Chapter 267: Simple Annihilation and Departure

According to Shaoke's plan, he intended to increase the condensation speed of elemental water of different ranks through deeper aspects of certain magic arrays. According to his plan, if successful, the condensation of this elemental water would be three to five times faster than that of an ordinary medium-sized laboratory.

White mist began to gather in large amounts in the depressions beside several altars, and the magic arrays in the entire space also accelerated their operation. With the disappearance of the blue flames, the mage was almost certain that his laboratory was about to be completed, but at that moment, a slight tremor came from outside. Moreover, Shaoke keenly noticed that these tremors were caused by spell impacts.

The tremors and violent magical fluctuations caused by the spell impacts made the blue flames in the laboratory change drastically. After being disturbed by the turbulent magical fluctuations from outside, the flames suddenly burned fiercely, and quickly merged into the pools containing elemental water, then began to burn using the elemental water as energy.

This situation nearly caused Shaoke to collapse to the ground. The magic arrays on the walls continued to operate steadily, but the mage could no longer extract the precious elemental water from the pool. Moreover, as time passed, great swaths of flames began to spread along the engraved magic arrays, forcing the mage to abandon his three-story laboratory and rush above ground.

To prevent the blue flames from spreading on a large scale, the mage had to temporarily seal the passage to the third floor with a huge rock, then he rushed to the ground. After the rock blocked the blue flames, his anger burst out violently. Shaoke released most of his mental power to probe outward and successfully locked onto the two mages who were engaged in a spell battle outside.

Two Fifth Tier Mages. Through the magical fluctuations they emitted and the spell fluctuations they released, Shaoke quickly determined their ranks. As for which school they belonged to, Shaoke did not care to observe; he only wanted to kill the two mages before him.

After being suddenly locked onto by Shaoke's mental power, the two fighting mages quickly stopped their battle and also released mental power or magic to probe Shaoke. Facing their probing, Shaoke remained indifferent, not even activating his defensive spells. "Who gave you permission to fight here? Don't you know this is my territory? I have placed enough markers around." Shaoke said as he carefully examined the two fighting mages.

Both mages looked very young; obviously, they cared about their appearance. "Mage, we were just practicing spellcasting techniques and didn't realize this was your territory," a young mage replied awkwardly to Shaoke's question. "If we caused any loss to you, we are very willing to compensate you." He gestured to the other mage, who then said the same thing.

"I am building a laboratory, a laboratory with an elemental pool." Shaoke looked calmly at the two Fifth Tier mages, his mental power still locked on them. However, the staff spinning rapidly in his hand betrayed the mage's inner turmoil. "I think you will be willing to compensate me."

"Mage, it's not that we don't want to compensate, but we simply don't have the ability to compensate for all the materials of that laboratory," a young mage said, performing a salute to Shaoke with some dissatisfaction. He did not believe that the mage before him could build a real laboratory.

"Do you have the ability to build a laboratory?" another young mage expressed his contempt and suspicion through his words. "I guess you don't even have normal medicines. You're just using this opportunity to extort us! Wandering Mages." After saying that, the mage glared fiercely at Shaoke. He was somewhat dissatisfied with his companion's earlier words.

As soon as that mage finished speaking, he felt the mental power locking onto him strengthen again. Then he noticed Shaoke beginning to chant a spell. In an extremely short time, a gray-black ray shot out from Shaoke's hand. The spell did not attack him, but flew toward his companion who was about to continue explaining.

Since the two mages had only activated one layer of defensive spells, and they did not expect the mage before them to be so irritable and his spellcasting speed so fast, the mage only had time to throw out a spell scroll to intercept before using up a magic item for protection.

Under Shaoke's precise control, the ray slightly shifted direction and then heavily struck the dodging mage. The two layers of defensive spells quickly shattered. In the mage's shocked and disbelieving eyes, the spell easily pierced a large hole in his heart.

