Chapter 369: Just Short a Mighty Mage's Soul

"What nonsense are you spouting? The taste of the Void? The Void has a taste? Even if the Void did have a taste, when did you ever taste it? Have you been to the Void?" Lord Nai Ge was instantly baffled by Hermauz.

Hermauz sneakily glanced at Seeing Ange, saw that he was looking at him, and his courage immediately swelled; he scampered over to Lightning and licked the fur hat on its head.

The big cat bristled, extended its little paw, and with a sudden swipe— from the moment it swung, the little paw swelled into a big paw, and with one slap, it sent Hermauz flying.

Hermauz flew backward over a dozen meters, tumbling end over end and plowing out a furrow before finally stopping.

After a good while, Hermauz climbed up, minced back to Lord Nai Ge's side with tiny steps, and said nonchalantly: "The taste of the Void."

Alright, Lord Nai Ge understood what the taste of the Void referred to now—the big cat carries the taste of the Void?

What is the big cat? It's a dimensional beast. If it carries that taste, doesn't that mean those bugs are all dimensional creatures?

Coupled with the fact that Hermauz didn't recognize them either, Lord Nai Ge instantly realized the situation was serious: "These bugs couldn't possibly have come from the Void, could they?"

Seeing Ange tilted his head, turned around and let out an 'Awooo', and with a great rustling, all of their own people on site assembled.

"What are you doing?" Lord Nai Ge grabbed him.

Seeing Ange pointed at the teleportation array: "Kill bugs."

"No, no, no." Lord Nai Ge saw right through him at a glance: "You wouldn't be this eager about killing bugs, nor about burning fertilizer—and you just burned a huge pile of fertilizer, and you haven't farmed in days, you're practically itching to fly back. Yet now you want to go to the southern swamp? Why?"

Seeing Ange said: "Kill bugs, it spits."

Lord Nai Ge suddenly understood: "Not spitting, it's spitting into the fields, right? Fine, fine, fine, let's go, let's go, or else you'll keep dwelling on it again."

Hearing this reason, Lord Nai Ge knew he couldn't possibly stop Seeing Ange from running off, though he hadn't planned to stop him either—destroying fields is a capital offense as far as Seeing Ange is concerned, no matter whose fields they are.

They gathered the troops and teleported over; with a flash of light, they saw something pounce over. Miss Anna couldn't hold back any longer—Holy Light, shine!

A pillar of light shot out, and a flea-bug was left with only four limbs falling down; the rest of its body was utterly annihilated.

Hermauz hurried over, his hooves stepping on the limbs, absorbing them into his body—every trace of this flea-bug vanished without a trace.

Coming out of the teleportation array, what they saw was a scene like the apocalypse: countless flea-bugs madly pouncing and slaughtering every living creature before them—whether cattle, sheep, horses, dogs, or humans and goblins—as long as it was alive, none escaped their clutches; once pinned down, they started gnawing immediately.

These flea-bugs possessed powerful hind legs and tremendous leaping ability; with one kick they could leap over a dozen meters. No matter how fast someone fled, once targeted, they would be knocked down in a single strike.

Vast numbers of creatures scrambled, screaming and running about like headless flies, not even knowing where to flee, because no matter which direction, there were bugs.

The quick-witted fled directly toward the teleportation array, but whether this decision was wise was hard to say—because too many people were fleeing here, the area around the teleportation array was already packed with flea-bugs. Only after the people in front were all pounced on and the flea-bugs each found their own targets could the remaining people break through.

Some people hadn't given up resistance. Not far away came a tremendous roar as a huge fireball blasted into a bug—Blazing Burst.

A level-six Blazing Burst is very hard to cast instantaneously; unless one had the strength of an Archmage, most would store it in scrolls or rings beforehand, releasing it in moments of crisis.

That Blazing Burst just now was cast exactly like that: a female mage in a purple robe tore open a scroll, aimed at the bug before her, and activated it—the raging flames swallowed the creature whole.

However, her magic drew even more attention. Several fleas nearby all turned to look at her, then slowly crouched down, clearly gathering strength to leap.

The female mage immediately crushed a ring on her hand; a ring of fire flowed from her body to the ground, spreading outward with her as the center. Only after expanding beyond one meter did it burst through the ground, transforming into a ring of fire walls that encircled her.

"Flame Shield Wall, level-six magic," Lord Nai Ge said.

A flea-bug in the distance suddenly leaped forward, its entire body like a cannonball leaving the barrel, slamming into the Flame Shield Wall.

The tremendous impact nearly broke through the shield wall, but the flames erupted upward from the ground; before it could break through, the bug was blasted into the sky, its whole body scorched black.

Two more bugs leaped forward, slamming into the shield wall one after another, and were also blasted into the air. However, after taking three impacts, the Flame Shield Wall could no longer hold and silently shattered.

The female mage shouted anxiously: "Followers! Followers! Pursuers! Come protect me!" Saying so, she tore her robe.

