Chapter 308: Eighth‑Level Wizard

Ke Luonu An, as a symbiont, could sense the original body's location, but in the urgency he didn't have time to notice it carefully.

The moment his words fell, a random door opened beside him, and Lei En stepped out.

Lei En, gripping the Arcane Flood Staff, cast the random door twice in quick succession, looked up at the thunderbird flock only a few hundred meters away, and countless bolts of lightning rained down from the sky.

"Fire freely and hold them off; prepare to retreat."

Lei En's order was simple, and the four Extreme Warriors understood it. They swiftly removed Lambo's Gun, lifted the black cloth, and without hesitation fired at the thunderbirds.

The gunfire burst forth.

The machine gun's roar echoed through the forest.

The thunderbirds in the sky had already entered Lambo's Gun's range, and instantly the one at the front was struck head‑on.

The bullets tore through dozens of thunderbirds, sending them plummeting, their blood and feathers scattering through the air.

The lightning overhead also weakened a bit.

The first time Bulaimit saw Lambo's Gun fire, the deafening blast and terrifying rate of fire left him stunned, as if petrified, unable to move.

So much so that Lei En waved his hand to turn the Five-Headed Fire Dragon into white light and vanish, and it didn't catch his attention.

At the same time, Lei En activated the Arcane Flood Staff, arbitrarily choosing direction and distance, and released a portal at top speed.

"Bulaimit!" Lei En shouted loudly.

The dwarf finally regained his senses.

He unhesitatingly used the soul pact to send a command to the Earth Bear.

"Roar!"

The massive bear let out a fierce roar, brown‑gold light spreading over its thick fur, instantly forming a hemispherical shield that protected everyone inside.

This is the Five Rings' Earth Shield.

Almost as the shield formed, lightning descended.

Streaks of thick and thin lightning spells struck the shield, scattering dazzling arcs; the shield quivered violently, wobbling, thinning at a visible rate, able to hold only a few seconds before collapsing.

Bang! Bang! Bang…

Bulaimit raised his long‑barrel soul gun and kept firing into the sky.

Each of his bullets was custom‑made, piercing the one‑way Earth Shield and precisely hitting one thunderbird after another.

The struck thunderbirds were bombarded as if by fireball magic, exploding into a mass of gore, then burned to ash with no residue left.

Compared to a single bullet's power, Bulaimit's soul gun far outclassed Lambo's Gun in range and accuracy, but its firing rate was too slow.

It could only fire two to three bullets per second on average.

Whereas the Extreme Warriors' firepower was like a raging storm, seemingly never ceasing.

Even though there were only four Extreme Warriors, their numbers were few and positions too clustered to form an effective crossfire network, yet this barrage still inflicted considerable damage on the thunderbirds.

Hundreds of thunderbird corpses fell.

The trailing thunderbird flock screamed in terror, desperately accelerating to evade; some alert thunderbirds fled backward, exiting the machine gun's range.

This wave of resistance yielded immediate results.

The barrage of lightning was cut down by more than half, yet it still shattered the Earth Shield, and streams of current instantly engulfed everyone.

The Extreme Warriors' armor was enchanted with "Protective Energy Damage" and they promptly activated the "Elemental Armor" necklace around their necks; nevertheless, they were still pounded by lightning, screaming in pain, their bodies numb, and Lambo's Gun fell silent.

Bulaimit's owl, Qinglin Owl, swooped onto him, forming a blue shield that blocked the lightning.

Lei En, having just cast the portal, hadn't had time to raise a vector shield.

However, he wore a blood‑red cloak; high‑grade magical resistance first absorbed half the power, and when lightning struck again, two "Lightning Affinity" effects further mitigated it, leaving the final damage almost negligible.

Scattered lightning still leapt among the few, affecting the Extreme Warriors the most.

Their bodies were both painful and numb, and even the machine gun's grip wavered.

The Earth Bear once again expanded the shield.

Lei En stared at the sky; under the direction of several high‑stage thunderbirds, the flock encircled again, deliberately staying relatively dispersed, surrounding from all directions.

The death of hundreds of thunderbirds did not make them retreat.

