Chapter 218: The Three Guardian Mages of Anweimaer Province (23)

Anweimaer Province.

The sun had already sunk below the horizon, the light quickly dimmed, and the temperature plummeted.

On a gravel road beside a highland ice lake, a Black Stone vehicle slowly came to a stop.

To the right of the road lay endless lake water; to the left, endless grassland, with occasional crooked trees—ideal spots for hiding and ambush.

In the distant sky, the dark specks had become two very obvious large airships, less than five kilometers away.

The Black Stone fuel had been completely exhausted; there was no way to continue maneuvering against the airships in the wilderness.

Inside the vehicle, Luosen looked at the dense grass over a person's height on the left and softly told Alena, "What comes next is the real challenge."

Alena understood the implicit meaning of his words.

Even though she had reached the extreme of Ten Rings soul, she felt a faint tremor, for this was her first time participating in the hunt of such a powerful void creature.

If she ultimately succeeded, her name would shine in the history books of the Nawat Republic and be remembered by generations of its people, becoming an indelible monument in the republic's history.

For a Guardian Mage, this is the highest honor in life!

At this moment, Alena's thoughts were pure: as long as the plan succeeded, she would unhesitatingly sacrifice her soul when needed.

Through the soul bond, Luosen clearly felt her unwavering conviction.

He was secretly shaken.

It's no wonder that a nation's top figures, always ready to sacrifice, can forge a mighty power that awes gods and demons by gathering the beliefs of countless mortals.

Crack—

Luosen opened the car door, walked to the lakeside, washed his face with the icy lake water, then drew a deep breath of the damp, cold highland dusk air, instantly refreshing his spirit.

Footsteps sounded beside him; it was Alena.

This Guardian Mage had a head of thick, flaxen hair, her features were regular—not pretty, but pleasant to look at.

She wore a plain gray linen dress whose hem fell ten or so centimeters below the knees, underneath were form‑fitting cotton trousers for ease of movement, and on her feet were warm deerskin boots.

Looking at her, though she was in her early thirties and bore an air of nine‑tenths weariness, she still retained a hint of purity.

It was not the innocence of a girl, but the purity of one who pursues magic and belief.

She crouched beside Luosen, also washed her face with ice water, then lifted her head to glance at the approaching airship, estimating that it would arrive in five or six minutes.

"Luosen Mage, I heard a demon died in the De Rui Tan plane—is that related to you?"

She addressed Luosen with an honorific, for he was a legendary mage.

By this point, Luosen also frankly admitted it.

"That's right, I killed it, but not alone—I had the help of many brave warriors."

"How wonderful!"

Alena's face showed an expression of admiration and relief coexisting.

"Hearing such good news from other planes is wonderful, truly uplifting."

"This makes me feel that the Nawat Republic is not fighting alone, and we mortals are not ants left to be trampled by demons."

Luosen fully understood this Guardian Mage's feelings.

He smiled and said, "My feelings are much like yours—when I first learned of demons' existence I felt despondent, but hearing of the Nawat Republic's deeds lifted me deeply."

"My success in slaying the demon also owes much to the knowledge shared by Grand Mage Naya, and great courage comes from the Nawat Republic."

He raised his head to the sky; the heavens were cloudless, and the stars shone brightly upon the yellow‑tinged firmament.

"I also believe that mortals will not remain mortals forever."

"One day, the wisdom of countless mortals will gather and forge a mighty power that will make every void god and demon tremble at its name."

"And one day we will possess the wisdom and strength to launch expeditions into the void to hunt its life."

Alena listened, her heart swaying: "Can this really be done?"

Luosen nodded: "I think it can."

In this world, mortal leaders can live for several thousand years; if they take the right path, they can go on smoothly without repeated turmoil.

Thus societal development will far surpass that of the previous life, and in his lifetime he will surely see many magical creations that people on Earth dare not even imagine.

By then, the demons that now make mortals tremble will become an insignificant footnote in history, just as Earth's man‑eating beasts eventually turned into protected animals.

While they talked, they made no attempt to hide; a powerful mage could easily sense them.

Thus a voice came from a distant airship.

"Luosen, Alena, you two won't even see tomorrow's sun, yet you still have the mind to dream of millions of years hence—how ridiculous!"

