Chapter 267: Return and Infection

Splash—

A humanoid figure gleaming with metallic luster shot out of Sharon's spell satchel and intercepted the swing of 【Sacrificial Sword】.

It was an automatic guardian golem.

Clang!!!

Sparks flew!

A sharp metallic crash rang out.

"Oh?"

The blade didn't pierce in, but the steel guardian couldn't withstand Luo De's strength—it was flung far away along the arc of the swing.

It slammed into the ground with a thud, still didn't stop, dragging a long scratch before twisting its limbs to a sudden halt.

Meanwhile, "Sharon" seized the opening from blocking the strike, used 【Spatial Shift】 to appear beside the dark red staff, halted her movement instantly, and reclaimed the spell satchel.

She immediately activated 【Spatial Shift】 again, trying to flee at once.

But a blur of speed suddenly appeared behind her.

Her eyes widened in shock.

Too fast—she canceled 【Spatial Shift】, cast a magical barrier instead, and yanked a spellbook from her satchel.

She rapidly activated the seventh-tier spell 【Wall of Eyes】 from the magical item.

【Wall of Eyes】 was a barrier formed of countless eyes, possessing high physical resistance; any creature touching it was afflicted with 【Monster Paralysis】.

For the next ten minutes, the wall could directly consume paralyzed creatures—truly both offensive and defensive.

This spell was exceptionally effective against spiritual warriors; many who thought close combat would guarantee victory ended up trapped here.

"A spiritual warrior who hasn't even reached seventh tier."

Riiip—

A slash of swordlight descended!

The dense, eye-crammed, flesh-wall—favorite of the morbid—split cleanly in two!

"Sharon" saw 【Monster Paralysis】 seep into the towering figure's body, then instantly negated by overwhelming physical resilience.

The swordwind didn't pause—it shattered her seventh-tier mage's spell shield outright.

"What kind of monster is this?!!"

A sixth-tier peak spiritual warrior cleaved through a seventh-tier spell with a casual strike, then tore apart the spell shield with swordwind!

What kind of fantasy nonsense is this!?

Luo De's expression was cold.

He raised a finger.

"Amer! Die cleanly!"

The illusion effect of 【Mirage Net】 instantly pierced "Sharon's" mind.

Since killing Amer last time, he'd noticed this plague mage had low mental resistance.

As expected, the target was immediately affected.

Her entire body stiffened, her face twisting with confusion.

Luo De increased his consumption of Lust points and actively edited the illusion to show scenes of him and Sharon together.

"Sharon! Remember who you are!"

It was clear Sharon was being influenced by Amer's memory core.

The dog-girl had claimed she dismantled the memory core, but clearly, there were still hidden remnants she didn't know about.

At such moments, reinforcing one's own memory imagery greatly aided mental struggles.

【Bloodmarrow Tree warns you: The Garden Keeper has detected the battle and is returning to the Garden. Flee immediately!】

"Annoying!"

Editing illusions had one drawback: it demanded massive focus.

Simultaneously fighting while doing so was beyond Luo De's current focus capacity.

He turned his head.

Several green plague beasts, screeching like demons, leapt onto the Bloodmarrow Tree like monkeys. Seeing him and Sharon, they immediately banged drums and clanged gongs.

Luo De slashed out a 【Screaming Slash Wave】, instantly splitting them in two.

The Bloodmarrow Tree beneath was drenched in foul-smelling green blood, yet showed no anger—instead, it cheered wildly, wrapping its vines around the corpses and shoving them into its trunk's giant mouth to chew noisily.

The commotion had been made.

Immediately, a thunderous rumbling came.

No need to look—he knew this was a mass return of troops.

Fighting here with a half-dead ally wasn't viable!

"Damn!"

Luo De had to halt the 【Mirage Net】 illusion, stepped forward, and grabbed Sharon by the collar.

He bent his knees, then exploded upward with force.

Boom!!

The brick ground of the Garden shattered, sending shards and dust flying outward with a shockwave.

Luo De's figure soared through the air, tracing a parabolic arc against the gray-white sky.

In his peripheral vision, he saw dozens of green plague beasts and over a dozen giant Garden Keepers charging toward him, surging like a tidal wave.

Beyond them, every tree in the Garden swayed its vines, waving at him from afar—as if expressing longing and reluctance.

"What's going on?! Why was 【Greater Invisibility】 detected?!"

Bald Andru reeked of rot, snarling as he spoke.

The five of them had cast varying degrees of flight spells, flying low over the ground.

Behind them, a tidal wave of green plague beasts piled layer upon layer, accompanied by constant, violent tremors.

Even their roars sounded like earthquakes—vast, overwhelming, all-encompassing.

"Maybe not detected—perhaps it's just the plants' instinctive reaction. Baldy, you stink! Use a cleansing spell!"

Wilson, the glasses-wearer, snapped.

The three junior students flying slightly behind pinched their noses and pulled away from Andru in disgust.

One slightly more observant junior cried out: "Senior Andru, you've got a patch of blood blisters on your face!"

"Huh?"

Andru's reaction was half a beat late—he turned and hurled a 【Frozen Orb】 into the plague beast horde.

The ice-crystal orb flew out, exploded with a bang, freezing a cluster of enemies—but the dense horde instantly filled the gaps.

"Why are you worrying about them?! Clean and heal yourself, you idiot!"

Wilson blinked, then quickly cast a detection spell.

"A domain-level plague? Shit!"

Hearing this, the three juniors behind gasped in horror and immediately put more distance between themselves and him.

Andru hurriedly explained:

"I used 【Isolation Bubble】! It's fine!"

"Why the hell didn't you say you were infected?!"

"It's fine, it's fine—I can handle it, just give me some time!"

"What time? Now? Behind you—wait, the guys behind are retreating?"

He turned around.

Indeed, the plague beasts had halted their pursuit and turned back toward their nest.

Everyone was baffled, but all breathed a sigh of relief—they'd escaped.

Andru and Wilson were two newly promoted seventh-tier mages; their realms were inherently unstable, and cross-dimensional transit inevitably brought suppression.

The degree of suppression depended on the complexity of the transit ritual.

In the current Fear Field, Sharon's ritual reduced spiritual or magical accumulation by 30% and increased physical burden by 50%.

Andru and Wilson used the academy's standard array, which normally reduced magical accumulation by 15% and increased physical burden by 65%.

For mages, this was no issue—physical burden? Just cast 【Steel Lungs】 and feel nothing. After all, mages don't rely on physical strength.

But the Fear Field had undergone major changes now.

(End of Chapter)