Chapter 325: Shadow Tide Soul Bone Witch Array, Fierce Battle at White Lake City

White Lake Wizard City.

The turbulent canal was littered with pollutants radiating all kinds of energy. Wreckage from shattered Wizard Ships and chunks of wood floated on the surface. Beneath the water, metal fragments too heavy to float were mixed with mud and silt, buried deep in the riverbed.

Its former prosperity was a distant memory. Ghastly skeletons drifted down the canal to faraway places. The clothes on the skeletons were pristine, as if their owners had only just died, yet the bones themselves looked as though they had weathered a century, riddled with signs of decay and desiccation.

The Mobius Trading Team’s Great Wizard Ship sailed against the current. Its hull crashed through the skeletons being carried downstream, producing a grinding CRUNCH.

Rilis stood on the deck, her eyes gleaming with joy as an endless stream of black Soul Power poured into her from the skeletons in the river.

But that wasn’t all. The Soul Power also seemed to carry a rare trace of Vitality, which she absorbed. Black, thread-like veins began to surface on her skin, creeping up from her blood vessels and converging toward her head, causing her Extraordinary Spiritual Power to grow even stronger.

‘The Dark Bat Wizard was telling the truth. The Shadow Tide Soul Bone Witch Array he gave me is really allowing my Power to increase rapidly. I’ve already recovered my strength, and I’m just one step away from becoming an Extreme Wizard Apprentice.’

The smile on Rilis’s face widened, and her eyes burned with fervor as she stared at the clouds of black smoke rising from White Lake Wizard City in the distance. Piercing cracks echoed through the air, accompanied by fluctuations in Particle Energy.

‘The chaos has already begun. And it isn’t just the Wizards of the Berkeley Clan or the six Extreme Wizard Apprentices from the Natural Ring Tower taking part. The Wild Wizards, who normally abide by the rules and keep to themselves, are showing a desire and madness even more terrifying than theirs.’

Cries of battle rang out as Witchcraft was unleashed, and the light of Particle Energy illuminated every corner of White Lake Wizard City.

The auras were a chaotic mess, making it impossible to tell friend from foe.

People snatched any Extraordinary Resources they saw and killed anyone they thought they could defeat. Order had collapsed, leaving only the purest law of the jungle.

‘Kill! Go on, kill! The more who die, the better. Your souls, your Vitality… it all belongs to me! I can ascend to an even higher level.’

Rilis stood on the deck, looking down at the dead Wizards and mortals on the riverbanks. Many of them clutched Wizard’s Rings packed with all sorts of Extraordinary Resources. Even more people were fighting over these resources, slaughtering each other in a frenzy.

This in itself wasn’t normal. In fact, even Rilis herself had forgotten the main objective of her Wizard Task in White Lake Wizard City.

She was lost in the joy of increasing her Power, eagerly anticipating more slaughter.

A faint, shadowy light seeped up from the ground. It merged with the corpses and skeletons, then rode the streams of Soul Power into Rilis’s body and soul.

Dark, shadowy specks appeared on her eyelids, though she remained completely unaware. Her Extraordinary Spiritual Power flowed through the Shadow Tide Soul Bone Witch Array she had deployed, sensing every corpse and skeleton within the flowing canal.

‘All of this can become fuel to increase my Power.’

‘Just you wait, Wang Ya Harak. I will have my revenge. I’ll kill you and take back everything that belongs to me.’

Suddenly, Rilis’s expression changed. “Who’s there!”

“You seem a little off.” A sibilant, snake-like whisper hissed right in Rilis’s ear. Her pupils contracted and her body went rigid.

A slender, forked tongue, slick with slime, licked her cheek, traced the shell of her ear, then slithered down her neck. Rilis’s skin flushed instantly.

Rilis took a deep breath. “Duoguyin, that’s enough. It’s time to complete the Wizard Task assigned by the Natural Ring Tower.”

A pair of slender arms coiled around Rilis’s chest, binding her like rope. A pair of legs did the same to her lower body, pressing close and coiling tight. They moved with an unnatural flexibility, as if they had no bones at all.

Rilis felt she was about to suffocate, overwhelmed by the putrid, snake-like stench rolling off the other woman, mingled with the metallic scent of recently devoured human flesh.

A glint of cold fury flashed in her eyes, but she forced herself to endure it.

‘The other woman is an Extreme Wizard Apprentice,’ she thought. ‘I’m no match for her.’

‘Once the Shadow Tide Soul Bone Witch Array has devoured enough souls and Vitality, I’ll be able to advance to Extreme Wizard Apprentice too. That will be the time for payback.’

Cheek to cheek, the woman wore heavy purple eyeshadow and lipstick. Her features were eerily bewitching.

“Rilis, it seems you’re hiding a secret from me.”

Duoguyin’s voice whispered in Rilis’s ear, her hot breath ghosting across her skin.

“Everyone has secrets, don’t they? For instance, during this operation, Wizard Duoguyin, you don’t seem to be taking the mission very seriously either.”

“You’re no fool, and neither am I. This Wizard Task we were chosen for is extremely dangerous and offers little reward. I have no interest in a losing deal. I’d rather spend my time feasting on some fresh blood.”

“In a city as vast as White Lake Wizard City, why bother fighting our enemies to the death? Securing our own profits is what’s most important,” Duoguyin said, her expression cryptic.

“That does make sense,” Rilis said with a wry smile, but her expression quickly grew solemn. “However, if we fail to destroy the resonance point and the mission is a failure, the Natural Ring Tower won’t open the coordinates for the Sky-Breaking Witch Array. We’ll be trapped in White Lake Wizard City and eventually killed by reinforcements from the Dark Land.”

