A female
Only now did she seem to recall something, and she spoke up.
The proposal clearly piqued Wade's interest. He glanced at the Four Seasons Squad members he had brought along, then at Leonor's office. After a visible struggle on his face, he ultimately refused the proposal.
"No! What we have here is more important! Even Master Leonor would choose to hold this position!"
Wade glanced out the window. Through the fixed observation passage, he could see that the
"Damn it! The Defense Squad's captain has fallen in battle! Vice-Captain Doruin is missing! And the Hunt Squad and Battle Squad captains can't be pulled away — otherwise I could have dispatched more Wizards to reinforce that position..."
"Sir! Please rest assured — Lord Bill, who is in charge of the trading post, is also a peak Tier One Wizard. The Blood Hand won't get through that easily..."
Beside Wade, the voluptuous secretary adjusted her spectacles, seemingly trying to offer comfort.
"It's no use! Bill has already fallen!!! Our stocks will probably end up in the hands of those damned dark wizards!!!"
Wade slammed his fist hard onto Leonor's desk, leaving a deep fist-shaped imprint.
"Master! If only you were here!" Suddenly, a somewhat feeble thought surfaced in Wade's mind.
He immediately laughed at himself for his moment of weakness. But the hands hidden within his sleeves were still trembling ceaselessly. Due to their exceptionally high Spiritual Power and keen perception, a Wizard's premonitions were far beyond those of ordinary people — though they occurred rarely, they very often came true.
"What? Bill has fallen?! How is that possible — he was a peak Tier One Wizard!!! Could there be another Tier Two dark wizard involved?!"
The surrounding Wizards erupted into an uproar. Peak Tier One Wizards represented the strongest fighting force among ordinary Wizards on the South Coast — since Tier Two Wizards typically remained stationed at their respective strongholds and rarely ventured out. They were local powerhouses, the aspirational goals and idols of countless Wizards.
But now, one such towering mountain had just crumbled, dealing a crushing blow to the morale of every Wizard present.
"No! Everyone, quiet down!" The instant those words left his mouth, Wade realized his slip and immediately began trying to salvage the situation.
"Although the dark wizards' assault has been fierce and has caused us heavy losses in both personnel and supplies, you must believe in the Four Seasons Garden. Believe in the Elder Council. Believe in my mentor, the Tier Two Wizard Lord Leonor..."
"We only need to hold on for fifteen more minutes!!! The
Every word from Wade dripped with blood and fury, powerfully igniting the hatred of every Wizard present. United in their shared enmity, the Wizards' emotions steadied at once.
"A bunch of rabble!!!" But even after seeing the situation stabilize, Wade couldn't help but sigh.
The White Wizards of the Four Seasons Garden were a lot like some of the researchers from Raylin's previous life. For them, their main occupation was research, not killing. When facing Dark Wizards, the performance of these formal Wizards was, to put it mildly, rather pathetic.
Aside from a handful of squads specifically responsible for combat and defense, the other White Wizards who handled secret realm exploration and plant cultivation suffered the heaviest casualties in this assault.
At this thought, Wade glanced once more at the crimson-armored Wizards of the Four Seasons Unit.
Their expressions were utterly calm. Even after hearing the news of Bill's death in battle and the complete seizure of the resource vaults, they didn't so much as furrow a brow, faithfully continuing to carry out their guard duties.
"Thank goodness! Our Four Seasons Garden isn't without its trump cards! With these Four Seasons Unit members here, at the very least the core of the Ganges Realm's gate will be safe!!!"
Wade reassured himself silently.
As long as the core consciousness entity remained in their hands, it was still the White Wizards of the Four Seasons Garden who controlled the secret realm gate. In that case, no matter how devastating today's losses were, they could be made up for.
It was precisely for this reason that after witnessing the overwhelming offensive of the Dark Wizards in Experimental Zone Three, Wade had immediately chosen to consolidate his forces, pulling every bit of strength he had to this location to make a last stand defending the core consciousness entity.
This type of core consciousness entity could only exist within the Ganges Realm itself and could not stray too far from the massive metal gate. It was precisely because of this that the various White Wizard factions were forced to hold their ground near the gate rather than taking the consciousness entity back to headquarters for safekeeping.
"Crack!"
"Crack!"
At that very moment, two crisp sounds of shattering bone rang out.
Two Wizards collapsed to the ground with expressions of shock, staring at the companions they had been fighting side by side with just moments ago.
"Matu! Visser! What are you doing?!"
The surrounding Wizards scrambled back, shouting at the two blood-dripping Wizards with faces full of rage and alarm.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Faster than them were the crimson-armored Wizards of the Four Seasons Unit, who instantly transformed into several red blurs, surrounding the two Wizards within.
