Chapter 110: Chapter 109: Collecting a Little Interest

The name instantly brought back memories of the days he was forced to flee, of living under a false name, of the home he still dared not return to.

These guys reeked of blood; there wasn’t a good one among them.

An icy spike of killing intent shot up from the depths of his heart. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

With a mere thought, the Eye of Vigilance above his head silently dissipated.

He retracted all his projected Spiritual Perception, maintaining only the bare minimum needed to sense his surroundings. At the same time, he sent a telepathic message to Gaga:

"Keep a close eye on them. Find out what they’re doing and if there’s an Official Wizard with them."

"Understood! GAK!"

Gaga’s form flickered. A layer of shadow flowed around its body as it flew over in silence.

Ian used the cover of rock pillars and shadows to creep forward, hiding behind a massive, purplish-brown boulder to get a better look.

About two hundred meters away, five figures were resting in a relatively open depression.

They were all clad in the uniform blood-red robes of the Deep Red Royal Court, though the underground filth had stained them, dulling their color.

Four of them sat in a circle, processing some freshly gathered fungi and talking in low voices.

The fifth stood alone on slightly higher ground, his back to Ian, apparently keeping watch.

Gaga’s reconnaissance report came in quickly.

"Gak! Confirmed, no Official Wizard. But the one on high ground... he’s strong!

The sense of pressure coming from his body is far greater than the others. I’d guess he’s half a step from the Tier One threshold, maybe even touching it already.

From their chatter, I learned his name is ’Blood Axe’ Barton. He’s widely regarded as the top prodigy among this batch of Apprentices from the Deep Red Royal Court.

He follows the path of Body Refinement and once tore a heavily injured Tier One Magma Rock Scale Beast apart with his bare hands."

’Blood Axe Barton.’

’Judging by their posture and the tracks around them, they seem to be on some sort of collection or scouting mission. They don’t look like they’re leaving anytime soon.’

"Gak, they’re not leaving for a while. It looks like they’re waiting for some material to mature, or for the miasma to thin out a bit more," Gaga added.

Ian’s eyes glinted as he quickly came to a decision.

’I’ll finish my mission first and come back to deal with them later. Out here in the wilds, a few deaths won’t matter.’

’Even if they have tracking marks left by an Official Wizard, given the current purity of my Spiritual Power from complete Vaporization, I’m confident I can slowly wear them away.’

’Besides, Gaga’s Power of Shadow can interfere with them.’

"Keep watching them. We’re going around them to the Rift Valley first."

Ian gave the order in his mind, his body moving like a gray shadow, silently hugging the rock face as he detoured to the other side.

The mission in the Poisonous Mist Rift Valley wasn’t complex.

The colorful Poisonous Fog that permeated the valley strongly interfered with Spiritual Power and Perception. It was also home to a number of Demons adapted to the fog, such as the Fog Concealing Bat and the Poison.

Relying on the powerful resistance of his Vaporization Spiritual Power and Gaga’s Precise Positioning from the shadows, Ian completed his reconnaissance of the area in less than two hours.

He noted several small Demon gathering points and one cave entrance that looked like a lair, and he dispatched a dozen or so Demons that got in his way.

Without pausing for a moment, he quickly retraced his steps.

He followed the Shadow Marks Gaga had left behind, tracking the five Apprentices from the Deep Red Royal Court.

They weren’t heading back to their base. Instead, they were moving deeper into a barren Stone Forest that ran parallel to the Rotting Moss Cave.

This suited Ian perfectly.

After tracking them for about half an hour, a labyrinthine area appeared ahead, a chaotic forest of countless sharp stalagmites.

The five from the Deep Red Royal Court were taking a short break in a hollow on the leeward side of the Stone Forest’s edge.

Barton still stood on the perimeter, arms crossed, his scarlet gaze sweeping over the surroundings.

’Now.’

He was hidden in the shadow of a thick stalagmite, his gray robes blending almost perfectly with the dim surroundings.

