The wizard's journey

Chapter 13: Witchcraft

Among those guarding the entrance to the cabin, four individuals stood out for their formidable strength.

One of them was the legendary knight Barlon, who, bare-chested and revealing his dark muscles, wielded an axe in a frenzied battle against the sea monsters attempting to breach the cabin.

Another was the boatswain, who, despite often seeing the legendary knight, had never seen him in action. Armed with a massive sword, his strength was nearly equal to Barlon's, earning him a newfound respect.

The remaining two were magic apprentices residing in the wizard's room.

Grim had learned their names; the male magic apprentice was named Yun Li, and the female was Briona.

However, what astounded Grim and the others was that these two apprentices were not only practicing the legendary witchcraft, but the power and strangeness of their witchcraft were beyond belief.

Facing the massive sea monsters, Briona seemed nervous, yet no monster could get close under the protection of the numerous sailors.

Briona hid behind the sailors, her golden hair fluttering wildly, as a golden pupil on her forehead sternly watched the approaching monsters.

This golden pupil seemed to be an energy body formed by a combination of mysterious elemental energies, causing ripples in the surrounding space.

With a soft, fierce shout, any monster caught by the gaze of this golden pupil would let out a painful wail, then eerily die as if completely desiccated.

Grim and the others witnessed at least five monsters die under this strange golden gaze in just a short moment.

However, Briona seemed unable to sustain the witchcraft of the golden pupil for long, and it dissipated after she gasped for breath.

On the other side, Yun Li had a small white mouse on his shoulder, seemingly oblivious to the danger around, while he appeared to disregard the sea monsters entirely.

This was not arrogance but a cold indifference to everything but himself, observing the novel marine creatures with a playful smile.

What contrasted with Yun Li was his utterly incomprehensible mysterious witchcraft.

Without any sign or wonder, monsters around him ended up missing limbs or heads, or even vanished entirely, leaving behind only a smooth, mirror-like cut, proving it was not an illusion.

Grim, Lafi, Yorkris, and Yorklianna were all stunned, unable to believe the eerie and powerful abilities they possessed, explaining why they resided in the wizard's room.

With the power of these two magic apprentices, not to mention Yorkris and Grim, even Lafi, who had mastered some witchcraft, was no match for them.

Lafi looked particularly troubled, aware of her limitations. Her so-called witchcraft relied on magical devices prepared by her father, and she could not perform even the simplest spell on her own.

Although she had another powerful magical device prepared by her father, she lacked the magical power to activate it, and even if she could, she would not be a match for the apprentices with their strange witchcraft.

Therefore, Lafi understood the vast gap between them and these two geniuses, who were considered once-in-a-century talents in the wizarding world.

However, Lafi, privy to some wizarding secrets, knew that the level of powerful witchcraft they were performing should not be possible with their level of spiritual power, suggesting they might possess the legendary innate talents that manifest from birth.

Ignoring the situation near the cabin's entrance.

The powerful wizard Dilah floated about five meters above the deck, his wide gray robe fluttering as if caught in a gale, rustling loudly.

His face flushed unnaturally, more pronounced than before, while the delicate gears above his eyes spun rapidly. Under his deep and mysterious chanting, it seemed he was preparing a highly destructive spell.

On the other side, two black tentacles, each over thirty meters long, repeatedly slammed into the deck. Not only had they obliterated the rooms that had once been there, but several large holes had also been blasted open by the tentacles, through which the terrified screams of the wizard apprentices who had narrowly escaped could faintly be heard.

Suddenly, everyone on the deck felt an involuntary shiver, and all couldn't help but raise their heads after a silent darkness in the sky. Under an indescribable oppression, Dilah conjured a gray flame in his hand.

The flame was silent and inconspicuous, seemingly powerless, yet it made everyone tremble, as if it could devour all gazes.

Even the always confident Yun Li and Briona's faces changed drastically, fixating on the gray flame ignited in Dilah's hand.

"Dead Soul Flame..."

Dilah's weakened voice seemed magically potent, reaching everyone's ears as if whispering beside them.

The moment the gray flame accurately burned one of the octopus's tentacles, the sea water beneath the ship erupted with a pain-filled wail far surpassing any before. The giant octopus's agony caused waves to roll, turning the entire visible sea area tumultuous.

Like touching a hot stove, all the octopus tentacles retracted as if struck by lightning, and the octopus's head instantly dove into the sea, disappearing from sight.

"Wizard, Sir!"

"Master!"

As the nightmare-like marine beast fled, the sailors and a few magic apprentices let out cries of joy, but Dilah raised his hand, forcibly suppressing his physical anomaly, silencing everyone.

Then, with a malevolent gaze sweeping over the many fearless sea monsters on the deck, his wide gray robe rustling, Dilah descended from the air.

Wizards have always been known for their evil and cruelty towards their enemies, even the most temperate among them would naturally extinguish countless lives in their pursuit of higher wizardry knowledge.

Dilah glanced at a sea monster corpse frozen below, seemingly observing something.

Suddenly, Wizard Dilah's eyes sparkled with delight, and then he sneered, "Heh, it's about time. You Ulado sea monsters have not abided by the treaty signed with the human wizards' alliance, so now, face the wizards' revenge!"

As Dilah spoke, the scales of the ice-bound sea monster began to wriggle. To the horror of onlookers, the once massive creature quickly shrank to a mere skin, from which countless palm-sized, purple-black centipedes emerged.

What was even more terrifying were the four pairs of transparent wings on the back of each centipede, complete with a pair of lifeless eyes.

"Finally bred! Hehehehe... Ulado sea monsters, enjoy the nightmare specially researched by ancient wizards to devour you. It's been years without war, perhaps you marine creatures have almost forgotten the terror of human wizards! Welcome the nightmare, tremble in it!"

Dilah roared as if mad.

These sea monsters couldn't understand human language, or rather, these lower-level sea monsters couldn't comprehend it at all.

Yet, for some reason, they instinctively sensed an irresistible fear from the insignificant-looking purple-black insects, causing many sea monsters to jump off the deck into the sea in panic.

Buzzing...

When the thousands of purple-black centipedes just crawled out of the sea monster's body, their wings were still soft. However, in just a moment, some began to fly, instinctively rushing towards the many sea monsters still on the deck.

The centipedes showed no interest in humans or the severed octopus tentacle on the deck...

Screaming...

Screams emanated from the sea monsters as they discovered, to their horror, that their once-prideful scales were as ineffective as paper mache against these eerie insects. One by one, the insects crazily burrowed into their bodies, recklessly drilling in as if on a suicide mission.

Some sea monsters desperately grabbed the tails of the centipedes burrowing into their bodies. Yet, terrifyingly, even if the centipedes were torn in half, they still possessed strong vitality and continued to burrow frenziedly into their bodies...

It seemed the only purpose of these insects was to burrow into the deepest parts of the sea monsters' bodies.

The wizard watched the many sea monsters wailing in agony and sneered, "Hmph, if the parasitic worms researched with the wisdom of ancient wizards were so easily killed, they wouldn't be worthy of being called the nemesis of Ulado, and wizards wouldn't be worthy of being called the masters of many different worlds!"

Dilah's voice gradually turned excited.

"Although they only live for a day, their sole purpose in this short life is to lay their eggs in each Ulado's body, and the maturation period of their eggs requires only a brief half an hourglass time..."