mortal enemy, the elder of the Lilytell family, was a little weaker than Caesar.

With Leylin’s current skills, if he were to fight him one on one without any tricks, he was not a match for Caesar.

This was to be expected though, since it had not been too long since Leylin had become an official Magus. Most Magi would still be new and inexperienced.

It was already an achievement for Leylin to possess this level of strength.

“As long as I endure for a while more and wait until my spiritual force and elemental essence conversion reach the ultimate degree that can be achieved by a rank 1 Magus. Then, with the added bonus from my Warlock bloodline, I will definitely be able to defeat and maybe even kill him…”

Leylin calculated inwardly, his eyes flashing with dark light.

This sight caused the old geezer beside him to tremble in trepidation.

*Boom! Boom!*

A severe seismic wave came from the ground.

A crack appeared, and a gush of tempting, fragrant and milky white spring water burst out from the ground.

The mysterious aroma pervaded the air, and the plants in the area rapidly grew, seeming to have received some nourishment.

“Squeak squeak…” An earthen yellow mole scuttled from the grass and it opened its intelligent eyes wide, observing its surroundings. It dashed to the side of the water, and began to drink in huge gulps.

*Boom! Boom!*

Heavy footsteps sounded and gradually increased in number, announcing a horde of animals.

There were regular animals such as wolves, cheetahs, and pythons, but they were nothing compared to the number of strange, bizarre-looking creatures that were there as well.

There were some whose upper half was human, while the other half consisted of the legs of a spider, and there were others that were as huge as mountains. More than all of these creatures, however, the thing that caused the most fear was the black smog at the heart of the wave.

This black smog spanned across a large area, and there were multiple tendrils of smoke at the edges that kept extending outwards like tentacles. Regardless of whether they were tigers, cheetahs, half-spiders, or double-headed snakes, all animals that got close would be silently consumed by the smog.

After it passed through, all that was left was a pile of white bones.

Even though there was a temptingly strong life force energy radiating from the milky white spring water, the animals all made the same decision to stay far away from the black smog. There was a deliberate amount of space left between the animals and the black smog.

They came to the side of the spring and competed desperately to have the chance to drink the spring water. Just the black smog alone had taken up a lot of space.

The sounds of furious roaring and the tearing apart of meat sounded out!

A bloody battle for the chance to drink the water started at the mouth of the spring.

Of course, these bizarre animals headed in the opposite direction of the black smog, and the mole from earlier had long since disappeared.

More than a few kilometers away, a group of Magi wearing the uniform of the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy were advancing.

In the middle was a Magus who had countless plants that seemed like tentacles hanging all over his body and embedded straight into the ground.

All of a sudden, a Magus halted his footsteps and began to grin.

“What’s up, Blake? Did you discover anything?”

The leader of the team questioned the scouting Magus called Blake.

“Yes! In that direction, about 7 kilometers away, I sensed dense life force energy waves, and I could feel the energy veins pulsing through the earth… It was at the mouth of a newly-formed fantasy spring. There are also multiple weak traces of life, which probably belong to the animals nearby that were attracted there.”

Blake spoke with conviction, pointing in the direction of the spring.

“Good! Let’s get there, lest those darned bastards drink up the entire spring!”

The Magus leader was extremely pleased. Discovering the fantasy spring was a substantial contribution!

“But…” Blake was obviously hesitant. “Within all those traces of life, there seems to be a large fellow…”

“Who cares? Do you mean it can resist with 5 official Magi joining hands to attack?”

One of the members in the group immediately exclaimed, “Then what are we waiting for?”

The entire group immediately set off in the direction Blake had pointed out, and Blake could only smile wryly, knowing that nobody would listen to what he had to say. Also, just as his teammate had said, there was nothing that could stop them… Unless they met a Magus from the Four Seasons Garden!

Once the Magi group reached the mouth of the fantasy spring, they saw many animals scrambling for the spring water.

