Chapter 368 Conclusion of the Hunt (Seeking Brothers’ Forgiveness)

Everyone, if we go through with this, there’s no turning back. I’m just reminding you all to think it over one more time.

The Blue-robed Mage, though not the highest in rank, was the one who invited almost everyone here, so she was the most qualified to say this.

No one backed out. Coming here meant they had thought it through and wouldn’t be swayed by persuasion now. Of course, after further discussion, the Space Mage took out a huge stone slab from his ring, engraved with a massive teleportation array that could transport everyone over a short distance with relatively high precision.

Everyone hovered above the teleportation array, and then the Space Mage activated the array, teleporting Shaoke and the others away. After a short rest to sense the spatial fluctuations, he activated a defensive spell and followed after them. When he caught up with Shaoke and the others, the frenzied battle had already begun.

The Space Mage’s teleportation proved quite accurate this time—Shaoke and the others appeared instantly not far from the Violet Family. As the huge nine-pointed star magic array beneath them faded, under the Blue-robed Mage’s command, they swiftly flew toward the massive mage tower ahead.

This mage tower had over ten floors, where the main members of the Violet Family were gathered. At this moment, the family’s guards had also noticed the anomaly. A Tenth Tier Mage flew out of the tower. Without a word, the killing intent made it clear something was very wrong.

The towering mage tower instantly activated every defensive spell it had, and then another Tenth Tier Mage flew out, joining his companion to resist Shaoke and the others’ attacks.

For a time, various spells were thrown out recklessly as if they cost nothing at all. The mage tower continuously released Eighth Tier spells to intercept their attacks, while the two Tenth Tier Mages quickly blinked toward them and began casting spells to attack.

Blink. The moment a Tenth Tier Mage finished his Blink, Shaoke suddenly appeared before him and instantly unleashed his most powerful spell, Death Gaze. An Eighth Tier Death Gaze could freeze a Tenth Tier Professional for only about one breath’s time, and that was assuming the target did not struggle violently. Then, the hood on Shaoke’s head suddenly slipped off, revealing a black crown.

On the crown, over a dozen gems lit up, and multiple black rays struck again at the Tenth Tier Mage, who had just broken free from Death Gaze. In fear, he was frozen again. At that moment, the three Divine Archers in Shaoke’s team shot their most precious magic arrows with all their strength. The arrows instantly appeared before the mage and pierced through two layers of his defensive spells.

The bare-chested warrior on the ground let out a howl and hurled his spear. Under the warrior’s control, the spear flared with golden light and pierced the Tenth Tier Mage’s chest. The violent aura tore the mage’s body apart, leaving only a head and a thick golden light floating in the air. All this happened in just a few breaths’ time.

A Tenth Tier Mage fell so quickly. Meanwhile, the other Tenth Tier Mage had only just released an attack spell, killing a warrior who had gotten too far forward.

With only one Tenth Tier Mage left, things got much easier for Shaoke’s team. Just moments ago, to help Shaoke kill the other Tenth Tier Mage, they had lost an Eighth Tier Warrior. Now, five or six Ninth Tier Professionals and the newly arrived Ninth Tier Space Mage joined forces to tie down the Violet Family’s Tenth Tier Mage, while Shaoke and the others began slaughtering the professionals outside the tower and resisting the spells shooting from the tower.

Protected by two warriors, the team’s only Eighth Tier Summoner began chanting a spell. As pages of his spellbook turned, complex structures flew out from the book, slowly floating in the air. After many breaths, the array suddenly rotated, and the Summoner threw his spellbook into it. After chanting a few more incantations, a huge roar came from the summoning array. This roar killed most of the low-order beings on the ground, clearly a powerful mental attack ability.

A massive humanoid figure climbed out of the array, standing a hundred meters tall, making everyone feel small. Shaoke estimated that even one of the giant’s hairs was taller than his own body. The giant landed on the ground and, under the Summoner’s control, charged toward the mage tower. The countless Eighth Tier spell attacks didn’t harm it in the slightest.

Instead of crashing into the tower, another mage flew out. This mage simply waved his staff, and a defensive spell barrier instantly appeared in front of the tower. After the giant shattered that barrier, the mage took a spellbook from his magic bag. The spellbook was oddly shaped, resembling a violet flower. As the mage chanted rapidly, the spellbook rotated a few times, and a massive black chain blade formed in front of him. Under the mage’s control, the chain blade swiftly cut toward the giant’s head.

Command Technique: Disintegration. This spell was normally embedded in the eye, but Shaoke had found a new casting method in an ancient book. Under the enhancement of Command Technique and Ancient Magic Tongue, the golden light became thicker and, upon striking the chain blade, reduced its size by half. The chain blade only caused minor damage to the giant before losing its effect.

Command Technique: Chain Lightning. This spell was originally used by ancient command mages in group combat. Although it was a single-target attack spell, under the spellcaster’s control, it could deliver continuous, uninterrupted attacks, often striking multiple targets. Shaoke used this spell to block the newly emerged mage, creating an opportunity for the giant on their team.