Upon hearing that voice, Alena immediately recognized the speaker, and a flash of annoyance crossed her face.

"Sai Gelin, you have betrayed the people's trust; your name will be nailed to the republic's pillar of shame, cursed for a thousand, ten thousand years!"

To a native Nawat, these words carry tremendous destructive power.

Sai Gelin Mage fell silent at once.

This reaction stirred Luosen slightly: 'It seems this Sai Gelin has not fallen completely.'

But there are always shameless people in the world.

Another voice came: "Alena, under the master's leadership, whether the Nawat Republic can last ten years is a question—let alone a thousand or ten thousand."

It was another fallen Guardian Mage, Datuo.

Alena went all out: "A legendary‑rank‑6 demon actually dares to spout such nonsense, and yet there are people who believe it."

"Indeed, a reckless fool plus a stupid oaf—through the ages they've been a perfect match."

Those two lines left Datuo fuming with shame and anger.

"Alena, we have been granted legendary power by our master; your stubbornness now is fine, but don't end up begging for mercy when I torment your soul later."

Alena's eyes, however, showed pity: "Ah~ Datuo, your whole family is disgraced because of you."

At that moment, the two airships had flown nearby and began to descend.

Luosen immediately borrowed the Eye of Legend, carefully examining the number of ambushers.

"One airship brought 50 people, two airships brought 100 people, each person's own mana had at least reached the 7th ring, and they carried powerful attack magical devices."

"Besides that, they were surely also granted void power by the Lord of Nether Shadow, especially Sai Gelin and Da Tuo, making them very troublesome."

"In a frontal assault, they could certainly kill many pursuers, but it would consume enormous strength and there is a great possibility they would perish together with those pursuers."

"The problem is, killing more pursuers is meaningless; their true target is the Lord of Nether Shadow hidden in the void!"

"Thus, Luosen stood up, pursed his lips toward the dense thicket: 'Let's go, we'll use the thicket and play hide-and-seek with the pursuers; we might not be unable to escape.'"

"Then they switched to soul communication: 'Remember, don't go more than five meters away from me; my fate spell can neutralize attacks aimed at both of us.'"

"They still maintained the soul link, so the power link remained as well, allowing Luosen not to overly worry about mana consumption. Alena nodded to show she understood."

"Luosen again used the innate magical power of Legend 2, releasing upon himself and Alena the 9th-ring natural spell 'Child of Nature' from the Heavenly Father of Divine Might."

"This spell will provide the two with astonishing stamina and agility."

"Then, the two flickered and entered an endless lakeside grassland."

"They had been inside for less than a dozen seconds when the pursuers arrived."

"Sai Gelin and Da Tuo's appearances changed somewhat; their eyes were shrouded by a cluster of leaping black flames."

"This granted them the ability to see through mundane matter."

"In the blink of an eye, they saw the two people sprinting madly in the thicket, less than 200 meters away."

"Da Tuo had a head of gray hair, appearing roughly thirty-five or thirty-six years old."

"He hehed a smile, raised the spiral-shaped magical device in his hand, muttered a few words, and then infused it with a mana that exuded starlit night."

"Try the imprisonment curse from the Lord of Nether Shadow!"

"The starlit gleam on the device flashed and vanished; according to its effect, the two ahead should be bound by a force and unable to move."

"But the mana was also consumed, the light also flashed, yet the target was unaffected and continued to run gleefully."

"On the other side, Luosen secretly thought in awe: 'As expected of Legend 6's power, it drained three tubes of my mana at once!'"

"If it weren't for Alena's supplement of protective faith power, he really couldn't withstand it."

"On the other side, Da Tuo instinctively glanced at his magical device, inevitably suspecting whether his master had deceived him by giving him a defective product."

"Just as he was wondering, a voice came from his mind: 'Chase after him, keep attacking, consume his fate spell!'"

"It was the voice of the Lord of Nether Shadow."

"Da Tuo, also among the top-tier mages, immediately understood the reason and shouted loudly: 'Chase!'"

"He took the lead in pursuit."

"For some unknown reason, Sai Gelin lagged a step behind, seeming to hesitate."

"Thus, the 100 people chased into the thicket."

"While chasing, they continuously fired their carried repeating firearms at the target."

