Chapter 692: Cannon Mage

Two days later.

Under the gloomy sky, a desolate hilltop rippled with void currents, and seconds later five silhouettes appeared.

It was Reslin and his party.

Belak gazed east; a few miles away stretched an endless sea, and to the north and south the coastline vanished without end. He said happily, "We've arrived! This is the East Coast. I've been here a few times before; ahead should be Shield Island."

The others looked where he pointed; to the north a landmass jutted into the sea, angled eastward, separated from their position by a bay.

If they hadn't known beforehand that it was an island, they could easily mistake it for the main body of the New Continent.

Reslin looked farther.

The narrow island resembled a crescent shield, extending over four hundred li east‑west, with its widest north‑south span just over fifty li; most of it was flat, fertile land cloaked in a dark black forest, and its western edge lay only a river away from the New Continent.

Opposite Shield Island's western bank across the river stood a peninsula, under a hundred square li in area, shaped like an irregular dagger; its northern tip stretched from the New Continent into the sea, while its western side formed the mouths of two rivers, creating an excellent natural harbor.

This peninsula was the famed Aibolaken.

During the Third Epoch, Aibolaken was the most prosperous economic hub of the elves on the New Continent.

Even three thousand years later, the peninsula and the vast western lands still bear faint silhouettes of countless cities, scattered ruins everywhere; through those ancient, weathered traces one can almost glimpse the former splendor.

However, today this place is a paradise for undead and monsters.

Aibolaken and its attached Shield Island lie far from the Eastern Great Plains, outside the sphere of the Netifu Demon. Since the New Continent fell, the area has been controlled by the Lord of the Dead's minions—that is, the undead.

The Lord of the Dead is not keen on building an Abyssal Gate to pollute the land; instead, it sends the Heavenly Disaster Legion to slay all living things and turn them into undead.

Any area under undead control is virtually a dead zone.

Wherever Reslin's eyes fell, the world was heavy with death.

The ground vegetation was unaffected, thriving, looking slightly better than the corrupted wasteland, yet not a single moving creature could be found; the silence was unnerving, sending a chill to the heart.

This was only the fringe of undead control.

Going north another few hundred li into the New Continent's northern icefield "Karnod" was an even more lifeless world, an absolute no‑go zone for life.

A cold wind blew from the north, carrying a foul stench.

Within the wind lingered vague curses, as if ghosts whispered in their ears, assaulting each person's Willpower and soul.

Reslin waved his hand and cast a spell to part the malignant wind.

"Let's continue."

He fixed the direction and again used a group teleportation technique; soon the whole party vanished into the void.

The next second, they appeared dozens of li away, standing amid a vast ruin, orienting themselves: this was the western tip of Shield Island, with the river separating Aibolaken two or three li to the west, and a long‑collapsed bridge still visible.

Yizite scanned the surroundings, immediately noticing something amiss, and whispered, "There are signs of fierce fighting here, no more than five years old."

The moment his words finished, a sound rose from the ruins around them.

Corpses tore themselves from the ground—zombies, ghouls, skeletal warriors, and the like—pale wraiths materialized in the air, and dozens of undead emitted eerie cries, sensing the scent of the living and charging at the party from all directions.

Further away, more undead were roused, awakening from beneath the earth.

The five remained unmoved, not even glancing further.

"Heaven's Light!"

Daoensuos casually unleashed a six‑ring Divine Technique; holy, radiant light bathed the ground, and all the undead shrieked in pain, instantly turning to ash.

"Roar…"

A roar echoed across the sky, and the ruins several hundred meters away exploded.

A colossal figure, over ten meters tall, rose; its body was stitched together from hundreds of corpses, vaguely humanoid. The corpses wore their former clothes, rotted and swollen, oozing black pus and exuding a nauseating stench, as if a nightmare‑born monster.

It was a legendary Mid-stage Sewn Corpse King.

It turned its head toward Reslin and the others, bellowing wildly as it charged.

The ground trembled; the massive Sewn Corpse King wasn't running but rolling, shedding clouds of "snow" with each step. Upon closer look, the "snow" was actually clumps of maggots, sending a chill up the spine.

