Chapter 300: 306. Chapter 306 Iron-hearted

306. Chapter 306 Iron-hearted

"Old master, did you see it?"

Fu Lan Duo's voice rang out, and the field of view was shared simultaneously.

With the aid of a vision-enhancing spell, Fu Lan Duo could somewhat see Christina's bound figure through the side window of the shuttle cabin.

"I saw her."

Lin Ke replied in an unchanging tone.

"What do we do, old master, save or not?"

Fu Lan Duo immediately asked.

From her bound posture, one could infer Christina's situation.

Undoubtedly, she was sent by Shadow City to Michel Grand Sage Tower as a hostage, or rather as a lure.

The lure to make Lin Ke act against the Grand Sage Tower squad.

Anyone with common sense could tell, without much thought, that a pitfall surely awaited Lin Ke.

Combining the two killing intents sensed earlier and the life-threatening danger, it's easy to see how deadly the trap waiting for Lin Ke to step into is.

Thus, from the heart, Fu Lan Duo is unwilling to let her old master risk himself for a witch he isn't close to.

But if her old master is determined to save that witch, Fu Lan Duo will not oppose.

"Rest assured, I'm not that stupid."

Lin Ke sensed Fu Lan Duo's rather conflicted mind and thus comforted her.

"Then that's good!"

Fu Lan Duo let out a long sigh.

It would be best if her old master could stay rational and not take risks.

After a hesitation, Fu Lan Duo asked, "Old master, is there anything you want to say to her? I can relay it for you."

"Hmm..."

Lin Ke pondered, then said apologetically, "Tell him I'm sorry, but I can't do anything."

"All right, old master."

Fu Lan Duo agreed and immediately cast the "Quantum Encrypted Communication" spell, linking up with Christina.

"Old master entrusted me to give you a message."

Hearing Fu Lan Duo's voice, Christina showed no reaction on her face.

After that previous encounter, Christina now drew a lesson, held fast to her inner self, and immediately sent a mental message asking, "What words?"

"Old master says he's sorry but can't do anything."

Fu Lan Duo mimicked Lin Ke's tone and relayed it truthfully.

"No need to apologize."

After a silence, Christina calmly replied, "My situation isn't really related to your old master."

"How so?"

Upon hearing that, Fu Lan Duo hurriedly asked while the shuttle had not yet entered the Grand Sage Tower squad's warship.

"Please tell your old master to take good care of my daughter, thank you!"

Christina didn't answer, but instead, taking some time, she said this.

It seemed as if she had already foreseen her final outcome, speaking her last words.

This time, it truly became a dying entrustment.

"Good."

Fu Lan Duo agreed, cut off the "Quantum Encrypted Communication", and actively distanced herself from the Grand Sage Tower squad's warship.

Her old master had just conducted a mental analysis, believing that Shadow City's otherworld expedition team had suddenly retreated and sent a cargo, which absolutely related to the 5th-level Sage secretly accompanying them.

Even though Fu Lan Duo's concealment and movement abilities are strong, she still cannot act recklessly under the nose of a 5th-level Sage.

Just in case.

"Old master, old master, did you hear all that?"

Fu Lan Duo reconnected with Lin Ke and sent an inquiry.

"Hmm."

Lin Ke gave a short reply.

Immediately raising his head, he quickly surveyed the crew members who had accepted the sudden change in situation, and calmly ordered: "Retreat, detour, return to the academy headquarters."

"Understood."

The warship tower spirit responded first.

"All right, captain."

Lan Ni. Tai Le was a beat slower.

"Yes, captain."

The other three, native wizards from the wizard world, advanced students from Storm Sea, answered next.

"Yes, Captain Ge Lan De."

The remaining seven wizards' responses rose and fell.

However, the whole team unified their thoughts and confirmed the next actions.

"Lark"-class interstellar warship swiftly withdrew, opening distance from the Grand Sage Tower warship and the Shadow City warship.

"Damn!"

Inside the Grand Sage Tower warship.

The twelve mages who had readied themselves to rush in and rescue Linke Grand at any moment, especially the captain, were extremely resentful, spewing profanity.

This is damn too cold-blooded, huh?

One mage, so resentful as to be somewhat dazed, actually muttered complaints like that.