If sixty Extreme Warriors were here, shooting down thousands of thunderbirds would be easy, but with only four injured, there's no need and it wouldn't mean much either.

"Retreat; I'll cover the rear."

Lei En gave the decisive order.

The Extreme Warriors gritted their teeth against the pain, ran into the portal, Bulaimit followed, and then the Earth Bear, which had shrunk its body, entered.

As soon as the Earth Bear left, the shield vanished.

Only Lei En remained at the spot.

He didn't enter the portal; instead, he activated the Invisibility Ring and then a blink to shift away.

Just as Lei En's front foot stepped forward, hundreds to thousands of bolts of lightning struck from behind, the current raging wildly, burning the forest within a hundred‑meter radius to ash, the ground barren, with only a lone portal still standing in place.

The vanished enemies made the thunderbird flock roar in anger.

They spiraled round and round in the sky, electric light flowing over their wings, aimlessly casting spells—various lightning arrows, bolts, electric nets, and thundercloud techniques—scattering everywhere, trying to locate Lei En.

The relentless bombardment yielded nothing.

Only that portal remained.

Finally a thunderbird could no longer hold back and swooped down, approaching the portal to investigate.

The leaders were two high‑stage thunderbirds, accompanied by a dozen or so low‑stage and Mid-stage ones; they landed not far from the portal, cautiously approaching, but the scene beyond the door was indecipherable.

They circled the portal several times, yet dared not enter.

Suddenly, a faint invisible light floated up from the void, resembling a dazzling intricate shackles, descending from above and striking one unguarded high‑stage thunderbird.

Exile!

The exiled high‑stage thunderbird thrashed desperately, yet could not move the cage formed by the isolated space; it beat its wings fiercely, unleashing lightning attacks, not even a ripple appearing.

The other Thunder Birds also tried to save it, but it was as if separated by a spacetime barrier, completely unreachable.

Lei En's silhouette, staff in hand, appeared by the river.

In an instant, all the Thunder Birds locked onto him, and countless bolts of lightning poured in from the sky, ground, and treetops, engulfing him from all directions.

Amid the booming roar…

Several strikes of lightning first hit Lei En's head, making his hair stand on end.

Yet he stared unflinching, bracing the lightning; his Willpower kept him absolutely focused, he opened an Arbitrary Door and leapt through at speed.

The Arbitrary Door's destination landed in a forest five hundred meters away.

Lei En emerged, and was immediately spotted by the Thunder Birds; unhurried, he again used an Arbitrary Door to escape.

The Key of Doors granted him super affinity with mysterious energy; when casting Arcane, the time was greatly reduced—fast and excellent. With the Arcane Torrent Staff's boost, the Four‑Ring Arbitrary Door could compress to under half a second, and its jump distance exceeded that of a regular Arbitrary Door, reaching five hundred meters.

After several Arbitrary Doors, Lei En had already fled several miles away.

The entire flock of Thunder Birds, drawn by him, pursued relentlessly, like a massive thunderstorm following behind; wherever they passed, the forest was shattered by lightning.

Lei En, in one breath, cast the Arbitrary Door more than a dozen times, flinging the Thunder Birds farther and farther away.

He cast the distant‑escape spell while silently calculating the time.

Another time he emerged from an Arbitrary Door, Lei En appeared atop a massive tree, highly conspicuous; the Thunder Bird flock had already been thrown two or three miles away, but upon seeing his figure, they continued the frantic chase.

"Almost done."

Lei En thought to himself, staying on the treetop without fleeing further, watching the Thunder Bird flock draw ever closer.

Soon, bolts of thunder and lightning again enveloped the sky above.

He raised his staff and activated the teleport gate.

When the Thunder Bird flock finally caught up, the teleport gate atop the tree closed before their eyes, leaving Lei En's whereabouts completely unknown.

Lei En stepped out of the teleport gate, standing before the exiled High‑Rank Thunder Bird.

Around him, aside from that one, there were no other Thunder Birds; they had all been drawn far away, and no matter how fast they were, they could not return.

That High‑Rank Thunder Bird was the one bearing Thunder Affinity.

Lei En smiled.