"Heh heh heh! Poor little White Wizards, why is it that every time I see you, I can't help but think of tender little lambs in the jaws of a lion?"
Along with the cold, mocking words, the surfaces of the two White Wizards at the center of the encirclement suddenly underwent a bizarre transformation.
Flakes of skin drifted away like falling leaves, revealing two unfamiliar figures beneath—one was bald on top with only a few pathetic strands of hair hanging on, while the other was extraordinarily short and fat, sporting front teeth that jutted out like a rat's.
These two White Wizards were actually imposters!
"It's them! Thousand Faces and Dark Shadow! They're the 5a-grade wanted criminals on the fugitive list!!! Be careful—they're extremely skilled at shape-mimicking spells and can instantly disguise themselves as different wizards without being detected..." One of the surrounding White Wizards recognized the identities of the two Dark Wizards.
No need to ask—the real Mathu and Wiesel had almost certainly been silenced by these two Dark Wizards. As for when they had made their move, not a single White Wizard knew.
"Heh heh heh!!! The Four Seasons Garden's trump card—the Four Seasons Squad? I've certainly heard a great deal about you!" Even though he was completely surrounded, the bald Thousand Faces didn't seem the slightest bit nervous. His tiny eyes swept lazily around the encircle before he let out a contemptuous laugh: "What a shame! I don't seem to see anything all that special about you..."
Faced with such provocation, the Four Seasons Squad members across from them gave a unified response.
Clang!!!
The armor covering their bodies shuddered, and blood-red bramble runes, as if coming alive, projected into midair, forming phantom images of thorns.
Countless thorn phantoms wove together into a dense cage, trapping Thousand Faces and Dark Shadow inside.
"Haha... all you've got worth showing off is this Bramble Cage..."
Thousand Faces kept laughing, but the fine beads of sweat on his forehead revealed that he was far from relaxed.
"Dark Shadow! Are you done yet?! The Four Seasons Squad members aren't so easy to fool—if you're not careful, we could both end up dying here..."
Thousand Faces secretly transmitted his voice to Dark Shadow.
"Almost! Almost! I need quiet!!!" Dark Shadow's reply carried a trace of hoarseness and a very obvious sense of urgency.
"...Done! If the organization hadn't offered such generous compensation, I wouldn't be caught dead doing this!" Dark Shadow finally spoke.
Boom!!!
The enormous dark-red Bramble Cage continuously constricted inward, countless tiny bramble thorns sprouting forth and swarming toward the two Dark Wizards in the center like a cloud of bees.
Tssss!!! Sssss!!!
The dense bramble thorns pierced into the bodies of the two Dark Wizards at the center like flying needles, drawing small trickles of bright red blood.
But what was bizarre was that the two Dark Wizards in the middle remained expressionless, as if these bodies didn't belong to them at all.
"Watch out!" one of the Four Seasons Squad members warned, and in the next instant, the barb-covered Bramble Cage made contact with the two wizards at the center.
Whooosh!!
Instantly, the surface of the two wizards' bodies turned black, and then rings of fine red fringes continuously burst out from between the two figures.
"This is..." Ward was somewhat puzzled, then seemed to recall something, immediately shouting: "Dodge quickly—"
But it was already too late. The two black figures in the center let out cold laughter and spread their arms wide.
Bang!!!
A massive explosion swept through the entire office, accompanied by a thick cloud of black smoke.
In the aftermath of the blast, all of Leonore's furniture and documents were reduced to ashes, and even the original desk was sliced away, revealing the sealing formation beneath.
"Puppets and high-energy bombs!!!"
Ward looked at the devastated office and the many wizards lying on the ground unable to rise, clenching his teeth tightly.
"My lord! Are you all right?" The secretary witch rushed forward in a panic.
"Don't worry, I'm fine..." Ward waved his hand.
Then, an eerie expression surfaced on his face, and his robes immediately began to billow.
The plant patterns that had seemed like mere decorations all came to life, turning into real vines that seized the female wizard in front of him.
"You... my lord! What are you doing?"
The female secretary was grabbed and spread into a spread-eagle position, her entire figure exposed in front of Ward in a humiliating pose, her face still bearing expressions of shame and bewilderment.
"Thousand-Faced Man! Stop deceiving me! This female wizard was lying in my bed just last night — I know everything about her far better than you do!!!" Ward retreated several steps in succession, coldly staring at the female secretary wizard suspended among the vines.
"Hehehe!!! You figured it out, huh..."
The female wizard's face twisted into a manic grin, then shifted once more, reverting to a bald form.
"Too bad! You missed me!!!"
A large section of the yellow floor beneath Ward's feet suddenly flipped open, and a dagger glowing with silver-white light plunged straight into his abdomen!