Chapter 507: Wind Dragon

Gao De did not know what abilities or strength the Wild Soul would gain after evolution, but if it required so much energy to evolve, how weak could it possibly be?

After a brief moment of contemplation, he snapped back to focus, cleared his mind, and devoted himself entirely to his support role.

His gaze swept across the battlefield like a hawk’s, continuously reporting the positions and distances of the lurking ghosts.

From the start until now, Gao De had never stopped calling out targets.

Upon receiving his reports, the mages aboard the ship acted swiftly and decisively, casting spells without hesitation.

Ice spikes pierced the air, lightning tore through the rain, and fireballs exploded in midair, vaporizing raindrops into clouds of white mist.

Yet even so, the number of lurking ghosts did not decrease—it kept growing.

Just from this, Gao De knew the situation was grim.

Glancing upward, he saw that the twisted rift in Feng Luo resembled a monstrous, snarling mouth, continuously spewing forth wind elementals of all ranks and forms.

And the rate at which they emerged seemed greater than the rate at which their side eliminated them.

That was why the number of lurking ghosts kept increasing.

But relatively speaking, the howling winds originally within Feng Luo were slowly weakening.

On the battlefield, surely Gao De was not the only one who noticed this.

As far as the eye could see, the Thorn Crown had already activated its holy light shield.

At its stern, a recess suddenly burst open, revealing intricate alchemical machinery within.

A device resembling a propeller was lowered into the water.

Blue runes flared rapidly along its surface, then began spinning violently, emitting high-frequency vibrations that churned the surrounding air and water into visible vortices.

Clearly, this was meant to provide propulsion.

With the power of this alchemical device, the Thorn Crown surged forward, cutting against the wind, its bow splitting massive waves as it raced toward the sea directly beneath Feng Luo.

At the same time, all command mages in the fleet received orders from the Thorn Crown.

“Follow the Thorn Crown forward, enter Feng Luo’s range, and destroy it!” The chief mage aboard Gao De’s ship shouted the command, relaying the order from above.

At that moment, every warship performed the same action:

Lowering their propellers, activating rune shields, and following closely behind the Thorn Crown as they raced toward Feng Luo at full speed.

Faced with the fleet’s sudden surge, the wind elementals went utterly berserk, abandoning all tactics, rushing forward in endless waves to block the fleet’s advance.

Air elemental formations coalesced into massive tornadoes directly in the ships’ paths—but before the warships’ immense momentum, they shattered with a crash like shattering glass, emitting piercing shrieks.

Lurking ghosts twisted into undulating ripples, gliding around the hulls, searching for weak points.

Wind giants.

The scene bore a striking resemblance to certain post-apocalyptic zombie films Gao De had watched in his past life: an off-road vehicle flooring the accelerator, charging forward as zombies surged from both sides, desperate to halt its progress.

Exactly the same was happening now.

The entire fleet surged forward under the Thorn Crown’s lead, while wind elementals attacked from every direction.

From a high vantage point, one would see layer upon layer of wind elementals completely obscuring the fleet, with only faint glimmers of rune shields piercing through the gaps.

“Thank you, Master Theodore,” Lord Roland said respectfully, gazing at the dark mass of wind elementals ahead.

On the bow of the Thorn Crown, Master Theodore nodded slightly, then raised his obsidian staff high in his right hand.

Swirling magic flowed from his palm, racing up the staff until it gathered in the red gem at its tip.

The magic within the ruby pulsed continuously, its energy growing stronger by the second.

After roughly three or four seconds of buildup, Master Theodore swung the staff violently downward.

At that instant, the holy light shield surrounding the Thorn Crown briefly vanished.

A torrent of flame erupted from the obsidian staff in Master Theodore’s hand.

The fire rolled and surged, forming a river of molten lava.

Every wind elemental caught in the path of this lava river—whether first-rank air spirits, second-rank wind giants, or third-rank hurricane spirits—met the same fate:

Their forms shattered, dissolving into raw wind elemental energy.

The sheer brutality of this spell was breathtaking.

The path ahead of the Thorn Crown briefly became a vacuum.

“Hurry!” Master Theodore barked urgently.

The propeller on the Thorn Crown’s bow spun faster.

But barely had they advanced a few hundred meters when new clusters of wind elementals appeared on both sides ahead.

