Chii-la——!
The sound of flesh being torn made everyone’s teeth ache.
A dark red, thumb-thick worm-like creature suddenly burst out from the brown-haired girl’s wound.
It had no eyes, its head ending in a circular mouth lined with sharp teeth, body covered in sticky blood plasma, with faint, ghostly blue magic runes glimmering along its skin.
A modified Blood Worm.
After bursting from its host, it didn’t attack anyone, but instead raised its head, unleashing a silent scream toward the air.
Camilla’s expression changed dramatically.
That signal… it’s a Space Coordinate Lock!
“It’s summoning something! Interrupt—”
Before she could finish, the space in front of the Blood Worm began to twist and spin, forming a ghostly blue vortex two meters across.
A hand reached out from the vortex.
And then, a whole person emerged.
It was an old man clad in black robes, looking about sixty, with a sinister face and a Monocle over his left eye.
He stepped out from the spatial vortex, sweeping his gaze across the scene, and finally stopping at the remains of the modified beasts littering the ground, frowning slightly.
“All wiped out? Not bad efficiency.”
His voice was hoarse, like the grating of metal.
Camilla’s heart sank like a stone.
Accurately teleporting inside the academy barrier… That’s not something the Dark Beast Legion is capable of. Their teleportation requires large-scale magic arrays and is easily disrupted by barriers.
Unless—
“The Cult of Chaos.”
Camilla pronounced each word with care.
“They gave you a Realm-Breaking Teleportation Tool.”
The man’s movement stilled, and his eye behind the Monocle narrowed.
“…You actually know about the Cult of Chaos?”
His tone was laced with clear surprise, but before he could say more, Camilla’s longsword was already thrusting toward his throat.
“Hmph!”
The old man flipped backward, agile to an astonishing degree, dodging the sword’s edge.
“Attack!”
Camilla shouted, launching herself forward like an arrow from a bow, her silver longsword tracing a shining arc. Limlu moved swiftly, dragging the injured girl to the edge of the battlefield.
For less than a second, everyone froze—then Elina’s thunder whip, Lillian’s Silver’s dragon breath, Emma’s water arrows, Tom’s team’s magic attacks… Everyone able to move struck out at once.
Facing the sudden barrage, the old man—an elite of the Dark Beast Legion—merely sneered.
He didn’t even try to dodge, but lifted his left hand, spreading his five fingers.
A semi-transparent dark purple barrier instantly unfurled before him. Every attack slammed into it, vanishing like mud in the sea, barely raising a ripple.
Seventh-Tier, definitely at least Seventh-Tier strength.
“The struggle of ants.”
The old man made a grasping motion in the air with his right hand, and a Bone Staff with a menacing design appeared in his grip. The head of the staff was set with a squirming, dark red gem, radiating a nauseating bloody stench.
“I wasn’t planning to bother with you, but now… I’ve changed my mind.”
According to the plan, he should have gone straight to the Dark Chimera’s sealing site after “smuggling” in, but clearly, the other side had no intention of letting him leave.
In that case, he’d bury them here.
He raised the Bone Staff, the gem on its head flaring with blinding red light.
“Come forth, my children…”
But halfway through his chant, he was forced to a halt.
Camilla had already charged to within three meters of him, holding a magic scroll that had appeared in her hand at some unknown time.
“Summoning Barrier Domain—Activate!”
The Sixth-Tier magic scroll auto-ignited. The powerful magic sealed within instantly activated, a silver-white halo spreading from the scroll, instantly covering a fifty-meter radius.
Wherever the halo passed, all summoning spells were forcibly interrupted and suppressed.
The Bone Staff in the old man’s hand trembled violently, the gem’s light quickly dimming, and the barely formed summoning circle vanished like a snuffed candle.
His face changed for the first time.
“You… what is this?”
“A little toy made especially for you summoner types who rely on your beasts to survive.”
Firing off this line at lightning speed, Camilla swung her sword—an obvious crack appeared on the barrier.
“Tch, what a nuisance!”