The captain and the other team members didn't pick up the thread.

Everyone is a mage; actually we can understand that the vast majority of mages possess personalities and conduct that are rational, calm, even cold-blooded.

The hot-blooded, deeply sentimental type isn't nonexistent; it's just extremely rare.

The Grand Sage Tower team thought that since Linke Grand was willing to act against Christina Smith, perhaps there was a slight chance he would intervene to snatch her under these circumstances.

Now that 'hope' has come up empty, it's inevitable to feel a sense of loss.

Alright!

The captain shouted loudly, trying to suppress the team members' dissatisfaction and resentment caused by Linke Grand's several intense emotional fluctuations.

Captain, what do you say we do now? Just withdraw like this?

A team member, despite the captain's anger, directly asked.

This team had prepared for so long, cultivating tacit understanding, training combined spellcasting skills; the objective of this mission was not only to bring back the Saint's Legacy, but also to have a chance to inflict heavy damage on Linke Grand.

Or what?

The captain lowered his voice and said gloomily, 'If he doesn't walk into the trap, why don't you try attacking him head-on?'

That team member immediately fell silent.

You're joking, let him go attack Linke Grand head-on?

That's just asking for death.

Thus, the Grand Sage Tower team fell into silence.

Alright!

Seeing this, the captain shouted again, then gave a specific order: 'Pack up the supplies, prepare to return.'

Yes.

The team members lacked enthusiasm, responding in a scattered, half-hearted manner.

All eleven mages rushed to transfer the supplies in Shadow City's cargo hold; no one paid attention to the shuttle docked at the warship, nor to Christina inside it.

Sigh.

The captain sighed, walked to the shuttle, and opened the hatch.

Looking at the bound Christina, the Grand Sage Tower captain remained silent.

He had come to face Linke Grand head-on; the result……

Just this.

It's really hard to describe his complex feelings at this moment.

After a moment, the Grand Sage Tower captain finally acted. He lightly hooked his index finger, using force-field magic to shift Christina's form out of the shuttle, suspending her to the hatch on the other side of the warship.

Break.

The captain whispered.

Christina's starfield life-support suit, already ripped with two holes in the abdomen, tore completely apart.

Don't blame me.

Looking at Christina's calm face and her slightly flickering eyes, the Grand Sage Tower captain murmured and released his hold on her.

The hatch opened the instant he let go.

Christina swiftly drifted into the infinite void of space, unprotected, gravely wounded, and with both her mental and magical powers sealed.

Before long, the airless cosmos filled with various radiations will kill a mere first-rank mage, Christina.

The Grand Sage Tower warship's hatch closed, it adjusted its attitude, changed direction, and began the return journey.

Since the bait is useless, we might as well discard it; no need to linger.

Am I about to die?

Drifting in the starry void, Christina felt her vitality waning from suffocation and weakness, her spirits dim.

She didn't want to die like this!

The unknown.

Tsk.

President Leopold let out a sigh, 'Those who play with tactics, it's all about the heart!'

Are you alluding to me?

Dean Frister asked gloomily.

You just fit the description yourself; don't blame me for throwing shade at you.

President Leopold chuckled, 'This is you running into it yourself.'

Dean Frister's lips curled into a slight smile, with no intention to continue the quarrel.

Tch! Boring!

President Leopold muttered, rolled his eyes, then asked, 'Hey, do you think your Linke Grand will fall for it?'

No.

Dean Frister gave a decisive judgment without hesitation.

How so?

President Leopold curiously asked, 'His teleportation trick that appears and disappears like a ghost— not to mention second-rank mages of the same level, even third-rank mages, and even some newly promoted fourth-rank sages might not see through it. Let alone setting up a targeted ambush.'

Saying that, President Leopold frowned and muttered, 'Damn! How can he still claim to be a second-rank mage? How can you still say he's a second-rank mage? This damn thing is stronger than many veteran third-rank mages!'

Dean Frister ignored President Leopold's complaints and criticisms, and said calmly, 'Precisely because of that, Linke Grand will definitely not rely on that trick to go rescue that Shadow City witch.'

I don't believe it!

Principal Leopold shook his head.

Just wait and see.

Dean Frister did not insist that the other party believe his judgment.

