But all of this was already far too late.
Airest's face wore a savage grin as his entire body suddenly underwent transformation.
Muscles bulged mass by mass, tough wolf fur sprouted to cover his whole body, fangs lengthened from his jaws, a ring of downy fur appeared around his face, and even his ears shifted into the pointed shape of a wolf's!
In the very instant of his leap, he had become a werewolf!
Crack! Sharp wolf claws wreathed in slicing wind came crashing down, and the second-rank wizard's skull shattered beneath them like a watermelon, red and white brain matter splattering across the floor.
The enormous werewolf did not stop. From the corpse it extracted a lump of green **, eyes blazing with wild joy, and prepared to leap away.
"Airest!!!"
At that moment, the announcer who had been retreating toward the edge of the arena stepped forward.
Wrapped in a cocoon of white light, the announcer's entire form underwent a violent metamorphosis.
His face grew gaunt and elongated, and a mass of white beard stretched downward until it dragged along the ground.
A vast, overwhelming, utterly peerless wave of spiritual power descended upon the arena in an instant.
"Giant Tree!" At the old man's quiet utterance, an enormous plant suddenly erupted from the center of the elevated stage. Thick vines spread ceaselessly outward, crushing solid rock to rubble.
The colossal tree sealed the entrance above, completely cutting off the werewolf's escape route.
"Awooo..." The werewolf that Airest had become snarled ceaselessly at the old man.
"Third-rank White
A third-rank wizard represented the absolute pinnacle of power on the entire South Coast—beings who commanded supreme authority over both Black and White Wizards.
And when this pinnacle White Wizard made his move, dazzling and brilliant Life Magic ignited across the entire auction hall in an instant.
The numerous wooden tables and chairs seemed to acquire lives of their own, sprouting delicate spores from their surfaces, the spores rapidly growing into vines and foliage.
In the blink of an eye, the entire auction hall had become a verdant realm of plant life, and at its very heart an immense ancient tree stood like an emperor on his throne—towering and imperious.
"Plant magic has reached this level... It's already beginning to touch upon 'Domains'..." With the Book of the Giant Serpent as his guide, Leilin's insight far surpassed that of the second-rank wizards present, and he recognized the extraordinary nature of this third-rank wizard.
"But... Plant-type? Why does it give me such a familiar feeling?"
A burst of dark energy particles erupted from Leilin's palm, and every trace of green vegetation within the VIP box was instantly reduced to ash.
This third-rank wizard's magic immediately reminded him of Leonel, that second-rank wizard from the
"Could it be that this third-rank wizard is Leonel's mentor or a relative of some kind?"
The thought extinguished any impulse Leilin might have had to intervene.
And throughout the entire auction hall, wizards who had chosen to remain on the sidelines up to this point were exceedingly rare.
Only in two or three of the VIP boxes did the occupants still maintain their composure, refraining from rash action.
Still, for Airest to have used a flesh puppet to tie down all the White Wizards and then risk everything to personally seize the Wisdom Ancient Tree's essence—and to have come so close to succeeding—was nothing short of remarkable.
Leilin could not help but admire his decisiveness and patience.
But unfortunately, under the overwhelming suppression of a third-rank wizard, no scheme could escape detection.
No matter how formidable Airest was among second-rank wizards, he could never be a match for a third-rank wizard.
Crack! Crack!
Within the green plant barrier, the black sticky webs were quickly torn apart by various encroaching vines. The freed second-rank wizards rapidly gathered behind the third-rank wizard and fanned out, encircling Airest—who had fully assumed his werewolf form—in the center.
The half-wolf figure at the center, swathed in coarse fur, glinted with cunning in his eyes as he snarled at the wizards surrounding him.
"Hmm! Something's wrong!"
Leilin suddenly noticed the problem. Airest, despite being surrounded, appeared far too calm.
"Capture him!" Below, the third-rank wizard—the old man whose beard dragged along the ground—had clearly sensed something amiss. His brow furrowed deeply as he issued a command to the wizards behind him.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several translucent magical arrows sliced through the air with a shrill roar, bursting the skulls of several wizards.
Thud, thud! A number of White Wizards immediately crumpled to the ground.
"What's happening?" The surrounding White Wizards scrambled backward, activating various innate defensive spells.
But none of them were effective!
The translucent arrows seemed to carry terrifying magical power. Even the full-force defenses of second-rank wizards could not withstand them in the slightest.
"Deep Abyss Arrows of Gulit??? Fadilan! It's you!!!"
The third-rank White Wizard let out a furious roar, and at the sound of his voice the green botanical space immediately radiated a hazy emerald glow. Within that green light, vine-wrought giant hands seemingly tore through space itself, materializing in front of the transparent arrows and annihilating them in mutual destruction.
