Chapter 504: The Great Living Transformation
"Sirs, could you arrange fifty more tents? There's a group coming..." Upon arriving at the camp, Leon went straight to Edgar Merlin and Uriel Merlin. Over the past two months, he'd gotten used to handing off trivial matters to these two, and, to their credit, neither ever complained.
"Huh? Fifty tents...?"
Edgar Merlin and Uriel Merlin froze for a moment, exchanging glances filled with disbelief. They knew the current situation well—young mages could only ask the Ancestral Grounds for help; there was no way to bring in outside reinforcements. Yet they'd clearly heard Leon say a group was coming. What was going on?
"Is there a problem?"
Before Edgar Merlin and Uriel Merlin could think further, Leon's voice rang out again, snapping them from their daze. The two nodded like pecking chicks: "No problem, no problem..."
"Thank you, both..."
Leon nodded lightly, then produced an ancient tome radiating a thick aura of death. He chanted several arcane syllables, and a surge of spatial energy rose up—a Plane Path appeared. One after another, mages began to step through.
"Archmages..."
Edgar Merlin and Uriel Merlin were utterly stunned. Only now did they grasp what Leon meant by 'a group coming.' As more and more people emerged from the Plane Path, the two were nearly dumbstruck. With their Title Archmage-level eyesight, it was clear: every mage stepping out was an Archmage!
Most importantly, these Archmages gave off an aura that was anything but ordinary. Their presence was overwhelmingly powerful. Though each was only a First Rank Archmage, in actual combat, it would be hard to find anyone below Fifth Rank who could defeat them. Unbelievable as it seemed, the facts spoke for themselves.
Truth be told, Edgar Merlin and Uriel Merlin—both from the Ancestral Grounds—had seen such exceptional Archmages before. But to witness fifty of them at once? That was something they struggled to process. Their gazes, fixed on these Archmages, brimmed with shock and disbelief.
Fifty Archmages—an entire legion...
And every single one of them possessed strength far beyond their rank. In any faction across the Norland world, such individuals would be groomed as key talents, destined to become Title Archmages or greater. Yet now, fifty of them had appeared together—a sight that defied all logic.
They even had the unsettling sense that, even as Title Archmages themselves, neither Edgar nor Uriel could hope to triumph over these newcomers. In fact, they doubted they could last long before suffering utter defeat.
That was... frankly terrifying.
And to think—they were all just First Rank Archmages, newly advanced at that. What would happen if their ranks continued to rise? The prospect was downright terrifying.
Edgar Merlin and Uriel Merlin honestly couldn't bear to imagine it.
Though curiosity gnawed at them, they hesitated to ask about the origins of these Archmages—such questions might tread on the young mage's privacy. So, without further inquiry, they hurried off to arrange fifty tents for the newcomers.
Soon enough, word of the fifty Archmages swept through the entire camp, stirring up a storm of whispers and speculation.