Chapter 189: Betrayal of Reason (5000-word long chapter)

However, this natural fission and hatching method had huge disadvantages.

The birth of a lava giant often required about 3 to 5 years.

And in a natural state, the proportion of high-level lava giants appearing after their birth was very low, and the vast majority could only hover at the Tier 1 level in their lifetime, making it difficult to promote.

This greatly limited the expansion and strength improvement speed of the lava giant population.

And the hatchery was a technology researched by the lava giant population to quickly increase troops and improve the quality of the population!

In this kind of artificially built hatchery that had been strengthened by special rituals, the hatching time of lava giants could even be shortened to an astonishing one or two months.

More importantly, the probability of high-level lava giants appearing from this kind of hatchery would increase significantly.

They could be born with higher potential and be easier to promote in subsequent growth!

Jie Ming sensed the energy fluctuations and rune imprints of this blood-red lava pool carefully again, and quickly reached a conclusion: "Looking at it, the one in front of me might be a 'Tier 2 Hatchery'!"

Hearing Jie Ming's words, the eyes of the two wizards beside him turned red.

Tier 2 Hatchery.

This meant that the lava giants born from this hatchery would likely be promoted to Tier 2 lava giants in the future!

Even, their potential in life energy and bloodline would also significantly increase the probability of them being promoted to Tier 3 and Tier 4!

This discovery instantly answered some of the irrationalities Jie Ming had observed before!

He couldn't help but think of the extremely different strength ratio between the lava giants here and the ordinary strongholds outside—one out of every ten lava giants here was a Tier 2 elite, which was unthinkable outside!

It turned out that this was their secret base for mass-producing high-quality troops!

"Actually have this thing?! No wonder..."

The Tier 2 wizard looked at the blood-colored pool in front of him and let out an uncontrollable exclamation.

"The highest-level hatchery discovered by wizards at the current stage is only Tier 4..." Jie Ming calculated silently in his heart about the public information of the wizard camp.

Building a Tier 4 hatchery required an extremely exaggerated amount of resources, and it consumed massive amounts of energy every moment to maintain its operation.

But the strategic value of that thing was enough to change the direction of a local war.

"Like this 'Tier 2 Hatchery' in front of me, its value even exceeds the entire net worth of many Tier 3 wizards..." Jie Ming's mood at this moment was extremely complicated.

Possessing this thing meant that as long as there was another living lava giant core fragment and a suitable environment to provide continuous energy, one could manufacture high-quality troops like an assembly line!

Just as Jie Ming was feeling emotional, the battle erupted without warning.

That Tier 2 wizard made a move violently.

His speed was so fast that people couldn't react in time; two energy arrows that had almost turned into substance shot toward Jie Ming in front of him and the weak Tier 1 wizard beside him!

"You?!!!" That Tier 1 wizard couldn't make any defense at all.

He had just walked away from the gate of hell, and even the minor injuries on his body hadn't fully recovered, and his spiritual power was even more exhausted.

He only had time to let out a miserable scream, failing to even utter a complete curse, before that wizardry energy arrow carrying the aura of annihilation precisely pierced his chest!

Puchi!

The energy arrow did not reduce its momentum, bursting inside his body, instantly vaporizing his fragile heart and lungs.

The body of that Tier 1 wizard shook violently, his eyes wide open, and a trace of fear and unwillingness froze in his pupils before he died.

His body softened, and he fell down silently; the magic wand in his hand also slid down, falling to the cold ground with a "bang," and blood spread rapidly from under him.

A wizard who had tried his best to survive and had just experienced a desperate situation lost his life in the hands of his own "ally" just like this.

At the same time, another energy arrow whistled over, rushing straight toward Jie Ming's back!

Jie Ming's Tier 4 shield had disappeared because the time was up, and could no longer provide protection.

However, the "Five Elements Transformation Rainbow Mirror" in his body sensed the fatal crisis from behind at the first moment!