The surviving White Wizards pressed close to the third-rank wizard, casting terrified and suspicious glances all around.
"You Black Wizards actually dare to break the covenant! Aren't you afraid of facing retribution?"
The elderly third-rank White Wizard seemed to know the other's identity and immediately shouted aloud.
"Heh heh heh!!! White Wizards—the covenant is nothing but a historical footnote! And after today, darkness will reign over the entire continent!"
Along with a cackling laugh, an illusory figure of dark green hue suddenly materialized within the auction hall.
Behind the figure, festering green pus and luminous particles immediately claimed half the hall, standing in direct opposition to the White Wizard's botanical domain.
And from that dark green shadow emanated an enormous energy fluctuation in no way inferior to a third-rank wizard's.
"Hoduke! My old friend, can you still not see the truth? The repeated defections and falls of your second-rank wizards have already proven that your White Wizard philosophy harbors fatal flaws. Only we Black Wizards are fit to rule the entire South Coast!"
The dark green shadow spoke as though recounting a trivial matter, but the White Wizard's expression changed drastically upon hearing those words!
After the catastrophe in the Ganges Secret Realm and the successive losses suffered by the White Wizard Alliance, the Black Wizards had finally decided to shatter the fragile balance and carry the flames of war to the entire South Coast!
"Come out!"
Whoosh, whoosh! At the Black Wizard's command, additional figures appeared within the arena.
Most wore black veils over their faces, their bodies reeking of blood, and the energy fluctuations from each of them were no weaker than the second-rank level!
At the sight of this, the opposing third-rank White Wizard's expression grew even grimmer.
Boom! A mass of black sludge engulfed the central ancient tree, and amid billowing clouds of white steam, the tree shrank at a visible pace before collapsing entirely, revealing a black stone aperture.
"Go! Don't forget our agreement!" Fadilan addressed the werewolf that was Airest.
"Awooo!" The werewolf barked several times at Fadilan, as if responding, then leaped into the passage on all fours and vanished without a trace.
"The essence of the Wisdom Ancient Tree is extraordinarily precious—we absolutely cannot let them have it!"
Hoduke, the old wizard whose beard dragged along the ground, alternated between red and white on his face. Seeing that Airest had already begun his escape, he immediately ordered the wizards behind him: "I'll hold off the Black Wizard. You must retrieve the ancient tree's essence!"
As a third-rank wizard, the widely-read Hoduke knew perfectly well that although the Black Wizards had seized the initiative through treachery and his side faced a severe disadvantage, he absolutely could not allow Airest to escape.
If that happened, it would not merely be a matter of losing a few second-rank White Wizards—it would be a catastrophic imbalance in third-rank combat power!
A single portion of Wisdom Ancient Tree essence might not suffice for a second-rank wizard to break through, but combined with the treasure in Airest's possession, the outcome was far from certain.
Hoduke knew all too well what heaven-defying effects Airest's treasure would produce when combined with the Wisdom Ancient Tree's essence!
"Old friend, we haven't crossed blades in two hundred years. I wonder how your Wailing Lands have evolved!"
Hoduke murmured, and the green botanical power surged once more.
"Heh heh! Twenty years ago I finally completed my research—refined three thousand pure-blood Quark clansmen and integrated the Quark race's innate abilities into the Wailing Lands. I assure you, you won't be disappointed..."
Fadilan cackled, and a colossal illusion filled with white skulls and tombstones descended upon the field, clashing ceaselessly against the verdant botanical illusion.
"So this is the quasi-domain of a third-rank wizard?"
Leilin observed the confrontation between the two third-rank wizards intently, ordering his Chip to record every detail without omission.
A clash between two third-rank wizards was not something one encountered often—it was exceedingly valuable data.
And possessing the Comoin Eye and the Book of the Giant Serpent, along with the vast archive of the Four Seasons Garden that he had already absorbed, Leilin naturally knew that the abilities these two third-rank wizards displayed were not true Domains!
A true Domain was a terrifying power that only fourth-rank Dawn Star Wizards could unleash!
Within a Domain, any wizard below the fourth rank would have their abilities suppressed by several tiers, potentially reduced to a state worse than that of an ordinary person.
These two third-rank wizards, at most, had grasped only the faintest embryonic form of a Domain—they lacked the horrifying power to suppress other wizards' ranks!
However, being caught in the collision of two third-rank wizards' embryonic domains forced a massive shadow rune to surface upon Leilin's body, struggling to contend with the domains' pressure.
"The domains of these two third-rank wizards are already beginning to affect the surrounding wizards. The effect is slight, but it cannot be ignored..."
Leilin gave the two now-indistinguishable figures one last deep look, then rose without hesitation.