A flash of dread crossed the old man’s eyes, quickly replaced by anger.
“You think this is enough to win?”
He tossed aside the Bone Staff, rapidly forming hand seals in front of his chest.
“Even without summoned beasts, a Seventh-Tier against you Fourth-Tier fledglings…”
“Thunderous Bloom of the Rose!”
Elina’s sharp cry cut him off.
This time, not one, not three—
But nine bolts of lightning-rose bloomed and spun around her, then hurled toward the man like a torrential storm!
Almost simultaneously, Lillian pulled a crimson potion from her alchemy pouch and smashed it on the ground without hesitation.
The bottle exploded, blood-red mist billowing out, filled with the howls of countless beasts. It was the hereditary secret medicine of the Dragon-blood line—Dragon’s Fury Breath, greatly amplifying the strength and ferocity of all dragon-blooded creatures.
Silver’s amber eyes turned blood-red, her body visibly swelling, and her dragon breath’s power tripled!
Emma bit her fingertip, drawing a complex array in midair with her blood.
“Water Spirit, heed my call—Raging Torrent!”
The water in the swamp seemed to come alive, forming massive water whirlwinds from every direction, twisting toward the man.
Tom gritted his teeth and also used a Fourth-Tier attack magic scroll, creating Acid Mist—useless against Poison Toads, but now unleashed.
Facing the overwhelming attacks, the old man finally set aside his contempt. Without summoned beasts as a shield, these youngsters became more troublesome to deal with.
But the Apothecary was still waiting for him—he had to end this fast!
Thinking of this, he roared, unleashing a dark purple shockwave. Within it, the twisted shadows of countless beasts flickered—these were the soul remnants of the summoned beasts he had plundered and devoured over the years.
“Beast Soul Liberation!”
He swallowed a pitch-black pill.
In the next instant, his body began to mutate.
Scaly patterns emerged on his skin, nails grew sharp as claws, pupils contracted into slits, fangs sprouted from his mouth. His strength surged to an unbelievable level for a summoner. His aura went wild, instantly breaking through the Seventh-Tier and pressing against the Eighth-Tier threshold!
“Die!”
With one claw, he tore through the air, shredding all nine lightning-roses, scattering the water cyclones, even Silver’s boosted dragon breath was swatted away!
He swept his other claw toward Camilla’s group.
“Look out!”
Emma screamed, raising the last water shield, but cracks covered it the moment the claw shadow touched.
Gritting her teeth, Lillian hurled two more protective potions, only slowing the claw shadow by a split second.
They couldn’t block it.
No way they could block it.
Camilla’s face was grim, already prepared to summon the Radiant Armor, but at that critical moment—
Countless icy blue swordlights, like meteors slashing through the night, rained down from above.
The old man’s face changed drastically, drawing back his attack and defending desperately. He retreated step by step, waving both arms and raising more than ten dark purple barriers.
Crack, crack, crack…
One barrier after another shattered.
In the end, a total of twenty-seven swordlights broke through the last barrier before finally dissipating.
But the old man paid a price—his right arm was cut open to the bone, dark purple blood gushing out.
Clutching his wound, he looked in disbelief toward the source of the swordlights.
Everyone turned to look.
At the edge of the swamp, atop the withered branches of an Ancient Tree.
Ophelia stood there.
Her golden hair fluttered in the wind, her ice-blue eyes cold as ten thousand years of frost, the longsword in her hand pointing toward the ground, blade shimmering with a faint chill.
She didn’t even glance at the man, her gaze instead worriedly inspecting Camilla’s injuries.
“Are you alright?”
Her voice was calm, but Camilla could hear a barely restrained… anger.
“Sis…”
Camilla opened her mouth, but couldn’t find the words.
Ophelia leapt lightly from the tree and landed before Camilla, shielding her behind.
Only then did she look at the elite of the Dark Beast Legion, her gaze icy to the core.
“You tried to kill my little sister just now?”
Before the words had even faded, Ophelia charged forward, sword in hand!