Chapter Nineteen: Arriving at the Academy "It's an adult Storm Giant Elf!!!"
"Damn! How did this thing end up on this route? Wasn't it cleared out before?"
"Where are the Wizards from the academies? We need their help!!"
Several exasperated voices rang out.
"Activate the Large Defense Magical Array first, or those apprentices are dead for sure!"
With the sound of an incantation, a milky-white glow surged across the walls of the entire airship. At several breach points, green light flickered as vines continuously crawled upward, sealing the cracks tight.
"Hah... hah..." Leilin's face was flushed red, gasping for breath.
When the Storm Giant Elf had spoken just now, every apprentice present had felt an extremely cold wave of oppressive pressure slam into them.
Vast, overwhelming, and carrying naked malice!!! It nearly suffocated Leilin.
Fortunately, once the defensive array activated, the pressure on Leilin eased considerably, and he felt much better.
Otherwise, perhaps in just another moment, every apprentice in the hall would have suffocated to death.
"Humans, you will pay for your reckless behavior!" the Storm Giant Elf roared.
The voice pierced through the magical array, causing the milky-white glow to tremble.
"Great Son of Nature! Please calm your fury! We bear a token!" A voice somewhat familiar to Leilin rang out — it was the airship captain.
"This is the agreement we made with His Majesty the Storm King — it grants us passage!" Gegewu's voice carried confidence.
"Token?" The Storm Giant Elf's voice held a note of confusion, then turned to a roar: "Pandala is free!! The clan contract has no authority over me!!"
"Roar! Howl! Domigan—Budala!" As the incantation sounded once more, the lightning outside erupted tenfold in fury.
"F**k!!! It's actually a wanderer — I've hit the jackpot!!!" Gegewu's voice rang out again, but this time stripped of its usual confidence, replaced by sheer exasperation.
"Everyone, attack together!!!"
Boom!!!
Brilliant, multicolored light flashed ceaselessly outside the windows, entangling with the bolts of lightning.
The airship began to tremble ever so slightly.
Lei Lin's face was somewhat pale. Right now, all he could do was pray that the wizards would unleash their power and drive off that damned Storm Giant Elf. Otherwise, at this altitude, he wouldn't even be able to run.
"Bang!!!"
After another thunderous impact, the airship returned to calm.
"Is it gone?"
"It was just a newly adult Storm Giant Elf — at most equivalent to a half-elementalized formal
The wizards' conversation drifted in from outside, clearly not suppressed in any way. It was probably meant to ease the apprentices' nerves.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, the apprentices present erupted into loud cheers.
"Oh! Praise the great Wizards!"
"Damn it! I really thought I'd be smashed into pulp!"
"Haha! Look at that coward — he actually wet his pants!" The apprentices loudly mocked an unfortunate soul, venting their pent-up fear.
Lei Lin gave a brief glance around.
Earlier, when the Storm Giant Elf was speaking, Jiamen had already released the vines restraining
"The Chip didn't detect any Magical Items on Jiamen before, so he must have obtained it recently. And the only channel for that would be
"So! After getting the Magical Item, Jiamen immediately grew impatient and challenged Kreweir's position. If not for this accident, he might actually have succeeded!" Lei Lin thought to himself.
Thanks to the Storm Giant Elf's interruption, the conflict between Jiamen and Kreweir came to an anticlimactic and inconclusive end.
From that point on, Kreweir did his best to avoid appearing in the same place as Jiamen. It seemed he truly feared the other's Magical Item.
And the impact of this battle on Lei Lin was enormous.
"Kreweir had already fully activated his Life Energy and crossed the threshold to become a formal Knight, yet in front of an apprentice wielding a Magical Item, he was still as fragile as a lamb! It seems the power of a Wizard truly far surpasses that of a Knight!"
"I was originally still thinking about activating my Life Energy, but now it seems—if I still haven't activated it by the time I reach the academy, I should just give up! I have to put all my energy into studying the path of a Wizard!" Lei Lin made up his mind.
As day followed day, the Airship finally arrived at another continent.
Aside from that Storm Giant Elf encounter, the Airship had come across numerous flying creatures along the way, making Lei Lin realize that not only was the Sea of
Fortunately, Gegewu's token was still effective against most creatures, and no conflicts arose.
During the journey, the Airship landed several more times to drop off batches of teachers and students, gradually growing emptier.
Another ten-odd days passed before Lei Lin even noticed.
Boom!! The Airship touched down on the ground, and the entire compartment shuddered violently.
"We've arrived at the Black Bone Swamp! Apprentices of Black Bone Forest Academy, attention! Please gather your belongings and disembark in an orderly fashion!" A voice rang out, reverberating through the small cabin.
"We're finally here?" Lei Lin quickly packed his things and left the tiny compartment he had spent over a month in.
