A Sorcerer’s Journey

This subtle and cool black energy was oh so familiar to Grimm.

He recalled the time when he was still a sorcerer-apprentice, at the final stage of the Eternal Darkness Territory at the ingenious Tower of Ruins. That, and the materialized spiritual energy of the Nightmare Shadow sealed within the Sabbatic Goat Staff he was holding in his hands at the moment.

They all emanated the same aura as this pure black giant’s phantom.

After a few pauses to recoup his strength, Black Isotta finally struggled his way out of the crack and descended upon the Sorcerer World.

At this moment, the Stigmata Sorcerer had completely transcended the pressure from the higher life levels of the official sorcerers. All restraints were dropped as it cast a vast shadow so great that it could cover the entirety of the sun’s rays.

This overwhelming feeling of pressure was like a cane that whipped down hard on Grimm’s heart. His entire body trembled as though it went into a brief seizure.

The other low-ranking Demon-Hunter Sorcerers had similarly felt that they were on the brink of suffocation. It was an indescribable wave of high pressure that caused the veins to burst and even unnaturally flushed faces for some of the weaker Demon-Hunter Sorcerers.

Gradually, the real body of this black-robed Stigmata Sorcerer descended from the heavens to the air above the Principal Void Fortress of the Sorcerer World.

The space surrounding the black sorcerer’s robe continuously collapsed. He hauled a gigantic book on his back, while his silhouette turned blurry from the continuous spatial collapse around him and the skies around him distorted into an abstract view.

Who else could it be but the Black Isotta Stigmata Sorcerer?!

All while this was unfolding before them, many of the Level-3 sorcerers handed out crystal balls that contained the world information about their missions, each of them receiving one ball.

Looking down at the tens of thousands of Demon-Hunter Sorcerers that looked up at him, Black Isotta suddenly burst out in a cruel fit of laughter.

“Ke ke ke ke, the crystal ball messages about this World Expedition is naught but a pile of nonsense. Little friends, go on and urge your slaves to kill and plunder in this primitive world to their hearts’ desire! Those low-level lifeforms who dare oppose the Sorcerers’ Will deserve a punishment worthy of death, those who bend to the Sorcerers’ Will are to be rewarded with glorious slavery under the sorcerers’ rule.”

‘This…’

The language he used was a stark contrast with most other Stigmata Sorcerers. Consequently, many of the Demon-Hunter Dark Sorcerers were shocked by what they heard. The desire to destroy this primitive world and to do as they like was originally kept under covers at the back of their minds. Now, this desire had been incited and let loose.

However, Grimm and most other Demon-Hunter Sorcerers still briefly checked the records and messages on their crystal balls.

“The world we are expeditioning in this time…. The Burrow World?”

Across the infinite snow-capped ground surface, were scars of the bitter, cold ice frost.

And on this surface lived some small creatures that had developed a strong resistance to the cold. Their ecosystem was very fragile, with only a single food chain across the entire area.

To the Sorcerer World, although this land posed little resistance to their conquest, it also meant that it had little value in resources. Perhaps, it was even fair to say that the occupation of this desolate world was not worth the attempt by the sorcerer civilization.

However, this view was overturned by the appearance of a creature known as the Snowthread.

The body of this creature was snow-white. It looked like a snake that grew two claws and had varying sizes that ranged from mere centimeters to meters long. It was docile and fed on the minerals and energy stones within the ice-capped soil, meaning they possessed great skills in burrowing.

Even though this creature belonged to the bottom of the food chain in the Burrow World, it was the creator of life in this world!

Because of their continuous burrowing, over the course of eons, it had opened up a three-dimensional space in this snow-capped world, unimaginable by the Sorcerer World, the Underground Labyrinth!

In this snow-capped world, even the deepest parts of the soil was saturated by frost, turning it as hard as steel. Even flowing lava could not penetrate through the frosty layer.

In comparison to this Burrow World, which has already had a series of burrows that connected to all parts of this world, the underground Camphoragate burrows of the Amonros in the Shadow Enigmatic World was next to nothing.

In the interiors of this Burrow World thrived all sorts of lifeforms. Here existed complex ecosystems that were billions of times more diverse than the one found above the snow-capped ground.

In the records of the Reconnaissance Sorcerer, there was no mention of any groups of creatures that possessed a high intellect. Most of the creatures in these burrows were savage, primitive lifeforms.

As such, it was safe to say that within the confines of this world, there were no intelligent beings.

The deeper the burrow, the stronger the creatures become. It was to the point where this Reconnaissance Sorcerer had to fall back after stumbling upon the lair of a group of giant mud monsters.

In contrast, the burrows closer to the ground surface had a higher concentration of branching networks. Even if there were indeed some intelligent species that stood on top of the food chain, their numbers would most likely be extremely low, posing no real threat of resistance to the Void Fortress.

The Reconnaissance Sorcerer’s records in his crystal ball was extremely short, nor did he bring back a sufficient amount of creature specimens. This was because when the Demon-Hunter Sorcerers descended to the Burrow World from the Sorcerer World, they were free to hunt targeted creatures according to their whims.

All in all, there were only three messages in the crystal ball.

Number one, in the Burrow World, the deeper the burrow, the stronger the creatures would get. The distribution of strength was similar to the underground dragon-hunting abyss in the Sorcerer World.

Number two, the underground burrow creatures in the Burrow World possessed extreme resistance to ice-frost spell attacks.

Number three, the greatest resources in the Burrow World were the diverse creatures that thrived in the tunnels created by the Snowthreads. Regardless if one were to use them as experimental specimens for research or as soul slaves, they were of high value and could bring about surprising fortune.