“No! How dare these lowly, wretched bastards drink my fantasy springwater!”

As he watched the water level drop, the leader was on the verge of going crazy. “This is a high-level lifeforce spring water that sells for over a hundred magic crystals per gallon! It’s also a necessary item when brewing potions. Quick! What are you still doing there? Kill all of these bastards!”

Two ice blades emitting coldness appeared in the Magi’s hands, his expression complicated as if he bore a grudge.

Though the spring would be saved like this, and would become a possession of the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, only a small portion of contribution points would be given to him!

“Team leader, look at that!”

Blake dragged the leader by his clothes, pointing at the black smog.

“The devilish black smog! Shit! It being so large must mean that it’s already an adult!” The leader could feel a headache coming on.

The devilish black smog was a high energy being in the Magus world.

They were born without a form and were just made of black smog. They did not move quickly, but it was because of this that spells were less effective against them, and their defensive abilities were more impressive.

The most pressing issue was the fact that this devilish black smog had already matured.

It was a large possibility that a matured devilish black smog has awoken their ethereal skill. Even official Magi might have trouble killing or chasing it away.

“Whatever! The good thing is that this type of devilish black smog has high defense, but relatively weak attacks, so the only thing to be careful of is to not let its tentacles touch you!”

The leader pointed at two members. “You two will follow me and release long range spells, and hopefully draw the devilish black smog away. The others will chase away the animals because every second they are still here means we lose thousands of magic crystals.”

The Magus leader seemed to be respected in the group, and his arrangements did make sense. Soon after, the Magi split up.

“Drilling Frost!”

“Fireball!”

“Globule of Secondary Energy!”

Spells at the energy levels of an official Magi were let out by the three Magi. Ice bolts, fireballs and multi-coloured balls of energy flew out towards the devilish black smog beside the spring.

The spells distorted the air as they streaked across the sky, leaving behind traces of energy waves.

“Wa… wa…”

The devilish black smog made sounds like that of a child crying as the black smog on its body dispersed. It then became more transparent.

The ice bolts, fireballs, and globules of secondary energy went through the black smog, but it did not cause any significant effect.

The entire body of the black smog became a little more transparent, yet it drank from the spring in huge gulps, as if nothing had happened.

“Physical attacks don’t work, which means this devilish black smog definitely has awakened its ethereal ability! Use vaporisation or area of effect attacks that are made up of pure energy!”

The leader was a veteran, and immediately analyzed the current growth stage of the smog.

“Ice fog!”

He first produced a large amount of white fog, in which were ice shards and beads, which quickly moved in the direction of the devilish black smog.

“Support me!” The leader howled.

Immediately after, the two other group members got to work. One released a green hurricane that hastened the speed of the ice fog, while the other constantly set up defenses in front of the group.

With the help of the green tornado, the icy fog moved extremely quickly and immediately reached and stopped at the devilish black smog.”

*Tss tss*

The sound of cold water freezing was heard as the ice fog collided with the black smog. The black smog all around the area started moving even slower.

“Whoa!” The roars of the devilish black smog continuously sounded, this time, filled with pain.

“Chi chi!” The black smog churned and revealed two huge yellow pupils, staring directly in the leader’s direction.

“I’ve already made it angry, so be careful!” Upon seeing the smog’s reaction, he began to yell.

*Chi chi!* With the strange sounds from the smog, two large portions of black smog were vomited out like a bomb, and rushed towards the three Magi!

“Shield of Gaia!” The only member in charge of setting up defenses went forward, pressing his finger to the ground in front of her.

*Rumble*

A layer of large granite rock rose up from the ground, taking the shape of a shield and defending the Magi behind it.

The black smog bomb collided with the large granite shield, producing an explosive bang.

*Pa pa!*

The surroundings seemed to be a mess—rock and mud were splattered in all four directions, and a crater was also created at the epicenter of the collision.