Chapter 842: The Bound Spirit Bug

After sending the Lightgreen Gem Dragon Ethan to Flame Island and finding a suitable dragon nest location for Ethan on a mountain peak in the Flame Mountain Range, Liszt left worldly matters behind.

In the following days, he constantly traveled between the material world and the non-material world alongside Bard.

They gathered loads of data and handed it over to Acheronides, allowing her to continuously refine the new Magic Door design.

Then, one day in mid-October, he and Bard flew into the non-material world as usual, aimlessly searching for any new anomalies. So far, apart from the maelstrom's wormhole, no other anomalies had appeared—the non-material world felt completely lifeless.

After several days without any discoveries, Liszt grew discouraged.

However, just at that moment, the invisible dragon used Mana Positioning and finally detected a new anomaly beyond the maelstrom’s disturbance.

"Whoa-yah!" Bard suddenly became excited.

The man and dragon swiftly flew toward the anomaly.

Channeling Spatial Magic, they tore through the boundary of matter.

Directly traversing the anomaly, with a thunderous boom, their view exploded open as they arrived in a bizarre space. This space seemed pieced together from countless broken mirror shards, but within the Crystal White Trace, every crack in the mirrors was a scar left behind after the magic web had been torn apart.

The moment Bard’s wing barely grazed a crack, it let out a pained shriek: "Whoa-yah!"

A searing pain ripped through both its and Liszt’s hearts. By the time Bard swiftly retracted its wing, Liszt had already noticed a gash as long as an adult’s arm on the invisible dragon’s left wing. Transparent blood oozed out, and Spatial Magic continuously dissipated into this strange space.

"Be careful, Bard! Something’s off here!" Liszt endured the pain as he guided the invisible dragon, cautiously avoiding every torn crack.

Layer upon layer of bizarre fractures rendered the space fragmented and precarious.

The man and dragon had no choice but to move carefully. Fortunately, a dragon’s regenerative abilities were formidable—the wound had already begun to scab over. Liszt took out several magic potions and consumed them, replenishing both his and the invisible dragon’s depleted magic power. The potions transformed into pure magic power, surging through the Dragon Aura before being channeled to the invisible dragon through the resonance of dragon riding.

Because the magic attributes were not compatible, there was significant loss in the process, but it still proved somewhat beneficial.

Only the fusion of mana and magic power between him and the Fire Drake Rio would not result in too much loss.

"Over there, the exit of the material boundary is over there." Liszt continuously activated the Crystal White Trace to scan the cracks, finally locating the material boundary.

"Woo-ee!" The invisible dragon, however, pointed toward another exit.

In the direction it indicated, there was also a strange boundary resembling the material boundary. Liszt examined it carefully and concluded that this exit likely led to a different material world. He had intended to explore it, but the dense web of cracks around it made passage impossible.

He had no choice but to return to the familiar material world.

Whoosh—whoosh!

Upon returning to the material world, they were immediately met with a fierce gale—they had emerged between two towering peaks. This seemed to be a wind tunnel, with violent gusts howling past Liszt and Bard, nearly knocking them over.

After escaping the wind tunnel, Liszt took a good look around.

He noticed that while the peaks weren't particularly high, their close proximity formed an hourglass-shaped valley. The wind funneled through the narrowest part of the valley, compressing and accelerating sharply, creating the intense gale. However, this was not a natural formation but rather a man-made valley.

The sides of the mountains bore clear marks of deliberate carving, as if hacked by a giant's axe.

"Strange, it's actually artificially carved. The mountain's engravings are very rough, somewhat resembling the effects of Acheronides' super magic... Could this be the work of an Ancient Wizard?" He quickly urged Bard higher, scanning the land from five kilometers up.

He suddenly realized that he had passed this mountain range before while mapping—it was located on the great plains in the central part of Flame Island.

It was a long, unassuming mountain range, with the hourglass valley situated right in the middle. Thanks to the thick tree cover, the valley was nearly invisible from a distance unless examined closely.

"Trouble brewing!"

Liszt's heart leaped with joy—he loved such unexpected encounters. He didn’t know Flame Island’s role in the ancient wars, but it was certain that countless powerhouses had left their mark here. The treasures they left behind might even include relics like the Scepter of Time.

He dove back into the Hourglass Valley, activating Crystal White Trace. Faint glimmers of magic could be seen emanating from the center of the valley, where this peculiar wind tunnel connected to the shattered dimensional cracks.

For now, Liszt wasn’t about to charge in blindly—those cracks were far too dangerous.

Searching the mountainside, he soon discovered a vast Moon Killer tribe, the indigenous people, gathered in a clearing at the foot of the mountain, conducting a ritual. As Liszt drew closer, he saw them kneeling before six crumbling colossi.

Only one of the statues remained intact—over twenty meters tall, depicting a wizard clad in a spellwoven cloak, holding a slender, broken stone sword.

"I wonder if there’s a sealed relic inside?" The thought flashed through Liszt’s mind.

Then he noticed a group of Ancient Wizards in the clearing, holding wooden trays high as they approached the statue. One of them, likely an Elder, stood before the statue, tending a massive blue-flame brazier. It seemed they were about to pour the contents of the trays into the fire.

"Unacceptable!"

The moment Liszt saw what was on the trays, rage ignited in his chest. He and Bard manifested from the boundary of reality in their full dragon knight form.

Dragon Fear radiated unrestrained, an invisible wave of pressure crashing down. Thousands of Moon Killers in the clearing were forced to the ground under the overwhelming force.

The Ancient Wizards, too, were flattened, struggling to breathe.

The trays in their hands clattered to the ground, accompanied by a chorus of shrieks, whimpers, and garbled cries—revealing a group of spirit bugs, along with a few lesser sprites, and one particularly boisterous Grand Sprite. All of them were bound to the trays, unable to move.

Yet their eyes locked onto the descending invisible dragon knight.

Fear, hope—a whirlwind of emotions flashed in the tiny creatures' gazes.

"Uryaaa!"

Bard landed, swiping aside a half-collapsed statue before planting his feet on its pedestal and roaring skyward.

Amid the dragon’s cry, Liszt dismounted, drawing the Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword as he strode slowly toward the Ancient Wizards.

His silver-white armor, crimson cape, azure greatsword, and short golden-blond hair exuded an aura of unmatched nobility. The blinding magical radiance he emitted nearly blinded the Ancient Wizards who dared to look up.

"Urgh... Hah... Kashido... Moshiros..." [unintelligible incantation] The tribe’s Elder, his magic power surging—likely at the level of a great magician—struggled against the pressure of Dragon Fear, shouting as he tried to rise.

Liszt unleashed another wave of Dragon Fear, slamming it into him.

Boom!

The Elder ate dirt again.

The other Ancient Wizards quivered helplessly.

Such was the terror of a dragon knight—a single man commanding the field, leaving these Moon Killers, who had never faced Dragon Fear before, utterly powerless to resist.

Liszt stepped over the prostrate Ancient Wizards and approached the Grand Sprite. Coating his finger in jade powder, he gestured for the creature to bite down.

"You're safe now."

"Ang-chi, ang-chi, klang-chi..." The Grand Sprite spouted a string of gibberish.

Seeing this, Liszt lightly tapped its head, causing its upper teeth to snap onto its lower ones—and incidentally, his fingertip.

The contract was instantly sealed.

A familiar sense of warmth blossomed in the Grand Sprite’s heart.