Daoensuos's Heaven's Light struck the Sewn Corpse King, causing plumes of black smoke; the charred corpses on its surface quickly reconstituted. The king's massive size meant the damage only caused pain, not death.

Soon, the Sewn Corpse King surged within two hundred meters.

Asina covered her nose, looking disgusted.

Against any other foe, no matter how strong, she would have charged without hesitation. But this Sewn Corpse King was so repulsive that it seemed scarier than a Baro Flame Demon.

Yizite also frowned, unwilling to let his battle blade become soiled.

Belak swiftly drew his twin pistols to fire, but heard Reslin say, "Don't waste ammunition." He turned to see Reslin already casting a spell.

A transparent giant fist descended from the sky, striking the Sewn Corpse King.

Bang!

The rolling massive undead was knocked to the ground by the punch, splattering countless pus and corpse fluid, with maggots spraying like surf. These disgusting, filthy substances harbored potent death energy, shielding it and countering the black Void Chains that erupted from the void.

Waves of death energy erupted as the hundreds of corpses forming the Sewn Corpse King strained together, trying to break the chains that bound it.

Clap‑clap‑clap… only a few Void Chains had snapped, and before it could regain freedom, a burst of flame surged toward it.

Eight‑Ring Flame Explosion Technique!

Flames the size of a basket, bright as molten rock, solidified and detonated the instant they struck the Sewn Corpse King.

Boom—

An earth‑shaking blast erupted, towering flames engulfing the ten‑meter‑tall king, the fire shockwave instantly sweeping a hundred‑meter radius.

Yizite and the others jumped in fright, their eardrums stinging from the shock.

When the explosion subsided and the flames and smoke cleared, the Sewn Corpse King had vanished completely.

Its former spot was now a massive crater, three to four meters deep; from its center radiated a network of gullies extending beyond a hundred meters, and everything within the blast radius had disappeared, leaving the entire ruin a barren white plain.

The teammates stared dumbfounded: could the flame explosion technique really be that powerful?

When they fought the Baro Flame Demon, they had endured its flame explosion technique, also an eight‑ring, so why was this one far weaker than Reslin's?

If Dimat's fire spells were this terrifying, even with fire‑resistance potions and protective fire spells, they might still have suffered casualties.

Reslin nodded with satisfaction.

This was the first combat use since acquiring the Flame Demon Crown; the legendary Element proved formidable, granting triple damage plus the dual "Combustion" and "Explosion" effects, and a single Flame Burst spell instantly killed a legendary Mid-stage Stitching Corpse King.

Other Arcane spells don't have such killing power.

Being a turret mage is just great!

He glanced at the still‑dazed teammates, his expression indifferent, but inside he felt a secret delight, almost laughing out loud.

The Stitching Corpse King was the undead leader of this area; once it was slain, the surrounding undead fell silent, lying in the ground like real corpses, never rising again.

Reslin flashed upward and quickly located the target.

He descended, opened a portal, and the teammates followed into a larger ruin; before them lay a massive square pit, as if something had risen from the ground leaving a hollow, each side a mile long, the deepest point over five hundred meters.

Around the quadrilateral pit, the ground was dotted with ruined buildings, resembling a newly‑established town.

However, the town had been completely destroyed.

The group stood at the rim of the giant pit, instantly stunned by the sight.

"This place..."

Beilake already knew how the giant pit was formed.

Years ago, Weizelan was invaded by the Catastrophe Legion and attacked by another Fu Kong Cheng; the incident is now widely known, causing a stir in human outposts and cities on the New Continent.

Rumors have long claimed that the Fu Kong Cheng was built on the New Continent, somewhere on the eastern coast.

Yet the eastern coast is largely a dead zone, far more dangerous than the western coast, with few transcendents daring to venture there; even though it's said to be near Dun Dao, few have seen it with their own eyes.

"So this is it!" Dao En Suosi's face lit up with realization.

Yizite was shocked by the pit's scale.

