Chapter 32: Lionheart Knight (Please keep reading, please add to favorites, and please recommend!)

Chapter 32

Within the Nightshade Bunker, numerous figures gathered in one place. The magical fluctuations emanating from them were intense and terrifying; they were all clearly formal wizards.

"In the past half month, our losses among the apprentices have been somewhat excessive. It seems the reinforcements from the Crucible have arrived. But what puzzles me is, why is the quality of the Crucible's reinforcements so high? They weren't assigned to the regular army, but were instead deployed as reinforcements?"

A wizard from the Nightshade Bunker spoke with a frown, his expression tinged with confusion.

"I personally captured a few and cut open their heads to find out. It was that little girl from the Crucible who was behind it. She returned to the Crucible and brought that batch of wizard apprentices over."

Another wizard explained with a cold sneer.

"So that's how it is."

The other wizards nodded one after another, seemingly understanding the truth of the matter.

"However, it doesn't matter how many apprentices die. If the Crucible wants to grind us down here, trying to use our lives to train their troops, it suits our interests perfectly! Heh, if that damn old geezer wants us to serve as touchstones for his students, then he shouldn't blame us..."

A voice, noticeably more powerful in aura, rang out coldly, carrying an unquestionable majesty.

The speaker was none other than the Lord of the Nightshade Bunker, a Level 3 Great Wizard!

His words were filled with a sense of oppression that made one's skin crawl.

"Lionheart Knight, when are the people from the Bitter Cult coming?"

The Lord of the Nightshade Bunker turned and looked coldly at another wizard beside him, asking in a heavy voice.

That figure was different from the other wizards around them; his vitality was exceptionally strong, his muscles as solid as steel, and he radiated a powerful bloodline energy.

He was the Lionheart Knight who had defected after murdering his master at the White Heart Tower, a man of extraordinary status.

Standing there with a deep and sharp gaze, his aura was equally formidable, not inferior in the slightest to the Lord of the Nightshade Bunker beside him.

Just as the Lionheart Knight was about to speak, a massive dragon roar suddenly erupted from the outside, causing the gazes of all the wizards to freeze instantly.

………………………………

"Assemble!"

Accompanied by the majestic roar of a dragon, the entire outpost quickly entered an orderly state.

The formal wizards immediately integrated their ranks, while many wizard apprentices quickly packed their belongings, waiting quietly for further instructions.

Lynn blended into the crowd, intentionally standing in an inconspicuous position, silently observing and listening.

"According to the plan, we will rendezvous with another outpost and launch an attack on the left side of the Nightshade Bunker. Each of you will act according to your assigned groups. Maintain formation and do not leave the team without authorization..."

The formal wizards clearly communicated the combat arrangements. They did not forcibly break up the existing teams among the apprentices.

Clearly, a certain level of tacit understanding had already formed between the teams; forcing a disruption would instead affect coordination efficiency.

Therefore, Lynn, Colin, and Sonia remained in the same group.

However, this time, their small squad was merged into a larger operational unit, supplemented by several other squads to form a sizable apprentice detachment, advancing together toward the Nightshade Bunker.

After the simple briefing, a formal wizard dressed in robes slowly stepped forward.

His appearance was extremely bizarre: his entire face was perfectly smooth, without eyes, a nose, or a mouth—even eyebrows were nowhere to be seen—as if the entire layer of skin was merely a disguise haphazardly sewn onto a skull.

A beetle-like creature perched on his shoulder; the beetle vibrated its wings slightly, emitting intermittent and unique syllables, as if it were a special language.

"&%￥#..."

When the formal wizard spoke, the syllables he uttered were naturally in the Wizard Tongue.

This language not only required the expenditure of mental strength to chant during spellcasting, but even for apprentices to simply listen, a certain amount of mental energy was required to comprehend it.

However, this time, the wizard's incantation language seemed to have completely transcended the cognitive range of the apprentices.

To their ears, these syllables were like celestial script, utterly meaningless.

In Lynn's words, it was like a child who had just learned primary school language trying to translate profound and difficult ancient texts...

As the last syllable fell, a dazzling and massive silver-white light was released from the wizard's body, instantly enveloping the entire outpost and covering all formal wizards and apprentices.

Lynn noticed that various strange symbols and marks began to emerge beneath their feet, with the silver-white light wrapping everyone within it.

Although these symbols and marks seemed unfamiliar, Lynn was not entirely ignorant of them—because he had seen similar patterns in the teleportation array they used when they arrived at the Great Emerald Forest.

"Swish!"

As the light surged brilliantly, in the next moment, everyone felt as if they were being violently pulled by an invisible force, and in the blink of an eye, they were teleported to a distant location.

During the teleportation process, Lynn felt a sharp pain spreading from his mind; his spirit felt as if it were being torn apart in intense discomfort, and his stomach churned violently.

It felt as if he had experienced countless rapid rotations; the dizziness nearly knocked him down.

Clearly, this rushed magical teleportation was far less stable than the meticulously constructed teleportation array outside the Crucible.

After an unknown amount of time, the shifting lights and shadows before his eyes finally stopped moving.

Lynn stumbled as he landed, nearly falling flat on his face.

Suppressing the nausea in his stomach, he lifted his head to look around. He saw that the surrounding scenery had completely changed—they had arrived at the edge of the Great Emerald Forest.

Behind them lay the endless emerald forest; and not far in front of them, a cluster of towering, pitch-black ancient castles came into view.

Every single one of those castle buildings was as black as the night, emitting a cold and oppressive aura.

Hovering above this cluster of castles was a massive black canopy, obscuring the sky like thick ink.

It was obvious that this cold and eerie architectural complex was the location of the Nightshade Bunker.

As Lynn was secretly observing, he noticed the continuous flickering of teleportation light around him; it was clearly the personnel from other branches of the Crucible arriving one after another.

"Roar—!"

Suddenly, a soul-shaking dragon roar erupted from the heavens.

Lynn looked up to see an elegant and slender black dragon sweeping through the sky.

When its massive wings spread, they seemed capable of shrouding the entire sky, and it radiated an extremely intense sense of oppression, as if a force of destruction were crushing down toward the Nightshade Bunker.

As the black dragon circled and soared through the air, its wings kicked up currents of air like black smoke, scattering into the night sky.

In a brief moment, the entire sky was dyed a murky gray, shrouded in an ominous atmosphere.

Upon the elegant black dragon sat the figure of a witch. Her countenance was bright and flawless, and her pair of purple eyes were incredibly mysterious, acting like a bright star amidst the gray heavens, drawing everyone's attention.

Lynn knew that this witch was the genius young student of the Crucible Lord, and also the culprit who had issued the command that they, the students of the wizards, must participate in the battle!

(End of Chapter)