A Sorcerer’s Journey

“It seems that the evolutionary laws for this world’s newborn creatures have indeed been subjected to some kind of restriction. But what about the fact that the Magnetite laws are acting counter to the principal laws?”

The moment Grimm laid eyes on the Level-3 creature that was the Evil Blood’s clone, he instantly felt an ancient aura emanating from its core, that indescribable feeling of being lost in time. There was no doubt that there were indeed powerful creatures roaming the land eons ago in this world.

Naturally, the Magnetite Ray law popped into Grimm’s mind.

Could it be that the Magnetite Ray law was somehow imposing an unknown form of suppression on these fleshly beings?

Likewise, this world’s principal laws must have inhibited the Magnetite creatures’ biological development, cutting off their evolutionary pathway?

Roar!

Viewing with the naked eye, this green creature had a thick layer of bone armor. Its legs, constructed purely out of muscle and gristle, powered its unstoppable charge toward the enemy on the Magnetite Star. “Thud, thud, thud, thud”, the ground shook with each step it took. Its insanely powerful aura blasted away weaker beings on the battlefield, Bloodprint Creatures or Magnetite people alike. With no regard for its surroundings, it moved in a straight line toward its target, the Chirping Bridge.

On a battlefield where there were barely any Level-1 creatures, the sudden appearance of a Level-3 creature wreaked further chaos to the pre-existing state of anarchy.

“Not one step back! Hold the Chirping Bridge at all costs!”

A few of the Level-1 shimmering light orbs yelled out. Soon after, support arrived to the frontlines in the form of tens of thousands of Magnetite people. Though, they were all creatures below the bare minimum of Level-1.

The turmoil at the Chirping Bridge was just a microcosm of the actual battle unfolding across the entire Dagutha Magnetite Star.

On one side of the battle, the light orbs of the Magnetite people could be seen dissipating into thin air, while on the other side, the blood from the attacking Bloodprint Creatures had now congregated and flowed into a red stream that smelled like iron. The stream flowed off the edges of the Magnetite Star and connected into the river of blood, assimilating into its entire body.

Whoosh!

A lizard-like Bloodprint Creature kicked down hard on the ground with its powerful hindlegs. Its body, which had been affected by the Magnetite Ray, managed to attain a few seconds of flight ability as it glided through the air. But that was enough as this Bloodprint Creature sank its teeth into one of the backup Magnetite light orbs, dragging it down onto the ground with gravity’s help.

Although this ingenious creature managed to take down a Magnetite person who possessed the ability to fly, it landing behind enemy lines with no support meant its chances of survival was near zero.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

Over a dozen Magnetite light orbs flew over. The largest member of this group measured over half a meter in diameter, whereas the smallest was around the size of a human skull. As soon as they appeared, they immediately started radiating waves of semi-distorted Magnetite Rays at the enemy.

Hiss!

Suddenly, the painful hiss of a Bloodprint Creature could be heard. Apparently it had landed right beside Grimm. With a wave of his Sabbatic Goat Staff, its entire body was crushed into pulp.

“Caw? Young master, what’s this?”

The Magnetite light orb that the Bloodprint Creature had gulped down mere moments ago seemed slightly blurred out and soon after, it crumbled into a small pile of powdery dust.

For some reason, Grimm’s blood reacted to this pile of dust in a way that had never been observed before. It was as if the amalgamation of the Evil Blood’s imprint and the Magnetite light orb was somehow reactive to the Gravity Stone that was flowing through his bloodstream?

Buzz…

One member from the group of Magnetite light orbs that launched their counter-attack against the Bloodprint Creatures had now flickered and dissipated into thin air.

Grimm suppressed the curiosity that was now rising in his heart. This matter can be further tested secretly in the future.

With this in mind, Grimm turned over to the Level-3 creature that was now on the other side of the Chirping Bridge. The Evil Blood’s signal emanating from this creature was extremely striking amidst the pandemonium happening around it.

Bam!

A Level-2 Dark Sorcerer had initiated an attack just before Grimm could. This person’s black and white hair seemed particularly dried out. Though, Grimm caught a glimpse of a wrinkled mouth hiding behind the messy hair, curled upwards with a menacing sneer as it attacked the creature. In spite of his muddled eyes, his gaze seemed to be that of a dignified person’s. An ominous black-colored signal could be visibly seen flowing out from under his fingernails.

“Teeheeheeheeheehee!”

The black signal somehow formed five evil-looking Jack O’Lanterns that laughed menacingly as they floated in the air. This Level-2 Dark Sorcerer, whose gender Grimm could no longer discern, laughed maniacally as he charged back toward the Evil Blood’s clone.

Grimm had completely no idea when this Level-2 old Sorcerer had started lurking near him.

However, the sight of this Level-2 Sorcerer attacking the Evil Blood’s clone, who was a Level-3 creature, alone was shocking enough, not at the Sorcerer’s bravery, but at how aggressive and greedy a Dark Demon-Hunter could be.

At this moment, Grimm finally understood completely, the saying that Dark Demon-Hunters were the reincarnation of genocidal Sorcerers who had lived through millions of cruel, unforgiving lives!