Almost at the same instant the Tier 2 wizard's thought of killing intent sprouted and the wizardry energy arrow left the string, the "Five Elements Transformation Rainbow Mirror" had already taken over the authority of the remaining defensive talisman wizarding tools on Jie Ming's body and activated them!

Buzz buzz buzz...

Jie Ming's body surface was instantly shrouded in layers of light.

These lights were not a complete shield, but multiple, independent energy defenses, rising layer by layer like stacking arhats!

The Tier 2 wizard's energy arrow precisely hit the first layer of the shield, making a harsh friction sound, energy surged, and that layer of shield shattered in response!

However, the momentum of the wizardry was slightly weakened; immediately afterward, it hit the second layer, the third layer...

Crisp sounds of shields shattering rang out one after another, energy light spots splashed, like a glass curtain wall being broken one after another.

Until the end, at the cost of multiple layers of shields shattering layer by layer, that fatal blow was finally completely blocked!

Jie Ming stood motionless on the spot, the originally complex emotions in his eyes gradually fading, turning into a piece of deep calm.

"Sure enough..." Jie Ming sighed inwardly.

He turned around slowly, facing the Tier 2 wizard standing in the shadows, his eyes calm without a ripple.

In fact, from the moment he saw this "Hatchery," Jie Ming had already anticipated the occurrence of this situation.

This was not because he could predict the future, but based on his profound understanding of the wizard group and the word "interest."

Viola once warned him that except for the wizards of the Nolen Workshop who had contract restrictions and couldn't attack each other at will, one had to be careful with other wizards during wartime.

Wizards were extremely rational creatures; precisely because they were rational enough, they would accurately calculate the gains and losses of interests.

Under normal circumstances, cooperation often brought greater benefits, so they would very easily choose to cooperate with each other.

However, when the benefits an individual could obtain were large enough, large enough to make all cooperation gains seem insignificant, these wizards would likewise, with extreme rationality, attack their just-now teammates without mercy.

Now, the situation undoubtedly met all the conditions for wizards to "turn their faces":

First, the environment was safe enough. The threat of the lava giants had been basically lifted, the entire nest had been cleared, and there would be no interference from external enemies here for the time being.

Second, the benefits were large enough.

A "Hatchery" that could continuously produce high-quality lava giants, its value, even for a Tier 3 wizard, was a treasure enough to trigger a family war.

Such huge exclusive benefits were enough to make any trace of so-called "friendship" or "morality" vanish.

Third, and most crucially, the magic net terminals used by the three as monitoring and communication for the wizard legion had all been crushed to send distress signals before!

This meant that everything that happened to the three of them here would not be known to the outside world.

The three had just experienced a "tragic" battle before, so theoretically, as long as the remaining witnesses were killed, no one would know what exactly happened here.

The wizard legion would only judge that they "sacrificed" here, and this "Hatchery" would forever become a secret buried underground, waiting for future "discoverers" to quietly collect it.

Thinking of this, Jie Ming's peripheral vision glanced inadvertently at the Tier 1 wizard who had just died beside him.

The opponent's magic wand had slid from his hand, but his right palm was tightly clutching a broken crystal-like wizarding tool fragment.

Before he died, he had also instinctively clutched a prop tightly.

—This indicated that the one who wanted to make a move just now was not just this Tier 2 wizard!

That Tier 1 wizard clearly had the same idea after seeing the Hatchery.

It was just that his reaction was a step slower, and he was hit by the Tier 2 wizard's attack first.

Sure enough, for wizards, in the face of true interests, everything else was just a burden that could be discarded at any time.

The Tier 2 wizard saw that his sneak attack was blocked by Jie Ming's multi-layer protection, and there was no surprise in his eyes.

After all, in the battle with the Tier 3 lava giant just now, he had clearly sensed the powerful and unreasonable strength and resilience Jie Ming showed.

He knew that conventional wizardry attacks were difficult to be effective easily.

