A Wizard’s Secret

At the huge volcanic crater, sunlight gradually dwindled. Not only that, the surrounding air was extremely dry, pervaded by a pungent smell of sulfur.

Merlin gently picked on the layer of rock. He saw that there were cracks all over the parched surface. This volcano had indeed not erupted for a long time and belonged to the extinct group of volcanoes.

The lower he descend into the volcano, the dimmer the lighting. Merlin could only maintain full focus all the time, observing the conditions around him. While he was sliding down, he did not find Lava Soil either.

Lava Soil could only be possibly formed in the volcanoes after enduring extremely high temperatures and immense pressure for a long period of time. It was a slow, gradual process of several hundreds of years.

Thus, the formation of Lava Soil was not really that easy as it was not found in every volcano.

“Hmm? Footprints? Somebody was here?”

Merlin’s expressions changed. He saw some footprints in the volcano, and they were messy footprints of varying sizes. This indicated that a lot of people came to the volcano.

Momentarily, Merlin’s heart sank a little as he thought of a possibility. Since he was able to figure out that the extinct volcano was very safe, how could the other Spell Casters not think of it too?

Lava Soil may not be an especially precious treasure, yet it was still a very important alchemy material. Even when sold, it could garner a huge return of elemental crystal stones.

It was highly probable that these extinct volcanoes were already explored by the other Spell Casters. Even if there were any Lava Soil, they would have been reaped.

At the thought of that, Merlin quickly slid down the volcano.

“No, there’s nothing! People have already gone through this place, I can’t even find anything valuable…”

Merlin’s expression looked dismal. Inside these extinct volcanoes, there were not only Lava Soil but some especially hard rocks too, which were also very unique alchemy materials.

However, this extinct volcano did not even have anything valuable. By then, it was clear to him that this extinct volcano had already been fully scavenged by someone else.

“I shall continue looking in other volcanoes!”

Merlin already had a bad feeling about it. No doubt that extinct volcanoes are safe, but at the same time, the valuable items in extinct volcanoes were very likely to have been reaped by other people. Yet, Merlin was not about to give up just yet. He still wanted to go and have a good search.

Thus, according to the marked locations of the volcanoes on his map, Merlin started his search one by one…

…

The bright sunshine showered down on the beach, making people listless. Many Spell Casters narrowed their eyelids, casually picking themselves a spot on the beach, and enjoying the warmth of the sunlight.

“These kind of days are really boring, I miss those days where the sea beasts attacked instead when there was a chance at scoring riches too. Tsk tsk, everything on the sea beasts’ bodies was a treasure…”

“Hey hey, Fatso, you still miss the days where the sea beasts would attack? Last time out, you were almost devoured by a unicorn leopard seal. If it weren’t for Wizard Bayton, you would’ve died already. It’s true that the sea beasts are loaded with treasure, but would you even have a chance of getting any of those then?

The Spell Casters were already very familiar with each other, so during their leisure, they would often make some small jokes. It had become a part of their formula of living on the boring island.

“Boom!”

The group who were still enjoying the fuzzy sunshine moments ago suddenly felt the entire island shudder. At the same time, a distance away out on the sea, a huge wave had risen.

Behind the waves was an enormous bunch of blackness, all of which were giant-sized sea beasts.

“Not good, the sea beasts are back again!”

The group of Spell Casters who were still on the beach immediately became vigilant. One after another, they focused their gaze on the sea wave far away. The huge wave of blackness contained an overwhelming number of sea beasts, striking a feeling of despair in their hearts.

“How can there be so many sea beasts?”

That was the question in every Spell Caster’s mind. It was the first time that there was such a massive invasion of sea beasts on the Violet Flame Island. Upon seeing the highly organized sea beasts that were approaching them along with the sea wave, everyone felt their hearts sink.

Perhaps this time, none of them would survive. From the moment they stepped onto the Violet Flame Island, they had in fact already readied themselves for this. Yet, when it came to facing reality, most of them still felt heavy-hearted, even beginning to feel a little scared.

Then, Wizard Bayton lifted his head. There was a glitter of grit in his eyes.

“Send a notification to Fort Udon. It’s possible that the Violet Flame Island won’t make it through this, but every single Wizard of Fort Udon on the Violet Flame Island will fight until the very end!”

Upon finishing his statement, Wizard Bayton’s body glowed with intense elemental waves.

…

“No, I can’t believe there’s no Lava Soil!”

Inside an extinct volcano, Merlin, whose face was layered with ash, shook his head in disdain. Once again, disappointment was written all over his face. This volcano was already the eighteenth one that he had searched in, yet he still could not find Lava Soil. It was a known fact that there were only twenty-four volcanoes on the Violet Flame Island in total, and all of them were extinct volcanoes.

“There are six volcanoes left. The hopes may not be high, but since I’m here on the Violet Flame Island, I’ll still search through them!”

