Chapter 434: Phantom Army

A huge shadow emerged from the forest, and the darkness it produced completely blocked out the surrounding light.

Purple venomous snakes shot out from the shadow, opening their deadly fangs in midair, with purple venom dripping from their canine-like teeth; when they opened their mouths, one could even smell the bloody, fishy stench.

"Watch out!" Cao Zhenqingren slipped the ring onto his waist, preparing to use magical defense.

But it was obvious that his spellcasting speed had dropped considerably; he failed to react in time, and just as he was about to be bitten by the venomous snake, Jiang Xia suddenly reached out and grabbed the oncoming snake barehanded.

After grabbing the snake, he exerted a little force, and the originally curved serpent was instantly straightened by this tremendous force; the ambusher also felt this inhuman strength, chose to grapple with Jiang Xia, and tried to drag his body into the shadow.

Even without transforming, Jiang Xia's physical strength was not something a mere phantom could try to exploit.

Since the ambusher failed to drag an ordinary human into the shadow, he suddenly exerted force, and several venomous snakes shot out from the shadow again, their poisonous mouths wide open, lunging to tear at Jiang Xia.

But when those snakes were halfway through the air, Jiang Xia suddenly jerked, pulling the ambusher—snakes and all—out of the shadow with a tremendous force; the slender venomous snakes remained attached to the back of its head, revealing its body covered in purple scales.

It was a phantom resembling a serpent; those dark purple venomous snakes were its hair, all straightened backward by the immense force, its ghastly pale sharp face blocked by the purplish-red scales, leaving only the chin exposed—like a human woman's face, it was letting out a wail.

Because at the moment of pulling her in, Jiang Xia clenched his fist and delivered a heavy punch straight to her abdomen; upon contact, the tremendous force sent ripples bursting through the air.

The serpentine phantom felt as if struck by an iron hammer smashing a destroyed object, its scales and bones emitting cracking sounds; the massive impact caused her body to instantly burst with blood—if she hadn't beforehand transformed into a monster form, that punch would likely have killed her outright! Meanwhile, a phantom behind her resembling a firebird watched her companion fly back at greater speed, rushed forward to embrace it, and was also blown several meters away by the shock, only coming to a gradual stop after slamming into a large tree.

"Are you really human?" Cao Zhenqingren exclaimed, so surprised he even stopped his transformation motion.

"Of course, I usually just prefer using magic; I don't normally fight directly with my body." Jiang Xia said.

Subsequently, Jiang Xia turned his gaze toward the enemies in the shadow; as before, the one who had just launched the ambush was Medusa, her ally was Felix, and the other was Guleimlin.

Of course, there were far more than just these.

In the forest's shadow, besides those three, other phantoms surged; dozens of different kinds of phantoms suddenly emerged from the darkness, each brandishing their own weapons, directly encircling Jiang Xia and Cao Zhenqingren.

Just as in the outside world, the phantoms of the magical world had likewise learned to swarm forth from their nests; only now their opponents had changed, and upon completing the encirclement they unanimously pointed their weapons at the two people in the center, almost like a monster's game of hunting humans.

Seeing such a number of phantoms, Cao Zhenqingren's face instantly grew grave; judging by his combat experience, facing many foes alone was quite normal, but those were usually phantoms summoning multiple ghouls, whereas now almost all of them were phantoms themselves.

Now they seemed to be inside the phantoms' nest.

"It seems some people have started to panic, sending out their little pets to try to wipe us out in one go." Jiang Xia glanced around, standing back-to-back with Cao Zhenqingren.

"Are all these phantoms the subordinates of that golden mage?" Cao Zhenqingren asked.

"Mages are everywhere in this world; when they get desperate, it's awfully convenient. Do you remember the opportunity I mentioned?" Jiang Xia asked.

"Hmm, perhaps we can use this opportunity to find the person behind the scenes."

At this moment, Medusa also barely recovered from her near-death state, she looked at the two in the center, and let out a sharp shriek.