'"Bang~~ bang~~~ bang~~"'

"Strangely, although they had a hundred repeating firearms, the final firing sounds were sparse and irregular—pop here, pop there—making it feel like constipation."

"It was either a jam or a misfire, or else the barrel outright exploded."

"After only a short while of pursuit, the casualties from barrels exploding unexpectedly reached as high as 18."

"Da Tuo couldn't help cursing: 'Is this fate spell too sinister?!'"

"The hundred of them, firing together, the opponent used the fate spell to interfere with two or three, even four or five, or even a dozen, which he could understand."

"Now directly interfering with a hundred, they actually made the hundred people feel constipated; this spell's control is too terrifying, isn't it? Not only he thinks so, Alena also thinks so."

"She even somewhat suspected that Luosen was a mortal incarnation of the Void God-Demon, for only a Void God-Demon possesses such high spell control."

"Luosen immediately, via the soul link, faintly ascertained Alena's thought, explaining: 'This is because I have developed a new spellcraft technique.'"

"The specific principle, I will explain in detail after the battle ends."

"Alena's doubts instantly dissipated by half; she quickly realized that if Luosen were a god-demon incarnation, the Lord of Nether Shadow would not have sealed his source of power."

"Thus, the remaining doubts vanished completely, and she developed a strong interest in Luosen's so-called 'brand-new spellcraft technique'."

"This effect is truly too powerful."

"Just feeling like fleeing for one's life could cause the pursuers to annihilate themselves entirely."

"Rosen Ziran sensed her thought, his face showing a deep 'wry smile', and he spoke in words: 'Alena mage, this will consume enormous stamina, and also enormous mana.'"

"Alena sensed Luosen's thought, immediately cooperated, her face showing 'despair': 'Luosen mage, you must hold on!'"

"Their conversation was immediately noticed by the pursuers behind."

"Da Tuo felt great delight in his heart: 'Attack~ keep attacking~~ if the firearms break, use spells, fully expend the target's mana!'"

"Don't be stingy with the power bestowed by the master; unleash it all!"

"Thus, various attacks were thrown haphazardly at Luosen."

"Finally, Luosen and Alena stopped running."

"The two ran a dozen kilometers in one breath, finally stopping in a low-lying area."

"The two panted heavily, sweat covering their bodies, faces deathly pale, standing back to back."

"Da Tuo and Sai Gelin were also exhausted to the point of exasperation, various strange mishaps causing heavy combat losses."

"Over a hundred pursuers, after the chase, fewer than thirty remained."

"But their situation looked considerably better."

"Da Tuo stepped forward first, giving a hehe cold snort: 'Run~~ why aren't you running? Is your mana exhausted?'"

"He seemed to want to torment the opponent a bit."

"But Sai Gelin strode forward."

"Don't waste talk, hurry up and kill them; we still have many aftermath matters to attend to."

While speaking, he raised the repeating firearm he had been reluctant to use, aimed it at Luosen, and was about to pull the trigger.

At the same time, Luosen clearly sensed a huge entity approaching in the void.

That huge entity, through the magic ring, gazed upon everything happening in the mortal world, and at the same time pushed the intensity of the Void Seal to its limit, completely cutting off the power source of Luosen's Burning Soul Secret Technique.

Obviously, that huge entity was the Nether Shadow Lord.

He, cooperating with the mortal followers, intended to deliver the final killing blow to Luosen.

Luosen knew the moment had arrived.

He shouted loudly, "Now!"

Before his words faded, a surge of incredibly fierce power suddenly welled up around the low-lying area.

It was the Blood Soul Legion of Anweima'er Province! The time was too short; other forces of the Republic naturally could not arrive in time to support.

Even if support were possible, mobilizing such cross-provincial forces would surely alert the Nether Shadow Lord.

But the strength of the Blood Soul Legion within the province was enough to set a trap.

This trap was coordinated by the Former Grand Magister Na Ya, stationed far in the capital, and secretly mobilized and set up by the Guardian Grand Magister Sasma'er, having been laid in ambush here three hours ago; all of Luosen's previous actions were meant to lure the Nether Shadow Lord here.

At this moment, the Blood Soul launched a sudden attack.

Using the Republic's Guardian Belief, they successfully forged a Demon Prison in the void! (End of chapter)