"Jiamen, Kreweir—take a headcount!" Duolote held a black staff in his hand, a massive green gemstone set into its black tip.
"As you command!" Jiamen and Kreweir nodded and began counting the passengers.
Lei Lin glanced at Kreweir. Ever since the incident in the dining hall, the young man had grown notably more withdrawn, spending most of his time locked in his own compartment. Now he looked rather gloomy.
Jiamen, on the other hand, was quite energetic. According to the rumors that had been quietly circulating, he had already been accepted by Duolote as a personal disciple.
Unlike ordinary mentors, a personal disciple held a far higher status—they could even receive advanced knowledge from their mentor free of charge.
The group of over a dozen people stepped out of the Airship.
"So this is where the academy is? It looks rather desolate!"
Lei Lin looked around. Desert stretched in every direction, with a few narrow paths clearly showing signs of foot traffic.
At the center of a three-way fork stood a wooden sign, its edges already broken in several places.
At the top, in black font, it indicated the destination of each path.
"Land of Shadows and Death — the Great Black Bone Swamp!" The characters were twisted and uneven, and Lei Lin suddenly felt his scalp tingled with a creepy sensation.
"Hehe... follow me!" Duolote stretched his body, and his white bones made creaking, crackling sounds, as if they might fall apart at any moment.
"Pay attention! Although our academy's apprentices regularly clear this area, there are still humanoid creatures, polluters, and malevolent spirits lurking. If you fall behind, I'm afraid we'll only be able to view your remains!"
Duolote gave a cold chuckle, and the apprentices who heard him twitched their faces, sticking close behind him for fear of being left behind.
The group slowly set off on the path toward the Great Black Bone Swamp.
"What's that?" Lei Lin was walking in the middle of the group when a black light suddenly flashed before his eyes. A creature that looked like a lizard but had a blue horn on its head dashed past.
"Chip! Scan!"
"Task established. Commencing scan!" The mechanical voice of the Chip sounded.
"Unknown high-energy creature! Estimated Strength: 3-4, Agility: 4-5, Constitution: greater than 5. Assessment: Extremely Dangerous!"
"Hiss! Any one of these is much more powerful than a Scavenging Wolf, and who knows what strange hunting methods it might have. A Knight would be dead for sure if it encountered one!"
Lei Lin hurriedly squeezed forward. In this land full of danger, the mentor Duolote, who looked like a heap of dark brown bones, seemed to be his only guarantee of safety.
"It seems our little apprentice is starting to realize the danger!"
The green flames in Duolote's eye sockets flickered uncertainly for a moment, and he said lightly.
The further the group went, the sparser the desolate land became, and more shrubs appeared along the roadside.
Before long, Lei Lin entered a forest of black trees.
Whether it was his imagination or not, once he entered the forest, Lei Lin felt the sun in the sky instantly dim, and a faint layer of white mist surrounded them, giving a cold, icy sensation.
"Warning! Warning! High-energy creature approaching rapidly! Position: overhead!" The Chip's alarm sounded.
Lei Lin quickly lowered his head and crouched down.
"Kwaah!" A piercing cry rang out.
A black crow with red eyes dove from the tree, sweeping past Lei Lin's position, its razor-sharp claws hooking directly toward a female apprentice's face.
Boom!!!
A green magical blast struck the black crow dead on. The crow cawed and tumbled to the ground, wisps of white smoke rising from its body as a corrosive sizzling sound filled the air.
The female apprentice stood frozen in place, then suddenly burst into terrified wailing.
Merely seconds later, the crow on the ground had been reduced to nothing, leaving behind a large corroded pit in the earth.
"The number of these red-eye crows has increased again. Looks like I'll need to post a mission after we get back — have the apprentices come do another sweep!"
"What are you looking at? Move out!"
Duolote's voice carried from up ahead. The sobbing female apprentice wiped her eyes with her sleeve, gritted her teeth, and began walking forward.
Lei Lin was startled for a moment, then quickly hurried to catch up.
After walking for roughly another hour or so, the group arrived at the very heart of the black forest.
"This is…" The view before Lei Lin's eyes suddenly opened up into a vast expanse.
What filled his sight was an enormous cemetery.
At the dead center of the black forest, for reasons unknown, lay a massive expanse of graves.
The cemetery was vast, and all the tombstones were crafted from black and white marble, giving it a remarkably lavish appearance.
Yet it seemed to have been abandoned for ages — many tombstones had toppled to the ground, overgrown with weeds, some completely covered in creeping vines. Crows perched upon them from time to time, calling out with eerie cries.
"Welcome to the City of Shadows and Death — Black Bone Forest!" Duolote chuckled darkly, but no matter how Lei Lin looked at it, he could only see gloating satisfaction.