“Roar!”

The Evil Blood’s clone, too, had now noticed the sudden emergence of this Level-2 Sorcerer. Suddenly, a strange look appeared visibly in the creature’s cold, deadly gaze. With a “poof”, the Evil Blood Dreadlord’s clone started secreting large amounts of dark liquid, which solidified into hundreds of slippery tentacles that shattered one of the five floating Jack O’ Lanterns with a single blow.

“This… ain’t a good situation. It’s the Evil Blood Dreadlord’s clone!”

Upon the moment of realization, the Level-2 Sorcerer disregarded everything around him and instantly turned back and fled from the frontlines.

According to information provided by the Void Fortress’s Battle Command, the Evil Blood had two types of clones. The first type was described as regular clones of the Evil Blood, which would manifest within his ancient followers’ bodies, who were sealed away together with the Dreadlord himself. Through manipulating their souls, the Dreadlord managed to stop his followers’ bodies from rotting away, keeping them in a pristine condition.

The second type, were rarely-seen clones of his actual body!

Such clones were formed from actual parts of the Dreadlord’s body, and not just superficial manifestations of the ancient creatures from this world.

These clones possessed powers on par with queen-level Mechanical Marionettes, or Level-4 Sorcerers who had lost their Sorcerer Towers!

While the Level-2 Sorcerer who had just fled could theoretically stand a chance in the face of this Level-3 creature, the same could not be said if he were pitted against the true clone of the Dreadlord. In fact, the chances of that Sorcerer living after stumbling upon such a clone was nil.

“Hisssss, so you are the foreign creature summoned by the Grand Peak to this world? Come on, don’t run away! You won’t die, you’ll just become part of my body! Hisssssss!”

This gigantic creature cackled as its body started morphing into the shape of a ten-meter-long blood python. It started licking up the bodily fluids from the corpses of its fellow Bloodprint Creatures, and soon, its body size grew rapidly like an expanding balloon. To Grimm’s surprise, it moved with incredible speed as it caught up with the fleeing Level-2 Sorcerer.

“Argh…”

The old Sorcerer yelled out in pain as the blood python wound around his body, constricting and crushing it like a twig. The signal from the blood python was exactly the same as the signal emanating from the river of blood below the Magnetite Star!

It was now confirmed that this was one of the true clones of the Evil Blood Dreadlord himself.

“Squelch!”

A black, demonic claw, that was at least seven or eight meters long, tore through the blood python’s thick, muscular body.

In the blink of an eye, the demonic claw had now formed into what seemed like a staghorn coral, with sharp spikes branching off in every direction. The old Sorcerer soon emerged from among one of the branches and frantically made his escape toward the horizon. Turning around, he casted a flame spell that covered the entire area with smoldering purple flames that reached well over one thousand degrees centigrade.

And yet, the blood python reacted just as quickly and again, this old Sorcerer was overwhelmed by its deadly grip.

This was proof that no matter what tricks the old Sorcerer played while slowly being crushed to death, it could hardly make the blood python flinch. And so, his chances of escaping alive were now growing slimmer by the second.

On the other side, the hair on the back of Grimm’s neck stood up at the terrifying sight.

Although the newly-born creatures of this world were exceptionally weak, there were still incredibly formidable ancient creatures. It was as if the connecting chain of Level-2 creatures had been lost between the Level-1 and Level-3 creatures of this world, creating an impenetrable barrier for one to progress up the food chain.

Rumble…

The entire Dagutha Magnetite Star shook for a brief second before large patches of chaotic Magnetite Ray burst out. This sudden outburst lifted the corpses of the fleshy beings into the sky and soon after, the entire place was soaked by a brief downpour of blood.

The signs of the Dagutha Magnetite Star’s imminent defeat were now showing itself.

Grimm, who had activated his Level Two Wild Instinct, was now in the form of a three-meter-tall dwarf giant. His legs, which were covered by a robust layer of bone armor pushed against the ground as he shot off toward the direction of a group of Magnetite elders behind him in the distance.

Among the Magnetite people, these powerful Magnetite elders, whose lives depended on the Magnetite Star, were bestowed the name of Magnetite Star Warriors. Going by the Sorcerers World’s standards, they were Level-3 creatures.

Unlike Grimm, Little Myna warped and flew in the opposite direction to where he was heading toward.

For the Sorcerers who were participating in this Demon-Hunting Expedition, the enemies they would face were either incredibly weak, or insanely strong. If one did not possess the ability to kill the Evil Blood’s clones or equivalent Level-3 creatures, then they would have to resort to dealing with low-level missions like fending off Bloodprint Creatures.

Obviously, Grimm could never hope to earn one thousand seven hundred and fifty Sorcerer Essences by just doing the latter.

In this moment, it became clear to Grimm where the essential key to this Demon-Hunting Expedition laid. It was to obtain the ability to kill the true clones of the Evil Blood Dreadlord!

***

But these things could be left for a later time. In the meantime, Grimm’s top priority was to secure his own life and to escape from this Evil Blood’s clone.