The index finger of his left hand twitched almost imperceptibly, and four extremely compressed Frost Freeze Rays shot out without a sound.

HISS! HISS!...

Before the four of them even knew what was happening, their life-saving Shields had already activated.

An intense cold spread in an instant. A thick layer of transparent frost coated the surface of their Shields and rapidly spread outward.

It formed a slick sheet of ice on the ground, simultaneously emitting a low-temperature field that interfered with Energy Perception.

At almost the exact same moment, he raised his right hand, fingers splayed.

Instantaneous Scorching Beam!

Not just one, but five incandescent white rays, each as thin as a strand of hair, tore through the air. They shot toward the four seated Apprentices and Barton, who stood slightly farther away!

The ambush came without a single warning.

"Ambush!"

Barton reacted fastest. He was already on alert the instant a Frost Freeze Ray struck a rock wall.

He bellowed, his muscles suddenly bulging. Beneath his blood-red robe, his skin took on a dark red sheen, as if magma were flowing just beneath the surface.

Instead of dodging, he threw a punch straight at the Scorching Beam aimed for him!

BOOM!

His fist collided with the beam, erupting in a shower of fiery sparks. The beam was knocked off course, grazing his shoulder before melting a deep hole in the rock wall behind him.

Barton staggered slightly. A scorched mark remained on his fist, but he was otherwise unharmed.

His four companions, however, weren’t so lucky.

The slick ice hindered their movements as they tried to stand. The Energy Shields they hastily erected were like paper before the concentrated Scorching Beams.

THWIP! THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!

Of the four beams, two pierced skulls, one penetrated a heart, and one tore through a neck.

Blood, mixed with the smell of burning flesh, sprayed into the air. The four bodies froze simultaneously before slumping to the ground, their eyes still holding a look of shock and bewilderment.

Four of them, gone in an instant!

"You bastard!"

Barton’s eyes looked ready to pop from their sockets. He got a clear look at the attacker—a figure in an unremarkable gray robe, face obscured by a hood.

His shock and fury instantly morphed into rabid killing intent. "You’re courting death!"

He kicked off the ground, cracking it beneath him, and shot like a cannonball toward Ian’s position.

He moved so fast he created a piercing sonic boom.

A dark red, blood-like aura steamed from his pores, leaving an afterimage in his wake.

Ian, his face devoid of expression, stepped out from behind the stalagmite to face the charging Barton head-on.

He raised his right hand again. This time, it wasn’t a beam, but a forward thrust with his fingers loosely curled.

Crystal Energy Barrier!

The Secondary Limit-Breaking Middle Level Witchcraft erupted with terrifying might.

The Shield materialized like a solid sledgehammer, slamming down in Barton’s path.

BAM!!

A tremendous, muffled boom exploded, like the beat of a giant drum.

Barton’s charge came to a sudden halt, as if he’d slammed into an invisible steel wall. His protective blood-aura vibrated violently. He grunted, a flash of disbelief in his eyes.

’All Instantaneous Witchcraft!’

’How could a High Level Apprentice possess such tyrannical Witchcraft? To understand the models to this degree?’

Before Barton could react, Ian brought the fingers of his left hand together like a sword and pointed.

Deep Tie!

Two deep blue rays shot out.

CRACKLE...

The ground in a ten-meter radius around Barton was instantly covered in a thick layer of solid ice.

Barton roared and stomped his feet. His blood-aura erupted, shattering large swathes of ice, but his movements were still hindered for a crucial instant.

Ian’s figure blurred.

His gray robe billowed, and the body hidden beneath it emitted a low hum, like the grinding of tectonic plates.

The terrifying Power from his enhancements erupted completely. Coupled with his Earth Vein Resonance ability, each step he took was as steady as a mountain yet as swift as lightning.

The distance between them closed in an instant.

A vicious glint flashed in Barton’s eyes. ’Close combat?’

’Perfect! I am the Body Refinement prodigy, "Blood Axe"!’