“There are too many wind elementals!” Lord Roland’s face darkened.

“Something’s wrong,” Master Theodore said grimly.

But with the crisis unfolding, he had no time to ponder further.

In that instant, another hundred or so new wind elementals lunged forward.

“Activate the Auklan Crystal Cannon,” Master Theodore commanded decisively, his gaze sharp as a blade.

Lord Roland nodded slightly, fully trusting the chief mage’s judgment.

A fresh Aureka crystal was inserted into the diamond-shaped crystal slot at the cannon’s rear.

Instantly, the six-meter-long mithril crystal tube seemed to awaken, blazing to life.

The runes on its surface glowed brilliantly, no longer static—they began to flow slowly along the tube’s grooves as if alive.

These runes resembled liquid metal, or winding branches, spiraling upward along the cannon barrel.

At the same time, a deep, resonant hum emanated from within the cannon.

The sound intensified rapidly, as if a slumbering beast were stirring.

A brilliant energy sphere coalesced at the cannon’s muzzle.

The sphere rotated and compressed, its color shifting from pale blue to an ever-deeper hue.

Tiny arcs of electricity danced across its surface, crackling audibly.

The air around it warped under the immense pressure, forming concentric ripples.

“Fire!”

The energy sphere targeted the direction directly ahead of the bow.

The entire cannon shuddered violently, its powerful magical energy radiating outward in all directions.

The next instant, a hyper-concentrated energy sphere, blazing with blinding light, shot forth from the barrel.

The overwhelming pressure it generated made the mages nearby stagger.

The sphere surged forward with apocalyptic force, unstoppable.

Every wind elemental in its path twisted and disintegrated instantly—even the wind energy released upon their demise was torn apart.

Brutality!

Unparalleled brutality!

As a war-grade alchemical device, the Auklan Crystal Cannon fully demonstrated its devastating power.

Even Master Theodore’s strongest spell could not match its raw destructive force.

“Go!” Lord Roland stood at the bow, exhilarated.

Every shot fired from a weapon of this caliber—the Auklan Crystal Cannon—had to be logged with full details and submitted to Dorn for approval; unauthorized use carried punishment.

Thus, even as the nominal lord of Auklan City, Lord Roland dared not deploy the cannon unless absolutely necessary.

Now, having unleashed this mighty cannon and seen the wind elementals swept clean, he felt an immense sense of satisfaction.

“Obstacles cleared! Full fleet, advance rapidly—go!” Lord Roland’s command echoed across the entire fleet.

The Thorn Crown accelerated again, leaving a white wake nearly a hundred meters long behind it.

Behind it, the main force of dozens of warships pressed forward in tight formation.

With the Thorn Crown leading the way, the rear fleet faced far less pressure, merely mopping up scattered remnants.

Among them, the one who felt the most elated was Gao De.

Since they were following the Thorn Crown, the Wild Soul could absorb the residual wind elemental energy left behind by the elementals the Thorn Crown had destroyed.

Even if it was only scraps, the sheer volume made it comparable to an imperial banquet.

The fleet advanced at full speed.

In most team battles, fire magic was typically the primary damage dealer.

Because among low-tier spells, fire magic possessed unmatched destructive power and often covered vast areas.

But now, the environment visibly weakened fire magic, and wind elementals were most vulnerable to ice magic; furthermore, among coastal county mages, those skilled in ice magic vastly outnumbered others.

Thus, the battlefield had become a stage for ice magic, with endless waves of deep blue magical fluctuations pouring forth.

Ice crystals clattered into the sea.

And despite sparing no Aureka crystals, the Auklan mages had suffered zero casualties so far.

This was also due to Feng Luo’s instability—the highest-ranked wind elementals emerging were only third-rank.

Seeing this, everyone’s confidence surged; they began to feel this battle might not be as perilous as anticipated.

Gao De’s Wild Soul grew increasingly covered in blue, its blue patterns becoming sharper, even developing a silken sheen.

The proportion of blue now surpassed the transparent portions.

He scanned it with the Mandora Magic Eye and obtained precise data: blue 51.6%, transparent 48.4%.

And the proportion of blue continued rising rapidly.

When blue reached 100%, the Wild Soul would evolve into the Storm Soul.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The wind howled fiercely.