Thunder Birds, after all, are not sentient; with a slight trick he lured them all away. This train‑like monster‑drawing method he often used when gaming in his past life.

He timed it perfectly; in a few more seconds the exile would end.

Lei En switched his staff to his left hand, then drew the Thunder Hammer, first bestowing upon himself the Four‑Ring Dragon Power Technique, activating the staff's "Static Field".

All space within a thirty‑meter radius froze; the staff's ribbons vanished into the void. The High‑Rank Thunder Bird, just emerging from the exile space, was tightly bound by the field. Even though it had employed the "Wind‑Thunder Wings" that could boost speed, its movements remained as sluggish as a turtle.

In its desperate gaze, Lei En raised the war hammer.

His hand rose, the hammer fell.

With a muffled thud, the High‑Rank Thunder Bird's head was smashed into mush; the avian's defense was mediocre and could not withstand such a dreadful hammer blow.

Lei En had long disabled the soul‑absorption function, took out a Soul Stone, pressed it onto the Thunder Bird's corpse, and extracted its soul.

The transparent Soul Stone turned blue, a Demon Soul drifting inside.

Six Elements alternately surfaced, among them Thunder Affinity.

Lei En, satisfied, packed it away and stepped into the teleport gate he had just summoned; after he entered, the gate's duration ended precisely.

Half a minute later, the flock of Thunder Birds finally returned.

But they only saw the corpse of the High‑Rank Thunder Bird, and they aimlessly circled in the sky, emitting mournful cries.

"Boss."

Seeing Lei En finally emerge from the teleport gate, the four Extreme Warriors relaxed.

Bu Laimeite laughed, "I thought something had happened to you; if I hadn't stopped you, those big ones would have gone back to look for you."

"What accident could occur? Escaping would have been too easy," Lei En said, smiling lightly twice.

The dwarf nodded, yet was curious, "You waited until the last moment to come; what were you doing over there?"

"Of course, for the Demon Soul."

Lei En produced a Soul Stone to show, and after Bu Laimeite saw it clearly, his eyes bulged, his face full of disbelief.

It had been less than two minutes, and Lei En had accurately located the target among thousands of Thunder Birds, slain it, and obtained Thunder Affinity?

He had thought it would take many attempts to succeed.

This guy is amazing!

Bu Laimeite grew increasingly unable to understand Lei En; layers of mist seemed to veil him, forever obscuring his true abilities.

Lei En glanced at the surrounding terrain; it was a low valley covered by forest.

The Five‑Ring Teleport Gate's maximum range is fifty li; judging from the relatively high Thunder Element density, it should still be within the Ismu River Valley, though downstream, toward the interior of the Dead Forest Sea.

He listened carefully for a few seconds, confirming no danger nearby.

Lei En took out several Healing Scrolls for the Extreme Warriors' wounds, only to find they had already been treated by Bu Laimeite's Green Forest Owl, removing the paralysis.

The energy consumption continued unabated.

He quickly released the Five‑Headed Blazing Fire Dragon, easing his own pressure.

It was only then that Bu Laimeite noticed Lei En had tucked away the Blazing Fire Dragon and the mystery of Lambo's Spear; all these marvels made the dwarf itch with curiosity, yet he didn't know where to begin asking.

"Set up camp here and rest."

After issuing the command, Lei En sat down to meditate, quickly restoring his soul power to its peak, and then, under everyone's gaze, placed a Soul Stone on his forehead.

The Extreme Warriors promptly spread out, guarding the perimeter.

"So eager to fuse the Demon Soul, aren't you afraid of problems?" Bu Laimeite muttered.

Amid his doubt, in less than ten minutes Lei En opened his eyes.

Electric sparks flashed in Lei En's eyes, his aura surged outward, visibly stronger than before; clearly, the Demon Soul fusion went smoothly.

Bu Laimi Te has already been numbed by surprise.

Bu Laimi Te subconsciously asked, "Did you successfully upgrade?"

"Yes." Lei En stood up and exclaimed, "After waiting for over half a year, finally reached Level 8 Wizard."

Sleep early tonight, tomorrow the third watch, it's the end of the month, please give me a monthly ticket haha!

(End of chapter)