Blood Bone said nothing more, merely waving his right hand.
An invisible force wrapped around Ethan's torso, and the back of the bone dragon beneath his feet suddenly receded.
The Azure-Dyed Forest in his field of vision shrank in an instant, while the towering spires and walls of the Sacred City rapidly expanded before his eyes.
His feet touched down on the giant stone slab ground outside the Sacred City, with the still-glowing runic wall not far away.
Meltbone and Frostfall followed right behind.
The three Tier 3 Wizards stood not far from the Sacred City, the tightly closed massive city gates ten thousand meters ahead.
Meanwhile, the three Amons looked at each other in confusion.
They could not understand the Wizard Tongue.
Blood Bone's words sounded to them like stones thrown into deep water—they could hear the splash, but had no idea what it meant.
However, they were Third-Tier lifeforms after all, and their eyesight remained sharp.
They clearly saw Blood Bone and the other two land on the stone slabs outside the Sacred City.
The Protector Priest tightened her grip on her staff, then loosened it. She turned her head and exchanged a glance with the two Protector Envoys.
The three of them followed suit.
Blood Bone swept his gaze over the stone ground beneath his feet, tapping it with his foot. A few fine cracks spiderwebbed across the slab's surface. “Hmm, not bad. Let's do it here.”
As soon as he spoke, Blood Bone waved his right hand.
Countless materials flew out from his storage Wizardry Tool, various colored lights weaving together in the air.
Crystals, runic engraving chisels, and energy conduits aligned and assembled themselves automatically.
The stone slabs on the ground were ripped up by an invisible force, revealing the dark brown soil underneath.
Like living things, the materials burrowed into the dirt, positioning, interlocking, and activating at their designated spots.
In less than three minutes, a massive teleportation array spread out across the ground.
Intricate runic patterns layered over one another, radiating from the center to the edges, each rune drawing in and expelling the surrounding energy particles. Twelve fist-sized magic crystals were embedded around the array's foundation, their internal glow brightening and dimming in sync with the array's breathing.
The sheer scale of this teleportation array was more than three times larger than the five arrays Ethan had previously set up when sneaking into Amons World combined.
Blood Bone withdrew his right hand and rotated his wrist.
“Ah, I'm getting old. It actually took me two minutes and thirty-four seconds. I still need to practice.”
Meltbone rolled his eyes beside him.
Just as he opened his mouth to habitually argue back, Frostfall, who was standing to the side, turned her head and swept her pale blue eyes over him.
Just one look.
Meltbone closed his mouth again.
The moment the teleportation array was completed, a brilliant light suddenly flared.
Then, a massive wave of the cannon fodder legions poured out from the glowing ring.
Emerging alongside them were large numbers of wizards who had been resting earlier.
After all, the cannon fodder legions could generally only handle menial labor.
When it came to delicate, precise tasks, they were completely useless.
In less than half an hour, the empty clearing outside the Sacred City transformed from dead silent to bustling with activity.
Seeing this, Ethan took a step forward. “Headmaster.”
“Hmm?” Blood Bone withdrew his gaze and looked at Ethan.
“I still have a mission from Lord Energy-Eating Insect. You see...”
Before he could finish, Meltbone spoke up first.
“Eh? That little bug?”
Meltbone took a step forward, his dark red eyes sizing Ethan up. “Kid, don't be in such a rush to leave. Come on, I'll go with you.”
Frostfall turned her head, her pale blue eyes locking onto Meltbone's face.
“What are you scheming now?”
“I'm bored,” Meltbone said, shrugging. “The three Tier 3 natives have surrendered, and the Sacred City has been captured. The only things left are counting the spoils of war and setting up camp. A fire-user like me has no business counting spoils. I might as well tag along with this kid to see the fun.”
He paused, then added, “Besides, I'm curious. This kid shouldn't have been able to make it all the way here in the first place. So it was because of that little bug's mission.”
Frostfall nodded slightly. “Reasonable.”
Seeing Frostfall actually agree with him for once, Meltbone grew excited.
“But you've got some serious guts, kid.” He scrutinized Ethan from head to toe. “A Third-Tier Apprentice crossing half the world to reach the Sacred City—you're just like your headmaster back in the day.”
Ethan remained in his bowed posture.
“Wait a minute!”
Meltbone's eyes suddenly widened.
He looked at Ethan, then at Blood Bone.
Then back at Ethan, and back at Blood Bone.
The cracks on his dark red skin brightened a bit. His lips twitched several times before he finally pointed a finger back and forth between Ethan and Blood Bone.
“You're not Blood Bone's bastard, are you?”
The moment those words left his mouth, the air went dead silent.
Frostfall turned her head.
Her gaze was exactly the same as when she had looked at Meltbone earlier. The only difference was that this time, she wasn't looking at Meltbone—she was looking at Blood Bone.
As for Blood Bone?
His dark red eyes stared at Meltbone, the two dark crimson flames deep in his pupils flickering slightly.
He didn't say a word.
He just stared.
Meltbone felt entirely uncomfortable under his gaze, his neck shrinking back slightly.
“I was just asking. Just asking,” he coughed dryly. “That suicidal, crazy streak of yours is just too similar.”
Frostfall withdrew her gaze and looked up at the sky.
Ethan stood to the side.
What could he even say?
“My Lord, it's a misunderstanding. A complete misunderstanding.”
His voice was neither too loud nor too soft, his respectful tone laced with a touch of helplessness.
Meltbone curled his lip. “Fine, a misunderstanding it is.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a tall figure strode over from the direction of the teleportation array.
The newcomer walked extremely fast, each step clanking heavily like metal striking the stone ground.
As the figure drew closer, it became clear that it was a mechanical being covered entirely in silver-grey armor.
Standing over four meters tall, dense runic patterns flowed across the surface of its armor.
Its two arms were thicker than an ordinary person's waist, and rotating, interlocking gears could be seen at its elbows.
Its face was covered by a solid, dark silver faceplate, with only two narrow blue slits of light where its eyes should be.
Seeing the newcomer, Meltbone muttered, “Tch, another one.”
The mechanical man walked up to them. “What? Blood Bone, you have a bastard?”
His voice was as loud as a tolling bell, easily carrying to the slave phalanxes still lining up thousands of meters away.
Blood Bone lowered his head, staring at the tall silver-grey figure below him.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
“Thousand Machines, if you don't know how to shut up, I will dismantle your mechanical body.”
“Pfft, as if I'm scared of you.”
Thousand Machines rested his hands on his hips, his metallic waist twisting at an angle. “What, you couldn't dismantle it when we fought three hundred years ago, but you think you can now? Your Flesh Curse won't do squat against my mechanical modifications. As for your summons? Heh, as a mechanist, I've got plenty of creations myself. I wouldn't necessarily have fewer than you.”
Seeing the tension between the two rising, Frostfall turned her head, the chill in her eyes almost solidifying.
Her face remained expressionless, but her voice was so cold that the surrounding air dropped a few degrees. “Can't you two just shut up? How old are you? Have you no shame?”
“Tch.”
“Hmph!”
Meltbone couldn't be bothered with either of them. He turned and slung an arm around Ethan's shoulder. “Kid, ignore them. Let's go, let's go.”
Before the words even finished, Ethan's feet left the ground.
Rate on N.U.