A purple lightning bolt, as thick as an arm, formed in Shaoke’s hand and struck hard the spell the intercepting mage had just released. Hit by the lightning, the spell only shrank slightly before continuing toward Shaoke. Shaoke then controlled the lightning to continue attacking the mage, who was preparing another spell, as if he did not care about the incoming attack.

The golden light in his eyes flashed again. The spell Disintegration shone on the purple mist the opponent had released, shrinking it further. Then, the spellbook floating before Shaoke, after he consumed a large amount of mana and mental energy, suddenly released a black butterfly from its cover, followed by a black halo that enveloped Shaoke.

Casting two advanced special defensive spells in quick succession did not cause Shaoke any adverse effects, mainly because his meditation space had been strengthened dozens of times by the golden horns. Thus, such a sudden heavy consumption was not a problem for him. Of course, doing this too many times in a short period was not advisable. Just as his defenses were ready, the purple mist enveloped him. Amid a violent explosion and spatial turbulence, his figure emerged again.

At this moment, Shaoke looked very disheveled. The black butterfly on his head had disappeared, the black halo around him had vanished, and only a trace of the two ordinary Eighth Tier defensive spells remained.

Shaoke, pale-faced, glared fiercely at the distant spellcaster. He now knew that the opponent was an Eleventh Tier Spellcaster. At this moment, his chain lightning was continuously jumping and attacking the mage’s defensive spells, but it was useless.

Shaoke’s survival surprised the Eleventh Tier Spellcaster. He was about to prepare another spell to attack Shaoke when the giant intercepted him. A massive hand whistled through the air toward the spellcaster, with dozens of golden chains twisting and moving on the palm. The space around the giant’s attack twisted considerably.

The Eleventh Tier Spellcaster, who had just gathered a spell to attack Shaoke, did not flee. Instead, he released the spell in his hand, heavily striking the hundred-meter-tall giant. Countless magic scripts and spell structures formed a spell that enveloped the giant, followed by a series of explosions.

The massive magical turbulence caused the airborne professionals to pause their attacks temporarily. But Shaoke did not care. He stared intently at the Eleventh Tier Spellcaster and quickly prepared his most powerful attack spell. Command Technique: Mage’s Glory. Under the enhancement of Ancient Magic Tongue, a complex spell structure quickly formed before him. With the input of powerful mental energy and mana, the structure rapidly transformed into a twelve-sided crystal the size of an infant’s head. Under the mage’s control, the crystal quickly locked onto the distant Eleventh Tier Spellcaster.

The spell attack arrived almost instantly. The crystal appeared above the spellcaster’s head. Despite the spellcaster blinking several times and using interference spells, the crystal still hovered above him. This strange spell was something the spellcaster had never seen before. Then, under Shaoke’s control, the crystal suddenly exploded.

A large amount of silver-white light burst from the crystal, completely enveloping the Eleventh Tier Spellcaster. These silver lights ignored the defensive spells on his body and easily merged into him, disappearing. After suffering this attack, the Eleventh Tier Spellcaster stood frozen in the air. Then, he was assaulted by several Eighth-order Practitioners who attacked recklessly. Meanwhile, Shaoke felt his meditation space violently churn, but silver light soon calmed it down.

A string of complex incantations was chanted wildly again, but this time not in Ancient Magic Tongue, but in the specialized language of space magic. As Shaoke chanted, the distant Eighth-order Practitioners continuously attacked the motionless Eleventh-rank Professional. However, after several attacks, they could not even break through the outermost layer of his defensive spells.

After the continuous attacks ended, the giant that had been attacked by the Eleventh Tier Spellcaster recovered. Under the Summoner’s control, it raised its hand to smash the opponent’s head. Just as the hand was about to strike, the spellcaster instantly disappeared from his original position and reappeared not far from Shaoke.

A pale golden spear formed from the spellcaster’s staff and flew toward Shaoke’s head. But at that moment, the distant Blue-robed Mage noticed this attack. Hundreds of magic scripts flew from the blue crown on her head, forming a small blue shield that blocked the golden spear. Unfortunately, the golden spear only shrank slightly before piercing through the shield and striking Shaoke.

Just as the golden spear struck Shaoke, the complex incantation he had been chanting finally ended. A mass of gray mist formed in his hand, and under the spellcaster’s control, it appeared around the distant Eleventh Tier Mage, who had blinked away. Although the spellcaster had blinked, he was still enveloped by the gray mist, which then began to spin rapidly.

The Eleventh Tier Mage enveloped by Shaoke’s spell could no longer blink. The spinning mist triggered turbulence in the surrounding space, causing spatial cracks to appear. These cracks would eventually form a massive spatial channel, teleporting the target away from this world. This spell was the most powerful Eighth Tier space spell: Turbulence.

Another mage released a spell to attack the Eleventh Tier Mage, but when the attack reached the area around the still-enveloped mage, larger cracks suddenly appeared, swallowing the spell. Then, a burst of golden light erupted from the Eleventh Tier Mage, spreading outward and calming the spatial cracks. The mage then instantly blinked away from his original position and flew toward the mage tower, because at that moment, the giant had begun to destroy the tower.

