Chapter 670: Mutation
Above our heads, black mist churned, heavy with the power of death and laced with countless evil forces. The palace's dignified aura was instantly drowned out by the stench of corruption.
A pair of eyes, burning like flames, materialized in midair—dark fire flickering, brimming with malice and hatred.
"Foolish mortals, I told you—you will die. You will die!"
"For now, play with my servant for a while..."
The monster's voice echoed from every direction. Within the grand hall, endless black smoke boiled, flooding every corner in seconds.
The surroundings plunged into utter darkness. Leon gathered everyone together and cast a flame barrier to shield us within.
[Irrelevant system message skipped.]
The blinding smoke slowly dissipated, and ahead—Reid Watson stood there, hollow-eyed and pale, though none of us had seen him arrive...
The black smoke surged and poured into Reid Watson's mouth.
Agonized screams erupted from Reid Watson's mouth as his whole body floated upward, limbs stiff, head thrown back, jaw stretched wide. The thickest pillar of black smoke drilled straight into him.
Smaller pillars of smoke wormed their way into his body through his ears, eyes, and nostrils.
Surging power began to swirl around Reid Watson, so intense that it warped the space around him...
It was almost visible to the naked eye—Reid Watson's rank soared, climbing a level every few seconds...
Sixth-rank Title Archmage...
Seventh-rank Title Archmage...
Eighth-rank Title Archmage...
And it still wasn't stopping!
Not until he crossed the threshold of Ninth-rank Title Archmage did all the black mist finally vanish into his body.
Leon drew a sharp breath, his expression unusually grave.
Ninth-rank Title Archmage...
This isn't just a single level higher than Eighth-rank Title Archmage. From Fifth-rank onward, each advancement is almost as significant as jumping an entire major tier!
It's not just a wild multiplication of mana, but a massive leap in casting ability—and a profound climb in magical understanding.
For most mages, at this level, every rank is a form of absolute suppression.
Not every mage is Matthew Merlin—blessed with spellcasting power and knowledge far beyond this era, three top-tier core meditation laws, the strongest arcane array gear, and a custom-forged true spirit artifact...
Even with all Leon's trump cards combined, he can only handle Eighth-rank Title Archmages. Ninth-rank is a qualitative leap—the final step before reaching Sky Rank!
At Ninth-rank, a mage can finally forge their own rules. That's the real reason why they crush everyone below Ninth-rank—it isn't something you can overcome with mere levels. It's fundamental.
Leon can take down some Eighth-rank Title Archmages without paying a price, but against a Ninth-rank, he's hopeless. That's the root of it.
When it comes to rules—even the smallest difference creates a gap as wide as the heavens.
And now, with Reid Watson possessed by that monster, all its power flooding into him—this is far more dangerous than a mage who just broke through to Ninth-rank.
Standing at a distance, Seth saw Reid Watson and broke into tears, clutching his face in agony...
Right now, Seth was wracked by pain and terror—no one understood that monster's horror better than him. Seeing Reid Watson ascend to Ninth-rank Title Archmage, Seth was utterly hopeless, even a bit relieved.
Death would be better. Living in pain—better to die...
But Leon and the others had no energy to spare for Seth. The sight of the thirty-ninth-level Reid Watson made everyone feel like they were facing a mortal threat.
Even Anderson, whose strength had just surged, wore a triple mask of seriousness. The Arcane Wheel spun furiously, condensing spells at breakneck speed.
Countless fire spears, fire arrows, fireballs, fire blades, fire dragons...
All fused into a single, massive pillar of fire, three or four meters thick, hurtling toward Reid Watson.
Yet even the supercharged Arcane Wheel couldn't do any real damage to Reid Watson. The torrent of spells slammed into an invisible wall, blocked just meters away.
"Damn mortals, so what if you see through me a few times? You're dead today!"
"Reid Watson" glared at Leon with hatred, his face twisted with malice, voice dripping with venom.
