Chapter 1012: Unlucky
Sigh, I really shouldn’t have gone against my conscience and backed Morgan last time. That mana crystal was important, sure, but it was clearly Merlin’s prey. Sneaking it away and getting caught in the act—well, that’s how we ended up offending Merlin. And now, look at us, paying for it...
If I hadn’t been so greedy and just returned the mana crystal to Merlin back then, maybe he wouldn’t be standing on the sidelines watching the show. The losses we’re suffering now far outweigh the value of that crystal—not only has our flying ship been destroyed, but we’ve burned through hundreds of magic scrolls on this trip...
These magic scrolls were meant as supplies for the Henry Family, not for us to squander. And we’ve gone through over two hundred bottles of alchemical potions too. The losses are brutal...
Damn it, I should’ve stood firm and stopped that idiot Morgan from stealing those eggs. What was he thinking? Six Mud Lizards aren’t easy to deal with, and everyone knows they go berserk over their eggs. Now the eggs are smashed, and it’s all over—unless they kill us, those beasts aren’t leaving...
Arno wore a helpless expression, wanting to ask Leon for help but hesitating. All he could do was keep casting spells, conjuring a mighty river to crash against the valley entrance, trying to stop the Mud Lizards from widening the gap...
Five minutes later, Morgan’s face suddenly changed in midair. The Dark Veil was ripped apart again, and the Mud Lizards immediately destroyed the Rotten Flower they hated so much. But Morgan was out of Rotten Flower seeds...
The Mud Lizard on the far right was already climbing to the peak. If it reached the top, it could attack from the side of the valley—there’d be no way for us to hold them off so easily after that.
Morgan gritted his teeth, face twisted in pain, as if someone were slicing the flesh from his bones.
"Morgan, what are you doing? Hurry up and block it!"
Arno shouted, and only then did Morgan, eyes squeezed shut, pull out a black scroll—a meter long, radiating waves of spatial energy.
An eighth-rank magic scroll—one of the rarest, a space magic scroll. Only Sky Rank mages with deep insight into spatial laws can craft these!
This is the kind of treasure you can’t buy anywhere. It’s worth more than a level-forty mana crystal. Even within the Henry Family, it takes five level-forty mana crystals to purchase one—and they never sell to outsiders.
Morgan tore open the scroll. Instantly, a surge of spatial energy flashed, streaking toward the right side of the valley’s peak. Space itself began to ripple violently, and cracks started to appear in the already unstable fabric of reality.
Crack after tiny crack split open and then closed again, turning the mountaintop into a trap riddled with spatial fissures.
Immediately, the Mud Lizard halted, slowly retreating to the valley entrance. Places like Furyflame Battlefield are full of dangers—any magical beast will avoid these zones, even if the unstable space isn’t terribly lethal...
This was a space shock spell scroll. True space shock is a ninth-rank transcendent spell, but this scroll only held an eighth-rank spell, no transcendent power.
It can make a stable region of space vibrate, blocking all teleportation and blink spells. Anyone hiding in the folds of reality would be forced out, and the spatial displacement could shatter everything inside. Anyone below Sky Rank would struggle to withstand it...
Of course, this scroll isn’t nearly that powerful. But in Furyflame Battlefield, where space is already unstable, it can create a whole trap zone full of spatial cracks—perfect for stopping a Mud Lizard.
Losing such a rare space spell scroll made Morgan’s heart bleed. And with the loss of a true Essence Relic earlier, the damage this time was catastrophic...
At this moment, seeing Leon and the others in the distance, watching the chaos with such enthusiasm, a wave of resentment surged straight to Morgan’s head...
Morgan’s eyes flicked, and he began to chant a short spell. A Dark Guard was summoned; Morgan pulled out three scrolls and slapped them onto the Dark Guard—Haste, Flight, and Aura Concealment...
The Dark Guard slipped into the Dark Veil, quietly approaching the side entrance of the valley.
Shrouded in black smoke, the Dark Guard suddenly burst from the protection of the Dark Veil, racing toward a pile of rubble at the valley entrance. From the rocks, it found a fragment of eggshell, still streaked with blood and yolk, and sprinted toward Leon’s group at full speed...
The Dark Guard, already skilled in stealth, was further enhanced by Aura Concealment. It managed to dash two hundred meters before a Mud Lizard finally spotted it.
