Chapter 576: Efficient Cleanup

A moment later, Xia Duo suddenly sensed an abnormal distortion of the Magic Net near the large ship of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce, which matched some characteristics of a teleportation arrival. The distance was a bit far, and he could not identify more information. But there was no need for more information; the next moment, a figure wearing a black Mage Robe appeared beside Mai Er Si. Mai Er Si hurriedly saluted, then notified Xia Duo, "Archmage Ti Mo Xi has arrived. Later, I must ask Lord Xia Duo to help with the search."

At this time, the black-robed Archmage Ti Mo Xi turned around and nodded toward Xia Duo. Xia Duo was stunned and hurriedly returned the salute. Judging solely by his appearance, this grim-faced Archmage Ti Mo Xi did not seem easy to get along with! Although one could not judge a person's character based solely on their appearance, Xia Duo still secretly heightened his vigilance.

Mages have many things to do, let alone Archmages. Even if they are not conducting spell research, as superiors, they must certainly have many things to keep them busy.

Archmage Ti Mo Xi began to act as soon as he arrived. From afar, Xia Duo only saw him cast a fairly Advanced spell, and then the "dead" fish-men gathered in front of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce's large ship suddenly became active.

They began to kill and devour each other in pairs, and blood soon dyed a patch of water red, accompanied by the fish-men's unique fishy smell, which continued to bloom and spread toward the periphery.

This mechanical, quiet slaughter lasted less than half an hour, and of the dense crowd of fish-men originally surrounding the bow of the ship, fewer than 20 remained alive.

"Lord Xia Duo, please come onto our ship; it will be more convenient for the subsequent search."

"Alright!"

Xia Duo did not refuse. After giving a few instructions to the fleet, he jumped directly off the "Lucky Owen," but he did not sink into the water; instead, he stepped steadily onto the surface of the water and walked across the lake.

This was an ability granted to him by his Bloodline Awakening. He had discovered this technique during his last Bloodline Awakening, but he had had no opportunity to use it in the past. Displaying it now was intended, to some extent, as a deterrent; at the very least, it looked quite intimidating.

After stepping across the still-crimson lake water and reaching the side of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce's large ship, Xia Duo grabbed a cable hanging from the ship, leaped up, and landed on the deck.

"Your Excellency Archmage, please feel free to order me if there is anything you need me to do!"

"I have long heard of Lord Xia Duo's name. I quite like the 【Arcane Maze】 you created. If it weren't for the mission at hand and the creator being right before my eyes, I would have insisted on asking for a few rounds of instruction."

Huh—

The Archmage's attitude was surprisingly polite, which took Xia Duo quite by surprise. Looking at the other party's face again, it did not seem so grim anymore, but he still did not relax his vigilance; after all, the blood from that mechanical slaughter just now had not yet dissipated.

One must always remain vigilant against such a dangerous person whom one does not understand.

After some pleasantries, the large ship began to move. The hull broke through the patch of water dyed red by the fish-men's blood and sailed forward, and the dozen or so fish-men that had survived the previous slaughter followed along.

After the large ship sailed for a while, another fish-man appeared at the bow. By the time they had toured the entire Maihete Lake, a group of fish-men had gathered at the bow again, similar to before, dense and floating in the water at the bow like "dead bodies."

And so, the slaughter continued.

This time, Xia Duo recognized what spell Archmage Ti Mo Xi was casting. Although even at close range he could only see some details involving the first five layers of the Magic Net, having had experience, he still recognized it—

This was a mind spell of at least the 6th circle.

However, Xia Duo speculated that this spell was likely above the 8th circle; otherwise, the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce would not have needed to send an Archmage.

An ordinary Mage needs to master at least one 8th-circle spell to be called an Archmage, or they can possess the title of Archmage by accumulating seniority.

As for Arcanists, reaching the Eighth Layer of the Magic Net makes one a Senior Arcanist.

Xia Duo also roughly guessed the function of this high-circle mind spell; it should be to control the fish-men and then have them kill and devour each other.

As for the 20 fish-men kept at the end, they were probably still under control.

"Lord Xia Duo, we have just circled Maihete Lake. All the fish-men that could be attracted by the 【Fish-man Statue】 are likely these remaining 20. Those that were not attracted should be the ones that have developed Wisdom. I must ask Lord Xia Duo to help cast a spell to search."

"Alright."

Xia Duo nodded and jumped off the ship again, landing on the water. Archmage Ti Mo Xi also timely controlled a fish-man to approach him. Looking at this fish-man, which still had bite marks and claw prints on its body and was still bleeding, Xia Duo could not help but sigh.

Fortunately, he hadn't transmigrated into the breeding farm of some non-human race! Of course, this is not to say that the wise fish-men here are transmigrators; fish-men themselves have wisdom, it's just that it was suppressed by spells. Perhaps individual exceptions are within reason, it's just that it's only being discovered now that is somewhat abnormal.

It is a breeding farm, after all, not a Laboratory.

Casting a Scrying spell does not necessarily require casting it on the fish-men; a vague search is also possible, but there will be omissions. Besides, Xia Duo did not want an Archmage staring at him while he was casting.

It wouldn't matter if the Scrying spell leaked, but seeing how Archmage Ti Mo Xi still doesn't know how to cast Scrying spells, he probably won't learn it in the future either.

The real reason is that Xia Duo does not trust this Archmage from the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce. It is easy to be interfered with at close range, so it is better to stay further away.

Even after the spell feedback ended, Xia Duo did not immediately return to the ship, but instead pretended to wait for a while longer, as if he were trying hard to distinguish something; this was actually just a little bit of careful thought.

After all, no one wants their efforts to be looked down upon by others.

After boarding the ship, Xia Duo reported the search situation, "There is a fish-man gathering point near the shore on the east side, with about a dozen or so; they should be the remaining fish-men."

"Alright!"

Ti Mo Xi nodded with satisfaction and ordered Mai Er Si to notify the ship to turn and provide the location information in a timely manner.

At the same time, the twenty fish-men controlled by the Archmage also spread out in front of the large ship, like an opened fishing net, scooping forward.

"Your Excellency Ti Mo Xi, I heard from Mage Mai Er Si earlier that the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce was entrusted by a Great Arcanist to farm fish-men and collect mucus here. If all the fish-men here are killed, wouldn't the subsequent collection mission be impossible to complete?"

"Hehe, Lord Xia Duo need not worry. These fish-men reproduce very quickly. In fact, if it weren't for them being restricted to Maihete Lake, I think the Netheril River basin would have been overrun by fish-men long ago."

"Like Goblins?" Xia Duo was somewhat skeptical. He had seen the infestation of Goblins with his own eyes, but as for fish-men, for now, it seemed they only existed in Maihete Lake.

In the Savile Territory in the south, fish-men were still just a legendary creature; very few people had actually seen a fish-man. Xia Duo felt that there might be more people in the Savile Territory who had seen an Elf than those who had seen a fish-man.

Regarding Xia Duo's question, Archmage Ti Mo Xi first nodded, but then shook his head, revealing a complex expression, and said, "Perhaps even more overrun than Goblins!"

"……"

Regarding this, Archmage Ti Mo Xi did not explain much, but turned his head to look forward, "Found them!"

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(End of this chapter)