But the reason he dared to make a move naturally had his own reliance!

Just as the talisman seals of the "Great Light Aspect" behind Jie Ming began to light up with dazzling light, preparing to concentrate fire for a counterattack, Jie Ming suddenly discovered in shock...

Those talisman wizarding tools that made up the "Great Light Aspect" began to dim rapidly as if their core energy had been drained!

The rune light on their surfaces extinguished rapidly, and the energy circuits stopped!

Not only that, even the wizardry energy that maintained the flight stability of the talisman wizarding tools gradually failed!

Jie Ming clearly felt that an invisible force was forcibly interfering with all his connections related to wizardry and energy!

Click, click...

With crisp sounds, a large number of talisman wizarding tools, as well as the metal floating cannons that had been hovering behind Jie Ming, lost power and fell powerlessly, hitting the ground beside the lava pool with a "clatter"!

Their energy cores were completely locked and could not be driven.

"Magic ban..." Jie Ming's face became solemn instantly; his voice was a bit hoarse, and he slowly stated the reason for all this.

"That's right." The Tier 2 wizard replied calmly.

There was no expression on his face, and there was not even a trace of killing intent or greedy fanaticism in his eyes, only a kind of analysis and calculation that was almost rational to the point of ruthlessness.

This instead explained everything.

This wizard in front of him had already made up his mind.

His action was not a spur-of-the-moment thing, but a result of repeated calm and cautious weighing of pros and cons.

He had already calculated all possibilities, and such an opponent absolutely had no possibility of reconciliation with him!

He opened his palm, revealing an irregular energy crystal that he had been secretly hiding in his palm all along.

At this moment, the crystal was emitting faint light and was disappearing rapidly and slowly.

This crystal was clearly an extremely rare special prop; once activated, it could release a magic-banning domain within a certain range!

Jie Ming instantly understood the opponent's idea.

This Tier 2 wizard was not a fool.

He had seen with his own eyes how Jie Ming cut down two Tier 3 lava giants just now.

He judged from Jie Ming's unreasonable defensive power and firepower suppression that he definitely couldn't beat Jie Ming through head-on wizardry!

Therefore, he chose the most extreme means—magic ban!

And this magic-banning device, the reason it wasn't used during the battle with the lava giants before, was because it had a fatal side effect.

The magic-banning domain released by this thing itself would even affect the user himself!

Using this when fighting elemental creatures like lava giants was almost no different from suicide.

But if it was used during a civil war between wizards, it was too effective.

Both sides were blocked from wizardry, and the subsequent battle could only rely on the body for the most primitive struggle—a physical showdown!

Just like the thing Jie Ming had known for a long time, although wizards mainly fought with wizardry, it didn't mean their bodies were necessarily weak.

Especially combat-type wizards, in order to save their lives in extreme situations, would perform various rune modifications and secret medicine enhancements on their bodies to greatly increase their physical strength.

Under normal circumstances, a Tier 2 wizard's physical strength was definitely stronger than a Tier 1 wizard's.

Therefore, this Tier 2 wizard also held full confidence in himself.

This Tier 2 wizard threw the gradually disappearing crystal in his hand casually, and slowly and smoothly assumed a standard close-combat posture.

His face was calm, and his eyes carried a kind of extreme indifference, without any emotional fluctuations.

He kicked off the ground without warning and rushed toward Jie Ming at an extremely fast speed!

However, looking at the standard close-combat posture assumed by this wizard and the astonishing speed he displayed, Jie Ming actually showed a meaningful smile at this moment!

"Humph, trying to fight me in close-combat ability..." Jie Ming sneered inwardly.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the two wizards fought fiercely in the center of the empty room!

The Tier 2 wizard clearly possessed rich close-combat experience; his fists were as fast as lightning, heading straight for Jie Ming's face.

The fist wind carried a violent whistling sound; clearly, every strike contained enough force to shatter rocks!