The surrounding phantoms simultaneously burst into angry roars; these phantoms were bizarrely shaped, as if stitched together from countless creatures, though humanoid they resembled mindless monsters more than anything, and at the same time the surrounding environment seemed to shift, a layer of pale purple light gradually spreading from all sides upward into the sky,

"What is this?" Cao Zhenqingren exclaimed, looking up.

"It's a magical barrier, and this magical power is not much different from yours; it should have been set up by another you in this world." Jiang Xia said, "He doesn't just want to trap us here to die, but also to sever our connection with the outside world, so that the battle here won't alert the mage residents outside."

"But if they know we're here, perhaps Xiao Li's whereabouts have also been detected." Jiang Xia reminded Cao Zhenqingren. Cao Zhenqingren said, "Then we need to get out of here as fast as possible; A Li can't use magic, and if she's caught, it's over."

"No, just as the other you did, I have also set up a magical barrier at Face Shadow Hall; they alone cannot break it." Jiang Xia said, "I don't want you to have your combat ability impaired by worrying about this during the fight, as I just said, this is an opportunity to uncover the mastermind, but such an opportunity shouldn't drag in the people around us, especially those close to us."

"Having a companion like you really makes one feel at ease!"

"Of course, protecting those who ought to be protected is our duty! Come on, ShowTime has arrived!" Jiang Xia chuckled.

"This is actually my line, ShowTime! (Performance Time)" Cao Zhenqingren likewise smiled, raising the magical ring on his right hand.

"Transform!"

The red and yellow flip-open magical rings fell simultaneously, forming a defense from a crimson magical circle and a bright yellow magical circle, instantly bouncing away the phantoms that lunged forward.

Flame! Please! HiHiHiHiHi!

"Change! Now!"

The two mages simultaneously drew their weapons from the corresponding magical circles—a flute-sword and a gun-sword.

The phantoms that lunged forward submerged the two's bodies, but immediately the phantoms numerous enough to blot out the sky all flew backward, their white robes and black skirts weaving through the phantom army.

The white light drawn by the white flute-sword sliced straight through a phantom's nape, severing its head; then a kick struck the headless phantom's chest, its body instantly kicked away and, combined with the tremendous impact loaded on Jiang Xia's foot, exploded violently into sky‑scattering fragments.

Cao Zhenqingren spun in midair, his right‑hand gun‑sword scraping across the chests of the massive horde of phantoms as it rotated; a single turn caused several dazzling flashes of fire to flare in the air.

The surrounding phantoms were either blown to fragments by Jiang Xia's direct blows or repelled by the spiral cuts of his silver gun‑sword.

The two mages, who had once fought with elegance, now abandoned their former techniques and simply carved a path straight through the tens to hundreds of phantoms.

However, as time wore on, the difference between them gradually became apparent.

Jiang Xia's gaze remained steady, his steps firm, his chopping motion on the sword unchanged; each swing of his flute‑sword cleaved a phantom clean in two.

Cao Zhenqingren was different; although a mage, beneath his armor he was still an ordinary person, and even with magical aid he began to lose ground, unable to rely solely on melee against the phantoms.

Cao Zhenqingren flicked his gun‑sword, magical patterns continually appearing on the handle; the mage's silver‑cased bullets instantly filled the magazine, and as he swept sideways, the silver bullets sprayed out.

The bullets left the barrel, tracing a red‑snake‑like curved arc in midair; the magical runes on the bullets activated, igniting fire elements that burned like elongated streams of flame, annihilating every wounded phantom in their path.

Even a small amount of magic combined with the mage's specialized bullets could likewise destroy phantoms.

Because the enemy was so numerous, a mage had to conserve magic rather than stamina.

Meanwhile, the phantoms that had originally swarmed this place thick and fast were now being wiped out at a visible speed under the duo's assault.

Medusa had thought gathering so many phantoms together to obtain the Philosopher's Stone would be easy, but she hadn't expected to be first punched to near‑death by the white mage, and then to witness the phantom army being brutally slaughtered.

"Why won't these two just die honestly!" Medusa roared. (End of chapter)