Duoguyin laughed mockingly, the arc of her smile wide enough to swallow a child. “Don’t be ridiculous, Rilis. Do you really think the foundation of a Wizard Influence can be so easily destroyed? Or so easily found?”

“What we’re seeing is only what others want us to see. Even an Official Wizard couldn’t hope to destroy the resonance point without insider intelligence and support.”

Duoguyin’s eyes grew distant as she sighed. “We’re just a group of sacrificial lambs, a diversion meant to attract all the attention on the surface.”

“A few of the others and I already broke through White Lake Wizard City’s Teleportation Array. We even killed three Extreme Wizard Apprentices from the Dark Land. Two of them went into hiding, or we would’ve finished them all. Now they’re holed up in the City Lord’s Mansion, too scared to show their faces.”

“Did Beta Berkeley really crack the City Defense Witch Array? How could things have gone so smoothly?” Rilis’s eyes widened, clearly not expecting things to progress this well.

“That idiot?” Duoguyin scoffed. “What kind of skill does a traitor have? He thinks it was his own Ability, but he has no idea that someone else had already arranged everything.”

Rilis stared at her in surprise. That was news to her as well.

‘To be able to tamper with White Lake Wizard City’s Witch Array and render it completely useless… whoever did that must hold a very high position within the Dark Land.’

‘Have the Natural Ring Tower’s spies infiltrated this deeply?’

Rilis was deeply shaken and felt lost. What was her mission, then? And what about the mission of the other five Extreme Wizard Apprentices?

‘What was she supposed to do now?’

Duoguyin moved like a serpent. Her bones seemed to twist and contort as she unwound herself from Rilis’s body, then she shot into the water and vanished.

Rilis stared in the direction she had vanished, her expression grim.

‘She felt as though she were caught in a dark undertow, unable to see which way was up.’

‘No matter. Power is everything. As long as I can increase my Power to the level of an Extreme Wizard Apprentice, I’ll be able to handle any trouble that comes my way.’

‘The Shadow Tide Soul Bone Witch Array can merge with my body. If I just absorb enough Soul Power and Vitality, I’ll meet the requirements to advance to Extreme Wizard Apprentice.’

Rilis clenched her fists and looked toward White Lake Wizard City.

There, the killing intent was even more intense, and the fluctuations of Particle Energy radiation had reached an unprecedented peak.

….

The teleportation was not a pleasant experience. Wang Ya was carrying Harak, who was curled up inside his sleeve. As the spatial fluctuations enveloped them, Harak began to tremble.

Something had gone wrong. There was a major problem with the spatial resonance—it was as if their network connection was being disrupted, causing the signal to cut in and out. The original instructions might have been changed into something else.

A tearing sensation washed over the six people in mid-teleportation, and panic seized their hearts.

This was the worst-case scenario.

The next moment, the teleportation was completely interrupted. A massive amount of Energy washed over them; they were caught in the backlash. The Energy surged, bursting out of the Void. Wang Ya immediately wrapped his entire body in the Shadow Robe.

The Illusory Dream Wizard had already processed the Level 1 Sublimation Witchcraft Artifact, cleansing it of the original Wizard’s Will and Spiritual Brand.

Fortunately, it hadn’t been marked with a Soul Brand; that would have been far more troublesome to deal with.

Because Wang Ya didn’t use Dark Bat Particle Energy, he could only use the Shadow Robe’s most basic functions.

….

In an outer district of White Lake Wizard City, Wang Ya tumbled out of the Void. He rolled for a good three to five meters across the ground before coming to a stop and steadying himself.

Fortunately, the Shadow Robe he wore was self-cleaning, so he didn’t look too disheveled.

Wang Ya instantly released his Extraordinary Spiritual Power, extending it out to a five-hundred-meter radius. This served both as a defense against potential dangers and as a way to gather information.

He quickly confirmed his location: he was inside White Lake Wizard City.

As for where the others had landed amidst the torrent of teleportation Energy, or whether they were even safe, Wang Ya had no way of knowing.

In fact, just two hundred meters ahead of him was an Extraordinary Resources shop. Its Protective Witch Array was active, and the Wizard shopkeeper inside was staring nervously at the figures of the Wizards outside.

“Hank, haven’t I treated you well enough? Every time you brought in the Extraordinary Resources you gathered, I always bought them from you at the best market price! And now you bring people to attack me? You ungrateful bastard!”

The Wizard named Hank was tall and had a long scar across his neck, the mark of a knife cut. It seemed to tell a story; even after becoming a Level 2 Wizard Apprentice, he had not removed it.

“You think we don’t know? You gave us the lowest prices! You’d even deliberately pick out perfectly good resources, claim they were spoiled, and exploit us year after year!”

“You even delayed our Magic Stone payments by a year, two years, sometimes even five! Too many scavenger Wizards have died gathering Extraordinary Resources because they didn’t have the Magic Stones to buy the Extraordinary Items they needed… and it’s all your fault, you bloodsucker!”

The Wizards behind Hank seethed with righteous indignation.

Most of their Wizard Robes were tattered, and their auras were weak and chaotic. It was clear they lived difficult lives.

Hank’s eyes blazed with hatred. “This is our revenge. Now, the rules of the Dark Land can’t protect you anymore.”

The shopkeeper Wizard’s expression turned to one of terror. He quickly said, “Don’t do something you’ll regret! If you break the rules of the Dark Land, the Law Enforcement Wizards of White Lake Wizard City will kill you!”

“Using lethal Witchcraft inside White Lake Wizard City is forbidden! Attacking a shop in the Free Zone is also against the law! You’d better think this through!”

Hank laughed, so furious his eyes were bloodshot. He roared, “There are no rules in White Lake Wizard City now! I am the rule! And we sentence you to death!”

“You say you can represent the rules of White Lake Wizard City?” a cool voice suddenly interjected.