However, as soon as the two fought, the Tier 2 wizard's face changed, and a huge regret that was hard to describe surged in his heart!

The "one-sided" situation he imagined didn't happen at all!

Jie Ming didn't dodge, but threw a punch back!

The physical strength Jie Ming displayed, as well as the instantaneous acceleration of his power explosion, exceeded the Tier 2 wizard's cognition!

Bang!

Two fists collided violently in the air, making a dull sound of flesh collision!

The Tier 2 wizard only felt a shock force coming from his fist, instantly spreading to his entire arm; the muscles on his arm trembled violently, and he even took half a step back, while Jie Ming remained motionless!

"His physical fitness... actually stronger than mine?!" The Tier 2 wizard was shocked, finding it hard to believe.

He was a Tier 2 wizard!

And he had undergone specialized physical modification!

His physical strength had long exceeded that of mortals; why was this Tier 1 wizard in front of him stronger than his own power?!

Jie Ming didn't give the opponent any chance to think. He took a step forward, his speed faster than just now.

The Tier 2 wizard only felt a blur of figures before his eyes, and Jie Ming's fist had already struck again!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Jie Ming's attack speed was extremely fast; every punch carried the sound of breaking wind, the power was fierce and restrained, and each one precisely hit the Tier 2 wizard's joints, ribs, and head.

The Tier 2 wizard could only barely raise his arms to block, but besides having a clear advantage in both speed and power, Jie Ming also possessed strong close-combat techniques (body cultivator exclusive combat skills) that the Tier 2 wizard couldn't understand at all.

Every strike of his was accompanied by the flow of all power in his body like blood vessels under the skin, and every time he exerted force, it was like being able to drive the heavy weight of the earth's veins!

Every time the Tier 2 wizard took a punch, his body would subconsciously take a step back, and his originally tight defensive posture became somewhat embarrassed.

He tried to find an opportunity to counterattack; he wanted to rely on the special arm muscle structure he had modified to try to hit Jie Ming's vital parts.

But Jie Ming's dodging movements were extremely exquisite, and each time he could avoid it by a hair's breadth!

At the same time, Jie Ming's fist fell again, continuous and coherent, like a storm!

"What kind of body technique is this?! This guy... what kind of monster is he!" The Tier 2 wizard roared inwardly.

He originally thought this melee was his advantage, but didn't expect to be completely crushed by a character who looked like only a "Tier 1 wizard"!

Jie Ming remained silent, just using seemingly simple but actually exquisite close-combat techniques to attack the opponent continuously.

His legs seemed to be rooted in the earth, and every kick could explode with astonishing power.

His fist crossed the air, carrying an invisible sense of oppression, even able to slightly shake the surrounding air, emitting a low "woo—" sound of breaking the air.

The Tier 2 wizard barely blocked a whip kick from Jie Ming, but the powerful impact still made his body stagger, and his arm completely lost sensation!

Suddenly, Jie Ming turned sideways and a powerful collapse punch precisely blasted into the Tier 2 wizard's rib area!

Click!

The crisp sound of bone fracture was abnormally clear in this silent empty room.

The Tier 2 wizard's body stiffened for an instant, and a painful muffled groan overflowed from his mouth.

A flash of despair flashed in his eyes; he knew he had fallen this time.

Jie Ming didn't give him a chance to breathe; he grabbed the Tier 2 wizard's collar, pulled it violently, and pulled his body closer to himself.

Afterward, he used a knee strike, hitting the Tier 2 wizard's chest hard.

"Pfft!" The Tier 2 wizard spat out a mouthful of blood, mixed with fragments of internal organs.

His body completely lost the strength to resist, and like mud, he collapsed in Jie Ming's hands.

His eyes were wide open, filled with regret and incomprehension; he couldn't understand why his proud calculations would be so ridiculously wrong at this moment.

Jie Ming threw him to the ground and shook his head regretfully.

The outcome had been completely decided in just a few dozen seconds!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 190 =====