Even for…

The Reconnaissance Sorcerer speculated within the deepest realms of the Burrow World hid the greatest secret of this world. It was an unknown truth that could uncover the natural instincts of the Snowthread as well as the nature of the creatures that thrived here, which all contradicted the knowledge the sorcerers possessed about ecosystems in general.

After Grimm finished reading these messages, he sighed.

It wasn’t that the mission by the Reconnaissance Sorcerer was too vague, nor was it the carelessness of Black Isotta. It was the fact that the ecosystem of this Burrow World was too simple and straightforward.

The only thing to do was to keep attacking into the deeper reaches of the burrows.

The fact that this world had no intelligent creatures like the Lava Giants of the Shadow Enigmatic World or the Amonros meant that it was highly unlikely that a World Guardian would appear.

As for now, Black Isotta had started his declaration.

“I, the Black Isotta Stigmata Sorcerer of the Holy Tower of the Seven Rings from the Sorcerer World hereby declare, the start of Black Isotta’s war against the Burrow World! This war is in line with the development guidelines of the sorcerer civilization and has been approved by the Holy Tower of the Seven Rings on the Sorcerer Continent. Here, I swear to the Sorcerer World, that I will fulfill my duties to spread the seeds of civilization of the Sorcerer World, and ensure that each of you, precious Demon-Hunter Sorcerers will survive this expedition.”

As Black Isotta’s speech came to an end, one of the Sorcerer World’s laws had changed.

Then, the Void Fortress under the Demon-Hunter Sorcerers’ feet had seemingly come alive as if a soul had possessed it.

Buzz!

A low-pitched droning was heard as an inverted sorcerer’s barrier appeared above the hemisphere of the Principal Void Fortress.

‘This…’

It seemed that Black Isotta wasn’t planning on giving the sorcerers time to do further research like what they did in their previous expeditionary war into the Shadow Enigmatic World even though he had just descended into this world.

What did this count as? Going for a strolling trip?

Even though this Burrow World itself had not much to inspect closely.

But it still was a world that they had to conquer!

Also, because of the diversified species in this world’s interiors, the energy of Despair collected by the Demon-Hunter Sorcerers had all gone to waste. This was a scenario that Demon-Hunter Sorcerers who were researching the Black Sorcerers’ Occult Code of Life and Death most feared.

Rumble…

The massive Void Fortress gradually sank into the sea of clouds, falling into the defensive barrier of the Seven Rings. The sound of a bugle blared bleakly, echoing through the interiors of this defensive barrier. Tens of thousands of Demon-Hunter Sorcerers started taking off like a dense pack of locusts as they flew back to their own demon-hunter castles.

“Ke ke, heed my orders. All Dark Sorcerers with an Honor Badge, fly up to me,” Black Isotta commanded.

‘Hmm?’

In the bizarre moment, many of the Demon-Hunter Dark Sorcerers on the square flew up tens of meters, floating midair.

“You, you, you, you, you, you…”

A series of pure black badges were issued by Black Isotta to the summoned elite Demon-Hunter Sorcerers. As if realizing the situation, most of them projected a look of excitement and anticipation towards Black Isotta.

‘A special mission?’

However, most of the people pointed out by Black Isotta were Level 2 and 3 Demon-Hunter Sorcerers, none of them being Level 1 sorcerers. Even Third Ghostpepper who appeared brimming with confidence was ignored by Black Isotta.

In the eyes of the great Stigmata Sorcerers, Level 1 sorcerers who possessed Rank 3 and Rank 2 Honor Badges were nothing but bugs underneath their feet.

It was as trivial as comparing which knight was more powerful in front of a sorcerer.

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, Black Isotta said curiously, “Grimm? You’re a pretty interesting fellow. You were just tossed out of the secret territory and here you are standing before me? I guess you could come along then.”

As he said this, a black badge appeared on Grimm’s sorcerer’s barrier.

The eyes underneath the Mask of Truth were filled with surprise and excitement as Grimm saluted Black Isotta. Though, the eyes of the Stigmata Sorcerer were already looking somewhere else.

Myna said sulkily, “Huh, what’s with that manner in front of Lord Myna…”

On the other side.

At this moment, Third Ghostpepper alongside seven other people in his group looked at Grimm in shock, as if their minds went blank. They all glanced at Gabriel at the same time after looking at Grimm in disbelief.

Similarly born and raised in Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy, Gabriel felt the piercing stares of his six other comrades, stabbing painfully into his body—his skin felt a prickling heat.

“Why! Why! Why…”

Gabriel couldn’t help but bellow out in his mind. He looked at Black Isotta with pleading yet resentful eyes, like a stray puppy, praying for a strand of attention from the Stigmata Sorcerer.

However, Gabriel did not get anything from him. He was just another little bug underneath Black Isotta’s heels.

Nobody would have thought that a mere Level-1 sorcerer would get summoned by the Great Stigmata Sorcerer.

Tens of thousands of eyes on the Fortress Square were locked onto Grimm’s Mask of Truth, his Sabbatic Goat Staff, as well as the iconic Myna on his shoulder.

“Ke ke, you all will not be doing reconnaissance under the Battle Command once we reach the Burrow World. I will be issuing special missions to you all instead. Now, all Demon-Hunter Sorcerers listen to my orders! Summon your participating war slaves!”

One soul slave after the other started appearing. Grimm had also summoned his four-headed mutant Amonro. From the crack spanning hundreds of meters atop Black Isotta’s head, a large horde of soul slaves rushed out from within.

Upon completion, this Void Fortress containing Demon-Hunter Sorcerers and their respective soul slaves had finally rushed out of the Sorcerer World from the energy light beam of the Tree of Life.

After a disorienting moment of spatial distortion in the Spacetime Crack, a snow-capped world spanning the horizon had entered Grimm’s view.