"The Formation Spirit Core!"
Lombarton let out a soft sigh, then unhesitatingly unleashed a shockwave that destroyed the Formation Spirit.
"Hiss, hiss..." The Formation Spirit's voice immediately dropped to a low whimper, and the entirety of Boti City was thrown into instant chaos.
BOOM!!!
As if they had been prepared all along, the Dark Elves and the Beast Tide on the opposing side launched their most ferocious assault.
With the Formation Spirit destroyed, the defensive
"What are you doing?!"
Two Wizards burst into the room at once.
"Life Siphon!" Lombarton's expression remained unchanged as he waved his hand repeatedly.
Several streaks of green light filled the room, and the two Wizards caught in their glow aged visibly before the naked eye, quickly losing all signs of life.
"Positioning initiated!" Lombarton glanced at Dia, still trapped within the seal, and immediately pulled out materials to begin his arrangement.
BOOM!!!
A few minutes later, guided by a magic circle radiating purple light, eight enormous spider legs pierced through from above, ripping the ceiling wide open.
And sitting atop the colossal spider was a completely naked young woman.
She had fair, delicate skin and pointed ears, a faint smile playing on her lips. An enchanting, seductive power radiated ceaselessly from her body.
"Matriarch!" Lombarton immediately dropped to his knees.
"Well done, Lombarton!" The young woman said with a smile, sending a tremor through Lombarton's heart.
"Though we've squandered a precious Earth Membrane in the process, being able to strike down one of their clones is still a commendable result. After all, the opponent is a peak-tier existence of the Second Order!"
The young woman spoke in a leisurely drawl, and her voice alone was enough to set Lombarton's blood boiling with desire.
A Second Order Wizard was already formidable in his own right, and with precautions in place, even a
Not to mention that Porti City was riddled with bloodline detection formations — the instant any Dark Elf entered, they would be discovered.
But Lombarton was different! He was a pure human. And a Wizard at that, though merely a Rambler, he had accumulated no small number of meritorious deeds, granting him enough standing to receive an audience.
As for the Earth Membrane — it was a top-tier treasure of the Dark Elf Empire, capable of effectively concealing one's aura.
Only through the powerful synergy of all these conditions had the Parasitic Seed been able to successfully ambush the target.
This had always been something Lombarton took pride in, yet hearing the young woman's words, his heart still lurched.
"A clone?"
"That's right! Are you not coming out yet?" the young woman said with a coy laugh toward the empty void beside her.
Whoosh! Two arrows of pristine light shot forth, shattering the tendrils and revealing a faintly translucent figure.
This figure immediately transformed into a streak of light and plunged into another figure that had suddenly appeared.
"So this is the true body of Guardian Dia!" Lombarton stared blankly at the figure in the sky above — identical to the one before — his fists clenched tight.
"I never expected that Her Excellency the Grand Matron would personally intervene!"
High in the air, Dia paid no attention whatsoever to Lombarton on the ground below. His eyes were fixed on the naked young woman, his expression one of deep wariness.
"Hehehe… With your avatar so severely damaged, how much of your strength can you bring to bear? Eighty percent? Or perhaps seventy?"
The young woman laughed without pause, then suddenly her back split open.
A colossal hybrid monster — half human, half spider — materialized in midair.
An overwhelming darkness instantly engulfed Guardian Dia…
And on the distant horizon, the Wizards looked on in shock as, alongside the Dark Elves and the beast tide, Dwarves and Goblins joined the assault.
Half a day later, a staggering piece of news swept across the entire Dark Pole Domain.
Porti City had fallen!!! And the Grand Matron of the Dark Elf Empire had personally intervened, slaying the Northern Region's Guardian Dia!!!
And the Dwarven tribes and the Goblin Kingdom joined the assault as well. In an instant, the entire Northern Region of the Dark Pole Domain fell, and slaughter raged everywhere.
Still within Porti City.
But this place had already changed hands. Wave after wave of elite Cave Cold Spider Knights patrolled the streets, and here and there one could see Dwarven warriors and Golem pilots walking past.
In the great hall at the city's center.
The Grand Matron summoned Lobaton.
"You did very well this time, Lobaton!" The young woman spoke the truth — had she not first ambushed the other's avatar, she would not have been confident in keeping him here.
"It is my honor to serve the Grand Matron!" Lobaton gazed upon the young woman's flawless beauty, a trace of intoxication crossing his face.
"Now, I need you to go to the Central Domain and stir up a movement against the Wizards!" The young woman felt no displeasure at the Wizard's gaze. On the contrary, she deliberately shifted her body, allowing even more of her intimate parts to be exposed before his eyes.
"A movement against them?" Lobaton was somewhat confused.
"That's right! The Wizards and the nobles hoard all knowledge and power. They forbid the commoners and ordinary people below from ever obtaining any of it. Generation after generation, resentment and bloodshed have been piling up. Now, all that's needed is a trigger — a trigger for the final explosion!!!"