Spell attacks from the tower occasionally landed on the giant, but they only caused it to bleed a little, not affecting its attacks. The tower was already shaking under the giant’s assault, but the magical power kept it firmly rooted to the ground.

The Eleventh Tier Spellcaster’s disruption of the spell Shaoke was fully controlling had a severe impact on him. He wobbled unsteadily in the air before being supported by the Blue-robed Mage; otherwise, he might have fallen to the ground and become an Eighth Tier Mage killed by falling.

After casually blocking a spell attack, the Blue-robed Mage dragged Shaoke back some distance. At this point, there were not many places still fighting on the battlefield. Only the Tenth Tier Mage and the Eleventh Tier Mage remained alive. The rest of the Violet Family had been slaughtered by the frenzied raiders, with only a few still in the mage tower.

The Summoner, pale-faced, controlled the giant. He had summoned it using an arcane secret, requiring full concentration. Now, the Eleventh Tier Mage’s fierce attacks had dealt considerable damage to the giant beast. However, Shaoke and the other Eighth-order Practitioners could not inflict any harm on the Eleventh Tier Mage. Of course, with special spells and timing, they could still affect him somewhat. But to successfully hunt an Eleventh Tier Mage, without special means, they could not do it. Fortunately, before coming here, the Blue-robed Mage had prepared a complete countermeasure, so they were not worried about this Eleventh-order being.

At the Blue-robed Mage’s signal, the Summoner controlled the giant to suddenly hug the massive mage tower tightly. Ignoring the Eleventh Tier Mage’s attacks, after holding the tower for a short while, the giant suddenly exploded.

The massive explosion caused the airborne professionals to flee quickly. The powerful magical turbulence was unbearable even for the Ninth Tier Professionals, so everyone swiftly flew away.

At that moment, the Ninth Tier Space Mage, who had been fighting the Tenth Tier Mage, suddenly blinked to the Eleventh Tier Mage, who was struggling to stabilize himself. He threw out two black heads, which then exploded, releasing countless black ribbons that tightly wrapped around the Eleventh Tier Mage. All this had been prepared by the Blue-robed Mage in advance, so Shaoke and the others had already fled far away, beyond the reach of those soul-gathered ribbons. The other Tenth Tier Mage was also hit by a similar black head thrown by a Ninth Tier Mage.

After retreating for a while, Shaoke and the others began attacking again. This time, their attacks had a significant impact on the Eleventh Tier Mage. Under the frenzied assault of these souls, anyone entangled could not use blink to escape.

Command Technique: Death Gaze. After consuming an extremely precious fruit to speed up the calming of his meditation space, Shaoke once again used the spellcasting technique of Ancient Spellcasters to cast this spell at the mage. Under the effect of Command Technique, Death Gaze formed a pitch-black light. When it shone on the Eleventh Tier Mage, it froze him. In the moment the mage lost his resistance, countless black ribbons broke through his defensive spells and drilled into his body. All this happened in less than half a breath.

The Blue-robed Mage suddenly flew forward a short distance, then took out her spellbook. Under her rapid chanting, the entire spellbook quickly transformed into a blue cage that tightly enveloped the Eleventh Tier Mage. Then, the blue cage began to shrink rapidly.

The remaining seven or eight mages also threw out their spellbooks. Following a special method, under the effect of mysterious incantations, those spellbooks formed the most powerful attacks, all flying toward the Eleventh Tier Mage. At that moment, the other five or six Ninth Tier Mages also unleashed their most powerful spell attacks, successfully killing the Tenth Tier Mage who had been attacked by countless souls.

A series of strange incantations sounded in the sky. Shaoke had never heard the language of these incantations before, but it was similar to Ancient Magic Tongue, carrying a desolate aura when chanted. Then, the mage attacked by countless souls suddenly erupted with golden flames, which formed a small six-pointed star magic array. Countless black souls were repelled by this array, and even the countless souls that had entered the mage’s body flew out, though they had turned blood-red. Still, some souls struggled and bit at the mage.

The six-pointed star magic array quickly rotated a few times, and then some golden wind blades flew out from the array. They not only broke the Blue-robed Mage’s spell but also completely neutralized the spell attacks released by the others, which had consumed their spellbooks. At this moment, Shaoke and the others witnessed for the first time the power of an Eleventh-order being. This power was not something they, as low-order beings, could compensate for with numbers.

Just as Shaoke thought this attempt had failed, the Eleventh Tier Mage, after releasing this spell, suddenly raised his head and howled wildly. As he howled, his body rapidly shriveled, a large amount of hair fell off, and he silently turned into a pile of ashes, leaving only a crystal-like head floating in the air. Then, a pale golden light flew out from this head and instantly disappeared into the air. Shaoke and the others just stared blankly at the scene, unsure of what to do.

“I think that mage tower must have collapsed,” said the Blue-robed Mage, who had lost her spellbook. She looked pale but seemed otherwise unharmed. The Summoner in the distance was very weak, and if not for a remaining warrior supporting him, he would have already fallen to the ground.

--- Apologies again, brothers. Please check back at noon tomorrow. Xiao Qi has some personal issues affecting his writing, causing delays. Sorry, brothers.