At that moment, the other mage finally reacted. Fear and anger engulfed him. In a hurry, he frantically threw out two scrolls and then bolted down the mountain, shattering a protective item to shield himself. At this time, Shaoke finally activated his own defensive spells.

He didn't bother to dodge the attack scrolls from the two mages, because those three spells were only ordinary Fourth Rank attack spells. Even if there were ten such attacks, they would not penetrate his outermost Sixth Rank defensive spell.

Facing the fleeing mage, Shaoke curled the corner of his mouth in a sneer. This was the first time he had seen a mage flee at the very beginning of a duel. The Six-pointed Star Magic Array quickly manifested in his vision, and he chanted a longer ancient magical incantation. Then three golden spears condensed in the air. Mental attack—this was the Fifth Tier mental attack spell Shaoke had learned.

The golden spears quickly caught up with the fleeing mage and rapidly merged into his body. The result was beyond doubt: under the mental attack, the mage rolled on the ground holding his head in agony, and his miserable screams echoed far across the mountain. After all, the pain of a violent attack on the meditation space was not something every mage could endure.

Another Rending Ray left a large hole in the fleeing mage's chest, and then Shaoke sighed silently. Because his laboratory was about to succeed just moments ago, but the spellcasting of these two mages here caused his failure, which he could not accept. After all, he would not be able to gather those precious materials again in a short time.

A golden knife easily cut off the heads of the two mages, and then Shaoke searched all the belongings on their bodies. Finally, he released Arcane Fire to burn their bodies to ashes, which dissipated in the air.

After briefly checking the items of the two mages, Shaoke found that they only had one magic bag, and it was the smallest size. The owner of this magic bag had stored some not particularly valuable magic materials and books, as well as a noble emblem. On the other mage, Shaoke found an emblem representing the Mage Guild. This discovery made him somewhat uncomfortable. Finally, after hesitating for a moment, the mage released several area-of-effect spells on the mountaintop again. After these spells were released, the lingering magical fluctuations in the air were somewhat disrupted.

After doing all the above, Shaoke returned to the underground laboratory. There, he collected all the ordinary magic materials and some other useful items casually thrown on the second floor, and then destroyed the entire first floor space. Because he felt he could not stay here for long; the power behind the noble emblem would force him to leave. He did not want to suffer another assassination because of staying here too long. Having escaped the assassination of the Mist Trade Guild last time did not mean he could escape the assassinations of others.

Shaoke did not leave immediately; instead, he rushed to the secluded valley where the snow peaks existed. This time, he killed all six Snow Bee Queens and extracted their blood. Then he took all the honey. As for where the fleeing ordinary snow bees went, it was not the mage's concern.

After more than twenty years of peaceful life, Shaoke was somewhat unaccustomed to long journeys, but considering what he had just done, he still planned to stay away from the interior of the empire. He intended to go to the territory of the former Esuoer Empire, which the empire had only occupied a few years ago. There he would stay for a while, planning to rebuild his laboratory and prepare for advancement to the Seventh Rank. Of course, all this was just his own idea.

Whether by carriage or on foot, after a three-month journey, Shaoke finally arrived at the land just occupied by the empire. Only then did he breathe a slight sigh of relief. He estimated that the noble family still had not discovered the death of their disciple, so they had not sent anyone to pursue him.

The mage wrapped his cloak and put away his staff, so that people in the small town would not be curious about him being a mage, minimizing the risk of his identity being revealed. Here, he wrote letters to Mage Roman and Mage Yisier, who were still in the capital. He only mentioned that he planned to travel outside and would not return to the capital for a short time.

After doing all this, Shaoke set off again, because he planned to go to the southernmost part of the empire. There, he heard that a giant city had been rebuilt on the original site of the Esuoer Empire's capital. Moreover, due to the uneven distribution among the empires that participated in the war, that city was now a fairly free city, and the borders of the various empires were drawn around it. Four or five empires jointly managed some public security, and a noble from another empire served as the city lord.