He had never seen a Fu Kong Cheng, but even this pit revealed how magnificent one could be, stirring his longing for the Empire.

Reslin felt nothing, his gaze scanning the surroundings for any clues.

The All-Seeing Eye and Soul Eye operated at full power.

The darkness inside the pit receded like a tide; the rune formation left from the Fu Kong Cheng's construction surfaced, revealing hidden undead, secret chambers, and anomalies, all of which he identified, yet careful inspection yielded nothing useful.

Reslin fell into the pit, continuing his search.

The teammates guessed his intent and waited patiently, watching Reslin move within the pit, occasionally flashing upward or landing at a spot for careful inspection; a few undead attacked, but were blown to pieces by a fireball before reaching him.

Half an hour later, Reslin flashed back to the group.

"How's it going?" Asina asked concernedly, "Find anything?"

Reslin shook his head, "Nothing."

Yet his face showed little disappointment; the construction of the new Fu Kong Cheng had always been covertly overseen by Korstted, whose caution left virtually no trace, and once the Fu Kong Cheng lifted away, the site became even less useful.

This trip to Dun Dao was merely a gamble, with no great expectations.

Reslin's gaze fell on the ruins beside the pit.

This was part of Mo Du nobles' and Weizelan Wizards' plan: while building the Fu Kong Cheng, they also erected a new city as the foothold for colonizing the New Continent, painstakingly relocating many residents from the Empire to become the first citizens of the new kingdom.

Unfortunately, those people and the town were all destroyed at once, sacrificed to the Lord of the Dead, becoming offerings for Korstted's Holy Soul Ascension Lich.

Reslin thought for a moment and decided to search the town's ruins.

He cast Mirror Image, twelve mirror images scattering.

The teammates also helped.

The ruins had almost no intact structures, apparently ravaged by large‑scale magical attacks; everything collapsed, crushing everything beneath and making the search extremely inefficient.

Fifteen minutes later, Reslin's mirror images vanished.

The teammates also found nothing, but kept disturbing the undead hidden underground; these non‑legendary undead posed no threat yet were a nuisance, severely slowing the search.

Reslin cast Mirror Image once every hour; after three times, he had surveyed most of the ruins yet still found nothing.

As he contemplated whether to continue, he noticed a stealthy figure approaching.

"Hmm?"

Reslin's expression remained unchanged as he kept searching, watching with his peripheral vision.

The figure lingered in the shadows, moving swiftly yet making no sound, believing itself highly concealed, unaware that the All-Seeing Eye saw it clearly.

It was a slender female elf.

She wore dark‑red leather armor, her hood exposing pointed ears; golden hair, slender eyebrows, pupils rimmed with blood‑red, and two azure curved daggers at her waist, hiding in the darkness to watch the group in the ruins, moving with great caution.

"A blood‑elf assassin?"

The Soul Eye sensed no hostility; she was likely drawn by the sound of a spell explosion, lurking kilometers away with no intent to attack.

Encountering blood elves in the northeast of the New Continent is not surprising.

At the end of the last era, when the elves evacuated the New Continent, some failed to retreat and others refused to leave, choosing to stay and defend their homeland.

They merged into a new elven branch, calling themselves blood elves.

After the New Continent was devastated by the "Great Earthquake", the blood elves retreated to a large island in the northeast, naming it "Nuo Wa Fa Ke Si", which means "Revenge" in High Elf, vowing to avenge the Abyss and reclaim their home.

Over more than three thousand years, the blood elves endured countless calamities, even abandoning their faith for the "Revenge Goddess" Ti Xi Fen, yet they endured.

To this day, the blood elves have not abandoned their vow of revenge.

The blood elves' "Revenge Island" lies just over a thousand li from Aibolaken; the northeast of the New Continent is their main area, so meeting blood elves is normal.

A thought flashed through Reslin's mind.

The blood elves have been active nearby for years; when the Fu Kong Cheng was built, they could not have been hidden from them—perhaps they know some clues?

Ka wen was in great pain, and before he knew it, dawn broke…

(End of Chapter)