Because at this moment, after about half a minute of high-speed travel, the fleet had arrived directly beneath Fengluo.

Everyone’s hearts were tense yet exhilarated.

The overall commander, the mage, felt an additional layer of unease compared to the others.

He stared intently at the gradually dimming Aoreike crystal in the magic core slot.

This charge had appeared to go smoothly, but in truth, it had consumed all the magic stored in two Aoreike crystals.

The last Aoreike crystal aboard the ship had now entered active use.

Though nothing seemed amiss now, once this final Aoreike crystal’s magic was exhausted, the warship would fall into empty defense mode.

The wind elementals would no longer hesitate—they would swarm the ship without restraint.

At that moment, faced with the overwhelming tide of wind elementals, the previously flawless situation of zero casualties would be instantly reversed.

They had now reached the core of Fengluo—there was no retreat left.

Therefore, success or death: they must utterly crush Fengluo before the Aoreike crystal’s energy ran out.

He understood this, and so did the mage aboard the Thorn Crown, more than anyone.

“Aim at Fengluo. Fire the Oaklan magic cannon. Do not spare the Aoreike crystals.” He gazed at the spatial tear above, seemingly within arm’s reach, still spewing forth wind elementals, and spoke coldly.

Gao De watched the Wild Soul, its entire body nearly turned blue, and felt a flicker of anticipation.

Blue: 99.5%. Transparent: 0.5%.

The Wild Soul was but one step away from evolving into the Storm Soul.

The next instant, Gao De sensed something and snapped his head up, shifting his focus from the Wild Soul to the frontmost Thorn Crown.

He saw a golden column of light, several meters in diameter, rising from the ground.

It was a beam composed entirely of highly condensed magic—compared to the magic crystal projectiles fired earlier by the Thorn Crown, this golden beam resembled a giant sword rising from the earth, striking straight toward Fengluo.

Hum!

A deafening tremor shook heaven and earth as the golden energy column pierced directly into Fengluo, striking its center.

The entire fissure let out a piercing, shrill shriek.

The wind elementals pouring from Fengluo vanished instantly at its mouth.

The previously gloomy sky brightened considerably because of the golden beam.

Golden light, refracted through the raindrops, fell upon Gao De’s upturned face, etched with awe.

The golden energy column continued to output.

Visible to the naked eye, the edges of Fengluo began to ripple, then subtly contracted inward.

The effect was clear!

Everyone’s hearts leapt—they saw hope.

But the good fortune did not last.

Just five or six seconds later, sudden flashes of blue-green light erupted within Fengluo.

The blue-green light pierced through the golden glow and rained down.

A colossal column of blue-green energy descended from above, slamming head-on into the golden beam.

Within the blue-green radiance, faint whirlwind afterimages could be seen; as the two beams collided, the shockwave solidified into tangible gusts, violently shaking the warships.

One above, one below—they locked in a stalemate.

“What’s happening?” The same question flashed through every mind.

At that moment, Fengluo rippled like water.

Twisted light traced arcs of blue electricity along its edges.

When the ripples smoothed out and the scene within became clear, everyone’s breath stopped.

Through Fengluo, all could clearly see a pair of eyes floating deep in the void.

Each eye was ten zhang in diameter.

The irises were swirling hurricanes; the pupils burned with blue-green elemental vortices.

Every blink of those eyes summoned a tornado.

Behind the eyes, a massive body, stretching a hundred meters, slowly emerged.

Its body was entirely formed from semi-transparent wind elements, yet glowed with the luster of translucent Liuli , its interior alive with visible blue-green currents—like countless liquid magical rivers surging within.

Unlike ordinary creatures, its surface was covered in diamond-shaped semi-transparent scales, each carved as if from solidified hurricanes.

Their edges shimmered with sharp silver-white light, and with every movement, tiny wind blades oozed between the scales.

Its coiled neck was entwined with blue-gold lightning; its long tail bristled with stormcloud clusters.

On its back stretched a pair of wings, vast enough to blot out the sky.

Now, it opened its colossal maw, revealing an abyss of darkness within, and spat forth a thick stream of blue-green energy to oppose the golden beam fired by the Thorn Crown.

“Dragon,” someone beside Gao De whispered, trembling.

Yes—it was a dragon.

A dragon forged entirely from wind element energy!

(End of Chapter)