The vast amounts of life force “wasted” or “dissipated” by pseudo-wizards during casting were, in fact, “sacrificed” to the true rogue wizard through a highly concealed method.
With such a constant connection, the rogue could detect the wizards’ pursuit through the sudden deaths of these “base stations,” allowing them to evade in advance.
The wizard team they’d just met had tracked the target from another continent.
As Jie Ming and David flew, they cross-referenced the new information with their findings over the past two years.
All clues converged on one region.
“It’s confirmed,” Jie Ming said, his eyes flickering with data streams. “The rogue wizard is likely hiding on an unremarkable island in the middle of the ocean!”
Over two years, Jie Ming had leveraged his second-rank wizard computational power and the All-Purpose Eye to crack the rogue’s cryptic life force transmission path.
Following this invisible “network,” he’d pinpointed the rogue’s approximate coordinates.
With a rough location, their speed brought them to the target sea region swiftly.
Crossing a climate band, the ocean’s weather turned hostile.Storms raged, dark clouds pressing like lead on the sea.
They soon reached the target, a region encircled by storms and reefs.
Beneath the violent thunderclouds, a dark island loomed, radiating an ominous aura.
As they prepared to storm the desolate island, they were unsurprisingly met with fierce resistance.
“Here they come!” David growled.
From the murky waters, twisted figures burst forth.
Sensing the vibrant life force of Jie Ming and David, they swarmed like sharks drawn to blood, blocking their path.
A horde of “pseudo-wizards,” their life force completely drained, resembling desiccated corpses!
Despite lacking normal life fluctuations, they retained residual combat instincts and formidable mobility.
Jie Ming was stunned to sense that the pure, violent negative energy from each pseudo-wizard matched second-rank strength!
And that wasn’t all.
Beyond the dozen human-shaped pseudo-wizards at the front, thousands of monstrous creatures—crafted from powerful marine beasts—swarmed behind them!
Their withered bodies, drained of flesh, pulsed with energy no weaker than their human counterparts.
A battle erupted instantly!
Jie Ming and David charged forward without a word!
Boom!
David led, his menacing black armor roaring dully.
His combat style was wild, unlike a wizard—more like a humanoid tyrannosaur.
No spells, no techniques—he crashed into the densest monster cluster!
His heavy fist, cloaked in solid earthen energy, shattered a whale-sized corpse monster’s steel-hard skull like fragile pottery.
A powerful side kick unleashed a gust that bisected three human pseudo-wizards, their remains turning to ash midair.
Each attack was simple, brutal, and efficient, pure power carving clear zones in the enemy swarm!
Jie Ming, assessing the situation in an instant, surprisingly abandoned ranged casting and joined David in close combat.
Upon engaging, he felt immense pressure.
He keenly sensed the monsters’ eerie negative energy corroding energy shields while aggressively sapping the life force of those struck.
The thick-skinned marine beast corpses roared, forming a solid wall, absorbing Jie Ming’s attacks and hindering his movement.
From the rear, human pseudo-wizards unleashed a barrage of black fireballs.
These fireballs were not only powerful but carried a bone-chilling cold and potent life-draining effects.
Most troubling, their attacks were indiscriminate, blanketing the frontline.
Yet, bizarrely, the black flames didn’t harm the beasts or pseudo-wizards—instead, they acted like a tonic, rapidly repairing damage inflicted by Jie Ming and David!
“Damn it! So troublesome!” Jie Ming cursed under his breath, his form flickering through the fireball rain.
Initially, the pervasive life-draining energy slowed his movements.
Cold waves of weakness tried to seep into him, sapping his strength.
But then, his battle-hardened body-forging technique kicked in.
Faced with this alien energy, every cell awoke like a ravenous beast, analyzing, decoding, and memorizing its properties.
His body began autonomously restructuring, building resistance!
In the high-speed combat, an invisible evolution unfolded within Jie Ming.
The sluggishness from life force erosion faded, the chilling weakness receding like a tide.
In mere breaths, he went from resisting with effort to mild discomfort, until finally—
Buzz!
An invisible barrier formed within him!
The once-clinging negative energy now struck him like a stream hitting an unshakable reef, unable to affect him!
In just hours, Jie Ming had become fully immune.
“Phew…”
Exhaling, his eyes blazed with brilliance.
Freed from constraints, his combat style transformed.
His speed surged, his form blurring into elusive afterimages, dodging most fireball attacks.
His hands glowed with a highly condensed, intricate energy field—not just a shield, but a lethal weapon.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Each strike became precise and deadly.
No need to obliterate entire monsters—his rune-covered hand sliced like a light blade, severing pseudo-wizard necks or piercing beast core energies.
Each flicker saw a monster’s soul fire extinguish, their rigid corpses plummeting like dumplings.
The pressure shifted to the monsters!
Jie Ming’s agility and David’s brute force carved through the enemy like red-hot knives through butter, breaking deeper inward!
After some time, when the last unwilling roar faded into the storm, the sky regained its calm.
The sea surface was littered with broken, withered corpses.
Jie Ming and David had cleared the massive “legion” of outer defenders.
Hovering midair, radiating fearsome killing intent, they exchanged a glance.
Without resting, they transformed into light, diving toward the island’s shrouded core!
…
…
Stepping onto the island’s soil through the death-forged defense line, an unsettling silence greeted them.
No vegetation, not even resilient moss, grew here.
Only scorched black reefs, the air thick with blood and decay.
At the island’s heart, Jie Ming and David finally saw the unremarkable figure standing there.
The person appeared entirely normal, even healthy.
Rosy skin, balanced limbs—nothing like the drained, skeletal monsters outside.
Dressed in plain gray cloth, their weathered face resembled a lifelong farmer.
Yet, this ordinary figure radiated a heart-stopping energy!
Jie Ming’s eyes tracked the wild energy fluctuations, data cascading like a waterfall in his mind.
Sensing the immense, solid energy, his face darkened.
He turned to David, his voice low and exasperated. “The academy’s intelligence department deserves to be sacked! This guy’s no second-rank—he’s a solid third-rank!”
And not a fresh one, either!
Fortunately, the rogue seemed to use the wizard system merely as a means to power, not for serious study.
David didn’t respond, only shaking his head slowly, his eyes beneath the visor complex.
Neither surprised nor afraid, he gazed at the familiar yet alien figure below.
They descended slowly, their steps on the hard black reefs echoing faintly.
Three figures formed a tense standoff at the heart of the silent island.