The trench-coated man facing the Petrifying Gaze head-on suddenly froze in place, and a layer of grayish-white stone skin emerged across the surface of his body..., Crack! Crack!
He was transformed entirely into a massive stone sculpture, with fine powder continuously drifting down from its surface.
"Blade of Frost!" Under the green-skinned barbarian wizard's control, numerous blades coalesced into a howling tornado that engulfed the stone sculpture, producing sounds that set teeth on edge.
After a moment, the ice blades dispersed. The original sculpture had vanished entirely, replaced by a pile of rubble.
"Finally, it's over!" The green-skinned barbarian wizard exhaled in relief.
"No! It's not!" Kasha said with a bitter smile.
Then the green-skinned barbarian wizard watched in horror as the rubble exploded outward, revealing flesh within.
Numerous pieces of flesh grew tentacles and merged together, reforming the black trench-coated man from before — without even a single crack on his coat.
"Damn it!"
The green-skinned barbarian wizard cursed aloud. "Where on earth did you provoke this wretched thing? It's immune to wizardry attacks, and even physical attacks are useless!"
"I don't know!" Despair was plain on Kasha's face.
After entering the Quicksand Ancient Fortress, she had only managed to break through a few floors before this black trench-coated man had locked onto her. Her subordinates had been lost one after another, and now it seemed their fates were grim.
Even the last group of green-skinned barbarian wizard pursuers, under the crushing pressure of death, had been forced to join forces with her against this creature.
But now it seemed they were nearly out of options.
...
"Chirp chirp!"
An extremely penetrating cry rang out, followed by an all-encompassing mass of shadows and darkness, accompanied by howling winds.
A horrifying Blood Vulture with wings wide enough to blot out the sky descended upon the center of a massive mountain range shaped like a honeycomb, plunging directly into the largest and highest cave.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the mountainside, a blue light flickered in
"Departed at 4:47 PM, returned after an interval of exactly 45 seconds!"
He was meticulously recording the Blood Vulture King's travel data. After several days of observation, he had finally reaped some small gains.
The Blood Vulture King here was at least at the Crystal level. Its colossal size alone, along with the terrifying spiritual power that clung to it like a shroud, was enough to make Leylin completely abandon any thought of seizing it by force.
Moreover, the Blood Vulture King received tributes from the entire Blood Vulture clan. Every day, countless Blood Vultures brought food back into the cave, so it never needed to venture out hunting.
As a result, it rarely left during the day — unlike the ordinary Blood Vulture Leylin had encountered earlier, which spent half its time soaring outside.
But every afternoon at this time, the Blood Vulture King would go out for a period, presumably to patrol its territory.
This was the opportunity Leylin had been waiting for all along.
"The Blood Vultures truly live up to their reputation as ancient creatures with the extraordinary innate talent of sensing bloodline items..." Leylin sighed softly.
This time, apart from the Blood Vulture King's lair which he didn't dare probe, he had also snuck into a few ordinary Blood Vultures' nests and found numerous bloodline items useful for warlocks.
The combined value of everything was probably enough to make even his mentor, Duke
"Everything — it all comes down to tomorrow!"
Leylin gazed at the topmost cave and melted into the darkness.
...
The next day, afternoon.
With a piercing cry, the enormous Blood Vulture King set out once more, its massive black shadow cast downward to form a huge silhouette on the ground. A terrifying wave of pressure swept outward in its wake, intimidating the other high-energy creatures that eyed this territory.
"Now!" Leylin's eyes sharpened.
"Shadow Stealth! Shadow Secret Technique!" Instantly, his figure vanished, hiding within the gaps between shadows, shrouded in thick black mist.
Using the concealment effect of the wizardry, Leylin groped his way toward the innermost cave.
"Inside the Blood Vulture King's lair, two Blood Vultures that have reached the Liquid level stand guard! Every time the Blood Vulture King goes on patrol, they become the sentries!"
Leylin crouched atop a protruding black rock, studying the two enormous crimson figures inside the cave with a furrowed brow.
"At my current strength, I could barely handle one Liquid-level Blood Vulture, but it would definitely cause a commotion! If the entire clan swarms me, or the Blood Vulture King suddenly returns — both are entirely possible!"
He gritted his teeth and crept forward toward the two guard-like crimson shapes.
Two Liquid-level Blood Vultures together were far beyond what he could currently handle, but high-energy creatures' detection abilities weren't necessarily as keen as those of human wizards. This was his chance.
He had already spent far too much time here and couldn't afford to linger any longer.
Even if it was a gamble, he wanted to try!
Inside the shadow rift, everything outside appeared hazy and gray, as though submerged in thick paste. Every step Leylin took consumed enormous amounts of spiritual power and mana, while he simultaneously had to watch for any reaction from the two Blood Vulture sentries — an incredibly grueling task.