The Mud Lizard’s whip-like tongue lashed through the air with two crisp cracks, then it whipped its head around and charged at the Dark Guard...
Roaring in fury, the Mud Lizard barreled forward on its massive limbs, smashing through everything in its path. The ground ahead seemed to melt, stone and earth turning into a swamp, and thick earthen spikes exploded upward. In seconds, the land for a hundred meters was utterly devastated...
Leon watched the Mud Lizard charging from afar and sneered. He spat out a rune, and instantly, a vortex of flame appeared before the Dark Guard.
The flame vortex rapidly expanded to seven or eight meters wide, unleashing a torrent of fire spells that engulfed the Dark Guard in an instant...
The Mud Lizard charging from behind was also swept by the torrent of spells, mud surging as waves of sludge collided with the fiery tide...
Boom...
The deafening noise rumbled like muffled thunder, echoing again and again, and the Mud Lizard’s advance was finally halted.
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"Tell that big brute this is your territory. Make it scram..."
Leon turned to Reina and said.
Reina opened her mouth and let out a furious dragon roar, like a great wyrm defending its domain—a clear warning to the intruder.
Hearing the roar, the Mud Lizard hesitated for a moment, but still tried to push forward.
Territorial instincts run deep among magical beasts. Invading another’s domain almost always means war. Judging by the surroundings, these Mud Lizards were clearly here to hunt down the Henry Family—they don’t belong here.
Seeing the Mud Lizard still trying to charge, Leon intensified his spellcasting. The flame vortex instantly expanded to eighteen meters wide, and two more vortexes formed. Three flame vortexes unleashed torrents of fire, forcing the Mud Lizard to retreat...
The flame vortex drifted forward in midair, driving the already reluctant Mud Lizard farther and farther back.
The Mud Lizard retreated all the way to the mouth of the valley. The other Mud Lizards started paying attention, as if preparing to change their attack direction.
Inside the valley, Morgan’s face lit up with a hint of joy.
Perfect. Those bastards, watching the show from over there—like it’s that easy. If we can lure just three—no, even two—over, we’ll finally be rid of these ordinary giant lizards...
Four is still tough, but we could escape. Once we’re gone, those stupid Mud Lizards will never let Merlin off the hook. All this over a stolen mana crystal... Watching the show and not helping—those Andalusian bumpkins, how dare they gawk at the Henry Family’s misfortune...
Morgan’s smile had just appeared when he saw Leon in the distance tear open a scroll. A beam of light shot into the sky and vanished. One second later, a spark of starlight appeared high above...
Three seconds after, Morgan watched as a meteor wrapped in flames plummeted toward the mouth of the valley at terrifying speed...
Boom...
In the blink of an eye, the meteor crossed a thousand meters, crashing at the valley’s mouth. A pitch-black mushroom cloud rose, flipping two Mud Lizards over. Even their hundred-meter-long bodies couldn’t withstand such terrifying force...
The shockwave swept out, instantly shredding some of the smaller wards at the valley entrance. Only the massive barrier anchored by three Essence Relics survived; all the defensive wards set up with scrolls were torn apart...
The valley entrance was widened, the Dark Veil on both sides instantly ripped apart. Several Henry Family mages floating in midair were unlucky—caught by the blast, their shields were shredded and they were injured. One poor soul was swept away, sent flying hundreds of meters like he’d been slapped by a giant beast...
After the strike, a furious dragon roar echoed from afar. Morgan couldn’t understand it, but the Mud Lizards knew exactly what it meant.
It was a warning to the brutes: stay away from someone else’s territory...
These Mud Lizards may lack true intelligence, but they’re not completely stupid. The rules of magical beasts are hardwired into their blood.
In the distance, a dragon’s territory—clearly not to be trifled with, and uninterested in their affairs. Why provoke trouble? Better to deal with the reckless intruders right in front of them...
In a flash, several Mud Lizards resumed attacking the Henry Family. The one nearly hit by the meteor forgot all about Leon’s group, turning its fury on the Henry Family...
Even with their dim wits, the Mud Lizards could tell—on one side were the egg thieves, their sworn enemies; on the other, a dragon’s territory, and the dragon wouldn’t interfere. No contest...
So the Henry Family ended up unlucky...
Those injured by friendly fire aside, the valley entrance was now wider, defenses harder to maintain, scroll and potion supplies running low, and every spell now cost more mana.