This action startled Lord Nai Ge into hurriedly covering Miss Anna's eyes, but he quickly realized he'd misunderstood—under the female mage's robe wasn't bare skin, but rather a very conservative tight-fitting garment. Looking at the fabric, it was actually silk—could it be…

Underneath the robe, numerous small pouches had been sewn in, densely packed with scrolls filling these pouches. The female mage quickly drew one out and tore it open.

The scroll immediately ignited, transforming into a fireball that rested on the palm of her right hand, gathering fire elements from all around, growing larger and larger.

At the same time, her left hand braced forward, summoning a flame shield in front of her.

Boom! Another flea-bug pounced over.

The female mage raised her flame shield in front of her, blocking the flea's pounce, while simultaneously pressing the fireball in her right hand onto the flea's head.

A wave of fire blasted out, directly blasting away half the flea's body.

The female mage was somewhat out of breath; she drew out another scroll, rapidly looking around, and soon spotted Seeing Ange's group.

However, she didn't run toward them right away, but called out loudly: "Can you fight?"

Seeing Ange tilted his head, and Lord Nai Ge was even more puzzled: "Why do you ask?"

Luther had already impatiently drawn his longsword: "Delighted to fight for you, beautiful lady."

Only then did the female mage turn and run toward them, shouting as she ran: "Protect me, let me cast."

Duroken hesitated, guessing: "She wasn't afraid we were civilians, first confirming whether we had combat ability? If not, she wouldn't come over? Afraid of leading the bugs here?"

Lord Nai Ge said solemnly: "That can't be, can it? At a time like this, still considering that? If others attract the bugs, wouldn't it be easier for her to escape?"

The female mage ran very fast, trailing a streak of flame behind her—Flame Haste.

She quickly ran up to Seeing Ange and the others; without bothering to see clearly what everyone looked like, the female mage swiftly turned around and said rapidly: "Protect me, I am a level-seven fire mage, Misa. Buy me time."

While speaking, she tore open scrolls and threw three of them forward.

Immediately, three pillars of fire rose before everyone, like three obstacles. These pillars gathered fire elements from all around, visibly growing thicker, larger, and fiercer.

A flea-monster pounced through between two fire pillars; Luther swung his sword in a flashy manner, cleaving the flea-monster in two: "Delighted to serve you, beautiful lady."

The female mage Misa shot him a glance in passing, saying rapidly: "Don't get distracted. If we survive, I'll go on a date with you. The number of these monsters is huge, their leaping power and impact force are both terrifying…"

Before she finished speaking, Luther, in a very flashy move, abandoned his sword. He swung a fist as big as a sandbag and blasted the flea-monster that had just leaped over back the way it came, his battle aura shattering half the flea-monster's body.

Alright, Luther's impact force was even more terrifying, but Misa still said: "Then save your strength, there are many monsters."

Constantly pulling out scrolls, tearing them open, pulling out scrolls, tearing them open…

Lord Nai Ge couldn't help asking: "How many scrolls did you bring?"

Misa replied without turning her head: "A few hundred, I guess. There are more in my bag."

"You're way too extravagant—do you fight entirely with scrolls?" Lord Nai Ge couldn't help complaining.

Misa rolled her eyes without turning her head: "It's not your money being spent. My family is rich."

After tearing open a full sixteen scrolls, sixteen fireballs gathered before Misa, then she crushed the second ring on her hand.

Only then did Seeing Ange notice that both of Misa's hands were covered in rings—four on each hand, eight in total.

She crushed the second ring, and a small flame bird darted out. This little bird pounced on the first ball of flame, its body immediately growing much larger, then it pounced on the second ball of flame.

"Oh, a level-seven fire spell—Lustfire Rebirth Phoenix can be cast like that?" Nai Ge Li Si said in surprise.

Misa finally turned her head, glanced at Nai Ge Li Si in surprise, and upon realizing it was a 'young' dragon, she relaxed again: "Never seen it before, have you? I improved it. Releasing the phoenix takes too long, so I just release a small bird first and let it keep reviving, growing stronger with each rebirth."

As Misa spoke, the phoenix bird devoured sixteen fireballs, growing into a massive flame bird, then beat its wings and swooped toward a flea-monster in the distance.

The flame bird pounced onto the monster, burning it into a pillar of fire. The flea-monster thrashed about, shrieking with a hissing screech, until it finally collapsed on the ground, its body still burning.

Until the very last wisp burned away into charcoal, the phoenix took to the air again, seemingly having grown a bit larger, and continued to swoop at other flea-monsters.

"Uh, that Misa—are you aware of these monsters' characteristics?" Nai Ge Li Si asked curiously.

"Characteristics? What characteristics?" Misa asked distractedly while controlling the phoenix.

"Oh, so you didn't know. Then you were just guessing, and you happened to pick the most suitable method. If there were fewer of them, you might really have cleaned them all out," Nai Ge Li Si said.

"What guessing? You're the blind one—watch your mouth." Misa shot back, and then she saw a flea-monster voluntarily lunge onto the phoenix, its limbs and thighs clinging tightly to it, and the two turned into a ball of fire together.