Suddenly, Leon understood—the monster's fake Xiu Ban and fake Reid clones must carry most of its core consciousness. Otherwise, it couldn't possibly hate him this much.
A vague suspicion surfaced in Leon's mind...
But there was no time to guess. The possession was complete, Reid Watson's power had exploded to Ninth-rank Title Archmage, and he finally made his move...
With a wave of his hand, a huge, pitch-black, sinister maw appeared in front of Reid Watson.
Nothing else—just an enormous, speciesless mouth, hundreds of jagged black fangs interlocking, each inscribed with twisted runes. The maw roiled with black mist, nothing else inside.
A simple bite, but in the monster's hands, it became something else entirely.
The maw expanded, yawning into a three-meter-wide void, lunging for Anderson's torrent of spells.
[Irrelevant system message skipped.]
Crunch...
The spells shattered like solid objects, bitten clean through by the monstrous maw, echoing with the sound of breaking.
The spear of flame was bitten clean through—the spell, condensed from fire, snapped just like a real spear, the break even ragged at the edges...
The torrent of spells was left with a gaping hole, and the maw swallowed everything it bit off.
Anderson's face twisted with disbelief—he stopped casting, his voice trembling...
"Damn it, that monster actually treats my spells like a delicacy—it's devouring my mana..."
Leon's expression was grim. Devouring successfully cast spells, even absorbing the mana within—he'd never heard of such a thing...
The mana contained in a successfully cast spell is completely different from ordinary mana...
There are plenty of stories about stealing someone's mana, but that's always direct—draining it straight from the body.
Mana theft, mana drain, mana combustion...
All those spells can do it, just not as terrifyingly fast as that monster's tentacle—its drain is permanent!
With other spells, any drained mana usually recovers on its own.
But no one's ever heard of draining mana from spells themselves...
Siphoning mana directly from a body is like eating plain rice—simple, not much flavor, but solid benefits.
Stealing mana from a finished spell is like picking rice out of a bowl of coal slag...
Take a bite, and it's all coal slag...
No spell can do what this monster just did.
"Damn, this monster's appetite is something else..."
Leon couldn't help but curse.
After swallowing a few spells, you could feel it—the monster seemed to get a little stronger...
But knowing this, everyone still couldn't stop casting. Only Hubert charged at the monster with reckless abandon, but against a Ninth-rank Title Archmage, he couldn't even get close...
The monster chuckled coldly, and with a wave of its hand, another giant maw appeared beside it.
This time, the maw opened even wider—over three meters tall. If the last one was an ogre's jaws, this was the snout of a crocodile dragon!
The massive maw gaped and lunged at Leon.
Leon hurled an Explosive Flame spell at it. The maw devoured the spell without hesitation; two booming blasts only made it swell a little, and the mana from the spell seemed to make it even stronger.
Leon frowned and fired off three more Explosive Flames. The triple explosion finally surpassed the maw's limit—it burst apart with a thunderous bang...
But the shattered maw dissolved into a cloud of black mist, swirling back to the monster's side. With a casual gesture, it conjured an even more powerful maw...
It's a sickening ability—the more you attack, the stronger it gets. But if you just defend, you risk being crushed to death...
And across from us stood a Ninth-rank Title Archmage—no matter how bizarre, it was still a true Ninth-rank.
The monster kept sneering, not even bothering with defensive spells. Seven or eight fanged maws materialized around it, crocodile-dragon jaws snapping at every spell, devouring them and converting their energy into its own strength.
"I told you, you're dead this time. No tricks, no deception—raw power is all I need to kill you..."
The monster let out a twisted, perverse laugh, its face contorted beyond recognition.
Suddenly, the monster raised both hands, flicking its fingers as if playing a tune. In an instant, thirty or forty wind blades shot from its fingertips.
The eerie black wind blades swept through like a storm. Everyone braced themselves—no one underestimated these blades.
Leon quickly cast a Runic Shield, the runes swirling as the barrier formed in front of him. Even then, he kept moving, dodging those bizarre black wind blades.
He dodged most of the blades, but inevitably collided with a few...