Just as Leylin carefully reached the cave entrance and was about to slip past one of the Blood Vulture guards — "Chirp chirp!" The Blood Vulture guard seemed to sense something and instantly snapped to alertness, its wary eyes scanning the surroundings.
"Even high-energy creatures — once they reach the third tier, no matter how dull-witted they were originally, they'll have evolved to human-level intelligence!" Leylin sighed.
Immediately, he issued a mental command: "Chip! Activate backup plan two!"
"Ding! Command received. Initiating Plan Two!" the Chip responded faithfully.
Meanwhile, partway down the mountainside, a small wizardry array suddenly detonated, revealing a Shadow Servant hidden within.
The Shadow Servant darted into an unguarded cave, snatched several Bloodline Crystals, and fled at full speed.
"Chirp chirp!!!" The Blood Vultures erupted in fury. A torrent of crimson shapes poured into the sky, circling overhead.
The Shadow Servant was torn to shreds by the enraged Blood Vultures before it could even clear the mountain range.
Although the two Blood Vulture guards didn't move, their attention was clearly drawn to the commotion. Seizing the opportunity, Leylin immediately produced a small black crown from his hands.
The crown was very diminutive and not particularly grand in design, as though it had been crafted specifically for a woman.
"The
This was Leylin's spoil of war — presented along with the Dark Elves' advanced Meditation Method after he had thoroughly subdued them into submission.
This crown was also the first magical artifact Leylin had obtained, ranking even above his Fallen Long Sword.
The Dark Elf Crown was the Dark Elves' inherited sacred relic, possessing powerful concealing properties. The former Dark Elf Great Matriarch, Aña, had used it to charge straight into the core of the Dark Abyssal Region's central territory. Had Leylin not intervened behind the scenes, she might well have defeated the humans and unified the entire Dark Abyssal Region.
As a magical artifact, the Dark Elf Crown's concealment capabilities were beyond question. However, since it had already been activated once before, it would need several more decades before it could be used again.
After obtaining this magical artifact, Leylin had the Chip continuously analyze it and had extracted many useful techniques and formulae.
What particularly interested him was that the Chip could, through charging it with crystallized Magic Stones, forcibly activate a portion of the Dark Elf Crown's powers!
Though only a fraction of its true might, the Dark Elf Crown was a magical artifact! And since the effect was confined to Leylin's own body, the terrifying concealment it produced might not even be detected by a Morning Star
The two Blood Vulture guards were far less of a concern.
With the Shadow Servant outside drawing attention and the Dark Elf Crown's concealment layered on top, Leylin successfully infiltrated the Blood Vulture King's lair.
The interior of the cave was dimly lit, but that posed no problem for Leylin.
The ground was covered with dark crimson bloodstains and the remains of other creatures in varying states of decay — likely the Blood Vulture King's recent meals.
The entire cave gave Leylin an unsettling sensation, as though something had its eyes on him.
He reached out and touched the black wall embedded with metallic particles.
The moment his palm made contact with the black wall, countless tentacles extended from the surface, only to be swiftly consumed by the black flames wreathing Leylin's hand.
"It seems this Blood Vulture clan has been settled here for a very long time. Even the mountain rock has been affected by the radiation and developed a living reaction!"
Leylin marveled at the sight. This kind of active material was extremely valuable — not only could it be incorporated into defensive formations, it even possessed self-healing properties. Structures built with it as the primary material could often stand for over a thousand years without crumbling.
Even Leylin's wizard tower would see a significant boost in durability if such material were added.
"A pity — a plan to mine this place is simply too unrealistic!"
Leylin pressed on without pausing, venturing deeper until he reached the cave's end, where a massive Blood Vulture nest lay spread out before him.
Countless golden tufts of animal down and flecks of metal formed a thick, plush cushion bearing the deep indentations of years of roosting. But on top of the cushion, there was nothing at all.
"Hm?" Leylin's heart lurched, followed by a wry smile.
"These bloodline items are only effective for Blood Vulture hatchlings. It seems this Blood Vulture King hasn't laid any eggs yet, so it naturally hasn't needed to collect any..."
"I need to pull out right now — and before I do, I'll ransack every other Blood Vulture nest on the way!"
Leylin made his decision.
He was a man of swift decisiveness. Once he found nothing here, he chose to leave immediately, without the slightest hesitation.
"I didn't expect to encounter one of my kin here."
A faint, lingering sigh drifted through the air, freezing Leylin in his tracks.
He turned his head, staring fixedly at a corner of the wall.
And there, a spectral figure was slowly materializing.
"A Spirit?! No — something even higher!"
Leylin regarded the figure that had suddenly emerged, every sense on full alert...