Merlin mumbled softly. He knew the chances were not great, but he refused to give in. Only six more extinct volcanoes to go. No matter what, he would only settle after he had gone in for a search.

“Boom!”

Just when Merlin was about to leave the extinct volcano, the entire volcano seemed to have shaken violently. Shortly after, a huge amount of soil and dust fell from above.

“What’s going on? Is the volcano about to erupt?”

Merlin’s expression changed. If it was to be a volcanic eruption, it would have already been too late for him. He would be flooded by the sweltering hot lava.

However, it took only a moment for Merlin to realize that it was not a volcanic eruption because he was inside the volcano and he did not even feel a single breath of heat. In addition, that shudder seemed to have originated from afar.

Deep in his heart, Merlin slowly loosened up. He did not dare to stay in the depths of the volcano so he quickly made his way to the crater.

Standing on the crater high up, Merlin finally saw that far away in the middle of the sea, a huge wave was sweeping toward his direction. Within the waves was a dense group of sea beasts, which looked like ominous dark clouds.

“Sea beast invasion?”

Merlin guessed it instantly that was indeed a sea beast invasion. The Violet Flame Island belonged to the outermost stretches of the Kurdmansla Islands and was often hit by sea beast attacks.

Only this time, the sea beasts’ attack scale was way too large. With the combined powers of Wizard Bayton and the rest, he feared that even they could not hold them off.

“I shall go and have a look.”

Merlin could not pretend like he had seen nothing. He was part of Fort Udon now, so he was obliged to contribute to Fort Udon. Not to mention, he kind of liked the camaraderie in Fort Udon too.

“Swoosh!”

Thus, Wind elements emerged on Merlin’s body, encasing his figure as he dashed toward the beach in a haste.

…

“Kill!”

Wizard Bayton waved one arm with force, officially giving out the order. He already saw some sea beasts that had crept up the beach.

“Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!”

One after another, Wind Blades of the most rapid of speeds rained down onto the pitch-black body of a sea beast, with skin that looked like old tree bark.

However, these sharp Wind Blades simply could not slice open the old-tree-bark-like skin of these sea beasts. All it could do was inflict sharp pain onto the beast, causing them to become enraged.

It was simply not enough to kill the sea beasts.

“Oh no, these sea beasts are at least Third-level and above. There are still many Fourth-level sea beasts. We don’t stand a chance at killing them all!”

Even the usually open-minded plump Wizard’s expression changed too. Conversely, he cast Flame spells, enveloping an entire sea beast, the high-temperature blaze sent the sea beast into torturous howls of pain.

Still, if he intended to end this sea beast’s life, it would still take a long time, and the plump Wizard was given no time to care for the others too. Yet, this particular beast was only one of the numerous sea beasts, there was still a multitude of countless sea beasts behind.

Furthermore, there was still a bigger threat, a four-legged, enormous sea beast with two ugly lumps on its head and a huge mouth which was filled with rows of sharp teeth. When it opened its mouth, it spat a type of gooey, acidic liquid. If that touched the body of a Spell Caster, the victim would corrode and die almost in an instant.

Even Third-level Defensive spells would not be able to shield that and would succumb to corrosion. Only Fourth-level Defensive spells were capable of blocking it for a short while.

“Wizard Bayton, we can’t hold off all these. We’re not able to defend against these sea beasts. How long until the reinforcements from Fort Udon arrive?”

One of the Fourth-level Wizards raised his voice as he threw the question at Wizard Bayton, but not before he killed a sea beast with great difficulty.

“How much longer?”

A bitter smile etched on Wizard Bayton’s face. He shook his head helplessly and said, “From Fort Udon’s main island, even with the quickest speed, it would still require half a day’s time to reach here.”

“Half a day?”

The remaining Spell Casters went silent. Currently, there were so many sea beasts, much less half a day, even if help was scheduled to arrive in half an hour, they could not hold on until then either.

“Bayton, are we about to die?”

The plump Wizard cracked a slight smile. His body had been stained with fresh blood, emitting a pungent bloody smell. It was hard to tell apart which were from the sea beasts, and which were from his own body.

“Fatso, you’re afraid of death?”

Wizard Bayton did not answer his question but threw back another question instead.

“Haha, when I was a fugitive back then and had sought refuge in the Kurdmansla Islands, if not for Fort Udon’s adoption, I would have died a long time ago. Me, afraid of death? I’m just a little unsatisfied, that’s all. Unsatisfied that my archenemy is still out there, and that I haven’t exacted revenge!”

When mentioning his “archenemy”, the plump Wizard’s facial expression was incredibly wicked, one that would make people shudder.

Wizard Bayton did not speak but lifted his head and took a glance at the other surviving Spell Casters. They had lost several more men and were left with less than twenty people.

“Hmm? There’s still somebody?”

Suddenly, from the edge of Wizard Bayton’s eyes, he saw a figure dashing from afar.