Before that flea-monster had finished burning, another flea-monster leapt over and hugged the fireball tightly.

One after another, flea-monsters kept pouncing onto the phoenix, forcibly smothering its flames.

Misa said urgently: "Not good—quick, set the surrounding houses on fire, help my bird revive!"

Nai Ge Li Si asked in surprise: "You're only burning them now? Why didn't you burn them at the start?"

Misa explained: "You can't just go around burning other people's houses—where would they live?"

Nai Ge Li Si was caught between laughter and tears, yet filled with sudden respect. From her actions, this was truly a righteous, kind, and brave child.

Seeing Ange suddenly asked: "If we don't burn the houses, can we burn them?"

Misa asked, puzzled: "What do you mean?"

The moment her words fell, she saw Seeing Ange sweep his hand in front of him, producing a row of fireballs that shot toward the phoenix with a series of thwacks, then swept his hand back for another row of fireballs.

Twenty shots per second, the continuously fired fireballs linked into a sheet, pulling out row upon row of fire-lines.

Seeing Ange didn't use explosive fireballs. Ordinary fireballs shot into the cluster of flea-monsters, and with each one that landed, the cluster's flames grew stronger by a fraction.

Two or three seconds later, the flames smothered by the flea-monsters burst forth again from the gaps.

Misa stared dumbfounded at Seeing Ange as he kept sweeping row upon row of fireballs in front of him, her mouth opening wider and wider, her jaw nearly hitting the ground.

Although they were all level-two fireballs, there were simply too many. In the blink of an eye, they propped up the nearly extinguished phoenix. The flames that had originally burst out orange-red quickly turned orange-red, then blue—clearly the temperature was climbing higher and higher.

Seven or eight flea-monsters huddled together were forcibly burned into charcoal, and a blue phoenix took wing with a powerful flap. As its wings beat, it let out a hissing sound as if the very air were being scorched to bursting.

"For—forbidden phoenix?" Misa could barely speak. Her own level-seven spell, Lustfire Rebirth, had actually been forcibly catalyzed by Seeing Ange into a level-nine forbidden spell?

The forbidden phoenix did not break free of Misa's control; she could still steer it to pounce on other flea-monsters, instantly burning them into torches.

The forbidden phoenix packed far more firepower than her level-seven phoenix. Before, burning one flea-monster took five seconds; now, barely a second passed before the flea-monster turned to charcoal.

The forbidden phoenix rose into the air and swooped toward a new target.

Misa was thrilled to the point of trembling all over. A level-seven mage, yet commanding a level-nine forbidden spell—the power was on an entirely different level. Whatever it pounced on became charcoal. Getting to experience the might of a level-nine spell ahead of time was simply exhilarating.

But Seeing Ange didn't stop. Endlessly, at a rate of twenty shots per second, he frantically fed fire into the phoenix. With every flap of its wings, the great flame bird let out a hissing sound of scorching air.

More and more flea-monsters noticed the anomaly here, surging in from all directions, leaping violently from far away to plunge into the great flame bird.

The phoenix was struck so hard its sparks flew in all directions. Burning a flea-monster this size into charcoal required no small amount of heat, and given enough numbers, they really might smother it.

Under the relentless battering, the phoenix inevitably dimmed, only to blaze back to life under Seeing Ange's ceaseless replenishment.

For a moment, the two sides were locked in a contest of strength—either the bugs would all be burned away, or the phoenix would be extinguished.

But just then, the phoenix gave a sudden, powerful flap of its wings, and in the direction it fanned toward, the light actually began to warp—that was the air being heated by the extreme temperature to the point of distorting light.

Starting from the wingtips, the phoenix shifted from blue to white, transforming into a white flame bird.

"Ul—ultimate phoenix! I…I…I…" Misa couldn't even speak, and in her excitement steered the phoenix to counter-charge at the enemy.

The blazing ultimate phoenix burned with white flames, and wherever it passed, the bugs one after another turned into fireballs.

At level nine, when the great flame bird pounced onto a bug, it still needed to burn for over a second before the bug was destroyed. But after evolving to ultimate grade, the fire bird only needed to crash into them—no pause required—leaving behind a torch.

"Catches fire on contact, so exhilarating! Ultimate magic! Oh heavens, I can command ultimate magic! My lord, you must be the God of Fire, right? Watch me burn them all clean!" Misa roared with excitement and thrill, preparing to set fire to every bug-monster in sight.

He Mo Er asked, somewhat bewildered: "If you burn them all, what am I supposed to eat?"

Seeing Ange glanced at the ashes covering the ground and shrugged indifferently. Whether eaten or burned to ash, it didn't seem to make much difference.

The blazing fire bird kept clearing out the bugs, and just as it was about to finish them all off, a voice suddenly rang out: "Oh ho, an ultimate phoenix? Is there an ultimate mage here? Excellent—Void Teleportation is in need of one sturdy mage's soul. Go, the Endless Void is where you belong. Exile!"

As the voice spoke, a spatial rift suddenly cracked open in front of the phoenix. Unable to check its momentum, the phoenix plunged headlong into it.