Linke Grand's eventual choice will soon be revealed.

There's no need to argue.

Sir, should we save him?

Merely keeping a distance, Flandora, who had not completely left the star field near the Great Sage Tower warship, quickly discovered Christina, who had been thrown into space to die.

Don't act rashly, Flandora.

Lin Ke, while commanding his own troops, assigning each to their posts, preparing for a possible slight attack, also in his heart replied to Flandora's inquiry.

Why, sir?

Flandora asked doubtfully, 'Flandora is fast; they won't detect Flandora.'

That a second-level wizard and the warship can't detect them doesn't mean a fifth-level sage can't.

Lin Ke briefly explained his reasons for making this choice.

Oh.

Kind-hearted and unable to bear witnessing the tragedy, Flandora squeezed out a low voice and turned her body away.

Perhaps not seeing it directly could ease some of the feeling.

Damn!

Seeing that the trap set by Christina for the second time, the Great Sage Tower captain found it useless again; even though he had anticipated it, he still burst out with a curse.

Really, as steady as an old dog, damn it.

Unable to find an opportunity to strike, the Great Sage Tower captain only then abandoned his thought of severely injuring Linke Grand.

Shadow City Otherworld Pioneers unit.

In the warship's cockpit, the atmosphere was extremely oppressive.

Including the four wizards who obeyed the Shadow City unit captain's order to subdue Christina, they witnessed the shuttle entering the Great Sage Tower warship's interior, as well as Christina being thrown unprotected into outer space to die.

Each felt uneasy, also waiting for their unit captain's explanation.

Even if Christina Smith might have committed such or such crimes.

Whatever the crime, just make it up.

Following Shadow City's rules, no matter how they are handled, the mindset of these ten wizards would not become what it is now.

Sending their own wizards who haven't committed major mistakes to another organization as hostages or bait is unpopular.

Adding to that, the sight of Christina being casually discarded by the Great Sage Tower unit captain further stimulated the ten wizards of the Shadow City Otherworld Pioneers unit.

Christina Smith could be sent away, but what about them?

Is it that as long as the organization, or certain high-level wizards within it, need it, they too would be sent away like that?

The Shadow City captain noticed his team's psychological shift, feeling bitter but unable to speak.

He too was following orders, and had given Christina a chance.

But the Shadow City captain couldn't voice this bitterness.

Return!

After opening and closing his mouth for a long time, the Shadow City captain finally spoke, but what he said was this order.

Yes~~~

Sparse and lifeless, the response sounded.

The heavy-hearted crew returned to their stations, weakly cooperating with the captain and the Tower Spirit's operation, piloting the warship back.

Soon, this star field returned to calm.

Besides Christina drifting in space awaiting death, nothing else remained.

Void Realm.

Ragnar Walters glanced at the nearby Shadow City 5th-level Sage, feeling somewhat displeased.

After a fierce battle, although Ragnar hadn't yet defeated his opponent, he had already gauged the enemy's approximate strength.

Given a little more time, Ragnar is fully confident of winning the final victory and capturing the Shadow City 5th-level Sage, imprisoning the opponent in his own binding world.

Becoming a bargaining chip for the Michel Great Sage Tower.

Alas, alas, the external reinforcement team performed too conspicuously.

In a four-versus-four situation, they actually managed to capture the support sent by the Lie Jin Trading Company and the White Tower Alliance within half an hour.

Upon hearing this news, Shadow City Headquarters immediately contacted, via special means, the 5th-level Sage secretly escorting the Otherworld Pioneers unit.

Afterward, a ceasefire occurred between Ragnar and the Shadow City 5th-level Sage.

Only then did the Shadow City Otherworld Pioneers unit send out half its supplies, and Christina withdrew.

If we get another chance, we'll fight again.

After throwing those words at the Shadow City 5th-level Sage, he glanced at Fletcher Domingo, who was loitering in a safer place outside the Void Realm, and Ragnar Walters dissolved the Void Realm, vanishing instantly.

The Shadow City 5th-level Sage didn't linger, continuing the escort mission.

Want to sell a favor?

Looking at the pitiful Shadow City witch, Fletcher Domingo felt a stir.

But he didn't make up his mind right away.