The young woman spoke softly: "I need you to go to the Central Domain and ignite turmoil in the name of reform. When the moment calls for it, you may even pass down high-grade Meditation Methods…"
"…Yes…" Lobaton agreed.
This was essentially sowing rebellion behind enemy lines, pinching the opposition from both sides.
He knew all too well what kind of misery ordinary people suffered under the rule of the Wizards. The Wizard-nobility enjoyed everything, while the common folk toiled from dawn to dusk and still might not have enough to eat. They could be sentenced or even killed outright at any moment for the mere offense of slighting a noble.
And among the commoners, even those who possessed the aptitude to become Wizards found it nearly impossible to receive any training.
Even if they were lucky enough to join an academy, they would be marginalized, and might even face being used as test subjects or cannon fodder!
Of course, resentment alone without strength meant that no matter how many rebels there were, they would only be blasted to dust by the Wizards. After all, power still rested firmly in the Wizards' hands!
But things were different now. The Wizards faced a great external enemy that had drained most of their attention and energy.
Moreover, there was now the banner of reform and its rallying call.
Sometimes, a thunderous slogan and a beautiful promise are enough to draw countless passionate youths to spill their blood and sacrifice their heads for the cause.
And the moment more power was disseminated further, it would become a dire calamity!
When that time came, the Wizards would likely descend into internecine conflict — who knew how many would die, how much blood would be shed?
Lombardton understood this all too clearly, yet he harbored not a shred of opposition or pity. On the contrary, all he felt was the thrill of vengeance.
"Raylin! What you inflicted upon me, I will repay a hundredfold — a thousandfold! I swear it!!!"
Lombardton screamed inwardly.
Had Raylin been there, he would surely have recognized that this Lombardton — this traitor to the domain — was none other than the very same boy from Bott Town whom he had once toyed with.
"Mm! Very good. Once you return, I shall perform the Bloodline Conversion Ceremony on you. From that point onward, you will be one of the Dark Elves — and a scion of our clan…"
The young woman nodded.
"Thank you, Your Majesty the Grand Matriarch!" Lombardton pressed his head deeply to the ground.
……
"Lombardton?" Hearing the Second-tier female Wizard's account, Raylin suddenly felt a bizarre sense of wry amusement.
"Though names can certainly coincide, I have a very strong premonition that this Lombardton — the traitor to our people — is the very same Lombardton from Bott Town!"
Raylin felt a stirring of emotion. Back when he had learned that the boy had gone out into the world to seek his fortune, he had merely laughed it off.
The odds of success were far too slim.
But what he hadn't expected was that the boy had actually succeeded — and had even become a Wizard!
Without specialized tools, even Raylin could not discern a person's aptitude for Wizardry at a glance. As such, he had no idea that Lombardton also possessed the gift.
"Still, how interesting. Looking at it now, it seems that old Bott Town may well have been a convergence point for the forces of fate within the Dark Pole Domain!"
Raylin stroked his chin, an expression of deep contemplation settling over his features.
Bott Town had appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary civilian settlement — one that had since fallen entirely into enemy hands.
Yet to have produced two favored children of the era like Weylin and Lombardton was, all things considered, quite remarkable.
"Weylin and Lombardton — like two sides of the same coin. The day will come when they meet again, and when that happens, the force of destiny within the Dark Polar Domain will reach its absolute peak!"
A strange premonition suddenly washed over Raylin.
"Still… this feeling of shaping history with my own hands is rather interesting…"
Strictly speaking, back in Bott Town — where all of it had begun — it was he himself who had set this entire chain of events into motion. The realization gave Raylin an almost unsettling sense of fate's cruel amusement.
But rather than dismay, it only drew a cold smile from his lips.
"If that's the case, then let me be the one to put an end to everything!"
These thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, while the other two Second-Rank Wizards wore expressions of deep concern.
"The entire Northern Domain has fallen — a full fifth of humanity's strength, gone just like that…"
Fantix caressed a ruby-red gemstone ring on his finger, a dark cloud settling over his face.
"It's not just that. Beyond the Dark Elves and the beast tide, even the dwarves and goblins have appeared!"
The female Wizard added with a bitter laugh.
Though the Dark Polar Domain was only a relatively small territory, it was home to a great many strange species. Among them, humans and Dark Elves constituted the two largest factions, but the combined might of the dwarves and goblins was not to be underestimated either.
And when all of them had united together, humanity had been thoroughly pushed to the losing side.
"This is an extinction-level war!" Fantix drew a deep breath. "We must petition the Central Domain Council and mobilize all of humanity's strength…"
"Before that, we should deal with the immediate threat outside first!"
A golden ring on Raylin's finger blazed with light, and he rose to his feet. "The Dark Elves have launched another assault. This time, we've confirmed three elite Cold Spider Knight Orders among their forces, and a Matron-level existence has entered the fray!"
"Those damned point-eared mutts…" Fantix surged to his feet in fury.