Chapter 349: The Devouring Hand
A few years ago, Sylas was dispatched to the battlefield of the Sungold Plane, leading the alchemical golem legion against the subterranean elves. After years of brutal training, he was drawing ever closer to the rank of Title Archmage. Everyone was waiting, anticipating Sylas’s breakthrough—hoping he’d become the next Title Archmage of Mercury Tower.
But just then, something monumental happened on the Sungold Plane. After Som, one of the seven great magic cities, was breached, they discovered the corpse of an Abyssal Blood Dragon. This corpse had been sealed at the very bottom of the plane, its enormous body—spanning a thousand miles—like a mountain range, linking the seven magic cities underground. At that time, those from Mercury Tower only saw the dragon’s head, but even that, leaking its terrifying aura through the seal, felt like standing in the eye of a storm.
The entire Mercury Tower was thrown into an uproar...
For Mercury Tower, a place overflowing with master magicians, the value of an Abyssal Blood Dragon’s corpse was beyond estimation. Nolan even issued an order: seize the corpse at any cost...
So Mercury Tower accelerated its campaign to conquer the seven magic cities, and in just three years, they had taken three of them...
But no one could have predicted that, right at that moment, news of the Abyssal Blood Dragon’s corpse somehow leaked out...
And then, the Black Tower arrived...
No one knows how, but the Black Tower managed to deduce the coordinates of the Sungold Plane. Then, risking everything, they sent in a lavish force: three Title Archmages and ten ninth-tier mages, infiltrating the plane in secret.
At that time, Sylas’s golem legion was locked in fierce combat against the defenders of the fourth underground magic city. In the chaos, a critical mistake was made—Sylas never realized that news of the dragon had leaked, nor that Black Tower’s agents had already arrived...
And so, without Sylas knowing a thing, the Black Tower team infiltrated Som. With three Title Archmages and ten ninth-tier mages working together, they forcibly broke part of the seal and stole one of the Abyssal Dragon’s eyes...
That eye is now the Essence Relic, Eye of the Evil Dragon, in Herman’s hands...
Only after the Abyssal Dragon’s eye was stolen did Sylas finally realize what had happened. He abandoned the assault on the fourth underground magic city, left the entire golem legion behind, and rushed back alone—only to run straight into Herman, who was covering the retreat...
After a fierce battle, Sylas was defeated.
In the forests of the Sungold Plane, Herman chased Sylas for three days before finally vanishing in front of the returning golem legion.
For Sylas, it was a lifelong humiliation.
Not just because he lost to Herman...
More importantly, Sylas felt that his mistake had brought shame upon all of Mercury Tower.
After the Black Tower stole the Abyssal Blood Dragon’s eye from the Sungold Plane, they flatly denied ever having sent a team there.
Even Nolan was so furious he barged into the Black Tower, cursing Heron to his face...
But no amount of shouting and cursing could change the fact that the Abyssal Blood Dragon’s eye had been stolen. Unless Mercury Tower was willing to go to war with the Black Tower, there was simply no proof—no evidence, no case.
In the end, Mercury Tower had to swallow this bitter pill, no matter how sickening it felt.
The worst part? After all this, Herman started showing up at Mercury Tower, asking for help—help repairing the Eye of the Evil Dragon, that Essence Relic.
Every time Sylas saw Herman, every time he saw that Eye of the Evil Dragon, he felt a deep humiliation...
But Sylas knew that Mercury Tower simply couldn’t afford to turn against the Black Tower right now...
So Sylas kept enduring...
Just like today—even if Herman showed up with the Eye of the Evil Dragon, even if he openly admitted to chasing Sylas for three days and nights in the forests of the Sungold Plane back then, Sylas could only grit his teeth and bear it...
Because now, Mercury Tower can’t afford to provoke an enemy like the Black Tower.
The gap between the two factions was already significant, and now, with the Black Tower having exhausted almost all its available strength because of the Sungold Plane incident, if Mercury Tower started a war now, they’d be surrounded and doomed.
"Let me say it again, Herman—Merlin is my friend, not some Battlemage." Sylas forced down his anger, his face dark as he spoke each word: "If you want the Eye of the Evil Dragon repaired, Mercury Tower will help. But for anything else, I have no time for you."